RYAN STATES: News Journal

I've never been more involved with creating original music before. I've spent the past 2 years building a portable recording studio, familiarizing myself with daw recording, and working on my album.

The decision to mix the album myself has led me to an art form that I find very exciting. I've spent countless nights eagerly studying and training my ear. My life would be much simpler if I was only doing mix engineering. Also I'd be making money, not spending it. Mix engineering is far more complex than my previous experience in running live sound, deejaying, or making 8-track demos from my old home studio.

I'm deeply enjoying the process of collaborating with the musicians. Doing music notation, dealing with technical problems, being a producer, writing checks... can get a bit tedious. But there isn't anything else I'd rather be doing. I've never before been able do this-- I didn't have the budget, the instruments, or the gear for recording and mixing. Or the online networking and sharing of information.

It would have been extremely discouraging if someone could have told me the future, revealing how much time and money this would take. But every step of the way it's been an education and very creatively fulfilling. Not to mention an aid in future recording projects which shouldn't take nearly as long, especially if I'm performing a higher percentage of the instruments myself.

This album alone (not counting the studio investment) will cost over $15,000 which is 30% more than I projected. I've never bought or done anything nearly this expensive in my life. And hopefully it'll sound like I spent 10 times as much.

About half of the budget is for musicians alone. The figure does not including manufacturing or any promotional expenditures. I'd love to use even more musicians but next time it will have to be financed another way. But at least I can say that I did it my way. I'm responsible for all of the creative decisions with no label pressure.

Although there IS a lot of pressure. One strives to create a masterpiece. A record is like a business card. And it can determine which musicians and artists will want to work with me in the future. I want them to see that their performance will be presented in the best possible light.

At the moment I still have 14 parts that I need the musicians to record, and another 6 parts that I need to record myself. After that I can really dig into the mixing phase.


For the past 6 months my website traffic has been double the numbers of the previous 6 months. Every month exceeds the last, for two years straight. God bless hostbaby.

I learned that I live in a "modern marvel". It's no small feat transporting all the people, equipment, animals from one city to another by train. I'm on a train run from Denver to Tulsa. For the past 36 hours I haven't seen anything out my window except farms and the landscape. Just like every week. We just finished doing the west coast for 6 months.

It's a rare treat to perform someplace new, and I've never performed in Tulsa before. They have a new arena. Until last week in Denver I hadn't worn more than a t-shirt for a year. Suddenly I was in 3 layers with ear muffs and gloves. After this week in Tulsa it'll be winter again. We're going to Chicago, Cleveland...

We only get two seasons on the circus and it completely switches in only one week. We perform in the south all summer and in the north all winter, so that we never have to compete with outdoor entertainment/attractions.

After four and a half years of this I'm beginning to miss spring and fall. One time I went 12 months without ever seeing rain. It was an odd touring coincidence.

This morning I was awoken by a California earthquake. I was sleeping in my train room here in Anaheim, which is twice as close to the epicenter as downtown Los Angeles.

We weren't scheduled for a train run yet, so I wasn't expecting the train to move for several days. I thought, "Did they forget to tell us they're rearranging the train cars today?" I looked out my window to see how fast we were moving. But we were still in the same spot.

It's a bit confusing when you're awoken by your first earthquake while you're in your train room where you're accustomed to motion. The train car already sways while it's parked during heavy winds or whenever people walk down the hall.

It felt different from how the train normally begins to move. Often there is a jerking force at the start of a train run. But this felt like we were immediately moving fast without the bumpy beginnings. It was actually a smooth but forceful sensation. I think the train car suspension, like cars, accentuates the shaking. Still it wasn't as scary as the ride we rode yesterday at Disneyland.

I think that being on a parked train during an earth quake is one of the better places to be. It's only one story high, no upper floors to collapse on you. It's already designed for motion. You're not anchored to the ground.

I just hope that the tracks are good on our next train run. I don't want any high speed derailments. An earthquake during a train run would be a nightmare especially if we're crossing a bridge over a highway or river...

Today's earthquake was felt not only in LA but also in San Diego, Las Vegas NV, and Tijuana Mexico. It was a 5.4. The quake was felt over 200 miles away. We were only 15 miles from the epicenter which was 8 miles below the surface at Chino Hills CA.

