Tom Ray

Talked with musician Chris Zabriskie on my podcast this week.

He’s put out several albums and his songs have been used in many different places. From Cartoon Network to Nissan and even used in a porn movie. All while distributed under a creative commons license.

We’ve had him on the show several times and he’s a great guy to talk to and learn things from.

This time we had him on to talk about his new album Thoughtless.

During the conversation he told me an idea he was thinking of when he made the album. He wanted to transfer it to a vhs tape. Plug directly into a VCR and record the audio to it, using a stack of vhs tapes that he had.

I thought that sounded cool. I had this thought in my head as to how it would sound. Digital imperfections that would make it sound unique. Sounds that couldn’t be achieved through natural ways or effects. I got really excited that it!

I texted my guitarist who also runs a studio, asking him if he had ever tried that? Wondering what he thought about it?

He just texted me back, “Ha! Yes I have. Why?”

I explained what I was thinking and the conversation I had with Chris about it.

He just asked why would you want to do something like that? Said its more of a hassle and I would probably be disappointed with the result.

Maybe I would. But, Mark works on audio with people everyday. What I was asking him is the kind of sound he tries to prevent.

I guess I just like the way the concept sounded.

You get to tell people that you did something like that, transfered it to vhs. While maybe not a good idea, it makes a great story.

It worked on me. When I heard about this all I could think was, this guy really thinks outside the box!

I still want to try it. I think the way you do things can get people motivated about what it is.

You ever have one of those moments where you know there’s a possibility of something going wrong, but you do it anyway?

An example would be, you’re carrying an armload of things from your car and you set your cellphone on top. As you watch it wobble you’re saying to yourself, “that’s probably not a good idea”.

But you do it anyway. And a few steps later your phone falls face down and shatters the screen.

We’ve all done stuff like that, and we always will. Don’t think we will, but we will.

The ice maker in our freezer stopped making ice the other day. And after further inspection I realized that the tube where the water comes from was inside a giant block of ice.

Figured I could fix that. Turned the temperature settings off inside the door and got out the hair dryer to melt the ice.

Now here’s where my brain was warning me so I was cautious. I made sure the extension cord for the dryer wasn’t on the ground so when ice melts it wouldn’t be in a pool of water. Smart right?

What I didn’t think about was the light below the ice maker was still on. I didn’t unplug the refrigerator.

So as the water from the maker ran down the side, it was going directly on the light. It exploded with a loud pop! Scared the shit out of me!

With the thought of being electrocuted already in my head, I stood there. And for a brief second thought “Am I dead?” Is this one of those situations where, if I turn around am I going to see myself lying on the floor? Like in the movies where someone dies and they leave their body.

Luckily that was not the case.

I unplugged the refrigerator and finished the job. And just kept thinking the rest of the night, how could I not have thought to unplug the damn thing? So stupid.

But we have ice again.

Someone had sent an email looking for guidance in the field I work in.

It was fairly vague. Pretty much asking can you help us with… everything?

Not out of the ordinary, if you’re looking for help with something you know nothing about.

I replied back trying to narrow down what they may want to do. Starting from the concept of large picture to small picture type examples. Trying to gauge what kind of time they might need from me to work on this project.

Anyone who freelances is familiar with this response that came next. It boiled down to:

We’re not really looking to hire somebody to do this. Can you just tell us everything about how to do it to get us started?

Followed with a bulleted list of everything they want to know more about.

Normal reaction would be something along the lines of, “I don’t come to where you work and knock the squeegee out of your hand!”

Or just ignore it and never respond.

This is work I get paid to do after all. Showing someone how still involves time and effort. That ain’t free.

Then as I was looking at the list of what they wanted to know again, dumbfounded. I realized something.

What I had here in this email was a product. Something where I could tell them what they want to know and still get paid for it. In this email was a list of things people ask me all the time, that I know the answers to.

It wasn’t an annoying email anymore. It was a table of contents for a book.

Don’t want to hire me or can’t afford it right now? That’s fine. Here’s a book that answers all your questions! And I don’t have to type the explanation to these questions again to the next person.

Instead of getting mad, I just tried to think of a way to fix a reoccurring problem.

Just when I think I have it figured out, something else comes into play. I don’t mean this negatively.

While working on a project, in an area that I’ve been studying and researching. I was doing everything the way I knew how. How I had planned.

When a tiny detail, within it, right where I was already looking, suddenly came into site. Like when you stare at one of those computerized art posters from the 90s that just look like red and white dots, until you figure out the trick to seeing it. Then there’s a 3D image of a plane, or a tree or something.

It was like that.

I just wasn’t looking at it right. Took one little thing, something I heard on a podcast. Made me think, wait, why don’t I try that idea this?

Now I have a whole new view.

I knew previous frustration would end well.

I remember the actor that played all of the adult male characters on the show You can’t do that on television.

There was the messy drunk, a gross cook, a conniving boss or a dictator to name a few.

Whatever happened to him? I know he passed away a few years back. I mean career-wise.

He was like the first character actor I was ever aware of. Most people that remember the show, didn’t even know it was the same guy playing all those parts.

He was like my 80’s pop culture De Niro. I would have liked to see him in some dark comedy film.