I discovered an XML backup of my old blog, much of which I thought I’d lost. So I’ve bunged it all up here for review. I had planned to take the site back to brass tacks and then start from scratch, but I felt somehow compelled to sanctify my dubious past… or some such nonsense. At any rate, it’s just about all back, and this place feels a bit like home again. A few media links might be non-functional (the music files seem to be a particular problem) but I’ll work on getting them up and running in the next few days.

Lots to report, but we’re taking the dogs to the beach, so it’ll have to wait. Tally ho!

Ahh, Christmas over for another year. Not too bad a one overall, family time, some nice gifts on both the giving and the receiving side (at least I hope so on the latter). My lovely wife bought me various bits and pieces for the studio in the new place and I’m itching to get it set up. Speaking of which, there was a tiny bit of a scare with regard to the house arrangements, but that seems to be OK now. Hurrah for banks being open between Christmas and NYE, and sighs of relief all round

Frankly, the move can’t come soon enough. The new neighbors moved into the house up the road recently. They’re the third bunch in the place since we moved in, and also the third to have a dog who sits on the balcony and barks. Hey, that sounds strangely like the neighbors on a 90 degree angle as well. It seems obvious to me that if you place a territorial animal in a position where it can see lots of people moving around what it perceives as its territory, it might just have some words to say.

No incredibly bad visual joke picture up there today. I’ve spent the day buying tap fittings, packing boxes, and throwing things out, and I don’t really have the energy

I never thought the iPhone would be something I could use for nostalgic purposes, but I recently found a little application which turns it into a 4-track recorder. You’ve got record, stop, play, forward and back, with level and pan for each track. That’s it.

I sat down with the acoustic for guitar and the phone for a few minutes the other night to test it out and managed to come up with a nice little ditty. There’s something very liberating about limiting your technical options. I usually write music on the main studio PC, and while it’s very flexible, it’s all too tempting to start worrying about how the thing sounds. Switching the musical hat for an engineering cap, if you will. It’s hard not to start thinking along those lines given my day job, so removing that option completely for songwriting is a nice way to get into a more appropriate mental space.

In other news, my limited edition bonus-DVD version of Frost*‘s new album arrived, so I’ve been listening to the supplied instrumental mixes of the album. Very interesting to listen to all the details that are hiding beneath the vocals, and it seems to be a lot less agressively mastered as well.

It’s surprisingly difficult to get the final version of a performance in the can when you have the disconnection of the internet between yourself and the producer, combined with a picky client who you are both trying to please.

So I’ve just recorded and bounced ANOTHER revision of this jingle, and I’m sending it off for approval, having recorded some octave doubles of the melody, and revising the harmonies on the final tag. And now the little girl next door is on the trampoline having a temper tantrum, and she sounds exactly like Eric Cartman.

Her parents must be so proud

It’s come down to the fact that I’ve got a bucket-load of work to do over the next few days, and I need to seriously put my head down and get it done.

How on earth did I get so busy all of a sudden? Two voice recording sessions this week for the cartoon job (plus some potential re-takes to do at some stage), the revision stage of this esession job, a hefty bag of T3E homework from the get together on the weekend (as well as another behind the scenes video to hack together) and now I’ve gone and agreed to throw some keyboards and backing vocals on an old friend’s project (and he’s working in Pro Tools, so I’ll have to remember how to use that particular flavour of arbitrary limitation software.

We’re hoping to finalise our house-buying ventures this week as well, and some semblance of a personal life would be nice to squeeze in there too, if I can swing it.

To be fair, the T3E stuff has been kicking around for a good while, and it’s my own fault I’ve let it slip until now. Plus I didn’t have to agree to this keyboard/bg vocals job, but I want to… dammit .  It’s a good dose of ever-so-slightly-cheesy-but-very-well-executed symphonic metal, and a nice change of pace from the wacky, cliched, and serious tunes that my other three current projects provide respectively (I’ll leave it to the reader to divine which project corresponds to which adjective ).

But for now, the room next door is full of noisy animators playing with their Wii and talking about colour-blindness, so I think that’s my cue to go and have lunch.

I arrived at work this morning to find my first ever esession request, along with a personal followup email from an esession manager to verify that I’d received it, as the deadline was fairly tight. I like that touch – it’s reassuring to know there are actual people on the other end. I replied to say thanks and to let them know that I was checking out the request immediately, and got a very quick response. Most impressive.

I must admit I’m a bit new to all of this online vocal malarkey, so I’ve taken a stab at a quote based on what I’ve been paid for vocal sessions locally. If we can reach an accord, I get 50% up front, then I’ve got the weekend to do the tracking, send it over to hit the radio-waves in the USA, and get paid the remainder.

Pretty cool

Hmm, well I tracked my Macbook problem to a bad RAM module. So I’m back up and running, albeit with only 1GB to play with.

It’s weird to imagine Apple computers using humdrum components like RAM… From their promotional material you’d get the impression that they ran on magic and rainbows and love.

Oh, and smug. Let’s not forget smug.

Holy frijole.

I really haven’t been a fan of Telstra, and now that Optus are expanding their 3G coverage in Tasmania I’ve been sorely tempted to switch back, and upgrade my handset in the process . The main thing that’s been stopping me is that I can’t get out of my Telstra contract without paying a hefty early termination fee.

But I’ve just done a look back over the last few months of my mobile bills, and I’ve gone about $40 over my plan on a regular basis. And that’s being careful. So I could have put my Telstra phone in a drawer, started a brand new Optus plan on top, and had the same out of pocket expenses with more call time available.

Of course I could also just make less phone calls…

I have had it up to here* with the construction next door. They seem to be removing the majority of the pub and replacing it with different pub, and the sound of power tools vibrating through the wall for the majority of the day is rather annoying. Sounds like angry whales crossed with a trip to the dentist.

And they’re apparently going to be doing it until Christmas!!!

Good thing I don’t work in a recording studio or anything.

Oh wait…

* – not an entirely successful turn of phrase without a visual referece, on reflection. Imagine me holding my hand up above my head and it works (marginally) better.

I’m trying to resist the urge to go out and by another Jasper Fforde novel. I’ve recently finished the penultimate (so far) in the Thursday Next series, and I’d love to keep going, but I’m mindful of the fact that once I’m done with it, that’s the last of the series for a good while. And that’ll make me sad.

Plus I probably shouldn’t be dropping $22.95 on a book when I still owe Corny some dollars, and while we’re looking to buy a house.

Which reminds me – we’re looking to buy a house

Quite possibly the most stupid decision in the world given the current financial situation, but then again the other 50% of the analysts seem to think it’s a very good time to be buying. So what can you do? I figure jump on board and then see which way it takes you. Wisdom’s easy in hindsight, and all that.

I mean what’s the worst that could happen?

I wielded a video camera in earnest for the first time in a little while last night. Hobart pub-rock artistes “17HZ” were launching their album at the Republic, and they had a few cameras in attendance to capture the event.

I managed to talk my way into shooting from side of stage, which was great fun – I’ve always preferred to go handheld rather than be lumbered with a tripod. So while my arms are a bit achy today as a result, I think I got plenty of cool shots, and I’m looking forward to seeing it all cut together.

The guys had gone to some trouble with the lights, bringing in a fair arsenal of bits & pieces to complement the Republic’s rather modest collection of hardware-shop coloured garden floodlights. Well, by complement I guess I mean entirely replace. It was no Pink Floyd show (unless we’re talking mid-60s perhaps) but it felt a bit more like a “real rock show”.

No pictures to show, alas, as I handed the tape straight over at gig’s end. but once it’s on youtube I’ll provide linkination.