Monthly Archive for January, 2008

Guitar Hero or Who Needs a Full Stop

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kubton
on January 15, 2008
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I have heard a lot of guitarist rip on Guitar Hero. I have to admit I remember seeing the arcade game it was based upon in the film Lost in Translation and thinking it was pretty cool. Little did I know what a phenomenon it was going to become. It is more than slightly cheesy and a lot out of control and certain too much time has been dedicated to it. Still in has been called the greatest guitar gateway device and it is hard to argue with that. I imagine a lot of the people it turns on to playing real guitar give it up shortly after starting but many people do that anyway. Anything that gets people playing is good by me. The more people making music the better. I can’t imagine real pilots making so much fun or having so much bitterness towards people that play flight sims.

Anyway I wanted to post this review well because it is funny as hell. Yahtzee puts Guitar Hero to the flame. If you game at all or just like extremely critical reviews and dark humor delivered at the pace of a mongoose on meth you should check out his other reviews.

Part V or the 99% Theory

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kubton
on January 15, 2008
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Inspiration

If you are reading this there probably is a good chance you spent a little to much time in front of the computer. Get out more. To me life is the best inspiration. Watch a movie, a play, read a book or just have beer with friends while you watch the game. Other forms media are great inspiration for making music movies, theater, film, literature. And so is the enjoyment of of life. Cook a nice dinner, get some exercise, travel, etc. Using and enjoying all your senses gets the creative juices flowing.

The most important thing is to seek out art that is not what you are normally into. Diversity can be powerful. I have always said my theory is 99% of everything is crap but that is really unfair. It is just only about 1% of anything in particular thing is great. I have felt I could enjoy and appreciate that 1% of any type of genre or art form. I may be able to like 99% of a genre that I love but still try and seek out the 1% of greatest in other genre I may not really care for or even dislike on the whole. Often I find that more inspirational and moving because it is not what I am so used to and has a freshness. There is something inspirational in find the familiar id strange surrounding. I find it amazing that great music or art is universal regardless even if comes to me for a very foreign place. In this day and age you have access to so much music and art so take advantage of it with an open mind.

Part IV or Roll Your Own

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kubton
on January 13, 2008
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DIY

Since Industrial Revolution people have become more and more removed from production of the goods used in their daily life. It is often commented on in regards to food but it is true of everything. We have become consumers for better and worse. We are detached from products we buy that are becoming more a more disposable. The just show up at the store if by magic and we buy them give little thought about how they are made or how they work. It is good to be more connected. Few of us now how to create, maintain, or even have a clue how the technology we depend on everyday works.

The there most be something inherently wrong with this. The is a strong DIY movement in the industrialized world. People must feel a need to be able to do for themselves. DIY has become much more than build sweat equity in your and fixing up old cars. Hipster have taken up grandma crafts and made them into cool art, object oriented programing open software development to more people, more people are modding product they have bough and in the cases like PC case modding massive communities have built up around them. You could even argue that the phenomenon of Web 2.0 is part of a wide DIY movement. You get the idea.

What I believe is fueling this movement besides the desire or need to be more than just a consumer is the ease of sharing information. The are websites dedicated to whatever you want to do. When I saw some homebrew guitar pedals and decided I want to make some too. I could not believe the amount of information available. Not being able to find out something is not a problem any longer. Not long ago if it was at your local library or book store you were out of luck. Or not finding something like that exists. If there is something out there that you would be interested in doing chances are you will brush up against it while seeking out info on your other related interests. Besides the websites dedicated to a specific topic there are great general interest DIY publication like Make and Instructables. Both can introduce you to a whole host of projects of different types and focus.

For musicians there are a number of great DIY project no matter your interests. The benefits are immense. You can learn a lot and be more connected to your gear if you make a little of it yourself. They defiantly is no better way to learn how things work than by building it yourself. One of the things I have learned doing a little DIY is how silly mythologizing of some equipment is. Most of it just just that myth making with no real basis. A lot of those myth were dispelled which is a good thing. Musicians tend to be easy prey for these myth and it is to easy to substitute equipment for inspiration.

