| This is just the first few entries at the
beginning of 2008. More to follow, as I get time to upload. Thanks, |
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| -th
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| 01/10/08 |
It's been days of research and huge bucks going out the door. Brett, Corey and I have figured it out though. We had lots of help from some really smart friends who helped to make this decision EASY. Doug Moncrief, David Peters, Timothy Daniel, and a host of tech buds all agree; Apogee is a good way to go. So, after all the haggling, finagling, cajoling, and extolling, we await the arrival of 24 tracks of digital heaven to Studio B. We are upgrading computers, outboard gear, toys and joys, and tons of A to D, D to A converters. For those of you that don't understand all the gibberish, this is going to take our state of the art recording facility to the next level. Direct to digital. Every note played, sung or spoken will pass from the mic, through a kick ass pre-amp and directly into digital heaven. Geek stuff for sure, but this platform will allow us to fly tracks between studios and end up with a fully automated mix, with plugins and mastering tools, backed up to Kingdom come, ready for retail. We hogs will be swine dining in heaven. |
Too much tech talk. My brain is
fried.--->
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| 01/05/08 | Uh, I don't know how
to say this... Macho Man Todd (probably trying to impress his young,
beautiful wife) took a little tumble Cross Country Skiing. Actually
got my skis a little crossed. Kinda hurt when I went down. I know I can't ski my sorrow ass outta there,
so I know I've gotta get the damn skis off. I'm lying there in the snow,
looking up at the sky, laughing because I can't untangle my skis enough to poke
the release button with my pole. "I've fallen and I can't get up." I
walked, uh... limped out with my skis and poles. Not a career ending
injury, but my hopes of competing in the 2008 Winter Olympics? Crushed.
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| 01/04/08 |
I finally finish the score to Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days. Lots of music in this book. A young, very talented actress named Chelsea Mixon narrated, carried the lead role and sang my music to Shannon's wonderful words. This kid has a future. Talent just flows out of her. She'll be handling some other roles for us at Full Cast Audio... for sure. Here's a spread from my notebook. I don't know why the sea shells popped out. I think I just liked the shadows and contours. The facing page is a list of Track IDs for the book. At one point in the book Chelsea's character stands naked before an enemy army and mystically charms the evil wolf/human tyrant commander into showing his true colors. It's a major kick ass scene. Not the usual book for teens. At least not the kind of books we were forced to read when I was a kid. Shannon Hale is a brilliant writer. I'm very pleased to let you know that our production of her book Princess Academy is up for an Audie Award this year. Lots of songs in that book too. |
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| Sketch of some Sea Shells Book of a Thousand Days Track ID list | |
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I'm not sure I know where I was going with these sketches. I just REALLY liked the simplicity of the drawings from the Book of a Thousand Days. And the paint tubes was a start of a sketch for a project I don't think I'll have the time to complete this year... but, the year is still young. We'll see.
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| 01/01/08 | I enter this new
year slightly out of shape. An aging rocker, "to old to rock 'n'
roll and too young to die", as Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull said. Dude, you were wrong! Too many of my friends
are dead already and the rest of us are still rocking. We'll never stop.
It's in our blood. It's who we were and thankfully, who we still are.
Wanny took me Cross Country Skiing today. I love Upstate New York winters.
No puppies allowed. If you can't take the cold, stay out of the snow.
The sun was shining, the wind crisp and clean, the joints creaked a little, but
damn it, I'm alive! Breathing a little heavy, but still breathing.. ...and breathing is by definition... the key to life. I remember a page from my journal regarding this discovery a few years back. Remembering it now is a good way to start the new year. |
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I remember I was bitching about staff, clients, people in general; it was
a pretty good rant. And then I took a deep breath. You know
how when you're waiting at a stop sign to get out onto a busy street, and
you can't get into traffic 'cause everybody... well basically is trying to
make your life miserable? 'Cause they all know that you're late for
a very important appointment. And it's taking hours to get out
there onto the highway... So, you put the pedal to the floor and squeeze in between two
frightened old ladies, who promptly both give you the finger? Well,
if you counted the big beautiful breaths of life it took to wait for ALL
the friggin' traffic to clear, it would probably amount to just seconds in
real time. I know this because for all these years since I made this
discovery I count the breaths (and seconds) it takes to get onto the
highway. I haven't made it to a minute yet. It works.
Try it. (Unless you live in Boston.) Anyway, if you can't read
my writing in the Journal, it says:
"...Most acts of patience are only seconds long. They are just well
chosen acts of waiting. Letting someone else figure it out.
Life is simple. Breathe. Breathe deep... Enjoy Life."
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| 12/31/07 | The last
entry in my Journal for 2007---> |