Recorded 13 November 2008

The time, she is a-flying, just the second full week of November and these are the topics on With A Voice Like This:

• My first caroling gig of the year this weekend
• A new addition to the website (in the upper right corner)
• A question to you about what type of calendar you like to see (Take the poll below)
• Contest update (and a huge hint how you could be the next entrant)
• A very vague hint at next week’s show

I played A Round for the Holidays from my Christmas EP found at CD Baby. Take a listen and see what you think. It’s a nice gift for the Holidays as well.

Links from the Show

• Come and see me at my first caroling gig of the year
• EventCalendar WordPress Plugin by Alex Tingle seen at www.WithAVoiceLikeThis.com
• Gigs Calendar WordPress Plugin by Dan Coulter seen at www.4-AM.net/calendar
• All the information about the Contest
• Cyber PR newsletter sign up page

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077 – Announcements, a Question & an Addition originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 13 November 2008. Tweet This

Recorded 6 November 2008

This is the first anniversary show of With A Voice Like This, it’s been a full year since I started this show and this show comes full circle. Back to where I started with the Christmas EP With A Voice Like This Christmas.The topics on this episode include:

• What’s happening with the CD Baby listing of my CD both physical and digital download
• The pricing structure for the CD
• CD Baby’s e-mail about how to improve your CD sales for the holidays
• Update of the digital distribution of my Christmas CD
• All about the Contest running through December 15
• A nod to the Podsafe Music Network for making my music available
• A brief look at what’s up for this show going forward

I play We Three Kings from my CD

And the return of the I have list as well.
I Have:

• A Holiday CD available on CD Baby in both CD and Digital Download
• The CD sent out to 10 digital retailers
• My first Sale through CD Baby
• Good ideas for the future shows

Links from the show

• The CD Baby listing for With A Voice Like This Christmas
• The Spreadsheet for all the digital retail stores that will carry the CD (Important for the Contest)
• My listing on the Podsafe Music Network
• The details about the contest to win my Holiday CD

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076 – An Anniversary, a CD and a Contest originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 7 November 2008. Tweet This

Keep checking in for a listen and look at what we are doing and where we are going as artists.  I think you will find it an interesting journey.

Gary originally appeared on 4-AM on 4 September 2008.

Gary originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 4 September 2008. Tweet This

I didn’t record a show last night for a few reasons, not the least of which was preparing for the GNI Meetup this weekend, but largely in part due to testing of online video services. This started out as a test of video recorded live to the service (which will still happen), but grew into placing video on the site with higher production values. Hence, this post. The three I chose are below: Google Video, Vimeo and YouTube (Yes, I realize Google owns YouTube, but they interact with the web differently). I quickly put together a test video and so all things would be as equal as I could make them, uploaded that video to each service and embedded them, no WordPress plugins were used (or harmed) in the making of this test.

Here’s where you come in, if you’re willing to help. I have my front runner based on my experience and quality checks, but I admit I don’t know everything there is to know about these services. So if you could watch the three, take the quick poll afterwards and leave me any additional thoughts,knowledge or experience you have in the comments of this post, that would be great. So without much further ado, here it is, me times three:

Google Video Test

Vimeo Video Test

YouTube Video Test

Take Our Poll

And yes, this does mean that something is coming, very, very soon… perhaps even by the next episode of the show, but I’ll say no more for now.

Head to Head to…Head? originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 18 July 2008. Tweet This

recorded 10 July 2008

In this episode:

4-AM Update (00:00:40)
A brief update this week with special surprise. I talk about video posting and which services I’m looking at top use for the 4-AM website and then I give you a brief taste of our sound with a excerpt of  the Come See About Me arrangement we did as a group the previous week. I also slip it in at the end of the show to close it out for the evening.

At Any Rate (00:06:20)

MyAWOL – An upcoming web 2.0 service you might want to know about and watch (it’s an acronym for My Artists WithOut Labels). It’s going to be part Music database (to launch within the next month or so), part online music community for unsigned artists, part indie label, part online venue and more. That’s a tall order to fill, and it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. I reference a TechCrunch Article and a Digital Music News Article to give as much information as possible.

