i am the bird-dog. i do not futz around.

today in the weekly staff meeting, i used the word "futzing" as in "the vendor spent several weeks futzing around with the system". heh heh. futzing. made 'em squirm cause they couldn't tell at first what i had said. futz.ing. in this same mtg, bossman called me the "department's bird-dog" and it may not be immediately obvious that this was a compliment. he was actually saying i am a strong advocate who takes the lead in following up on issues that are important to our department. i am the bird-dog. i do not futz around.

yesterday i read one brief article about the grammy awards and in it was mentioned auto-tune. i think we all realize that vocal performances are perfected in the studio, but i didn't realize there is this one machine that does the process. i mean, durr of course, but no i didn't realize. it is referred to as a "box" and probably in the past it was a unique machine, but now it's simply a computer with the auto-tune software. all sorts of mechanical devices in the music studio have been replaced by computer software which means that all sorts of analog devices have been replaced by digital devices and when it comes to music, analog is better than digital, but when it comes to expenses, digital is cheaper and so there you have it - digital killed the analog star.

ANYWAY - i was speaking of auto-tune which is a device/software that was invented by a seismologist. i know, right? a seismologist! he was doing serious earthquake discovery work and realized that his work with earth waves could be transfered to voice waves and now he is probably a gazillionaire. auto-tune can be used to correct vocal anamolies and it can be used to distort vocals in that weird way you hear in the rap songs, and if you remember, in a cher song from way back in the day. maybe you guys already knew all this? apparently, auto-tune has hit its heyday and is on the decline.

i was just telling my old man during the opening of the grammys while we were watching lady gaggag and elton john that all the singers these days sound the same and i thought it was b/c i was getting old. and then i learned they really DO all sound the same and it's b/c of the box. it's not me after all. they're using the box to futz with the vox!