Mood: Blur
Listening To: D'Cuzzy - Ai Phia









After uploading a shitload sized videos (all snippets of Six String Samurais), I really did miss the good old times.

Not only playing music with the band, but music itself, and the people I've played with, the people I've met, and the things I've learnt.

First up, without him, I'd be useless in the guitar, and I would've chopped up my guitars to start a bonfire by now.  Huge thanks to Kelvyn Yeang, for being both my mentor, and friend, who's always expanding his knowledge regarding music, coming up with odd and new styles .. I admire him a lot, it's because .. Well, he's one of those people who will never stop in doing and trying to achieve something.

And Ocean of Fire is going back into progressive metal, I heard!  And it's going to be released!  YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Secondly, members of Six String Samurais; Ying Kit, Joshua, Roy and Moe.. Guys, you all made me realise that music isn't about written rules on a *.pdf file, but music is all about fun when you're entertaining others.  Only when you're in the studio, then you have things rather...formal to the human ear.  Especially with Ying Kit, and Joshua, who are leaving for UK and US respectively by the end of this year, you two improved my musical journey with your current styles and ideas of songs.  It's essential that you don't bring inspirations from home, but it's also very important that the people around are equally as good, or better, to constantly learn more.  I'm not sure what's up with the band's status, but since you two are leaving, it's always been great playing with you all!

Especially Ying Kit.  It's been 3 years, bro!  Hard to find another guitarist who'll be fit enough to be jammed with.

Thirdly, to those who are active in Multiply.com - Fundamental Mentalities.  Guitars, rock and live music is one thing.  But through this project, and the experience of creating, recording, learning and doing so many other things which requires a lot of technology-based tools, is also another step in my musical journey.  Thanks to Wormy, I managed to get myself hooked onto Reason, as you all know.  But I still have a long way to go, and to do.  For Schizzow and LooLoo, both of you always inspired me in terms of lyrics, and written materials.  I've always admired you two, honestly, since the first day I met you all.  It's because my English is shit at the moment, and you two write beautiful pieces - even if it's sarcastic.  Rooshie and Avni for being wonderful vocalists .. And Rooshie herself for taking vocals to an extreme level - to a level how I treat my music studies .. extremely technical when it comes to creating a mood and emotion in a song.  Ah Zhuuuu?  I hope your piano skills are still bloody ass good :).










I could go on, but I think that's long enough.  Seriously, thanks guys.  I'm pretty satisfied with who I am at the moment, but I know I can learn more.  Still learning, and if there's any projects to be done, I shall apply my knowledge with you all free from biased - meaning I shall not hide anything I know in a certain piece of music when I'm around.  After all, I do owe you all a path in whatever I've learnt.  So .. thanks :)

Mood: Tired + Sick
Listening To: Nothing

 

 

 

Whenever I sleep, I hear those melodious sounds.. Accompanied by the changes of time signatures, and tempos.

Sound weird, but that's what I hear these days.  Not dreams, but blank images with random songs by Dream Theater.  I think I'm starting to lose it.  It's like it as some hypnotic effect on me.  Probably through another one of those regression therapies.

But besides all that, I'm on the journey of revamping some of the things I have, after getting the things I want to get.  The first thing that'll help me out would be the Line6 TonePort UX1.  That will be very interesting.  Because for the sound I have for rhythm, is not really that satisfying.  It's mean to back another guitarist up, on a Heavy Metal song without lead riffs.

Guess it's set in a way to support, than to lead?  It's a good thing, because it takes teamwork to make a song sound.. like a song.  But then again, I don't know.

And with the Korg Toneworks AX1500g, I finally know that I'm being limited and what's the actual con of owning a multi-effects pedal board.

Can't do much.

Just want a more raw sound..

Maybe I should be like my uncle's friend.. Go into those abandoned houses and search for old, but good amps.  After all, there is some sense in old genuine products being better than the new re-make versions of it.  Some bits and pieces are in the product to make them last longer, or sound better, or whatever it is, but that's the problem.  With these small components, they just will never.. sound the same.

In other words, comparing an amp that was made back in 1957 and an amp that's a re-make version of the 1957, but manufactured in 2007.  Although it's as shit fragile as it is a tube amp, but the sound's a little bit..digital.  It's good, really, but it's not entirely .. raw?

