Jonah Kanter

The Ominous Red Light

I finished up the second of two days recording vocals last night. Woof, I’m tired.

I have to say that in all things music, the thing I hate doing most is recording vocals. Don’t get me wrong, I love to sing, but recording singing is an entirely different beast than performing live or just practicing at home. In fact, it often sucks the life out of me for a short time.

First there is the problem of sheer exhaustion. Since a record lacks the visual stimulation of a live performance, the vocal needs to be better than normal. This requires doing multiple takes of each vocal section of a song. Add in the inevitable bad takes and you’re likely left completely worn out by the end of it. Worse, you can’t drink coffee during vocal recording days because the caffeine dries out your throat. I’m not very nice without coffee, people…

Second is the problem of over-thinking and over-analyzing. In order to achieve an above average vocal, I constantly find myself thinking through each note precisely as I’m singing it. Sure, you could tell me to just let it out, but it’s impossible to avoid the kind of self-scrutiny that an artist puts on themselves. I actually often find myself physically changing the way I sing certain kinds of notes to achieve a particular sound. This of course has benefits later for when you sing it live so I suppose it’s a process.

Third, you never know when you’re done. You can record all the takes in the world, but while you’re tracking, there is no way to determine what the final product will sound like so all you can do is record x number of takes and hope that you’ve got what you need to get the job done in post. It is more or less a leap of faith to walk away with what you’ve done and be happy about it because the alternative - doing retakes at a later time - is often unfeasible for a variety of reasons. 

Finally, I remain terrified of the red light. I’ve alluded to this before in random twitter updates, but I’ll elaborate. “Red light syndrome” is the negative psychological effect on singers when the veritable red light for recording turns on. For whatever reason, I simply can’t sing as well when it’s being recorded. The difference between live and studio is that, live, you’re free-wheeling, going with the flow - performing; in the studio, it’s like singing handcuffed to a chair. Yes, I’m probably just being hard on myself, but that’s why it’s psychological; it affects your confidence. 

In any event, now the recovery begins. My throat feels pretty raw this morning, but I will soldier on. I’m approaching post production on these songs, with all that’s left to track is a string arrangement. 

In a Past Life

In a past life, elections had debates rather than debates having elections. Politics handled money rather than money handling politics. In Canada, election campaigns run for 37 days - more than enough time for an electorate to learn what it needs to know to vote. In the US, the campaigns run for 2 years, for no other good reason than to generate profit for all parties involved - campaign staffs, media, cities and states, etc. 

In a past life, the Republican party was responsible for raising the US national debt to unprecedented levels as a result of increased spending, the Bush tax cuts, and foreign wars. They were of course also responsible for furthering the policies of financial deregulation that afforded Wall Street the ability to operate like cowboys in the pursuit of extraordinary greed. Indeed, it was the bankers in league with the Republican party that brought down the financial system in 2008, with everyone else left to erect it once again.  

In a past life, the wars of the Bush Administration made America weaker. They brought it close to bankruptcy, they made it less safe, and they incited high levels of anti-American sentiment throughout the world. Any rational US President would recognize that maintaining such problems would be ruinous. So Barack Obama has attempted to end the wars and has made efforts to see the military budget slashed as part of the broader goal of balancing the US budget. But to Mitt Romney, it is precisely these actions that have made America weaker. 

In a past life, we used to remember the truth and not be fooled by nice words and confetti.

All forgotten.

Where the Good Guys Can Do No Wrong

There has been a lot of focus recently on the targeted assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, likely carried out in tandem by Mossad and the CIA to send a message to the Iranian government. With the latest killing of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, Iran has publicly taken a stand against such actions, which it has deemed acts of terrorism. As far as I can tell, its right.

Imagine you’re a public servant working for, say, the Canadian Department of Natural Resources (otherwise known as NRCan). You’ve spent much time paying your dues, and working your way up to the directorate, along the way developing sound technical expertise in the area of oil extraction.

One day, like any other, you go to work and carry out your duties as you’ve been instructed by your superiors. Of course, like any public servant, it is not your role to question the wisdom of your instructions or your political masters delivering them. You simply execute the order of the day and serve the state. 

By the end of the day, you’re tired and in great need of dinner and relaxation in order to recharge for the next day. Unfortunately, as soon as you get in your car and turn the ignition - boom - you’ve been blown to pieces by a bomb that has been installed underneath your car by agents of countries who don’t approve of Canada’s oil sands policy. 

There is no question that this is an act of terrorism. Yet countries such as the US and Israel, who fight terrorism and routinely denounce such acts, cannot seem to be found guilty of it themselves. Such is the world we live in, where the good guys can do no wrong and the bad guys no right. 

