Stegosaurus Rex

Asians In The Library (Alexandra Wallace Rant) Remix!

2011-03-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

I just saw the Alexandra Wallace rant about Asian people, and it cracked me up, hahaha.

So I remixed her rant for everyone to enjoy. Cheers!

Help Me Get On Pitchfork (And Follow Me On Twitter)

2011-03-08T18:34:00.000-08:00

In April 2008, I released my very first album The Dino Soars.

Months before, I'd been prepping by sending my music to all sorts of places to get some reviews. In the end, I got a nice handful of people who listened, and enjoyed what they liked.

Except for Pitchfork.

I sent them a copy of The Dino Soars and I doubt they even took a look at it.

So, I'm going to do it again, now that others have already reviewed my music; those guys at Pitchfork have no excuse this time, not finding any info on me.

So... I need your guys' help.

I finally set up my official Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stegrex Come check it out and follow me!
(Thanks to Johnny Darko of Unfun Records for holding the spot so no one else could take it!)

Go to http://www.twitter.com/pitchforkmedia if you have a Twitter account and demand that they check out Stegosaurus Rex!

If you don't have a Twitter, get a friend who does, and have them hit up Pitchfork!

Or hit them up on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pitchfork/28015075999

It's about time that these guys owed me a (probably crappy and negative) review!

Downtime

2011-01-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

I've been sort of taking a bit of downtime from music recently because I'm looking for a new job, and I've also been spending time with a motorcycle I bought last fall.

Here are some pics of my 2006 Daytona 675. Built by Triumph in the UK, only about 2000 were made for the US market in that first year they released it.

It has a 3-cylinder engine, and you can see the top speed that I pulled a week or two ago. I don't want to really ride it too hard until the warmer season, when I can go out and do some track days (I hope I get a new job by then).

In any case, this has sort of been my new obsession. Okey dokey, time to get back to making more tunes!

A Socky Love Story (Music Video For Falling Shadow)

2010-10-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

Check out "A Socky Love Story" video shot on 16 mm film about sock puppets using Falling Shadow!

Created and Directed by: Brian Joo
Ish Zendejas
David Ny
Bush Anwar
Chris Mosier
Adam Regele
Eddie Rohilla
Bjay Villanueva

Thanks guys!

Stegosaurus Rex - Green Music Video!

2010-08-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the music video for Green, shot and edited by Johnny Darko, summer of 2009!

Check it out now!

Mattie Silver Picture Video + Nightcap (Demo)

2010-07-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

Howdeh...

It's been a while since I posted. Been pretty busy with a couple of things here and there.

First up, if you haven't noticed, Mattie Silver the single is now up on Amazon, Popcuts, iTunes, and CD Baby. Go and get the extended single version NOW! This version might not get released elsewhere!

Here's the Mattie Silver picture video:

AND

NEW DEMO TRACK:

NIGHTCAP - CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO IT! http://www.myspace.com/stegrex

I will be updating some other info soon:

Finally got a new microphone! (Rode NT1-A)
Maybe some skateboard pics if I don't get my head cracked in... Yah I'm bored...

Mattie Silver Single Out June 15th!

2010-06-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

Mattie Silver digital single out everywhere on Tuesday June 15th!

Get it beginning June 15 at Amazon: Mattie Silver - Single

CD Baby and iTunes links to follow...

Pics Of My Car

2010-05-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics to show you the extent of the damage to my car.

Hey, it could be worse but...

I had to drive into work with this, and it was cold and rainy. And I missed being able to get a fucking burrito that day. Car is now fixed, but this sure wasn't a pretty sight (and I just lost 100 bucks for fixing it).

Pictures are courtesy of JC Miguel.

Some Jackass Stole My Equipment

2010-05-24T02:49:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. As I'm working hard on trying to put together art for a release of Mattie Silver as a single, some motherfucking punk smashed my car window, broke into it and took my condenser microphones.

This is obviously not the first time nor will it be the last that a musician has gotten their shit jacked, but goddamn it pisses me off.

For anyone who steals from poor musicians, you deserve to burn in Hell, listening to garbage music for all eternity. I worked my ass off to buy those mics and worked even harder to learn how to use them. To know that someone probably way less talented is handling them right now is just plain annoying, and I know it's not someone with actual talent who took them because they would know it's just plain wrong to steal MXLs from someone. If you see anyone with MXL mics, you know they're working on a budget, and they're not worth stealing like someones rims. If I had Neumanns in my car, I'd be hurting a lot more if they were stolen, but shit, if I owned Neumanns, I would probably have a lot more money to cover for those, and I would most likely have not left them to burn in the summer heat in my car.

The worst part of it all was that I found out my car got fucked today when I went to my car to go get a burrito. I was starving and was fiending for a California burrito with carne asada and some fries... And in the end, I didn't get one because I had to deal with filing a police report and getting insurance taken care of. Whatever punk smashed my car window owes me. Even if they wanted to keep the mics, fuck, at least get a guy a fucking burrito, damn.

So if anyone lives in the South Bay Area and hears about a set of MXL 990 / 993 mics in a shiny metal case, missing the shockmount, let me know. Because those would be mine.

And for the fucker who stole my mics, I was thinking about upgrading my mics from MXLs to Audio Technica AT 4040s, which are worth twice as much as the ones that were stolen. Patience truly is a virtue because if the dumbass had just waited just 3 more weeks, they would be listing stolen property for twice as much right now, because they'd be in possession of some LEGIT fucking equipment. But turns out that person now has a set of shitty MXLs, and the rest of you guys got to wait for any new music, because I got to scrape up some more money for a set of shitty cheap new mics.

As for now, check out 5-20, from the album The Dino Soars. I just uploaded it to celebrate May 20th:

New Music

2010-04-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

I was out of commission the whole month of March because of my freaking ear.

I ended up getting a horrible ear infection that made it so I couldn't put on headphones.

It's still not 100 percent yet, but the swelling and the awfulness has gone away.

With that, I was finally able to cut a new track.

Check out Moonlight demo on my MySpace profile here!

I've also uploaded the Nowhere To Run demo here! You can hear how the song sounded in its infancy!

Nowhere To Run First Render Demo!

2010-03-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

I just posted the Nowhere To Run demo on YouTube! This is the first render of the rough sketch I made the night that I came up with the song on July 30, 2006.

A couple things have changed since that first render to the final song. See if you can spot the differences...

The Dino Soars (With B-Sides + Covers, Remastered) Out On iTunes!

2010-02-15T20:48:00.001-08:00

So it looks like I've managed to get The Dino Soars re-released digitally!

The album is now available on iTunes and features the original cut of The Dino Soars, fully remastered, and includes an extra 70 minutes of B-sides and covers that never made it onto the original album!

This also means that Nowhere To Run is now back on iTunes!

Check it out here now:

The Dino Soars (PayPal)

2010-01-14T20:22:00.000-08:00

OK, so apparently people are having trouble finding copies of The Dino Soars.

I'm going to try out PayPal as an option.

It'll be $11 (and shipping is FREE) sent to anywhere in the US (I'll have to figure out International shipping later).

Way cheaper than other places, and I will sign your CD if you like. It'll also directly support me.

So use the link below if you want a copy of The Dino Soars and can't find it, or you can PayPal $11 and your mailing address to:

mixchure@yahoo.com

Make sure to also email to steg.rex@gmail.com as well just to make sure I get your address.

Thanks!

Warner Music Group Blocking Nowhere To Run (Updated)

2009-12-31T17:53:00.000-08:00

(Update As Of 1-6-10) - YouTube has unblocked the Nowhere To Run music video!

So apparently, Warner Music Group (WMG) is messing with my tunes on YouTube and also on MySpace.

A week or two ago, WMG decided to block the Nowhere To Run music video off of YouTube and they've been taking down certain other tracks off of MySpace.

Funny thing is, WMG has NEVER been given ANY copyrights to ANY of my music!

WEA (owned by WMG) was given online distribution rights early in 2009, but that's different from copyright. Also, I ended distribution by WEA earlier in the year...

So...

The current situation is that there is currently NO way to buy The Dino Soars digitally online (even though the CD of it is still available) and WMG is going left and right blocking my music claiming that they have copyright over my stuff (which they don't).

For 2010, I'm going to do my best to set all this straight, because all I really care about is people listening and connecting with my music. The last thing I want is some bureaucratic bullshit like this getting in the way.

Just wanted to give an update to everyone who has been asking about this.

If you want the single version of Nowhere To Run, it is still available as a digital release! You can get it direct from Elita Likes Electro right here.

Green BMW (Demo)

2009-12-12T00:37:00.001-08:00

Out of hiatus!

I just posted a new demo of a track that I'll be finishing up in the next few weeks. The song is called Green BMW. You can check it out at http://www.myspace.com/stegrex

I'll cut the vocals later on next week!

Facepalm

2009-09-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

I'm bored and I've been way too busy to post anything new.

So here's a pic of me after making a new friend (2 years ago). Facepalm. Photo courtesy of Johnny Darko.

Steg Rex Show August 19th At The Blank Club!

