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bodies cooling down
2003-03-11 11:51:02
Yep, progress. Not only did I arrange way more tracks than I thought I would be able to, I remade video #1 in three hours flat. Nift.
Riverblind news:
Stats on _Cairn Zoser_:
*Lyrics/texts written: 6 (of 9)
*Tracks arranged: 2 (of 14)
*Tracks recorded: 5 (of 59)
I still don't have any lyrics for those three songs that actually advance the plot, but I was able to get a bunch of drum and f/x tracks arranged/recorded last night. This is probably as far as I'm going to be able to go without doing "real" recording (with an axe and a mike as opposed to just digital synth work), because while I've got metronome markings for all these cuts, I don't know precisely how long they're going to turn out until I get the centerpiece track (usually vocals, sometimes guitar) in. Once that's done, I can build around that as necessary with other instruments and digital contrivances.
I'm probably going to set up the system for that and start recording tonight. The test case is probably going to be "Call of the Horns" since it's so damned simple; I should probably be able to record a couple takes, tune the gear, clean up the recording, and do a final mix in maybe an hour or two. Of course, the other reason is that I finally found my doomhorn. Now if only I could get a banjo to record the acousitc parts in "Ferns grow..."......
--Kai out
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attacked us in the night
2003-03-10 13:45:51
Video #70 is done and listed, though the database won't let me use the real title. I did a lot of pre-prod stuff over the weekend, but there wasn't that much progress on anything today, aside from shuffling the prod schedule a little bit and doing drum arrangements as necessary.
Random crap:
Rob (Suicidal Tendencies) Trujillo is in Metallica now and Aesgir (Borknagar) Mickelson has joined Testament. What the fucking hell, man? When are these bands going to get their shit together and pick people without other commitments?
Sword For Truth has got to be the second most skullbreakingly stupid anime feature ever made. It's like Megazone 23 (despite significantly less suck), except that there isn't a sequel (Megazone 23 had two), even though there's no resolution at all. If I wanted random plotless mutilation I'd just have dug out one of my Mortician CDs. Sword be praised I got this used.
Later observers will bear out the truth: Haibane Renmei was the best and most original anime produced in 2002. I can't wait until this gets brought over.
JC Staff should be prosecuted in Belgian courts for violation of the Geneva Convention on the production of debilitating weapons. The effects of the image of Chiyo-chan in the penguin suit from AzuDai ep 16 may not be as long-lasting as sarin or VX, but the image of thousands of soldiers in full combat gear, curled up on the battlefield in the fetal position going "KYAAA!!! TOO CUUUTE!!!" should put a chill down anyone's spine.
If you pretend to like any kind of aggressive music and don't own The Haunted's new CD _One Kill Wonder_, you are going to be found out and despised. Informed true ragers picked this CD up last week, but those more out of the loop should be diving for it as soon as they hear it's available in their area.
There should be some progress on various projects tomorrow. I need a schedule. Of course, I'm not expecting to do any work on the video (Hypocrisy's cover of Razor's "Evil invaders" set to Excel Saga), but I should be able to watch a bunch of eps and figure out which exacly I'm going to clip from. I should be able to arrange at least one drum track tonight as well.
--Kai out
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just don't feed on me
2003-03-07 13:16:08
"If you had used fewer effects, you'd be done by now." Not a billboard but the truth; video #70 is currently in the final-rendering process, having been drafted this morning. In that regard, I don't have Acid either, as a result of a snowstorm entirely more severe than expected passing through last night. There's always tomorrow -- provided I can drag my lazy got-back-on-the-train-at-2AM ass out of bed and over to Guitar Center by 11.
Club tonight should be cool; more Haibane Renmei is *always* cool. Plus ofcourse whatever I can nab on borrowings and from the Kid. No progress on _Cairn Zoser_, but I should be able to start recording early next week.
Current video: Kawashima Mirai, "Untitled 3" to Patlabor 2. Progress check: 99%. Expected catalog number: #70. There's going to be a little break while I record, mix, and master _Cairn Zoser_ and burn all the CDs for AniBo, and after that (say probably around the start of April), a bunch more videos.
