Mark over at Sysinternals made the following post recently, Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far. On one hand I’m not surprised in the slightest, music executives have proven themselves in the past to be some of the planet’s stupidest and greediest wastes of carbon to exist. However, it really is disheartening to see the continued criminalization of the consumer go on like this. This type of DRM system punishes the average user not to mention trashing their PC in the process and I will go so far as to say that the company that rights this software and the companies that implement it are no better than the phishers and virus writers out there. My advice? Buy independent music and use free software and tell Sony and First 4 Internet where they can shove their warez.
Archive for October, 2005
…banner actually. The old abstract one was feeling a touch stale so I thought that the site needed something new. Something that said 0.333 is a place of action, adventure, and classic men’s leisurewear. Thus was born the banner you see today.
Before I met my wife I fancied myself a bit of a bedroom recording artist. I had amassed quite a collection of recording and signal processing equipment, mostly analog and no samplers. I was a bit of a hermit, holing up in my room to write songs for hours, working feverishly all night on the finer points a tape loops and feedback, experimenting with sound layering a collages. The music that I made was a dubbed out illbient with touches of punk and thrash and it could be said that overall it wasn’t very good. The important thing was that I enjoyed making it and managed to record some 600 hours worth of content in a span of 3 years.
When we were just getting started in our life together I sold off most of the equipment–microphones, rack effects, signal processors, cabinets and heads–to keep us afloat on our meager earnings. I kept all the instruments, though, I was especially loathe to let go of my prized basses, a custom 6 string Washburn fretless and a Washburn 4 string fretless acoustic. Today, they sit quietly in our home with nothing to jack into to give them life.
I still dream about building another studio and as life in a new house gets more balanced I am going to build it for certain. Even my wife, the sweetheart that she is, doesn’t even bat an eye at the price tag because she knows how happy I’ll be making amateur attempts at music.
Every studio needs a brain and Apple makes some of the best in the business. Sure I could go with a tower but the PowerBook is at once muscled, elegant, and portable. Price tag - $2,500
I did all of my work on a Tascam 4 track Portastudio and I think that in its honor I should graduate to something powerful and digital. The console features an 8×2 digital mixer, complete with four effects sends (two internal, two external), EQ, dynamics, effects and Pro Tools LE will provide a wide suite of pre and post production tools. Price tag - $2,700
I have always worked with drum machines and dreamed of having a real drum kit. Well, the wife’s love extends so far as me beating on the tom toms so the TD-3S is a happy middle ground. Just think, 32 drum kits and onboard ambience and compression effects and all she’ll hear is a faint thwack and thump! Price tag - $900
Sure, the guitar I have always used was one that I liberated from my sister and it has served me well but I have always ached for that clear, bell-like sustain of a Rickenbacker. From Prog to Punk this guitar can do it. Price tag - $1,100
I’ve never been one for pedals, too much clutter and a pain in the ass to chain effects. The Boss GT Pro and Line 6 Bass PODx will pick up the duty of providing adequate cover to mask my feeble style. Boss GT Pro Price tag - $850 and Line 6 Bass PODx Price tag - $700
Hey, I do need a keyboard to play with all the synth pads! Price tag - $200
The total cost of this dream before tax and shipping is $8,950.
Reality check: it is likely she doesn’t bat an eye because nothing more than me rambling, an actual physical bill might significantly sway her feelings in the other direction.
Ohmega Watts’ latest album, The Find is a refreshing look backwards to a sound that is reminiscent of the Jazz influenced Hip Hop of the early to mid 90’s with beats and loops that recall A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets and De La Soul. The message maintains a positive outlook , rhymes dance around the everyday struggle and the affirmation of a life lived with confidence and pride in oneself.
Where It All Started is one of the stand out tracks and while though it is a shout out to the life of the MC with name drops of the places and people that influenced him it is a well constructed story covering childhood trips to Coney Island and block parties where he discovered the B-Boy and DJing. Production is solid, carrying the MC forward and providing elements that give the song a reference point like the 808 drop in the opening strains ushering in the year of 1979.
The Find is a well built album that even for is unabashed nostalgia moves the genre forward. The liner notes point out that Watts is influenced by contemporary artists such as RJD2 and The Herbaliser where the cut and paste style of those artists can be heard best in A Request where the bass line wobbles about a hopping drum line and a skipping guitar melody. Sprinkled about are vintage R&B samples, funky little break beats and turn arounds as well as the occasional prog rock guitar riff blowing in from the 70’s.
The album in its entirety is a beautiful vision and is an incredible showcase of Ohmega Watts’ talent. If you have a love for Hip Hop, soul, breaks or if you just love artists that push beyond the artificial label boundaries imposed by listeners this album is highly recommended. I for one will be tacking it on my Best of 2005 list.
Quick note. I am going on record by saying this product is not ready from prime time. It is a resource hog, possesses limited import/export functions, has a forms editor worse that VB Forms 1.0, and is prone to crashing. All in all it basically sucks at this moment. With that said, I think that I’m going to put my energy into developing it as a MySQL database and will think about whether or not to use pure PHP or Ruby On Rails for the interface development. I wanted this to be distributable so I’m probably going to lean towards pure PHP but it is my time and my server and I really need and excuse to learn Ruby On Rails so the coin is still in the air.
