Terminal Rock

I feel I should write something here, especially as I dislike checking my friends blogs and there is nothing new in quite a long time.

I've just been working (and enjoying it quite a lot) on weekdays and lately there have been quite a few things for me to do on weekends (weddings, 21st birthdays, farewells, get togethers etc) when not working.

Today I noticed a good reason why my posture is so bad, so I'm hoping to do stretches and exercises to fix it. I'm not going to bore you with the details of particular muscles in my back and legs and why I know they're the reason, but if you see me sometime please ask me if I've done my stretches that day to remind me to do them. I really want to stand upright. Not only is it good for my overall heath, but my confidence as well.

Oh yeah, here is a sweet sport that Ben posted on his blog that I thought I would share with you too as I think it looks pretty rad. It's called "Slamball" and involves a combination of basketball and trampolines!

Check it:


I should also tell you about this old punk band I found out about called The Chosen Few. They were a band from Melbourne who were around in 1978. I ordered their CD and it turns out they're pretty awesome. You should check them out, but they're very hard to find.

This weekend I'm flying down to Narranderra with Esther and her family for an engagement party for her cousin Michelle and her fiance Rowan. Should be a good trip.

That's about it really, hopefully that quenches your blog reading appetites for a short while.

Revelations

So tonight I had an interesting night.

I had work, but after work I went and hung out with one of my best friends, John. He's getting married on Sunday, so I really wanted to just hang out with him before it all happens.
In the end we did what we usually do, sit around and play records. This time though, because John had just moved house, he'd found all these random old 7" records that we used to listen to. We sat back, discussing why we liked them, why we didn't like any of the newer stuff by those bands, what made them change, the concerts we'd been to involving those bands and all the kinds of random things you talk about.
Because I'd been so busy, I hadn't thought about the fact that this would be the last real time John and I could just sit around doing this before there would be someone else in his life/house who would be around when we wanted to hang out. I got pretty sad when I left to go home. Either I was good at holding back tears or John pretended not to notice.
It's always a weird feeling for me when things like this change. I dunno about John, but for me sitting around just listening to records and having someone else who actually likes them too had been a pretty important thing for me that I've really enjoyed doing. It makes me feel normal knowing that yes there is someone out there that listens to the same music as I do, as opposed to everyone else out there who just doesn't get it, making me feel kind of alienated as "that guy that listens to weird music".
It's not like I'll never see the guy ever again, hopefully now that he's got a house closer to me I'll be able to see him more often, but it's just that things will be different, a state that I really don't handle so well.
I'm excited that he's found someone to spend the rest of his life with, but I'm also shocked at how quickly the wedding has come about and how little I know his wife-to-be. I've only met her in real life 3 times, including the 10 mins I saw her tonight. It feels kinda strange knowing that one of your best friends is getting married to someone you don't really know. I'm sure she's a great gal and I'm looking forward to getting to know her.

I just had a thought. You people out there reading this probably know them and I'll probably see you on Sunday at the wedding. Please come and say hello to me, I probably haven't seen you in a long time.

Upon leaving John's house, he told me to watch out on the drive home (it was 12:30am) because there were lots of deer about. I drove around the first corner and there was this MASSIVE deer with huge antlers standing right in the middle of the road. It was crazy awesome. It also made me drive quite slow for the rest of the trip :p

On the way back, I was keeping a lookout for wildlife, driving nice and slow. I saw: 2x wallabies, 1x wombat, 1x deer. As I was driving, I was also looking around at just the scenery of the Royal National Park (as you need to drive through it to get to his house) and just noticed how peaceful it was in the nightime. It was quiet, animals were out and about, the moon was shining down and the trees were blowing softly in the wind. I thanked the Lord for making such a beautiful place, straight after which I felt compelled to pull over and stop at the park in Audley. I got out and wandered down to the river, sat on a bench and listened.

That's it. Just listened.

It took a while, but after a minute of sitting still and quiet, I started to notice things. You could hear the river slowly sloshing about. That was it. For the minute.