 

 

 

 

So!  Since Penang's been wiped out because of this collector of old amplifiers, which guitarists are with me to salvage old amps from old places in KL, eh?  XD ..

takpe lah, can break into some taukeh's house and go 'pinjam' some of his stuff too while we're at it.. loli

Mood: Tired
Listening To: Daft Punk - Aerodynamite

 

 

 

Usually, when it comes to stuff I've never listen to, I'd usually say:

"I'm not a fan of ______________"

Which is the wrong term, after being in touch with music for quite a while.  Now that I've had a slight taste of how the music industry is like, it's more to like: "I've never heard of _____"

That's a proper term.  And I find myself wanting to look for more materials, musicians, genres, and melodies to experiement with these days.  Besides that, there's the study of polyrhythms that I've never had the chance to go through.  In fact, I'm getting a taste of polyrhythms through this song by Daft Punk.

And yes, Daft Punk.  I've never really listened to them before, but it's through these experimental artists that you learn how to mess around with new effects to make a song sound different compared to the rest which are being produced.

Other than that, I don't know.

Where exactly am I heading with this music path?

Guess I should just kick back and focus on the guitar and toss whatever's irrelevant aside.

 

 

 

 

But a mix of everything is just so..tempting.. Hohoho.

 

 

 

 

Anyways, Harry Gregson-Williams stuff on the Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty OST is extremely good in terms of production.  I seriously dig his stuff.  And some of the songs, for a tactical game, have very very heavy Jazz influence.  In fact, the opening theme - Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday (I think) is a Jazz number.  Fortune's theme song is a mix of electronical experimental orchestra with Jazz, and that's just so.. bloody nice.

Pure ear orgasmismnessed.

I don't know how to explain this, but on that OST, when the bass of a certain instrument comes in, it just hovers around the speakers .. Like an audible mist that surrounds you?  I want that effect, but I have no idea how to achieve that sort of thing with a crap Vista OS.

I shall retreat to Keith @ The Ark Studios for reference.. XD

 

 

 

 

And this feeling; being one with those sort of music .. is just simply amazing.  It's like, I've been emotionally directly linked to these sort of music?  When I listen to something that's produced, mixed and composed properly through these headphones, it brings a smile to my face somehow.

I think I've accidentally made it into my religion.

.. Time to upgrade to better headphones, that's for sure.. XD

 

 

 

 

I should head to the library now and study Management Accounting.  I just realised that I know nothing of the subject.  It's not even bloody accounts, that's for sure =___=

Mood: Tired
Listening To: Dream Theater - A Change of Seasons.

 

 

 

It's interesting to go through certain stages of life.  Currently, I think I'm at a point where I'm enjoying life in a very sadistic way?

My partners at Starbucks can't seem to understand my enthusiasm towards work, and whatever I do.

Sometimes I wonder how is it possible, myself?

There's The Secret, but then again, it's all about the mind.

Currently, I'm working during closing hours in Starbucks, and it's no joke to try and juggle my schedule.  I don't even see the faces of my housemates/ex-gf anymore when I go home.  Since my laptop's at the HP Service Centre because I either blew the RAM or motherboard's BIOS, I only relax at home with my iPod and what's left of it.

And imagine, having speakers with a subwoofer, but an 320 x 480 resolution based screen just to watch Top Gear.

Very simple, and homely.  I'll post a picture to that when I get the laptop back.  Should be getting a call either today or tomorrow.

Although the loss of my laptop for a total of 5 days sounds kind of .. sad, but I'm extremely contented with what I have at the moment.  The people that surrounds me, the people I'm working with, and .. stuff, I guess?

Currently, I'm checking out my latest project that I've been asked to session, once again.  It's Iz's song - Bersama/Together.  Since the beat's being laid out, my job is to only stuff in the usual guitar nonsense.  And what I have as a draft, sounds a little bit different.

Although the beginning does sound like John Petrucci's solo in Another Day, it somewhat surprises and disappoints me.

But since the ending sounds good enough to overcome that minor problem, I don't mind at all.

And you heard?  DJ Tiesto's coming down to Port Dickson.  I never said that I wasn't a fan of Trance/House/clubbing nonsense before, meaning to say that I have nothing against them.  Therefore, since the event's in Port Dickson @ Admiral Marina Club, guess who got free tickets?  XD ..

