Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Damn responsibilities! And some awesomeness too.

So, another tuesday, another song. This might be the last one for a while. The events of my life have turned in such a way that i have to dedicate a serious amount of my time to things other than music. This is absolutely necessary, otherwise i wouldn't do it. Also, it's temporary, and without it, i'd probably wind up destitute on the street. That would have much more grave an impact on making music than my current endeavor. I'll keep blogging, because there's always shit going on and i can't let everything lapse.

Also, there are some complete songs i haven't uploaded yet. I might be able to upload those in the meantime.

Some things i'd love to do in the near future, after these other responsibilities are done of course.
Feel free to join in:

-Be part of making a cartoon.
-Be the voice of one of the characters in said cartoon.
-Score the theme and music to said cartoon.

-Take a trip back to NYC.
-Take a trip to anywhere else i haven't been yet.
-Get a bicycle (just in time for the rainy-cold season, right?)

-Fix my truck (it's sooooo close to 300,000 miles)
-Get a new vehicle (that will actually fit my gear and not eat so much gas)
-Road Trip.

-Get some of these new tracks for sale online.
-Increase my collaborations
-Really, for real get my music on some video games or commercials or TV shows, etc.

-Actually see some financial return on my overwhelming efforts.

Music: Depth Charge

And then go the the CD Baby Podcast. My call was featured on episode #037: Roundatble “360 Record Deals” in response to their episode #035 : Roundtable - A New Digital Format for Music? Have a listen to both. (yeah, i know i talk too fast... i'm really trying to enunciate, i swear.) And, it's one of the few podcasts i actually listen to often, so, rock it. Learn from it. Love it. Or just enjoy for now.

=) till next week.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

This n That n Whatever You Want.

Remember Tron?

Remember the Light Cycle game? Little bikes that left a wall of impenetrable light behind them, turning only at 90 degree angles?

Armagetron Advanced is the best fucking game ever. EVER!

Open source (free+), 3-D, fast paced, simple, editable, beautiful; play solo vs AI, online, LAN; it's cross platform, ported for Mac OSX, Linux (Ubuntu, RPM Package, Bin package), BSD (i386 and sparc64), Windows (for all the chumps out there,) and sourcecode for those who want to compile for their system. Yeahhhhh.

I used to rock this game on my linux boxes. I recently caved and installed it on my 2 Macs.

Digital Organics has a new website up. It's going to be a growing, interactive website with music, 360 degree photos, art, information on upcoming events, and the possibility of a Hans Button. What's a Hans Button? Well, you'll just have to wait and see. But, i'll be sure to update you.

I never thought i'd be so in love with a web browser, but when i switched to Opera a few years ago, there was no turning back. Opera 9.6 is out. It's fucking amazing. I know what you're thinking. I use Firefox, and that's awesome, and my extensions! How will i live without my Firefox Extensions? Opera, which comes pre-loaded with most of the features you have to plug into Firefox, is faster than bare-bones Firefox. Just download it and see for yourself. It's free.

And the features... Have multiple computers? Opera Link will automatically sync your bookmarks, custom search engines, typed history, and speed-dial across all your computers, and on your phones using Opera Mobile.

Wait, custom search engines? Yeah, instead of going to a whole new web-page, or moving the damn mouse all the way over to your little Google Toolbar, i either open a new tab, or press F8 to get to the URL line, and type “g Prophetnoise.” Opera will do a Google search for “Prophetnoise.” That works with Ask or Yahoo, or Bit Torrent or, well, anything you set it up to do.

Wait, typed history? Yeah, remember that web page you were on a few hours ago at home? No? But you need to go back and look at it again on your laptop at a client's? Type any word that was on that page and Opera will give you a list of all websites you visited that contain that word. Viola, there it is again.

Wait, Speed Dial? Yeah, Opera lets you have your blank page/tab laid out with 9 of your most visited websites. That way, at any point in time, you just hit Apple (mac) [ctrl (win)] + the Speed Dial number; bam, that website. You can also edit the code to increase your Speed Dial to as many boxes as will fit in your window. Google “Opera Speed Dial Hacks.” I'm using 22 of my 25 speed dial boxes.

Mouse Gestures. You can turn on mouse gestures and control the browser with simple mouse movement. People seem to love mouse gestures. Look them up. Personally, i hate using the mouse. Opera is fully customizable as far as shortcut keystrokes. I barely have to use the mouse when i browse. I set it up to use numbers 1 & 2 to scroll through tabs (which can be previewed by placing the mouse over the tab.) That alone makes me love this browser. Speaking of tabs, i know it's old news, but Opera was the first browser to do Tabbed Browsing. Opera has a lot of firsts in the browser world.