As I sat longer, more things started popping out, slowly at first but ended in a torrent of noise. Ducks up the river quacking, fish in the water, something in the trees behind me (on closer inspection I found some Koalas!), nuts falling off trees, bats flying overhead etc. It was amazing! I thanked the Lord again, and in return he showed me something.

It was only just then, sitting by the river in the dark without any other people around that He really showed me an example of his timing compared to my fragile quick lifespan. He showed me the growth of the land, how without people it still moved and lived. It's perfect balance.
I thought about Genesis and how everything in His creation was perfect, including humans, before 'the fall'. At that same moment, He showed me that without humans around, the world could still operate because He had made it perfect. He showed me how slowly compared to my measily schedule ridden life the world grows and changes. Despite how slowly the world moves, it is just a blip on the scope for Him. Why should I demand things to happen NOW? Why should I expect Him to jump down and do everything I want Him to in such a tiny moment in the short space of time that is my life?

I shouldn't. I should do as He says and wait, be patient, pray, and one day He may if He feels like it should be so.

I thanked Him for everything he just showed me, and he let me sit there outside for a while. Even though it was cold, I did not feel it.

I walked around a bit, followed my ears and found the Koalas (there were two of them) and after a while I asked the Lord to let me know when He thinks I should leave. Straight after saying that He sent me a kangaroo OUT OF NOWHERE that almost ran into me, scared the life out of me, chased me back to my car and disappeared as quick as it arrived. Thanks!

The trip home was spent driving slow (by this time it was 2:15am) and just looking around at God's creation, admiring it, and seeing how we'd flattened it to put roads and houses on.

Workers Wage

Reading my last update is kinda funny. There's me talking about how I don't need to go back to JMC ever again and I had to find a job etc. Well, plans have changed!

In the end, I'm back at JMC and I didn't need to look for a job. Why?

24 hours after posting that entry I got a message over Facebook asking if I wanted to work at JMC as a Studio Assistant! Of course I said yes and now I have a regular job there in the studios teaching kids how to record things as well as do any repairs and maintenance. I get to play with all the sweet gear they have as well. It's only 3 days a week at the moment but it's a great start to my career.

So yeah, champion!

Apart from that, not too much has happened. It looks like I won't be going down to Melbourne for Joel and Lisel's housewarming as I have the 4pm-midnight shift on Fridays and 8am-4pm shift on Monday, not leaving much time to go flying around the country on weekends.

Jobs are fun :)

Snap Happy

As usual, I'm posting on here real late at night. I should probably not do these things and try and sleep, but oh well!

So college is over. I got that presentation done and everything handed in, so I never have to go back to JMC again. Which is kinda sad I reckon because I liked going there and getting to use all the sweet gear and being able to pick the brains of my tutors and lecturers and things.

Time to move on! Easier said than done, but hey, life is like that.

I'm spending the next few weeks making up a portfolio of recordings and such, hopefully it'll be enough to get me a job somewhere. Whenever it is I get around to making a resume, I think on paper I can make myself look pretty awesome thanks to all the live sound and stagehand stuff I've done, so I'm not worried about that.

Oh yeah, as I'm now free of college, invite me out places! I can go! Woo! This week I'm going to head over to Hugh's place to play Super Smash Brothers on his Wii, so that'll be awesome times.

Oh yeah, I have this camera:

I have recently discovered that using it is pretty fun, so if you see me carrying a camera around a lot in the near future, that'll probably be it.

I was going to type a whole lot more, but I was distracted just now by all the mess in my room. There is now a large pile of rubbish and recycling in the corner of my room. I feel liberated.

Can't sleep... boogers will eat me

I'm awake because I'm sick with a cold. I spent all day in bed trying to get better, but because of that I'm wide awake now.

In other news, as it's after midnight, apparently it is my birthday. 23 years old. Good on me.

A friend made this for me:


Pretty funny huh.

Well, another update on me:

I got those assignments all handed in ON TIME somehow. I'm pretty pleased with myself over that one. I just need to present my essay to the class and hand in my minor project work this Friday and I'm done. For good. I'll have a degree. Crazy.

