theshaggyfreak

I'm definitely interested in the iPad but I need to talk to the wife first. I should know by tonight if she gives the Okay. I'm also looking to see what if the iPad mini is going to be a real thing or not.

While a bit out of your price range (not by much), I always suggest Carvin. I've been playing a Carvin bass for about 20 years and it has never done me wrong. They make versatile instruments that you can custom to your specifications. I personally find them a lot more comfortable to play than a Fender but that's a personal thing.

This is a cross post from my website that will be up tomorrow. I thought I'd post it here for for those who might be interested. For those that want to go straight to the music, here's the link: http://bsod.bandcamp.com/album/binary-birth-act-01 *** It's been quite some time since I released new material for the Binary Birth album (solo album project). There's so many reasons why that happened that it would take quite a bit of space to explain it all. In the end, it's my fault for getting so behind on things. After some thought, I have come up with a plan on how I'm going to proceed and I think it's a good plan. I am releasing the first five songs of Binary Birth as an EP called 'Binary Birth - Act 01' and it's available now on Bandcamp. I'm setting the price at just $1.00 but you can give more if you wish. The rest of the album will be completed in Act 02 and there's a possibility it may stretch to a third act. These releases on Bandcamp will be kept quite cheap and there's a reason for that. For one, I plan on remixing things a little for the final release. Secondly, the final release will be done in physical form and I plan to set up a Kickstarter for that once all of the music has been completed. I've learned a lot music wise during the past year. Much of that was due to the classes I took from Berklee and the rest comes from my newfound desire to put more effort into the music side of BS/OD as a whole. I love doing the comic and that will not be going away any time soon. I do think it's time, though, to concentrate a bit more on the other side of the coin. I'll divulge a bit more information on all of that as time moves on. In the mean time, please go grab your copy of Binary Birth - Act 01!

Here's a couple of new ones for those that didn't see it on IRC: http://bsodcomic.net/images/studio/2012/studio-panorama.jpg http://bsodcomic.net/images/studio/2012/studio-panorama2.jpg

So, I picked up the prize package for this weekend. Here's a picture of exactly what you could win: http://www.bsodcomic.net/2012/09/20/the-intervention-begins-tomorrow/

For those who are near the DC area, you may want to check out Intervention this weekend! A lot of very cool stuff will be there including ME as well as a lot of other cool people. I'll even be giving away a FC Twin and a couple of games to go with it. It should be a good time.

Count me in!

Puremagnetik has a little deal going on where you can get a big bundle of some of their samples packs for $10. These are for Kontakt, Ableton Live or Logic. All in all, there's about 1GB of content in there and there's a lot of unique stuff in there. http://www.puremagnetik.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=366

I'm also waiting on feedback.

I ended up getting the SSD essentials despite having a number of other things and it sounds pretty damn good! What's nice is that you can load your own samples into the VST if you want to. The stock kit sounds quite useful. It's nice to have a good selection of drums in your arsenal.

I admit that I did have to go through a couple rounds of returns on the Rokit 6's. On two monitors, I was getting a weird sort of distortion in a narrow band of frequencies. I did eventually get it all worked out and have been good ever since. I really haven't had any issues with LF stuff on these but I have gotten used to them by now. The Equator monitors that Dannthr recommended do look interesting. If I was in the market for new monitors, I might give these ones a try. I'm all about supporting smaller companies as it is.

I agree with this 100%. You are less likely to get ear fatigue quickly when using monitors. If you're in an apartment with thin walls, though, you're kind of limited in a lot of ways.

There are a TON of misconceptions that you need a perfectly tuned room to use monitors properly. Yes, it helps out quite a lot but the lack of it doesn't make monitors useless by a long shot. Most people will NOT have that many issues using a set of decoupled near field monitors at a modest volume level. Headphones have their own issues no matter how expensive they are. Like anything, you have to learn how to mix with them and some people are great at it. Having a sound source right next to your ears is not how our brains typically process audio input, though. It's extremely easy to over compensate for things with headphones if you're not careful. I personally think that pushing someone away from using monitors is not a good idea no matter what the situation. An expensive set of cans does not (usually) replace a set of monitors and vise versa. Trust me, there are tons of professionals and non-professionals out there who use monitors in a less than ideal situation. It certainly isn't a waste of money to buy a set.