There's RSS and Mail clients, and zoom, and tons of features i don't even use that you'll probably love too.

It's also more secure and reliable than Firefox. And there's widgets. Look at the comparison charts yourselves.

And i'm sure there's some of you who are all, “Firefox? I use Safari/Camino/Konquerer/Chrome/etc.!” Well that's fine. I still think Opera's better. But whatever. Give a little time and i think you'll love it too.

And then there's the lot of you who are all, “Firefox? Safari? Other browsers? I use Internet Explorer!” I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you the best of luck in your computing. You're going to need it. Don't have any vital information on your computer, and don't ask me why your 6 month old computer is running like shite. Just dealing with the spyware/malware/adware will be enough for you to worry about, I won't even begin to explain rootkit attacks.

Since this seems to be a blog about computer stuff, more ways to spend your days laughing till it hurts, or generally wasting your time on the internets:
-Failblog
-Engrish
-CDBaby Podcast

This week's song: Methane Sunset.
Enjoy.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Dave Coulier is Just Wrong

The new MacBook Pros came out today. I have total computer-penis envy. The silly thing is, my 2 (two) computers are probably still, individually better and more powerful than a majority of what's out there in the public, yet i'm never satisfied. Stupid techno-holism; i'm so going to have a room full of old computers one day. And, they're all going to be used for something.

This is for all you musicians, engineers, and producers out there:

-I'm looking for peculiar 'tricks' or methodologies you have while composing or mixing or creating music. I've developed my own methods and i'm always curious how others do the same tasks differently, and why.

For instance, when i'm done with a mix, i always listen to it really fucking low volume. There's nothing special about that 'trick'. If you have it just low enough to hear, and you can hear everything clearly, you probably have a pretty good mix. Then, when i'm confident about the mix, i turn up to a decent volume and leave the room. It seems, no matter what room, if you listen to the mix just a few feet outside the doorway, you get a great balanced representation of your mix; any problems will jump out. I don't know if anyone else does this, and if you do, i'd love to know how you found out.

I found out by accident back in school. I had a mix of mine playing in the control room, and went into the hallway to talk to someone. The door was open and a professor passing by stopped and said, “That mix sounds great.” Then i realized, “Oh shit, it does.” I started checking various mixes of my own and my friends the same way in various rooms and hallways and found it worked pretty damn consistently.

I also like to close the program and open iTunes and listen to a few random songs intermittently during various parts of the composition and mixing processes. Mixed with good chunks of silence, it helps to 'clear my ears' from the same thing, over and over for a few hours.

Also, i was recently told, that obnoxious Alanis Morissette song “You Oughta Know,” where she's throwing a hissy fit that some guy is with some other chick... you know the one from like 14 years ago, “...will she go down on you in a theater?” Yeah, that one. I fucking hate that song. Anyway, i just found out she's singing about Dave Coulier (Joey Gladstone from Full House.) All i know is, that's just wrong. Everything about that is wrong and it makes me feel weird on the inside.

That's all for now. The Rays-Sox game starts soon... priorities people!

This week's song: The Mirror.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

If i were a living human robot...

Wow, it's only been a few days since the last blog. Back to music.

Those of you looking on myspace for last week's song will hopefully get 2 this week. I uploaded it, i but it didn't show up on the player until yesterday. Der. Lets see if this week's song fares any better.

They're both up on iLike and Reverb Nation already. So, whatever, myspace.

This week you get BioMech Warfare. It gives me images of integrated human/robot war machines strewn across a battlefield beating the shit out of each other like only giant robots can, with the urgency of self preservation and war only a human can feel.

This song, along with all my other recent songs makes me wonder: What the hell did people do before sub-woofers?

Which got me thinking about another conversation i had last night over dinner regarding the integration of humans and computer, ie: interactive microcomputer implants. How rad would music be if we could inject it directly into our brain? Forgo ear damage and hearing loss. To fuck with the audible range of 20hz-20Khz. Anything brain-wave pattern we can learn from the brain, we can create artificial sensation by inputting it back into the brain. Music would be beyond audio. How about a song with a color scheme directly injected to your optic nerve, and orchestrated bombardments of brain-waves triggering relaxation, joy, excitement... panic, pain.

It could go beyond that as well. These microcomputers could interact with one another via external server or directly. Imagine truly sharing a thought, a song, an emotional process with someone else?

Where do i sign up, right? Or is everyone out there on the internet a bunch of Luddites? (a link so you can pretend like you got the joke)

I've been thinking about opening up some of my tracks for re-mix. Either remix a finished song of mine, or i can give you the pieces to an unfinished track and you can do what you will with it. If anyone's interested, in any capacity, feel free to shoot me a line and we can discuss terms & details.

