Blog Sinch Archive

The past couple months were kinda slow in the getting shit done department. With the holidays and some other scheduling conflicts we only managed to get in a few weekends of actual recording. The good news is we’re closing in on finishing up guitars and have the rest of the days we need scheduled for this month. After that we move on to vocals.

We would absolutely love to be getting this done faster but everyone involved in this project has other things going on where they actually make the money needed to survive. The donations we’ve received go a long way towards paying for the new album, but that’s all we’re using it for. When it comes to rent/bills/etc, everyone’s kinda on their own. So whether its fishing for Alaskan King Crab or doing pet dry cleaning for the rich and famous… we gotta do what we gotta do.

I’m hoping that playing rock music will someday be a viable career option. Until then it’s more like playing the lottery and winning just enough to buy some more lottery tickets.

Every couple of years or so we like to bring The Strychnine back from the dead in the form of another box or, in this case, Macy’s bag of CDs found in someone’s basement or, in this case, parents’ garage.

I haven’t pulled them all out to count them but it looks like around 20-25 discs all still in their factory wrapped glory. This may or may not be the last of them, but I’m leaning towards may. They’re back in stock so get one while supplies last.

As an added bonus, CD Baby is donating $1 from every sale (until 2/7/10) to Haitian relief efforts. We’ll go ahead and double that with no time limit. So we’ll donate $2 for every one of these CDs sold, until they run out. If you need help with that it comes out to $3. Plus you get your hands on this classic piece of Pennsylvania Rock History.

If you already have one of these you could always pick up a few extra to hand out at parties or your next ice cream social. And it’s red so it makes a great Valentine’s day gift. Or you could just head over there and leave a review. The possibilities are pretty much endless.

Twitter user @pgmonday recently posted this photo of his new tattoo:

Fresh ink! It’s a quote from one of my favorite @sinch songs – “Seven”

As far as I can remember (which may not be that far) this is the first Sinch-inspired tattoo we’ve seen. We certainly can’t recommend you get Sinch-related tattoos but if there are any other ones out there feel free to let us know.

We nailed down some more recording days over the next month or so. The live stream will probably be up for most of them so remember to check in and see what we’re up to. Here’s the schedule:

Sunday Nov. 22 @ 11am
Monday Nov. 23 @ 7pm
Monday Nov. 30th @ 7pm
Wednesday Dec. 2nd @ 7pm
Saturday Dec. 19th @ 11am
Sunday Dec 20th @ 11am

The best way to get notified when the stream goes live is to follow us on Twitter. If you’re not into Twitter, you can still find our latest update here on the site (in the right sidebar) or over on our Facebook page.

You can also stay updated through email by signing up for our newsletter.

Our hugely successful Sound Share project has a new home on Bluskreen.com

From there you can download samples from both Sinch and Bluskreen tracks and make your own remixes, mash ups, monster mashes or whatever you want. All the samples are released under a Creative Commons license.

You’ll find more information there as well as links to a bunch of audio apps to get you started.

Bluskreen Sound Share Project

We had some issues last weekend and weren’t able to get everything set up for the live stream. Apologies to anyone who tried to get on.

The good news is that guitar tones were “dialed in” and a bunch of stuff was recorded. I wasn’t in the studio for these sessions so I can’t tell you much more than that. But we’ll be back in for more guitars on Oct 17 and Oct 24.

The live stream will be up for those two sessions, so mark your calendars.

On March 31, we introduced an experimental new home page design here on Sinch.net. After rigorous testing we’ve come to the conclusion that it is simply too awesome for us to keep using it. We’ve returned to the old design for now. Back to the drawing board I guess.

If you missed it, you can still get the full experience here. Be warned: it’s quite possibly the most awesome thing you will ever see.

We’re testing out a new design for the home page. If you’re seeing this in the RSS feed or from a direct link to the blog, check out the new home page.

We recently discovered that our friends over at Warner Music Group decided to remove the audio from some of our videos on YouTube. (Note: We replaced the audio with their handy AudioSwap feature. Enjoy the completely unrelated audio!)

People have been asking where they can find versions with the audio intact. The answer is obviously Sinch TV. But as one person pointed out, the videos for Plasma and Bitmap were never posted there. So, we fixed that glaring error and now all of our videos are available in their most useful format (with the correct audio).

First, we’d like to thank everyone who’s donated so far. It really means a lot to us. So far all we’ve really said is that for donations of $10 or more, you’ll get the new album for free when it comes out. But a bunch of you decided to donate more anyway, and that’s awesome.

Well, we finally put together a list of more stuff that you can get for those higher donation levels.

Donation Levels

Copper Level – $10.00
You get the new album in mp3 format as soon as it is released ¹.
Your name goes in the credits as a contributor to the album.

Bronze Level- $25.00
You get everything from the Copper level, plus:
You get access to the live stream and recordings from the studio ².

Silver Level – $50.00
You get everything from the Bronze and Copper levels, plus:
You get a signed and numbered CD version mailed to you as soon as it’s released.

Gold Level – $100.00
You get everything from the Copper, Bronze and Silver Levels, plus:
A limited edition T-shirt (probably themed around the new album) that we won’t sell or make available anywhere else ³
A limited edition, signed and numbered poster ⁴

Platinum Level- $500.00
You get everything from the Copper, Bronze and Silver and Gold levels, plus:
You get an edited video of the studio sessions that only Platinum donors will get. ⁵
We call you personally from the studio or, if you prefer send you an email/letter thanking you for your involvement ⁶

Plutonium Level- $5000.00
You get everything from the Copper, Bronze and Silver, Gold and Platinum levels, plus:
You will be listed as an “executive producer” on the album ⁷
You will have bragging rights that you were a major part in making this album happen.
You will be awesome.

And don’t worry. Even if you have already donated money, you’re still eligible for the awesome bonus stuff. We’re keeping close track of who donated what and will be contacting everyone with more details.

Notes:
(1) – The album will be emailed to you as a free download from our online store.
(2) – To stream studio sessions we are using Ustream.tv, a free live streaming service. The quality of the streams may vary, depending on our connection speed, your connection speed, the availability of the Ustream service and possibly the alignment of the planets, in relation to the studio. We will be streaming throughout the recording process but not for the whole time we’re in the studio. There may be times when we want some privacy. We will give as much notice as possible for upcoming studio sessions.
(3, 4) – Because both the shirt and poster designs will be probably based on the new album artwork, it won’t be designed until closer to the end of this process. We typically don’t create the album art until after the recording is complete. In other words, we still have no idea what this stuff will look like, but we’ll make it as awesome as possible. The shirt will be a custom made shirt, and not a CafePress shirt like the ones we’ve been selling recently.
(5) – This video will be completed sometime after the album is recorded. You may receive some of the other items before this one as it will take time to produce.
(6) – We will set up a time with you to make this call. Not everyone in the band is comfortable making these calls, so we can;t guarantee who you’ll be talking to. If you’re not comfortable with the call either, we can send you a personal email or letter instead.
(7) – Your credit will be listed on both the website and the CD version of the album. This title does not give you any “points.” You won’t be getting any royalty checks. It’s just that: a title. But it’s a pretty awesome title if you’re a Sinch fan.

If you haven’t donated yet, what are you waiting for?