Decided, since I now have an operating recording studio, I'd offer my services.
If you need a live drum track for your musical project, message me on AirGigs. I charge $60 for 8 discrete individual tracks that you can add to your song and mix / EQ however you want. Follow the link if you're interested. There are audio samples of my work with  hali  peppercoyote  foxamoore as well as my old metal band By Blood Alone.

https://www.airgigs.com/user/Runtt

A couple of weeks back I had opened myself up too suggestions on what style of music I should write and record my first song in years in. I only got one suggestion and that was from  PunkTiger He suggested 'I do it in a genre I was really familiar with. "PUNK". So, I started on it. Got drums and two guitar track recorded. I need some plug-ins though.

Does anyone have links you could share to download decent, FREE guitar amp and cab modelers I can use in Reaper for Mac? Could also use some virtual instrument plug-ins since I no longer own a bass.

Thanks!

Okay.....

Everything is working. Reaper is talking to the Focusrite module. I'm getting signal. Time to start recording.

My question is, since I play multiple instruments and will be tracking in real time, what music style / genre of song would you like me to complete first? Most of you know my regular style is in rock / indie rock and punk.

What would you like to hear from me first off right out of the gate?

Let me know in the comments. I will attempt a song in the genre with the most hits.

PLEASE, NO TECHNO. I'm a musician, not a DJ.


CHEERS!

After months of trying to get my recording hardware and software working, I finally have a working pair. Reaper DAW and a Focusrite Safire Pro 40 firewire interface. Both work with Mac OS X El Capitan.

So many setbacks. Bought a mid 2010 Mac Pro. Tried to instal a new SSD. That failed. Bought a different brand that worked.

Loaded Logic 9 onto the SSD. Won't work with the current Max OS X El Capitan. The 'update' meant having to spend $200 for Logic X. Fuck that noise!

Bought Reaper DAW. Works. $60.

Bought a PreSonus Firestudio interface. Updated software wouldn't work. Wouldn't talk to Reaper. FUCK! Returning that.

Bought the new Focusrite Pro 40 firewire interface. Working. Talking to Reaper.

I've had this Mac Pro ready for at least 4 months.
Time to fire up this new set up and see what I can crank out.
So many ideas. So many different genres I want to work in.

All I know is the first song will most likely be epic.

Holy shnikies! So many favs!

Since I got over 100 favs in the past couple weeks from all the new stuff I posted in my gallery, it would be really tedious to go through and thank all who faved individually. So, I'm thanking you all right here.

For all the new watchers and favorites, THANK YOU ALL!
I really appreciate it.


Cheers!

Seeing as I'm about to be ready to start writing and recording new music, should I open a Patreon account?

On one side, I have absolutely NO IDEA how to do it or how it works.
On the other side, it will force my creativity and allow me to table in all sorts of musical styles as well as get reacquainted with playing guitar, keyboards and bass again.

What do you think?

That went by WAY TOO QUICKLY.

So, I drove in on Thursday. Thursday afternoon falafel from the gyro place across the street, hanging with the dynamic Oddy and the best AV crew EVER in the ballroom. Thursday night, practice with the gang  foxamoore,  peppercoyote and  rhubarbthebear in a roomful of Germans and Brits. Bed at 3am.

Friday, up at 7am, coffee from Crazy mocha (GREAT COFFEE), breakfast sammich from Fernando's and expedited reg line for my day pass. (THANK YOU MONGOOSE!) OH, and CONGRATULATIONS to Mongoose and Witchie Bunny on your engagement! Cheers to you both! Okay, next, off to opening ceremonies, which I missed. Up to my room to suit up. Yakuta, check. Over the shoulder bongo, check. Back to the ballroom to set up my kit and sound check with the band.

Set up went eerily smooth. I mean, everything, drums, percussion and cymbals all fell right into place. that NEVER happens, especially with that friggin' rack I use. Soundcheck for 1 1/2 hours. Again, EERILY smooth. I'm thinking, "OH SHIT" I'm going to play horribly. It's just how the music gods work. terrible practice before a concert, GREAT CONCERT. great practice before a concert, TERRIBLE concert. Well, the concert gods were smiling down on this awesome group of musicians that night.

Concert time! So, we're all back stage as people are shuffling. Fox asks "How many so far?"
Pepper looks and says "About 40." It's 5 minutes till showtime. So, we're all like, "Meh, it's Friday at 3pm. We may get about 100 by the end of the show. CUE Hashtag opening music. We walk out, the place is packed. The entire middle section and about 10 rows in on each of the left and right hand sides are full. HOLY FREAKIN' SHINIKIES! We go right into "Suit Up". The place erupts.

