muzicman82.net

I felt bad after the last post and decided I should post something of substance… Well. first of all… I owe you all the pictures of the Bat Mobile and Batman from Saturday. So here ya go.

I should probably tell the story again. We were driving up I-295 on Saturday going to the train station to go to NYC. Well. this dude was on the road… and we passed him. My life is complete. I saw the Bat Mobile.

Keep in mind. it was probably cold. about 20 degrees or so. And he’s probably going about 70 mph. I always knew NJ was special. but I think this dude is a different kind of special.

On another subject. I’ve been working on Brandywine Electronics’ website. You can check it out now if you want. Go to www.bel.com. It’s still being worked on but that’s the new layout for the most part. I’m making some portions of it php/mySQL. If you don’t know what that is. it means that some of the site will load dynamically. If you still don’t get it. think of it this way - a page on the site will load from a database. This means I don’t have to write every little detail of every little page myself… it can do it on the fly. This is useful for things like inventory. job postings. etc. There will also eventually be a client area. So… stay tuned.

Ok. so I changed my picture… And it’ll probably change again before the weekend… Oh well. I’m at work… and I’ll leave you with a song. It’s a good one. What do you think it’s about?

[music]
“Down. Set. Go”
By UnderOATH

I had the whole world in my hands
And I gave it away

I’m a half-wit boy
Cracking a smile and wearing it all on my sleeve
So cool and so poised
Its true I’m just around to see
Where this thing goes I’ll never know
But all I know is packing bags is a remedy

This time I’ll be nervous
Cause I can’t see your hands in front of me tonight
Lets forget all pretense of what they thought we should be
What liars we can be

I’m on my way to the top of the world
And I’ve got a feeling I’ll give it away

She’s a maverick she’s so smooth
If things go according to plan
I’ll have her finished by five a.m.
There’s no changing plans
There’s no second chance
I’ve already got both feet through the door
And I can taste the air

Make a sound it’s safe for you
To choke in here alone

Whatever I say goes
You’re not here with me

I TOTALLY forgot to mention… on the drive to Trenton. NJ to get the train. we passed this guy who was driving… The Bat Mobile. NO LIES. He had his car souped up to be the Bat Mobile. In fact. he was wearing the costume! The pictures are on my mother’s camera. and don’t you worry. it’ll be coming soon.

We opened Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. like we do every year. I got a Canon S500 digital camera. to replace my outdated Canon S330 that died over the summer anyway. There’s also a Sennheiser e609 microphone to add to my stash. And. my mother decided to take my brother and I to NYC for Christmas day. and the day after.

So. we got to NYC by NJ Transit train at about 3 PM. and then checked into the Crowne Plaza in Times Square. Yes. after over 15 years of coming to NYC on a regular basis. this is the first time I’ve ever stayed in a hotel in NYC. It’s pretty cool I guess. We then went and saw Cookin’. Ok. you have to check out the link and try to imagine. Think. four crazy Korean chefs. mixed with Stomp. and random Asian comedy. It was great. Then we just headed back to the hotel. and now I’m chillin’.

Tomorrow… we’re seeing Phantom of the Opera… yes. the Broadway… not the movie. How awesome is that? Yeah. my mother is spontaneous. This shall be interesting.

Night everyone… Hope you had a great Christmas!

Alright people. This is a long post. Well. it might be. We’ll see how it ends up. We (Myself. Dexter. and Josh). left Greenville. IL at 9:30 AM on Friday morning. We got to my house in NJ at 3:15 AM. which is awesome time since we stopped for a total of about two hours and we were held up in traffic for about an hour for no reason.

