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Check out my new song.

Part Time Songs

That last post was pretty ugly, eh? Those images are way too big for my blog format. I am thinking about switching to a theme that’s wider… But I spent so much time customizing this one that that’s a time investment that I’m not sure I’m ready for.

Well, Friday again. My plan is to finish the Marshmallow Mission* 2-song EP this weekend and post that up on Part Time Songs (need to make some cover art too…); other than that, my family will be celebrating a late Diwali by having Indian buffet on Sunday. Other than THAT, I am hoping to get some sleep and hang around the house. I love hanging around the house, lazing about with no agenda. Except that I always seem to give myself an agenda (”record stuff by Sunday”, “vacuum out car”, “read for fun” — yes, I actually have that on a to-do list… what is wrong with me?). I tend to feel a little guilty when I’m not doing SOMETHING. You’d think I’d be more productive.

Happy Halloween.

And please please please make the effort and go vote.

*”Marshmallow Mission” consists of just me and Dan. The idea is to do these songs together where it’s really quick and easy. But it hasn’t been that quick**, due to my time restraints. Anyway, so it’s an easy mission, easy==!hard==soft==Marshmallow. There’s other reasons for the name when it came into my head, but that’s the rational, makes-sense answer.

**Though it’s coming together fairly easily, now that I’m learning/using/exploring Sonar 7 and the workflow is a lot smoother and easier than FL Studio***

***Though I did end up purchasing the VST versions of the FL Parametric EQ2 and other plugins that are built into FL, so I could use them in Sonar, because they are really awesome… I mean, showing a graphical signal analysis in the paraEQ alone is worth the money.

Looks like King Filament (my musical moniker from 1995 to 2000) is making a comeback…

Have you checked out Sunil Sawani’s semi-fake record label, Part Time Songs? Here is a song by King Filament… “Killer” (part time mp3)

(from Gimme Tinnitus)

Someone brought it to my attention that they could not listen to the songs directly from Part Time Songs, and they get an error having something to do with the ID3 tags when it opens in Windows Media Player… Anyone who reads this, could you test that out and let me know? I haven’t been able to get it to happen on my computers. Just go over there and click on the MP3 and let whatever media player you use open it and see if it plays. Also let me know if you get an error?

I swear this is a testing thing, and not a way to drive you to my other site that you might not be interested in for my own nefarious purposes. Or is it…?*

click here to go there (direct link to mp3)

*It’s not.

Posted a new song up at Part Time Songs. Check it out.

Hey there everyone… Just a quick note to mention that Part Time Songs has a presence on Facebook now. A Facebook “page”, if you will. If you’re on Facebook, you should join up, and get future updates in a Facebook-generation friendly way.

Not much else. I’m s’posed to take that MCPD test on Saturday. Not sure if I’m *totally* prepared. One of things about being a software developer with access to the Internet is that you can just look up whatever syntax/minute detail on the Internet whenever you need to. With the test, you’ve gotta have that stuff memorized. But I’ll probably go take it anyhow, if only to see what the hell these MS tests look like (since I hear they’re totally different and scored differently than the practice tests provided with the training pack).

Oh, and I’m back on the Scrabulous. On Facebook. Where Part Time Songs has a page.

Dan, Ian and I recorded with John in Lansing this past weekend. We got all the drums done and Ian laid down most of the bass, which he’s going to finish when he has free time and can get together with John. So the new EP is going well. I’m going to be practicing my guitar parts and coming up with some keyboard stuff in the coming weeks and then I’ll head back up and record those as well. Also need to finish lyrics on a couple of the songs. I need to mine through my basement demos for any lines that stick out as usable.

Other than that, I bought an Alesis ControlPad, because I’ve been frustrated by my lack of ability to make loud drum noises (with real drums) at our condo. And inputting fake drums with a MIDI keyboard is tedious and unnatural. I’ve only messed around with the ControlPad a bit, but it’s pretty fun so far. I figured out how to set each pad to a different sound within FL Studio and worked on some drums for a idea I had a while ago. Nothing to share, but I’m pretty optimistic about the things I can do with it. It will never sound like real drums, obviously, but at least the input of fake drums will be more natural and make more sense using sticks-on-pads instead of fingers-on-keys. I plan to do some songs with it and post them at Part Time Songs really soon — hope to have some time to work with it over this long weekend. I’ll let you know how that works out and talk more about the ControlPad when I get a chance.

Anyway, just a few more hours of work! Have a great long weekend!

I put up some new songs at Part Time Songs last night. Please check them out, they’re right at the top under “Check Your Pockets”.

I’m also sick again… bad cold and cough. Coughing frequently and loudly enough to not go into work. Right after my damn vacation, which was right after my damn car accident. Great timing, body. Grr.