New Clips in the Fan Club

I have posted four new clips in the Fan Club. Some of them are almost full songs but require some additional production work to be completed before 'official' release.

"Solitude - An introduction with potential to morph into a full fledged Orbital-esque track with a lot of ambient power behind it. The synth was custom made in Reason from a bare-bones Subtractor.

We Move Together - A tech-house track that I'm really digging. The sound is very light and groovy with some indie flare to it (imo). Drum work, EQ, additional details and some progressive work needs to be completed before it is release worthy.

This Desert Soul - Trancey, and not sure if I'm completely behind this one but the potential is there.

House Start 1 - A song I was working on with vocals in mind. I passed this version to Jacqui Johnson to see if she would like to record with it. She said yes, so we will see what comes back and where it ends up. "

Enjoy!

Sliptide Fan Club (A Google Group).

City Shadows coming to iTunes!

It's official, folks.

City Shadows (volume 1) is coming to iTunes! Unfortunately due to they way iTunes processes their music, I won't know the exact date that my album is available online. As soon as I know I will be making posts here, the new Sliptide.com (coming out shortly), and of course make it known on Facebook, Twitter, etc. ;)

Things have been great since my last post. I have had the opportunity to take some vacation. I had an incredible week off filled with birthday fun for both Amy and I. Work has been pretty chill while being able to accomplish some major milestones and goals.

Life is grood right now. I will make a more formidable blog post soon!

The 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk

First and foremost: Thank you to my friends, family, co-workers, teammates (GO HOTTIES!), and perfect strangers who supported Amelia and I in our fund raising efforts. Even more thanks to everyone who showed support in cheering us on in training and through the 3-Day event itself.

Amy and I woke up incredibly early-- 4:00 AM, to ensure that we were dressed and ready to take our Green Cab to Bellevue Community College.

I would like to breifly state that our experience with Green Cab was a positive one: The driver was polite and helpful, readily admitted to needing some help back to the highway (Kenmore isn't easy to navigate if you aren't familiar with it), and the car was clean and quiet.. We will be taking a Green Cab to the airport next month ;)

We arrived to the event pretty early. The view from the cab was already exciting! We saw an incredible amount of pink colored banners and advertising. Early bird walkers talking, cheering, stretching, keeping warm with espresso and coffee, some eating on-the-go breakfast, some doing last minute pack or bag adjustments. All be it 5 AM, everyone seemed to exude a positive attitude.

Loading our gear onto our gear truck was a breeze. I'm not sure how many there were, but it could have been 24 or more Budget rental trucks that lined one of the walk ways off to our left. Each one clearly lettered so we knew where to drop our bags that contained our camping gear and extra supplies for the next three days.

We turned around and took in the view of the stage and the holding area where opening ceremonies were going to begin. It was already a sight to behold! Luckily, Amy and I both zoomed in on a small Starbucks logo that was near the holding area. We walked our happy butts over to this poor Starbucks van and 4 barristas that were going to be supplying free coffee for the entire crowd of ~3,500 people! Thankfully Amy and I were some of the first in line and we got our free tall drip house blend which kept us warm and infused a bit of energy in our step for the morning (we are chronic espresso drinkers.. and we will drink coffee at home when we don't feel like spending money or time on espresso out).

When it all got under way we meandered through the Bellevue Community College campus, and the three days of walking ensued.

Highlights of my journey:

• People were of all varieties when it came down to personality, politeness, and positive or negative mind sets. We experienced a lot of positive, upbeat and talkative individuals along our routes. Amy and I generally walked faster than majority of the people at the 3-Day, so it was fun passing people on the left and asking them how their day was going, finding out more about them if they were really chatty, and sharing experiences with our fellow walkers along the way.
  
  We *did* encounter negative people. Most of them were pretty rude in trying to pass us on the route (w/out saying "on your left!"), or were fairly rude when we attempted to talk or pass them ourselves. Such is life! I hope they had an overall positive experience at least.
• Camping was quite an experience. A sea of pink tents at Marymoor park, the mobile showers (which upon my first shower didn't work.. the generator was out of gas!), the giant big-top tent in which we sat and ate, joked, saw some incredible (-ly good and bad) karaoke.. and a decent nights rest after a full day of walking. It was comfy enough, though if we do this again we know that it gets COOOOLD at night and in the AM when you are trying to get ready to go.
• At the end of Day #1, I had some nasty looking blisters on my pinky toes. The medical tent (which was uber busy during the whole event) had to lance, drain, and bandage my toes. They said to try walking on day 2. Day 2 was uncomfortable from the get go. My toes were hot, and I could feel the rubbing even in my bandages. We got about 7 or so miles in, and my feet were KILLING me. It felt so hot out along the Snohomish river.. and I decided that I had to call it for the morning. We took a shuttle to lunch, and during lunch I aired out my feet-- it was pretty bad =T I tried to put my shoes back on and walk across to Walgreens from Juanita Park.. no go. My feet were done for the day. Amy was with me 100%, so we took a shuttle back to camp to spend the rest of the afternoon cheering on the walkers making it back to camp. *That* was a lot of fun and very motivational/inspirational.
• Day 3 started early early with taking our tent down, packing our stuff, dropping our equipment at the equipment truck, then getting a quick breakfast and hopping in line to catch a bus to downtown Seattle. When we arrived at the JAPANESE GARDENS (*not* the Arboretum as they kept telling us), we proceeded to do a very familiar path for the day that eventually dropped us downtown. The day was moving quick. My feet were doing well as long as we didn't stop *too* long. Unfortunately we ended up VERY far ahead of most of the Hotties, and it was hot enough (and lack of shade--) at the last checkpoint that we decided to press on. Again, we stayed at the very last steps to the end of the walk to cheer on everyone until our team arrived and we could all walk in together being cheered on by the public.

So that's the extremely condensed version.. anyone is welcomed to talk to me about the whole experience! It was a lot of fun.

Here is a link to one of our teammate's (Hottie Courtney) Picasa Albums. I have yet to get the small amount of pictures and videos off of my camera.

An Update to Talk About Future Updates

My mind is a bit hazy right now. It's 8:30 and the day is nearly over, but I'm left wondering where the hell it went!

I didn't get half of the things done today I should have, not to mention I forgot to call a best friend today. While I blame the insurmountable amount of tiredness, trying to take care of a few chores to get ready for the work week-- ah forget it.. I dropped the ball (sorry Jessica!!)

I even forgot to 'relax'. I'll take it where I can get it I suppose. Here is a list of things I have to blog about (this is my own check list.. might as well put it here, right?):

-The 3-Day experience
-Weekly Shenanigans (happy hour fun)
-City Shadows and Well of Souls progress

I also need to upload pictures from the past month or so (at least I did the ones from Rainier).

Tomorrow brings me to the Redmond Campus for some monitoring tools and analysis training. I've heard this class is awesome, so I'm looking forward to see what Microsoft can offer in the way of providing me with some new approaches to analyzing data. *nerd alert!*

I don't think it will be as cool as taking some of the CA Wily Introscope classes, but it's all goooood.

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday I will be participating in the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk!

Amy and I have just about reached our fund raising goals, and we couldn't have done it without the support of our friends, family, and the Warming Hut Hotties!!!!

Tonight Amy and I are going to a team dinner in the U-District, then heading home to finish packing. We have to get to sleep really early since we need to be up at the plumber's-butt-crack of dawn to take a cab to Bellevue Community College by 5:30 AM.