It's pretty scary finishing up. It means many things. One is I'll need to get a full time job. Two is I can't hide behind the "it's okay cause I'm a student" moniker any more. Three is I won't get to be taught all this amazing stuff and it be okay for me to royally stuff up because I'm there to make mistakes and learn from them. Five is I won't be able to watch The Young Ones any more and be allowed to relate to them as I do. Six is that I have no direction because I won't have anyone to tell me what's next, I'll need to find it for myself.

Lets hope I can summon up the courage to start emailing people about proper jobs. It would be nice to have more money than enough to pay for fuel and train fares. I'm an audio engineer who can't even afford to buy CD's to listen to. It's pretty sad.
What sucks the most is that IF I get a job somewhere, the chances of it being something I really really want to do (audio recordings, studio or live) are so slim it's nuts.

Aaaanyway, enough of that nonsense.

Throwdown went really well. I was hoping for 300 people, but in the end we only got 250. Heaps of people who said they were going to come didn't come. The bands played great and everyone who came to watch had a great time. It was good to see the SS peeps again, I do enjoy their company. It would be good to hang out with them for more than a few hours though.
One person I know told me that 'considering the state of the scene, 250 people is a great number', so that cheered me up a bit.

On Monday I spent the whole day capturing video and audio off the recording devices. In the end I was only able to record Reverend X and Playjerise. What I got came out pretty good for Playjerise, so lets hope that I can mix it okay. Reverend X's set didn't come out that good, but I might be able to save it. I think I'll take it in to college before they stop me using the facilities and try mixing it there. The video isn't crash hot for either band (two handycams on tripods) but it's better than no video, that's for sure. Thanks to those people that lent me the cameras.
Oh yeah, if you're a myspace person, there are photos of all the bands playing at the show at www.myspace.com/hometownthrowdown

Apart from the Throwdown recording, I've also got a recording I did with Soul Riot to mix. I'd get into mixing it now as I'm keen to do it, but this cold is messing with my ears something horrid. Compared to normal everything sounds a bit muffled. It'll pass a day after the cold does and I can get into it.
I've also got at least two more recordings I need to do for Dr Buff and Reverend X to do, so I've got a bit of mixing and recording coming up. Depending on how the Dr Buff one comes out, I might have a paid recording lined up, so that's some good news.

I'm going to go and climb back in to bed. Hopefully I'll be a bit better in the morning and can enjoy doing nothing on my birthday and not have a headache and runny nose. You know, I should go down the road tomorrow and buy some tasty beer to have at home to celebrate. Yes, that would be good :)

It's Not Over Yet

So another blog to let you all know what is going on in my life. I know at least one person enjoys reading them (thanks mez/marlei), so here it goes.

College. That's pretty much my life right now. I have three assignments to hand in next week, so I need to get them all done. As of now, one is due in 7 days, two in 8.

The one due in 7 days is about sourcing and putting sounds to a 6 minute montage of scenes from The Animatrix. Seems simple? Well yeah, but when you actually give it a go, it's pretty hard. First things first, you need to watch the video and make a list of what sounds you want to put where. This takes an hour or three. Next part is finding those sounds. I've been spending the last week trying to find appropriate sounds and I've only got approx 1/2 of them sourced. After that, you need to place them all in the movie at the right points and line them up with the picture. This doesn't take too long, as you have the sounds and know where you want them. When I say not too long, I mean it takes a few hours to do. Hardest part is making them fit with the scene and mixing them to appropriate sound levels. This takes aaaaages. The video goes for 6 mins. I go through it 5 times and that's 30 mins. You need to go through it hundreds of times to make sure everything is perfect, especially for such a long piece. Lets assume all that is done.
Now, the next hardest part is exporting all the sound and making it into a DVD. First you need to export the audio, then render the video into the right format for a DVD, then time align them, make up DVD menu's and blah blah blah.
Whinge whinge moan moan, I have a lot of work to do.