2009-08-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

I'm playing The Blank Club Wednesday August 19th with Johnny Darko! It'll be at 9PM and I'll be doing some electro improvisation with keyboards and drumset. Come by, check it out, have a few drinks! It's going to be a FREE show, but you have to be 21.

It's at 44 South Almaden Avenue, San Jose CA 95113. Bring your friends because it's FREE!

Green Tease Logo By AyDee

2009-07-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

David Nguyen (AyDee) has done it again, with a bangin' logo for Green Tease! We're currently currently working on getting all the artwork done for the pressed copies of the CD.

In the meantime, you can check out the digital release available on Amazon, iTunes, as well as CD Baby.

We might be working soon on a track to be used as a theme song for a video game, and we'll be updating you on it as we get more done :)

As for Stegosaurus Rex, the t-shirt orders are being finalized, so definitely keep an eye out for those. It'll be the Stegosaurus Rex logo screenprinted white on Irish Green shirts.

Lee Mifsud's Review Of The Dino Soars

2009-06-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

Yep, another review, this time by Lee Mifsud http://www.leemifsud.blogspot.com/

"An artist I recently discovered, Stegosaurus Rex, who it seems is quite unknown at the moment, and by quite unknown I mean just over 1000 plays on LastFM, is the solo efforts of Max Chen, who is also a member of various other projects, although in my opinion, SR is where he really shines. His music seems to regularly be compared with Cystal Castles, and the resemblance on some tracks is crystal clear (no pun intended),with infectious home-made melodic bleeps and the occasional glitchy vocals, its not surprising why some people would think that.
The album itself, The Dino Soars, released last year, is simply brilliant. Full of various genres of electronic music, and packed with masses of samples, ranging from live percussion to Hip Hop vocals, theres definately something for everybody. Each track seems very well constructed and interesting in its own way, and the variation in style from track to track is so drastic youd think it were some futuristic NOW compilation. So far my favorite tracks are 'Green', incorporating his own catchy vocals over some infectious cut up drum samples, and 'Nowhere to run' (see video below).
Its safe to say ill have this album on repeat for a long time." (-Lee Mifsud)

Thanks Lee! Check out the blog at http://www.leemifsud.blogspot.com/

Steg Rex + Green Tease Updates

2009-06-21T23:26:00.000-07:00

So I played a short little show at Nickel City San Jose last weekend on the 13th. Thanks to Johnny Darko for lending his voice and an extra pair of hands, and to Eric Fanali for having me play! And definitely thanks to all of you who came by to support me! I'll be having parts of the show be put up onto YouTube hopefully soon.

Next up, I'll be looking for other places to play, as well as getting some t-shirts screenprinted with the design by AyDee, so keep an eye out for those!

As for my other project Green Tease, I'm in the final stages of putting the artwork and whatnot together for the pressed CDs for the EP Desolate Pool. However, the it's already been released digitally on Amazon, iTunes, as well as CD Baby so check out the release (and the Green Tease MySpace profile if you haven't already).

The Stegosaurus Rex EP release Undeniable is available on Amazon, iTunes, and CD Baby as well.

In the meantime, as a way for me to take a break from new tracks (because of all the logistics stuff that needs to be done right now) I'll be working for the next two months on a drum sample pack. That's right, I'm in love with 80s drum machines, and I'm going to replicate the methods used in the 80s to produce the classic sound samples immortalized within the modules of the Casio, the Alesis, the Linn, etc. I'll release this as a WAV pack for people to download and to load onto their own sequencers/drum machines. I love tweaking synth patches, and this drum pack will be a first for me :) I haven't yet figured out what to call it yet, maybe I'll give it some fake 80s-sounding synth name. So for those of you who make your own music, keep an eye out for some new sounds you can use!

Steg Rex Show June 13 At Nickel City!

2009-06-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

I'll be opening the show Saturday June 13 in Nickel City San Jose, so come by at 7:00 sharp (or you might miss me) and watch!

And bring some nickels for the arcade games!

saturday june 13th
david knight
ear pwr
adventure
seabright
stegosaurus rex
@ nickel city arcade - 1711 branham ln. san jose, ca 95118
$10 - all ages - 7pm - http://www.grandfanali.com

New Artwork By David Nguyen

2009-05-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

(Art by David Nguyen AKA AyDee)

For the month of May, I've been working with artist David Nguyen AKA AyDee on Stegosaurus Rex stuff. This is in preparation for screenprinted shirts and hats, and the picture up above is a draft of one of the very awesome designs!

I'm also collaborating with Justin Siebert to make a track for a promo vid for AyDee.

So keep your eyes open for new art by AyDee and Steg Rex merch coming up REAL soon!

AyDee's MySpace Profile
Justin Siebert's MySpace Profile

Also check out my profile for a new track I've been playing with "Mattie Silver," written about the character from the book Ethan Frome.

And the digital releases of Undeniable and Desolate Pool are both now on iTunes so check them out NOW!

Undeniable
Desolate Pool

Green Tease: NEW PROJECT!

2009-05-03T16:04:00.000-07:00

The past few months, I've been working with singer Natasha on a new project Green Tease. Check out the MySpace profile over at http://www.myspace.com/greenteasepop!

The debut EP Desolate Pool (MP3 release) is available at CD Baby, which you can BUY NOW for $7.98! Also, we're going to shoot the Desolate Pool music video, so keep your eyes peeled for more updates coming very soon!

But for now, go over to the Green Tease MySpace profile and friend us!

Also, don't forget to check out the limited edition Undeniable release (also available in MP3):

Undeniable (MP3) - $9.99 (CD Baby)

Undeniable - $9.98

Undeniable AND The Dino Soars CD Combo - $14.99

Undeniable Orders

2009-04-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

Order a copy of Undeniable NOW!

Links:

Undeniable (MP3) - $9.99 (CD Baby)

Undeniable - $9.98

Undeniable AND The Dino Soars CD Combo - $14.99

Much easier than emailing me ;)

PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard accepted!

Undeniable Cassette And CD-R (Order Now!)

2009-04-08T19:57:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to The Dino Soars! It was released exactly 1 year ago, April 8, 2008!

And with that, I'm happy to announce that the Undeniable EP (actually about 1 solid hour of music :] ) is being printed and will be sold beginning...onetweothree NOW!

I'm doing a limited, 10-run release of cassette tapes and a limited, 10-run release of CD-r (all made-to-order). Each piece of art will be custom printed, and will come with exclusive parcel art (check my other posts if you want to know what I'm talking about).

Each piece is 10 bucks (Undeniable) or 15 bucks (if you want a copy of The Dino Soars AND Undeniable TOGETHER) shipping included! You can buy directly by contacting me at steg.rex@gmail.com or by snail mail at:

Stegosaurus Rex
19144 Brookview Drive
Saratoga, CA 95070

Here's the tracklisting for the CD-r version:

1. Undeniable
2. Radical Un
3. Desolate Pool (Instrumental)
4. When I Mean Nothing To You
5. Next Time Around
6. Radical Deux
7. Collapse
8. This Is How It Goes
9. Fallen Vision
10. Radical Trois
11. Gyroscopes
12. Connective Collective
13. Radical Quatre
14. Serpentine Turpentine
15. Cellulose
16. Radical Cinq
17. Fovea
18. Painful Words

Annnnd the tracklisting for the tape:

Side A:
1. Desolate Pool
2. Undeniable
3. When I Mean Nothing To You
4. Next Time Around
5. Collapse
6. This Is How It Goes
7. Fallen Vision

Side B:
1. Fovea
2. Serpentine Turpentine
3. Gyroscopes
4. Connective Collective
5. Cellulose
6. Sea Breeze
7. Painful Words

The Undeniable EP was originally going to a collection of my New Wave work, but I decided to throw in a second half that covers some more of my electro stuff! More than 60 freakin' minutes of Steg Rex material!!!

Order now, because these are the firstest, freshest, most limited makes of the release! Snag a piece of limited parcel art NOW!

RPM Challenge 2009 (One Album Recorded In One Month!)

2009-03-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

Check out my RPM album Can You Dig It?: http://stegrex.rpmchallenge.com/

Sorry for the lack of updates in the past few weeks : / I've been pretty busy with a bunch of stuff.

In February, I decided to take part in RPM (Record Production Month) Challenge where people around the world try to write and record a whole album in one month.

I decided to take part in it to see if my normal output could cover that volume of music without burning out.

Wasn't easy.

The first week, I came up with two amazing tracks, one complete with ideas for lyrics. And then, there was writer's block.

I usually write something or doodle some music every week, but I won't come back to revisit that particular idea for another month or two. In that way, I usually have an assembly line of material being streamed out at the rate of one track per week, but each individual piece of music would have been sitting there for a while before I go and finish it.

For RPM Challenge, I decided to write everything and record it on the fly, without taking old material or ideas to record. Everything was built completely from scratch.

Finishing a track is definitely not my strong point, so for two weeks I just sat there, not able to get moving. I though that I wouldn't make it, that I wouldn't finish 35 minutes of material for RPM.

