Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A time traveler's reflection on acoustic/ electric transformers

I took a step back and looked at the beauty of it. It was like going back in the days. Apart from the Ocatvas that I have become quickly familiar with, it was old school. Or as old school as e604s can allow. I remember when they came on the marked and how impressed I was on my first job with them.

One SM 57 over and one under, plus an Octava on top of the snare. One D112, and you can guess where it went. And to crown the beauty; two of the new C 451s. Yeah! I took a step back and smiled. SM 57s, e604s and C 451s, a selection of my all-time favorites. Nothing has changed for 10 years, eh? And if you substitute the e604s with something else, maybe nothing has changed for 30 years. It was a display of nice timelessness and it made me happy. New skins and an amazing sounding snare, no wonder I was looking forward to try it out!

We listened through the backing and went for the first take. I called Ali into the controlroom afterwards.
Me: "I feel I'm missing something, and I'm not sure what it is. I think it may be too bright and I'm lacking some mids. You wanna try out the other over-heads?"
Ali: "Yeah, go for it!"
So we substituted the 451s for a pair of Octavas and had a go. The track went on tape well and we sat down and listened through a section as an A/B-test. AKG-Octava-AKG. There was no doubt with any of us, the verdict was: Octava. It is always a good comfort having the approval of the performer, who knows the instrument better than anyone else. The 451s were simply too bright, and the Octavas had the midrange we felt was lacking in the AKGs. The 451s would most probably have given me a mix-down nightmare. I recently had a similar problem with a pair of Schoeps. I'd go for Octava any day now.

The old favorites were packed down. -Couldn't be world-champions in everything I guess. It sounded a lot better after the change. But it didn't look as beautiful...

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Nice Try Baby!

I just got this in the spam-box of my e-mail. I have removed all names and set new words in inverted commas since the spammer is using a real company name. Check it:

I am “Name” (“Company Name”), an attorney at law in “Country”. A deceased client of mine, who shares the same last name as yours, died as the result of a heart-related condition on March 12th 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of all then known members of his family in the tsunami disaster on the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake.

I can be reached on (“e-mail address”) for more information. My late Client has a deposit of Seventeen Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars (US$17.5 Million Dollars) left behind.

Best regards,

“Name”
“Company name”
(Attorney at Law).
Hand Phone: “+xxxxxxxxx”


How many with my last name are there in this world? –The name of a little place on the West Norwegian coast. Hey, I ain’t even been there! My great grandfather, Harald, migrated from there coming on a hundred years ago (yeah, it’s him I’m named after). I know about only two branches with the family-name from that area, and one remote branch that might have another surname. If a whole family related to me got wiped out during the Tsunami, should I not know about it? And since I used to live in Singapore from 2005 and knew the embassy staff, my name would arguably have popped up on the radar. And why is not my surname mentioned specifically in the mail? –so that as many as possible can receive this generic e-mail!

Someone needs a new hobby!
Nice try baby,
-H- ;x

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Loud Cry in the Silent Night

So if I left, would it disappear?
The slight banner of disastrous steps to the tier?

Now left behind like barren land,
how could East of Eden ever provide for a man?

So if I not, but burnt it hot,
the fiery promises escapades won't stop...

But promises, hey! -what shall I say?
Has wind and rain now yield to me?

But if you say the dice is thrown,
and if you say all chances are sown...

I stand but for a moment still,
and in thine eyes I sense no victorious thrill!

For sure as man one day shall die,
if he himself is full measure he swiftly should say goodbye!

I'd think I would be better off,
in the hope that my name's letters were gained in the tough!

To the wind and the rain, for it all was design,
if not the rock holds it's own mindless mind!

Or what would the waves tell you if you asked them your worth?
For so many a man was killed by the surfs.

The chance and the surf has this one thing to share,
they won't cut off the time for those no longer here.

For time and chance provided, it all was decided,
the meaning of random forever be fired.

So if he then lost, against a worthy cause,
where then could the strider again find a provider?

