Sweetness

"...this is how friendship should be, not how many years apart that counts but the value of remembering the little moment..."

Seriously, after watching the video I feel like "WOW".. at the right time when I was given this video, I just met my long lost friend and thinking of sharing about some old stuff to make a conversation, but at the end the friend seems to be kind of not interested and telling me to stop doing all that nonsense stuff.. why a lion can be more appreciating and accepting the reunion but human knows cocky, just when they think their life is better and bless.. only god knows the reasons why.

Compass

North;
alone and shadow

South;
memory and sadness

West;
ashtray and lighter

East;
hatred and jealousy


My map, damaged and broken,
and I'm lost in faith, looking for love,

depends on where is your forward,

remember, there is no such thing as backward,

Rise from the east,
the place i never seen a relief,
a promise land for who doing deeds,
that just a reasons and it never a bliss.

Begin in the far south,
the place we learn to see,
the best of everything it is,
and there is no return to here after we leave.

Reach the cold north,
where things are not the same as before,
the place I'm sure we will come again,
the only place that exit to east and west.

Localize in the deep west,
where all the place are mess,
sound like medic, but just a place for addict,
its the only better place that only left with the exit to the previous place.

Compass is brilliant,
no up neither down, just one on the middle ground,
still always lost because there is no actual pole,
ending with turn around, but "the same" is never found.

Depends on where is your forward,
remember, there is no such thing as backward,
If life is like a map, soon you will see the gap,
compass, never tell what's beyond the next step.

Rose Yatimah

This is pure pretty :)

SNAFU

"SITUATION NORMAL : All Fucked Up"

MEDIC!!!

"Lord, grant that i shall never seek to be consoled as to console,

 to be understood as to understand,

 or to be loved as to love with all my heart."

Blood On the Risers

He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright,

He checked off his equipment and made sure his pack was tight;

He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,

"You ain't gonna jump no more!"

(CHORUS)

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,

he ain't gonna jump no more!

"Is everybody happy?" cried the Sergeant looking up,

Our Hero meekly answered "Yes," and then they stood him up;

He jumped into the icy blast, his static line unhooked,

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock,

He felt the wind, he felt the cold, he felt the awful drop,

The silk from his reserve spilled out and wrapped around his legs,

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome,

Suspension lines were tied in knots around his skinny bones;

The canopy became his shroud; he hurtled to the ground.

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

The days he'd lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,

He thought about the girl back home, the one he'd left behind;

He thought about the medics, and wondered what they'd find,

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,

The medics jumped and screamed with glee, rolled up their sleeves and smiled,

For it had been a week or more since the last a 'chute had failed,

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

He hit the ground, the sound was "SPLAT" his blood went spurting high,

His comrades were all heard to say "A hell of a way to die!"

He lay there rolling round in the welter of his gore,

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

(slowly, solemnly; about half the speed of the other verses)

There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute,

Intestines were a'dangling from his Paratrooper suit,

He was a mess, they picked him up and poured him from his boots,

And he ain't gonna jump no more

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,

And he ain't gonna jump no more!

Major Richard "Dick" D. Winters (January 21, 1918 – January 2, 2011)

Winters quoted a passage from a letter he received from Sergeant Mike Ranney, 

"I cherish the memories of a question my grandson asked me the other day when he said, 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' Grandpa said 'No… but I served in a company of heroes.'"

in memory of Major Richard "Dick" D. Winters (January 21, 1918 – January 2, 2011)

Major Richard "Dick" D. Winters (January 21, 1918 – January 2, 2011)^[1] was a United States Army officer and decorated war veteran. He commanded Company "E", 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, during World War II. 