Last.fm and Merlin – It would seem that Last.fm’s issues aren’t over after the fallout with Warner Music. according to the Hypebot.com Article and The Register Article, The global indie rights organization is stalled in certains aspects of their talks with last.fm and is warning its membership about the agreement currently in place. While this is to be expected when defining and redefining new delivery methods and revenue streams, among other things, there seems to be a of old school issues and mindsets on both sides here. There is a huge opportunity here, let’s see how it’s embraced. There’s probably another post in here somwhere as well.

Comments From the Podcast Gallery
Comments from fellow podcasters KimFenolio of Girls Night In, TVSeriesFinaleFan of The Plug show and SuperMom7000 of TV Talk.

You can always call 630.492.0487 and leave your comments via voicemail as well as send them in e-mail to contact@WithAVoiceLikeThis.com. I’d love to hear from you and play or read your comments on the show.

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061 – Hear Us Now, Pay Us Later? originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 12 July 2008. Tweet This

recorded 03 July 08

On this episode of With A Voice Like This:

At Any Rate (00:00:54)
I take a look at the Judges’ ruling made Thursday in Viacomm’s suit against Google which instructs Google to turn over approximately 12 terrabytes of YouTube data to Viacomm, including Login IDs and IP addresses of users. People have issue with the case itself, but it’s to be expected that Corporate representatives of traditional media and the Internet go head to head to help definewhat’s allowable and what isn’t. Is the customer’s loss of privacy acceptable collateral damage in the court battle?

4-AM update (00:09:00)
There was a lot to talk about again this episode regarding 4-AM, the group and the website. So I talked about a lot of the work I’ve done on stage.4-am.net before go live. Plugins galore, starting with the Search Engine Optimization plugin in All in One SEO Pack and all that’s gone into that. Then the new tiltviewer Photo Gallery using both the NextGEN Gallery and NextGEN FlashViewer plugins, which are great and you need to see what you can do with them using your own flickr account. Amazing.

Then a quick discussion of what’s happening with the group, a new business direction and of course another new arrangement we did. This week’s was the Supremes’ Come See About Me. And we’re getting closer to a gig where we can do a live video stream so you all can see what 4-AM is all about.

And of course, Comments From the Podcast Gallery.

Speaking of, don’t forget you can always call in your Comments From the Podcast Gallery to the comment line at 630.492.0487. I’m more than happy to have your comments and to put them on the show.

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060 – Come See About Me Or YouTube Or… originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 4 July 2008. Tweet This

This episode of With A Voice Like This is the conclusion of how I’d like to see things work in regard to music and the Internet and distribution of both responsibilities and money.

• Some quick clarifications from statements made last show.
• A brief recap of Episode 057‘s (Part 1) major points

Music and the Internet is a Virtual Venue

• Performers perform (Streaming)
• Consumers pay (e.g. cover charge, all inclusive charge)
• Consumers can also buy recordings and other merchandise above entrance fees
• Venues (ISPs,  applications) are responsible for reporting and payment

Database

• With new code, all streams, downloads, etc. are tracked and put in a database (Who holds the DB TBD)
• No more sampling needed, just a direct pull of tracks from the database

Collecting

• Performance Rights Organizations (PRO) could still collect, but pay based on actual numbers, not samplings
• No PRO could collect for non-members and keep money if the performers either don’t join, can’t be found or don’t claim their money
• Artists, Authors, Lyricists and Publishers responsibility is to secure a code so they are credited and paid for their works or not paid by their choice.
• Any music without the code is flagged in database and action taken (example of software recognition at EveryZing.com)

Comments From The Podcast Gallery

The Down side

This discussion is an overly simplistic layout of a very complex idea. Currently the Orphan Works Act almost passed in Congress and it seems very similar to what I’ve outlined here. You can hear it discussed at great length on Webcomics Weekly #38 from a visual artist’s point of view and its major weaknesses. I feel I’ve taken some of the things into account that were ignored in the Orphan Works Act and although not exactly the same, the pitfalls could be very similar.