I'm excited (and somewhat anxious) for this event to finally be taking place. It was such a huge commitment, but we didn't realize just how huge until we began the training walks, the fund raising, the application of blister band-aids, the shoe shopping, the sock finding. Walking, by my quick count, over 300 miles in total, and raising $4,400 for the advancement of breast cancer research and awareness certainly gives one a good feeling ;)

I know my feet are going to struggle with the walking this weekend. The lack of arches (yes, I am uber-flat footed) don't lend themselves to an easy time walking long distances over urban terrain (yet I can hike all day on a mountain trail!). This will be a big challenge for me to pick my feet up on day 3 (though I know I will be in a bit of pain by the end of day 1, and probably some serious torment by day 2) and keep going to the very end. I won't over do it, of course, as nobody wants to seriously injure themselves on such a positive event like this.

Thanks to everyone who donated, showed interest in the event, and has given Amy and I the support to continue forward through this amazing journey. We couldn't have done it without every single person being there for us along the way.

A Quick Update

Let's see.. what did I leave out of my last post?

Bumbershoot: was pretty cool.

Amy and I were really tired from hiking Mt. Rainier on Friday, and doing a Hottie training walk on Saturday. Sunday we went to Bumbershoot to see what it's all about (we have never been). It wasn't bad! We met Amy's friend there and hung out drinking some beer in one of the many beer gardens (with a very limited selection).

I will cut to the chase: The most noteworthy performance we saw before we took off early (from exhaustion) was the KEXP Larry's Lounge (an on-site recording studio) presentation of Sons & Daughters. It was an incredible opportunity to see them play on a stage outfitted for live radio-- and listen to them in this incredibly intimate and audiophile-sound-quality setting. A real gem, and made Bumbershoot worth the trip!

Sadly, no, we did not stay to see Stone Temple Pilots that night. I heard mixed reviews of the show in that it was 'good' because they played a lot of their hits, but 'meh' as in there wasn't the energy or emotion as expected. A seemingly true STP fan did tell me that the show was way worth price of admission to get the nostalgia and hear some great alt rock classics.
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Next on the list:

This past weekend we had a team picnic. The Warming Hut Hotties have been an incredible team to train with this year. Their benevolence, support, and incredibly positive spirit has helped Amy and I make it through to the final event. I will make a separate post about the 3-Day, which is taking place this weekend.

Work: I had to work this last weekend. That meant some video games, house chores, and thinking about other things I would have rather been doing.

I have plenty of work to keep me busy once the 3-Day is over. Between my IT career and my plans to bring my music hobby to the forefront of my everyday life: This fall and winter is going to be extremely busy (yet very gratifying).

We have a few trips planned for in-state and out of state. We will be going to Boston and California, Long Beach and a few more trips to mountains for hiking, as well as another trip to Portland.

Now that I think about it.. I need to book some flights.

Mt. Rainier Day Hike

Friday brought a day off for both Amy and me. We decided that, having been so darned busy and caught up with stuff in life this year, that we would take a day for us and head up to Mt. Rainier.

It is a place we've found that we love very much. We had a total blast up there on Friday. We took our sweet time hiking from Paradise Visitor's Center (via Dead Horse Creek Trail), up through the High Skyline Trail, and back down through the meadows around to the new Paradise Lodge.

The first time we went up last season, we spent the entire first 2/3 of our hike in cloud cover. I'm not talking about overhead, so much as I am clouds were all over the mountain, with 10 foot visibility!

Amy and I had wanted the same experience sooner, rather than later. Our desires were met with an experience that far exceeded our expectations.

We were greeted by some chilly weather and a mountain blanketed by clouds. Our hike up was incredible. There were water droplets perfectly gathered on leaves, blades of grass, flower petals; we could see far enough to enjoy the immense amount of greenery, yet not far enough to see the distant views from the trails.

The deer were out in full force. They were taking advantage of the dense clouds, half paying attention to the passers by as they munched on grass and flowers together. Some were only 30 feet away!

Marmots.. god I love those little guys. We learned what a Marmot whistle sounds like-- we mistook it for bear whistles. They were rustling around several areas we hiked in. We watched them from 20-50 feet away, eating flower heads and scurrying around (more like fast-waddling I suppose). At one point, we nearly found ourselves in a minor altercation with one that was feeling a little threatened! He took off after giving us a few good sniffs about 4 feet away.

The best part of it all was the show we experienced on our descent. There is an incredible look-out point with a rock bench along the trail. On a clear day you can see Paradise Lodge, an off-center view of the Nisqually Valley, and some incredible mountains off to your left that have snow patches on them year-round.

Since it was cloudy, we saw an amazing show of blowing clouds straight up the cliff side into, through, and over us. The sun popped out in amazing holes of pristine blue sky only to be quickly gobbled up by another cloud. It was intense when we saw a clear view from the vantage point, then watched as clouds miles away blew in low to the ground, through the trees and consumed everything in their path. They climbed the mountain right up to us and blocked our view; moving the cieiling and visibility to about 20 feet!

I posted a few of the pictures on Picasa! I also have a few awesome videos but those will have to be edited and posted later.

Great times!

Silver Standard - "Memorial Lapse"

Jeff came over a few weeks ago with an incredible start to a song. Glitchy drums, some slow and haunting piano notes and chords, and a great plucked sequence that really presented some emotion.

We worked to add some more ambience, pads, crunchy background noises and a bit more drum work-- and now you have "Memorial Lapse" to listen to!

Check it out!

For you Facebook people

For you MySpace people

For the Cure 2008 - Limited Edition Hard Copies!!!

"For the Cure 2008" limited edition hard copies are now available!!! There are only 50!!

There are two ways to get a "For the Cure 2008" limited edition print CD. The price is a $15 *MINIMUM* (more is always appreciated for my hard work and dedication!) to my 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk fundraising goal:

1) MAIL ORDER: Join the FAN CLUB (Sliptide's Google Group) and check out the instructions for ordering a CD! You will make the minimum donation of $15, then email me your shipping info-- I pay for shipping, and you have a snazzy CD! (Your information is kept private. See the bottom of this post for more info).

2) IN PERSON DELIVERY: This applies to the local community, my friends and family, co-workers, etc. You must see me in person to buy and/or pick up the CD(s).

Either donate online beforehand and I will reserve a copy for you to hand-deliver (it is your responsibility to contact me and let me know you made a donation for a CD), or have cash or check available on hand when you pick up a copy (I will not reserve copies for cash/check). I will be carrying the discs with me everywhere I go, so just ask!
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Q: Where can I listen to samples?
A: The best place right now is to check out http://www.myspace.com/sliptide - The album is available via SNOCAP, however:

Q: Why buy the CD?
A: 100% of the proceeds go towards my fundraising goal! If you buy the digital copy found on http://www.myspace.com/sliptide via SNOCAP, only $7 of the $10 price (or 70% of each song) is able to be donated to my cause.
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This means you either see me in person to buy a CD, or you join the fan club to mail order a CD.

The reason I have chosen to use the fan club as a venue for ordering the CDs is it enables the most privacy for each person who orders. I will be the ONLY one to have your shipping information, the group is approved members only-- your email address is safe in the community-- and I treat everyone with the utmost privacy and respect (no spam, I don't sell your info, etc.).

If you have any questions or concerns get a hold of me by the usual means, or leave comments on this post!

Thank you all!

Silver Standard

Here it is everyone! Jeff and I have brought our collaborative efforts to the public. You can now find Silver Standard music at any of the links below.

The music is down-tempo at its core, with plenty of ambient textures, a bit of guitar, and future releases with a healthy dose of spoken word and vocals.

Check us out, and keep up to date with our releases. Add us on MySpace, Facebook, or iLike, and be on the look out for a website proper!

Silver Standard on MySpace

Silver Standard on Facebook

Silver Standard on iLike

For the Cure 2008

The pricing of my benefit album has been updated! You may now purchase individual songs at $1.50 each, or the entire digital download for $9.99. Remember that all proceeds go to my 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk fund raising goal of $2,200!!

Hard copies of the album (with full color on-disc label) are on order and will retail for $15.00. They will be made available online to fan club members ONLY. Otherwise, you must purchase them from me in person.