As many tickets as I want, and either on single or both nights.  HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO.  XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

 

 

 

 

But, if I really think about what I'm doing, I don't feel sad.  I feel rather contented.  I don't know why I feel this way, but .. it's not like me to feel this way.  But this whole feeling and perception of life is simply..amazing?  I'm getting paid for work, I'm catching up with studies naturally even when I don't pay attention, and the exposure to this side of the music industry is a great start.

Especially when you're finally getting paid for music, it's an achievement - but it won't last for long, I know.

Plans for Starbucks:
- Work long term even as a part timer till I move to Melbourne.  Try to apply for Coffee Master status (unsure about District Coffee Master title) .. Get to Melbourne, settle down there for a few months till I'm legal to work as a part timer there.  I heard in Melbourne/Starbucks Coffee International (not Berjaya Starbucks Coffee Sdn Bhd, duh), you can apply as a part-time supervisor from my other senior partners in Australia if you worked in Malaysia or something?  Or maybe it's a Starbucks International rule thing that never seem to existed because of Dato Vincent Goh ...

 

 

 

 

Well, being single is fun - if you don't think about needing the significant other.  I'm not saying that I'm stubborn.  I love to share benefits or whatever it is among friends, it's just that.. I have to admit that I do not have the time to care and love for someone .. special?

Besides, I'm out of strength to go on in any relationships.  I'm worn out.  Lol.

 

 

 

 

Oh.  Good news.  I managed to get back on the guitars again.  :)

 

 

 

 

PS.  For those who are working in the F&B line .. Grease traps are probably .. I don't know.  A blessing in disguise to piss off your manager if he's close by.. XD

Mood: Tired
Listening To: Bersama guitar nonsense









I've never written a solo like this before.  It's simple, melodious, and it sounds wicked at parts.  I finally managed to be one with an analogue instrument itself to make it speak my soul, feelings and emotions out for a short period, I guess?

I do dig it, but it needs more work.  Somehow, as nearly perfect as it sounds, there can be more things that can be added to.. make it sound tighter?

... ????

Questions, questions.  I'll hit the recording studio soon, and see what else I can come up with.  After all, recording along with the vocals is a better idea.  More ideas to come up with, and at least I would have an overall view about how the theme for that certain section of the song is supposed to be.

Ooh.

I met Nick Lee!  Huhuhu.  He's simply amazing.  I would want to watch him master Iz's EP, and soon, Kelvyn's other projects.  He hasn't met up with Kelvyn before, but he has heard about him before.  And I'm surprised that he said that he heard that Kelvyn's a good guitarist plays at lightning speed!  Wooo!!!!!!!!

THAT'S THE PENANG MUSIC SCENE FOR YOU LAAAAHH!!!! XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD










Besides that, I don't think the break up was a good idea.  Not even the break.  Sometimes, it really makes me wonder if I'm able to turn back time and not meet her instead.  It's painful to watch someone else in tears..

.. Or is it?  :)

Mood: Appreciative?
Listening To: Dream Theater - Through Her Eyes.









Yes, it's Dream Theater once again.  But this time, there's nothing to do with technical progressions, 123 time signature changes, 50000000000 bpm increment during a song, so on and so forth.  It's just that I've been studying so hard, until I forgot what was the true purpose of.. music?

I'm not sure how to explain this.. But sometimes it's always nice to tone down and play something melodious.

.. Or something.  I dig the simple..but powerful bass lines?  The song starts after 3 minutes or something.




Nicholas:
She never really had a chance
On that fateful moonlit night
Sacrificed without a fight
A victim of her circumstance

Now that I've become aware
And I've exposed this tragedy
A sadness grows inside of me
It all seems so unfair

I'm learning all about my life
By looking through her eyes

Just beyond the churchyard gates
Where the grass is overgrown
I saw the writing on her stone
I felt like I would suffocate

Inloving memory of our child
So innocent, eyes open wide
I felt so empty as I cried
Like part of me had died

I'm learning all about my life
By looking through her eyes

And as her image
Wandered through my head
I wept just like a baby
As I lay awake in bed

And I know what it's like
To lose someone you love
And this felt just the same

She wasn't given any choice
Desperation stole her voice
I've been given so much more in life
I've got a son, I've got a wife

I had to suffer one last time
To grieve for her and say goodbye
Relive the anguish of my past
To find out who I was at last

The door has opened wide
I'm turning with the tide
Looking through her eyes
Taken off the album Live Scenes In New York.  Music done by Dream Theater, lyrics written by John Petrucci.