However, that last week, I decided to just crank it and improvise on my keyboard. In 3 days, I did the remaining 4 tracks, all improvised, ambient little pieces, just so I could finish the whole thing.

The end result was the RPM album Can You Dig It? which is available for you to listen to at this link: http://stegrex.rpmchallenge.com/

I hope you like it!

And... if you haven't seen my new music video for Undeniable, check it out now!

Undeniable Music Video

2009-03-07T17:05:00.000-08:00

The music video for Undeniable is now out! Directed, shot, and edited by Johnny Darko. Check it out now!

Also, Undeniable is slated to be released end of March on digital and limited edition cassette tape (limited to 10!)

The cassette features more than 60 solid minutes of Stegosaurus Rex material broadcast by that radio station from the halls of imagination, Radical 98.3 FM! Time travel to 1980s universe that is Undeniable!

If you'd like me to reserve a cassette copy for you--it'll come with cool custom parcel art and maybe something else ;)--email me at steg.rex@gmail.com

The Dino Soars Contest (Final)

2009-03-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Andrew from Ohio for the final winner of The Dino Soars contest!
Thanks to all who participated and watched my music video!

With that, the contest is officially over, but tomorrow, an update on Undeniable...

The Dino Soars Contest (Week 2 And Week 3)

2009-02-24T20:10:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Jimmy from Santa Rosa, CA who won last week!
And for this week, congratulations to Don from Oregon!

This is the last week of the contest, so... if you want The Dino Soars and some tight fucking original parcel art, go to YouTube (this is the last week!) and check out the music video of Nowhere To Run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdV5p1fh4ws

Watch it all the way through and let me know what you think! At the end of the week, I'll choose the awesomest comment and I'll send that person a copy of The Dino Soars for free!

Rules:
1. No spamming, flooding, or hate. I want to see some quality, not necessarily quantity!
2. One CD will be given away every week until the end of February.
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdV5p1fh4ws

The Dino Soars Contest (Week 1) Part 2 (New Artwork, Parcel Artwork)

2009-02-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

(Above artwork courtesy of Laura Mardon, who has been doing new artwork for me. Thank you, Laura! Check out her Flickr portfolio and her MySpace profile!)

Guess what winners of the YouTube contest will be getting?

Custom Steg Rex parcel art done by me!

Here are some examples...

So... if you want The Dino Soars and some tight fucking original parcel art, go to YouTube (until the end of February) and check out the music video of Nowhere To Run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdV5p1fh4ws

Watch it all the way through and let me know what you think! At the end of the week, I'll choose the awesomest comment and I'll send that person a copy of The Dino Soars for free!

Rules:
1. No spamming, flooding, or hate. I want to see some quality, not necessarily quantity!
2. One CD will be given away every week until the end of February.
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdV5p1fh4ws

And...if you haven't seen it, Laura Mardon also made a bomb Steg Rex video logo:

The Dino Soars Contest (Week 1) And RPM Challenge Update!

2009-02-10T22:08:00.000-08:00

OK, it's been one agonizingly long week, with a lot of people who went onto YouTube to comment!

We narrowed it down to 3 comments that we liked, and we threw dice and flipped coins to decide who won!

Congrats to Terri from CA, who won for this week! (To the two of you who didn't win, you're still in the running for week 2!)

And just in case you forgot, the contest is still running! If you want a copy of The Dino Soars, go to to YouTube (until the end of February) and check out the music video of Nowhere To Run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdV5p1fh4ws

Watch it all the way through and let me know what you think! At the end of the week, I'll choose the awesomest comment and I'll send that person a copy of The Dino Soars for free!

Rules:
1. No spamming, flooding, or hate. I want to see some quality, not necessarily quantity!
2. One CD will be given away every week until the end of February.
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdV5p1fh4ws

And...

RPM Challenge Stuff:

I've begun writing tracks for RPM Challenge!

So far, I've gotten down 3 tracks, and they're available at the following URL:

http://www.rpmchallenge.com/component/option,com_comprofiler/task,userProfile/user,5654/

Check the tracks out, and check out the blog for info on influences!

Win A Free Copy Of The Dino Soars

2009-01-31T20:50:00.001-08:00

The economy sucks right now, and it's hard to justify buying too much music.

Want to win a free copy of The Dino Soars? The month of February, I'm showing some love to my fans by giving away one copy a week!

Go to YouTube starting tomorrow (until the end of February) and check out the music video of Nowhere To Run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdV5p1fh4ws

Watch it all the way through and let me know what you think! At the end of the week, I'll choose the awesomest comment and I'll send that person a copy of The Dino Soars (Elita Likes Electro / Unfun Records) for free!

Rules:
1. No spamming, flooding, or hate. I want to see some quality, not necessarily quantity!
2. One CD will be given away every week until the end of February.
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdV5p1fh4ws
4. Winners will be contacted through their YouTube accounts.

Contest has been posted elsewhere at:
http://contests.about.com
http://www.contestguide.com/
http://acontestblog.com/
http://www.grandmajam.com/
http://www.sandysrealm.com

1 Album, 1 Month

2009-01-25T17:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.rpmchallenge.com/component/option,com_comprofiler/task,userProfile/user,5654/

http://www.rpmchallenge.com/

I'm going to attempt to create an album from scratch in the month of February. That's 10 songs, 35 minutes total, 28 days.

I know that I've already released The Dino Soars, but I want to see what my output can really be. At my output peak in college, I made about 3 tracks per week, sustained for about 2 months.

Unfortunately, I burned out pretty quick and never got back into that kind of groove. I know that Undeniable is right in the works to be released soon, and I feel like I should be working on that (but the music is being copyrighted at the moment, so I'm stuck). This is sort of a lull where I can just go back to being the pure musician, and step away from the producing, mixing, marketing, etc for just a short while.

So. February 2009. Year of the Ox, bringing back the cycle to me, giving me the mojo I need, resetting and refreshing the musical mind of the dinosaur.

I'll keep up a weekly update for the month of February for RPM Challenge, as well as anything new from Undeniable.

I can feel that this month will be a nice, busy one.

Connective Collective (And Update)

2009-01-04T20:46:00.000-08:00

I just finished this track last week. Check it out on my profile!

http://www.myspace.com/stegrex

I'm still trying to fit a few more tracks to the upcoming release Undeniable. Connective Collective will be featured on the B-side cassette.

1-2 more for the A-side. I'll try to finish them up in the next few weeks!

And if you haven't seen the music video for Nowhere To Run, it's available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdV5p1fh4ws

--Stegosaurus Rex

Nowhere To Run Music Video!

2008-12-23T20:11:00.001-08:00

You're gonna die, I'm gonna kill you, if you don't check out my new music video!

Stegosaurus Rex - Nowhere To Run
Video by Johnny Darko

The Wonderland Syndrome

2008-12-07T21:48:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen my work in my newest project The Wonderland Syndrome, go and check it out at http://www.myspace.com/thewonderlandsyndrome

I began collaborating with Johnny Darko about a month ago, working on various little bits of music coupled with his vocals, spanning all sorts of different genres, mashing together different pieces of material I've put together through the years.

There's even a different take of Nowhere To Run!

So head over to http://www.myspace.com/thewonderlandsyndrome and check out my music!

(More info coming soon on yet another project of mine!)

New Electro Track Cellulose!

2008-11-23T21:23:00.000-08:00

In anticipation for the limited release (to 10 copies) Stegosaurus Rex - Undeniable cassette, I've been working on some new tracks for Side B (electro).

Side A will be a collection of previously unreleased New Wave music (including Undeniable), while Side B will be a collection of previously unreleased electro and dance stuff.

Hopefully, it'll be out soon in a few months, but to keep you all occupied in the meantime, I've put up the new track Cellulose on the stegrex profile for your listening pleasure.

If you want to check out some more electro, Gyroscopes is still available at http://www.myspace.com/maxwellchen

Feel free to add them to your profiles!

--Stegosaurus Rex

Contest! Win A Limited Release Steg Rex Cassette!

2008-10-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

Here's a contest for all you artists out there. Draw me a dinosaur, and I'll give you a limited release (10 copies!) Stegosaurus Rex cassette!

I need someone to do some cool artwork featuring a dinosaur (more specifically, a stegosaurus) for printing onto a run of hats/T-shirts that I will be doing.

Make some cool stegosaurus artwork (preferably a silhouette, single-color, and simple!) and send it to steg.rex@gmail.com at the best resolution you can manage, and the winner will receive a copy of my next release!
(It'll be a cassette collection, limited to 10, of previously unheard music + Undeniable)

Rules:

1. Enter as many pieces of art as you want to increase your chances of winning, but add only one piece of art per email. Email to steg.rex@gmail.com
2. Artwork should be at the largest resolution possible, because this will end up being printed!
3. Single color, silhouette-ish, simple. Outlines are fine!
4. Deadline for submission is November 14th, 2008.

Gyroscopes

2008-10-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy recently, but that's no excuse for the lack of music...

So here.

Gyroscopes. Dance your fool head off.

http://www.myspace.com/stegrex

New Music

2008-09-11T23:44:00.000-07:00

So...

I haven't posted in a while.