I don't claim to know what really happened on 9/11, who was behind it, or why it happened. But I link to videos that raise questions. I link to them because I want to encourage dialog, debate.

Some things are clear. Building 7 was a controlled demolition that the city knew about and was expecting, I don't understand why this wasn't clarified in the official story.

The twin towers appear to be a controlled demolition although it's unclear who did it, or who knew about it in advance.

United Airlines Flight 93 was likely destroyed by the military after it was hijacked. We already know that the military has the authority to take out commercial flights in circumstances such as this.

It's unclear if a foreign power was responsible for the events of 9/11 or whether it was a coup d'état.

The pentagon was not struck by a large passenger jet. The pentagon won't release the videos of what occurred that day.

The US military manipulates the mainstream media and gives a skewed perspective. I don't understand why the official explanations are so far fetched. At this point I'm mostly left with questions, not answers. And it's no wonder why I no longer rely on network news for information.

True Story:

Last week at the Tuscon arena after the show was finished, and the lights came back on I looked to my left at the seat nearest my keyboard and discovered the reason it still smelled like poop even after the elephants left the stage. Someone, less than two feet away from me left a used baby diaper under their seat. It was taped closed. I guess the show was so good that they couldn't 'bare' to miss five minutes of it.

I used to work in a gourmet Mexican restaraunt in Chelsea. I cooked burritos for celebs such as Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart, and Joe Pantoliano, (who had a beef with my manager. It was quite vindicating... and an exhilarating performance I must say.)

My student/teacher piano lineage traces back to Franz Liszt via Jack Roberts, and on to Czerny, Beethoven, Haydn, Salieri… They may have been geniuses, but did any of those guys play elephant music? I think not.

I now cut my own hair.

I used to read the news on WHFH in Chicago, my high school's own radio station.

I won a sewing contest in 1983 and received a camera for the prize.

I still have a piece of a pencil in my arm from my partner in chemistry class. He didn’t like me very much. You could say we didn’t have much chemistry. Hah ha!!

I haven’t showered in five years without wearing flip-flops. There’s only a few exceptions when I was staying in a hotel instead of my train car residence.

While playing keyboards at the circus during the elephant act, I have to spit out my gum. The elephants track dust, hay, and hair into the air, and small particles always 'manage' to get into the chewing gum. That’s good luck, right?

I am a Humanist. I do not place my faith in the supernatural. (Or circus superstitions.)

I forgot the words to the national anthem while singing at a high school football game.

I always laugh hysterically while playing tennis.

I've never played golf... and I don't care.

While living in Texas I had to sell my cd collection for gas money. I got $3 for my Ben Folds Five album that I had autographed in Deep Ellum after a show.

For most of my deejaying career I used speaker cabinets that I built myself.

I kissed my first girl at age 5 and my last girl at age 19.

I kissed my first boy at 23.

I’ve been doing my own laundry since the sixth grade.

As a kid I met Grizzly Adams on a family vacation in Missouri.

I was electrocuted several times by the age of ten trying to build an electric bike, an automatic door opener in my bedroom, and customizing my record player by connecting two power cables to the amp simultaneously. I had a need for loudness early on...

In the fifth grade I installed speakers on my skateboard, and it worked.

I really wish I was working more on music right now, but I find myself busy trouble-shooting my Finale installation, figuring out how to use Adobe Illustrator, figuring out how to create a cd digital booklet of pdf's...and I don't know why Ai makes it so difficult to do something as simple as cropping a pdf without all the layers shuffling by when you view the booklet. I learned that I can create a single file of multiple (pages of) pdf's, without purchasing the entire Adobe Pro Suite or whatever. My mac came with a program called Automator which can do that.

Also I'm transferring audio files into my computer from my old 8-track and Roland keyboard workstation. It's not easy getting everything synchronized properly. It's like time travel when the only way to transfer an audio file is though an audio cable. It's not like simply moving around computer files.

The A/C has been out several more times. They've replaced the digital controllers twice, thanks to new management. But it's still too hot to store perishables in my room. It's too hot to have two bodies in one room. It's was 83 degrees Fahrenheit last night, and also today. That's WITH the A/C blowing. The digital controller in the hall shows that the temperature isn't getting down to it's target.