RANDOM TIPS : Select your drum VSTi

Okay, this time aku akan tulis review from my own opinion about 3 drum vsti yg aku dah cuba, EZD, AD dan SD2 


 

EZD @ EZ Drummer nih mmg aku dah lama sgt pakai, and dah biasa sgt with this plugin, for me its one of my very best and paling byk aku guna in my own songs and band song. Friendly usage, interface yg agak menarik dan mempunyai banyak expansion yg sgt sgt menjanji kan. Cuma EZD nih aku kategeri kan "you have to tweak drum vst", sebab kalau nak pakai terus from groove library dia pastuh groove clip looping kan dia macam tak puas, sound 16bit yg agak dengar macam midi (aku pernah argue dgn diri sendiri dgn mengatakan bahawa Guitar Pro nye RSE 5.0 lebih sedap dari EZD). Option tak banyak sgt, cuma dia banyak expansion macam vintage rock, eletronics, nashville, latin dan lain lain, cuma kau tak bole nak buat combo drum macam nak snare dari vintage tapi guna kat set rock kit. Bole buat, kau kene load banyak EZD kat synth rack kau, so bagi aku agak serabut kalau midi track kat host dah banyak sgt. Multi out yg bole di arrange nak guna stereo atau mono, very elegant option nih, Tapi overall aku bagi EZD nih mmg terbaik bila kita dah tau apa yg kita nak dan understand how to get it by tweaking and mixxing. Tapi kalau expecting macam nak drag and drop ke midi map dah terus sedap, bagi aku this so not suit for you. 


 

AD @ Addictive Drum, wow, terkejut aku bila first time guna, snare dia yg lazat, sound yg agak nasty utk peminat punk music macam aku nih, aku rasa seronok, sounding room yg agak aku rasa macam akan mempermudah kan kerja aku. sound 24bit yg best. pastuh groove library dia lebih best dari EZD, bole buat combo drum sendiri, mean thru dia nye own interface kau bole nak set snare dari 70's ke set yang lain, individual in interface reverb and fx, tak perlu nak set kat host send fx but very limited idea on that lah. yang agak boring bila multi out dia for stereo depa sharing channel track, macam kick and snare dalam satu track, walau di beri option utk ke mono multi out aku rasa still acceptable, Very in to the mix, tak susah nak mix kan dgn instrument lain, tapi still in pandangan aku it not so suit for some certain of song concept. Sometimes sound dia bole jadi not realistic and very digitalize and static abit and ambil masa skit utk long time EZD macam aku utk tweak to fit in mood of my song. Overall dia load lagi laju dari EZD, ringan, and utk memana band buat record dgn aku for demo version or nak cepat siap aku bole guna AD for certain genre like punk or punk rock most probably. 


 

SD2 @ Superior Drummer 2 aku rasa is the best choice of all, tapi vst nih tak bole berada di dalam Liga antara EZD dan AD sebab this is totally a new level of drum VST. Dgn menggunakan sepenuh 25gb of space, mmg berbaloi. Very indipendant and dependable. Bagi yg first time guna macam aku memula rasa cam kekok skit, especially bila di assign ke multi out, NY Avatar yg ada in and out channel which aku tak habes study lagi about this. Bole tweak individual percussion ,itu yg best. But for v2.2 ke bawah takda groove library atau midi library, so kene combine kan dengan EZplayer pro, or just upgrade ke v2.2. SOund dia sgt sgt promising. After 1 whole night bermain dgn vst nih, aku akan cakap this is the best and tak patut di compare kan dgn EZD dan AD. Berbaloi dgn harga dia gak.Overall, this is gonna be most to most drum vst i will use, very versatile dan puas hati. Cuma tak best nye makan space sampai 25gb, sedikit berat dgn CPU usage. dan loading dia mmg laju gila babas~! 



still aku suka idea Huzai, record live micing lagi best, sebab kalau pakai edrum macam dm5 ke atau dm6 ke, pastu chain ke one of the vst kat atas tuh pun, still aku rasa better guna mouse dan susun kat drum map hehehe 

so buat la pilihan anda 

p/s:nak tunggu korang riview, tak habes argue je hahaha

SONAR X1

I just notice that Cakewalk already released their latest DAW, Sonar X1 (or maybe some would say it was SONAR 9).

