Hello fine folks from the FreeSessions community,
This week’s session is very special because it is a collaboration with the Racer Sessions out of Seattle, WA! The Racer Sessions model is the original inspiration for the FreeSessions, so we are thrilled to be bringing our communities together at this time. We’ll start off the session with two opening sets, one curated by the Racer Sessions and the other by the FreeSessions.
First up, presented by the Racer Sessions, we’ll have a solo set by Cameron Sharif, an incredible keyboardist from Seattle now living in LA who was a Racer Sessions regular and an integral part of the Seattle creative music scene.
https://cameronsharif.bandcamp.com
https://chemicalclock.bandcamp.com
https://justchatting.bandcamp.com
Next, presented by the FreeSessions will be Sean Howard aka the ptesseract, who uses a looper, drum machine, sampler and a variety of instruments to create a sonic wonderland that is based on a symbiotic balance of composition and improvisation. Check out more of Sean’s work at these links:
www.seansong.org
Www.YouTube.com/seanburress
Following the opening sets, we’ll open it up to a jam session like normal, this time with members from both the Racer Sessions and FreeSessions communities and hopefully beyond! Everyone is welcome to participate in the jam session, or you can just sit back and watch and listen. We will also stream the session live via the Racer Sessions Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/racersessions/], so if you only wish to spectate, no need to log in to the Zoom meeting.
Link to the Zoom meeting: https://washington.zoom.us/j/97645294067?pwd=YkVUeXJPYjdJeUJrSnBiUHBDdmFBZz09
“Doors” will “open” at 3:45pm, meaning that’s when you can join the Zoom meeting and start hanging out! At 4pm the music will begin, and we’ll finish up at 6pm.
We also want to apologize once more to those who experienced the unfortunate Zoombombing incident last Sunday. We were caught off guard and should have been more prepared to adequately handle the situation. We have implemented a number of security measures to help prevent this from happening again, including:
– Enabling a waiting room to control who’s joining.
– Designating people in charge of managing participants in case an issue arises.
– Tightening up a number of other security settings in Zoom to centralize control to the official Host/Co-Hosts of the meeting.
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Since we aren’t able to support Cafe Racer by purchasing food and drinks, we’re asking for donations for them via Venmo. These are tough times for everyone, so donate what you can, but don’t worry if you don’t have the means to contribute right now.
Venmo: @Cafe-Racer
You may also support Cafe Racer by purchasing gift cards [https://intentionalist.com/product/cafe-racer/], checking out their current online auction [https://www.32auctions.com/caferacer], or ordering their great food to-go!
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ZOOM AUDIO SETTINGS SUGGESTIONS:
*If possible, connect directly to your Internet via ethernet when using Zoom. WiFi should still work well enough in most cases if a wired connection is unavailable, though there will be higher latency, and if the connection is too weak it may result in inadequate audio/video quality and/or freezing.*
*We recommend using headphones unless you are muted, and, generally, using an external microphone of better quality than your device’s built-in microphone. For digital/electronic instruments, plugging directly into your computer may work well, too!*
1. In Zoom, go to “Preferences.”
2. Click “Audio” from the menu on the left.
3. If using an external microphone, make sure it is selected from the menu in the “Microphone” section.
4. We recommend unchecking the box next to “Automatically adjust microphone volume” and setting a good “Input Volume” yourself. You can click the “Test Mic” button to record a short sample and listen back to see how it sounds. Try playing something loud to make sure it isn’t distorting. The auto-adjust feature compresses dynamics, which may be ok for talking but not for music!
5. Click “Advanced” at the bottom right of the Audio Settings screen.
6. Check the box for “Show in-meeting option to “Enable Original Sound” from microphone.” Turning Original Sound “On” allows you to preserve the sound from your microphone without using Zoom’s echo cancellation and audio-enhancing features which are not necessarily music-friendly.
7. Under “Audio Processing,” select “Disable” for both “Suppress Persistent Background Noise” and “Suppress Intermittent Background Noise.”
8. “Echo Cancellation” can be set to “Auto.”
9. Last thing! Once you’re back in the Zoom meeting, find the button in the top left of the video window that says “Turn [on/off] Original Sound” — make sure that Original Sound is turned on!
