theshaggyfreak

Just FYI, I have about 4 pages of the score done so far and it's coming along nicely. I've found a few sources of various stuff from Toad Town. So, I think I'm good. The theme can get pretty weird in some of the areas which is fun. It's been a while sinceI beat this game but I'm starting to remembers bits and pieces the game.

Like doing anything that one hasn't done before, you can't just get by without educating yourself. Sure, you can learn as you go but your'e going to stumble and fall quite a bit. Luckily we live in the age of the internet. There's tons of resources out there and it's good to know where they are and how to use them. Interestingly enough, I'm currently in a Composition for Film and TV class with Berklee. So far, a lot of what we're learning is about various moods and what type of chord progressions work best for each one. There is no one right answer for what to do but there are definitely a ton of hints as to what will definitely work. You gota follow the contour of the scene and enhance the emotion that's already there.

Okay, I'll take 09 - March on the Haunts of the Wicked and will get to work on it ASAP.

I'll sit down with it all tomorrow and take a good look. I'll be sure to get back with you.

The real trick to getting everything out of Rreason is to get to know CV very well. This is something Reason does that no other DAW can do. This is probably what frustrates users the most since the thought process behind it is more like using a piece of hardware. Reason can seem limiting if you don't attempt to embrace CV at least a little bit.

Any chance I can grab a track?

I'm finally getting back to work on this! I've spent a lot of time concentrating on school over the past several months which is why it got shelved for a while. I updated the WIP with a better mix and a few baubles added. I think I'm ready for the underworld portion of the tune.

This is a great way to help you boost your credit rating and you'll also have your credit limit raised. At this point, I don't use my debit card for anything other than getting money out of the ATM. The other great thing about many credit card companies is that they either have some sort of reward or cash back program. I've been with BoA for over a decade and they've been pretty good to Kate and I on both the checking account and credit cards.

Thanks, Zircon. That's the kind of input I was looking for.

Woot! Goal met! Great job, guys!

I mean, if my money is better off going to other things like Kontakt libraries, I don't want to put $200 towards Komplete. In the end, nothing is an absolute necessity if you want to get picky.

I'm kind of on the edge with the current cross-grade for Komplete at the price of $200. Once I'm finished with my classes at Burklee, I think I'll be confident enough to start looking for some composer gigs. I already have Kontakt but I'm trying to decide if the rest of Komplete is something that I'll truly benefit from. Here's the majority of the software/plugins I work with right now: Reason - I've been using it for years and have a ton of libraries for it. It's kind of my go to DAW for electronic stuff. Whether you hate it or love it, it's something that I'm really comfortable with. Reaper - I'm mostly using this for orchestral stuff these days but I think it'd be comfortable with doing anything in it. Unlike Reason, though, Reaper can be synced to video which is a must for tv/film composition work. Plugin list: EWQL SO Gold VSL Sepcial Edition Volume1 Podfarm 2 Toxic Biohazard Ultra Analog EZ Drummer Minimoog V Revalver Melodyne Kontakt 5 with a handful of libraires (Impact Soundworks stuff) A handful of misc effects and the stuff that comes with Reaper. Now, I also have some analog synths that I love working with too as well as guitars and other various instruments. These can be used in either Reaper or Reason depending on what's needed. With that information available to you, would you say that upgrading to Komplete is something that would benefit me or would it be too redundant against my current setup?

I agree with Zircon 100%. The jobs that fall in your lap like this can be great to learn from.

You're just figuring that out? It's been pretty well known for years that it's never going to happen. Reason is a closed system and I doubt that's ever going to change in the slightest. There's a number of technical reasons why it doesn't even make sense for Reason to support VSTs. They just wouldn't jive with the way the program works with routing for one. VSTs would also break down the stability of Reason and it would be much more difficult to support.

I never have a problem supporting this community. Album purchased! Maybe I'll review it on my website this week.

When I saw King Diamond a few years ago, I was totally pissed at the venue. They oversold the joint to the point where you could not even move inside the club. The fire marshall would have shut the place down immediately had he been there. Had something 'gone wrong', a lot of people could have been hurt. It was really dangerous but I was lucky enough to find a spot behind the mixing board to hang out. Things like this should never happen.

