my friends' blogs
- Geomatic — New track "Sacrifice" is uploaded!
-
-
New track "Sacrifice" is uploaded
All comments are welcome!
Thank You!
read more... - Mindmovie — Planet Passion IV
-
- A collaboration with Andres Rexach a guitar magician from Spain. Check his profile on myspace this man is a guitar and sitar monster. read more...
- Raven — Calling All Interested mi7 Musicians
-
-
As all of you know, I am a devoted mom as well as a composer and musician. And as all of you know, I am a very vocal advocate for Autism Rights.
I enjoyed participating in Mindmovie's CCC project so much a few months ago that I was thinking it would be interesting to create a similar recording with snippets of my son's insights regarding Autism from an interview done with him in July 2007 and the update interview that was done with him last month.
What I am thinking of doing is using his comments along the lines of a hip hop / vocal dance mix composition. The purpose of the song would be to bring a better, more positive understanding of how children with Autism perceive the world in which they live ... our world, not their world.
I can only offer credits in lieu of money unfortunately. All of you are such incredible artists and all of you have been such good online friends to me in good times and in the most troubling times these past few months.
If you are interested in participating in this project (which would be promoted globally with links back to your websites or to your mi7 profile page just as our MIC Audio Podcasts on Autism are global), please email me at ravenmagic2003@yahoo.ca.
Thanks.
Raven :-)
read more... - Tom Pedroli — Benjamin
-
-
Today at 12.00 hrs my (our) son was born. We named him Benjamin. The Clair the Lune remix was specially written for this child (as a modern lullaby).
All is well and we are all very happy. read more... - Masterbox — Plugins are your best friend and a dangerous enemy
-
-
I've noted a tendency among a lot of DAW users: They're are more interested in graphics and mousing around with parameters on fancy GUI's than actually to listening to, what they do to the audiosignal. Joe Meek's old saying: "If it sounds right, it is right" seems to support such a simple approach to adjusting the parameters on your plugins. But is your choice of settings actually good or just easy? I say: Know your plugins!
Especially dynamic processing such as EQ's and compressors are beeing extensively marketed to be DSP-versions that are hardly distinguishable from legendary analog audio equipment. They're getting closer by the minute (this is not an outcry of "I think analog equipment sounds better") and I use plugins for mastering purposses more and more. As an example the Powercore based CL1B Tube Tech compressor is excellent as is the native SSL bus-compressor from Waves. But I only use them with moderate settings just as I doo with analog compressors and EQ's. The reason is simple: they sound better and more true to their origins.
I've seen sessions with Pultec inspired plugins gaining 10 dB here and there and compressions settings of 10:1 and a low threshold setting on an acoustic Martin D28 recorded in a great room with good microphones. The result was not in ballance with the instruments real sound, and in the mix, it sounded almost artificial. Lifting vocaltracks with a +12 dB high-shelf starting at around 5 kHz will just let you have problems with the highs of all the other sources in the mix. Putting a 5:1 compression and makeup gain on an accordion just isn't musical and it will for sure only boost those clicksounds you don't whish to be hearing.
The best way to improve sound quality is to work with the recording and the acoustics in the recording situation, but after that, you could improve the "musicality" of your mix drastically by setting your processing to more moderate settings and be more true to the sound of the program material. I'm sure that if you were using hardware, you would never use it with such insane settings, simply because they don't sound their best. By using more musically tuned settings, I think you will be surprised, how much you will hear plugins improve your results. read more... - Lo Kivikas — "Spirit Warriors"
-
-
New song uploaded! Have a listen to the collaboration of our common work. Three people living and working in three countries in different musical stuff...Thanks for your ears!
read more... - Marty Prior — My new song shapeshifter
-
- My new song shapeshifter off my debut album due out autumn 2008 read more...
- Mindmovie — two new songs online
-
- Mekon Peppers and A New Kind Of Man are the working titles and both unfinished looking for some collaboration if this kicks you please contact me. read more...
- Jan vander Gaag — Free Ableton workshop at the Winston Club Amsterdam
-
-
Hi all.
25.07 we do a free Ableton LIVE 7 workshop at the Winston Club Amsterdam. Start is 7.00 PM and the workshop is performed by Pitchblack and Tom COSM before their show - read more about the spectacular event on:
http://www.ableton.com/pages/2008/pitchblack_tomcosm_workshop
read more... - ET Highway — Other Musical Activities
-
-
If you happen to be in the vicinity of Silver City, Nevada, in the United States on July 26, 2008, please check out our other band, Trippin Buddhas. We will be playing live at 4:30 PM PST at the 2008 Fireman's Ball. Please click on the picture for additional information.
read more...
- rodney — computing humor
-
-
Quotes of the day:
Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up. ...The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)
Now you're thinking "oh God, another Linux zealot going off about Windows"... until you see who wrote it: Bill Gates. Full story at Gizmodo Note: this is actually an old story about Windows XP. Vista, as we all know by now, is even worse. read more... - rodney — Symbian is Free Software
-
- News just in is that Nokia have bought up Symbian, and intend to release it as Free Software (under the Eclipse Public License) as of today. As far as I'm aware Symbian is currently the most widely used Operating System in the world - there were 100 million phones running Symbian in 2006 - so this means that as of this moment Free Software is now more widely used than proprietary software. That's a pretty significant shift in the way of things, especially considering Symbian own 67% of the smartphone market, with Windows Mobile holding only 13%... read more...
