November 2009 :

1 : House of Blues – San Diego, CA
2 : Marquee Theatre – Tempe, AZ
3 : Sunshine Theatre – Albuquerque, NM
4 : Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO
5 : Diamond Ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK
6 : House of Blues – Dallas, TX
7 : Stubb’s Waller Creek Outdoor Amphitheater – Austin, TX
8 : House of Blues – Houston, TX
10 : The Village – Little Rock, AR
11 : House of Blues – New Orleans, LA
13 : Revolution – Fort Lauderdal, FL
14 : Mansion Night Club – Miami Beach, FL
15 : The Ritz Theatre – Tampa, FL
17 : The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
18 : The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC
19 : Limelight Night Club – Nashville, TN
20 : Congress Theatre – Chicago, IL
21 : The Fillmore – Detroit, MI
22 : Theater of the Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
23 : 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
25 : Terminal 5 – New York, NY
28 : Foreshore Festival 2009 – Canberra, AUS
28 : Stereosonic Festival 2009 – Sydney, AUS

Hello all! I'd like to get on a topic that been bothering for a couple years now that i think should be brought to light... mp3... the digital age, the download generation.

First and foremost, We live in exciting times indeed. Although, I'll have to say it's been nothing less than a struggle to surprise people these days. By that i mean, running out to different venues all over the world and playing for people sure has changed in the past 3 or 4 years. Before this YouTube / streaming media explosion... people were more in for surprises and one off's from an artist due to the exclusivity and intimacy that only attending an event could provide.... so attending events, purchasing albums, and scouring the shops was the only means of obtaining the latest and greatest from your favorite artists.

Now, im sure im not telling you anything you didnt already know here... but i somehow feel the need to reiterate some of the finer points regarding the matter of this streaming media blitz...

Quite frankly, I kinda feel a bit bummed out that i would create something exclusive for my audiences to be "ripped" from some streaming media stie as is... moreso when the poster of the media would advertise or title it as "HD" or "High Quality" before it's release date.

In fact, Nothing makes me vomit in my mouth more than listening to anything short of a 16bit 44.1kHz Wav / Aiff file... perhaps it's just the audiophile in me... but i am actually witnessing and realizing for the first time in my life something that i have created that has been reduced to some regurgetated re-re-re-re-recording of a set and dubbed "high quality"... quite frankly im a little embarassed.

This isnt a rant about leaked tracks, piracy, copyright viloation, or severe lack of imagination, far from it. I am just trickling out a few little factoids that will hopefully point you towards being a more passionate listener.

for example, recently, as im sure you've noticed by now, i've churned out a few new songs to keep my shows a tad more interesting and evolving. FML, i think would be a suitable example.

in fact, here in front of me i have "deadmau5 - FML.wav" in all it's glory. WAV, 32bit float, 192kHz

deadmau5 - FML
8m:09.889s
Wave IEEE float signed 32 bit,
192000Hz
12288Kbps, Stereo.
717 MB (752,472,064 bytes)

Funnily enough, not even a 16bit 44.1 quality version of FML has left my hard drive... so unless you broke into my house and snagged it out of my cold dead hands, theres no "HQ" version floating about as far as im concerned....

that's about as good as its goping to get in terms of "quality"... unfortunatley... 717 meg is a bit much when it comes to transferring for purposes other than mastering / remixing.

NOW HERE COMES THE SCIENCE.

alas, the file is then dithered (not resampled) down to 16bits and 44.1kHz (standard CD quality) for the masses / distribution. (with the exception that I dither to 24 bits / 48kHz for performances)...

so, situation happens... some guy records the set @ 16 bit 44.1kHz (usually the case) you've got my 24 bit version coming out of my DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) then in to someone elses ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) which is only as good as the quality of the ADC.. so already the quality of the music has been compromised, and you havent even gotten it yet.

Then, whoever records a direct line from the set then encodes that to 320kpbs MAX or 128 kbps mp3 for media streaming ease. this part is a MAAASSSIIIVEEE degradation of the original signal... and has been mulched to all bloody hell. So.... then what typically happens is yet ANOTHER DAC / ADC conversion.... wheres someone rips the audio from said streaming media outlet only to puke it back onto youtube... which is 128Kbps max in "HD" mode (which is a VERY far cry from HD if you ask me... total abuse of terminology there) shoulda jujst called it ABBDBNR...."A Bit Better Definition But Not Really". fun times! so... to break it down... lets

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