I've played so many concerts with so many bands. This moment topped it all. And, not to say I haven't had a majorly amazing time with Matt Ebel. The concerts with him have been wonderful. Something about this particular show. There was magic happening in real time. Hard to describe to someone who is not a musician. 'Stellar' seems an appropriate word. We all locked and played well. The crowd was electric. After the concert, Fox and pepper lead a conga line to the dealers room to purchase the new CD. THANK YOU ALL who attended. You made a special moment that much more special. CHEERS!

The rest of my time was hanging with the awesome  ablephellan,  Rhubarbthebear,  cosmik for dinner. I met a few other fellow musicians this year.  Malcolmthebear and members of the AC Band of Furs. All great players. Hoping to recruit them next year for Proto Collie's Furry Funk Dance Band.

I'd like to thank  KoiVixen,  BryantFox and  khaski_hesky for the room share. You all are awesome. I'm just sad I couldn't stay the whole weekend.

Thank you to everyone!

So, as most of you all know  foxamoore and  peppercoyote are debuting their collaborated CD, "#Hashtag", at this coming Friday, July 1st at Anthrocon 2016. They are also playing it front to back LIVE in the main ballroom Friday afternoon at 3pm.

Your's truly will be backing them on the drum kit. That's right. Me, Fox Amoore, Pepper Coyote and, of course,  rhubarbthebear will also be joining us on bass guitar. It's going to be one event you DO NOT WANT TO MISS!

I will be playing the entire concert IN FURSUIT. You heard me. ME playing drums in full fursuit. It's going to be epic.

I urge all of you to come join us and BRING FRIENDS.
Mark it in your schedule here:
https://anthrocon2016.sched.org/eve.....-debut-concert

And check out a sneak preview of the CD here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/20313170/

Hope to see you there!

CHEERS!

Just bought a new, white drum head for the front of my kick drum. Should I paint my name in big, jagged, drippy letters, or should I commission an artist and make whatever it turns out to be into a decal?

I've known him for a few years. We chatted a lot on the internet and virtually hung out in Second Life. So, after a long period of silence I decided to try and contact  Blackberry only to find out that he passed away earlier this year from complications with medical issues. I remember him telling me he was going into the hospital and would be off internet for a few days. I'm heartbroken. He was such a gentle soul with great taste in music. I really wanted to meet him in real life. We were kindred spirits, interested in a lot of the same things. Now he's gone and I'm truly depressed.

 blackberry passed away on February 12, 2016.

"My heart has joined the thousand, for my friend stopped running today."
Rest in peace my friend.....

I just found out long time grey muzzle J. Badger lost his battle with cancer. I've known J for nearly 15 years. From his attendance at Furfright to his work at Anthrocon and other conventions. I remember him working in some manor or other with fursuiters, be it photography or fursuit games. He was a community contributor and will be greatly missed.

Rest In Peace, J. Badger......

Some of you may know, some may not. I was asked to play drums on  Foxamoore and  peppercoyote's new CD called "#Hashtag".

Well, it happened! Here's a little taste:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/20081078/

A song called "See You Next Year", written by Pepper and accompanied by Fox Amoore and me on drums. GO FAV IT and show your support. We will be performing the CD LIVE at Anthrocon this year with  RhubarbTheBear.

If you are going to AC, DON'T MISS THIS EPIC CONCERT! It will be on Friday, July 1st at 3pm in the main ballroom. Add it to your AC schedule here: http://anthrocon2016.sched.org/even.....-debut-concert

Hope to see you all there! ^^

CHEERS!

Are there any musicians out there who are well versed in their instrument who would be able to perform next year at AC 2017?

The idea is to learn an hour to 2 hour long set of dance, funk tunes to be performed live. That's right! A LIVE band of furries playing killer funk and dance tunes. Matt and I are on board. We got Able Phallen on bass. We need horns, maybe guitar. If you are interested, let me know and I'll forward you to Proto Collie.

So, I just saw the furry documentary, Fursonas.

I was a little disappointed that my interview never made it to the final cut, BUT I'm also glad it didn't. I'll tell you why.....

Fursonas starts off light hearted with interviews from many walks of life in the community. You get a good idea what it's all about as a whole from the very different points of view of these individuals. Much of focus is on Boomer The Dog and Diezel Raccoon. Two VERY different people. I won't go into detail. It also has a wonderful speech given by Anthrocon chairman, Uncle Kage.

The first and second act are well done. You get to know these people in a personal way and understand where each are coming from. Dispelling myths while giving you an aside look into there regular lives.

Act 3 was disappointing. It degenerated into the piss on Kage hour. Using public footage of Uncle Kage's rants during his "How To talk To The Media" panels and a webcast he did of wine sampling, Dominic played footage of Kage going off on Boomer and Chew Fox who dared appear on television. Lots of mud slinging and profanity ensued. Shit like this benefits no one. Not sure why he decided to allow such a good documentary to fall flat at the end. Maybe he thought a little controversy would sell tickets? Those who know me personally know I never get involved with stupid shit like in fighting. I don't take sides. I was really disappointed and I was relieved my interview was left on the cutting room floor. Though, I DO appear in fursuit very briefly posing for a photo with Dominic.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents....