After a year of being on this train car, and the problem never being fixed I've started looking into purchasing a portable A/C unit. I wish I thought of this sooner. I'm discovering that all the powerful units require an exhaust hose. I can't modify my emergency window. I wonder if you can just set the hose in your sink. That's fine if it's just a drip, but what if the byproduct is water vapor? Will this work?

I'm bummed about having to spend $400-600 plus shipping, on an A/C unit which will take up my entire counter space. But I'll do it if I can resolve the exhaust problem.

Soon we'll be heading south for the summer months to perform in Vegas, southern California, Arizona, New Mexico. Last summer the A/C kept going out. Believe me it's difficult to sleep when it's 95 degrees inside.

We live in a tin can. There's no insulation from above or below. We get direct sun exposure on three sides. Our kitchens, and heat producing refrigerators, are inside our rooms. It would be nice if the windows could be opened instead of permanently shut.

I've already had to send my computer to the shop once before, probably for heat damage. Today it's acting up again. It's not recognizing my usb software security keys, therefore I can't open my music programs and work on my music or podcasts.

The train crew cut two of my bike locks Sunday to move the train. They did it at least 30 minutes before the announced time. They weren't communicating with each other, because I had already talked to porters that morning about removing my locks. One of my locks is used to store spare parts outside the train.

This wasn't the first time they cut one of my bike locks. Last time they didn't have any problems with reimbursing me the damage.

The debut album is behind schedule because of budget restraints and a grueling tour schedule. Every phase of the project, from recording to mixing, mastering, art...is dependent upon that weekly check every Friday. The record is expected to be released this Summer with the follow up record arriving near the end of the year. We're actually making three records at once.

Yes, I know, it's already been a lifetime in the making... but understand that I've only had a studio a few months. Plus we spent 5 weeks creating a new show, and recently did a stint in NYC where I had a million things to do, so the album was put on hold. I still managed to send out a couple charts to "Internet musicians" and we had a photo-shoot in Brooklyn.

It'll cost another $4,000 to finish the record, so we're just going to have to wait until July. I'm thinking about releasing a couple singles in advance for download only.

Albums are made much faster when the writer, arranger, producer, engineer and band aren't the same person. Having said that, there are at least twenty other people lending their creative talent to the record.

The singer/songwriter type material will be performed with musicians from around the world contributing. The album is expected to be sold at CdBaby. Downloads should become available in the months following at various music sites such as iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody and eMusic.

The debut album is, at it's heart, a love letter to NYC. It's about one's determination to achieve happiness despite the obstacles and separations. All songs are new. I wrote all but two of the songs.

There is a song with religious imagery about the end of the world, and the day after. There is a coming out song. Two songs of loss. One on suicide, one on 9/11. Several hit on my 'favorite' NYC theme; coming here but not being able to stay... Not exactly an album for doing pilates. Through it all there is a tone of hope and perseverance. Throw in a tune about new love and mix everything in an oversized gypsy bag and you have, Strange Town.

The music is guitar and piano driven 60s and 70s rock, for the most part. We also have rock organ, strings and winds. No loops or samples, just dirty old rock and roll. It's a musical tipping of the hat to singer/songwriter albums from the past.

The slow tempo tunes have hooks and usually last less than three and a half minutes. No long intros or instrumental sections. One song was written in Butte Montana in 1993 when my missionary companion got transfered. It was my first area, my training ground, and the oldest composition I'll likely ever release.

80% of the songs have never been on a circulated demo/mix tape because they're new. The remaining 20% will be revamped and properly mixed and mastered for the first time.

Here is a taste of something from the album. I'm still recording and mixing "Immigrant (Fish Out of Water)". This is a WORK IN PROGRESS.
http://www.ryan-states.com/music-group-28.html

Online Recording (aka Virtual Recording, Remote Recording, Internet Recording)

I'm talking about making an album with musicians who have home studios, or at least they "know a guy" with a studio.

If you live on a train online recording is priceless. I'm using lots of different drummers, guitarists... I deliberately wanted to network with musicians through the collaborations of this album. It's not enough to just know one drummer, for instance. What if I have a deadline and he's on tour? What if he relocates to a new city and doesn't have a studio anymore?

Using different musicians helps to diversify the sound. Each drummer uses a different drum kit, different microphones, room sound... Each guitarist has their own arsenal of stringed instruments.

It also helps to speed up the recording process since you're not depending one musician to do all 12 songs. You can spread the work around.