That's because I've been pretty busy, working on this and that, losing sleep, forgetting to eat meals...

It's because I've been working late into the night, brewing some new stuff like a mad scientist.

But just to give you guys an update and to let you know I didn't go Heath Ledger on you, it looks like Undeniable along with some other post-punk/New Wave tracks are going to be released sometime later this year.

I've also been working on a new project, collabing with someone else, forming a band...

Damn, I've already said too much! Stay tuned as I unveil some new stuff in the coming weeks!

Small Show! (SF Public Access Television)

2008-07-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

I'll be playing my first show for San Francisco public access television on Thursday, August 7th! Stay tuned for more details as they roll in!

New MySpace URL

2008-07-26T20:58:00.001-07:00

I've just switched the Stegosaurus Rex MySpace URL to http://www.myspace.com/stegrex
Check out my music! There might be a small show coming up in a few weeks. More details later! :)

Desolate Pool

2008-07-16T23:44:00.000-07:00

I love 80s music. I was born in 1985, but the radio station that my dad listened to played a lot of 80s music. Depeche Mode, Berlin, Joy Division, The Cars were just some of the very awesome bands that I heard growing up.

I've decided recently to examine some of the methods used in the 80s to make CD audio. Those engineers were precision surgeons, making sure everything fit in well, taking advantage of the CD format's excellent dynamic range.

As a musician who grew up in the 80s and admires 80s mixing and mastering, I had to make some of that kind of music on my own (New Wave, New Romantic, Synthpop, etc).

I began cranking the creative brain for ideas, adding generous amounts of reverb to snares, dubbing vocals, and chaining together delay units.

80s music is beautiful. It is also oftentimes depressing, when the artist wants to make it so.

This next release (single? EP?) that is scheduled for release in October is focused on that New Wave sound, incorporating guitars, fat reverb on drums, sad synths, and utterly depressing lyrics.

I've got 4 tracks done so far with track number 4, Desolate Pool now in the lineup; I'm still aiming for 2 more. Prepare for retro goodness, to be released soon!

Back To Work!

2008-07-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

My computer is back up and running, thanks to my friend Thanh!

I've decided to schedule "Undeniable" to be released as a digital single, which will be released on fall 2008. Check out my MySpace to listen to the track!

Post Number 13, Unlucky Days

2008-07-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

My computer died last weekend, and so I can't work on any new music. It sucks, because I've been on a roll with No Eyed Bird, writing tons and tons of material.

4 computer deaths have happened in the past 6 years:
Summer 2003: eMachines Windows ME desktop system
Spring 2004: Toshiba Windows XP laptop system
Spring/Summer 2007: Self-built Windows XP desktop system
Summer 2008: Compaq Windows Vista desktop system

In each of these cases, it was a hardware problem (not software like virus) that took place. Right now, my friend Thanh is working on the compy. Hope it turns out OK so I can get back to work audio engineering work!

At the moment, I'm taking the extra free time I have to build even more content on No Eyed Bird. Check out the ezine at http://www.noeyedbird.com/

Here is a 3-part editorial in which I wrote about electro-house:
Electro-House (Part 1) UEFA Euro 2008: Consolation Prize To The Germans
Electro-House (Part 2) History
Electro-House (Part 3) Two New Artists

Alrighty, have a nice Fourth of July, and lets hope my computer gets fixed!

I Am Now A Music Blog Writer

2008-06-16T23:59:00.001-07:00

I have been working a 9-5 job ever since the end of May. Making money is nice, but it's not easy, considering how repetitive it can be. A 40+ workweek can drain the life out of the most energetic spazz-tastic caffeineheads.

For the first two weeks, work dragged on pretty long throughout the day. It got boring really quickly.

However, this weekend, I became a writer for the music blog No Eyed Bird.

I pretty much got flung into working on reviews with little lead-in. I set up my profile for the site, my new reviewer's email (max(at)noeyedbird.com), and then hit the ground running. My first review on the blog is of Luthea Salom - Sunbeams Surrounded By Winter. Click to check it out!

I'm also trying to contribute to Dusted Magazine. I emailed them and hopefully by the end of the week I'll get something back, so I can start writing for them, too.

--Max

Saratoga, And Yet Another Review Of The Dino Soars

2008-06-14T02:29:00.000-07:00

Now that it's summer, I've been languishing in the heat, staying indoors to avoid the scorching sun.

Now that I call Saratoga, CA my home, it's been different dealing with the dry heat as opposed to the breezy mildness of Berkeley. Not bad, just different.

It's been about two months since The Dino Soars was released, and since then, I've been taking care of my own personal business, not having time to worry about the music stuff.

Today was a little different.

The sun set red, with all the wildfires happening in the area. The sky was muddied with the haziness of dark beige smoke.

The picture in the sky almost made it seem as if the world was ending. Sitting in a car, whisking by the scenery, it made me feel peaceful and yet paradoxically, restless. Distracted by the moment of beauty, by the ugly, overbearing tan of the sky framing that bright red jewel of a sun, I was able to slough off that burden of routine and make me think once more of the music.

How was my album doing?

A quick search revealed the following:

"On The Dino Soars, Stegosaurus Rex presents an interesting collection of homemade electronica. Unlike most bedroom computer-made albums, The Dino Soars jumps across styles, touching on hip-hop and house beats, downbeat trip-hop, electro-pop, and even a bit of experimental, droney electronica. (more >>)

Where the album really shines is with the more beat-oriented tracks. Opening song "East Bay Kickback" starts the album off strong with a great sample and a solid drum beat, making it the kind of song you would hear in your head while drinking a beer outside on a warm Oakland evening. Another standout track is "Six Sixteen." A great sample and solid hip-hop beat drive this track as it steadily moves through the opening string loop to a chopped-up vocal chorus and back again to the string loop as it is filtered out.

The album also features some great uptempo tracks. On tracks like "Polar" and "Fleeting Disco Do," Stegosaurus creates great disco-style house. Catchy samples that he cuts and rearranges as the song progresses, solid bass lines, and some good 'ol techno beats make these tracks dancefloor-worthy.

Where this album doesn't work as well is in the less beat-oriented and vocal tracks. These tracks especially lack in production value. The sounds are thin and dull compared to the earlier mentioned songs and have a hard time fitting in with the rest of the album sonically. A little more cohesiveness throughout the album and a step up in production level could put Stegosaurus Rex on the same level as a lot of the stuff on Ninja Tune Records." (-Glenn Jackson, NASCENT)

Of course, I had to open up a cool beer afterwards to refresh myself, in an instance of life-imitating-art-imitating-life. East Bay Kickback indeed.

Yet another Friday the 13th conquered.

Behind Steg Rex: Finances

2008-05-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

I want to thank two of my friends, JC Miguel and Diane Velasco. They saved my worthless skin.

Before I go on, let me explain to you: money is tight these days. (No shit, Sherlock!)

As you no doubt know, the American economy is in a recession. Bernanke, chairman of the Fed has made a bunch of unprecedented moves in the history of the institution in order to avert the economic situation from overwhelming the civil society.

Jobs have been hard to find, people are less willing to spend money, and selling music has been very tough.

It didn't help me at all, because I had no money to finance Steg Rex (equipment, general capital, promoting, marketing...)

I graduated from Cal in December, just when people were realizing that the job market was cooling down, and things became pricier. Being unemployed and burnt out from writing massive amounts of papers, I had a lot of time and energy to work on Stegosaurus Rex. During those few bleak months, I was employed part-time as a contractor for Ask.com, which brought in just enough money to cover rent, and a small bit of food. At the end of every month, I had very little money to spend or save. Trying to promote Steg Rex was stressful because I had no capital, no room for error. If I didn't judiciously budget every dollar I spent on Steg Rex, that would mean I lost that dollar, and that meant that I would probably have to make a meal more meager.

I applied to full-time jobs left and right, often sending my resume to 10 sources a week. Less than 5 contacts actually got back to me in those past 6 months.

I was losing hope, because I definitely wanted to eat better, and I wanted some more money to spend on Steg Rex.

Come late April, an opportunity fell into my lap unexpectedly. My friend Diane Velasco sent me an email one day about Yahoo; they were hiring some contractors who could work full-time.

I jumped right on it immediately. This could be the big break in the job market that I had been looking for all those 5 months!

Diane's boyfriend and my good buddy JC went through the interview process and got hired. I was pretty happy for him, and I was ready to join, too.

The interview process for me was riddled with hiccups. Someone lost my emails, someone else misspelled my email address, there were lapses in communication...

In short, I had no clue if I would be hired.

Last week, I got an email telling me to meet at Sunnyvale to take care of business on Tuesday, May 27th.

My heart skipped a beat. Could I have finally made it?

---

The past two days working at Yahoo have been tiring. Training is tedious and the coffee doesn't hold as well as I would like it to.

But it has been fucking worth it. I'll now make enough to cover more than just rent and food.

I can go ahead and further fund Stegosaurus Rex. Let's hope that I can take both my career and my music as far as I can go.

Once again, thank you, JC. Thank you, Diane.