- rodney — Real World stuff
-
- Oh, forgot to mention in the last post: I've been spending some time recently talking with The Cedars, winners of the MI7 Real World contest. Looks like the plan is for me to produce the session at Real World Studios sometime next month, if all goes well. I'm very much looking forward to it, they are a great band, and I think we could create some damn fine tracks there. Let's see... read more...
- rodney — back from being a hermit
-
-
I haven't been posting much in the past couple of months, mainly because I've been taking time to work on a new book and get some personal business stuff out of the way.
Things are looking interesting though... we've been approached about a new record deal, and asked to play some more festivals at the end of the year / beginning of next year. So the plan is to spend as much time as possible in the studio over the next few months and finally finish off all of the things that have been sitting on the hard drive for ages in a half-finished state.
So someday soon I might even get round to putting some new songs on the music player! :-)
read more... - ING J — ING- J FAT BABY 25 JUNE
-
- Ing-J June, 25 2008 at Fat Baby 112 Rivington St NY, New York, New York 1002 Cost : 7$ FIRST TIME IN THE USE COME HEAR NORWEGIAN SINGER ING-J read more...
- Live Ullmann — New website
-
-
Check out www.liveullmann.com
read more... - Raven — Updated MIC website, New Podcast on Autism
-
-
In spite of the fact that the past two months have been exceedingly difficult for me, I have nonetheless updated the MIDNIGHT IN CHICAGO website and uploaded it as of yesterday evening. Stop by at http://www.midnightinchicago.com and wander about the new digs.
This time, I've added 7 ringtones (one that is free to download for the summer) along with other interesting things. There's an MIC blog that's co-written with the American Artist, Thomas D. Taylor, who is also the MIC Artist. There's a "Dime A Day Inspirational Quotes" service visitors can sign up to receive and information on the "Art from the Heart" and "De la part des beaux arts" events this summer.
It's worth taking a peak without a doubt.
Also, the two-part audio podcast on Autism and Vaccines has been uploaded. The podcast discusses Autism, mercury, thimerosal, vaccines and separates fact from fearmongering fiction. You can find those at the website as well by clicking on the PODCAST tab.
Drop me a line and let me know what you think of the redesign and the podcast.
Raven :-)
read more... - Perkalars — Go Robyn!
-
- The other day I was reading an articly about Robyn, swedish singer/composer/artist who on her own label now sells more albums in the US thanthe latest release from Madonna. Way to go! It shows what you achieve on your own with iron determination. I just hope she would become a member here as well, hint, hint... read more...
- niteshift — Two Songs in the Top 10 Semifinals at Ourstage
-
-
Well, what a week it’s been. Ups and downs, swings and roundabouts.
As anyone will tell you, the masterly art of entering song contests is not for the faint hearted. The expectations, the desires, the wants and the needs of the fragile at heart, are intertwined in the madness of the rush of the moment and the expectation that one’s works are simply the best thing since sliced bread. And tasty to boot.
So off the songs went last month, to Ourstage.com to try their luck in the pot pori which is the song contest. Each perfectly matched to their genre, and each with a suitable graphic to catch the eye of the musical beholder. Unlike most of the usual suspects, Ourstage.com really does have a very easy system. Put up the material, and let others judge your works of utter brilliance on a challenge basis, one on one. Sure, there’s a simple registration process, but that’s the price we pay to the digital gatekeepers.
Now, if you think you can get a whole bunch of your cronies to rock up and just click a few buttons, then think again. If you wish to judge a music channel, then two unsuspecting musical numbers that have been hiding in the depths of the digital realm, suddenly appear before you , and you are asked which is best ? Make your choice, and you’re on to the next battle. Couldn’t be easier, and fairer to the musically and socially dispossessed, who don’t own a mobile phone, let alone have the social network in which to use it. You just can’t say “Vote for me !” A MySpace or email mail out ? Forget it, there are far too many random combinations hidden in the depths to even attempt to bring up the desired result. It gets easier in the Top 20, but still a random selection of 190 combinations makes the play just that much fairer.
So what is the result ? Well, after not really paying much attention for the last month, in pops an email into the In-box saying “Hey, congrats, you’ve made it into the Top 20” This happens twice as 2 songs were entered in 2 different genre channels. What happens next, 48 hrs later ? Another 2 emails saying “Hey, congrats, you’ve made it into the Top 10” Now, usually such things would be treated with the utmost distain, and avoided like the plague. There is a slight problem here though, in that the winner of the Top 10 receives a nice little $100 gift voucher, and proceeds to the grand final for the Grand Prize of $5,000. Not too bad for sitting on ones butt, and clicking a few buttons.
So, the temperature is rising, the heart is a-beating, and the unused adrenalin finally has a purpose. So, its crunch time, time to say “Vote for me!” , let me win that grand prize, and buy that mobile phone that will give the social status and text-thumb so long desired. Either that or a nice couple of pints at the local. Ahh, the dreams of the dreamers. Forever in hope. Later…..
cheers, niteshift
Note ; Niteshift has no affiliation with Ourstage.com. Heck, he didn’t even remember he was in a contest until a few days ago.
Niteshifts web page at Ourstage.com is ourstage.com/fanclub/niteshift Please drop by and have a listen.
read more... - i am dave — New Song - Feel So Low (Porcupine Tree Cover)
-
-
I recorded a song with a friend this weekend. We decided to cover Porcupine Tree's Feel So Low masterpiece.
You can listen to it in my profile music player, or you can download it below.
Download Door of Circles - Feel So Low
We added a bit of a Sigur Ros and The Frames vibe. I think we made it 'our own'.
read more...