On A Lighter Note

Here are examples of some voiceover work I had just recently done.

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058 – My View – Music And The Internet Part 2: The Implementation originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 23 June 2008. Tweet This

A friend asked me in the aftershow of the Is This The Rights Thing To Do? series of episodes (047, 048 & 049) How I would like to see things happen with music rights and the Internet, so here it is, or at least Part 1.

At Any Rate
This week Warner records pulled out of its deal with Last.fm because the money wasn’t good enough. See Gerd Leonhard’s take on the situation.

Music on the Internet is Virtual Inventory

• The three types of inventory
• Tracking inventory

Tracking Mechanism (code) for the inventory

• The 4 (or more) pieces of information the code holds
• Where the code resides
• Existing tracking capabilities
• No more sampling in place of actual tracking
• Retrofit back to songs with copyright of 1923 or later
• Must be in place by 2018

Comments From the Podcast Gallery

Next Week
Next week will be the second part of this discussion Music and the Internet Part 2: The Implementation, where I talk about the roles of the Artist, ISPs, PROs and more in implementing this mechanism. Join me Live at 7:00pm CT on Thursday, June 19 or call in your Comments From the Podcast Gallery to 630.492.0487.

Listener’s Choice

This episode’s choice comes from Kim Fenolio, and it’s Summertime by Brother Love.

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057 – My View – Music And The Internet Part 1: The Mechanism originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 13 June 2008. Tweet This

This episode is about building the band’s website and some input form its’ intended audience…you, including the polls at the last blog entry titled Poll Dancing – Bleeding Edge Style and a discussion of the results to this point. Also discussed:

• Some of the decisions about why the website incorporates a blog
• Where that blog belongs
• Some of the plugins used in the blog
• Some that are still being sought
• The tone of the website

And of course Comments from the Podcast Gallery. Podcasters giving feedback included Kim Fenolio, one of the hosts from Girls Night In.

This episode’s Listener’s Choice is one of my own, The Truth by an Austrian a cappella trio named Mauf via the Podsafe Music Network.

Links from this episode:

My Polls about the 4-AM website hosted by PollDaddy.com

The staging site for 4-AM

Contact Form 7 WordPress plugin

Live365 Internet Radio

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053 – Where’s That Website At? originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 19 May 2008. Tweet This

While working on the 4-AM website, I had a couple (okay, more than a couple, but I’ll start there) decisions to make about what goes on the website and what will work best for my target audience which is bleeding edge, New Media early adopter types like you. Yes, you are, you’re reading this, aren’t you? Anyway, that’s why I’m asking you. It’s always best to go straight to the source and there you are. Let me know what you think, I have no doubt that you will come up with some things I’ve never even thought of, you’re good like that. The other choice works even if you choose one of the choices in the list, so don’t hesitate to add it, if you think of something.

Thank you for letting me know what you think.

Poll Dancing – Bleeding Edge Style originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 15 May 2008. Tweet This

Episode 50 of With A Voice Like This and in this episode:

• An update on some upcoming blog entries
• Choosing a logo

Here are all the choices we had for the 4-AM logo (click to enlarge in a new window), created by Kim Fenolio:

And here is the finished logo (click to enlarge in a new window):

• Working on demos
• Arranging Drift Away for a mixed a cappella quartet
• Comments from the Podcast Gallery

And Introducing Listener’s Choice:
I’m always up for hearing new music and one way to do that is to have you give me your suggestions, so here’s all you have to do:

1. Pick your favorite podsafe song (if you don’t know what a podsafe song is, see the Podsafe Music Network)
2. Send an e-mail to contact@WithAVoiceLikeThis.com with a subject line of Listener’s Choice and
3. Include the song title and artist’s name
4. Include an (optional) 10 – 20 second introduction in mp3 format or
5. Call the Comments From the Podcast Gallery voicemail (optional) at 630.492.0487 and leave your intro there

Remember, this is an all ages show and the final decision rests with me, so send in your songs and intros and I’ll play at least one a week and if there’s a big enough response, I’ll probably dedicate an entire show to your music. What a great way to support your favorite Podsafe musician.

