Kinda random: in the past few months, a bunch of you were recently talking about the “score” I created for the 2005 MTV VMAs (I did a small selection of beats for the show, and scored it with Lil’ Jon, who contributed his own tracks. We did not collaborate on any, FYI).
Some of you have already found the tracks on my soundcloud page, but I figured I’d post them here. Enjoy!
I’m trying out Soundcloud to host my music for mikeshinoda.com. The nice thing about this player is you can share it. Here are the mixtapes I made over the past few months; feel free to embed. Track listing is on the next page.
For those who haven’t seen, here’s the premiere of the NEW VIDEO for NOT ALONE, our song from the Download To Donate album. Thanks to the UN Foundation for the footage from Haiti, and our amazing team who shot and edited the video. Our thoughts and prayers are still with the people of Haiti.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=102884442
-m
My post from a couple days ago seemed to get a lot of traffic out there on the web. It seemed that pushing a tentative date back further (tentatively) got the LP fanbase all riled up. But the 200+ comments and peripheral noise got me thinking: what does it all mean? I decided to figure it out. The most obvious way to create logic out of it? Algebra has always seemed very logical to me…
A lot of you seemed to want us to take our time in the studio, stressing that quality (Q) is more important than release date (D). Others disagreed, arguing that releasing sooner (D) should be put above the other (Q). Next, some argued that Linkin Park quality is multiplied by time (so time is “T”). Others argued time doesn’t affect the quality (no “T”). I guessed that the soonest this year we could get an album out would be March(3). The latest this year would be December(12)…So I believe that makes the equation:
Q(T)/D(12) = D(3)/Q
On the left, quantity and time over the latest possible 2010 release (12th month); on the right the soonest possible release (3, meaning March) over quantity times the LP quality”X” factor. What I really wanted to know was how much time you wanted us to take (T)
Balancing this equation out (and crossing the reoccurring variables)…you get T/12=3. That means T=36.
So it looks like you guys figured it out for us. What you’re telling us is that you want a new album out in December 2012. That gives us a ton of time. Thanks for the help, guys.
Comment by Matthew (w/ many similar comments) – “theres a news article in mtv saying you guys pushed the release date back to the end of the year! i dont expect an album release for early 2011.. thats another four years. Thats a real bummer because you guys said you would try to release albums more faster”
Dear Matthew and others,
I appreciate your concern. I have two comments, to help give you some insight into our process. First, we don’t know when the album is coming out; we are recording constantly and doing everything we can to make a great record (ready for release in 2010). We have some new, special ideas for this release, and those ideas have delayed it slightly–but not into 2011.
Secondly, I said we’d “release music more often,” not “albums”…between the DBS record, “New Divide,” “Not Alone,” the tracks I’ve done with other artists (Metric, Lupe, Kenna, Cypress Hill, Apathy, etc.), the iPhone game and song, and any other unforeseen things that might happen before the album release, I think we’ve proven that statement to be very true.
I don’t rant often, but this particular note deserves it. I’ll write this while the studio computer is restarting. Here’s the deal. I hope you guys at Digidesign are reading.
ProTools is friggin crashing…every time I zoom in too far.
What?
I can’t zoom?
The engineers and I have tried to hunt down the root of this problem (online) for a month. We haven’t come up with anything. We then called the Digidesign artist relations team, who have told us 3 times “OK, give us a time when you guys will be in the studio, and we’ll call you.” They flake. Every time. Ethan (our engineer) asked if we could call them. “No, because we need a tech on the phone…” And so on.
To be fair, I know these guys are busy actually fixing this bug…but this is industry-standard software. Your average ProTools rig is about $30-50,000.00. I want to be able to, um…zoom. I hear that Logic and Cubase both zoom in. Even Garage Band zooms in, and that came free with my computer.