At 9 AM I got up and went to the mall to buy some black shoes for work. I showed up to work at 1:15 PM and got off at 2:45 AM. Now. about that…

The event was the The Grand Gala. There were two main parts to the gig. In The Grand Opera House. Smokey Robinson performed. If you don’t know who that is… well. go search Google. He’s a legend. At the Hotel du Pont. there was the After Party. which featured tons of food (amazing food) and The Christina River Steel Band. They were amazing. It was Carribean music. but done well. and with a little jazz influence. I was responsible for that system and engineering the show. Oh there was also body painting. Well. yeah… It wasn’t necessarily the little kid type of paint. but the kind that looked like it could be real tatoos or something… and yeah… they painted body parts that shouldn’t be showing. Oh and… everyone was dressed up… it was a pretty formal event.

The system sounded pretty good. My input list was:

01. Kick
02. Snare
03. OH
04. Bass Guitar
05. Keyboard
06. Sampler / Drum Machine
07. Steel Drum 1
08. Steel Drum 2
09. Vocal 1
10. Vocal 2
11. Vocal 3
12. Vocal 4

The beautiful thing about using the Yamaha O1V/96 is that I was able to put compression and a parametic EQ on each channel. I set up the subs by making an auxilary channel. and putting a low-pass filter on it. Then you can just send whatever you want to the sub. It’s GREAT for clearing up the mix. Reverb was another aux send. and then two monitor sends. I really need to read the manual on that board. If I could only figure out how to make the aux sends pre-EQ… I’d be so happy. Joe didn’t know how to do it. If he doesn’t. there’s a good chance you can’t do it.

Anyways. I know that’s a lot of boring detail. but most of that is for me. I’m going to eventually create another Blog as a technical journal of my work with BEL for my Practicum… I have a hard time remembering what I do all the time.

Anyways. it’s 3:49 AM and I can’t figure out why I haven’t passed out by now. I’m bored. Oh well. Night.

Ok ok.. I know I haven’t posted in forever. I’m DONE for the semester! Can you believe it? I NEVER have to think about Music History ever again! I am 99% ready for Interterm and next semester. I’m doing an Independant Study course in art and a practicum with Brandywine Electronics. It’ll be a lot of work but at least I’ll be getting paid. and 7 credits out of the way.

Next semester should be pretty cool. I’m taking Managing Tech People. Senior Project. DM Portfolio. SR. Rock Class (for SR). COR401. Studio Recording… So in other words… pretty much everything I have is Independant Study.

We’re leaving for New Jersey at around 10 AM tomorrow morning. It’ll be me. Dex. and Josh Twiggs. In the words of Jesse Pennington. “I’m coming home… soon.” It’ll be nice. = ) Speaking of JP. Pennington played last night. and it was great. Dex opened for them. Anyways. I’ll get home and then 6 hours later I’ll be going to work. Apparently. I’m mixing a steel band on Saturday. Oh fun.

I’m currently at the Help Desk… I’ve been here an hour and no one has come. I’m here until 3 PM. Then. Dex and I might go do some shopping and get some Panda Express. YAY! I need to pack and do some other things before we leave.

Sorry. I got distracted… someone came to the Helpdesk… Well… I should pay attention… I don’t know to what.. but that doesn’t matter.

I’m tired… Blah!

So. it’s been a crazy week. and its going to get any better either! My computer got a new motherboard so its pretty happy right now… I am running sound for a senior recital tomorrow but I have the dress rehearsal tonight. Other than that… it’s been an interesting week… just chill’in with Dex and all. I have class in 10 minutes so… see ya!

I’ve posted pictures of the giant turkey that took over my kitchen table on Wednesday night. Not only is it a giant turkey. but it is a giant CHOCOLATE turkey. Yes. I know… and I don’t ask. If you want to hear the story of the giant chocolate turkey. IM me or something. Otherwise. enjoy the pictures.

View 1
View 2
View 3
View 4

So. my mother told me a story.. She came home from work one night was going to lay on the couch and listen to Bob Seger (yes I know. don’t ask). Well. she said she made it halfway through the CD until she realized that she was listening to Urban Derivatives’s Kulture Shock and not Bob Seger. I don’t get how you confuse the two but oh well. Now. she really likes the CD. I worry about her. Anyways. that’s just a random story. Home is good. but I sure wish there was a Sonic or Steak & Shake around.

Night.