That weekend was a blur.....

I'll say this first and get one with the report. Apart from the poor time slot for the concert  hali and I did, the con itself was as rockin' as it was last year. The Fox & Peppers show was great, as well as Bandthro with Fox Amoore, AJA, Korozjin, Cosmik, Rhubarb, Dolphinboy and Pepper Coyote. Along with the jazz set featuring Amadhia and also Rhubarb, Cosmik and Dolphinboy. Cosmik's DJ set killed!

Hanging out with my peers is very special and emotional for me. I love these guys, and girl. The best musicians in the fandom under one roof. You wouldn't think it would happen twice, but it seems it's becoming a trend.

HUGE thanks to the TFF staff and AV crew. A very special thank you to  dolphinboy for the use of his awesome drum kit.

The rest of my time was spent hanging out and fursuiting. I was able to join in on a fursuit parade for the first time in nearly a decade. So much fun. Went and ate at Al's authentic, Chicago Italian Beef sandwich shop 4 times. The Italian beef sandwiches and Chicago hot dogs were simply scrumptious. I'm still shitting meat.
Went to the guest viewing of Zootopia at a movie grill restaurant. The food was pretty good and I got to see Zootopia for a second time, FREE.

All in all, I had a very good time and hope to do it again next year.

Heading to TFF tomorrow. Flying out of Logan in Boston on a non-stop flight to Dallas.
Matt Ebel concert is Friday night at 6pm in the main ballroom. Come see the show! It's going to be killer. And, don't be afraid to come up and say, "high". ^^

CHEERS!

Just got back from seeing Zootopia. It's the first Disney flick with an original story I've seen in decades. I enjoyed it. The whole look of the film is beautiful. The rendering is astounding. Not just the fur, which the animators went through a painstaking process to accurately produce the detail of every individual animal. The scenery and vegetation went through an equally arduous process. Add to it a well written mystery story, though predicable, was well done.

I will own this once it is released on Blu-ray.

I’m so excited I could explode.

 hali and I will be performing all of Matt's album “Goodbye Planet Earth” [ http://store.matthewebel.com/album/.....e-planet-earth ] synchronized to the 2005 movie “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” LIVE ONSTAGE this March!

From Matt's Journal....

It’s been a while since I could announce this, but we always ask. The last time we did this was at Further Confusion in San Jose, but now it’s happening at ROFcon/FursonaCon in Virginia. This is something I dreamed of doing ever since I started work on the album back in 2007, yet I’ve only been able to make it happen once. Why? Because licensing, that’s why.

For a convention to be able to book THIS show, they not only have to get us there for the performance, they have to pay for the rights to publicly display the film from Miramax. It’s actually not as expensive as you’d think, but when some of these cons are already over budget just from renting the hotel space… you can see why we haven’t been able to do this one more than once so far. ROFcon, however, is a Sci-Fi con that just added a Furry sub-convention to its family. So… if there was a more perfect place to do Goodbye Planet Earth LIVE, I honestly can’t think of one.

If you can’t make it to ROFcon, don’t worry… we’ll also be performing the entire album at Texas Furry Fiesta and Fur the ‘More. If those cons can’t afford the movie licensing, we’ll still play the whole album nonstop (with a few new songs as well, maybe even some requests).

Some of these cons are checking to see if they CAN get the licensing… the updated list will live at:
http://matthewebel.com/2016/01/25/g.....et-earth-live/

And back to Runtt......

Remember furs, your support is always needed for Matt and I to be able to do this. Like your tradition and digital furry artists, music furs pour there hearts and souls into their craft to bring YOU, the furry fans, something different and very special. Without YOU, we can't do this. So, support your furry musicians. HOW? Go to the scheduled concerts if attending a con. Buy CDs and t-shirts. Tell your friends. Tweet about us. Like us on Facebook.

Oh, and join the Officer's Club on Patreon! ^^
https://www.patreon.com/matthewebel?ty=h

Thanks for reading and hope to see you at Texas furry Fiesta!

Ashes To Ashes.....

