Looking over the past few entires, it seems I’m in the habit of starting things, and then not following through. My “Social Media Roundup Sundays” fizzled out almost as soon as it started. Shortly after that first post, I decided social media does me more harm than good right now (I get so worked up over anything political), so I opted to just step away. Unfortunately I had to reactivate my Facebook account as one of the pieces of software I purchased only uses Facebook for support. Twitter/X is just a shit-show on fire, so staying away from that mess just makes sense.
But I digress. Looking back over the past year, it would seem the only consistent posting I’ve done is when I did the 12 Days of Creativity Challenge. It was a creative challenge to create a more-or-less complete track. I stuck with it (mostly), documented my progress, and had a track to submit at the end of the challenge.
I’ve decided to do similar, so I’m going to start gearing up and taking a stab at NaNoWriMo. During the month of October I’m going to work on outlining a story idea. I have a few bobbing around in the wetware so I’m going to see if I can settle on one to flesh out a bit more. Then, come November, I’m going to attempt the goal of a story of 50,000 words within the month.
A daunting task to be sure, but hey... it’s time to set myself another creative challenge. Why not scratch that itch with something, well, challenging?
For most of my adult years, I've leaned towards Sci-Fi and Fantasy for my genre of choice when it comes to books. I love the imaginative worlds brought forth to light, the science and the magic of it all. And I'm all for being creative when it comes to naming characters, but I always scowl a bit when an author tries to get a bit too clever when coming up with a name.
I'm currently reading A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon. My Kindle says I'm 61% of the way through the book and I'm thouroughly enjoying it. And while Ms. Shannon has given names to most of her characters that are acceptable and easy to grasp the sound of, there's one here that basically has me stumped: Jrhanyam.
I looked at that and read it as "Junior Han Yam" and now it's stuck in my head that way. I like unique names, but I like unique, pronounceable names, please and thank you.
Twitter: After reading about the latest indictments of Trump, it’s very hard to stop myself from jumping into the feeds of people I know who voted for him and say “How’s that working out for you?” (7/28)
Well, as far as rebrandings go, I think Twitter's X is about the bottom of the barrel in terms of innovation, design, messaging, etc. (7/24)
Instagram: Trying to get the photo off Instasgram and dropped here is annoying on my iPad, so I'll just leave a link.
When collecting the past posts from my previous blogs, I noticed a huge gap, between 2009 and 2016. It doesn't take a genius to realize that's when I started posting heavily on social media. It was mostly Facebook then, but there were a scattering of Twitter posts throughout those years as well. I joined both Facebook and Twitter in 2008, and the posting to the respective platforms ramped up from there. And now there's Instagram, YouTube, Mastodon, Threads, etc.
To be frank, most of the posts are crap. A lot of the "Go Steelers!", or "Man, sure is nice outside today!" variety. But there are some important things in there I want to keep. When we found out my daughter had cancer. Some nice posts on anniversaries. Stuff like that.
To bring everything "in house" as it were, I'm going to start collecting those posts I've made on the various social media sites and posting them here on Sundays. I probably won't include replies, unless it's a thread I'll want to revisit later. I'll avoid duplicates as well, as I tend to copy things from Twitter to Mastodon in my attempt to move over to the latter more. I haven't decided if I'm going to post any media that might have been with the post either, outside of Instagram, obviously.
Overall it'll be mostly the (hopefully) poignant and (probably moreso) irrelavant thoughts I've had throughout the week.
So, to get started:
Twitter:
@USPS says my package will be here by 9. Also says it's still in Indiana. It's about a 9-hour drive from there to here. So... color me skeptical. (06/19)
Mastodon:
Wanted to check the demo of the Max Mega Menu plug-in for Wordpress. Clicking the demo link popped up a notification that the website wanted to open FaceTime. Nope. Guess which plug-in I won’t be using whatsoever. (06/17)
A pox on the people blowing off fireworks at midnight in the ‘hood. 4th was two weeks ago, you doorknobs. (06/16)
Facebook:
Currently deactivated
Instagram:
No posts
Threads:
Did I need yet another social media platform to stick my nose into? No. I'm here hoping it's less awful than the bird (06/09 - cheating a bit as this is outsde the 1 week roundup, but it is the very first post on Threads and if I start posting there more often, it'd be nice to have it recorded here)
I have an idea for a website I want to build, based around a community. Similar to Goodreads, which is built on top of Ruby on Rails. So I figured I'd build my website on RoR. But I don't actually know RoR, so I decide I'll learn it.
And after a month and a bit of progress, I realize that learning RoR is hard. I'm not grasping some concepts that I feel like should be obvious.
Well... I'm always talking about needing to learn Javascript. Two of the three projects I'm on are using some form of JS, Angular and React (third project is using Salesforce which can go die in a fire). Maybe I should consider really getting into the weeds with Angular and/or React. That would be the smart, responsible thing to do. After all, I'm still learning Javascript, and they're used by projects I'm actively working on.