From what I understand, this song is from the conceptual album, Scenes From A Memory.  This is the part where Nicholas finally sees the death of Victoria through the regression therapy.  Realises that Victoria was murdered in 1928, how her death has affected his life, and
how unfair it is that Victoria haunts him because of her tragedy.

And.. so on.

The song before this is Beyond This Life, where Nicholas consults The Hypnotherapist to hypnotise him to perform the regression therapy, and finds out how the death took place as written on the media.

.. And the song after this, Home, has an audible sex scene XD










Mmm ...

Mood: Blur
Listening To: Break Free










.. Only if you're not interested, or if you're bound to get lost in the midst of whatever that's going to come out.

A little introduction for this programme that I've been using since the release of the Sentimentalities project by Fundamental Mentalities.  Besides Wormy laying down the beats, I assisted him in the desperate composition stage, only because I found a new toy to play with along with his Oxygen 8 ..

.. AND the MacBookPro.. how could I ever forget blocking my brother's Internet Connecton with Wormy's AirPort and disallowed him to play WoW for the very first time XD.

I grew fond of Reason 3, and got my own copy sooner or later; and that's when music production began for me.  The first song I really did for someone else is still Love Letter by none other than Schizzow a year plus ago.

With 1gbs of nonsensical instruments, I managed to expand my creativities and really let loose upon the world of MIDI, and understanding rewiring cables upon devices and learning what they're capable of through automations.

But not only have I expanded my creativity thanks to Reason, but I've messed around with everything possible.  Velocity lanes, understanding effects, controller lanes, etc.  God knows what I've went through, and what I will go through.  But, having the knowledge to beat the person who introduced me to this programme can be unforseen.

And just as I was getting used to Reason 3, Propellerhead sent me an email saying that the latest version's about to be released -_-

Honestly, whatever I've done, or my knowledge with Reason, is only 5% of what this programme really can offer.  Despite the book I have with me, I still can't learn much.

And of course, I'm sure you all know that I have already obtained the latest version of Reason..

.. Reason 4 :)




The first few things I noticed about Reason 4 is that they did give a facelift to the bottom Reason Transport bar.  It's more..robotic with the green on it now.


Yummy!
And if you're experienced with Reason's automation device, the green outline on a certain device would mean that somewhere in the song, the value is bound to change for the corresponding rack.  AS for this, In Reason 4, you're able to toggle the tempo AND the most important thing for Progressive Rock fans - the time signature - halfway throughout the song.  If you've listened to DJ Paul Van Dyk (SP?) and some of his stuff, the crazy trance/techno stuff, the tempo automation's definitely your next best friend in Reason 4.

Now there are a few more things that comes with Reason 4.  Beside the Record button, you can finally record layers of stuff on a single sequencer track.  In other words, multitrack recording!  New Dub means that you can record harmonies for a certain sequencer track, and the New Alt means that you can record a whole new track with different ideas, and later compare what you've done during the final stage of the composition.  Definintely something Reason 3 was missing of.  And I can't show any examples because I still haven't purchased my MIDI keyboard.  Saving up on one so everythign doesn't sound so stale!


The ability to toggle the change of time signatures throughout the song.

You are able to set the preset time signature changes in a song, or input one yourself if you ARE insane enough.

..And this brings me the new interface for the sequencer window.  I loaded Break Free on Reason 4, and I thought everything was screwed, because everything came in tiny little bars as you've seen.  That's not.. exactly normal.  Where were my notes?  My pitch bend automations for my drums during certain parts of the songs?  The panning?  The volume control?  Changing from Bypass to On at certain parts of the songs?  So on and so forth.  With the new interface, it was made to look neater in some ways like this..


Urk.

This was when I found out that with a mouse click away, your confusing and messy work will be tucked away into single lines instead of having every single setting all over the place.


Even a bigger headache now.

