Farewell to Blogspot... Hello Instagram

This is going to be the last post I make on this blog and I'll be moving all communications over to my recently created Instagram account.  The fact of the matter is I'm pretty lazy about this kind of thing (as if my infrequent posts didn't clue you into that already) and I just find Instagram more interesting and easier to use.  So if you've stumbled across this part of the internet and are interested in following news regarding io audio recordings, then check out the instagram profile here: https://www.instagram.com/ioaudiorecordings/. Thanks!

Vinyl Release Update

So, do you remember how a few months ago I had stated that I was working on casting my own records? Well after numerous tests and a fair bit of thinking I've decided to cancel that idea. One of the main reasons for this is that I just wasn't completely happy with the sound quality of the experiments I was doing and wasn't convinced I would be happy with the end result.

However, fear not because I've instead decided to press proper records at a proper record plant! So instead of hand casted, one-sided records of questionable quality, my next release will be a limited run of proper vinyl.

What this means though is that the next release will be a handful of months later than the original March/April timeframe I had been planning on. This is because I will be including more music in this release than originally thought, as well as time that it will take to both get the music mastered as well as pressed. When I have a firmer date for release, I will post that info here.

What I can share are pictures of the outer sleeves that I am planning on releasing the records in. These covers will be die-cut, meaning the sleeves will have the design cut out of them, rather than be printed on. Check them out below. I think they look pretty slick and perhaps you will too.

Underground ÄxpÄrten

Yesterday was the first time I've logged into Facebook in a number of weeks and I was greeted by a message from one Dieter Löckener from an organization called Underground ÄxpÄrten out in Germany to let me know that io audio recordings was part of their Underground Trips radio show. Super cool! Unfortunately, the show was broadcast on 2/1/19 so as far as I know, none of us will be able to listen in at this point. However, what I can do is direct you to the following link: 

https://www.eclipsed.de/…/u…/underground-trips-february-2019

Here you will be able to listen to a number of the psych, space rock, and stoner rock artists featured in the broadcast. While I haven't yet listened to all of them yet, what I have listened to is quite good and certainly worth your time.

Also check out the various shows broadcast on the Underground ÄxpÄrten website at http://www.underground-aexpaerten.de. There are a number of interesting shows listed in their calendar so I'm pretty sure most people who would visit this page will find something of interest. In fact tomorrow there is something called "Kozmik Artifactz" which certainly has me interested!

In any case, a big thank you to Dieter and the Underground ÄxpÄrten crew for not only playing io audio recordings, but for supporting and promoting underground music in general. Your work is much appreciated.

I Can Hear The Hiders Coughing MiniCDR Box Now Available

Release Preview: 2019 Mini CDR Box

So here it is ladies and gentlemen, the first of what I hope to be multiple releases for 2018.  As mentioned in my last post, I am going to be shooting for smaller, more frequent releases and this is the first.  It's not the vinyl release that I've spoken about as that is a few months down the road yet.  Instead, this release is still planted firmly in the digital realm albeit unlike my past three releases, this one is a MiniCDR.

Why a MiniCDR you may ask?  Well, simply put... because I obtained them for free and that means a cheaper purchase price for you.  You see, the prices I've been charging for all of my physical releases is based on how much the materials cost to make the release in question.  I don't charge for my time and I certainly don't make any sort of profit.  I'm just trying to keep as close to breaking even as I can.    So when an outstanding individual such as Scott Lennan (aka Bart Furp, creator of the Not Computing blog) offered up a stack of recordable MiniCDs for me to use, I looked over at the pile of spare lumber, the old tubes of acrylic paint, and the half full jug of epoxy resin I had and said "hell yeah... I can do something with this".  So I did.

Each MiniCDR comes with two new tracks ("I Can Hear The Hiders Coughing" and "Sontag Ist Sontag") with a runtime in the neighborhood of 18 minutes.  Each MiniCDR comes packaged in one of 30 wooden boxes (3 3/4" square and about 1 1/4" thick), each uniquely painted on both sides with an epoxy resin that has been mixed with acrylic paint.  Here's a look at all 60 box sides combined into one picture:

On top of that, you see that black and white card sticking out of the side of the box?  That's the V-card that holds the CD.  Here's another picture to show what I mean:

The art on each of the 30 V-Cards and CD labels is unique.  So yeah... 30 different drawings.  Here they are combined into a single photo:

Best of all, since I was able to keep my costs low, these will be for sale on bandcamp for only $3 (including digital download of the songs).  This release is scheduled for January 1st, 2019.

Goodbye January 1st, Hello 20th Century

I'll cut right to the chase.  After the beginning of 2019, I'm not going to worry about releasing material on January 1st anymore.  There are multiple reasons for this but the main one has to do with a desire to release smaller amounts of music more frequently... specifically in the vinyl format.  As it turns out, I've been experimenting a lot with record casting, and the results have become successful to the point that I believe I'll be able to release something in this format next year.  However since the suggested time limit for the total amount of songs on a single side of a record is around 18 minutes, only releasing one of these once a year on January 1st didn't make any sense.  It means that I'd only be releasing two or three songs a year.

So what is record casting you ask?  Well, it's the act of creating a silicone mold of a record (that's the purple part in the picture above) and then filling the mold with liquid plastic resin (that's the white stuff in the circle shape).  Once the plastic is cured... voila... a one sided record.  The working idea is that I would record a couple of songs, have it mastered for vinyl, cast the resulting lacquer, add artwork to the blank side, and then release.  

As I said above, all of this is estimated to take place sometime after the beginning of 2019, meaning that I still plan on doing a small release for January 1st, 2019 but I will go into detail about that in another post.

A Podcast From Portugal

Apparently all the way back in January of this year, some kind soul from the Radio Universidade de Coimbra out in Portugal featured io audio recordings in one of their TRIP series of podcasts.  They're into a pretty wide range of cool stuff, so it's definitely worth checking out.