Scott Tang

Watch director Karen Lin and I discuss music video shenanigans...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:48:13 -0800

Watch director Karen Lin and I discuss music video shenanigans on TV next Thu.

MYX is on throughout the US (DirectTV Channel 2067), in Orange County (Cox Channel 479), the Bay Area (Comcast Channel 368) and in NYC, Wash. D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston (RCN Channel 474), among other places…

Getting ready to finally play out again...

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:36:09 -0800

… starting next month. Adding back-up vocalists and my beloved old iBook to my set. We’ll see how nicely that all goes down haha. Alhambra, downtown L.A. and more. Stay tuned…

New music is up: “The Second Time.” (I’m...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:16:00 -0800

New music is up: “The Second Time.”

(I’m gonna stop calling these demos, as it’s become apparent that they’re like 75% of what the final versions will probably be…)

OK...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:07:00 -0800

I love Apple, but these old iPod earbuds just constantly slay me. And not in a good way. Mixing a song with monitors or over-the-ear studio headphones and then listening back to the same mix with iPod earbuds is like watching Avatar with one eye open. And without 3D glasses.

These cute little white buds may as well be marshmallows when I stick them in my ears, that’s how bad my mixes sound in them.

Come on, iPod earbuds. Don’t go breakin’ my heart.

"I’ve got to gather my senses together, I’ve been through worse kinds of weather."

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:59:20 -0800

“I’ve got to gather my senses together, I’ve been through worse kinds of weather.”

New music is up: “Ghosts In The Courtyard.” Enjoy!

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:58:55 -0800

New music is up: “Ghosts In The Courtyard.” Enjoy!

"You get enough tears to fill an ocean That’s what you get for your devotion"

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:26:59 -0800

“You get enough tears to fill an ocean
That’s what you get for your devotion”

Recording is underway for a new song… here’s a photo...

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:13:00 -0800

Recording is underway for a new song… here’s a photo from the recording booth. Booyah (…or… something that people still say…)

New music. Technically still in “demo” stage.

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:51:16 -0800

New music. Technically still in “demo” stage.

"new music is coming very soon. stay tuned."

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:01:04 -0800

“new music is coming very soon. stay tuned.”

started writing music again… feels amazing.

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:44:40 -0700

started writing music again… feels amazing.

release party is off

Sun, 24 May 2009 09:47:00 -0700

Due to medical reasons. Apologies to anyone who was planning on attending.

I hope to be back soon.

"T-Shirts For Tourists" Album Release Party

Sat, 09 May 2009 11:58:00 -0700

Join us downtown on May 29 to celebrate the release of my new lo-fi album, “T-Shirts For Tourists”

Featuring Dawen Wang and Alfa Garcia

Hosted by NaRhee Ahn

Fri, May 29, 9pm
$5
Blue Dahlia
738 E. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
bluedahliacafe.com

I’ll be playing selections from the new record, accompanied by Dawen and my friend Colin Nasseri and selling all my albums at recession-friendly prices. Dawen (a recent Chicago transplant) and Alfa (visiting from NYC), will also be doing full sets throughout the night.

"Inspiration is a funny thing… at times it’s hard to find, and at times it’s hard..."

Thu, 07 May 2009 21:58:13 -0700

“Inspiration is a funny thing… at times it’s hard to find, and at times it’s hard to ignore.”

"I need a mariachi band. And a nap."

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:35:16 -0700

“I need a mariachi band. And a nap.”

ARCHIPELAGO Never felt so alive Never felt so at peace Than...

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:49:00 -0700

ARCHIPELAGO

Never felt so alive
Never felt so at peace

Than when I was at your side
Than when I was at your feet, baby

I never felt so much hope
I never felt so much fear

Than when we were toe to toe
Than when we were ear to ear, baby

But maybe I pushed too hard
Or did I play the lower card?

I’ve replayed it a thousand times
You breaking my heart that night

You tore me into pieces
But this love’s still yet to release me

Will I ever be whole again?
Will I ever be whole again, baby?

Been tryin to let you go
But I’ve only let myself down

Cause love is a travelling show
And you’re the only act here in town

Where can I go to run from you?
Across the world will I finally face the truth?

You tore me into pieces
But this love’s still yet to release me

Will I ever be whole again?
Will I ever be whole again, baby?

Photo

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:23:43 -0800

"Sublingual" was on TV again (but I missed it)

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:23:29 -0800

The music video for “Sublingual,” directed by my brilliant friend Karen Lin, was on TV again recently… although I’m not exactly sure when. I got an email from Bell Tsou, who has her own show now (and rightfully so, cause have you ever heard how fast she can speak Chinese? I have!). Bell said she’d been wanting to tell me about how she ended one of her shows with “Sublingual,” but she kept forgetting. Anyway, here’s the link.

Of course, you can still check out the high[er] quality version of “Sublingual” here.

For those of you who are still scratching your heads after listening to my new lo-fi album, you can watch it and reminisce about the days when I was still making music that sounded normal.

Bell imitating me playing piano

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:59:07 -0800

Bell imitating me playing piano

my ghetto version of "lo-fi"

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:06:00 -0800

So… I’m still getting comments from people who don’t understand that I purposely made my record sound the way it does, and apparently think the recording quality of my album is just really bad… which is kind of funny to me. But I thought I should at least take some time to show a little of what went into making this record sound “lo-fi” or whatever it should be called instead. There are probably a dozen different ways to achieve the same thing in half the number of steps, but this is the way I did it.

Below I’ve posted some screenshots of the effects chain on one of my lead vocal tracks, to give people an idea of the process of getting this destroyed sound (and I guess to demonstrate that it was the result of work and experimentation and passion, not shoddy recording).

And as a final note: I know not everyone appreciates what I did on this record, which is totally fine. But it’s what I was into when I made it, so that’s why I’m explaining it.

Manually going through the vocal tracks to trim the volume. This was a pain, mostly because I sing with a ton of sibilance.

Lopping off a bunch of high end to tame some more of the sibilance, especially in anticipation of the next step…

Adding the overdrive to dirty the sound up. This is where that distorted sound comes from. The plug-in I used gives an insane amount of control over it, and with lots of possibilities comes a mind-boggling amount of time experimenting to get just the sound you want. I must’ve tried dozens of settings for this plug-in alone on each track I used it on.

EQ on both pre-filter…

…and post-filter. Notice how much I’m still rolling off the top end, cause the overdrive added so much treble.

A de-esser, because the sibilance is still noticeable this far down the chain.

a tiny bit of verb to give it some space.

Final result = people wondering why the recording quality is so bad.