For much as it feels like when surf hits the sand,
if aims are missed it is sad like lost land.

And if it is lost for this moment in time,
it means that the intent was for it to be mine!

In spite of the gone, the head be held high,
as a soldier till he comes home or dies.

The only thing pondered quite simply is this:
that if we have feelings, then who did us kiss?
and if we have aims, then who sets the games?
and if then we miss, is it like tumbling sand in a little kid's pile and no bigger bliss?

For if the evolvement was right,
the rational would have developed the irrational and the day could be night!

And sure as the sane is sure not insane,
I lay on man's destiny forever a claim!

For if all this was given to me and to you,
then there is more than the random in the clouds and the blue!

And that's what then hurts when the arrow's too low,
that there is no such thing as "random" for the angle of the bow!

By days to come I'd much like to see,
the lines and bearings, the paths of the free.

For many strolls in the dark of the woods,
raise your glasses!
For them all to be past in our wishes like ashes!

For more days graciously delivered,
and sunlight on hills over hills we can bear.

Men of the free, attach your loyalty,
raise your sceptres,
all we all long for cometh here after!

I'm sorry if tears felt like bruises to the faint,
but no one are dead while there's still blood running in his wains!

Please give me more of the wine in that toast,
for the days we shall live and no past to boast!

Friday, September 11, 2009

2+2=0

Orange is the new red on recording-ppm metres, some say that 30 is the new 20 for age, and 50 is the new 40 and so on.

I was thinking... If 5 was the new 4, then 4 squared would be 2,236067977, and 4+4 would be 10. You could say you'd get a whole lot more value for money, so maybe it could prove to be a good monetary reform in a time of credit crisis. However if 2000 was the new 1700 I'd be 300 years older! I'm not sure whether that would give me extra credit and experience on my CV or simply less pension. Or maybe no pension at all since Otto von Bismarck had not had time to invent the system yet! So maybe we shouldn't go there, but it would be good fun to see Mozart perform live in Prague!

But lets not leave the numbers quite yet. For if we give the above mentioned 2,236067977 (and a few more digits) to the power of 4 we'd get 25. And since 25 is a product of 5 times 5, then for everyone who just became 300 years older, our 4*4 is 25 in a modern context. If anyone then should make the mistake as to take an old 4 and subtract 5 from it and label it "the new 2," we can easily see that 2+2 is 0.

There was a lot of noise when I walked through town tonight. Many people going out to party. One rule of leadership says that "leaders celebrate." It is true indeed that past milestones should be celebrated, but I don't believe all the party people are celebrating milestones.

After I ended high-school I told a friend that I was worried. I had ran away to the mountains every weekend thus far, to escape the clutches of boredom and many pointless classes by teachers who's knowledge was becoming pasé. I did vocational electronics and had many great teachers, but especially with a couple of them we spent a lot of time on irrelevant material from yester-years. ...if not yester-decades! I was worried. I didn't know if I had anything to "run away from anymore." My friend is wise and said that maybe it was on time for me to find something to "run to" instead of "from." I'm not sure if I have found it still. But more so, if milestones are celebrated... If the celebrations in town tonight are running away from the milestones, we reject the hights we have ascended; and if they are running towards them, people should be even higher on excitement by the end of the night and reasonably sober! And rightly we think that there are no milestones involved and people are running from the mundane at the most articulate, and where there is no articulation the celebration is becoming a mundane pattern itself. If cities were to bless us with the combined strengths of human society and support, division of labour, and entertainment; then the city has surprisingly many critics in our days. On the streets tonight it seemed like the "Big Issue" sellers and those who sell various party apparel were the only ones with an agenda. It seems like a lot of people need something to "run to!"

If kaleidoscopes were the new blue, I'd be dizzy when I looked at the sky.
If beer was the new water, a lot of English people would be happy.
If sparkling water was the new petrol, I'd be drinking petrol all night long baby!
If peace was the old war, then Charles 1st would not be decapitated.

I'm hungry...