--Steg Rex

Steg Rex RSS Feed

2008-05-22T18:23:00.001-07:00

The Stegosaurus Rex RSS feed is now up. Just pop this little link into you favorite newsreader:

Steg Rex RSS Feed

Cheers!

Sea Breeze

2008-05-21T03:10:00.000-07:00

I just finished cutting a new disco-house track called Sea Breeze. The last time I made any disco or house was around early June of 2007.

It's been almost a year, but I still got it!

When I first began formulating the concept behind the Stegosaurus Rex project in 2005/2006, it had been roughly 2-3 years since I last made any music. I began making music around 2001 in high school, and due to the limitations of what musical equipment I had (basically, nothing) I made only trance music. Trance (the cheesiest kind) was still kind of big amongst some crowds in school, and that's all I made. It was easy, because everything revolved around 140 bpm, everything was in a major scale, and finding trance synth sounds was an easy job.

I worked under the moniker of MiXCHure in those days, and I produced the cheesiest pop trance.

However, in the back of my head, I always wanted to make disco/house music, which I began listening to around the age of 9 or 10 with an old mono channel Magnavox radio. I would keep the radio by my pillow and listen to old disco jams on Saturday nights while I drifted off to sleep.

It bugged me; why couldn't I make any house? Nothing sounded funky. Every attempt at house music ended up sounding like crappy trance.

I stopped the MiXCHure project in the summer of 2003 as I prepared to go to college. My computer died, taking with it all my source files for my music, and along with it, my desire for making music. The first two years of college were times of restlessness for me, because I had no outlet.

In 2005, I began making music again, under no moniker, because I did not intend on making a new musical project. At this point, I had studied some jazz and blues theory and understood a little bit better about the scales and chords that are related to disco and house.

I was, of course, pretty rusty, and I had with me a demo version of Fruity Loops, which did not allow me to save any of my source files. All my music in those few years sounded extremely amateur and simple, yet the main structure for house tracks became embedded in my mind.

I began to seriously pursue a music project again in late 2005, early 2006. I dubbed this project Stegosaurus Rex, and I began focusing on hip-hop and electro-house. Most people understood the hip-hop part. Most people didn't understand electro-house at all. To them, this was just "porn music" and they got a kick out of seeing what I could produce.

My experimentation with house music, however, was not limited to seeing this wonderful stuff as just "porn music" because I grew up loving the disco music aesthetic. I loved the thick, lush, layered sounds of classic disco. I loved the stripped and chopped-up elements of electro-house, as heard in the work of Daft Punk. I also loved it because it was just funky, plain and simple.

2006-2007 was a year of great strides with the house music, as I began sampling as well as learning how to program my own custom patches in different software synthesizers. I could control the texture of a dance track, making it hard and glitchy, or smooth and mellow.

I had conquered house music.

By this time, I had begun recording live instruments such as guitar and drums, and quickly moved off to producing experimental rock and more hip-hop because I was no longer limited to just synthesizers.

In the past few months, sitting down to make house has been hard, because something that started off funky would end up as hip-hop or rock, because I was compelled to slow down the tempo and then add samples or add guitar.

I decided to sit down and really stick to making a house track this weekend, because I wanted to see if I still had those disco-making skills.

I started out with some nice chords and string pads, and a nice funky bass. I layered the 909 over it all, for a great little beat.

Next, I fired up REAPER and stuck in some subtle, muted guitar arpeggios.

A little reverb here, a dash of delay there.

Voila! A deep-house track! Something a bit different from the other types of house music I had done before. It sounded so sublime, so subtle, so sexy, I had to call it Sea Breeze.

I guess I did the roots of Steg Rex proud. If only young little Max Chen in high school, making his trance music could hear what he would be doing in just a few years' time.

I Love Multiband Compression

2008-05-18T02:28:00.001-07:00

Ashi sent me an email this week, letting me know that he might need a track to be mastered. I don't do as much mastering as I do mix engineering, but I do like to tweak a final render here and there.

He sent an mp3 through the email for me to kind of look at.

Whoever mixed the track was incompetent as hell.

Usually when I work with a final render, the tracks are mixed fairly well. Everything that needs to be compressed, is, and everything that needs frequency balancing is EQed to sweet goodness.

Not this track.

It seems like a lot of producers these days love the muddy bass. They're under the impression that bass fills clubs. OK, so it does, but not muddy sub-100 Hz, 3-second release bass. That kind just sounds like sludge. This track that Ashi sent me sounded so fucking muddy, that I could barely make out anything about 200 Hz. Time to get to work.

For those of you who don't know anything about mastering, let me tell you about the multiband compressor. It is the greatest tool on earth. There are a lot of different multiband compressors out there, but they generally all do the same thing. They separate the audio signal into three different frequency bands (low, mid, high) that you can compress independently of each other. A de-esser is sort of similar to a multiband compressor in that it isolates the highs and then compresses those frequencies while leaving the rest of the music alone. What happens is a nice natural rounding off of harsh hissing sounds.

When you have a multiband compressor, you can isolate any problem frequencies in the audio signal, and squash it out. In this case, the bass was too muddy, the levels for the bass was way off the charts, and on top of it, had a nasty long bass release that bled into the track, causing it to sound dull with no punchiness. Instead of sounding like "boom, boom-cha," it sounded more like "thuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud thuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud!" The snare, the instruments, the high hats, everything was obscured by this problem bass.

So how did I fix this one?

I first cut out the low end. Usually, this is not too necessary and it's good to get rid of the most offensive bass rumbling. Everything below 100 Hz, I just cut out. That fixed half of the bass release problem. With one knob turn, I could actually tell rhythm that the bass drum was playing.

Next, I separated the 3 bands. The muddiest bass sits around 0 Hz to about 300-500 Hz. I set it to about 300. At this point, the 0 Hz to 300 Hz frequencies were isolated, so I compressed it. I compressed the shit out of it. I put in -20 dB as the threshold, set the ratio to about 5:1, and tweaked attack and release. I basically wanted the bass drum to sound like "biff biff biff" instead of "bleeeeeh bleeeeeh bleehhhhh." I wanted some definition in that sound.

A few knob tweaks at the low end just did the trick. The bass was nice and tight, and everything worked out well. I tweaked the mids and highs just a tiny bit since those frequencies were OK, but damn! That bass annoyed the hell out of me.

Some more compression here, a bit of brickwall there, and I had something that became 10 times more listenable than the original file.

So remember mix and mastering engies: recording and mixing well is important! If you record and mix well, you don't have to mess around with this kind of fix at the end of the road. But if you have to fix stuff up, EQs, compressors, and the amazing multiband compressor are your best friends.

OK, done with this post. Time to work on more music.

All Music Guide Review of The Dino Soars

2008-04-24T12:27:00.001-07:00

Here's a review from All Music Guide:

"The double-album-length debut by the Bay Area's Stegosaurus Rex is a sprawling wander through the last quarter-century of electronic pop music. Singer-songwriter-keyboardist Max Chen doesn't pledge allegiance to any particular subgenre, so these 18 songs skip merrily between Caribou-style indie pop ("Green"), mellow downtempo instrumentals (the soulful, slinky "East Bay Kickback"), hyper dancefloor fillers ("Polar"), hip-hop ("Sleep All Day"), experimental atmospheric soundscapes ("Blindness"), standard-issue electro-pop ("Frozen Promises") and any other idea that comes to mind. In lesser hands, this would come off as merely unfocused, and it's certainly true that many A&R representatives would have demanded this lengthy CD be broken up into several different EPs, perhaps under different project names for ease of niche marketing. But even aside from the bravery of refusing to limit himself to one particular musical persona, Chen reveals himself to be a talented producer and a fairly solid songwriter with a particular knack for cool, mellow grooves and low-key, jazz-tinged melodies. The Dino Soars is perhaps best heard in bits and pieces (or on shuffle play), but it's a fun listen that promises better still to come." (-Stewart Mason, allmusic)

Awesome!

Engineering Ashi's Tracks (Sorta Technical)

2008-04-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

This past week, I've been getting back to work, putting in a couple of hours each day, mixing and mastering. For those of you who don't know what it's like being a studio engineer, even a broke one like me, I'll give you a rundown.

When the vocals were first recorded, Ashi wanted to hear his takes on some parts just to make sure everything was good. The first thing I had to do was to make a template of plugins that brought out his voice and was close to what the finished product would sound like.

Future audio engineers, PAY ATTENTION!

First I added some compression to the voice in order to make sure that he could be clearly heard through the mix. For that, I set the compression threshold to about 10 dB under the peaks. I set the ratio to about 3:1 or 4:1. For those of you who don't speak audio, I set compression in order to make sure the voice volume sounds "smoother" instead of "spikier."

Next step was the EQ. When you first record using a new mic, you have to sort of feel around the EQ with it to find the sweet spot. Every mic can sound good, but of course, it can sound terrible too, if you don't know what you're doing. I know how to make my mic sound good, and I was able to bring Ashi's voice from out of the mix. It's usually good to cut everything out from under 200 Hz (cut out the unnecessary bass) and then add a little bit from 1 KHz to 5 KHz to make that voice enunciate properly. For the uninitiated, the EQ is used because the raw audio from the mic can oftentimes be harsh or muffled, and by tweaking a bit of EQ, you can make the voice sound a lot better (and noticeable) in comparison to the rest of the music.

