{"id":268,"date":"2011-11-09T23:51:44","date_gmt":"2011-11-10T04:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/slightest\/?p=268"},"modified":"2012-04-20T15:27:19","modified_gmt":"2012-04-20T19:27:19","slug":"boutique-liner-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/slightest\/2011\/11\/09\/boutique-liner-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Boutique Liner Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"

It's a little silly to write liner notes for something like Boutique<\/a>, but this is happening whether you like it or not, so whatever. Consider this my Walter Mitty<\/a> moment to luxuriate a little, OK? Anyhow, we'll do it this way: Songs in order; links are to individual song pages followed parenthetically by direct MP3 links.<\/p>\n

Technical information: Part of the vision of Boutique was to make a toy drum (or I guess a kids' drum) sound totally awesome. I don't know that I succeeded, and for better or worse, the toy drum is there. I recorded the sounds while Jen was out of town back in September 2010 and later figured out that you can use a demo version of Fruity Loops<\/a> to create short drum loops using whatever sounds you want. Sort of like what that guy who was profiled in last Sunday's Times Magazine<\/em><\/a> does, except not as "bombastic," "skittering," "operatic" or whatever other five-dollar adjectives Times Magazine<\/em> contributing writers can shift-F7 and come up with. I used Audacity<\/a> to record the stuff. The guitar\/bass business is recorded through Goober's Pod<\/a>. I also used Goober's microphones and mixing board to record the vocals. I basically understand mixing stuff because there's not a lot to understand but don't know much at all about equalization, so like everything else, I Googled it. This<\/a> and this<\/a> were both helpful, although I only understood about 20 percent of each. Yes, for better or worse we eschewed reverb; that part was intentional; there's a fine line between "vision" and general laziness.<\/p>\n

Why "Boutique"? I don't know. I always liked how good I felt about a boutique opening in a neighborhood where I lived, even though the stores were the least useful establishments and I never ever patronized them. They just make you feel like your neighborhood is good enough for a boutique, which is something I guess, unless of course you don't have a laundromat or something, and then they're just ridiculous. The Boutique once served as a catch-all for whatever idea I had at the time; eventually it became its own thing. Etc., etc.<\/p>\n

OK, go.<\/p>\n

1) "Dan Smith Will Teach You Guitar"<\/a> (mp3<\/a>).<\/strong> These fliers are all over bodegas and laundromats in Manhattan. Dan Smith has this earnest look and the headline always reads "Dan Smith Will Teach You Guitar" like, dude, he's going<\/em> to teach you guitar. One night I left an establishment and another one of these fliers in the window of the dry cleaner next door and was like, "But what if I don't want<\/em> Dan Smith to teach me guitar?"<\/p>\n\t