Simple electronic gadgets or circuit bending gear is easier than you may think. But it doesn’t even have to be that hard. You can make you own path cables of speaker enclosures or even cut up those high rate credit cards into guitar picks. It does not even have to be a “real” piece of gear Synthmaker and Synth Edit make it easy to make your own virtual instruments and effects. Or if you can program form scratch you can make your own music making programs. It real doesn’t have to be that hard you could just make your own sample collections, patches, Refills, etc that I talked about in Part III. And the good thing about any thing in the digital domain is that it is easy to share.

Then there is the feeling. There is something wonderful about making music with equipment you created yourself. And it seems only natural. It was not that long ago that almost all music was folk music and a lot of the was made on homemade of high modified instruments. Humans have been fashioning there own instrument since the first drum was beat on and only buying them for a relatively sort time.

It is a way to be unique and innovative. Many ground breaking artist have separated themselves from the heard my modding of making the own equipment. Just a few examples of the top of my head are Les Paul, The Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, BT, Kraftwerk, Einstuerzende Neubauten, Jimmy Page, Merl Haggard, Robert Fripp, Brain Eno etc. etc.

Here are a few links that I like below. But what every you are interested in doing there is information out there to help you, people wanting to help you all the materials you ever may need available online. You just have to look for it has never been easier.

DIY Links

Music Form Outer Space (DIY Synth)

DIY Audio

Build Your Own Guitar

DIY Stompboxes

Synthmaker

Synth Edit

Part III or Sharing Is Caring

Published
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kubton
on January 10, 2008
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Sharing

This is one I really need to do better at this year. I think it is important way to make and be involved in making better music. Anyone making music has some desire for people to hear it. Granted there is joy in making it yourself but there is nothing quite like creating something that moves other people. Or helping others make music.

Music

There is a whole host of ways to share music now days. Of course we all now the are also sites dedicated to hosting and promoting your music like MySpace Music and Mp3.com But there are alternatives. We all can not be Radiohead and Trent Reznor they are options open to artist of all stripes. You can take promotion and distribution more in to you own hands. And with all the viral marketed possibilities on the Internet now if you are clever enough and music is good enough people will be able to find out about it. Bandwidth should not be a probelm any longer if you wish to host your music yourself. Hosting is cheap even with larger band width requirements. And there are always cheap file hosting options like Rapidshare(that most a a basement the size of Rhode Island filled with servers.) There are other delivery methods like Mininova’s free Content Distribution. There are labels with new business models like Magnatune the might be perfect for some artist. If you only want to recoup some of the hosting cost that is made easy through PayPal Donations. There should be something that works for any artist whether they want to put in a lot of effort or just a little.

Sample, Patches, Refills & Left Over Tracks

This the part that is most interesting to me. Besides sharing music you can share things that will help others make music. That idea is very appealing to me. Products like Reason and Native Instruments Reaktor make it easy and have a strong user community. With reason is easy to bundle and up all your, patches and instruments, songs, samples in .rex format all together in Refill format. I imagine there are quite a few Reason users outer there have a pretty nice collect of files to make a nice refill. Sites like Reason Station make them easy to share. Registered Reaktor users also have access to to a user library were you can upload you instruments.

These may be the easiest and fullest ways to share you devices for making music but you can do it for any soft synth or effect it. KVR’s bank section will let you upload and download banks for anything out there. Even if people do not use your own exact soundsthey can be used as a jumping off point for others.

I have more than a few dead projects. I thing most other do as well. Some of them have real good elements but just are not going to work on a whole. It my intention to try and share them or at least the good parts of them. If am not going to get use out of them it is nice to think some one else might. I think it would be real cool with other did as well. Sites like Soundsnap and ccMixter are a great place to upload. ccMixter allows for much deeper sharing. It is easy to upload a whole mix and let other have chance to remix it.

Knowledge

There is a lot of clever people out there making music. The more they share the better. They seems to be more and more. I think it is good that everyone find a way to share what they know and share what they are best at. It will make making music more accessible to the masses.