Some people forget a de-esser. I never forget, because I have ssssenssssitive earssssss. Some people when saying words with lots of "s" sounds in them, are very "sibiliant." Their "s" sounds cut through everything, and it hurts my ears to hear something so high-pitched so loud. This is the same when we're talking about recording voices. Some people tend to be more sibilant than others. Ashi, however, wasn't too sibilant so it was easy to deal with. I always add a de-esser to the chain after the EQ. What this does is that it makes the "s" sounds a lot less harsh. It squashes them so your ears don't hurt (but won't make the signal muffled or kill the enunciation as if you tried to do this with EQ).

The last thing I do is put in some reverb. For Ashi, only one track required this. Usually for hip-hop, I like to leave the voice bone-dry with no reverb at all. However, for other types of music, engineers like to add in varying levels of reverb to different instruments. Remember that 80s Genesis sound that all the rock bands had? That big boomy snare and toms? The echoey voices? That's all reverb, and a bit for vocals for a lot of genres of music will sweeten up the sound just a little bit.

OK. So much for the effects that are required to produce a good sound for vocals.

The next step happened after Ashi went home and I got to play with all the audio like some sick doctor. Audio levels.

When you mix a bunch of audio track together, you have to gingerly adjust the levels on everything to make sure it sounds right. "Damn, I can't hear the voice, the guitar is too loud! The drums are too loud, but the bass isn't there!" Getting the levels right is pretty frustrating, because there isn't a right way of doing things. There is no magical formula for getting everything correct. It's all trial and error, and engineers get a feel for a rough settings after spendings tons of time in front of the audio, tweaking this and that. I've done a lot of audio mixing in the past, and I'm pretty anal about getting every single channel level just right, so I can usually get a rough sense of what everything needs just by looking at the meters. For Ashi's tracks, once I get a rough idea of what I need, I set all the levels relative to each other. This is no easy task, because some songs can have 10-20 tracks or even more. Getting them to balance each other out can be super frustrating.

Today, I started work with all the rough levels finished. I needed to tweak them to make sure they're all consistent and everything sounds good. I listened to some hip-hop and some club stuff to get my ears warmed up for the right sound. Then I just dove into Ashi's tracks and tweaked the hell out of everything! I probably spent at least half an hour just getting every track's levels correct.

Next step was effects. A flanger on this part here, some more reverb there, etc. This is usually not so tedious because you can be sort of creative and you get to mess with the audio in weird ways.

Once all the effects were set, guess what time it was? Back to fine-tuning levels! When you use an effect, it changes the sonic character of everything and you have to readjust the levels to make sure there are no problems, that no channel overpowers something else.

Getting closer!

Next step was rendering everything out and sending them to Ashi. It's always important to make sure that the client knows what direction you're taking, and whether or not he or she likes the direction. In the case with Ashi, he definitely liked what he heard, but of course made some artistic suggestions for some changes which I readily accepted.

I finally rendered them one last time and checked the meters to make sure they all sound the same in loudness with each other.

OK, a little note here on some history of audio.

As you probably know, CD audio is amazing. At 44.1 KHz, 16-bit, audio can sound reaaaaally good, reproducing very well the human ability to hear a range of frequencies from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. That 16-bit audio allows for a large dynamic range, from silent to whisper-soft to devastatingly loud.

Sony and Philips knew what they were doing when they developed the medium in the early 80s.

What people might not know is that audio engineers can do a lot to a 44.1 KHz, 16-bit track to make it sound louder. Because a digital CD is limited to 16 bits of dynamic range, there is a limit to how loud you can get a signal. What engineers like to do to make a signal louder is to compress the signal, clip it, brick-wall limit it, etc. Basically, it is possible to take shortcuts to make the audio louder, by staying within those 16 bits of dynamic range.

The problem with this is that too much compression or limiting can really make the sound dull. Clipping just makes the sound harsh. But hey, it makes the signal loud.

When CDs first came out, tracks came out with an average loudness of -15 dBfs to -17 dBfs. As the years wore on, they got louder and louder and a lot of pop tracks today come out to be -10 dBfs to -5 dBfs. I personally don't like to master my own Steg Rex material to be more than roughly -15 dBfs. However, I knew I couldn't do that with Ashi's material, so I tried to do the best I could to preserve some sort of dynamic range. I ended up mastering his stuff to around -11 dBfs or so. With his type of music, this made sense, because his stuff is really poppy.

I really hope that one day, engineers all over the world can come back down and maybe master to around -15 dBfs or so again, because it just sounds good. For those of you who listen to music, you are in control of the volume knob. Use it. If it isn't loud enough for you, just crank it. It makes the audio quality of a CD really annoying if it's mastered too loud. Why would any artist want people to turn DOWN their music? It also sucks for the mastering engineer because people actually request for music to be mastered louder because of "convention."

OK, enough of my rant on loud mastering, back to what I was working on.

When I was done with the 5 tracks, it was already night, so I burned a CD of the day's renders and brought it to my car. I usually listen to tracks through 3 or 4 audio sources to make sure everything sounds consistent. I know that my headphones tend to accentuate the vocal frequencies, while my desktop speakers hit the bass pretty hard (and muddy too, yechhh). The speakers in my car are in general pretty balanced, in between those two extremes.

So I walked out to my car.

Turned it to ACC.

Waited for the stupid seat belt warning beep to shut up.

Cracked open my beer in the back seat.

Cranked the stereo.

Listen.

Listen.

Did everything sound alright?

Yes.

YES!

Finally fucking finished!

OK, shut up, time to back the files up.

April 8, 2008 is HERE!

2008-04-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

Buy it from Amazon.com:

OK, so it's April 8, 2008, the release date of my very first album The Dino Soars. I've been wanting to release an album ever since middle school, but it has finally happened.

The 10 years' worth of expectations and predictions about the day has made today sort of...anticlimactic to be honest. I was expecting all sorts of crazy parties and such, but none of that has happened.

Instead, I had a shot of booze with my housemate before I went to bed.

When I learned how to play piano and guitar in middle school, I really wanted to be a rock star. I wanted to be cool and famous. I wanted to be rich. However, my skills were never very good, and I had no idea how to record any of this stuff and make it sound good. To me, making and recording music was like working magic; I would probably never figure out how to do it myself, so better let someone else do it for me.

In high school, I finally learned about programs like FruityLoops that could let me put together all sorts of musical patterns. I could never get a band together, so I started to make trance music, all throughout high school (under the moniker of MiXCHure).

I had a band with two of my classmates in senior year of high school, and we practiced a couple of times, and came up with a couple of songs. I think we were pretty good and we did end up recording stuff into a single tape track by a karaoke mic. Unfortunately, when we left for college and split up, we never had a chance to practice together again. (Still hoping we will, though.)

In college, I was a lazy bum that first year. I didn't go to class, I was very unmotivated to go study, and since my computer burned out during the summer, I was pretty depressed about my music and decided not to do any new material.

I certainly wish that I had, because making music might have kept me out of trouble with the school. But that's another story for another time.

When I got kicked out of the dorms and began living in apartments, I began to work on the music again, going back to FruityLoops. My friends Kelly Toledano and Quy Duc Doan encouraged me to keep working, because they liked my old stuff (what they saw in it, I don't know since they were pretty awful). Daft Punk was still popular in those years (2004-2006) and all I wanted to do was house music (I explained that it was "porn music" for those who didn't really know the genre).

I was pretty rusty with my composition skills, and I really didn't want to sample anything. All I wanted to use were synths, but I realized that I was limiting myself to the types of sound generation that were available to me.

The summer and fall of 2006 was when everything began to piece together into something coherent. I used samples, synths, live instruments in ways that I never used before. The tracks that came out sounded pretty fresh, and it was so much fun to put all sorts of stuff together. I branched out from house into different types of electro, into some ambient, into a sizeable chunk of West Coast hip-hop, as well as some indie rock. I was cranking out a track a week.

I'll never forget the day I mastered the track Penumbra, in mid-late 2007. I felt like I had achieved the pinnacle of what music recording and production was about. I had successfully recorded in a squeaky-clean guitar signal, paired with recordings of my drumset. I put everything together with some synths and it sounded oh-so-good! Tweaking EQ/levels and mastering it was a joy because I got to blast that baby on my nice speakers.

In November, I released the digital-single Nowhere To Run, but it was a small release, and really not very notable.

It wasn't until mid-January when I began finally talking to Unfun Records about releasing an honest-to-God album release, printed, and distributed. I worked with Kelly on a hip-hop track (Sleep All Day) and Quy was a real pal, producing the artwork on the album.

The Dino Soars.

I love dinosaurs. I have a dinosaur mug. I have a plastic glow-in-the-dark Stegosaurus on my table. I watch Jurassic Park when I get drunk. That's why I'm Stegosaurus Rex.

