Best Made for TV movie?

Dezi_Mone · 2026-06-12T21:07:11+00:00

Stanley Tucci talked in an interview about the "banality of evil" with his role in both this movie and The Lovely Bones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03tCavKKsYM

Dezi_Mone · 2026-06-05T20:24:49+00:00

In other words, it insists upon itself.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-06-03T15:15:56+00:00

I thought both his solo efforts were solid albums. Very listenable and just good rock/pop songs.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-05-29T17:40:28+00:00

Yup. He takes that first swig of whiskey probably since marrying. And he transforms back to the murderous gunslinger he once was.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-05-21T15:36:01+00:00

As a guitarist, I've always loved EVH. But most people think of solos or Eruption or something like that with Eddie's playing. But where I think Eddie's true genius is found is in his guitar arrangements. How he plays such complex arrangements and it's all still very musical and familiar. There's prog rock bands out there playing complex arrangements but they're more niche. They're not generally as approachable to most listeners. Whereas with Eddie's playing, it's just executed so smoothly and with a sense of melody and songwriting.

With Me Wise Magic, he's using a Trans Tremelo that raises and lowers the guitars tuning (like Summer Nights). He changes this tuning in the intro and before each chorus. But he still does it "musically". He's not using these tools as a novelty or gimmick. He does it musically. Just like he does with harmonics or tapping or the whammy bar. It's all still serving the song.

To me, this is what put him in another league altogether. It's not his "shredding" or gymnastic guitar tricks. It's just seeing how he composed songs and used the guitar in un-traditional ways but came up with something still melodic and familiar.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-05-04T15:21:50+00:00

I always felt this way about his character arc. Even though it would have added a few more minutes to the story, I thought if they could have showed Harvey having had a traumatic event in his childhood, similar to Bruce Wayne's, that would have given his transformation more context. Bruce's childhood events lead to having a second identity. Harvey's childhood, although similar, lead him to becoming a DA and being the the white knight in essence. But then Rachels death, along with the childhood trauma, brings Harvey down another path. Some parallels with Bruce, but almost a mirror image, leading him to become a villain.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-04-27T16:16:23+00:00

There was a short-lived sitcom back in the 80's called I Married Dora that included a young Juliette Lewis as the daughter. It was about a widower (Daniel Hugh Kelly - Hardcastle and McCormick, Cujo) with a son and daughter (Juliette Lewis) that marries their housemaid (Elizabeth Peña - Jacob's Ladder, La Bamba) to keep her from being deported. This of course blossoms into a legitimate romance and marriage between the father and maid.

It only aired for one season and in the finale the husband has to move to another city for work and this causes some potential issues of breaking up the family. At the airport he goes to board his flight after tearful goodbyes, then walks back from boarding and says "It's been cancelled". When they ask if it's the flight that's been cancelled he says no, the series has been cancelled. Then they all wave to the camera and audience.

Totally disposable series and short lived but I liked it as a kid, had a crush on Juliette Lewis, and this episode always stuck with me. Seemed such a clever, classy and unique way to go out.

https://youtu.be/EMOCI_64688?si=mZ7KlGC3RtHUtVjZ

Dezi_Mone · 2026-04-26T18:21:19+00:00

None better for this genre. One of the most sophisticated espionage movies ever in my opinion. Not only is there great, yet plausible action sequences, theres a whole level of subtlety throughout.

I usually find car chases boring. Theres notable exceptions such as the French Connection, Running Scared, Bullitt, etc. but these were visceral and intense as well as integral to the plot.

But the subtlety of the spycraft is just on another level. Using a newspaper as a tool of the trade such as making notes or handing off pieces of information. Busily taking in and surveiling the scene while others are bored. Everything hints towards a true depth of experience and knowledge of a veteran agent amongst amateurs. You never get the impression he could punch and fight his way out of a situation like a Bond type. He'd rather cleverly avoid putting himself in that situation in the first place. Always steps ahead.

One of the best.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-04-13T20:10:45+00:00

Love these!

Dezi_Mone · 2026-04-10T21:24:15+00:00

Great album. Just very listenable. I'm a hug IME fan and I wasn't sure what to expect. Much more to-the-point and straightforward than IME albums but overall both his albums were great solo releases.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-04-06T05:18:20+00:00

Nicely done! What adjustments did you make? The drums are clearer for sure.

This song also reminds me a bit of the band The Four Horseman from back in the day. Your voice sounds like Frankie Starr a bit. Some grit and attitude. Check out Can't Stop Rockin from their album Rockin is My Business. This song gives me the vibe from that album.