It's fun selecting which drummer will be playing with which sax player or bassist. You can put players who know each other on the same song, or you can mix it up.

My aim is to ask musicians to do things that I know they will succeed at. "Long distance" recording can go wrong in many ways. But I'm learning how to avoid the pitfalls. I'm collaborating with a guitarist in New Orleans. We were on the phone talking through the song, section by section. He emailed me 2-4 rough ideas per section. I'd select my favorite and then he'd record a perfect take of the riff, strumming, or melodic line.

I get asked this question a lot, "So how did you join the circus?"

In 1996 I was a student at the University of North Texas. I saw an ad on the bulletin board in the hallway next to the jazz office. It said, "KEYBOARDIST WANTED FOR GIGGING BAND". It was the only ad for a "gigging" band.

When I called the phone number I learned that it was the circus. They were currently in town playing at the Dallas Reunion Arena. I went down there and met the bandleader and was hired on the spot. When the circus train left town I was on it. I subbed for three months.

Four years ago I was looking for work and decided to return to the circus. I went online and found the email address of the music director. I informed him that I was available if needed. I expected something to open up within a few months. Fortunately they needed me ASAP. Two weeks later they flew me out to Norfolk Virginia to join the tour. I was hired based on the recommendation of the trombone player who was still with the company all these years later, only now he's a bandleader.

The A/C went out two more times this week. I have a feeling that they repair it by kicking the unit until turns on. My refrigerator may be the reason it gets over 90 degrees in my room even when it's cooler outside. A lot of heat emanates from behind the fridge. Also contributing to heat is the fact that the window is permanently closed. That's only partially true-- the window doubles as an emergency exit if you pull the cord and tear out the surrounding rubber.

I'm 2nd generation LDS (but no longer a believer or member.) My father was scoutmaster, general counsel, temple worker... My mother was stake primary president, seminary teacher... I was seminary president, full-time missionary in Montana, zone leader, trainer...

I was a believer who never doubted, not until the end of my mission. I began asking questions that no one could answer. I never expected to lose my faith in the church. I never believed that I could find a life outside the church (a sense of meaning or of community).

I never considered being gay as an option. I never imagined coming out. But gradually the answers came to me. I had lived such a sheltered life that I didn't know better than to believe what I had been told. I didn't self identify as gay because I didn't fit the given definition. But I've learned that there are lots of myths and stereotypes out there.

I am happier now than I ever was in the church. I had to ask myself if I could say goodbye to the life that I knew. It was extremely painful dealing with this struggle. And there have been some consequences. I never would have predicted which people would be accepting. It has changed my relationship with my family.

I left the church 11 years ago and came out 9 years ago. I'm happier being honest and leading a life that was meant for me. A life that's very fulfilling. I live life on my terms. I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoyed the single life (and having to make up for lost time. lol)

I now have a partner of 3 years. We live on a circus train. It's a bit crazy but not as insane as the life that I once convinced myself was right.

A big thank you to those who share their stories with those who may not yet see that there is hope. Coming to terms takes a great deal of courage and strength, but you don't have to go through this alone.

Hillary, Obama and John Edwards all have top advisors with long careers within the industrial military complex. Hillary and Obama are the two biggest recipients of health insurance contributions.

Kucinich has the best record within the Democratic Party. He supports healthcare for all. He never voted for the war.

Mitt Romney whole-heartedly embraces a religion that tortures homosexuals. (See the link on electroshock therapy.)

80% of those polled say they'd be willing to vote for a 3rd party candidate. Want to make a real change in Washington? Vote Green.

The number one cause of bankruptcy in America is from medical bills. 75% of "medical bankruptcies" occur with people who had full healthcare coverage before they were hit with the medical bills. The number one cause of homelessness in America is from massive medical bills.

America still has privatized health insurance. In America 18,000 people die per year because they do not have health insurance. What is the Department of Homeland Security doing about that figure? What are the doctors and nurses doing? 18,000 deaths-- these are war-like figures. Doesn't this make the insurance carriers and the sell-outs in Washington a terrorist threat? http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/sickos-for-sale/candidates/

What can the government do about internal threats like this? What should they do? What should the people do?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/what-can-i-do/

This week in the mail I received an $85 settlement check from Verizon Wireless. They got sued in New York for false advertising their "unlimited" plan. I was one the customers who got cut off.

