Face to Face – Ignorance is Bliss vinyl reissue

Antagonist Records has reissued the classic Face to Face album Ignorance is Bliss on vinyl (for the first time ever!) in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

Immediately controversial when it was released in 1999, Ignorance is Bliss caused a schism among Face to Face fans who were unprepared for the band’s change of direction.  Known for their snappy SoCal pop-punk sound, the band had entered the studio (with me as co-producer, engineer and mixer) intent on breaking out of that narrow niche.  We labored together at length (and at great expense to the band members themselves) to meticulously craft a bold, densely-layered, creatively produced hard rock album.  The backlash from fans was severe.

Over time, though, Ignorance is Bliss gained a devoted following as fans gradually rediscovered its artistic strengths.  To this day, a subset of Face to Face fans holds the album up as their very favorite.  Although it remains controversial, it has earned its status as a classic in their catalogue.

The vinyl reissue is available in three limited edition colorways direct from Antagonist, while stocks last.

New video: Real Space Noise – Utopian

After a very long time in development, I’m thrilled to announce the first REAL SPACE NOISE releases in 13 years: The new album EMPTY AND POINTLESS and instrumental companion EP LOST SCIENCE, both of which will be released October 4, 2019.

Today I’m unveiling the video for the first single, “Utopian.” YouTubeVimeo

Visit realspacenoise.com for pre-order links and more information.

EMPTY AND POINTLESS
LOST SCIENCE

The Bellwether Syndicate – new single “Republik”

The Bellwether Syndicate (William Faith and “Scary Lady” Sarah Rose Faith) have released the new single “Republik” to kick off their North American tour supporting Clan of Xymox. I co-produced and mixed at The Eye Socket.

The track is a gothic glam banger, at turns brooding and explosive, a spirited call to action well timed for election season.  Listen through the player at left or visit their Bandcamp page.

Making the MC624 Remote (in Exhausting Detail)

I made something.

This thing is a hardwired desktop remote control unit made to interface with the Sound Skulptor MC624 stereo monitor controller.  The remote sends control commands via a serial interface to the MC624 (which performs all of the actual audio handling) and indicates the selected input, output, volume level, and other monitoring functions.

The Eye Socket MC624 Remote.

Designing and building this device was a quite complex and challenging process for me, with a number of peculiar problems to solve and new skills to learn.  The project developed sporadically over the course of seven months, from sketchy concept in February 2017 to finished piece in September.  Reflecting on this process I have decided to document it here.  My hope is that I have included enough detail to be useful to those who might be interested in building a similar device, but not to overwhelm those who are simply interested in the story.

This remote is not available as a product for sale, but all the technical details of my design, including the panel designs, part sources, wiring diagrams and open-source code, are shared freely on Github.  

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