A Solid Week

50 hard copies of "For the Cure 2008" will be arriving early to mid August. They will be available for purchase from me in person, or from fan club members who express interest in purchasing a hard copy by responding to the message I post when the discs arrive. The cost is still $10 for the disc with a full color printed label and my 3-Day Walker business card (so you know where to go to donate more to the cause ;D ); both in a paper-sleeve.

I took last week off from my day job. It was hard to get into the swing of NOT going to work, thinking about work, doing work, etc. Towards the end of my week I was finally getting in the groove of relaxation and comfort-- but now I must head back to the grind to earn my dollars, 'eh?

A lot of hanging out & relaxation was the bill for last week. I worked on music just about every day and a few great things came out of it. I also enjoyed having the time on hand to do some serious cooking. I'm a big fan of food, and I enjoy the hell out of cooking a mean salmon feast, some incredible hamburgers (that beat the pants off of the crap you get at Red Robin.. psh!), and breakfast... oh my god I love breakfast.

The track list for "Well of Souls" is now complete. At this point I must re-visit each track for final EQ'ing and mix down! Wahoo! No date is set (yet) for release.

Jeff & I finished a song last night as well. Only a few things to wrap up on 2 others and we will be launching our project to the internet.

Good times!

Inching Closer!

"City Shadows volume 1" update
A few things bothered me about the last attempt at a mix-down of the album. I need to do another pass to clean up a few of the low-end issues. I've noticed that, while the JBL JL-100's I use for producing provide a unique result-- it's hard to nail the low-end w/out it being entirely over-powering on high-end systems... I see some studio monitors in my near future.


"Well of Souls" update
The track list is now up to 10 songs. I'm very close to wrapping up these 10. One or two more songs will make it into the album before the project is final and ready for release. With the artwork complete, the last step will be some press materials for the kits and advertising. A limited short-run of the CD will also be available via CD-Baby as well! No ETA at this point-- I hope to have an idea of a release date soon!


The future of my music
The big three items on my plate after the above two are complete are (in no particular order) 1) The "Jeff & Sean" project, of which we have a few pieces in the works. 2) Working with artist Jacqui Johnson on some electro-indie and dance tunes. 3) More Sliptide original tracks, with a foray into trip-hop and dance tracks with full vocals!

I am working towards expanding my arsenal of audiological weapons. A new midi keyboard, perhaps another knob or slider board, a new rig (mac, anyone?), and an entire custom programmed Ableton Live! set to meld my instruments with live performances.

Remastering Tracks

After reviewing some of the older tracks (older being from January and before)-- I have made adjustments to ones that I have posted online already.

The biggest changes came from re-calibrating my studio speakers such that I can clearly hear the over-powering of bass notes in my music. I had noticed that "A Midnight Cab Ride" was particularly crowded in that low range.. the song is now fixed and WAY more appropriate for big bass systems (read: car audio).

I also tweaked "Talking Circles" to separate the bass drum from the droning bass I used. Much cleaner sounding. The updated versions of these songs won't hit the 'net until the next series of 'album' releases go forward or I post singles into SNOCAP.
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As a test, I uploaded "City Shadows vol.1" into SNOCAP, only to find that one of my songs, "Calm Control" came back as being in dispute with other artists. After I did some digging around, I found that it is because of the copyright-free sample I used in the song. The organ licks were modified samples that I used during my foray into down-tempo music-- where I had used samples of speech, instruments and ambient noise to augment my original beats, keyboard, and sound synthesis. This sample appears in a few other songs registered on SNOCAP.

Essentially, I have confirmed my suspicions in that my legitimate album attempts will be put forth on CD-Baby or TuneCore, while SNOCAP will be reserved for special singles, 1-offs, B-Sides, rarities, etc.

Good times.

Torch (vox free) & "slow going" clips on the Fan Club

I have posted 2 new clips on the Sliptide Fan Club (Google Group). Sign up and check 'em out!

Insert Dreary Introspective Title Here

This week has been fairly drab for most things concerning my job. I continually look forward to quitting time at the office so I can go home to hang out with Amy, maybe work on some music, fund raising, or other projects, or even go out to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having. Just the other day Amy and I had a great time walking to St. Edwards Park and hiking around in there for a few hours round-trip.

The nerd in me was excited to see the entire Sun Java training suite arrive to the office. I am still interested in furthering my knowledge and education in programming (but I most certainly do NOT want to be a full time paid programmer).

The funny thing is: the more-than-three-thousand dollars we spent on the suite wasn't truly *worth* it. The package is an in-house print job on crappy paper with what looks like a recycled CD/DVD multi-volume case. The discs themselves are CD-ROMs that, when flipped over, reveal green-back burned copies. C'mon.. I know we're paying for the content on the discs, but couldn't we at least have something that looks a bit more official?

Project work is going to finally take off-- it is a bit late in the season to really be starting on some of the massive things I am working on, but such is life. Between legal working out details on contracts with vendors, to senior management dragging their feet or thinking they are giving constructive feedback/suggestions: it has been a pain of a season so far. T-Minus 5 months to retail season... -_-


Enough about work.. I rarely talk about it here and I prefer to keep it that way!

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I made incredible headway on, what I think is, an incredible track. I managed to sit down, assemble my instruments, do some programming, and write lyrics out along with my composition. The pairing is awesome. The song is very dark yet contains a beat with some great momentum to it. If I had to pick something the song sounded like: "Massive Attack" is the most appropriate label.

A sample will undoubtedly be posted to the Sliptide Fan Club. I hope to do that this weekend.

When I had finished writing and composing, I tried my hand at recording the vocals. After 8 takes I came *close* to what I had envisioned for the song, but I have much practice to do to improve my singing ability. I have discovered that I am capable, but having zero experience singing means that you can hear a lot of terrible mistakes. I'm not aiming to be a professional, glossy, studio quality vocalist here-- but I definitely want to be presentable, enjoyable, and be able to capture the emotion and instill a level of pathos in my music.
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City Shadows vol.1 is another step closer to being released online. Another pass at mixing should nab some of the oversights I made on the previous attempt (very minor things).

Well of Souls still needs 2 tracks. There are several candidates (starts to projects) that may bloom into full fledged additions to the album. "Eloquence" was the last full song to be added, for a track total of nine (goal is 11-12, since there is at least 1 "intro" track of < 2 minutes).

Alrighty, I should be productive for the jobby job today. I'm leaving early to head out to the company picnic then heading back over to Seattle for a SAM volunteer appreciation event. Wee! Busy day!

One Tank of Gas for a Whole Month

I was eating lunch today and surfing around on news websites, and Komo4 happened to have an interesting segment on one of their producers who had decided to try and only use 1 tank of gas for an entire month.

You can watch the video right here.

It is a great idea and I know that there are plenty of people capable of doing what she did, however, they kinda gloss over the fact that she used public transportation (cabs, busses) and at one point was using a boat to go scuba diving.

I won't be a complete anti-anti and say that her efforts aren't awesome: The bottom line is her personal transportation was that of bicycles, or other methods that increase the "people per vehicle" ratio.

She saved quite a bit of cash, is a little more in shape (biking everywhere, especially downtown Seattle, isn't exactly easy ;P ), and it probably gives her a positive spin on her ego and personal well being.

It certainly makes me think about my biking to work options and using buses a lot more. I love my Toyota Tacoma and VW Jetta a great deal.. but the money spent on gas alone is enough to sway my habits.