And the best thing I found out about Reason 4 now, is that the Controller Lanes (marked in blue) can be viewed in both the edit and the arrange modes, so you can have an overview of what is really going on.  Especially when you're mixing through Reason 4, and not depending on other DAWs to do the work for you, this is one of the best updates compared to the rest.

Another thing when it comes to messing around with controller lanes, it now can be humanized.  If you're working with a MIDI controller to hook your knobs to whatever Reason has, then it's not really a big deal.  But to people who hasn't gotten our controllers yet, who still depends on the mouse to do everything for us, then it is sort of, an interesting update.  Now with the controller lane, you can humanise whatever automations it is with Reason 4's amazing Vector Art thing.  This is an example of a simple automated channel panning from 0 value, hits hard to +63, then -64..



Let's have a closer look at this..



And with the Vector art thing available, you can use your pencil tool and do something like this..


It may look messy, but you can adjust them manually by dragging them, or setting them at the right position with settings provided by the toolbar.

Speaking of which, you can't really work with Reason unless if you have clips.  It's kind of confusing to explain now, but for those who are interested in Reason 4, you'll find out sooner or later.  I used to have a problem with Reason 3 on Vista.  Everytime when I group a particular bunch of notes, even if they're seperated, they turn out to be the same colour and there's no way you can tell the difference between parts of the song.

.. Which brings me to this:



Lame update, but I'm very fond of this, mind you.  Except in the Mac version, you don't need to study the colour languages and just pick the colour you SEE which you like.  Not which you READ to like, and end up picking a horrid colour.  Way to go, dumbass Microsoft.

Besides that, as you can see, with the shortcut key, M, you're able to mute clips that you don't wish to hear.  Something else that Reason 3 doesn't provide, obviously.  Quite helpful when you're planning to pull off acapella stuff to silence off a drum loop for that certain part of the song, etc.

And here's another minor update when it comes to clips too..



Perfect.  Though I don't label my clips in Reason, but it's available for those who gets confused in between of their works.

Of course, there're 3 new racks in Reason 4.  It gives awesome sounds and very cool automation settings and programming, but I haven't got the time to experiment with that yet.  There's more to this programme than what I just wrote above.









And Wormy.. I still can scroll down in the picture below.  LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL












That's it for my side.  Reason never fail to amuse me everytime when I want to come up with songs.  Instead of assisting me in what I need, its amazing preset sound banks come up with more nonsense and I tend to expand whatever I originally had in mind.  Rather a good thing, but in the long run, we lose that certain inspiration to create our tracks.. So yeah.

As per system specifications for the installation of Reason.. For both Windows XP and Vista, you need 2gbs of HDD space.  For XP, you need at least 1gbs (yep 512mbs more compared to Reason 3) of RAM, and 2gbs of RAM for Vista.  And guess what?  For XP, that's no problem.  But Vista, take my advice.  You need at least 1503850187089127409817234086150716 times MORE RAM than the given specifications for it to really run smooth.  Vista rox :D

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee that killed some time.  Time to semi-mix and complete this song.  Urgh.

Mood: Blur
Listening To: Dream Theater - Through Her Eyes









I feel this song is somewhat .. beautiful.  No technical nonsense.  It's short, simple.. and.. nice.

It doesn't really take brains to come up with the best music in the world, but rather.. emotions.

Mood: XD
Listening To: SlipKnoT - People = Shit









Back to the Nu-Metal era.. The last I heard of SlipKnoT would be back in.. form 3.. that'll be 2003?

These influences came along during the stage when I picked up Metallica on the way.. It was for guitar studies, and that's when I got to know double-peddling nonsense on the drums, and how Heavy Metal nearly sounded like..

I just finished downloading Disasterpieces concert.. Oh my..

Never really seen them wild before.. XD













Let's not forget that Joey Jordison's one of the fastest drummers in history without drug abuse.. wheeeee

Mood: O_O
Listening To: Dream Theater - Octavarium









I was looking through a couple of pictures via Wikipedia.org regarding Dream Theater.  Like this one:



A wireless controller.  This is really interesting, to me, at least.  Knowing Jordan Ruddess (left, in pic), he uses strictly MIDI racks as shown in the 2004 DVD, Live in Budokan.  I'm not sure for how long has he been using MIDI-based racks, but goddamn, I just found out that he never stops exploring what's new, and what's not.

