++ PAUSE ++

Things are so cramped lately, with work and the house that music-wise I have been very UNproductive. At some moments I open files and listen to them. I need to 'get in touch' with them again after not hearing for a while. I then adjust a few volume levels, try a little of different pannings and that's it. Just refining. I think I am nearing the end of the piano pieces but I've thought that before. It's a constant process of cutting away, changing perspective. Earlier versions I have demo-ed to friends. They didn't like it. Well, at least they didn't like the fact that I used actual piano sounds that sounded like a piano. And the fact that I play it like the way a piano is supposed to be played (you know, hammering at the keys, playing notes)

We have had problems with moisture under the floor - at least we thought it was but in the end it seems not to be too dramatic. The moisture was not under the planking but between the wooden planks and the (novilon) cover. But when you see it on removing the Novilon you start thinking: "my god, how bad will it be beneath that?". I drilled a whole through, big enough to allow me to pu my hand through with a camera. I took pictures and there was no moisture there. Pfeewww!

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THU20 on myspace

Mr. Sjak van Bussel, aka Dj DMDN, has put a page about THU20 on myspace. And the astonishing fact again happened: even dead people have declared themselves as friends. I find myspace a very strange phenomenon and therefore you will not find me there. But now THU20 is there. Well, well. Oh well, you can listen to some of the music, which is of course brilliant! Let's see if [ this ] link works, somehow.

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A bit silly....

The reviews for Gaussian Transient have been favorable until now. You can read them [ here ]. But now two of my fellow reviewers at EARLabs.org decided that they write a review as well. All fine and dandy, but I'd like to point out that I did not push them in any sort of fashion to do so. Neither does writing a review about my music entitle them to some sort of bonus. Just so you know....

.. and to give this post a bit more content I'd like to add the fact that I actually didn't know that Gaussian Transient actually means something. But if you google this word combination you will find a book title like this one: "Efficiency of real-time Gaussian transient detectors: comparing theKarhunen-Loeve and the wavelet decompositions". I have really no connection to either Karhunen or Loeve.

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Back home

Back home again. First working through the pile of e-mails, repairing something at the EARLabs.org site. Looking back at these 2 weeks I am not fully satisfied about them. I missed a few important files (VST's) and a cable with which I should have been able to connect the mobile recorder (R-09) to the laptop.... GRRR

I have done more tests with REAPER, and got it better under control. I have been using it for a year now and still learn things. However, one of the best things about it is its flexibility. Every one of us has his own workflow. The way you record things, organize your files, edit tracks, etcetera. Reaper enables the user to define shortcuts, so that in stead of 8 actions you only have to click one key combination and it's all done for ya. Isn't that great? And they have lately improved their dithering technology so that changing sample rate from 32bits to 16bits (for a cd master) is more accurate!

Now, what's in store for the coming months? One of the major projects in my life will not be music related, at least not directly. We have enlarged our house and I need to do some hammering and sawing. One of the music related results will be a larger music studio, with enough space for controllers, synths, keyboards and a permanent microphone set up. I have promised my wife that this carpentry will have higher priority than music, so the real production will be slow. I hope to finish in a few months, at the latest by Christmas.

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Reconsidering compositions

Am listening to works that have been maturing for the past months. The piano tracks have been left alone since March 2008. To hear the provisional result, listen to [ this soundsample ]. These are my notes:
"Difficult, this one. Didn't listen the exact mix because some of the vst's are not set up on this laptop. I think I will delete the piano's that sound from 0:00 to 1:15. Until the harmonics start. IDEA: perhaps remain the 'ball roll' and mix that with text? Problem area from 2:20 to 2:35. Keep piano from 4:00? I don't think so. The motive that is played at the beginning is elaborated nicely but after I remove that early part the listener will not understand. I have to think of something nifty."

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Working at the country side

We have moved to the country side in the North of Holland. Really we have no program but I have taken almost my complete studio with me. I will record nature sounds but also work on the compositions that I have started earlier this year. I hope to be able to keep you updated cause we have internet at this place.

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