Part II or Adult Learning Annex

Published
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kubton
on January 9, 2008
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Learning

As my New Year’s resolutions go this is going to be the easiest for me. I always have loved acquiring new knowledge. So, making a point of become more knowledgeable. Is easy to keep. Plus my ignorance on many topics makes it easy to find plenty things I had no idea about. Not that matters. The ska band Operation Ivy once paraphrased a famous philosopher singing, “All I know is I don’t no nothing.”

A beginner that wants to get involved with music can find most of what they need to know online. They don’t have to be in the dark and answer are only a forum away. But no matter how much we know we still know very little. There is no end to learning. But we live in a good age for it. With Internet as your friend and Google is your ally you can fined almost anything out you need to know. The are some many great source of information now. There are tutorials in many different forms with video tutorials becoming more and more common. We all learn different so there are formats out there to suit you no matter. Almost any subject imaginable is cover. Not knowing how to do something should not stop you. It should be easy enough to find out how to do it. Even with a something I know a fair bit about I find there is always a lot more to learn. Seeing how other people do thing is also very interesting to me. You can learn some better that way how to use a new piece of software, or some to capture a certain sound in in an area you are quite familiar with.

There are some links below but searching Youtube is also a good idea along with your favorite search engine or could try my own music production search engine to find more tutorials.

Recording/DAW/Music Production/ETC:

Tweak Headz Guide

Emusic Tips

Tunetorials

Musicians Tutorials

Audioforce

Mix Buss

Home Recording Connection

Hometracked

IRN

Computer Music Beginner’s PDF’s

Reason Station

Reason Freaks

Reason Tutorials

Guitar:

Riffeo

Guitar Player TV

Guitar Lesson Vids

Build Your Own Guitar

Ultimate Guitar Lessons

Guitar Tricks

Theory & Science

Another important part of learning is just how to do things is why to do them that way. Music theory is not just of classic musicians. The word theory tends to scare a lot people off. It sounds boring and technical. Think of it more as learning how things work and relate to one another. It grants understanding. That can translate direct to results but it can be it own reward as well.

It can benefit almost anyone in any genre. It does not necessarily have to be complex. Even the basics can help you make music and appreciate it more. Music Theory in the traditional sense it is not the way to delve deep into music. Learning how things work is in the psychical and virtual world is another great bit of knowledge to have. Not only will it help you understand things clear but it will dispel so many myths. The musicians are so susceptible to.

Learning how synthesis work can help you make better synth patches. The understanding of the ins and outs and what compression, equalisation, etc. actual does to the sounds can not only make your mixes sound better but unlock a secret world. The science of acoustics is another interesting topic. You may find out a lot of thinks aren’t as simple as they seem like who loud a sound is.

Some Links:

The Amateur Gentleman’s Introduction to the Principles of Music Synthesis

Biq Squeeze

Acoustical Education

musictheory.net

8 notes

My Own EQ Guide

Black Art of Applying Compressor Settings?

Top Ten Mastering Tips

Principles of Sound Synthesis

I plan on being a lot more knowledgeable this time next year but having even more questions. That sounds like a good thing to me.

Resolutions or Auld Lang Syne

Published
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kubton
on January 8, 2008
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Preamble

I would venture a guess that by now most New Year’s resolution are abandoned or at least circling the drain. It makes sense. If you are like me you are burnt out after the holiday season. It is the hardest time to start anything despite the cosmic urging so to begin again as the days grow longer as we start emerging form the dark cold winter and the calendar resets. The sense of rebirth and renewal that comes with the new year and the days once again growing longer is over powered by post holiday blues and fatigue. I like the the idea of New Years resolutions but a week after New Years is the resolutions is a better idea. Starting now gives you a fighting chance.

I had a very bitter sweat 2007 and I am hoping that 2008 it much more sweet and much less bitter. I am great at starting things but not always the best at finishing them. I know there are other out there in the same boat. So, here is to finishing more things. I hope these tips and ideas help a few of you out there but it as much as for me as any one else. They are focused on making music but as many good practices can be applied to broader aspects of life. I have found most of these ideas to work. The hard part as we all know is sticking to them. Good luck.

