I have successfully transferred the weblog over to my new hosting so from now on all the new posts will appear here:
UPDATE: Some of you might have noticed the style and layout of the blog slightly changing. I’m actually planning to introduce a bit of a change to the site including most likely moving the blog to my own hosting to customize and integrate it into my other activities. Stay tuned, some major stuff happening soon! =)
I’ve been so busy with all sorts of work lately that I’m hardly finding time to update this place. No, I don’t want to abandon it. On the contrary. I even gave the design a bit of a facelift! What I’m thinking though, is perhaps I should post articles on everything I do in general.
Music composing is my favourite hobby which, unfortunately, I can hardly dedicate time to as of late. Most of the time is generally spent on web design, illustration work, and photography (speaking of that, I gotta put up a website with my work on there for you check out as well). Most recently I’ve been helping out with the graphics for Box O’Deals, an eBay store my friend has set up which focuses on deals (duh) and more importantly bundling them together for even crazier discounts. The situation will get better overall though — I am planning to dedicate regular hours to music, get it into a habit so to speak.
It’s like this — I have around 3-4 instrumental electronic tracks which exist in the form of short pieces in Logic that are just waiting around to be expanded into full tracks, about 2-3 compositions which are full length already but just need touching up, and 2 different versions of the same track we recorded with Rachael for Coast Green over a year ago that I’m yet to work on. The latter in particular is somewhat of a curse, since it’s a track that has pretty much imploded from its own weight: in total we have recorded at least 2 hours of various vocal takes. Most of them are for harmonizing, as well as some special FX we have recorded outdoors, weird percussions and samples of objects outdoors and around the house that make for interesting noises to be used in the composition. And, of course, the sheer amount of that recorded material is precisely what makes me keep putting it all off. At least I backed it all up a few times so I can actually get to finishing it up before my hard drives die. Not funny, as it happened to my previous HDD. Though I don’t like any of those unfinished tunes anymore anyway. Or that’s what I want to think at least.
Anyway, if anybody cares to answer, let me know:
Do you think posts unrelated to audio would be appropriate or should I keep a lower post count but all related to music?
P.S. A post on Logic Studio coming up!
Ok, so I have been doing something in my absence. Yes, not posting here is one of those things, but I’ve also been composing a soundtrack for a film with a fairly tight deadline. That was FUN. Check out the mp3’s (Part 2 is my favourite):
I’ve checked the movie website but it looks like there is no trailer up. I’ll bug the director to upload something. For those who are bored or curious, read on the details on the film and how this was all done.
I’m going to pretend like nothing happened and that I indeed have bothered to post prior to this. Truth is I have a few good posts in mind that I’d like to materialize at some point or another, plus do a bit of an overhaul of the theme of the blog. It looks too much like.. any other blog. And it’s so not.
While that’s on the way, I thought I’ll pimp a useful little Mac utility that people should know about - PNG Thing. Save for Web out of Photoshop produces smaller PNG’s indeed but this thing will optimize them even more. With the number of IE6 users declining (Mac users had full png support since IE5, eesh) it’s time to use PNG more. JPEG looks ugly for anything but photographs, and GIF is older than my vintage disco records. Not groovy!
Where are promised examples of using compressors in practice?!
Leave me alone, I’m moving to the East Coast!
Compressors - The theory
Published December 25, 2007 Audio Gear , Computer Stuff 4 CommentsTags: audio, compressors, how to, limiter
No matter what music you compose, you’ll eventually have to deal with compressors. There is just no escaping. Compressors are what you apply to make music better. That’s right. They help you make your music beyond studio quality. You’re one plug-in away from stardom!
All the glamour aside, compressors are one of the studio workhorses that are applied to achieve anything from subtle smoothing to downright squashing. It does help to know how the tools you use work though, and I’m hopefully going to provide you with just that. Let’s go from knob fiddling to consistent predictable results! Follow the link for an easy FREE introductory promotional kit (order the full 3 x video tape kit NOW and receive an instant $3.00 rebate!)
After a bit of thinking, I came to realize that it’s pointless to keep a blog where one expresses his own opinions, views on the world, thoughts about your friend’s nipple piercing etcetera. No one reads that. I’m not doing Internet any good by producing even more digital fodder.
Then I thought about what an average music geek would like to read. I think we would all benefit from posts with practical advice and explanations of common audio devices, plug-ins, concepts, tips on workflow, song writing, arrangements and so forth. Writing about it will hopefully explain something you didn’t understand before or introduce you to something new, and should help organize my own knowledge of the topic. Everybody wins. Onto the useful posts then!
Am I only one missing the days of synths through guitar distortion pedals, cut-up drum loops and mean basslines? Why is Dig Your Own Hole in the bargain bin, along with Music for the Jilted Generation?
It has been too long since electronic music has lost its cool and funk. Rock music coming from a sequencer is no longer something you hear a lot of. Blame bad taste, Hollywood action movies, or Crystal Method - it’s not so hot anymore.
Who cares though? I know I miss it. Which can only mean it’s time to sample some 70’s funk records, dig out that Boss DS-2 out of the closet and put the TB through it.
I’m kicking my own ass for not posting anything on here. Looks like the blog is getting notice and I decide to play dead. Well, a first post in months and it’s some boring personal news.
Couple things - I sold my Juno. I sold my CME MIDI controller. I’m selling my tape machines, most of my mics, all accessories. I’ve sold my Fender Mustang, the 50’s tube amp, and am selling the last guitar I have.
I’ve not really gone mad. I am keeping my Firebox. Two reasons. I’ve come to realize I’m a 90s sequencer-synth boy. Playing guitar is fine and I’ll likely to get one down the line, a strat perhaps. However, the true passion lies in programming drums, slicing up loops, and overdriving the chorus on that synth pad and autopanning it. All of which can be done within the new Logic 8 Pro which I have completely switched to from Cubase and haven’t looked back. It’s great.
Reason two - I’m relocating to Toronto. Bringing along all the gear is too cumbersome, and I’ll need some extra dough to survive in the Canadian NY too. Besides, while I thought parting with it will be hard, once it was gone the feel of the bill fiber that I’ve reclaimed seemed much more dear to the heart.
Oh, and reason three, which ties in with the third one - I’m doing more photography. I have been doing film and polaroid so far which is pricey in the long run, and now I would like to pick up a digital body for studio and outdoor portraiture and keep shooting film for other assignments. That’s another grand to plunk down, plus count in a decent lens.
Machines are designed to help us. While they mostly cause nothing but headaches, they can come in handy when you program them right. The continuing story of the Beatles bootlegs has prompted me to start learning AppleScript to automate a number of tasks I typically perform on tags within iTunes, but then I realized that my problems are probably far from unique. Indeed, there are other nerds out there who have already written a number of useful scripts of us to use. Unfortunately, it takes being a geek to find geeky things, so here is a nice pretty Best Of compilation of useful iTunes scripts for all you people who don’t feel like dipping into the nerd scene.