8 days away I need to hand in an essay (which is super boring and hopefully the last one I'll ever have to do in my life) and final mixes of 6 bands that I recorded live so they can be put to video and also made into a DVD. This time I don't have to author the DVD myself, some DTV people will do that, but I will be handing in stereo mixes of each band AND 5.1 surround sound mixes. I've been progressing through these quite well. Tomorrow I have to re-record some vocals for one of the bands, but after that I should be able to get them finished pretty quickly.

Now, you might be thinking "hmn.. that sounds like a lot of fun compared to sitting in an office doing what I do". Yes, the mixing bands in stereo and 5.1 is great fun, but essays have always been my weak point for maximum damage, and I'm not terribly keen on doing sound-to-picture work unless it's mixing a band for DVD. Also, I don't have much time to get all this done.

On a brighter note, Throwdown is on in 8 days, which is excellent. I'm going to be busier than an ant when the rains are coming up until then, but so far things seem to be fitting together nicely. No bands have pulled out, we're going to have two stages, two good PA systems, advertising is being handed out (despite the photocopier breaking), we have some youth groups coming along etc etc and so forth. We're even setting up a coffee stall.
Only thing now is really for us to have the event and hope that people come. I'm assured that a few people will come, but I will be disappointed if we have less than 300 people. Always am, always will be. It seems to be my mental benchmark for how successful it has been. If you're reading this and are in the area, please come! Details are here: http://www.myspace.com/hometownthrowdown

Oh yeah, it's my birthday this month on the 18th, that same week my car rego is due and I finish college forever the week after that. Please buy me lots of presents of cash payments and cheques in my name so I can pay for my car service, pink slip and rego and still be able to enjoy my birthday somewhatish. Why it all costs as much as it does, I really don't know. Stupid ageist insurance companies/RTA.

Oh yeah, The stupid Klaxons make me want to go back to England again. All this rain and their music is making me miss the place quite a lot. It probably doesn't help that I'm wearing my Pogues shirt from when I saw them and Billy Bragg play in Manchester.

Aaaaaanyway. I should go to bed.

Night!

Goodnight Goodnight

Bored much? Yes please.

I've been pretty busy of late. It's great when I'm busy, always having something to do, but as soon as I stop doing things, like now, I get SO bored.

Right now I can't sleep, I've got the songs I've been re-recording the vocals on today playing over and over and over in my head. I'm playing other music to try and flush it out. I was planning to get up at 4am to watch the UEFA Cup final between Zenit St Petersburg and Rangers. Looks like that won't be happening as it's now midnight and I have a full day of being awake in class to do tomorrow.

I've been a very tired person lately. I think all this soccer playing/college going/being up late I do is really catching up with me. I'm constantly tired, my knees and ankles ache and it takes a second or two for me to think. My days off from college are spent lying around in bed simply so I can recover. 7 more hours till I need to be awake to catch the train to do it all over again and I can't sleep. Great.

Yesterday I went on a tour of the Rode microphone factory. Good fun that was. Getting to see the process of making the mics from design to assembly to testing to distribution. They have these sweet machines that machine the metal parts for the mics that are weapons grade. The government checks the machines every few weeks to make sure they haven't made any weapons with it. These machines cannot be sold in The Middle East, China or Korea. Pretty nutty. Also, the factory floor is full of Asian and Indian workers. It looks a bit sus.
Still, all in all a good trip. It really opened my eyes to what's inside the things and gave me a bit more of a feel for ways to use them.

Last night I was going to start overdubbing vocals, but the vocalist didn't show up. A bit annoying but it meant I got to have a play with using Auto Tune. Pretty fun. You can make everyone sound like Cher at the touch of a button (literally, it's the basic function of the plugin).

Today was spent back in the studio redoing the vocals for two bands. Ended up powering through 4 vocalists in 3 hours. A mean feat by any standards. That said, it left me with the songs stuck in my head, and me sitting here typing a meaningless blog. Sorry I don't make poems or try and make them sound mystical. That's just not me.

I finish college in a month and a bit. I'm so freaked out by that.

I'm going to climb back into bed, the songs may have stopped, lets see what happens.