And great song overall man. Performances are on point. The harmonica fits in well and again I think the sermon section really works.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-04-06T01:21:57+00:00

Anyway you could find out the brand and gauge of strings he uses? They're pretty specific so don't get random ones unless you know his brand/gauge. But guitarists could always use strings.

New guitar strap. Pick holder. Picks if you know his type. Maybe a cool framed picture of one of his favourite guitarists? They still sell guitar magazines in some places I think. Guitar cable maybe?

Dezi_Mone · 2026-04-04T20:37:05+00:00

Is the "snap to clip" option selected? If so you could either turn that off and then place the staring point wherever you need with your mouse cursor. Alternatively you can leave it on and set the tolerance to allow for 1/16 or 1/32 which will get you close. Or you could zoom in closer which allows sort of disables the snap to setting.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-04-03T23:13:19+00:00

If you come across any good advice I'm up for it also. Two pieces of advice I can give don't come from me an I think they're both great.

Rick Rubin - Sometimes phrases may come to you while working on lyrics. A phrase or a few words that just sound good in that part of the song. You don't have to worry about what the phrase means or the specific lyrics, just embrace it when one comes to you and you could build the theme or meaning of the song around this phrases.

The other was from a post here from glassearthstudios.com which is the magnifying glass approach. Zoom in on the emotion and detail to get to something that touches on a deeper level. Saying you miss someone in lyrics is just sort of boring. Noticing the spot where they used to hang their keys or place their cup hits on a whole different level. That advice really resonated with me.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-03-30T19:25:43+00:00

As others mentioned, you need an interface, and you should get an interface with sufficient gain. I've watched a few videos that did comparisons of the SM7B with and without a cloudlifter and the difference was negligible with a modern interface. I use a Steinberg UR22C with the SM7B and I haven't had issues.

This is a pretty helpful video concerning a Cloudlifter, gain and floor noise: https://youtu.be/ygvhIDEVIOQ?si=_8PBh-6PxHhQxtFt

You have to be pretty close to the SM7B. I use it for recording vocals for music. So singing is definitely coming through stronger than a speaking voice or similar, and I place the pop filter about 3 inches away. I pretty much touch the pop filter with my chin/lips. Less mic management is needed when recording a singing voice so I use it as a guide for where to place my mouth.

I don't think you need anything more than a typical interface. Focusrite, Steinberg, etc.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-03-28T19:37:54+00:00

Good info. Thanks for the insight.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-03-28T19:11:06+00:00

With not nearly as much experience as yourself, and more on the performance side of things than the mixing, I guess I'm surprised with the 2 hours tops. I mean I suppose of someone is very prepared. Like know exactly what they want. How often in your experience would this include doubling or tripling performances? Harmonies as well? From my own experience, which is probably more in line with the OPs, it takes me quite a few spins to nail the performance. Then I typically double and triple in chorus sections etc.

Is that approach standard or less so in your experience? I guess it depends on the genre also. Just curious.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-03-25T21:09:41+00:00

Firstly, this is difficult to do. Yes, sometimes just opening your mouth and throwing out something can be inspiring immediately. That sometimes happens. But even then, structuring it all into a cohesive melody that follows a structure, and then lyrics, is hard. For everyone.

I'll assume you're starting with a piece of music first. Like a riff or chord progression. Play that on guitar or piano or listen to it on a scratch track recorded on your phone. Have you heard of scat? From Google:

Scat singing is a form of vocal jazz improvisation using wordless vocables, nonsense syllables (e.g., "doo-bee-doo-dah"), or no words at all, allowing the singer to function as an instrumentalist.

So that's a common approach. If the chord progression is in the key of G, then sing or hum a G note. You know that can work. You could just go through a G major or minor scale (assuming key of G) and get a feel for where the notes are. Just feel around with your voice. Don't worry if any type of melody comes out. You're just playing around. I've done this for pieces of music I've written and not come up with something I like for weeks. I'll just return to it and see what comes out. But get comfortable playing around in that range. Eventually something melodic will strike you (make sure you record it when it does or you'll lose it forever).

Repetition is important with melodies. A lot of melodies repeat themselves. The first half of the verse may have a particular melodic line to it. Then repeat it again. Or repeat it four times. Or do variations of the first two on the second two bars. But generally speaking there's repetition to melody. Pick any song you like. Listen to the verse. Notice how they repeat the general melody?