I was pretty surprised with the bass response on the 6" KRKs. I can honestly say that I haven't had any problems hearing the low end and getting it mixed properly. I'm pretty used to them now, though, since I've had them for a couple of years. Also, something like these pads are really good to have to decouple the monitors from your desk or wherever you're putting them. I've got a set under my KRKs and my desk doesn't shake at all when listening to a lot of low end. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MoPAD/

I'm of the camp that you shouldn't mix on headphones alone. Some people can do it well but I feel that it's a skill that is more difficult to obtain than mixing with a decent pair of monitors. Having both headphones and monitors available to you is the best of both worlds, though. For the price, KRK makes some pretty nice monitors. I have the Rokit 6's and they run about $400 for the pair on an average day. They've been on my desk for a couple of years now and I'm more than happy with them. One of the good selling points of KRK monitors is that they're ported in the front (rather than the back). It takes time to get used to mixing on any new setup whether it's headphones or monitors. That's why I always listen to the final product on a few other sets of speakers/computers before I put the finished stamp on a song.

As a musician/composer, NOT writing music should scare you. You can't progress if you're not actively honing your skills. Writing absolute crap is better than writing nothing at all.

Alright, I went ahead and threw down a little groove. There's no editing at all and this is a single take. https://www.dropbox.com/s/js7oimzbzzzo9xq/bassimprov.mp3

This won't be posted on the front page of my website until tomorrow but this will be the link where it'll be found. Great job, Tweex! http://www.bsodcomic.net/2012/08/03/the-land-of-vanadiel/

I'll take a listen to it tomorrow and put a review on my website.

SampleTron is on sale for $29 for the next week. It's pretty nice if you're looking for some Mellotron or Optigan sounds. http://www.ikmultimedia.com/news/promos/index.php?item_id=1337 BTW, make sure you grab the free version of Sampletank 2 if you get this. The version that you get with SampleTron is rather old. I had issues with it crashing in Reaper but all works well with the current version of Sampletank 2.

I'm still working on getting my chops back a bit on my fretless. In the mean time, I played bass on this entire album some years ago. It's not exactly big band stuff by a long shot but it shows I can play a bit. I have no problems reading charts and chord changes. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tempotantrum

Actually, you really are talking about frequencies and amplitude. The transient may indeed just be a certain set of frequencies that are poking out. So, EQ and filters can work there. Otherwise, you need to look at using a compressor, gate or limiter to bring down the amplitude of the transient itself. These are things that should be looked at on an individual track level first. Doing these things after the fact is more for getting things to gel together. You could certainly squash things in the final mix to tame transients but I don't think it'll give you the results you're looking for. After listening to the examples you gave, these things are what I feel would work best. I really do understand what you're trying to say but I think you need to look at the answer differently.

Some things to try... 1. Sometimes a particular synth is just too loud. If something is sticking out, try to dial back the volume level first. 2. Try working with low pass and high pass filters. See if you can carve out whatever frequencies are overpowering the mix. 3. Insert a short reverb onto the the channel of that synth. This will give it a sense of space. A bit of delay can help with this too. 4. If you're still getting some frequencies poking out, work with EQ and compression to tame them. That's generally the work flow I use for mixing most instruments together.

If it's taking this long for them to give us the full picture, it's most likely that both sides are still at the table. This is a good thing if that is the case. What happens now will certainly dictate relations with the big companies in the future. So, I say that you all can take your time working things out.

I posted a video from the panel a bit go. Feel free to check it out: http://www.bsodcomic.net/2012/07/29/otakon-2012/