And after I did lockjaw and helped them promote PT8…and the NAMM appearance…and tell everyone how awesome their stuff is, maybe they could at least give a fella a call back.
mike
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE: LP UNDERGROUND 9
LINKIN PARK TO RELEASE SPECIAL RARITIES ALBUM WITH FAN CLUB PACKAGE
LPU9 CD SPOTLIGHTS NEVER-BEFORE-HEARD DEMOS OF BAND’S BIGGEST HITS, PLUS A NEW UNRELEASED SONG
AVAILABLE WITH PURCHASE OF LP UNDERGROUND (LPU) FAN CLUB MEMBERSHIP DEC. 3
Los Angeles, CA (November 30, 2009) – Two-time Grammy winning rock band LINKIN PARK has announced a December 3rd release date for LPU9: DEMOS, a special rarities album available with a membership to the band’s fan club, the Linkin Park Underground. The album and membership package can be purchased together at http://www.lpunderground.com and at select Best Buy locations and includes a t-shirt, patch, and other exclusive merchandise items.
LPU9: DEMOS features nine unreleased demo versions of some of the band’s biggest hits, including “Faint,” “Breaking The Habit,” and “Leave Out All The Rest.” Also included is “Across The Line,” a previously unreleased song recorded during the Minutes To Midnight studio sessions. Fans also get “Morning After (acoustic),” from frontman Chester Bennington’s side project, Dead By Sunrise (as an exclusive download).
“Songs change constantly over the course of the creative process, so we thought it’d be cool to share early versions of familiar tracks,” says Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda. “The versions in this collection represent important moments in the evolution of each song: different vocals, music variations, and missing parts. They’re snapshots of our works-in-progress.”
Since its formation in 2001, the LPU’s reach has extended worldwide to form a tight global community. The band has maintained a strong direct bond throughout, and every year they design special merchandise and release music exclusively to LPU members.
Fans first heard the new song, “Across The Line,” during online video episodes (“LPTV”). Originally entitled “Japan,” fans sought out the song for years, but the band had never released it. In response to fan feedback, the band decided to finish the song and make it available as a highlight of LPU9.
“The LPU is a movement,” says guitarist Brad Delson. “Their support of the band is inspiring. So we try to give back to them whenever we can. When we heard that they had been talking about ‘Across The Line,’ we knew we had to make it available for them.”
The LPU has enabled fans worldwide to interact with members of the band, meeting them at exclusive LP Underground meet & greet signings (held at almost every Linkin Park show), or chatting with them online at exclusive chats through the fan club members-only website, http://www.lpunderground.com. In past years, the band has offered free concert tickets to fan club members, cast them as extras in a music video (“Faint”), and flown them out for rehearsal sessions. The site also provides fans with exclusive news, presales, contests, photos, video, and more. The fan club consistently strives to offer more to its members through website innovations, creative content, and engaging contests and giveaways. For more information, please go to http://www.lpunderground.com.
The full track listing for LPU9: DEMOS is as follows:
1 – “A-Six” (Original Long Version 2002)
2 – “Faint” (Demo 2002)
3 – “Sad” (“By Myself” Demo 1999)
4 – “Fear” (“Leave Out All the Rest” Demo 2006)
5 – “Figure.09” (Demo 2002)
6 – “Stick And Move” (“Runaway” Demo 1998)
7 – “Across The Line” (Unreleased Demo 2007)
8 – “Drawing” (“Breaking The Habit” Demo 2002)
9 – “Drum Song” (“Little Things Give You Away” Demo 2006)
Linkin Park is currently in the studio preparing a new album for release in 2010.
Album Update:
At last count, there were upward of 60 tracks on the “band” hard drive. Obviously, they’re in all states of completion (except “finished”). Well, 60 is a big number, and focusing down on all of those to try to get them finished sounded terrifying not to mention silly; a good chunk of those are probably not really our best stuff anyway. So we narrowed down to 20. These 20 aren’t all going to make the album, they’re just the best songs we’ve got so far.