What I learnt today, would be the perfect MIDI-instrument that I might consider purchasing in the distant future.  What can it be?  It's called a Continuum.  I've got no idea what the hell it is, but unlike a normal keyboard, you require to plug this into a bunch fo racks, or to a synth to steal the sound and use it on this.. plastic-looking based keyboard thing?









An example would be this link here.. To me, sometimes, the way that technology advances can be pretty scary at times..

Mood: XD
Listening To: Dream Theater  - Hollow Years









I WANT A DAMNED MAC FOR CHRIST'S SAKE.

But put that all aside, Reason 4.0 has been out for a few months now, and I finally spent some time on propellerhead.se .. And oh my word, they just can't get any better!

So many new things to offer, and it'll take up MORE space on the HDD.

But once I do that.. I'll have problems getting it around to friends and all I guess... 'Cause of the file incompatibility issue?  It's obvious that the older versions of Reason can not open the newer versions.. So..

Buh.










BUT MY WORD.  86.9% COMPLETE.  CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!1










http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason4/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=thor
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason4/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=thor
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason4/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=thor
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason4/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=thor
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason4/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=thor
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason4/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=thor
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason4/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=thor
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason4/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=thor
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason4/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=thor

Mood: XD
Listening To: Gf's laptop's broken cooling fan









It's like...zzzt.

I'm not used to her keyboard, but bloody hell, she's using my laptop -_-

Anyways, I find it quite interesting when we put our mind to something, or when we force ourselves to do something we've had passion in, but in a different field, quite satisfying results can be produced.

As for me, a mix of my rusty brain, and a lot of re-wiring in the usual MIDI programme, Reason 3.0, benefited me quite a bit.  I've managed to figure out some new effects in a song, but I believe that I'm not exactly using the devices or racks properly.

But who cares when it comes to all that?  Even if whatever I've done is like, a total mess and probably the longest and weirdest way, I managed to get what I wanted.  And it's still rather astonishing how technology tends to improve over time.  It's unbelievable that everything analogue is starting to turn.. digital.

Computerised.

Soon, there's no such thing as analogue recording anymore, I guess.

But the problem is.. The more we venture into this, the more fake, it sounds.  Guess that's the mark of the 20th century, I suppose?

There are so much that's going on in my mind, and I would want to express it through words, but.. I'll leave everybody who's reading this at a blur (as if they're not already).. It's funny how I've gotten in touch with music a little bit more seriously.  I find myself complaining that each specified sound in a song isn't .. enough.  There's not enough Lo in this, it's too sharp, it's too soft, blah blah blah.

And in the end of the day, the sound that's being produced is rather..biased.  That's why I need $$ to get not only new, but a good set of headphones.

Please God, inspire me to fuckin work la kanninehpukichaocheebai.










Oh.  Friendly local artists.  Have you heard of the MACP before?  It's the Music Authors' Copyright Protection in Malaysia.  Something.. that'll.. get you money.  LOL.

Something about royalty being paid for your tracks being played in clubs, radio stations and anything commercialised.  I never knew such things existed before in Malaysia.  I must be bloody outdated.  Lol.

For the moment, I have no idea what it does.  Briefly, yes.  But I haven't got the time to study it just yet.  I'm guessing that the person I'm working for, Iz, is hinting to me to join along with him very soon.  But the minimum qualification to enter would be 5 of your self-composed songs.

I don't know if that would mean.. FDM-based songs?  Buh.  Can't be bothered at the moment, anyways.










.. Dream Theater is the shit \m/ >.< \m/










And special thanks to my bro for unlocking the secrets of mIRC for me.. bwahahahahahaha.. HELLO RANMA.. XD

Mood: Blur
Listening To: Harry Gregson-William - Olga Gurlukovich









Bloody good production for a game OST, by the way.  I love the mixing!!

I don't know if I should call myself crazy, or just curious.  As you all know, curiousity killed the cat.

Not long ago, I got offered by Iz Sulaini, one of the top 12 finalists of One in a Million - one of the many American Idols but being done in Malaysia, to remix his single which is going to be launched this March, Gonna Be Alright.

.. And I must say, can HE sing.