The best time-waster ever: Boggle online.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Sunday, October 5, 2008

A Non-Music Blog: Sports and Politics.

I can't help but get involved in the state of affairs.

1- Pro Lifers: A vote for Pro-Choice is a vote for Pro-Life. I'll say that again, a vote for Pro-Choice is a vote for Pro-Life. I'll explain. When you take away the right to choose TO have an abortion, you implicitly take away the right to choose NOT to have an abortion.

This country, this planet is staring at 5 crises: Water Shortage, Food Shortage, Energy Shortage, Climate Change, and Overpopulation. These crises all feed off one another. It is not unreasonable to see a day in the future where we must control population and limit citizens to 1 baby per married couple. Have a second baby? Mandatory abortion. Not married? Mandatory abortion. Not licensed to reproduce? Mandatory abortion. Etc.

By taking away the right to choose, you set a precedent enabling the government to decide for you, regardless of how you feel.

2- Religious Zealots: The only way to ensure you maintain the right to practice your personal religions is to keep your damn religion out of the government. Personally, i think religion is one of the greatest evils on Earth, but i understand your right to practice it and believe whatever nonsense it is you believe. But, the more you elect representatives who push harder and harder to incorporate their faiths into legislation, the greater the chances that your personal religion will be legislated right out of legality.

I mean, there are so many little factions of you. Roman Catholic, Reform Catholic, Orthodox Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Southern Baptist, Evangelical, Born Again, Witnesses... the list goes on. An active push towards religious fundamentalism is a feedback cycle. It can only lead to exclusivism and power struggle, bordering on religious 'war', however you may interpret my use of the word war.

Authored by Joel Barlow under President George Washington in 1796, unanimously passed by the Senate, and signed by President John Adams in 1797:

Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11;

“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”

Go back and re-read that first sentence. And read it again.

3- I'm not caught up in the Obama craze. But, i do feel that McCain needs to be stopped. I see how 'passionate' he gets. That's not a good thing. When there's something important going on, like, oh, i dunno... running the country, being a fiery passionate emotion driven creature is not good. Reacting and overreacting and alarmist behavior doesn't help the situation. Calmly assessing the situation and the facts, and devising a calculated plan is imperative. He will not do that. There's about a thousand reasons beyond that why he shouldn't be elected, but i won't get into those now.

For anyone who wants an inside explanation as to how the VP Debate worked, along with a good laugh, this is for you: VP Debate Guide.

4- The bailout: $700 Billion. 300 million americans. That costs every single American citizen about $2,300. That's about 20% of what i earned last year.
The deficit: $10 Trillion. 300 million americans. That costs every single American citizen about $33,000. Together, that's over $35,000 per person. Your money. My money. I can't afford that. I don't have a spare 33 G's layin' around. If i did, i'd probably pay all of my bills every month.

And what do you get from this? A stronger Al Qaeda, a pointless endless war in Iraq that diverts efforts AWAY from the 'war on terrorism'; a 'war on terrorism' - which is an absurd notion (we're never going to do away with every last one by bombing them all – and i'm not a pacifist); a failing economy; a weak currency that nobody in the global market wants; rising unemployment rate; an energy crisis (and resistance towards developing alternatives which will spur jobs and scientific advancement); a failing education system (we no longer have a scientific or technical edge on most other nations); and we're still not guaranteed health care.

I don't just blame the govt. I also blame the voters. They're idiots. Idiots who vote.

5- It's October. It's the MLB Playoffs. Yes, i like sports. I know 'freaks' aren't supposed to like sports. I know most of the 'artistic types' around me in my field and artistic communities were probably made fun of by jocks in high school. I don't care. Get over it.

I don't celebrate xmas; don't celebrate new years; ramadan; kwanza; easter; whatever. I don't bother you when you're celebrating your holidays. Let me me have the MLB and NFL playoffs. Those are my holidays. They're just as arbitrary and pointless as your holidays.

Yes. I am rooting for the Tampa Bay Rays. No, i'm not a front-runner. I've been rooting for the Rays since they were the worst team in baseball. In fact, that was one of the reasons i started rooting for them. It takes balls to play with a Triple A team in the majors, and lets face it, that's what the D'Rays were; it was kinda charming in a “god this team is awful” sort of way.

Of course, my New York teams always come first. But, i'm rooting for the Rays and have been. I've been to two games at Tropicana Field. When i saw the team they put together in the off-season i was thrilled. And how can you not get behind a team like this? Young, talented, discounted by pretty much everyone, exciting to watch. Yeah, i'm a Rays fan, and you can make fun of me all you want. All i know is we're winning the series this year! HA!

<3 Noise!





Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.

Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes.

Prophetnoise on iLike.

Prophetnoise on Facebook.

Prophetnoise on Myspace.