With this first release, the dino sure soars. It's a leap of faith for an animal that is so heavy, but it's a leap of faith that I have to take. I hope that The Dino Soars will survive through the test of time, just as the dinosoars have, in the minds of the young and the imaginative, the dreamers and the workers, between art and science.

I hope you enjoy my album as much as I did in producing it.

Cutting Tracks

2008-04-06T03:06:00.001-07:00

The past few days were pretty rough, but I did get to cut a whole bunch of tracks with Kelly Toledano (working along with me in the project Model Minority) and Ashi Toledano (Kelly's brother).

A shitload of tracks.

Kelly and Ashi Toledano came up to Berkeley from SoCal (Palmdale) early Thursday morning around 5 or 6 AM. I had been drinking from Wednesday night all the way up until then, so I had to crash for a little bit before we got to work.

I woke up Thursday at around 10 AM or so, and we decided to cut all of Ashi's tracks. I think Ashi might not have had much studio experience, but he was a real trooper. We set up all his tracks and he was ready to go! I can tell he practiced like crazy, since he cut most of the tracks in one take.

5 tracks: 4 hours.

After that, we decided to take a break and we cut maybe 2 or Kelly's tracks. The work went a bit slower since we just ate lunch and we were pretty tired.

2 tracks: 2 hours.

We decide to go with our friend David to SF to meet up with another buddy Anthony. We just ended up drinking a bit at Gordon Biersch and playing some pool at Anthony's place. Eventually, we got back home around 3, ready for some sleep and the next day.

0 tracks: 8 hours.

The next day, Kelly hit the tracks hard. We went from 11 AM to about 3 PM nonstop, and cut about 8 tracks in a row. We ended the day by having a nice drink. And as soon as we were done, the brothers decided to go and hang out in SF (and then leave for home immediately after).

8 tracks: 4 hours.

Total: 15 tracks: 10 hours (work) 36 hours (span).

I swear, people who have been practicing at home before they go to the studio to record is every audio engineer's wet dream, because there are no hassles, no silly retakes, no changing the lyrics here, forgetting the structure there.

So a note to all you musicians out there: practice before you go to the studio, and record tracks like that! Don't piss off your audio engineer/producer! Save some damn money!

Baby Let Me Write A Song

2008-04-02T05:23:00.000-07:00

So now that I’ve gotten a whole bunch of stuff done with "The Dino Soars" (printing, promos, etc), I’ve gotten back to working on some new tracks.

Between all the hip-hop, electro, and metal that I’ve been doing (super-precise editing and sequencing), I haven’t had any time to just sit down and jam, that is, until last week. I began playing some drums because I haven’t worked on it in a long time.

Getting back to creative work after a long period of busy-work is pretty tough, because I usually have writer’s block for a little bit, and it feels pretty disconcerting because it feels like you no longer have control over the creative side of your brain. So far, I’ve always been able to get a spark of an idea before I really start panicking (knock on wood). Either that, or I pound out a small idea that I store for later.

So last week, I decided to record some of the drum stuff with an already existing bassline. I worked pretty slow, because it’s been a while since I’ve worked on my drumming skills. My sixteenths were a little sloppy and I was pissed that I hadn’t been practicing. However, I did manage to get a couple of really nice takes in a sea of pretty sloppy ones (just have to keep cranking them out until it’s right).

I let the track sit there for a few days so I could let my brain rest.

What words could I set to this thing? How long was this piece of shit going to take me?

It was a Saturday night and I was reading for a little while when it just hit me. I had some pre-existing lyrics: "baby let me write a song..."

Why don’t I just write a song about me writing a song? I tried to fight it because I knew that only some sappy shit could come out of it.

I didn’t care, I wanted to get a damn track out of the way.

I just gave myself up to the ideas that were firing up a storm in my head, and the melodies just rushed out from my brain. Certain words and phrases dripped from my consciousness so quickly that I began just listing them frantically on paper. Holy Moley, I knew I had to record this thing before I forgot it!

I fired up the coffee machine around 1 AM, tuned my damn guitar, and I prayed to God that my housemates wouldn’t wake up then and there and destroy me (because that’s what I would do if some fucking idiot began to record a track at that time).

That night, I spent about 6 hours just writing, recording, and singing. I worked like a madman, and burned through 2 pots of coffee to stay awake and a pot of tea to make sure my vocal cords were nice and loose.

Guess what? It was worth it.

When I mixed it all together at around 7 AM bleary eyed and hungry, I knew I had a hit in my hands, because such sappy pop music will not go unnoticed. I made one last render and I fell asleep knowing that some idiot out there would have to enjoy it, even if it is a stupid little ditty. If nothing else, I sure had fun producing it.

--Steg Rex

Stegosaurus Rex (An Intro)

2008-04-02T05:08:00.000-07:00

Stegosaurus Rex is the moniker for me, Max Chen. I started this music project a few years ago in the summer of 2005 because I was bored and I really wanted to put together all my musical skills (I can play the piano, guitar, drums, and sing).

Fast forward roughly 3 years, 100 or so tracks later.

I just finished printing my first album "The Dino Soars" and I'll begin playing shows and doing all sorts of weird and crazy stuff with my music. I'm cutting about a track a week or faster these days, and I don't sleep very much. I've succumbed to MySpace, and learned how to tweak the intonation on a guitar, and record vocals, and do some light mastering, and play a live set, and schmooze with other musicians, and play while drunk and makehiphopandelectroandmetalandambientanddealwithirateneighbors

OK. So I've done a lot the past few years, and learned a lot about music and myself.

I've got an album coming out, finally! (It's been a dream of mine to release music since I was in middle school.)

I'm going to play some shows!

I'm going to collaborate with some awesome musicians!

And I still don't have a real job.

OK, so you want to hear my music.

http://www.myspace.com/maxwellchen
^^^ That's my electro/hip-hop/indie-rock stuff. ^^^

http://www.myspace.com/mareinthemeadow
^^^ That's my metal/rock stuff. ^^^

Go ahead and check those links out, and stay tuned for further postings. This is the beginning of the Stegosaurus Rex blog. Because I need to give you guys news. And I'm bored.

Green Tease - Into Solitude Lyrics

2006-01-01T00:04:00.000-08:00

Into Solitude (Lyrics By Natasha)

Just one breath away
I am from you and all your expectations
This is where I stay
When I don’t need your love
When I don’t want attention

People on the street
Are rushing to the comfort of their homes
I’m in my retreat
Away from all the things
That have been going on

Back into my solitude
It sets up my proper mood
It leaves out my attitude
And it makes me feel so good

It’s amazing how
The circumstances we are in unfold
Leaves are falling down
It’s raining all day long
It’s getting cold

I still feel your touch
And I still feel your kiss
Your skin on my skin
Your lips on my lips

Back into my solitude
It sets up my proper mood
It leaves out my attitude
And it makes me feel so good

I will let my heart
Rest somewhere in the ocean
It has been so hard
To break this vicious circle of emotions

Two of you and one of me
It’s raining all day long it’s getting cold
Cobwebbed hearts of three
I’m trying to untangle, to untangle

Green Tease - When I Mean Nothing To You Lyrics

2006-01-01T00:03:00.000-08:00

When I Mean Nothing To You (Lyrics By Natasha)

On the road behind the wheel
I do feel quite unreal
Muddy view misty skies
I want you to realize

How I loved you
How I cared for you
How I trusted you
All these things are true

When I am nothing in your eyes
Would you stay with me
When I am not disguised
Do you like what you see
When I am nothing to you
Would you set me free
When I do what I’ll do
Would you think of me

Sky is gray sun is low
Rainy day cliffs below
Engine roars music’s loud
Only you I think about

How you loved me
How you held me
How you hated me
All this lately

When I am nothing in your eyes
Would you stay with me
When I am not disguised
Do you like what you see
When I am nothing to you
Would you set me free
When I do what I’ll do
Would you think of me

Belt’s undone I decide
To be free to take a flight
I don’t care about your lies
I’ll remember your pretty eyes

How you loved me
How you held me
How you hated me
Lights are fading

Green Tease - Fatal Treat Lyrics

2006-01-01T00:02:00.000-08:00

Fatal Treat (Lyrics By Natasha)

I will put on my back spikes
This is how my man likes
Mini-dress and black lace tights
I will dance in his headlights

I will meet him in the old park
He won't see me first it's so dark
I'll lit up my mint cigarette
So he could see my silhouette

He'll get out of his black car
I can tell he came straight from the bar
Jack and Coke is all that he had
Or at least that is what he said

He will lean towards me to give a kiss
In my truly cherry red lips
I will take him by his cold hand
We both know we came to the end

Give me your hand
Stay by my side
All that we felt
We left behind

How many times we tried hard
To forgive and have a fresh start
But it always went the same way
He would leave me or I'd go away

We're in love but we are in pain
Tried to break up but it's in vain
Cannot be together or apart
It's a paradox of our hearts

I have made a special new treat
It's so good it's so rich and sweet
Everything we need is inside
Go ahead and take a first bite

I will do exactly what you do
Take a bite and I will have too
Don't be scared pain will end fast
What we do is for our own best