Quick blurb: added pictures to Picasa

I had some extra time on my hands this morning so I added some pictures to Picasa (I'm way overdue). I also added my Picasa link back to the side bar of my blog. Flikr just doesn't do it for me with personal albums-- I will use it more for "artsy" stuff.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sean.armstrong

Moving Forward

Jeff and I made progress on our third song last night. At this point we have 2 that are ready to have the vocals applied to them while the third song will be an instrumental of sorts. I'm really hoping we can get our little EP out to everyone this summer! We still have work to do beyond the music in taking photos for our press kit and setting up MySpace and all that stuff.
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I've been driving around to an mp3 disc in my truck that consists of a bunch of house music, which is always a favorite of mine during the summer. I remember long ago when I had heard some of my favorite mixes and albums (Silicon Soul, Miguel Migs [<3 Lisa Shaw!], Ian Pooley with his Brazilian influence..) which really affected how I think about electronic music. I certainly take from a cross section of the genre and apply it into my down-tempo styles quite a bit. It really makes me wonder about the next iteration of City Shadows and the direction I may take it.
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I'm off to clean up some data in my directory. Go Go Gadget LDAP!!!

Calm Control

I awoke today feeling well rested and calm. It's grey and spitting rain outside, typical of those random foul weather days in the Northwest "summer" (all be it a bit more chilly than we are used to this season).

During the activities of getting gas (just shy of $70 for a full tank in my Tacoma), then picking up a white chocolate mocha from Starbucks, I realized I had gained the calm control feeling that I've been striving to find for awhile now.

Life is crazy. Between a full time day job, managing relationships with friends and family, "extra curricular" activities... how is there time left over for personal projects, music, and general screwing around?

Making time for your top priorities in life is the only way you will truly accomplish anything. You must commit to delivering on your own personal expectations in order to meet your goals.

I have entirely too many hands in too many pots for music right now. Across the spectrum I have projects open in trip-hop, down tempo, trance, dance, indie, and folk. It's not that I need to cut any of these away from my time, no. Instead, I need to be focusing my personal time in music on the projects at hand and finish them off 1 by 1. I'm back-logged!

First order of business: "City Shadows vol.1"
-Expect to see this project appear on SNOCAP first, with the iTunes version coming out later this year. I have notes surrounding the final touches on the re-mastering. After that it will be ready for release!

Secondly: "Well of Souls"
-The project still needs 2 or 3 more songs to round out the track list. Work will begin on these finals songs when item 1 is complete.

After that, I am thinking about releasing a collection of songs that never made it to an 'album' release.

Lush
Lady Gray
Desensitize
Another Side
Pill Bottle
She Saves

Those are some of the tracks that should see release on SNOCAP. A sort of "look back" over the past few years of my producing.

I also have a few starts to songs (that took place shortly after I completed "Grace" back in February) that fit into a darker vein. Trip-hop, almost Massive Attack-like in nature, I'm not sure where I am ultimately going with that sound. I will complete the open songs I have (lyrics included!) and release them perhaps as an EP.

Oi.. so much to do!
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Jeff is coming over today and we will be working on our project. I hope that in the next month or so we will be ready to announce the title of our project and have three full fledged songs available for download.. for free!!
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Discontinuity of Time

I'm sitting here going through some of my mp3s (of Sliptide music) that I keep with me on my work computer for review. I often listen to my own music to help with inspiration and ideas for new tracks to fit with a somewhat congruent collection of songs (i.e. collections that make up my albums "City Shadows", "Well of Souls", etc..)

Unfortunately, I have a large number of songs that are a mish-mash collection of electronic genres that are different in sound. What I mean to say is: Let's say I started a few songs in November of 2005 that are all related to each other in style and presentation (and for that matter: production value/style). If I drop the ideas and projects and do not keep the momentum, chances are good that I will not find the groove again and the songs I attempt to make will have a different feel to them.

Case in point: I am working on finishing out the track list for "Well of Souls". The original list of tracks is composed of those that were available at the start of this year ("On Approach", "Striking the Ocean", etc..). The album is moving along nicely, but I need about 3 more tracks to complete before I am comfortable delivering it to the public.

While I listen to the set of songs I have now just about every day, when I sit down to compose I end up in a different land full of trip-hop and subdued textures akin to the recent "Aces High" and "Envisioning the West" tracks (clips on the fan club).

I blame it on a few things. I haven't been as religious about weekly studio time as I should be. This is the more "accountable" side of me stepping in. I fully own up to the fact that I have been lazy about it recently. Between work and balancing personal life it can be hard to want to make the time for music.

Secondly, I feel that I am pulled in various directions for music. The songs on "Well of Souls" are very textured, darker in tone and style, and take from some of my thoughts and feelings about life in general. I seem to do well with painting the aural landscape with the various colors of my mind, yet the deep-thinking area of my brain is at war with his loud neighbor: the pop-infused, move-the-crowd, dance-music-juggernaut: I miss making trance and house music like crazy and it has always been a dream to make the back-2-basics sounds that really spurred my love of electronic music.

What do I do?

I know what I must do. 1 (maybe 2) personal projects at a time. "Well of Souls" will be next out of the door (aside from the remastered "City Shadows vol.1"). I do have one song almost done for it. Two to three more and the project should be complete!

Back to my day job. It is 9:30 AM and nobody is in the office again. -_-

Well of Souls Concept Art On Display

Nick (Nicholas Cristo) linked me to some snaps from his phone: the concept art and demo product package for "Well of Souls" (a scheduled self-released album later this year for which Nick is designing the artwork and disc package) is on display at Cal State San Bernardino.

Check out the link below to his Picasa album!

Wall Spot

Well of Souls - Interior art, front and back cover single sheets, disc art, and design brief

Well of Souls - Exterior art, fabricated posterboard case, and poster

3-Day Training Walk & Joining a Team

This past weekend, Amy and I went on a training walk for the 3-Day event. It was a 9 mile hike from Greenlake, through Wallingford and then down around the south of Lake Union. We followed the planned route up through Fremont then ended back up at Greenlake. It was a lot of fun and ho-boy did it show us that we need to get in the habit of doing these walks every week. Walking 10 miles definitely starts to put some stress on the hips (and a little on the feet). I can't imagine walking 20 miles a day for three days in a row right now!

We also have decided to join the team that hosts these particular training walks every weekend (on both Saturday AND Sunday!). I will post information and a link to the team we join when I take the time to sign up (I'm at work, and I keep forgetting my 3-Day badge that has one of the captain's business cards in it).

This team is serious business to with some sharp minds and TONS of experience with the 3-Day event and fund raising. We were talking with the team leader/head captain at the beginning of our walk and I feel a bit more confident about meeting the $2,200 goal with the support of others involved in the 3-Day community. I have a few plans of my own to get Amy and I started on the right foot. September isn't that far off!

I will be pushing the benefit album and a few other pieces of music I plan on releasing to SNOCAP for benefit sales. Expect some new tunes!

Jeff and I will be announcing a project of ours to the public in the form of building our online presence (MySpace, Facebook, iLike, Garageband, etc.)

That's all for now.

For the Cure 2008 - Released!

From now until mid September, you can pick up an online copy of "For the Cure 2008".

The album contains several new tracks and a few previously released ones. You can hear an additional clip of "Grace", and future clips when I have time to upload them to MySpace.

This year I will be participating in the Seattle Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk, benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure. I must raise at least $2,200 USD in order to participate in the walk. This money goes towards funding for research in the battle against breast cancer.

In my efforts to meet my fund raising goal of $2,200 I have released this benefit album. All profits I make from this album will go twards my fundraising goal for the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk. You can see my progress, or make additional donations by viewing my personal 3-Day Walk page.

I will be making regular updates to my blog, and will start a list/stats widget that will track the progress of benefit album sales. You may also see top contributors on my 3-Day Walk page.

This Weekend

I am determined to get this effing thing out the door considering it will only be available until September. There are two tracks that need some fine tuning and then I can get the SNOCAP store set up properly to make the music available for purchase... I hope it all is able to go up this weekend.
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I've been in Sun Directory Server 6.0 training this week. I have learned a LOT about the product which will help me in my duties at work. I'm glad today is the last day of training though because my mind is a bit mushy trying to fit all of the information into my head and then go back to dealing with the every day drudgery of work.