Unlike his cousin, who happens to be the distorted 50-year old amplifier of Six String Samurais.. Lol

I've never really paid attention to our local talents here because I've been.. well, looking down on our talents here.  But then again, I'm not to blame.  It's all the government's fault for not encouraging not only music, but bloody fuckin' performing arts.  So if I'm ever going to go for some election, neither of you prickheads are getting my vote unless something is to be done to this side of the damned country of you motherfuckers can burn in hell.

.. With that said, I would like to say, re-mix his song.  In what sense?  To come up with a whole new environment, theme, and taste for his song.  Converting a somewhat emo song, to a jiggy jizz-happy song that's suitable in clubs.

With the influences of Dream Theater, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Metallica, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Eric Johnson, Eric Clapton, Chuck Berry, NSYNC, Nobuo Uematsu and Ocean of Fire, I'm proud to say that I know nuts about songs that are qualified to be played in clubs.

Nor should I say, I am a jackass when it comes to clubbing environments.

Wait.. "chest, chest, shoulder, chest, beer belly, chest, chest, beer belly, HOLY FUCK.  AN ERECTION.  shoulder, chest, sweaty nipple, chest, yuck.".. I swear I never had any experience in clubs.  Especially 2 nights ago.  LOL










But so far, I've let some people listened to a brief sample, and they said it's pretty good.  I can understand if they've got harsh comments and if they say that it would suck.  I don't mind, only because that it's my very first time doing this genre of music.  Besides that, I'm no sound engineer, so my production can pretty much such regardless of the ideas I might have.  And I'm still constantly letting my stream of ideas and inspirations to let loose on Reason.  Since it's a club-based song, I'm allowed to use most of the instruments/samples provided in that programme now, instead of the traditional stuff that I would usually use in normal rock songs.  Or whatever it is you want to call them.

And with my ears finally being trained to vomit at super-MIDI-ish sounds, I'm avoiding some instruments that I've used before in previous tracks that I've done for myself and Schizzow.










Oh what joy.. Maybe I should really quit accountancy and take up Music Production kua ...










... NOT.  Debit credit, debit credit.. XD

Mood: Blur
Listening To: Dream Theater - As I Am









I guess most of you are already sick because of this Dream Theater fever I've been having.  But now, I decided to take it onto another level.  I would want to learn what makes John Pettruci...ticks.

Therefore, I have decided to give up playing by ear, and use numeric referencing, a.k.a. guitar tabs for this song.

.. For the solo.

The solo's about 5:11 onwards.. Here it is..





Note that I will be taking on the 3rd fastest guitarist in the world, and the 11th or the 13th best rock guitarist in the world.. SO this ought to be interesting.. XD

For the drummers, here's what Mike Portnoy does for the song.. XD

Mood: Blur
Listening To: NSYNC - This I Promise You .. From another laptop -_-









.. I still never got back my Dream Theater DVD.

I remember I only watched the first few seconds because Dream Theater was way too technical for somone like me back then.  But now I'm interested, and I can't seem to get it back.  LOL.

Which leaves me to torrents.. XD

Until I find another copy here in KL ..

Why so desperate?  It's simple.  I remember a friend of mine told me that Dream Theater came up with an album/DVD that tells a story through music.  A challenging thing for most musicians, and this DVD's the one that has it..




Story at wikipedia.org..

Pretty interesting for a concert.  Guess they picked and merged instrumental music together to tell a story of a couple I guess..

Thanks to youtube, I won't need to wait for the torrent to finish up.. XD

Mood: Tired
Listening To: Strong winds..









A change of seasons, indeed.  Things aren't the same.

Anyways, having 700 ++ songs in the iPod Touch is a really scary thing.  It's either I come across Dream Theater, Van Halen, Mario Biondi or.. Richard Clayderman.

And thanks to these musicians, my musical education is going to be somewhat.. screwed up.

More to like, mixed up.

But the main point is to understand and see how the Pitch Axis Theory is really being applied.

Van Halen's an exceptional.  He plays the guitar like as if he's capable of breaking it into half with all of his whammy bar nonsense.










Oh goodness.  I'm bored.










And I watched South Park the Movie just now XD.. it's comin your way Yung Shen.. XD










I want Ribena special besar T_T

Mood: XD
Listening To: Mario Biondi - This Is What You Are









Now what sort of Jazz is this?  I'm feelin the groove, that's for sure.  And usually, upbeat songs, from my experience, would be loud, noisy, and lotsa heavy drums.