Quote:

The big new feature for Sonar X1 isn't a sexy new plug-in or editing tool, but a revised interface. "It's clean, uncluttered and inviting - a vast improvement." -musicradar.com

Quote:

Skylight: Takes full advantage of today's high-resolution displays and multi-monitor setups. Hide, dock, collapse or expand any of SONAR X1's views instantly. Dock any view top, bottom, left or right. Dock any or all views into the powerful MultiDock. Float any view and maximize to multiple monitors - even the MultiDock itself. See through stacked windows and work directly on underlying objects with X-Ray. Access all tool functions instantly and ergonomically with the floating tool HUD. Recall any window configuration instantly - just the way you left it. -taken from KVR review http://www.kvraudio.com/news/cakewalk_releases_sonar_x1

Quote:

ProChannel The ProChannel is a SONAR X1 Producer exclusive that expands SONAR's already impressive console with big, pro-studio sound built right in to every channel. ProChannel provides one button access to bigger and punchier mixes - without ever needing to leave your mix view or launch and manage separate plug-ins. Each channel has a highly musical EQ, a choice of two compressors, two types of tube saturation, flexible drag & drop routing to order the processing, and the entire ProChannel can be pre or post FX bin. The ProChannel's Gloss EQ is carefully designed to sound clear and musical on virtually any source material. Utilizing the latest techniques, Gloss EQ injects the smooth beauty of an analog EQ directly into SONAR's mixing console. Pure, Vintage and Modern modes. 6 bands, 2 shelf/bells, 4 bell/notches. 2 fully parametric filters (high and low-pass). Gloss mode for one-button shine. The Pro Channel's integrated channel and bus compression is designed to offer the big, punchy sound of classic studio hardware with no need to manage plug-ins. The PC76 U-Type channel compressor employs classic FET design with fast attack and analog-style warmth. The PC4K S-Type bus compressor "glues" a mix bus together, imparting the radio-ready sound made famous by classic, large-format consoles. ** Unique in this design both compressors include a wet/dry knob for easy instant parallel compression setup.

just wanted to do some update here and there about this SONAR X1 

i already upgraded my daw Sonar 8 to Sonar X1 A and using it on new fresh installation Windows 7 64bit with 4gb RAM, Intel Core2Duo, 8400gs 512MB, and Toneport UX2. 

overall, i like the new interface of this DAW, the segment are more elegant, the color, theme and stuff, really bringing you the feel of using Cubase + LIVE + Reaper. 

the sound i try to compare side by side with Sonar 8, i feel the surrounding more warm and live, its kinda feel like using Cubase. Much lighter on CPU usage i believe as im hardly to get drop out after loading alot of plug-in and VSTi, which compare to Sonar 8, when im on 32 track with each track got waves Q10 mono and Superior Drummer 2 plus more with CLA plugins, REQ plugins, Its really impressive which Sonar X1 dont get the drop out but Sonar 8 does. 

The DAW had built-in bitbridge by sonar which can support and bridging your fav 32bit plugin to can be use in X1 64 bit (any how on installation u can chose to install X1 x86 or x64) 
For user who already familiar in using Jbridge, the function are the same as how we use in 8.5. 
On my personal point of view, i rather to pick up the plugin in Jbridge more rather than BitBridge which are so unstable. 

Issue with Toontrack product such as EZD or SD2 is that some of the time the VSTi wont load the sampler after load it in sync rack. Even after i update my both toontrack product with their latest 64bit update, the problem still presist. In other hand, if we re-open old project, it will load, the only problem once u close the EZD windows, i wont turn back on, unless you re-start your machine. 

the mixer console on the daw is pretty not in a good design to compare with previous one, which are more simple, less graphically content, and easy to be monitored. the new one is more fashionable, too much GUI, the size are not in balance measurement, hardly to tab between busses and tracks. 

something that also annoying for multiple screen monitor user that this DAW not really work great on that setup, it much better to get the biggest monitor screen because the 2nd monitor will be wasted. part of it, the single monitor user already can get this issue solve as this X1 can open and hide all the graphical content with short cut keys. and they have auto measurement on arrange your mini windows like console, fader, browser, plugins, vst, spectrums and etc etc. 

it worth the upgrade, but still in my heart, i love the old sonar 8 interface, maybe i already used to it. on the other hand, the X1 performance, not using much of CPU usage, support for WDM,MME,ASIO which giving me a great benefit. And also you can share the audio driver while operating your work in X1.

TIPS: HOW TO START : Setup and Mixing you VSTi drums

first of aku byk tgk beginner atau young bed recordist tak mengguna kan multichannel track utk vsti drum. Why pakai multi channel? 