My lips are cold
Your eyes are glass
All that we had
Is in the past

Green Tease - Desolate Pool Lyrics

2006-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Desolate Pool (Lyrics By Natasha)

In the whisper of sad willow trees
You will catch the words of sorrow
In the pool all covered up with leaves
You can find me by tomorrow

This is where we met and fell in love
We pledged to be together
We were witnessed by a black black dove
But nothing lasts forever

I will stay and ask the willow tree
What I've done wrong, why you let me go
Why that night you set me free
I wanna know I just wanna know

Neither brightest light nor darkest night
Will tell us the truth: who was wrong who was right
Bloody sunset doesn't have a clue
That I have my plan I know what to do

It's so dark here and I'm all alone
But I'm not afraid I am brave and strong
My skin is so hot and the water is cool
I'll drown all my sorrows in the desolate pool

Goodbye my love

Stegosaurus Rex - New Kingdom Lyrics (Produced By Quy Duc Doan)

2005-01-01T00:08:00.000-08:00

New Kingdom

This is the New Kingdom right here
Khufu you ain't got nothing on me
Manetho listen up man

Eighteenth bring it back from Hyksos rule
Tao II our boy plain blasting those fools
Back to the past those tools
Damn even Nubia know they got schooled

Just another win another fight no defeat
Chillin with the ladies and gentlemen in Thebes
Man please don't even start no beef
Y'all know that we grow the best weed

(Papyrus!)

Hatshepsut yeah that's my girl
She just took the crown and ruled the world
Don't look now but you'll see ain't no hurdle
Ain't a time when the Nile that fertile

We all building our stuff up in Karnak
All the gods want to be all up in that
Making offerings let our nation grow up fat
Itj-Tawy what you thinking Amenemhat?

Ahhotep girl look at what you did
Your whole family's full of warriors right here

Now we're moving on to Thutmose
Trying to give his aunt a cold shoulder
Playing a player but got played a poser
'Cause he trying to bling it like King Djoser

Akhenaten moving north to Amarna
Down the Nile for some clearer waters
Had himself four beautiful daughters
Don't even know which one the hottest

Hey, y'all know Ankhesenpaaten
She got hitched with Tutankhamun
Making love on Egyptian cotton
Looking at his bling he'll never be forgotten

Horemheb stepping in making Egypt fresh
Wiping off that fool Akhenaten's mess
He was a general and generally the best
Man looked so hard wearing his Khepresh

Stegosaurus Rex - Mattie Silver Lyrics

2005-01-01T00:07:00.000-08:00

Mattie Silver

Mattie Silver you haunt me
Mattie Silver you taunt me
Mattie Silver you want me
Mattie Silver I want you

The first time that I saw you
So cold so starved and weak
I knew I wanted to hold you
And smile at me oh so sweet

Why are your lips so red
When your face is so white
Will you teach me dancing
Standing here under the lights

I love you baby
Ribbons in your hair
Slight fragrance
Floating in the air

Do you love me
Living just like lovers
Don’t you worry
There won’t be any others

Come here baby
Sit down in this sled
One push a hill a tree
And we’ll be dead

My life my love
Mattie Silver
I failed when I
Tried to kill her

Mattie Silver you haunt me
Mattie Silver you taunt me
Mattie Silver you want me
Mattie Silver I want you

Baby take off your coat
Leave the snow and cold outside
Would you hold my hand
I swear it’ll be alright

Can’t act on my love baby
Not going to lose this fight
It doesn’t even matter
I’ll just kiss my wife goodnight

I love you baby
Ribbons in your hair
Slight fragrance
Floating in the air

Do you love me
Living just like lovers
Don’t you worry
There won’t be any others

Come here baby
Sit down in this sled
One push a hill a tree
And we’ll be dead

My life my love
Mattie Silver
I failed when I
Tried to kill her

Stegosaurus Rex - This Is How It Goes Lyrics

2005-01-01T00:06:00.000-08:00

This Is How It Goes

Such a quiet night
We keep alive
We keep us warm
Friendships last so long
Don’t know on what
How did we get here

Breathing quietly
And after all
This is how it goes
I have to tell you now
Where we are
To understand

Listen to my voice
To what I say
This is how it goes
Watch me as I move
So afraid
This is how you know

A heart’s a tender thing
What will you do
If you rip it
Love’s a nasty thing
What have you got
When you miss it

Eyes are tearing up
You know that looks
Are deceiving
And this is how it goes
Embrace the pain
You’re receiving

Listen to my voice
To what I say
This is how it goes
Watch me as I move
So afraid
That’s how you know

Your eyes are shut so tight
How can you see
How can you believe
My heart’s in another place
Fallen down
So hard to read

Steel cuts to the bone
We are alone
I laugh as you cry
How can you still love me
Through it all
Through this night

Listen to my voice
To what I say
This is how it goes
Watch me as I move
So afraid
That’s how you know

Stegosaurus Rex - Collapse Lyrics

2005-01-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

Collapse

Folding our wings up inside
Breathing out
Holding the truth to our lies
Believe me now

Feeling the death to love
Coming around
Hoping the wall that we face
Shatters to the ground

Dreams are shattered in this way
And are you happy
Feelings are crushed and I don’t believe
You are laughing

Another day in the cold
Keeps anger steaming
Another nail driven home
To the lie I’m leading

Hold on to tears and
Hold on to love
Hold on to fears and
Embrace the clouds above

Hold on to youth and
Hold on to death
Hold on to you
Rip the heart out of your chest

Why do we try to break
The things that make us even
Why do we try to make
The things that break us apart
Why do we try to fuse
The things that hold us steady
The space between us
Warns us of the coldness to break and of ourselves

Stegosaurus Rex - Next Time Around Lyrics

2005-01-01T00:04:00.000-08:00

Next Time Around

Where are you now
I missed you somehow
Love never rusted
Your love was one I trusted

Back at home
And I
I’m so alone
In my mind

Why don’t you come back to me
I’ll be waiting for you
The door’s not yet shut so soon

Your breath is so quiet now
We’ll go together
Next time around

*Dedicated in loving memory of Bianca and Marie.

Stegosaurus Rex - When I Mean Nothing To You Lyrics

2005-01-01T00:03:00.000-08:00

When I Mean Nothing To You

On the road
Behind the wheel
I do feel
Quite unreal

Muddy view
Misty skies
Hellish fate
Your pretty eyes

How you loved me
How you held me
How you hated me
All this lately

When I am nothing in your eyes
Would you care for me?
When I am not disguised
Do you like what you see?

Stegosaurus Rex - Undeniable Lyrics

2005-01-01T00:02:00.000-08:00

Undeniable

Seems like our love
Shrouded in mystery
Why do we live
In such misery

Holding my hate in
Letting the love out
It does get cold
Let me kiss your mouth

Sitting by the marble
Of love’s coffin
So easy to startle
I believe it often

Weathered by the fates
Handed down the years
Open the gates
Let out the tears

Love to recall
What we had
Why did we fall
It makes me sad

And most of all
So beautiful
Undeniable
Unintentional

Undeniably hopeless
Undeniably fated
Undeniably loved
Undeniably hated

Undeniably wrong
Undeniably you
Undeniably sad
Undeniably true

Stegosaurus Rex - Green Lyrics

2005-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Green

Green loved the color so
Just like you
Green seems so long ago
A lovely hue
Green like this pretty tree
In the spring
Green like those summer leaves
A timeless dream

Green was the grass outside
Where we met
Green in the candlelight
I cant forget
Green stems and red red rose
Smelled so good
Green flowed into my nose
Where we stood

Green now I think of you
You turned away
Green was my face’s hue
That fateful day
Green tell me what was wrong
Didn’t have to go
Blue now I sing this song
I’m so alone

Green was the dress you wore
When we did kiss
Green that I love no more
You slit your wrists
Red was the blood that flowed
Right at my feet
Red was my face that showed
I tried to speak

Green loved the color then
And so did you
Green like your pale dead skin
It turns to blue
Green now you’re buried here
My heart does sting
Green grass above your grave
A ghostly ring

Green loved the color so
Just like you
Green seems so long ago
A lovely hue
Green like this pretty tree
In the spring
Green like those summer leaves
A timeless dream

Stegosaurus Rex - Nowhere To Run Lyrics

2005-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Nowhere To Run

You’re gonna die
I’m gonna kill you
You’re gonna die
I’m gonna kill you

Feeling all blue
I’ve got no more time
They all hate me
Because of my crime

Their threats come at me
Their voices are loud
All to condemn me
My face is still proud

You were my good friend
I saved you before
I thought you turned good now
But you asked for some more

You had to provoke me
So I beat you
Watched your skull bleed
So now I feel blue

Out of ideas
Nowhere to run
Looking right down
Barrel of a gun

And so I dream
Voices in my head
Delusions mock me
My best friend is dead

I feel no guilt
But I shed a tear
I see your dead body
With the blood all smeared

A bird sings a song
It’s all for you
Outside it’s so warm
And the skies are all blue

You’re gonna die
I’m gonna kill you
You’re gonna die
I’m gonna kill you