They terminated my account for going over the limit, which was approximately 5 GB in a 30-day period. A friend of mine is a writer on the AMC TV show Mad Men. I just purchased the first season of the show at iTunes because I don't get TV on the train. That singular purchase exceeds 5 GB.

P.S. The A/C was out again today. It was 85 degrees inside. That's four outages in the past 10 days.

The power went out this morning for 45 minutes even though we're not on a train run. It went out again this afternoon.

The train crew is sealing off our door air vents, the only place air can escape from our rooms. This reduces the air flow from the A/C vents by 60-70 percent. This morning the train crew said they had "a regulation threshold thing" to do. As a result my door won't close at all. They left without checking to see if the door would close. I called them back and they fixed it.

The thermostat is in the hallway for the entire train car and all it's residents. Now the air conditioner will have to work twice as hard because it'll have to be 50 degrees in the hallway before it will get below 80 degrees in our rooms.

You can't open the windows on the train. Whenever the electricity goes out we lose all air flow. With the porters being ordered to seal the door vents people are beginning to predict that someone will likely die in their sleep from suffocation when the electricity goes out. I won't comment on whether something like this has happened in the past.

I've personally been affected by this low oxygen scenario, even when the door vent was open. You wake up very slowly, lathargic and barely conscious-- and taking deep breaths. You begin to relate to the metophor of the frog that slowly gets boiled to death.

I learned that their original objective was NOT to cut off the air supply (glad that's cleared up), rather they were supposed to replace the dirty old, rusty door vents. Instead they decided to screw into place solid panels on both sides of the door. It improves appearance, but at what cost? Somebody decided to take the easy way out. Is it impossible to order new door vents?


As a result of a recent outcry by the residents there is a new rule. Train crew can't enter your private room unless they notify you that they were there and leave a note explaining the reason. Last night I came home and found that somebody had delivered a new mattress. There's no need to leave a note, but it would be nice if I knew they were coming in advance so that I could tidy up.

Last week someone entered my room and knocked over my Audio Technica microphone. No one left a note but I discovered that my fire extinguisher was missing. I assume that it's being tested or replaced.

Last Wednesday I saw a porter giving someone in management a personally guided tour of people's train rooms after everybody went to work. I wonder if they were leaving notes.

Last week we went without A/C four days. That same week several of my electronic devices stopped working properly. I wasn't using them at the time because I know that you're not supposed to operate them at temperatures over 90 degrees. My MOTU audio interface has a flickering LCD display. Other devices that seem to be feeling the wear and tear of being on this train are my computer, dvd player, and my UPS backup batteries which have been triggered 10-20 times per week on average.

My battery system cost me $400 three years ago. It already needs to be replaced because I'm only getting 15% of the original battery time that I used to get.


On the positive side my home became smoke free. After three years of lobbying the management they finally created a no-smoking policy inside the train. It was long overdue because you have 6 to 12+ people sharing same amount of air you'd have in a 1 or 2-bedroom apartment.

I watched 15 short clown gags the other night. I wanted to see some of the new clowns perform, plus they guilt-tripped me into staying and watching. "What kind of neighbor are you?" "What kind of friend are you?" [insert Hungarian accent] A lot of people turned out to show support. I met a contortionist, a composer, and an orchestrator. It's not a bad life on the circus, so long as you don't have any attachments to air, electricity, clean water... or the notion of privacy. lol

GOOD NEWS
1) My partner and I just celebrated our three-year anniversary.
2) My computer is back from the shop.
3) I completed another circus tour and I don't have to play that music anymore. 799 shows was more than enough.

BAD NEWS
1) Drama at work.
2) Only 3 out of the last 7 days had A/C.
3) 92 degrees in my room all night.

Can anyone help me find a store, online or otherwise, that carries non-fluoride and non-whitening toothpaste? I remember when most stores offered a choice but times have changed.

I've decided to get imported bottled water. I couldn't believe how great it tasted! Train water is not good. We hook up to a hydrant that doesn't necessarily come from the treated public water supply. Most of the bottled water in the US (Aquafina, Dasani, Poland Spring) comes, at least in part, from tap water and is likely to contain fluoride among other chemical by-products and pollutants. It's probably safer to drink tap water because it's government regulated.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/01/1435240