It’s All Gonna Be Okay…

That’s what I keep telling myself.  The truth is, I have been writing so many papers for school lately that I sure wouldn’t mind hanging myself from a balcony.  But no!  I will continue!  Life is still worth living!

On a serious note, though, I wanted to apologize to all y’all who have been faithful to the good ol’ blog - I have not posted anything of real substance lately.  I certainly intend to, but haven’t had the time to do so.  You have my word, though, as soon as these papers are written…its go time.  I have a lot of idea that I am excited about and think you’ll love.  So, please do stick around.

Also, I wanted to inform the world that Benji (my roommate) and I have started running.  Yes, that’s right.  I’m exercising.  Many folks would find this surprising.  But its true. 

Yeah.  I know I have a weird expression on my face.  It looks like I’m sucking on a Jolly Rancher or something.  Whatever.

So, you know what’s been eating up my time.  What takes up the hours of your day?

Tornado (not the band)!

Apparently there’s a tornado in Columbus.  Not to be confused with the Yugoslavian metal band, Tornado (they call themselves “the warriors of steel” making “neoclassical music”)…

But anyway, I just realized that here, in Grandview (a suburb of Columbus), the tornado sirens harmonize with each other.  Quite honestly, it is beautiful — I swear, I went to my guitar and played along…it’s an F# Major chord…  

It makes me wonder if they are tornado sirens or whether Jesus is returning as we speak.  I always wonder what those trumpets are going to sound like.  I bet they are going to be absolutely gorgeous.

Isaiah and Justice

So, I’m currently sitting in my Hebrew class - we are discussing the prophet Isaiah, and his call to the people of Judah to pursue justice - the care for the oppressed, the poor and the widows.  It is interesting that, as many of the prophets are assessing the spiritual condition of God’s people, one of the main determinants is the country’s concern for justice.

Take your evil deeds 
out of my sight! 
Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! 
Seek justice, 
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless, 
plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:16-17 

My professor then asked us an open question:

“What do you think the prophet Isaiah would say about the Christian Church’s concern for justice?”

Thought for the Day…

So a good friend, role model, and mentor in my life - Mark Pagely - had said the following at one point:

“Stop trying to get God to fit into your plans - find out what God is already doing and join in…”

What a challenging thought.  What kind of implications does that have for us as Christians, who are trying to discern God’s will for our lives?  Are you trying to fit God into your plans?  Are you searching for the hand of God working in the world, eager to join in?  

Talk about it…

Big News Coming Soon…

Just wanted to let you all know that, despite my absence, much is being accomplished…

Soon…oh, very soon…I will have some exciting news to divulge.  Well, I’m excited about it.  I would hope that all of you who read my blog (which is probably just my roommate and my mom) would be excited as well…but, we’ll see.

 

In Christ Alone Percussive Loop

He y’all… 
I just wanted to share a little percussive loop I put together last night for a gentleman who has been stopping by this blog - it is similar to the one found on Adrienne Liesching’s version of “In Christ Alone”.  I would have liked to spend a bit more time mixing it/equing the individual elements, but you know how that goes.

In Christ Alone Loop - 63 BPM

So there you are - hope someone can benefit from it!  If you just use a simple quarter-note click, set it at 63 BPM - that’s what I recorded it at. 

This Week…

…is going to be pretty much insane.  Between 2 papers and a whole host of other projects, I’m going to be pretty busy.  I’ll try to get as much posted as possible.  I have a lot of ideas and some drafts of posts that I’m working on, but its going to take spare time (which I am relatively short on these days).

Here’s what I’m thinking:
- Lessons Learned: The Logistics (or workflow…)
- Bad Cat Cub IIR and Bad Cat Classic Cat reviews/videos/tone samples
- Car troubles…
- Guitar Amp Micing - Mic placement, etc…this’ll be a tutorial/video whatever thing…
- Some Kristian Stanfill Loop stuff…

So, please do stick around.  It’ll be a good time, I promise. 

Where the tone is at.

I think my search for tone has ended.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved the amp I used to have (Orange AD30), but there’s something about that boutique sound…

Next stop…Gretsch Duo Jet.

Super Giga Hot.

That’s right.  We saw this on our way to lead worship in Michigan.  
1/4 Pounds of pure super-processed jerky-like material.
I wonder how bad my diarrhea would be if I ate 4 of them?

What’s the most repulsive thing YOU’VE seen in a gas station?  Please do share…

Lessons Learned: Buy Smart, Buy Things Once

Alright - I’ve been doing some posts on lessons learned, so this one is a continuation. This one, however has been a lesson learned over the past several years and isn’t, like the others, related to sampling exclusively.

On a side note, I’m listening to a song…and for some reason, there’s this random Japanese guy in the song who has been yelling at me over the past 2 minutes of the song. Its making me kind of tense.

At any rate - another lesson that has become very relevant to me over the past several years is what I call “Only Buy Things Once”. Its pretty self-explanatory; for me, buying intermediate gear has been nothing but a big waste. What ends up happening is the following: I get this new piece of pretty good gear, and it lasts me a little while. Then the day comes when I need a certain feature which my current gear doesn’t have. Therefore, I attempt to sell my current gear for a fraction of the cost to essentially re-buy it. Needless to say, it tends to destroy your finances over time, and is a huge annoyance. This is the reason I have like 50 midi controllers. I finally found the gear that really worked for me (the M-Audio Axiom) after buying several keyboards (like the Radium).

All of that to say - if you find yourself in a position where you are thinking about buying some new gear and you see yourself using it for quite a while, be patient, and buy up. You won’t be disappointed, of course, unless you lose interest.

This is not meant to encourage materialism - its meant to save time, money and hassle. Many people end up spending far too much money on intermediate gear that ends up in the closet.

Something that goes hand-in-hand with this is being smart when shopping for gear.  One of the biggest lessons for me, in this area, is also patience.  With enough patience, you can (almost) always find the gear for a lower price.  One of the best tools, for me, has been Craig’s List (www.craigslist.org).  Through this site (which is really just an online classifieds), I have been able to get pretty much most of my gear for under-market prices. Such as:

- Axiom 61: $140
- Axiom 25: $100
- Bad Cat Cub IIR: $1300
- Line 6 DL4: $120

…and the list goes on.  Since Craig’s List is a local service, you are kind of restricted.  What really helped me was a site called CrazedList, which is simply an aggregator of all local Craig’s Lists.  You can find this at www.crazedlist.org.  

So there you have it.  Buy your gear smart, and buy it once.

Thoughts?  Where do you find inexpensive gear?