But this is... just..

........... relaxing..

Thanks to Rooshie for posting that review up XD.. Managed to find the torrent and it finished overnight.  Bwahahahahahaha...

So not me, but in order to understand the Guitar Grimoire: Scales & Modes book, I'll jump straight into studying Jazz.  Might understand the book a little bit at least.  Haha.

Back to New Year Resolutions..

One of my resolution was to at LEAST not oversleep on the first day of college, and.. Well, I did -_-.. I missed out on the semester briefing today, but still managed to get my time table for this semester.

.. And it's going to be tough for me to keep up with this semester's schedule.  Haha.. My classes from Monday to Thursday would be 8am earliest.  Meaning to say I've got to wake up at 6am from today onwards -_- ..

And the other resolution was to get all 3 guitar grimoire books!  Soon soon... I've got 1 of them..going to order the rest if I don't see them in Borders XD










Management of Information Systems and Introduction to Accounts..this semester will be interesting XD..










.. Except for the Accounts side.

Mood: Hungry
Listening To: Birds chirping ..?









Okay.  I'm dead bored.  I'm at the restaurant going online in the afternoon like usual.. More to like; the only one who's online -_- ..

A few months back, I wanted to get a 15 inch laptop, but they didn't really have any in production.  Even if they did, the specs won't be that good, or it'll be too heavy to carry around.

I suppose it hasn't effected me for quite a while.. Until now, when I took notice of Reason and how different it looks compared to the simple compositions I've been working on before.  And good lord, I need more space.  Sometimes, I end up looking down on the lower levels, thinking the monitor's 3D, but it's not.




It's nonsense.  Having myself to experiement more and more what this programme can really do to a certain sound or pitch to an instrument or whatsoever it is, and I'm literally running out of space on the screen to do so.

Oh well.  You win some, you lose some.  Anyways, I continued working on this project, and it doesn't sound too bad.  Just really really messy.  Still have a lot to learn if I happen to start mixing songs directly from Reason itself ..

And there's a problem that exists.  When the metronome tempo is being set to an odd number, and when I happen to ReWire it to Audition 1.5, the original metronome amount will be set to an even number before it, and adds .998 of a milisecond.

Besides doing digital music or whatever you call this, I've been working back on the basics for the guitars, this time a little bit more advanced on the basic stage - triplets!

Too much John Pettruci.

Anyways, I'm selling/giving away my red dreadnaught Santa Cruz acoustic guitar.  20 frets, cutaway body so the high notes can be played with ease (except for the really high notes).  It has a good sound for a cheap guitar .. Really warm if fitted with .11 gauge strings of any sort.  Let me know if anybody wants..I'm running out of space in my house to put guitars.

Plus, I don't really use it..

Besides, I prefer classical guitars compared to acoustic guitars anyways ..

Mood: Tired
Listening To: Avillion's live band ..









Okay, not exactly one day, but a few hours, because my dad decided to go back to his French roots and decided to visit countryman, Richard Clayderman.

He's.. bloody insane.  Besides that, he played 4 cover songs, or arranged songs or whatever it is.  And he gave away those 4 cover song's music score to the crowd.  Real jovial chap, and his voice is so... high.

Unexpected.

But yeah, it was really good.  I went there to study, not to enjoy, but end up going the other way around.  Talk about learning the Pitch Axis Theory.  Nonsense lar.

We got good seats too!  The Vice President of IdunnowhichpartofGenting gave my parents and I 3 complimentary tickets, nearly at the front stage, somewhere past the barriers.  Had a good look of him and the band.

The Frenchies are insane.. XD

My goodness.  The Filipino band's asking me to go up and play Wonderful Tonight.. haha..

Besides that, the roads were.. glorious.  The law should ban those speedbumps.  XD.. I wasn't behind the wheel anyways, so whatever.










I've been having some thoughts when I was on my way back.. People change - why?  People meaning friends and family.  But then again, life's all about fluctuations.. So I shouldn't be thinking too much of something which is natural ..

.. Makes me anti-social










Now, after Richard Clayderman had performed in Genting Highlands...I was consider of going to.. Dream Theater's concert in Singapore.. XD ..










Hmmm ...