So, having said that, I've been delving into Svelte and SvelteKit this past week. Because, I'm constantly sabotaging myself and why not?
As I'm only a week in, I'm not going to talk much about either right now. Hopefully in a month or so I'll feel more comfortable and I can relate some of my experiences.
But knowing me, I'll have decided Svelte/SvelteKit is just not right and have moved on to Django, or Laravel or something equally as preposterous.
This is definitely outside of my wheelhouse. RoR is a full-stack framework, designed to power the backend of your application. I have in mind a website, sort of a mashup between Scribophile, and Goodreads, geared towards electronic music. I thought about trying the BuddyBoss plugin within Wordpress, but I feel like to really build the site like I want it, I'd need a plethora of plugins, and possibly some custom PHP work as well.
I'm starting with Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails tutorial. I've also been following along with Deanin's Intro Ruby on Rails 7 For Beginners Tutorial Series on YouTube. I actually started with the Deanin videos, but then stepped back and decided to start "from scratch" as it were, instead of just copying and pasting what was in the videos (although, to be fair, that's probably how 90% of programmers I know learned).
I've given myself to have something viable by the end of the year. Currently, I have a somewhat working login system. I think if I can get that and a profile that a user can update themselves, I'll call it a win.
We had a nice, quiet Christmas; both kids were here, my mom, and our friend Gina. I made everyone breakfast, and then we did our gift exchange. Rather than buy presents for specific people, we each buy two gifts to bring to the table. Then we roll dice, and depending on the number, pass them left, right, across the table, etc. The randomness is fun, and some hilarity is bound to happen. For example, my mom ended up with the Cuss word coloring book my daughter brought. Mom said she was going to get markers, color the pages and stick them to her door.
Pre-Covid, I would typically go to Gina's house (Gail dislikes NYE, so she opts to stay home). Covid put a stop to that, and this year we ended going out to sushi with some friends. I don't like fish as a general rule (but I love tuna fish on crackers. Go figure), so I got the cashew chicken the place offered. The wife had something called a Steeler roll, which I tried. And liked. A lot. And then my buddy offered another couple of pieces of his.
Lemme tell you what... I might not like fish, but I think I'm changing that to "cooked" fish. Sushi is awesome. I can't wait to go back.
Otherwise, it's back to normal. Work has me figuring out some Salesforce stuff (yuck). We've been having some house work done, and are planning a re-plumb ($$$), and we're looking to head to AZ for the wife's and her dad's birthday.
Along with some personal family issues, I had two freelance clients decide that they wanted updates this week. That does put a crimp into the creativity time when it's needed to complete work for clients. I ended up completing that work early last night, and jumped back into my piece of music I've been building on with @LNADoesAudioStuff's 12 Days of Creativity Challenge. My previous blog entries were specific to the particular challenge I was working at that time, but this particular entry is going to wrap up the last few days all together. I'm writing this, having done (what I consider to be) steps 7 (vocal production), 8 (Arrangement), and 9 (Lifts, Drops, Swells, and Fills), and will publish this entry after completing 10 (Adding Life To Dry, Boring Production), 11 (Creative Automation), and 12 (How You Know When Your Track Is FINISHED!). I have to complete all of this tonight... after tending to some of the aforementioned family issues. Tomorrow is a friend's holiday party, and then it's Saturday, which is the last day of the challenge, and I need to submit my piece, for better or worse!
Day 7: Vocal Production Details
As stated in the previous entry, I've opted to go with a vocal sample from Loopcloud. I found a cheesy little vocal that has a nice hookey (hookie? hook?) poppy-vibe to it. I duplicated it, pitched it up by an octave and gave it some EQ to remove any lingering low harmonics. I also discovered in Loopcloud that you can adjust the timing of the clip. That was handy, as I spent way too long trying to get the 115bpm clip I'd found to sit nicely within a 128bpm tempo. Loopcloud took care of that for me.
I found a second "filler" vocal and chopped that a bit as well, and plopped it down in a couple of places.
Day 8: Arrangement
I've never been good at structuring a song, so this has been one of the more challenging parts of this, er, challenge. I did manage to take my original 8-bar loop, and structure it more like a song, with definitive sections. I have an intro, in which I add instruments, a middle section where most of the instruments are playing, drop some during the breakdown section, and then an outro, where I remove tracks until I have only three left. It seems to work.
Day 9: Lifts, Drops, and Fills
I found a finger pop sound (not a snap or a click, but you can definitely tell it's a finger noise) that I turned into a small 32nd-note run down in one part, and then reversed it and sent it up later. It adds a bit of "what was that?" to the song and keeps it from becoming monotonous. At least, that's the hope. I also have the typical reverse cymbal that rises into a --what else-- cymbal crash.
Day 10: Effects
I used Valhalla Supermassive in a couple different parts of my track, along with Bitwig's own Reverb and Convolution Reverb devices. I also added delay to specific instruments and I'm hoping I didn't go overboard. That seems easy to do when adding everything in, so hopefully I didn't make the track too muddy. I also attempted to add some panning in, specifically to the finger clicks I mentioned under Day 9, but either I was doing it wrong or the fills were just happening too fast; I couldn't get it to accomplish what was in my head. A challenge for my next project I suppose. There is panning on some of the percussion elements so hopefully that comes through.