Con news: the video lineup for the AniBo SH/KK distro CD has been mostly finalized: 'mardraum' and 'leave me cold' in MPEG2 and DivX, 'LinkinBread K' in DivX with intro, '~' (#70) in DivX with screener cards, and possibly 'e vol ve' in new remastered DivX (much better than the version on Hasshin! 2) if there's room. This will be a limited pressing of 100 CDs, but there'll probably be some left over after the con for those who aren't there.
--Kai out
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this night of destiny
2003-03-06 12:11:38
Very much "the art of balance". I do nothing on the album, but a lot of work on the video. Of course, it doesn't help _Cairn Zoser_ that the current vid is so near completion. I might even be able to do drafting tonight, but I'll probably be installing Acid or something and thus pushing that part off. Regardless, the video is more or less in final phase, and should be done by Monday.
Current video: Kawashima Mirai, "Untitled 3" to Patlabor 2. Progress check: 73%. Expected catalog number: #70. I've got 11 minutes to cut through, and I only need like 30 seconds to have 200% overage. I know that I can get at least that much. What's weird is that this is from a Patlabor movie, but I've got seriously like less than ten cuts of giant humanoid robots out of the 190 or so that I have so far, and most of them probably won't make it into the video. Mostly because this isn't a music video about giant robots, and also because Patlabor 2 isn't really about giant robots either. Practically all of the mecha action is in this 11-minute inclusion body that I still have to clip, and it's time-sharing with the deep, symbolic climax of the picture and the first couple seconds of the credit reel. This is not a bot-heavy flick we're talking here, which is probably why I dig it so much.
Gun otaku hits the firing line: the rifle the sniper in the helicopter uses to tag the blimp is a Barrett Model 82. That's gotta hurt, from a sitting position and in an enclosed space like that, both sound and recoil fury.
Riverblind news:
Stats on _Cairn Zoser_:
*Lyrics/texts written: 6 (of 9)
*Tracks arranged: 2 (of 14)
*Tracks recorded: 0 (of 58)
No progress from yesterday. However, I should be able to get Acid tonight, and start getting percussion tracks together. This kills a couple of birds with one $20-stone:
* I don't have to find a drumpad and a bunch of other sfx percussion to simulate a drumkit
* I don't have to do drum recording, which is a pain in the ass in the first place
* and lastly I don't have to spend extra time making 12 click-tracks 'by hand' (using a pair of drumsticks and a wav editor).
Still no clue how I'm going to cover the doomhorn bits accurately, but the messed-up-bugle idea is looking better all the time. It's only one track.
--Kai out
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live how you want
2003-03-05 12:02:16
One way or another things are proceeding on both fronts. I wish this could go on forever, but eventually I have to burn my distro CDs for AniBo, and after that, rearrange my comp gear to set up the recording environment. I'm probably going to end up sequencing most of the drum parts with Acid, since Guitar Center's basically giving it away for free this week, but I've got no idea what I'm going to do for a doomhorn. Maybe an old bugle with some hairy post-processing, but it's only going to be a poor substitute for the real deal.
Current video: Kawashima Mirai, "Untitled 3" to Patlabor 2. Progress check: 55%. Expected catalog number: #70. I've all but got 100% overage right now...something like 98.9% is what I'm at, after an incredibly rich outing on 17 minutes of source. Also, this includes the two sequences I'm going to be relying on most heavily, so I could probably do the video right now....if I wanted it to come out forced and suboptimal.
Riverblind news:
Stats on _Cairn Zoser_:
*Lyrics/texts written: 6 (of 9)
*Tracks arranged: 2 (of 14)
*Tracks recorded: 0 (of 58)
I'm moving along pretty well, but I'm still really concerned, because of *which* tracks have lyrics, and which don't. This is kind of a concept album, and unfortunately, among the three tracks that really advance the 'plot', such as it is, "Citadel", "War", and "The Iron Screw", *none* of them have any lyrics yet. The problem is that for most parts of all of these, the vocals have to be clean and majestic without being pompous and stupid. Writing lyrics to allow this is tough, especially since the other clean parts on the album have a strong Primordial influence, and that's a hell of a standard to live up to.
Somehow, I'll get this done, then start writing non-acoustic parts and recording stuff.
--Kai out
JOURNAL: Kai Stromler (Kai Stromler)
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