… Warlords (lyrics) …

Here are the lyics to the song “Warlords”. Watch out for the sword … it’s really sharp.

Warlords

it’s all we know
to resist to replace to reload
scary
invulnerable
from a distance we watch it unfold
on and off we go

it’s all on automatic
it wouldn’t take us very long to mend this
don’t be so coy about it
you’d rather sacrifice the young than risk your image

the safety is off

*

how strong you need to be
how much you need to lead
this time we’re all in gear
to watch this catastrophe
no hand will hold or feel
this peace that couldn’t be
this time the weapons real
restart the history

the afterglow of the radioactive exposed
scary
containment holds, as the world outside it corrodes
on and off we go

villains so diplomatic
convince the meek that they’ll be young forever
enlist the disenchanted
their greatest strength is in their own dysfunction

the safety if off

*

how strong you need to be
how much you need to lead
this time we’re all in gear
to watch this catastrophe
no hand will hold or feel
this peace that couldn’t be
this time the weapons real
restart the history
can you hear the march call
pouring out of the factories
reclaim your own song
rewrite the symphony
overnight the truth falls
into a memory
what can you really do
that part’s a mystery

*To be determined …

… fall 2008 to do list …

Continuing on with my seasonal tradition …

Here is my fall 2008 to do list.

1) Finish lyrics for “Atlantis” 11-11-2008
2) Finish lyrics for “Night Driver”
3) Finish tracking “Bits”
4) Mix “Bits”
5) Create “Bits” cover art
6) Digitally release Eureka Farm albums 11-22-2008
7) Outline a new feature length script
8) Finish “No Escape!” video
9) Complete final post prod. for the “Combat” video
10) Outline a third music video for “Bits”11-18-2008
11) Finish “Armanium” VST 11-12-2008
12) Release 1.0 versions of all BETA VST instruments

I have until December 21st to complete these items!

(This list will be updated as I complete the goals)

… end of summer recap …

As summer comes to an end, I pause to check back with my summer 2008 to do list.

It looks like I completed 10 of the 17 items on the list. Most of the incomplete items pertain to my solo record “Bits”. Of course, it is behind schedule due to a number of factors. Some of those items might be eliminated anyway … I probably won’t replicate CDs.

I am also far behind schedule on my “Armanium” VST. I would love to get that one in the bag.

One huge accomplishment for me this summer was the completion of the “Combat” music video. That was a pretty big undertaking for me and my little computer.

Liz and I are still chugging away at the “No Escape!” animated music video and I hope to have that one done by the end of the year. I have decided to hold off officially releasing the “Combat” video until I have the record done. This means I may have at least two music videos ready to go by the time the record is available for purchase.

Coming soon:

FALL TO DO LIST!!!!!!!!!!

… hitting the target …

As I hopefully approach the end of a short term hearing impairment, I’ve been looking for things to do that don’t require loud noises like singing.

I have been working on my mixing skills (as in controlling the relative levels of audio sources - not DJing). The thirteen songs for my record “Bits” are all in various states of completion, and in order to begin to unify the album as a whole, I’m going to set my peak baseline at -18db inside the box.

That might seem really low to some people, but as you add more and more tracks, these peak compound eventually resulting in a digital “over”. In the old days, analog recording devices could handle these overloads and many audio engineers used the quality of the saturation as a stylistic device. Think huge 70’s rock albums. That’s the sound of magnetic tape saturation.

Digital recorders hate overloads or “going into the red”. When a digital system goes over 0 db, it doesn’t know what to do with itself. The digital system tells your speaker to be in two different places at the same time … square wave city.

In a modern digital recording system, all the tracks are combined together mathematically inside the computer to create a stereo master bus. Different audio applications use a variety of methods for combining and adding the waveforms together. When mixing, people tend to have each channel as loud as it can go before it peaks, and then turn down the master bus to compensate.

Here is a bass line that peaks at -18 db.

It sounds pretty quiet and most people would look at its levels in an audio application and think they were really low.

Here is the same bass line with some other instruments. They all have a maximum peak level of - 18 db.

When the instruments are combined to make this mix, it hits - 9.6 db! Imagine what would happen if you were mixing not five, but fifty tracks. You approach 0 db pretty fast, and that’s not good.

When your audio program’s master bus gets hit with a bunch of tracks that cause it to peak all the time, DON’T TURN DOWN THE MASTER BUS, turn down each track.

Digital recorders drop the number (truncate the data) when you mix and go over. Some programs do a better job at handling it than others.

I’m not suggesting that every track should peak at - 18 db. I’m just not going to let any track go above it.

… Zardoz (1974) …

I watched Zardoz tonight.

Nuff said.

… song stuck in my head please help…

You are in a tavern, ready to begin a new adventure, spinning yarns of your great campaigns throughout the land.

The music in the background plays on as you expound your tales …

So goes the start screen in the tavern in the ancient game “Dungeon Explorer” for the TurboGrafx-16 system. I recently downloaded it for my Wii.

I am stuck. I can’t defeat the hideous “Gutworm” and get past level 2.

Why do you only get five lives split between ALL players? Why do enemies kill you in two seconds? Why do power-ups have barely noticeable side effects? Why is this song stuck in my head? Why do I lose all my potions when I die? Why is this game so frickin’ hard? Why am I writing about this?

Oh well.

The tavern song rules and it gets stuck in my head, especially the melancholy cut time breakdown.

Tavern Song from “Dungeon Explorer”

… old breakout machine (Atari C-380) …

Recording vocals for the song “Breakaway” got me thinking about this funky old Atari console I have buried away somewhere … the Atari C-380. It wasn’t the first Atari console, but it was darn close. It came out in the late 1970’s and had pinball and some form of Breakout built in.

That was it.

The “flippers” for the pinball game were on the side of the machine itself. This was pretty amazing stuff back when quite a few people still had black and white TVs. I actually had a 19″ black and white TV in my bedroom through high school.

I should track this thing down and see if it still works.