This episode has two songs, one directly from a listener and one indirectly from the same listener. Lynn, the host of Living in a Chemical Soup sent three of her favorites, I took one of thos and slipped in one of my favorites that I was introduced to by Lynn. The two songs were:

• You Just Don’t Get It, Do You? by Paul and Storm (off of Lynn’s list)
  
• The River Driver by Great Big Sea

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050 – It’s 4-AM Do You Know Where Your Music Is? originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 25 April 2008. Tweet This

Originally this episode was to feature an ASCAP representative, but the timing didn’t quite work out for this show. so the discussion turned to an overview what issues were facing on the Internet with music and content in general.

Topics discussed are:

• ASCAP’s take with the Songwriter’s Bill of Rights using rickrolling as an example.
  
• Music leads the Internet charge in content and how it delivery is being monetized and even moving toward regulation
• Why does the same free content on the web suddenly become worth charging for and being paid for in a different format?
• Content on the web isn’t really free? Someone’s making money on content.
• Protection versus Statements of rights by a subset of people
• The different factions involved in the music on the Internet trying to stake their claims
• Limited past delivery systems versus the Internet’s near limitless capabilities
• Protections versus Control
• Net Neutrality
• Selling your Privacy for convenience
• The double-edged sword of easy access
• Comments from the Podcast Gallery
• What’s Freedom without responsibility?

Links discussed in the show:

ASCAP’s Songwriter’s Bill of Rights

My previous post The Perception of Value

Podcasting Legal Guide wiki and in PDF format

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049 – Is This the Rights Thing to Do? Part 3 originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 18 April 2008. Tweet This

This episode of With A Voice Like This is the conclusion of the discussion with Independent Singer/Songwriter Samantha Murphy of SMtvMusic.com stemming from the April 10 release of ASCAP‘s Songwriter’s Bill of Rights.

topics in this episode include:

• Government’s role in resolution of these issues
• Sound Exchange, its background and methodology
• What Samantha is doing to put action behind her viewpoints
• The role of Education in music and the Digital Age – meisa.org
• Questions and Comments from the Podcast Gallery
• Creative Commons

Links discussed in this episode:

Samantha Murphy at SMtvMusic.com

Samantha’s e-mail is sm@smtvmusic.com

Performance Rights Organizations: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, Sound Exchange

Samantha Murphy’s article written for a Princeton Symposium

Samantha also works with DigitalFreedom.org/

SaveNetRadio.org

Fading Ways Online

MEISA.org – Music & Entertainment Industry Student Association

Lawrence Lessig article – Commons Misunderstandings: ASCAP on Creative Commons

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048 – Is This the Rights Thing to Do? Part 2 originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 14 April 2008. Tweet This

Thursday, April 10, just in time for their big ‘I Create Music’ ASCAP Expo in LA, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) released their Songwriter’s Bill of Rights. In this episode and the next, recorded live on April 10, I discuss this with Samantha Murphy, an independent singer/songwriter and outspoken proponent of change for how music is delivered, monetized and protected in the digital age.

Topics covered in this episode include:

• Samantha’s unique experience as a professional performing musician since the age of six
• The Songwriter Bill of Rights read
• Transparency of PROs and their methods
• How this affects Net Neutrality
• The effect of the Internet on music delivery
• One PRO’s line in the sand
• Who do we turn to, the Government?

The conclusion of this discussion with Samantha Murphy can be heard in episode 048.

[Additional Note: At the beginning of this episode, I made the statement that ASCAP's Bill of Rights was to benefit performers. As Samantha pointed out, while you can have a performer account with ASCAP, it is a completely separate entity of its own and this Bill of Rights deals only with Songwriters.

Edit: A further clarification from Samantha is that the two types of accounts are Writer and Publisher, not Performer .]