Of the 20, we’re trying to focus on 5 right now, and get them finished. The work has been going exceptionally well–I think all the guys are more focused than ever. I don’t know for sure, but I would bet that the average song length on these is around the 4-5 minute mark; a bit longer format than our usual stuff. We’re really enjoying being in the studio right now, trying to be as creative and adventurous as we can, while letting our sense of songwriting, rhythm, and melody guide the way through the chaos.
mike
A few of you have asked about my process when it comes to making beats. I don’t really have a “process,” but I currently have been doing a lot on my MPC, so I figured I’d throw a little demo together. I tend to try to combine gear to get a cool sound. In this one, all the gear I used was pretty basic and reasonably-priced; simple stuff you can buy at Guitar Center or whatever. Enjoy,
mike
PS: I’m growing my hair out. I know it looks awesome right now. I think it’s exactly the same haircut I had in elementary school.
Official Website ofMike Shinoda™
Response to Comments-LP Album
November 24, 2009M: We wrote roughly 150 demos for MTM because we were at a point where we were redefining how we approached writing a song. We were breaking down rigid, preconceived ideas about how our band “should” sound…we had to experiment with a lot of crazy stuff in order to figure out what the album should sound like. At the end of the process, we all felt like we had pushed outside our comfort zones quite a bit, and we were happy about the new frontiers the process had opened up. I think we’re now at a place where there are far fewer boundaries or barriers, and the perspective of the past few years has given us an intense creative momentum, so fewer demos are getting the job done. Quality, not quantity; I don’t think we’ll need to write that many demos to know that the album is ready.
Posted by spraypaintNinkpens – I guess we really shouldn’t expect an album in 2010 because you take forever to release a 12 track cd. I wish you’d release a cd faster than 3-4 years because everyone is going to inevitably start to make people lose interest in the band. Lockjaw was made in a day and it’s a stellar track.
M: Thanks for the nice comment about “Lockjaw.” I am writing these updates to assure you that what we’ve said about putting music out more quickly is our intention, 100%. It is my firm belief that the album will be out in 2010. As for the “3-4 year” comment: we’ve been saying that for about 6 months. In that short time, here is the new music that has come from our camp: “New Divide,” “Lockjaw,” my “Gold Guns Girls” remix, my Julien-K remix, my track for Apathy called “Shoot First,” and an entire DBS album. Some are more mainstream things, others are meant for various levels of underground fans. We already have other related ideas (“Across The Line” on the LPU9 CD for example) on deck before the next album comes. Then, after the next album, we hope to continue to create and release music faster than we have in the past (3-4 years between studio albums is obviously a long time). The bottom line is: we’re trying to be in the studio more than ever, making great stuff that is Linkin Park quality. We LIVE in the studio now.
Posted by Rotten – Couldn’t you give us more info on your upcoming album please? Like how it’s gonna sound, mainly hip hop or rock? Is it gonna be experimental as MTM was? Anyway, i’m confident about the quality since you never disappointed us but i’m afraid you’ll be producing an album just because you have to…
M: I’ve been rapping a bit more, Joe has been a little more present, and together we’re also doing a lot with the beats. Again, you never know what can happen: we can make 50 songs with rapping, and if the 10 that don’t have rapping get picked by the band for the album, then any comment I may have made about rapping is null and void! But we have never produced an album because “we had to,” it’s all about where the band is at creatively, at the time. Hybrid Theory and Meteora were a time of defining a sound, MTM was a time of destroying that and branching out in many directions. This new album, so far, is a redefinition.
Posted by pepper – THANK YOU for the album update Mike!! We kept tweeting Phi for an update, but no go. I guess you are the better man =P (haha as if there was any doubt) Lol I’m so excited to hear about the long songs and that you guys are going through your usual thorough process for selecting the songs for the album. Stay focused and keep rocking on my brothers, I’m so stoked for this album and what 2010 holds for LP!
*M: Yes Pepper, I am your friend and Phoenix is ignoring you. He is evil, I am good.
Thanks for the good words…we’ll do our best to make this album great, for you and everyone who is down with the band.*
mike
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