Multichannel ialah di mana kita divide each drum instrument mic ke individual track dalam DAW. Walaupun kita tgk kat dalam EZD atau SD2 derang dah ada mixer but have to remember output dia kalau ke single midi ialah dalam stereo concept which scale utk widing the sound of drum adalah terbatas. Even kalau kita divide kan ke multichannel especially utk SD2 ada choice nak jadi kan dia mono atau stereo, mono mean more channel track yg kita bakal ada dan stereo less channel as some percussion catagori akan di log dalam 1 channel as 1 mic for output. 

Beza pakai EZD dgn SD2 nih kira EZD friendly user, SD2 nih abang dia, more advance and more disk space use dan more heavy, and more specific kita bole kawal dari segi input mic, output mic, close mid far mic dan bus session. 

****macam mana nak apply multichannel hope korang bole google or download save template yg dah di sedia kan for DAW mana yg korang guna. 

*** why download template? or create own template, yer la, takkan each time nak buat new record masa tuh korang ambik setengah jam utk setup track je, waste of time. 

***notice : aku terang kan semua di adapt dalam SONAR 8.2 PE 

First start after apply multichannel, define kan each track punya nama utk memudah kan monitoring atau kefahaman masa work flow. Each multichannel di adapt akan chain dgn mixer dalam EZD atau SD2 

EZD standard kit mic / description / channel name to put in DAW: 
Kick - kick bass mic - KICK 
Snare Top - top snare mic - SNARE T 
Snare Bottom - bottom snare mic / bleed mic for tom - SNARE B 
Hats - hi hats mic - HATS 
Tom 1 - ride tom left mic - TOMS 
Tom 2 - ride tom right mic - TOMS 
Tom 3 - floor tom mic - TOMS 
Overhead - overhead mic / usually pick up for cymbal sound - OVERHEAD 
Room - room mic/ usually pick up the entire room drum sounding - ROOM 

***usually korang bole je separate each tom to individual, but aku suka sekali kan as aku jarang guna ride time in drum mapping. kecuali for lagu tuh banyak drum roll atau fill, baru aku seperate for surrounding sound. 

SD2 NY AVATAR mic / description / channel name to put in DAW:: 

KICK 
KD in - mic inside the kick drum 
KD out - mic outside the kick drum 
KD sub - sub mic of kick drum 

SNARE T / SNARE B (1176 chain it out to snare T) 
SD top - top snare mic 
SD bottom - bottom snare mic / bleed mic for tom 
SD 1176 - compressed snare top mic 

HATS - hi hats mic - HATS 

TOMS 
RT 1 - ride tom left mic 
RT 2 - ride tom center mic 
RT 3 - ride tom right mic 
FT 1 - floor tom 1 mic 
FT 2 - floor tom 2 mic 

OH - overhead mic / usually pick up cymbal sound - OVERHEAD 

ROOMS 
AMB close - close room mic 
AMB mid - middle room mic 
AMB far - far room mic 
AMB mono - mono room mic 
AMB bullet - dynamic room mic for pick up direct individual instrument sound/ dry sound, no verb, no ambience. 

****SD2 setiap mic boleh edit utk bleeding pick up, which kalau kau nak snare mic kau bole dgr sound toms sekali kau bole tekan edit dan select tom, mean tom akan bleed kat snare mic (but this method tak di galakan sangat, takut clashing sound on mixxing) 

so, youre done creating your own drum multichannel  so what next? 

___________________________________ 

Tips on improving your drum sound: 

DRUM SUBMIX 

usually technics nih aku buat utk memudah kan aku utk mengawal level keseluruhan drum aku. 

which is ; 

after korang dah level kan each drum instrument, balance panning each channel track, send all out put to this DRUM SUBMIX atau DRUM BUS supaya later bila masa mix let say kau rasa drum kau tak cukup kuat, guitar and bass lagi kuat, but kau malas nak calculate each instrument berapa db nak naik, kau just bole control drum bus nih utk semua naik sekata. still kalau kau dah naik kan rasa hats perlu slow skit, buka balik mixer dan slow down skit utk hats  save time. 

create bus channel, dan chain kan each drum channel output ke DRUM BUS. 