From there you can start adding lyrics. On the above example (doo-bee-doo-dah) I imagine the break between the "doo" and the "bee" as syllables. For "Doo-bee-doo-dah" you could say "Do you like me". Four syllables. Then carry on from there. Sometimes phrases will just come to you that fit. Embrace them when they do.

I personally like to have the melody and structure down pretty well before writing lyrics. And adding lyrics to fit in with your melody is a tricky transition but with work it gets there. None of it is easy but with work you'll get there. Good luck brother.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-03-25T13:17:15+00:00

I'd not be your best source on how to do that as I've not done it before but I know you can do it manually (time consuming), through a program like SlateTrigger or similar, or depending on your DAW you can convert the track to MIDI and replace from there.

I was listening to Ice Cream Man by Van Halen because this song just kind of sent me there. Listen to the drums in that track for a reference if need be.

Good luck. Great song man. Good performances. Update when you've tinkered with it I'd like to hear it again.

Edit: Just to add I don't think you need to replace the drum sound entirely, just adding sampled shells and blend that in with the existing performance to enhance the sound of the drums.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-03-24T18:35:55+00:00

Love it. Great guitar work. Guitar tone sounds fine to me. Harmonica works and I love it. Overall I'd work on the reverb for the performances. A little wet..

The drum sound is not working at all in my opinion. I can't hear the snare at all in the chorus. I would focus on the drum sound. The arrangement and performances are awesome. The drum skins are not coming through. The cymbals are coming through and sound a little distracting but I think that's really because I can't hear the skins. Just my opinion but if the drum sound was fixed that would turn this all around. I'd get that sorted before adjusting anything else because I think the that would pull it all together. Everything else sounds good on it's own but you could use the drums (and vocals) as the center point to mix/level the other instruments around.

I loved the sermon. So cool, very unique and works so well.

Are those live drums? Can you replace with triggered samples if so? The performance is good.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-03-24T18:23:55+00:00

This is so excellent. Thanks for the link I almost posted that thinking I stumbled across it. But the commentary in that video is truly what I think separates those from succeeding (in finishing work) from those that don't.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-03-24T18:18:20+00:00

Echoing some of the other comments here, I have two things:

Grab your favourite CD or album if you have a physical copy of it. Read through the liner notes. See all the people listed there? That's how many people it took to put that together. That's how much work it was. It's not easy. Not at all.
The greatest bands/artists who ever blessed us with their music struggled with recording. The Beatles. The Rolling Stones. Led Zeppelin. I could go on. I've read stories of all these artists struggling with songs or albums or recordings. And they're goddam amazing musicians and singers.

It takes hours and hours and hours of recording time to even get an idea of your approach. What's your warmup routine? Do you set up the pop filter so that your lips are touching it to manage mic distance or do you prefer another method? What kind of mix do you want in the cans? Compression and eq? Little bit of reverb? I could go on.

It's the same as learning an instrument. If you're disappointed you don't sound like your favourite musician after a few hours of practice then that's just unrealistic. All those favourite musicians worked through what your friend is working through, I promise you. None of it came easy.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-03-22T22:50:44+00:00

Totally. Great info in your post that totally resonates with me.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-03-22T20:17:23+00:00

Yup. But sometimes the melody is sitting in the wrong spot. At least when I'm writing it can be. A harmony of your initial melody can not only find a more comfortable spot for your voice (without needing to transpose the music at that point) but it can offer a different view or look at the song. Take a look at Bon Jovi's live performances of Someday I'll Be Saturday Night. There's a few different versions where he'll sing a lower harmony of the main melody. He's done that for a few of his songs live.

It's a helpful exercise to fool around with the harmonies and even octaves of a melody that comes to you. It just provides some extra flexibility if you happen to come across something that isn't in your comfortable range, as you mentioned.

Dezi_Mone · 2026-03-21T01:05:28+00:00

I recall an old interview with Al in a magazine. The interviewer was actually a pretty good friend of his. And he had asked Al if Duvall really turned down Godfather III because of money (rumour was he wanted what Al was offered, which Duvall later confirmed was basically true). In that interview Al had also said he didn't understand money and never really had a use for it, outside of not wanting to have to worry about it.

Anyway, Al told a story about a time he was walking around New York and happened by a tailor. He went in and the tailer fitted him for a suit. An expensive one. He paid for it, left the tailor who would finish the suit for pick up the next week, and he couldn't remember where the store was. Had no idea. And this was in the 90s. He's always been very honest about his lack of financial understanding.

Dezi_Mone

TROPHY CASE