The metal community as whole is a strange place. I used to be more into it when I was in college in the early to mid 90s and from what I hear on the front lines, things aren't much different today. There's a lot of cool people out there in the scene but there's also way too many guys who are dicks for the sake of being a dick. This doesn't go for just the people in the crowd either. Bands are rude and discourteous to other bands like it's a badge of honor. As much as I love me some metal and support all of my buddies who are still doing it, I've never been amidst another scene where there's more general hatred. Thankfully, I do still occasionally see pull each other out of the floor of a mosh pit. That's the way it should be. I honestly don't have a hell of a lot of respect for those who climb up on stage knowing full well that it's off limits. This sort of thing doesn't only happen at metal shows, though. Lots of booze plus a rowdy crowd always equals someone doing something stupid. Add the given percentage of plain ol' stupid people and you have more problems. It's the nature of the beast. Stupid happens. With that being said, I don't really say whether or not the dude is guilty of any wrong don't since I wasn't there. Even though there might be video footage, that perspective can be deceptive. If I blame anyone, I blame the venue. They should be providing a safe environment. If your'e worried about kids jumping up on stage, you either need professional security around the stage and have it barricaded. The kid should have never been able to get up there in the first place.

Okay, this app just got a hell of a lot more useful with the update to 1.1! Changes are: -Save, browse and load song files -Set length of loop (1,2,4,8 bars) -Export audio to iTunes File Sharing -Better recording. Tabp record and then draw on the pad to start your recording. Or just press Play -Performance and bug fixes I threw together this little ditty within the first few minutes of messing around with the update. Being able to use these loops later on in the DAW is awesome. The app is now actually useful for more than just noodling. http://soundcloud.com/theshaggyfreak/play-time

It was nice to have a room to myself so that I could just escape the insanity when I needed to and take cat naps. I might bring some stuff to host a midnight jam session, though. I have some ideas...

I believe as of last year, Brendan isn't in charge of anything major. He handed over the reins to others so he can concentrate on his own projects (and life).

Room booked...supported badge purchased. I took care of this as soon as I was able to. If anyone is flying into Dulles airport, I might be able to pick you up depending on when you arrive.

While I know this only represents a portion of the employees let go/resigned/still employed, it's still quite sad to read: http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Avid-Technology-Reviews-E2291.htm I used to really enjoy using Pro Tools but it finally soured enough to where I converted to Reaper.

http://bit.ly/LSBWez InMusic also owns Akai, Alesis and Numark. So, I'm not really sure if this is a good or bad thing for the prosumer market. This is probably a good thing for Avid, though. They really need start concentrating on Pro Tools quite a bit more.

So, a number of you know that I do volunteer work some of the local community theaters in the Northern Virginia area. The one I primarily work with is in Reston and I've been slotted to do sound design for a show in April of 2013. While I'll most likely do much of the preliminary work, I'll be out of the country during most of the actual shows. Since Kate and I will be touring Northern Europe, I don't be able to sit in the booth and do my thing. My loss is your gain! If you live in or near the Northern Virginia area and would like to get some experience working with a rather large sound system, I'm going to need an assistant to train so that they could run the show while I'm gone. Believe it or not, this can be a pretty big task. The theater we work in has a 128 channel 5.1 sound system with an extremely complicated digital mixing board. Granted, you probably won't be using more than about six channels but it's still a beast to work with. You'd be responsible for triggering sound cues, setting up any wireless mics that are needed and trouble shooting any issues that might come up. Now, this IS volunteer work and you will not be paid. The experience you'll get, though, is quite worth it. The theater you'll be working in is probably one of the best mid sized theaters in the area and they have a lot of very nice equipment. The place is also set up to run concerts as well which is the reason for the giant sound system. The most difficult part is that there is a period of two weeks where you'll need to be there every night from around 7pm-11pm. These are when the final rehearsals are done and the show is tightened up. This is also one weekend where you'll be spending a great deal of time working on things. Other than that, you'd have to be there to help run the show which lasts for three weekends. It's just not something you can flake out on since a great number of people will be counting on you. On a side note, they'll also be needing someone for this show who has a good deal of knowledge with projectors. There will be many on stage projections and they will certainly need someone who has had experience with such things. Now that I've said all that, please let me know if you might be interested. Again, this will be a great experience for anyone looking to learn something about theater sound design or sound design in general. The DC Metro community theater scene is huge and people do take notice of a job well done.