That's all I have for an update right now. I will make a more formidable post over the weekend.

SNOCAP, argh!

SNOCAP is pissing me off. Apparently there is a problem with they way they handle their customer and artist accounts. I'm still unable to post my music since I was required to re-sign up my email address as a customer to purchase music. Argh! They do NOT respond to their technical help questions. I sure hope being purchased by iMeem does something for their customer service (it can't get any worse, right?).

I may have to suck it up and put this one on Tunecore.. though that will cost me a bit of coin I wasn't wanting to put forth since it is a limited release album. I may have to sign up under a different email address.. mmm.. yes.. maybe that will work.

Jeff and I made a very interesting song this past weekend that really got us thinking about the type of music we would like to create. Expect some good energetic tunes to be coming your way, infused with plenty of groove to match the crunchy guitar and wall-of-sound ideals that we want to capture.

I have yet to start some of the final tracks for "Well of Souls". Once I get this SNOCAP crap figured out and get "City Shadows vol.1" and "For the Cure 2008" online, I will be able to dedicate the time to the last few songs on "Well of Souls".
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I gave in to the dark side and purchased an Xbox 360 last week. The only game I purchased with it was GTA IV. I have since been re-addicted to the glory of high quality console gaming, and I LOVE it! I have been missing out on an incredible experience with Xbox LIVE and the nifty multi-media features of the Xbox 360.

I'm planning on seeing if there is any software out there to let my Xbox talk to a non-Windows Media Center PC. The opportunity to stream movies and music like I used to with my old modded Xbox is entirely too appealing-- especially with the slick interface that reminds me a lot of the Xbox Media Center.

Now I'm looking forward to picking up a slew of games for the Xbox 360 this year, as well as playing a few of the hits I missed as my gracious friends Matt and Jeff are going to let me play through some of their games (Bioshock, w00t!).
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Amy comes back tonight from being in Massachusetts for the weekend. She went to see her Grandparents and her Mom & Dad. I don't like it when either of us travel apart, but I do look forward to the stories she undoubtedly has to tell (we have amazing luck when traveling to have some interesting things to tell about when it is all said and done).

I hope you all are enjoying the spring season. The weather up here has been sketchy at best and it has been hard to get out and enjoy nature. I'm itching to get the hiking season under way, but we don't own a lot of the bad weather gear. Hopefully soon we can do some of the lowland trails out there.

Pz everybody. Oh, and you can see my gamer tag has been added as a gadget on the right. See you online!

Almost There

I did a first pass on the benefit album. After a listen this morning, I have a few adjustments to make and it should be ready for upload and sale via my SNOCAP store.

City Shadows vol.1 is almost ready to be finalized and ready for sale. It will be distributed to iTunes and Rhapsody online.

Well of Souls is the name of the new album that will be out early summer. It will contain the tracks that were previously available for listening on iLike/Garageband and a few new ones. Album artwork by Nicholas Cristo is in the works. Samples of the album art can be seen in the fan club!

"Streets of Eugene" by Will Foster

Will Foster has published his first book! It is currently for sale over at Blurb:

"Streets of Eugene"

"Why Eugene?" you ask? This is Will's hometown, and anyone familiar with the Northwest has probably been to Eugene at one point or another. The book is not a simple collection 'pictures' for locals to the city, but a fantastic collection of beautiful photography worthy of any collection.

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“Streets of Eugene” is the first photo book released by artistic photographer Will Foster. Born and raised in Eugene, Will has grown up and experienced the city and surrounding areas for the majority of his life.

This book features 52 pages of full page photographs of Eugene, Oregon and feature a couple different focus areas of Eugene, such as: North Eugene, West Eugene, Whittaker District, and Downtown. These photos were captured using a Nikon D300 utilizing both the 50mm f/1.4 and 18-200mm VR lenses."
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So check it out. It is available in both hard cover and soft cover.

Wednesday Session

Last night was my scheduled home studio time at night (from about 8pm to midnight). Again I found myself filling out my knowledge of Ableton Live!

I have been wondering about different approaches to using Live! for performances of my music (mostly the dance music) and how to best configure the layout, effects, and arrangement. After some digging around on Google and tinkering with my own creations, I have discovered there are some requirements of my own that don't necessarily fit the mold for wanting to use Live! as a venue for my music.

While I could use audio samples of the instruments I use in Reason, I don't like the idea of having my instrument packages (combinators and the like) set up such that the depth and ambiance of effects and expression are lost to hard starts and stops of samples. I haven't looked at Live! enough to know if I can have loop sections within an audio clip and then have the natural release of notes at the end of the sample play after it stops (i.e. if I have a Rhodes organ with a delay or reverb in Reason, I want the natural release of the instrument and all effects to taper off as they should-- instead of instantly stopping all sound at the end of the sample).

So unless Live! has this feature, I would have to set up MIDI clips for each of the instruments I use from the Reason rack. It makes for a very crowded looking Live! arrangement, but if I add in a "song" separator for each of the packages I put together for a song-- I can more easily set up the next song to start mixing into. HMMMmmmm.. I definitely have some tinkering to do.

Ableton Live! Set

In my quest to learn more about taking music to live audiences, I began an Ableton Live! set that is tailored just for that.

I intend on writing a slew of new dance tracks (from house to trance) predominately inside a single Ableton Live! set. This will allow me to take the package and easily perform it live! It was exciting to piece together some of the routing and standard effects. There is already a solid beat and some supporting instruments going for a cool dance sound-- and you bet your ass I'm using my Rhodes skills for some chilled loops ;D

I have had a Waveidea Bitstream PRO for a few years now and I will finally be taking advantage of the entire board. Each knob and fader and button will do *something*. Since the board does not have any mechanical automation for the knobs or sliders, however, I do not intend to use more than one channel. I'm thinking about picking up something like this Behringer that has the mechanical sliders.

Work will still continue on my vocal tracks and I fully intend on "Ableton-izing" my non-Live! tracks so I can remix them live.

Tomorrow is the deadline to have the artwork finished for my benefit album. I have some ideas to crunch through today and, outside of some house chores that need to be done, expect to crank up the fire tonight and get the artwork finalized for tomorrow's deadline.

The next deadline I have set is to remaster and finalize the tracks for the City Shadows Vol.1 online release. I haven't forgotten about my plans to release this collection of down tempo tracks online. There is only a little more research to be done to determine which services I will publish through, but you can expect the album to be available for purchase on iTunes, and I would like to get it on Rhapsody and SNOCAP as well.

Beyond that, it is still up in the air as to what the track listing will be for the benefit album. I wanted to present a track or two from the project that Jeff and I are working on, but it may not materialize in time (which is okay.. we should have an EP ready mid-summer).

The next "big" (word used loosely) release I have planned is a compilation of the tracks released earlier this year with some remastering, interludes, and additional tracks in the same vein. It will make for a very congruent release.

Tired Thursday

My head just wasn't right yesterday. It was pointed out to me that I can't really be too rough on myself especially when thinking about such an impossible 'either/or' situation.

I scheduled deadlines for my current projects of the month, as well as a weekly Wednesday session from 8pm to midnight for getting down to business and recording music. Last night was the first session.

It was a success!

I'm not sure what has been up with my mindset lately, but a lot of the music that has been coming out of me has been darker shades of trip-hop with some underlying tones of trance. An interesting blend that *definitely* lends itself to vocals-- of which I plan on recording more of.

I will post the clip of the raw track, which has some of the instrumentation and ideas, to the fan club. Oh, and another track I had started about 2 weeks ago. ("Envisioning the West" and "Through This Beauty" respectively).

Time to keep on keepin' on.

A Terrible Thing

I haven't posted to my blog in a very personal way in such a long time that this may be somewhat surprising to a lot of people.. but I need to be completely honest with myself and others... and this is the way things have been for a few years now.

