shadiradio - blog

More Mini-Tunes

I've been working on an improved version of my melody maker, trying to make it more musical and pleasing and take out some of the chaotic randomness. I'll post it up when it's done, but in the meantime, here are a few tests running the MIDI files through some samplers and processing in Ableton Live. Kontakt crashes Live every second (maybe because I have my sample library on an external drive?), so I've been using Reason as the main rack sampler, and I'm definitely pleased! Check 'em out!

Pianos and mallets:

Banjos and guitars:

Strings:

Earthi

This is incredibly fascinating! I don't want to spoil too much, but it pertains to the current research, methods and results of discovering and studying other earth-like planets in our solar system. Hats off to people like Dimitar Sasselov and his team - keep going!

Wastebook

This is a very interesting article about 6 seemingly unassuming glyphs overheard in a radio telescope. What is out there in the vast sea of space? More specifically, what is this noise that came all the way from Sagittarius? Fascinating!

I'm sad that Red Dead Redemption is over. I can say without a doubt that this is Rockstar's best game to date, and definitely sits on the shelf of game classics. The sandbox environment suits the wild west so much more than a crime infested urban metropolis. This land is a place you actually want to *be* in. It's a beautiful masterpiece that captures the spectrum of guilt-free action and touching moments. Do. Not. Miss. It. In the meantime, enjoy this time lapse video of a bunch of locations from Nuevo Paraiso.

Robins can see magnetic fields. You can't.

Basketball is back in my life, and my back is fine. I'm back-sketball.

Everyday I feel an inch closer to quitting Facebook and Twitter, and I can't do it because there remains 5% that I actually like/care about. I wish you could filter your feeds by type of content (i.e., nothing about what you just ate or cooked). It seems to me that most social sites market their value as a way to "share" information, but I have trouble seeing past the narcissism of it all. Or maybe sharing is* narcissism? Maybe I'm just oblivious, but rather than display our unique qualities and experiences, it's making me feel that we're all exactly the same (I'm not excluding myself from that either). I feel as if I'm willingly asking for some sort of unspecial noise throughout my day. I'm *asking for it. Is anyone else feeling this way? Maybe we can organize a mass exodus together. Or maybe it's just me?

Faux Tilt Shift Videos

With some help from James and Danny, I got to put my 7D to good use and test out some of its video capabilities. I shot some footage above the Americana in Glendale (HD, 24fps) and attempted some tilt shift effects in post (After Effects). I also ran some of my melody maker's melodies through VST samplers for nicer sounds, and put it all together to make these little scenelets.

I'm super pleased with the results! It doesn't compare to a real tilt-shift lens, and these are definitely inspired by the master of all of this, Keith Loutit, but I'm already excited about hunting down some new spots. And hard drive space. 3 minutes of HD video is a little over a gig.

2's

I've been made a juggernaut and I've been broken down to my core. I've been on cloud nine, and I've retreated to my shell. I've been lucky to learn the secret to magic and for this, I promise to try and see the best in people.