Links from this episode:

Samantha Murphy at SMtvMusic.com

Performance Rights Organizations:ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, Sound Exchange

ASCAP Songwriter’s Bill of Rights

Portfolio.com article about the ASCAP Bill of Rights by Sam Gustin

Portfolio.com article Paying the Piper by Sam Gustin

Samantha Murphy’s article written for a Princeton Symposium

Samantha also works with DigitalFreedom.org/

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047 – Is This the Rights Thing to Do? Part 1 originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 10 April 2008. Tweet This

A tribute to Gene Puerling (March 31, 1929 – March 25, 2008)

In this episode: I have three question when it comes to a band’s website

1. What do you need to see?
2. What do you want to see?
3. What do you wish you could see that you’ve never seen before?

Discussing the website for 4-AM and the groups it needs to speak to, Booking Agents, Clients and Fans. What belongs, what is the best use of New/Social Media and some of the resources I use to help me with the ideas.

Links:

Hot Hits, Cheap Demos by Nadine Condon

Promoting Your Podcast by Jason Van Orden

Musician’s Cooler Podcast with Jammin’ Dave Jackson

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046 – What’s In It For You? originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 4 April 2008. Tweet This

So what’s it worth to you?

How do you quantify a service to someone who has no frame of reference? I have a Masters Degree in Vocal Pedagogy, which is part performance and part teaching voice, and I’ve spent tens of thousand of dollars on training my voice. If I don’t have name recognition does any of that mean anything to someone who’s looking for some music for their event or venue? What if I’m part of a group, where my name doesn’t come up as much if at all?

I deal with it all the time as a musician. A rule of thumb on how to deal with it is how much you charge, but even that can vary widely. I have an “I won’t step outside the door for less than…” figure. Now that figure for me as a solo singer is 66% higher than that same figure for me as a part of an established group currently. What do I base that on? It’s not like I have production costs to base that figure on to show someone. I have talent, knowledge and experience, but if you’re working with someone who has no frame of reference, those things don’t mean anything to them. And the money itself? I’ve had people not bat an eye at that money and I’ve had people politely (and sometimes not so politely) brush me off. So what’s the answer?

I learned the answer I use through singing weddings for friends. I was reminded of it because I did a wedding not too long ago, for friends. It’s the perception of value. I used to sing weddings for friends for free because I thought of it as my gift to them. And you know what happened? Nothing. Not even a thank you. It didn’t take me long to feel under appreciated and frustrated by that. Didn’t they know how much that was worth?

And that was it. No, they didn’t know. At least not in a way they easily understood. They had no frame of reference. After all, if I was giving it away, it must be worthless, right?

Flash forward to this wedding I just sang for friends. They knew they wanted to use me in the wedding, but they were looking at additional musicians as well. They did their research and saw what the market was around the Chicago area. When we finally discussed money, they said they’ll pay me whatever I wanted. I quoted them a price of 20% of my solo figure I talked about earlier. The phone went silent for a few moments, then I heard “Are you sure?” I told them this is my friends’ discount and the rest was my wedding gift to them. I got the now standard reaction which was many, many thank you’s and other people coming up and almost falling all over me to talk to me about it. I had given my friends a good frame of reference, a perception of value that they understood and everyone was happy, even ecstatic to the point that they shared it and so on and so on and so on…

That’s the biggest benefit to me. People were excited enough to talk about me and to me. That means:

1. I’m more likely to be handing out business cards
2. I’m more likely to be remembered
3. I’m more likely to get that next gig

Even though I’m doing a friend a favor, I’m still getting a lot out of it. All because I was able to communicate the value of what I was doing. That’s the answer I needed.

I was reminded of that because I’m working on the website for 4-AM, the a cappella quartet I sing with. How do I communicate the value to three different groups; Booking Agents, Clients and Fans to the point that they share it willingly? With all the social media tools, I don’t have that answer yet. But I know the value. What’s your take?