DRUM BUS COMP (compression) 

usually aku suka adapt double compression, selalu nya kat kick dan all snare. 

first aku comp kat individual track, later aku akan create bus comp utk kick dan all snare channel. but to ensure korang tak salah faham, apa yg dah di compress on individual track, tak perlu lah ikut sama apa yg akan ada pada bus comp, bus comp cuma di adapt utk compress a bit more supaya bole kawal kuasa kick dan snare utk cut thru dalam mixing. 

create bus comp, dan insert send pada single track kick dan all snare ke bus comp. so late at the end of mixing, kau bole kawal level utk how strong sound kick dan snare utk cut thru. 

SNARE PLATE REVERB 

bende nih adapt ikut pada keadaan, tapi snare mmg sgt mencintai plate reverb, but tak bole nak direct adapt on send fx dalam single channel, which hard to kawal later in the mix, too many snare channel, too many to send fx on each single channel, berat cpu usage. 

so sama method macam create bus comp, create bus channel utk plate reverb, insert send kat channel snare, dan control for how much plate sound nak di guna kan  

ROOM BUS COMP 

sama method macam DRUM BUS COMP, cuma ini di adapt utk room channel, but apply ikut sound mixxing dan keadaan, bende nih hanya berlaku adil bila sound room too much ambience, tapi kalau slow kan room level sound dah macam kurang enak skit..so nak wat camne? 

create bus comp nih dan insert send kat room channel, slow down skit room channel dan cuba raise naik bus room comp nih..ikut mana yg sedap. 

_______________________________ 

NOTES: 

semua nih hanya adapation utk EZD dan SD2. for other drum vsti macam Addictive drum, beatscape, drum session, BFD, FL, lain method probably harus di adapt kan sebab eact vsti represent different sound sample due to copyright issue. 

SIDE KICK TIPS: 

1. jgn nak compare sound recording live drum dgn vsti drum, sure jauh berbeza even dari segi level 

2. korang harus tanak each individual drum track clipping, dan ensure DRUM SUBMIX tak clipping juga. If clipping dan korang nak kan sound tuh, later on mastering drum sound akan soo hard, so ensure korang jaga level below -6 db or critical below -1 db...kalau still rasa nak gak sound tuh, korang bole adapt Ultramaximer dari WAVES plugin atau brickwall kat drum submix, set ceiling at least di antara -1db dan -3db ikut kesedapan yang nak. 

3. korang tanak apply reverb pada overhead, or over reverb pada kick, snare dan tom. dan kalau boleh jgn apply different reverb or too much different type of reverb. Imagine sahaja yg drum semua record dalam satu jenis bilik, so which mean derang juga kena share kasih sayang seadil nya, semua dalam satu reverb yg sama. 

4. jgn over compress, sound akan sgt muddy dan better pakai midi jer. 

5. jgn jd pemalas, check each note dalam drum map dan control each velocity dan duration for dynamic sound. 

6. Toontrack mmg kurang drum groove yg ada cymbal, so add la cymbal sendiri kalau bole, ikut cita rasa memasing. Jgn nak drag and drop je. 

7. Guna kan EQ hanya utk ducking dan tone changing. korang takkan nya too much EQ sbb nanti sound akan jadi sangat kartun. EZD dan SD2 dan provide real live sound sampler. 

8. Jgn guna barangan cetak rompak or download, certain cracked ada issue. 

9. modern way selalu nya org akan letak room level lagi tinggi dari overhead, igt sound overhead lagi thick dari room. 

10. apa pun nih paling penting, before korang nak balance each sound dalam multitrack, make sure off kan semua dulu, balance kan between room dan overhead dulu, dah dalam sound balance yg rasa sedap, then baru naik satu satu start dari kick sampai ke tom. 

___________ 

"if you treat vsti drum like a real drum, you will get more understanding on how to mix a good drum sound, dont mind about other people tell you what you need to do, some just know because they read alot, think logically, studio experienced and different taste in sound. But a persons alot of try and error knows better.Playing is a different aspect." - Pensado 

"Simple is more...and thats only for a great engineer with great equipment and with great input recorded, in learning progress, do alot, more you learn." - half huzai half aku wahahahahahah