Day 11: Automation
My automation starts right off the bat, with my swell at the beginning of my track. I use automation to cut the reverb in and out, adjusting the volume from ∞ to -4.8db. I'm sure there was a more efficient way to go about doing this, but it's how I accomplished what I wanted. I also added some automation to a cutoff filter on one of the synths during the break to give it more oomph, and get it towards the front of the mix.
Day 12: Finishing the Track
After spending some time adjusting the volume on various tracks, and spending even more time on various minor issues, I decided to call it done. Let's face it, I could have (and should have) spent a lot more time working on this, but the one and only goal I had here was to finish a track. I wanted it to be structured like a finished song might be, and have a definite beginning, middle, breakdown, and end. And that's what I got. Is is polished? No. Is it's mixed and mastered properly? No. Is it good? Hell no. But it's DONE. And that was my end goal.
As expected, I've learned a lot through this process. I've taken some notes, and even screen recorded my process as I was putting together the pieces of this track. I'm hoping to do a "postmortem" entry here later, and maybe I'll even manage to put together the screen recordings into a pared down video with some narration about my thoughts over it.
Big thanks go to Liina, from LNAMusic for creating this amazing challenge. It's purpose was the create a track, which is what I've managed to accomplish. Amazing.
I feel like I was just here. And checking the date from the previous post you can see that I'm posting this on the same day. (Editors Note: leaving dates as same caused the order of the posts to be wonky. Changed date of previous entry to be the day before. Meh)
This post should be a quickie; I'm working on Day 6, which are vocals. I started with the Emvoice One plugin, and after some trial and error, had a little vocal hook in place. It wasn't horrible... but it wasn't really doing it for me either. So I loaded Loopcloud, and after waiting for the update to install, and then having to go through and read the all the little tool tips that popped up regarding how to find and use the new features, I found a vocal track that fit in nicely (at least I think it fits in nicely) with my current little ditty.
Because I'm "behind" the challenge dates, I'm going to keep working and go right into Day 7. Which works well, as Day 7 is Vocal Processing. If I can complete Day 7's challenge, and Day 8's, I'll be caught up with the challenge. So... better get myself to it!
So, tomorrow, when Day 5 takes place, I'm going to challenge myself to complete that day's challenge. On time!!
That was written three days ago. So we can see how well that little challenge of mine went. I can make the usual excuses (work, chores around the house) and the not-so-usual excuses (holiday shopping, holiday parties), which are all true. But I could have found a half-hour here and there to complete - or at least work on - these challenges.
To that end, this morning, while still in my pajamas, I sat down with my coffee in hand, to work on the next challenge. I started working on a solo instrument, got a lick down, and then brought in the rest of the tracks to listen. And... something was off. Investigating what the discordance might be, I realized I'd recorded my lead in a different key. Whoops! Easy enough to fix. Then I took another listen, and while it was better, something was still off.
Turns out I had not one, but two other tracks in the wrong key. What the heck! So I fixed that up, made sure everything was in the right key, listened to my track and... wait. Why is the second note on my pluck bass not playing on the beat? And same with some other notes down the line?
After about 20 minutes or more, I finally realized I had STFU sitting on the Bass Group, which was ducking the pluck enough that it was very noticeable. Once that was removed and placed on the individual Glide Bass and Sub Bass tracks, everything sounded better!
Or did it? Everything sounded like it worked together, but now I didn't like my piano chords. Or my synth lead. Or... well, much of anything at all.
OK, well...
Shit.
At this point, I'd been working on all this for just over an hour. The wife and I had plans, so I went downstairs to get ready for the day. We were going to breakfast, and then a cute little town about 45 minutes away to do some holiday shopping. I told her I wanted to get moving, as I wanted to get back to my challenge (I've been telling her all about this, so she's aware of what I was referring to).
The day itself was cold and gloomy, with rain coming and going. And after breakfast, while we were sitting in the car, we decided we'd rather just stay home. The wife had some things she wanted to do, and, well, I wanted to get back to music.
Once I listened to the tracks again, I realized that I liked the bass line, and the percussion was OK. So I fixed up the pads and the pluck synth to be more inline with the bass. I removed one of the instruments and I think I'm slowly getting back on track. Originally this piece was in a minor key, and the notes I'd come up with worked within that minor key. Once I reworked the key signature, it was in a major key (B-flat major to be specific), but the old notes now didn't sound like the "correct" notes. So those were reconstructed and now the notes along with the rhythms are more upbeat and peppy, and much more keeping in step with the major key.
And now on to Day 6, which in reality, will be a continuation of Day 5. We're doing vocals now. And I don't sing. So thank goodness for the Liina-recommended Emvoice Virtual Singer. And if that doesn't work, I can maybe try to find something within Loopcloud for my vocal needs.