Saturn's Ramblings

I know it's been "forever" since my last post... so it's time for the first installment to catch everyone up....

I see my last entry was for "Somebody Singed a Kitten" .. I've had some great feedback on that one; while i realize it's not the best song *ever* I must say I do like it...

I've been listening to a bunch of Linkin Park music recently .. Like with most artists, not everything they produce is wonderful.. However, I must say those guys are really quite talented at blending rock, rap, hip hop, and metal... often all in the one song. Good lyrics writing, and excellent timing and mixing in their tracks... I notice they still manage to mix all these quite different styles into the same song very well, through a combination of scratch, digital processing, and live instruments... all combined into one track!

Anyhoo.. they've provided me with some inspiration and ideas for new techniques to try... and since i really can't sing worth a damn, nor play an instrument... nor do i have the scratch equipment,... I just have to simulate them all digitally.. Hey.. that just means if I can make a decent track, with just that one method... then it's all the more impressive... eh? =)

K well this started off intending to write you an update and wound up being a "gush about Linkin Park" entry... oh well, guess I'll just have to do another shortly... Stay tuned!

Hooray! I want to thank everyone that took time out of their busy Sunday to tune into the show! We had a great show except for one unfortunate PC crash... but that was brief...

We peaked at 7 computers connected to the stream, and maintained 5-7 listeners throughout the whole show! (For those following along, it said the peak was 9, but we had a local monitor and recorded connected, so that accounts for 2). Another great aspect was that people did come and go.. some caught the start, some the middle, some the end. We had some folks connected all the way through, others who never did show up (sigh), but all in all, I'd chalk the show up as a success!

Thank you sincerely to all those who tuned in, whether for only a few minutes, or for the whole show -- your support and encouragement is so appreciated!

OK enough gushing =) Well, this definitely means a few more shows at least -- and if this kind of following keeps up, I don't see any reason why the show can't keep going indefinitely!

Thanks again -- next show, same time, same place:

Sunday evenings, 6pm PST / 9pm EST - a 3-hour show.

We are also working on a way to re-broadcat the show once or twice more throughout the week. If anyone has a preferred time of day, or day of week, they'd be interested in hearing the repeats, please let me know!

No, not religion (I laugh at your pathetic assumption! ... and if that wasn't your assumption, then I simply look neutral in your general direction. Well happily neutral. Man it's too early in the morning right now, and you're starting to confuse me. Shame on you!)...

As I was saying... I think I finally found it!

You: "Found what, already?!"
Me: "Found my calling!"

I've wanted for years (many of them) to learn how to DJ .. not at a radio station, although that's neat too... No, I mean like a night club or party DJ -- one of those guys behind the twin turntables and mixer board with the expensive headphones on, nodding to the beat, scratching and remixing and creating music. I've been fascinated by that for as long as I can recall (at least since around age 9 or 10), but there've been a few things "in the way" till now. (Actually a few things are still in the way, but I'm working on that!)

Stuff that got in the way:

- Nowhere to learn! -- There's no schools (at least none reasonably close) that teach how to do this stuff

- The equipment is expensive -- You need 2 high-end direct-drive turntables, with pitch control and a raft of other features, a rather sohisticated mixer with crossfade etc, records for sampling, etc etc etc. I estimate that in today's prices, cost for just the initial equipment would be around $1000+ which is a rather large sum to shell out if it turns out I'm no good at it....

- The equipment is intimidating! The process has always looked so complex; an art form (it is!). I think I was always scared to get into it because I might suck horribly and then I wouldn't even have the fantasy anymore...

- The music industry is notoriously difficult to break into (look how many bands out there never even sell an album, let alone make any decent money)...

Anyhow, those are the reasons I always told myself were why I never pursued it.

And then I started noodling around with Sony Acid Pro, composing music that way. "Arranging" is, I suppose, a better term for it, since it consists of arranging and "painting" occurrances of sound samples (drum hits, hi-hats, and other music samples). Arrange them into a nice pattern, with repeats and fill-ins as required, and voila! A song is born! Now, Acid is amazing for this, and from what I gather, many of the professionals use it, so at least I'm on the right track. =)

Now, the trouble is that there are effects and techniques that sound wexcellent, and that I am already finding I would really like, to make my music sound the way I imagine it. Yes, many turntable effects can be reproduced in Acid manually... But something that might be a mere 3 or 4 seconds long during playback, might take about a minute to set up and create on turntables (once I know what I'm doing of course)...

However, in Acid or any other software I've tried, the same effect usually takes hours, and even then it usually doesn't sound as "natural" as a true turntable mix (aka "scratch"). In fact, most of the time, it just sounds plain wrong, and so I am usually forced to discard those passages, which (I feel) leaves my music a little "flat." Not good =)

Anyhow, as mentioned in my previous entry (ReTry), I had found this awesome scratch kit, which has two "turntables" (they're "virtual vinyl" -- there are two platters, slightly smaller than normal, and they can each be digitally "loaded" with mp3 or wav file samples or entire songs, and then when manipulated, will function basically the same as real tables, with the added advantage of having USB connectivity to a PC or laptop, access to software to pre-control the device, a built-in mixer, with all the requisite sliders, faders, and crossfader, and the added bonus that the device can be pre-loaded with around 500 samples, so no need to swap records when you want a new sample!

Anyhow... this is now my next big purchase goal, and the sooner the better =)

And another cool happening: I discovered a school! It's in New York (I always wanted to visit there!) and they do offer 1-week "intensive" courses for people from out of town. The instructors are world-class DJs, most being tops in their field, having won competitions and awards all over the place. The classes are is cheap enough, so it's just the cost of flights and hotel and food.

My darling wife shocked and impressed the crap out of me by immediately (upon hearing of this place) turning to me and saying "well, I could take a week off to go with you when we can afford it." Bam. Just like that. And I know she has no real desire to visit NY (unlike me.. it's one of my goals; big cities facsinate me), but is still willing to go with me as a show of support for my dream. Holly, I love you so much for that!!!!

So there it is. If anyone feels like contributing toward that DJ kit for me, or money toward the DJ school, I'll of course welcome said donations. =) Otherwise, I'm off to start saving up!

Man I am SO pumped over this!!

On the subject of music, now that the beast is awakened...

Shortly after posting that last entry, Titanium Radio manages to randomly pull up all sorts of music that are amongst my personal favourites. Like Russell Watson "Faith of the Heart" (The theme from Enterprise - the ORIGINAL theme, not the lame version they used after the first season). There is something about this song that just lifts my spirits always, and gives me strength to conquer the day. When I'm feeling overwhelmed or just defeated... that song has a way of popping on air just at the right moment to lift me right back up again.

It's not just the music, you understand -- when I listen to a song (as opposed to a track -- one has words, and one does not), I listen most of all to the words. Yes, the tune is important, but nothing is as important as the words and message in the song. That's what MAKES it a good song! So when "Faith of the Heart" comes up, I already know most of the words in my head -- so even though I'm at work, being interrupted by phone calls and whatever every few seconds, I can still follow the song -- and still be lifted by its insirpation to me.

I grant that this song isn't for everyone -- the words on their own are special to me, but made more so by the implied hope message that was attached by using it for the Enterprise series. Yeah I'm a Trekkie, but mostly because Trek is all about faith and hope for a positive future... And it feels like this song embodies that in its way...

If you want to listen to it in its entirety (4+ minutes), that link above is for the full mp3 at 128kbit (near CD quality). You're welcome to download it, and actually I'm interested in how others feel about the song, so if you want to post a comment... you can do so by clicking the Comments link below...