We are Joe Hawley, Ross Federman, and Bora Karaca of ミラクルミュージカル. Ask us anything.

Is my amp too high?

Whether it is or not, always use hearing protection to be safe. One of my three most recommended purchases in life are custom-molded musician's ear plugs. Call your local audiologist for details.

What other purchases do you recommend?

1. A decent telescope. Viewing the cosmos is educational, inspiring, and humbling. You look forward to the night.
2. A squatty potty

You guys play smash bros? Who's your main?

Wolf

ARE YOU ALL DRINKING ENOUGH WATER??

I am quite thirsty

not album related but how have y’all been lately? i hope everything’s going good!

I'm good thanks how are you

Firstly, thank you so much for this LP. It's my favorite album ever. What was the actual process like of collaborating with so many people remotely? What did a day in that life even look like? Much love, and thanks again!! 🖤

Here's the Bora answer: it was magical because it was my first time doing something like that. People who would happen to be in town in Los Angeles would just swing by, pop in, and put their little piece in. This is now the way I want to do things, personally!

Any of y'all still visit Marvin's? We love going there when we go back to MI. We were so sad when Marvin passed.

I went a few years ago, and got like 50 tickets. I didn't redeem them.

With no better question to think of, what are your guys's favorite Pokémons?

Bronzong

Since this has been asked a lot, my favorite song is MURDERS. Also why hasn't anyone asked how we got the piano tone during the bridge???

Bora:

Why 15 seconds? Why not 10? 20? Hell, you could have done 25 or even 30!

Why 15?

It comes from "15 minutes of fame", but scaled down to fit in a T.H.I.S. episode. I...think?

Have any of you ever stepped into the unofficial Tally Hall Discord server? Right now we're freaking out about the AMA going on here.

god I feel old

Love your music! What kind of music do you listen to for fun?

http://forgotify.com/

Bora: Did the whole bronzini from ‘Fifteen Seconds of Bora’ turn out good?

Ross: What was your favorite Tally hall sons to preform live?

Joe: Will there be anymore music coming from ‘Miracle Musical’?

It was FREAKING DELICIOUS! I got it on my first try. It was juicy and lemony and sorry Joe

Bora: is there any chance you'll be featured as the official 6th member of Tally Hall in Tally Hall: Chapter 3?

Who said I wasn't the 1st

Really excited for the physical release of this album! I've been a fan since 2006 and the Tally Hall days and caught as many shows as I could through high school and college. My only question is how much Joe Hawley is too much Joe Hawley?

1.4 x 10²¹ electron volts

Hello! A question for each of you:

Joe: You use a lot of Nintendo samples in some of your recent work. What's your favorite game for the NES?

Ross: What was the most difficult Tally Hall song to drum?

Bora: Is your lemon tree still around?

My lemon tree is still around. I, however, am not around it.

What is your opinion on the Pizza Theme from Spiderman 2?

it is music

Hey guys! Musician here and longtime fan of both Tally Hall and Musical Miracle! My main questions for you all atm are these;

"How the heck do you all go about creating music? Is there anything specific about your individual songwriting processes that you feel works the best? And finally, any advice for a musician who can't manage to write a full song?" Super cool of you all to do an AMA by the way, have a cool night guys!

Sing in the shower. Mumble in the elevator. Don't speak for 24 hours. Go for walks. Finish a song even if you hate it.

which song on H:PII was the most grueling to finish/be satisfied with?

Mind Electic was tough to get right.

Can not agree more

do you see banana man? hopping over on the white hot sand?

I get this reference!

This album is basically like oxygen to me at this point, so first of all, thank you. Just a few questions:

Any major inspirations for the album or any of the tracks on it?

What was it like having to write, translate, and sing lyrics that were in languages other than English for songs like 宇宙ステーションのレベル7 and Dream Sweet in Sea Major?

Love you all and hope you're doing well <3

I took a semester of Japanese in high school, making me incredibly qualified to speak fluently. And by that I mean I tried my best using what I knew, and asking bilingual friends who lived in Japan to confirm that I wasn't speaking like an idiot. Don't tell anybody

hi! i recently discovered i’m very passionate about making music, but i have literally no idea how. any tips for a beginner? (ps, congrats on hitting your kickstarter goal!)

Focus on your aural ear training and singing out loud. It doesn't matter what your voice sounds like. If you can start to recognize and eventually memorize something as simple as the intervals between the notes, you already have a great head start.

Huge metal head here, but I love the music you've created. I even remember watching Tally Hall on Fearless Music. If I get around to recording my album, I wanted to include a cover of Sacred Beast.

For such a comprehensive project, is there any "making of" or engineering lesson for Hawaii Part II? It's amazing what was done with so much source material.

It's actually a pretty good exercise in mixing, because I wanted every little thing to be heard no matter what. Balancing that with making compromises, and being passionate about it. You're going to engineer a wonderful product. An earthload of automation.