I had a terrible realization this morning while getting ready for work. It was one of those 'good god' moments that sobers you up and snaps you into a different place and mind set.

If I were asked to give up one thing right now, either my IT career or my music, and never have anything to do with my choice again, I would choose to give up my music.

That dropped a nuke on my entire line of thinking this morning. My job has entrenched me into the subtle drudgery of every day life. It appears that up until I figured it out (and gave myself the either-or-scenario), I valued my stable IT career way more than my abilities and desires as a blooming musician. That is sad. Sad and pathetic.

At times it seems that the iri$ of my eye$ i$ green, and all I can $ee is the luxurie$ of life afforded by my day time job (and cho$en career path). With our failing economy, and how expensive things are in the Seattle/Bellevue area, I definitely am trying to do the best I can to properly put away money for things like a home, retirement, family trust funds and investments.. but is it all worth sacrificing for a "hobby" that is responsible for a large part of shaping who I am and how my soul is?

NO!

I sit back and I view my good friends who are doing what they ultimately love to do. Starting from essentially nothing and putting in the hard work and efforts to throw themselves and their skill sets out there in the open world, battling for a scrap of a chance to start careers in their dream jobs. Photographer, 3D effects artist, web designer.. I have surrounded myself with friends who are artists at heart.. and for the most part didn't sell their soul to corporate America in exchange for a comfortable means of living (better yet.. for luxury.. which is beyond comfort).

Around me are the tools, the people, and the time availability to do something with my abilities as a human being. To go beyond the simple act of "wash, rinse, repeat" in daily life and make a difference in the world around me.

What am I so afraid of? Why can't I just let loose and write the music that is swimming in my head? Am I so caught up with trying to infuse popular elements into tracks that it's like trying to force blood the wrong way down a vein? It just won't work.

I remember being a teenager and listening to everything I could get my hands on (that was electronic at the time). From Daft Punk to Paul Oakenfold (before he was involved with Maverick), I loved it all. The sweet spots for me were particular styles of- and feelings in trance, and the seasonal shifts and regenerative properties of house music (akin to Ian Pooley & Miggy Migs). Add in the down-tempo tunes from just about any ESL artist and you had the three genres I found myself in the most often.

I have another collection almost ready for release. I have things on a billion different side burners waiting to be brought over and fully cooked. It's high time I get my shit together and stop fucking around so much.

I am Sean Armstrong. I am an artist.

Thinking About the Music

What's the status of things?

On one front, Jeff and I are gearing up for an audio assault of the best kind. A "wall of sound" feel mixed with some of the electronic pinnings of our beloved house/electro beats with some mixed flavors of acoustic and guitar work. Piano and Organ heavy, we aim to take the package to live shows.

The other side is my personal projects consisting of trip-hop musings, mixed with some longer progressive style "techno" tracks that take from just about all disciplines of electronic composition.

The last batch of songs will make their way onto an album that will debut *after* the benefit album and City Shadows Vol.1. I will be making at least 2 more congruent songs in line with "Always", "On Approach", and "Everything That We Love" to wrap up that project.

It's going to be a busy summer stuffed full of musical goodness.

Missing Downtown

It's approaching 7:55 AM. I'm at work. I'm reviewing some of my music that may make it onto my next release. I'm thinking about the incredibly fun weekend I had. I'm realizing that I miss living near downtown Seattle.

I certainly miss the atmosphere, the hustle and bustle, the commerce, the accessibility to Pike Place Market, the photographic opportunities, the artwork, the architecture, the style, the *good* smells, the hum of humanity... I miss just about all of it.

I don't necessarily miss the constant droning of traffic and people when I'm trying to get some quiet time at home.. but then again it wasn't THAT bad... it was only ever bad when people were being shot at, stabbed, beaten up, or swearing outside of the apartment in the Central District.

After growing up in the suburbs of Reno, NV, how do I balance the desires for things offered only in suburban living (space, high level of privacy, a garage, music studio space) with my lust for urban living and culture? Yes, the sacrifices can be made and I suppose that's just not something I'm interested in doing quite yet. I'm enjoying the space afforded in the upper east side, not to mention my commute to my job (now in Bothell) is cake.

I'm a glutton for cars. I couldn't bear to get rid of my truck. I'm considering a project car in the next year.

I *love* having a dedicated space to make my music. I can turn it up when I need to. I'm not disturbing neighbors at night with my toiling over beats and textures.

BBQ's in the summer are one of my favourite things to do (I love to cook.. small tidbit about me not many people know right now).

Live in the burbs.. Playing in the city sometimes.. I suppose that's how it's going to be for awhile.
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Amy and I had an awesome time on Sunday. We went to the gym in Bellevue and did some weight training, then I had my daypack loaded with some weight and did the treadmill thing for awhile. Getting ready for Ranier and the hiking season is fun. I can't wait to go hiking!

After we sweat'ed it out at the gym, I hit the showers, got changed into normal clothes, then we headed out to Seattle. Street parking is free on Sundays, so down past Virginia we found an angled spot and strolled up to the SAM.

First we stopped into Caffe Ladro to get some espresso. I love my "organic white mocha" (of any size.. usually tall or grande). While chillin in 'Ladro we played some Sudoku. It was uber relaxing.

Next on the agenda was a walk through the market to scrounge for some food. It was decided that Humbow was the best snack to have. We picked up BBQ Pork Hum bow and a Sesame Bun (with red bean paste!) and sat on a bench at the end of Post Alley. I enjoyed the crap out of just sitting there snacking on my delights and watching the people go by.. some tourists, some locals, some dressed in business attire and some dressed like transients.

After the snacks we went up to the SAM and, to our dismay, bypassed the incredibly long lines (yay being a volunteer!) to see the Roman Art exhibit. Seeing the pieces on display from the Louvre was awe inspiring. Open air exhibits of marble sculptures, mosaics, art work, every day items, and an amazing LEAD sarcophagus burned their images into my brain. It will be awesome to see some of this stuff in person in Europe one day ;)

The last stop in the afternoon was at Whole Foods to pick up some odds and ends, then back home for a relaxing Sunday night.
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This week.. music music... video games.. music music. RJD2 on Saturday.

Getting Along

I suppose it's time I make an entry, yes?

The past week or so has been busy.. full of.. slacking. Well not entirely I suppose.

Work is work. I busted my butt last week and cranked out a script and report.. essentially learning AWK from scratch (cake, it's a dumbed down, crippled version of more robust modern day languages), and writing my first script and AWK program to generate a report for the cn=monitoring account for LDAP... oh wait.. I'll spare you all the technical crap, that's not something I like to go into here anyway!

So yes.. work keeps me fairly busy during the day. Outside of work, Jeff and I made great progress in our musical adventures. We cranked up the production and got together a solid 70-80% of a song. Surprisingly, the track is somewhat up-beat feeling and incorporates a lot of more 'traditional' instrumentation and arrangement sounds. I think we will be able to flop back and forth between the alt-rock/indie-rock and wall-of-sound/electronic-biased music fairly well.

Next is some arrangement, adding a section, and then we'll be mostly done with the composition. We may need to re-record some of the acoustic guitar but that's no big deal at all. The last piece which I'm still thinking about-- does it need lyrics? It's a very groove-centric track that could easily be sans-lyrics, as it contains a certain "Zero-7" stripe down the middle.

That being said, Jeff and I will hopefully have a song or two available on the upcomming "For the Cure" benefit album I plan to release this month (or early May). Right now it is slated to have 6 tracks: 2 new "Sliptide" tracks, 2 previously released "Sliptide" tracks, and 2 tracks from the yet-t0-be-named project that Jeff and I are working on. More info will be posted as the artwork gets created and a tentative track list is composed. The plan at this point is to release online and provide iTunes, Rhapsody, and SNOCAP store options with all proceeds donated to my 3-Day walk (more on that soon, too!).