The Perception of Value originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 24 March 2008. Tweet This

Topics for this episode

Episode 40, The note, Where’s the CD?, what’s coming up for With A Voice Like This, ‘I’m a Freakin’ Genius’ and Comments from the Podcast Gallery.

Podcasts that played my music this week

The Welsford Road Project – Dec 23, The Welsford Road Project No. 34 – Deck the Halls
Mike’s Hot Dish – Dec 23, Mike’s Hotdish 24 – Merry Christmas – Deck the Halls and We Three Kings
Special Selection – Dec 24, ss_007 – Excerpt of We Three Kings
Aspire – Dec 25, Episode 52 – The Wassail Song

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Episode 040 – Day 57 – A Note and a Delay originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 27 December 2007. Tweet This

This episode’s topics include:

Plan B when a migraine makes a visit, Changes to the companion website, progress on I Saw Three Ships, Comments from the Podcast Gallery, singing Christmas Angel live and a teaser about tomorrow’s show.

I have

• A new blog category of Podcast so readers can sort for entries with a podcast in them
• Gone back and added the Podcast category to all previous entries with a podcast
• Gotten a lot further on the song I Saw Three Ships
• A special plan for tomorrow’s update

And as for that special program for tomorrow’s show? Well, I’m going to take the time and play all six songs that I have completed to this point on one show, that’s all, just the completed versions of each of the six songs to date. I hope you enjoy the episode. I know I have enjoyed bringing those songs to you.

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Episode 031 – Day 40 – A Headache, A Blog and Some Chili originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 10 December 2007. Tweet This

In this episode:

Episode 30 celebration, This week in a lettuce wrap, changes made to the website, addition of an About page, new weekly feature, the past couple day’s gigs, Guerrilla updates and the upcoming week’s schedule, Comments from the Podcast Gallery.

This Week’s I have‘s

• An About page for the website
• Another song on Podsafe Music Network and BuyMusicDirect.com, bring the total to six, half way there
• A good idea of what I’m going to do with the section of I Saw Three Ships that has the ambient noise in it
• A complete version of the Wassail song
• A great idea for I saw Three Ships
• A couple of great gigs coming up
• The last few songs on their way
• The second usage of my music on a podcast because of the Podsafe Music Network
• Released Deck the Halls at Podsafe Music Network and BuyMusicDirect.com [EDIT: site no longer exists]
• Ordered the last four songs from pdinfo.com for the CD
• Had to switch one of the four songs for the CD because it wasn’t available for purchase
• A cool caroling gig this Saturday night, opening for Carnie and Wendy Wilson, of Wilson Phillips fame
• I have my final four songs for the album and will order them tomorrow
• A completed copy of The Coventry Carol to be put out on PMN and BuyMusicDirect.com
• An almost completed other carol (I’m not spoiling the surprise on the Podcast)
• An almost complete copy of the Coventry Carol ready to upload
• My music being played on The Indigo Room tonight (Monday)

Podcasts that played my music this week:

Ed’s Mixed Bag – Dec 8, Jam and Jazz – Show #113 – Deck The Halls

The Indigo Room: Creating Our Reality - Dec 7, Episode 55 – A Round for the Holidays

Cultural Soup – Dec 6, Episode 94 – The Coventry Carol

Ikthuscast [Edit: site no longer exists] – Dec 6, Ikthuscast 37 – Deck The Halls

The Indigo Room: Creating Our Reality - Dec 3, Episode 54 – Christmas Angel

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Episode 030 – Day 39 – Weekend Wrap Up originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 9 December 2007. Tweet This

This episode’s topics:

The final version of The Wassail Song, the day’s issues , Ambiance in the recording, Ambiance on the Gig, Where I’m heading with I Saw Three Ships and a Comment from the Podcast Gallery.

I have

• Another song on Podsafe Music Network and BuyMusicDirect.com, bring the total to six, half way there
• A good idea of what I’m going to do with the section of I Saw Three Ships that has the ambient noise in it

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Episode 029 – Day 37 – the Ambience Factor originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 8 December 2007. Tweet This