Get Organized

Out With the Old

Everyone has heard something like, “What you own can end up owning you.” I am not sure about that but the clutter can certainly getting in the the way and being general nuisance. And lets face it musicians general suffer from gear lust. And lust usually leads to some bad choices being made. It this case means a lot of gear lying around collecting dust. With the spirit of the the New Year still fresh it probably is a good time to do some winter cleaning. Don’t wait until the spring. Any gear you I haven’t used in a long time may need to go up on Ebay or Craig’s List. You really have to ask yourself do I really need this. Am I going to use this anymore? There is just some about in human nature that that doesn’t allow us to be productive as possible with a of crap collecting dust around us. It can be a little spirit crushing. Sometimes less choice is better if we only have the best choices to select from. You could even fund new gear purchases you need or really will use by moving the old stuff. I have always likened selling off old gear to finding a puppy a good home. If you aren’t using it it is good to think some else may great great use out of it.

It might be a good idea to get rid of the virtual clutter also. Going through your plugins and sample folders and deleting programs and sounds you never use or may have never used could really streamline your operation and help work flow. A few better to have programs, instrument, etc. virtual or real that you really know how to utilize well and fits your needs and style than very thing under the sun. Limiting your options can be a good thing. It is better to know how to get that prefect sound from your favorite & familiar tool than fiddling with dozen figuring what they can do & how to use them. I do love all those plugins out there especially the good a free ones but know one needs the all. They can become quite cumbersome.

Loose Ends

If you are like me you probably have some unfinished projects. It might be now or never. Some of the them you might just want to right off. I will cover some great ways to share them later. Some of them you might really want to finish them and now is the time. You might even find a gem you had forgotten about that will provide inspiration. Take some time to see what you have is a good idea. Then coming with a plan of action to get it done is a good next step.

A Plan

I found I really need something on paper to keep me on track. Writing it down just helps. I always thought this was kind of corny executive self help crap for people much busier & better dressed than myself. Maybe it is a little corny but I no longer care cause it just works. It makes thinks much more concrete. I believe this to be true of most people. I try to be realistic but I can not always stick to the plan and that is OK. It still keeps me pointed in the right direction. People often write down goals and schedules but what I have found helps more is rules and steps. I am going to finish “this” before I start “that.” Steps of how to get to where you want to be really helps. It doesn’t really work just writing down “finish rock opera.” It is way to broad and requires way to many smaller steps to be help full. Remember world domination begins with a single step. In my case it even helps to write down the reasons for doing things down to remind me of the motivations and rewards. Another idea is assigning time limits. If you are a person the does well with a dead line give your self one when you don’t have one and stick to it. Whatever works do it.

I have Mentioned PocketMod before but it fits in here. All those things you have written down unobtrusively. It a good way to stay organized if you don’t want to carry around a bulky organizer, laptop or fidget with a PDA. For musicians it has tab and staff notation available.

From the site:

Many things make this little personal organizer special, here is a list.

  • It fits easily in your back pocket or purse.

  • It’s as cheap as one piece of paper (Because that’s all it is!)

  • It opens like a book. Leading to easier to find, more organized notes.

  • The first page has a pouch, big enough to carry a business card!

  • Customizable with “Mods” tailored to your needs.

  • It’s free and fun!

Everything Has it Place

We all know being organized helps productivity and work flow. But it personal things. Some of the most productive people ever have had their desk buried under a mountain of papers. Just look at the desks of two Noble winners:

If you are on of those people that climbs to the top of biggest pile to survey the the wasteland surrounding you for that item you are looking for so be it. It works for some people. Organization is a system not a style. Everything in its place neatly tucked away may not work for you. Just find a system for you and stick with it. There is no right way to arrange things. Just your way.

The other odd thing is some people with a great system in the psychical world have a problem when it comes to there PC. So, start the year fresh and take some time to get your hard drive in space. It is the perfect time to get rid of the crap the accumulate also. Give Spybot a run, defrag, clean out the registry, get rid of programs you never use especially if they are running in the back ground, etc. Get your files arranged in a way the is easy for you to find and work with.

Tomorrow I will cover some tips about learning everyday. I wrote it down I have to now.