Still struggling to find the right words. David Bowie was a name I grew up with. It was about 1978 that I really started listening to him. A childhood friend of mine happened to have the "Heroes" Lp. He never listened to it. He was into disco and pop. One day I popped it on his little record player and my music world changed for the better. I never heard anything like this. It was scary and fascinating. Not too long after that he traded the record to me for the "Grease" soundtrack. I got the better deal.
I played that LP to death. As I began to have money I would spend it on a totally different genre. My taste at the time was Kiss and lots of classic rock. But really, anything I could get my paws on. After Bowie, I started listening to The Ramones, DEVO, Talking Heads and Blondie. The Knack and the Kinks were in there as well. But I always went back to Bowie. I began snagging up earlier stuff and found out, OH! He wrote THIS stuff too. Okay.
What I love about him is his ability to evolve. From folky to gleam rock to avant gard, soundscapes, soundtracks, dance and punk. He taught me music could be anything. Music can be expressed in so many ways with both sound and vision. He is in my top 5 most influential musicians. I'm so sad he's left us. But, he left us with one last LP. I've heard a few tracks from it. I will own it very soon.

David, you were and inspiration, a cherished musician and composer and amazing artist. Rest In Peace, Starman.....

Hi all!

As you know, I play drums for  hali. Last year I moved, with my boyfriend, to a new house in Springfield, MA. Hali and I set up our practice and streaming space here. We have a 'Hack n' Tosh' computer which we stream and record. Today I uploaded Logic Pro 9 and will be ready to start recording some new material as soon as I learn how to use it. I've worked with Pro Tools before. This seems to be similar.

My first order of business will be to record a few tunes I had written to compliment my comic, "Life In The Co-Op" printed by Rabbit Valley Comics and available under the Spooo Presents titles here:
https://www.rabbitvalley.com/depart.....e-in-the-Co-Op

It's been way too long and I need to start making music again.

It's official!

TFF has asked  hali and I back for another concert this year. We are in the works to put on a bawls out ROCK SHOW. Lots of new material and stuff from Matt's vault of songs. Stuff he and I have NEVER PLAYED live. Possibly songs HE has never played live until now.

It's going to be KILLER.

If you are going to TFF, PLEASE come to the concert. Tell your friends. Well, BRING your friends. It's gonna be one HELLUVA show.

Remember, support your furry musicians. Without YOU we can't do this.
Check out Matthew Ebel's stuff here: http://www.mathewebel.com
Show some love and support and join The Officer's Club here: https://www.patreon.com/matthewebel?ty=h

CHEERS!

Hi all! Well, it's been a hectic couple of years with me playing drums and recording with Matthew Ebel and work and moving. I got behind in nudging Diman for the next issue of Life In The Co-Op.

Well, yesterday I nudged and today just got a reply. He asked me to keep on him and to set a deadline. I felt March would be a good amount of time. I'm going to push for 2 issues this year. The next Life comic and the second half of "Tales From The Co-Op - Freedom part 2" for a fall release. The original artist seems to have forgotten or just doesn't want to do it. So, I'll see if Diman wants to finish it.

Hopefully we can get the ball rolling and start pushing issues out more steadily again.

That's it for now. Wish us luck!

This is cut and pasted from  satyrwilders journal.... Any suggestions would be a great help. Note him or follow this link to comment on his journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7257584/


So I got my holiday bonus last week and while it was fractionally less than the one I received last year (there is a portion of it being paid directly to my 401k account), the fact that I am not in the process of buying a house this year means that I actually have some of it to use for discretionary spending. Which is a nice thing, though, so was being able to buy my first house.

That said, with some of that money, I'm thinking that maybe this is the year I finally work on getting a fursuit made. I'm still not 100% certain, but it's something that I am considering and leaning heavily towards.

That said, I'd greatly appreciate some help from you guys. I've done a fair amount of research, but word of mouth is so much better, in my opinion because so many of you have direct experience that you can share and insight that will no doubt be very useful.

To that end, I'm in the market for a good ref sheet to be able to provide (long overdue on that anyways). Not to mention that I'm likely to do a slight redesign on the character for the sake of ease with the suit. As much as I'd love back mounted wings, I think I'd have a harder time with them, so it's likely to be arm wings for the design.

For the suit, my preferences would be more on the realistic looking side, rather than toony. I may entertain something in the middle of the two styles, but that's a bit harder to meld with an avian. And obviously a fursuit maker who can/will do an avian suit. I've seen plenty of awesome bird suits out there, so I know there are options out there and quite likely ones that I've missed in my research.

So yeah! If any of you could lend a hand and some wisdom and expertise, or point someone you think might have some advice in this direction, I would be most appreciative!

You' all rock!

So, my Halloween afternoon will be recording with my new cover band 'Rusted Shame'. We're making a demo of three songs to pass around to local clubs and bars to solicit gigs.
The songs we decided on are "Cherub Rock" by Smashing Pumpkins, "Breed" by Nirvana and "Cumbersome" by Seven Mary Three.

My evening will be hiding from trick or treaters and watching horror films.

I'm a huge fan of the horror genre. From slasher, crazy, paranormal to monsters and some sci-fi. I've seen and own so much of it. Was wonderi8ng if there are any furries who also enjoy horror movies who could recommend some I may not have seen or just plain overlooked?

Give me your lists! ^^