High Fives and Stage Dives

A new blog entry! It's been quite a while since I did this.

This time, unlike most times when I complain about things, I'm actually very excited and have lots of news for everyone.

The latest thing to be excited about is that Throwdown is happening again and last night Luke and I conformed the lineup. Always a good thing to do, especially when we have such good bands! The next one will feature:
San Salvador - http://www.myspace.com/sansalvadormusic
Playjerise - http://www.myspace.com/playjerise
Dr Buff - http://www.myspace.com/drbuff
Red Letter Project - http://www.myspace.com/redletterproject
Reverend X - http://www.myspace.com/whoisreverendx

Luke and I have some sweet ideas about the way it's all going to work on the night, and I'm going to try and record it (mostly for my own personal recording stuff). Not just audio either, I'm going to try and video it too, so if you have a video camera and will let me use it, please let me know!

Another thing to be excited about is the recording I did this past week. For college I need to do a major project. For mine, it involved doing live recordings of the 3rd year performance students. We went down to The Metro theatre, the bands set up onstage and played, I recorded all the audio and the DTV students filmed it all to make live video clips for each band. It all went really well, but I'm going to have to re-record most of the vocals for the bands as the microphones we were given weren't very good (I was promised good vocal mics and didn't get them!).

On Wednesday I got to see Henry Rollins tell stories from on the road and rant about different things. It was brilliant. He spoke for 3 hours non stop and had some amazing stories to tell about music (such as singing for The Ruts with support from The Damned and the day he first met Iggy Pop) and also from countries that he's visited. So jealous of the woman I overhead in the lobby after the show mentioning that she was going to the next nights show as well.

Everyone seem to be having or going to have babies right now. Scotty and Corrine had their baby, James William, the other week. I finally saw the little guy on Saturday, and he's tiny, but pretty awesome.
That same day I found out that Paul and Katie Gatt are expecting, and yesterday I found out that Brian and Cathie Hall are also expecting! Who's next?! They all seem to be beach mission related people.... so married beach mission couples, watch out (or hurry up)!

This week Esther is in Melbourne having fun going to design conferences and buying sweet cameras (I want the camera!), so that's leaving me to get assignments and things done. This week I need to finalise what my setup would be for a 5.1 Surround recording of an orchestra would be, and I also need to analyse the sound of 5 mins of a movie. I'm going to head down to the video stop to hire some movies. I HAVE to hire and watch movies for college assignments, what a hard life!

I am going to miss college quite a bit once I'm finished....

I have some paid work this week for once, so that is nice. It's a gig I usually do for Greg over at Asquith doing sound for people who sing cover songs to old people. It's not the greatest gig in the world music wise, but it's easy and you get a free hot lunch (inc dessert!) to go with it, so in the end it's a pretty good deal.

Oh yeah, I had a great weekend. Shayne was back in Sydney (great to see you again!) and had a belated 21st birthday party. It was over at Chipping Norton Lakes, lots of people I haven't seen in a while were there, we played sweet games of soccer, ultimate frizbee and hackemback, ate cake and just had a good time hanging out.
The second half of the party meant going to Bar Ace in the city (schooners of Old for $3.20!) for some drinks and hanging outs with more people. After Bar Ace everyone decided they were going to this club called Bungalow 8. It's a loud dance party type place that I really don't like, but upon refusal of entry due to it's horribly tight dress code I wasn't too worried. Hugh and Brendan couldn't get in either and on the way there I spied a pub that was quiet and had Premier League Football on a big screen, so we just went there! It was awesome because I got to see Manchester United lose in the last 5 mins of their match against Chelsea and also the first half of the West Ham vs Newcastle match where West Ham got up 2-0, but just before half time Newcastle got it back to 2-2. We were kicked out of the pub as it was closing, but it was no matter as the match didn't end up having any more goals, and Shayne and the others were heading to The Rocks for 2:30am pancakes!
Ended up getting home at 5:30am. Awesome.

Well, I'd best be off down to the video store to get these movies, I'm not sure what ones to get to choose from, I'm just going to go and see what they have.
Hope you all have a great week!