Sorry to be such a tease on that stuff!

I upgraded to a Flickr PRO account yesterday. I'm trying it out not only for my own use (the social integration is missing from Picasa.. Flickr really is the bigger deal), but for Amy's future online use for her photography. So far I'm enjoying it. I am going to work to get some of my archived trip photos up there, as well as more of the 'artistic' shots. Fun!

Alright.. back to "work".

Back In Action

I'm still a bit sluggish/tired, but in whole my cold seems to have finally dissipated. I'm not stuffy or struggling with the aches and pains, thank god-- Friday was pretty brutal and I was down for the count mid-day. Plenty of tea, good food, good company from Amy, and a healthy dose of video games (a la Project Torque) made for a relaxing Friday night.

Over the weekend I got a wild hair and splurged on buying a Nintendo Wii. Fred Meyer near my house had 3 in stock and nobody knew about it so I sauntered on in and picked one up. I had a few Best Buy gift cards I had earned from my previous team at work (over $100 worth) and promptly plopped it all down on another controller, 2 games, and some rechargeable batteries.

The Wii is redonkulously fun! Mario Galaxy is insanely cool, Wii Sports is simple but fun, and Puzzle Quest (while not the best quality) is addicting as all hell and I'm enjoying console gaming again! I was also playing around with some of the wireless capabilities.

I bought the Opera browser for Wii and it's pretty neato.. I wouldn't use it as a replacement for booting up my computer, but I suppose it's nifty enough to have on hand. I bought it because I was trying out the current methods for streaming video content to the Wii. It doesn't compare to the quality of my LAN wired Xbox (1st gen, chipped, with XBMC), but the possibility is there and I think with the right software the Wii could turn into a competative multimedia interface to a media PC.

I plan on putting together an order from EBWorld and Amazon full of the Gamecube games I missed out on, and I'm really looking forward to new versions of Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, and Mario Kart!

Last night I attended a 3-Day information meeting. I'm thinking about doing the 3-Day walk with Amy this year.. I have to raise $2,200 dollars though. Intimidating as that may seem, I think I can pull that off between donations from coworkers, friends, family, and donations made from a charitable music release... HMMMmmm. Expect more info soon ;)

Ew.. Head Cold!

I managed to get sick. Today I was wiped out but I went to work anyway... against my usual school of thought. Oh well.. I came home early, crashed, and had a relaxing evening at home.

I fixed my www.sliptide.com website. I'm not sure where I'm headed with it but there will be some changes in the future to better integrate my music with the site, as well as other aspects of my life (my love of point-and-shoot photography, volunteering, projects, and what limited views I can give about my IT lifestyle and job).

I also uploaded a few photos to my Flickr account. I was a Picasa fan early on, and honestly the Picasa software blows away Flickr, except for the fact that the Picasa online stuff just isn't as big of a deal as Flickr is right now. I don't mind trying to use Flickr, and I think it will be a good exercise for me as I also want to integrate it into my website and a few interesting web projects. You can find my stuff [right here]

It's time for bed. I'm not sure if I will be going to work tomorrow or not. It all depends on how I feel in the morning! I had planned a small outing after work with some peeps down in Factoria but that may be cancelled due to my sickness and bad timing for a lot of people that won't show (who would otherwise be there).

The Status of Things

I can' t seem to let it all loose. Epic, building, queued inside my head the sounds swim together in one giant cauldron of unorganized thought. I think I need to start hand writing thoughts for my music throughout the day as I go through the motions of my day job.

Trance, yes.. I love trance very much and would love to incorporate the ideas behind the melodic trance disciplines into my current projects.

Down-Tempo, yes.. it will always be on my plate because we all need to chill at some point.

Lyrics, yes.. I need to focus on my writing ability and story telling/emotion conveyance through my words and singing; not to mention I need to practice my singing ability.

The emotions, energy, control.. they all need to be processed and poured out into molds of performable music that will blow someone's mind.

I have some thinking, and always more practice, to do.

Haps

I went with Amy to do a night scenery photo shoot last weekend. It was a ton of fun! We went to Kirkland "downtown" waterfront:

View Larger Map

I can't show you the results of her shoot, but it was awesome to see her getting some great results w/the FZ18 at night. It was around midnight and we used the light pollution to our advantage with a bunch of different ISO and f settings paired with anything from 20 to 60 second exposure times. I learned a lot in the 2 nights we did this last weekend, and it makes me gawk at my little Pentax Optio A10 ^_^
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I haven't worked on music this week. I have been very busy with a plan to stay physically active every day of the work week. So far that is going very well and while I might be a little sluggish in the early AM hours, I am feeling like I have more energy overall. The goal is to just get into better shape and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

That being said, I've at the VERY least picked up my guitar every day to pick around and play with some song ideas and progressions. I'm very excited to sit down this weekend for a long session to work on some open projects, revive some older ones, and record a few ideas in my head (as well as play w/the mic more to record guitar and vocals).

There are two samples of things I have been playing with in the fan club. (Only members can view and download).
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I have a few web projects on my plate now so I'm very excited to be getting into development. I can't share much in the way of details, but I get to use my DBA skills and some of my know how with PHP (may go another route, who knows..) to get some engine stuff working for a web application, then Nick is probably going to give everything some shiny gloss with his design skills. fun stuff!

Alrighty.. back to work I go!

Wahoo!

The new equipment arrived yesterday afternoon. After a swift installation, some minor set up of hardware and running of cables, I played with the additional components and am left with a feeling of giddiness. =D

Jeff came over last night and we got some ideas down in Ableton Live!. The guitar input into the Alesis sounded oh-so-clean, and paired with my old Korg foot pedal FX and some Ableton Live! processing we recorded a few tracks of guitar over an organ loop we had recorded last week. It was shaping up to a nice "wall of sound".

After he took off and before I went to bed I tried some quick recording of my gut string guitar... I was VERY impressed! I'm excited to be working on new materials and inputting some guitar and vocals into tracks as well. Once a few songs are completed expect some form of storefront and purchasable downloads of EPs and Albums (including my older works!).

Back to my day job.

A Little More Serious Now

I have some equipment on order from zZounds!

I decided to pick up the Alesis IO-26. The ADAT in will be useful in the future, and the Harmony Central review thread (I didn't save the link, sorry) was great. 8 excellent pre-amps will provide plenty of versatility in recording and live performing.

I also ordered a Shure KSM27 Mic. I'm going to try it out and see how I like it (and how the rubber shock mount ring works) and am hoping that I will not have to make a return. It had great reviews overall. I really couldn't pass it up from zZounds because it's a solid mic, comes with the shock mount, cable, stand, and a $25 zZounds gift card. Pretty slick!

To help with space restrictions of my current "office" set up I ordered a keyboard rack to hold the MIDI keyboard when I'm working. It will store nicely by my desk along w/the keyboard while I'm not using it, but won't be far to pull out and start hammering away.

It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile since I have been up this late because of work.

I remember the first few times being somewhat fun and exciting. Now that I am in a more relaxed position that isn't draining my soul (work-life balance actually exists!), it's not so bad.

Yes, I would rather be in the warm bed up stairs somewhere in la-la land dreaming about music, travel, cars, or something of the sort, but staying up late to help people solve some problems and assist with a few system changes doesn't cramp my style if it's just a once-and-awhile thing.
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After making my last track I can't nail down the next song I really want to work on to even 'match' the sound.. I think the adjustment of my workspace, and of course ordering the new Firewire interface and a mic will help out a lot. I am itching to record more vocals and get into some new styles to keep up the production value.

Quick Mental Notes

I need to adjust the overall feel and accessibility of my home studio.

Geek Habits of the Best Kind

Okay everyone.. These two items passed to me by my best buds are just entirely too cool to NOT share via a blog post.