Evidence of Iran weaponizing its nuclear program is still thin according to several major state intelligence communities, including that of the US, as well as the IAEA, the UN’s nuclear watchdog. It is more or less at this point due to distrust that much of the West believes that Iran is developing nuclear bombs, or will in the near future if it isn’t already.

I’ve written extensively in the past why I wouldn’t be surprised if Iran did develop nuclear weapons, given that it is surrounded by US clients in Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait, and has been the playground for American meddling since the 1950s because of its oil and geostrategic position. Of course, few ever seem to be concerned with the ‘why’, instead only focusing on the ‘when’ and the extreme ‘what’; i.e., when Iran gets the bomb, its crazy/irrational political leadership will almost certainly launch a first strike attack without provocation. Not only would this amount to the undesirable outcome (if you’re an Iranian leader) of national suicide for Iran, but it demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of Iran itself. Bob Baer, a former CIA agent, has written about this at length. 

I certainly cannot predict the future. There is no question that if Iran does develop a bomb, it will be a gross violation of international law, as it is still a state party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. However, what I do know right now is that, if you don’t like a country’s policy, you don’t kill its public servants - civilians - who are only carrying out orders. 

Studio Blog

I’ve begun recording two new songs during the past week. Really excited for everyone to hear them. They should start to come together quickly as soon as I’m finished tracking the drums, which hopefully will be tomorrow. 

Stay tuned.

More For The Ages

A few weeks ago I sat around with some friends over a few beers and we recalled all of the major things that happened in 2011. Even though we experienced each moment as they occurred, we were still taken aback by how far we’d come in only one year.

It’s typical to reflect at this time of year, and these days I really find little distinction between the days and months and years as they bleed into each other. But 2011 really was remarkable, especially for the advancement of human rights. We saw the desire for freedom explode across the Middle East, two longstanding dictators were toppled with others now on notice, and a tyrant met his natural demise while a terrorist had death delivered to him, to name a few examples.

However, we still have a long way to go. Much to accomplish, much to rebuild, much to prevent, and much to end. As we look back and then turn to the future, we should not yet be satisfied. Indeed, it will be some time before we should.

All the best in 2012. May it be another year for the ages.

Breaking Bad

Yesterday I finished catching up on Breaking Bad. Don’t ask me how quickly I watched all 47 episodes (1 week).

I’m not exactly sure how I missed out on this show for so long. I had friends telling me to watch it for over a year, but never took the plunge. I was hooked after one episode, mostly because of the fact that I could not believe that Tim Watley (aka Bryan Cranston) was playing a completely different character from what I have seen of him. Then, watching his transition from mild mannered suburban dad and teacher to bad ass drug lord was just riveting.

However, the really compelling part of the show is the relationship between Walt and Jesse. Despite the exciting opening to the show, it wasn’t until Jesse was introduced midway through the pilot episode that my interest really peaked. As their relationship progresses, they move from father-son loyalty to bitter rivalry and back again. It’s fascinating.

While that kept me hooked through the midway point of season 2, it was the introduction of Gus that kept me glued until the end. What a villain. The acting job is even more remarkable. If you look up YouTube interviews of the actor who plays him, you will notice how starkly different they are. Even more impressive is how much the actor shaped the role himself as opposed to purely being directed.

The culmination of Gus’s role at the end of season 4 introduced me to an artist and a song that is so beautifully unnerving I can’t seem to get it out of my head. The artist is Apparat and the song is Goodbye (why are you still reading this? Go listen!) I hesitate to say it because I’m sure I will be overriding a previous comment, but I’ll say it anyway: it was the most perfect placement of music in television that I can remember.

Immediately after watching the season 4 finale, I felt like the show should have ended right there (there is a 5th and final season planned). However, after thinking about it for a while, there still is some story left to tell to - as the producers have stated their goal to be - to bring Walt from Mr. Chips to Scarface. I just have no idea how they’ll do it, and I can’t wait.

Merry Christmas

Best wishes, everyone!

Seeing Stars

I finally finished up my third semester of grad school yesterday, but it was a rough ending.

Sunday, I pulled my first legit all-nighter, finishing my paper at 5 am, then needing to format all the references until 8:30 with just enough time for a quick shower before I went down to campus to hand it in at 10. It was not pretty. 

I probably couldn’t have made it through that last push without blasting Coheed through headphones. I ended up listening to their Neverender 4-disc live album from front to back. 

So now what? It’s silly how wrapped up I always get in work, to the point where I ultimately have no concept of why I’m doing it. Just get it done. It ends up being a checkmark off the bucket list. This time I around, I especially feel an uncomfortable numbness as opposed to relief. 

I’m heading home to Ottawa for the holidays. Perhaps I will figure it out.