What would you guys say are your favourite or most memorable parts/pieces to come out of Hawaii: Part II? Was there a clear favourite song or anything after having made the album? Also, how has Bora been? Big fan of the Dip.

I'm so happy people call it the Dip

What is the absolute craziest food you can think of?

people

thats called cannibalism and i think someone told me it was illegal

I told you it was crazy

will cojum dip be making any more music in the future?

Answered this somewhere in the sea of comments, but yes! Summer 2019

ALSO @Bora i just wanted to say that i’m a HUGE cojum dip fan- also saw that there‘ s a new album coming out in summer of next year. is it with all new people?

You are so very kind. There won't really be a band, but there's going to be a lot of guests!

@ all of you: whats your favorite video game of all time?

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

This is probably more aimed at Joe, but, yeah

I did a cover of stranded lullaby, like that one in the bonus files or whatever it was, the one with just piano and voice? I don't know how much of a "cover" it is, I think I just repeated the piano for the most part. And I don't think I ever posted it anywhere or did anything with it.

So, how do you get over the fact that something you make isn't great, and keep going with it or working on it until it's great? Or showing it to people despite how much you don't like it?

Also, how do you go about writing lyrics? I really like how you'll sometimes switch it up or whatnot. But I've heard about so many approaches to lyrics, I'm wondering what yours is?

Also thanks for coming out here and doing this, for sure

1. You get over it by doing it. People exceed, meet, and fall short your expectations. At my first live performance, people in the audience were stunned but I grew on them and they had a blast. My second performance, one guy in the front kept yelling "You suck". I love and miss you, guy in the front. Do you want one half-finished song to sit in your head forever? Or maybe 5 bad songs out in the open, that are done with, so you can move on to 5 more great songs?
2. I like to write a great punchline first, then write the lyrics that are supposed to come before it.

ahh i see you put this up 5 minutes early :0

​

anyway i was wondering about the jump from time machine demo 3 to the final version of time machine. they're so brilliant but completely different from each other! what made you decide to go in the direction it did? big fan of all of you uwu

I feel like my guitar solo was a very important piece of the transformation

Can you describe what's happening in the cover artwork in 10 words or less?

Some people got together and made some artwork

Bora - one thing I just thought of - how did you get the piano tone during the bridge of Murders?

Oh great question! I recorded the piano part first. Then I played that recording through my speakers, pointing directly at my piano strings. Leaving a barbell on the sustain pedal to keep them resonating, I recorded the piano strings as the speakers played the piano part.

Have you eaten a durian?

I ate durian ice cream and it tasted like the men's locker room

Bora: Are you still doing stuff with Cojum Dip? That self-titled album was really fantastic IMO.
Joe: How did you find all the samples for JHJH? Also, will there be a demos album for it like Hawaii Part II: Part ii?
Ross: honestly i don't know what to ask ross i just hope you're having a good day.
All: Will the Tally Hall albums ever be repressed on vinyl (or any format, really) now that HP:II is getting pressed?

Why thank you! A new album is coming out summer 2019

Huge fan here! Thank you so much for putting Miracle Musical out on vinyl. It is excellent. Are these shipping soon? (Not my actual question)

I’ve noticed that you guys have a lot of video game and chip-tune influence. (LOVE Hawaii Part II: Part ii, and I personally hear a lot of Katamari Damacy-type stuff on the record) What are your favorite video game soundtracks or single songs? Do you guys still play video games at all?

(Sorry for the multiple questions)

Mega Man 2. Takashi Tateishi made nothing but hits on that cartridge.

I mean I freaking covered it

Hi, I’m currently I school learning how to record music and I love this album so much and it’s so intriguing. Who recorded it? How did you record it? And where did you record it?

This gal! A very big chunk of it was recorded at my studio at the time, The Laboratory (v1.0). Everything else was done around the country and sent to us via the internet, where we plugged it back into the arrangements. As for "how" I recorded it, I am ready for my mouth to turn into a river of words

So, I'll be asking questions on behalf of myself and another person Because Reasons.

Me: Is the (Electric Guitar) sample that's on Hawaii Part II: Part ii actually in the mix? Because my brother pointed out to me that it wasn't and I end up trying to listen for it pretty much every time I try to listen to it. Also wondering if you could go into detail about the process of getting the LP pressed - source, mastering, pressing etc. Vaguely worried about it, as most LPs, sounding like cornn flaeks.

Them: Was curious about the box of 20 ct hearts Joe keeps under his bed?

I can tell you without a doubt that it is in the mix. Keep searching, my little cornmuffins

What artist/s are you listening to right now?

currently loving Bnny Rbbt

omg

Katy Perry or Taylor Swift?

yes

What are each of your favorite moments on the album? Also, if there's any kind of definitive story to the album, what is it to you?

Zubin's laughter

really just a ton of tiny moments that I'm not sure anyone has noticed. And of course all the cool little things Ross did with effects!

Actually my favorite musical moment is the "you look quite divine tonight" part