Seriously.. If you don't bother to check these out there is something wrong with you (or in the case of the first item, you own a Mac.. )

Digsby - Remeber Trillian? Me too.. especially when it didn't become bloat-ware ;P Digsby is a very Web 2.0 styled all-in-one client for ALL IM communities as well as amazingly cool integration with FaceBook, MySpace and more! Imagine if Meebo had their own stand-alone software client.. this would be it.. but it's even better! Currently in private beta.. you can request to join beta though, so good luck!

PicLens - FireFox addon to dynamically view photos in a 3-D display. This is simply amazing! Try it! Read the tutorial and about pages when you install or after you install (and are brought to the PicLens website).

13 Candy Hearts

Smile
Be Good
How Nice
Be True
So Fine
Wild Life
Melt My <3
My Pet
IM Me
Let's Kiss
Kiss Me
Nice Girl

(and one that is yellow and unreadable)

Retail Therapy, A Music Breakthrough, and zomg Firewire

I have decided that I not only love retail therapy for myself, but I love retail therapy on behalf of other people as well (aka. shopping for people). I admit, however, like most "Americans" that sit in the middle class tier of the young(er) United States I worry about money more than I should.

A close friend of mine told me once that people who incessantly worry (aka stress) about money live shorter lives than those who don't. I have been much better about it as of late (promotions at work certainly help ease the looming fears), and discovering that just setting a savings goal and balancing my bank account twice a month really helps me put the worries of the impending economic doom plaguing our nation on the back of my mind.

With this new mantra of taking things as they come and working towards financial goals, I've found that I have a bit more freedom when it comes down to being able to shop. My hobbies lend themselves to big ticket items that I won't let other people gift to me (it has happened on rare occasions, and I commend the loved ones in my life that support my hobbies and passions).

Anywho, moving along:

I made somewhat of a 'breakthrough' track last week that has set me off in a firm direction for producing my new materials-- ultimately working towards a new album that I intend on full professional release. In doing so I realized that I needed to take a hard look at my home studio.. if you can even call it that.

I run a very rogue set up composed of hardware I have obtained in 1-off purchases since I was about 16. I will spill the guts on what I have in a later post, but let's just say that I have hit the limits of my USB bus on my PC.

During a session in Ableton Live! I was attempting to record some electric guitar parts in 96khz. I'm using a small Edirol USB interface that has a guitar-level input. It works farily well, but at 96khz I seem to get some periodical buffer-crunching (crunchy sounds). Everything is configured and updated, however, after digging around I learned something new (which made me feel like such a llama [nub/n00b for you new-schoolers] ):

The most generic way to put it is that USB allows devices to send and receive data whenever they want within any 'spectrum' of the bandwidth. This means that if I have a bunch of devices doing USB data stuff back and forth while I am recording music, there is a possibility I can have data collisions that drop my data in the middle of my recording session-- which is exactly what was happening given I have just about USB-everything.

Firewire, on the other hand, has established relationships with each device such that each device carves out its own bandwidth for communication.

So rather than eyeing some of the cheaper USB 2.0 audio interfaces, I'm going to invest my money wisely into Firewire interfaces that will give me the most reliable performance capacity for home recording and live performances.

You really don't realize how unequipped and ill prepared your "home studio" is until you sit down with a pen and paper, write everything out that you have, take inventory of what is all connected to eachother, and to the brains of your opertaion (in my case the PC).

Why the sudden need for more equipment? Well in said track that was a 'breakthrough' for me, I managed to track vocals to a song-- but seeing as how I have no interface with any music mic inputs I ended up hacking and recording vocals on my crappy Logitech headset boom mic-- oh my god it is craptastic.

Here goes the first major step towards beefing up the audio arsenal.

I am currently looking at adding the first pieces below:

Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) 8PRE 16x12 Firewire Audio Interface

or maybe...

PreSonus Firestudio Project FireWire Interface

AKG C 1000 S Condenser Mic - I will probably buy a 2 pack.

Continuing Efforts

In my attempts to learn Ableton Live! while using Reason 4.0 as instrumentation as I integrate live instruments into my music, I managed to record a nice piece that may lead into some more house-type music akin to Kaskade. I know the "guitars in techno" thing has been done for years, but you have to admit in the right tracks it is infectious and easy on the ears (Chemical Brothers' Star Guitar, Kaskade's Steppin' Out).

The first pass is completed at City Shadows remastering. I have run into a few issues with some of the low range bass being clipped when trying to adjust the EQ and applying maximizing to the songs (Calm Control, for example). I will hopefully make time to work on it again this week.

Through working with Jeff and Matt, I have amassed some extremely useful Combinator patches for Reason 4.0. Some are from mining the ReFill kits we have and applying our own touch-up effects and what have you, while some are completely built from the ground up. I've gotta say, that I am super excited to have the best sounding Rhodes emulation I have heard come out of my speakers in a looooong time.

I suppose the next thing on my list should be equipment to get vocals and my gut-string guitar into the computer. I know jack and shit about microphones so that's going to be a quick learning process. Now that I think about it, I have a laundry list of things to accomplish this year-- hmm..

Anywho, 'till next time.

City Shadows volume 1 Re-Issue Progress

After learning a bunch of stuff over the past year or so, I have started the process of fine tuning the tracks on City Shadows volume 1. They will have added production value that meets my requirements for sound and presentation. Most notably, the songs will be taking advantage of the powerful options within Reason for compression and maximizing, while some will have completely new EQ work done on them.

Once I complete this process and have some listen-in sessions for quality, the UPC code will be purchased and City Shadows Volume 1 will be available via iTunes, Rhapsody, and hopefully a Snocap store that will be right here on sliptide.com (and various other sites like MySpace).

Applied & Computational (Jeff) and I got together last night and plinked around with the guitars hooked up to Ableton Live!. We had a great time and are going to be writing some more tracks. I'll have more updates on that when we're closer to an EP release.

7 AM on Monday Morning - A Solid Way to Start the Week

I woke up this morning.. really early this morning if you count when the nearly-full moon outside poured through the window and began to feed my soul with its gentle light... and found myself ready for the week.

It has been quite awhile that I have picked myself up out of bed and been ready for the week. Maybe it's because the gears have been turning a lot more for music, or maybe it was because I have been getting a bit more sleep at night, or maybe it's the significantly less stressful position I now hold at work.

It's 7:39. I have been at work for 39 minutes, and enjoying it.. ^_^

I don't live for my day job. It pays well, I enjoy doing what I do, and I definitely love learning all of the cool stuff I get to learn (all falling under the category of geek habits and nerdery). I most certainly can drive this into a lifetime career with plenty of glory and healthy development/investment.

Let me say again that I don't live for my day job. My passions have always lied with the "small"-er things in life.

I live for spending time with loved ones and those who are close to me (I know.. I have a funny way of showing that given in the past year I haven't really done that.. It will change.)

I live for the spring through autumn hiking season.

I live for bike rides.. I live for driving my truck to the coast with some friends.. I live for making music.. making music with my friends..

I live to enjoy my life doing the things that I absolutely love to do. Of course there is balance with doing the things that I only 'sorta' enjoy, and the things that are necessary but I do not enjoy at all (who hates laundry, or mowing wet grass? raise your hands!).

That's the key though.. the balance. It has always been about balance for me.. and I can't believe that so long ago I lost majority of my balance and sight (in-, far- and hind-). I'm fucking stoked for the rest of the year, that's for certain.

/end rambling.

I have some Trip-Hop songs in the works, along with a few more snippets of everything from house to breaks that may see the light of day if I take them up into full production.

A road map for equipment is being worked on. With the economy going to shit I'm trying to decide if/when to pick up majority of the things I need to take my music to a live audience.. it may require a small personal loan ^_^.

I hope everyone has had a great January so far. Can you believe it's already been 21 days of 2008?!