I think it’s important for artists to know how to draw traditionally along with developing a style.. ( It’s a good fundamental!). I think I’m applying it to music as well. I’m going to try to produce a series (maybe they’ll connect together, maybe not) of symphonies (the traditional) before I jump into perhaps a genre or style…

SYMPHONIES take sooo long to produce. I don’t even know if I’m writing it technically correct but it will most definitely help me with developing proper composition structures in pieces. Oh, and composing pieces for instruments I don’t even play (violins, flutes) isn’t that hard at all!

Montreal trip with honey poo for our 1 year:

We went through a couple of “culture clashes” (which was pretty fun - it makes you feel like a tourist). Different signs, language, surroundings.

I also found this doll for my ex-roomie. It’s kind of funny ’cause her name is Kim and the doll kind of reassembles her ~

I thought of making my own flash filters with transparent colored paper. The idea is to place these transparent papers over the flash of my Nikon D40 camera and then taking shots with the flash on. The flash should go through the transparent paper, giving the shot a split second of color light.

Playing around with different opacities of transparent paper (by adding/removing the # of sheets I’ve used). Here are a couple of shots (no photoshopping, but similar effects could be achieved digitally through photoshop… where’s the fun though?)
D40: Without any filters:
1 - 2 green transparent sheets:
5 yellow & 1 blue sheet (my favorite):

 

Many green sheets (some yellow) - ugly:

Placing the sheet directly over the filters:

** I find that these effects work better with close up / macro shots because the strength of the flash.

I just completed the blog design for my new Queen West Love Project:

It looks really plain, but the point of the layout is to keep it simplistic enough for the photographs to stand out.

I have so many things to add to this blog which I will this week (polaroids, photos, etc, etc)

What have I been busy with?

My art & design blog. My goal is to update it around 3 times every day or so. This is one of my art & design blogs that I will be starting up for my social media network. There’s another one I started but it’s too new to post about ;).I am also starting a Queen West blog next week, which will have a unique concept I’ll post about it once everything has been settled down. I’ll need to visit Queen West with a camera… a camera.. yes..

I’m going to get back into mixing (and maybe remixing) tracks. I haven’t done it since highschool! The plan: produce electronica tracks, compose piano pieces and my own beats. Inspiration will determine how long everything will take!

Anyways, here are a couple of tips that I picked up if you’re new to producing your own music:

Before you start: set up the BPM (beats per minute)

• Dance tracks: the standard is 140 BPM (you can deviate a bit faster or slower if you want)
• Other tracks: if you don’t know, 120 is the safest

Using Loops: If you’re going to use ready made music loops (shame on you!)

• Make sure all of the loops are at the same BPM, making them too fast or too slow from the original BPM will distort the sound
• As a standard, make sure all of your loops are at the same minor or major (if you mix up scales, the sounds will clash together)
• If you want to chop up different layers, what I try to do is have the same sample in 2 layers, overlap the chopped over the other and fade it out (or else you’ll get the obvious “cutting” in your track).

Mastering the final track: I’m not a sound engineer, but if you want to make your final track sound less “flat” follow these tips:

• USE panning: panning simply means certain layers (instruments) are more louder on the left or right ear than another. If you have different panning for each layer, it’ll sound less flat. (Example: If you have a guitarist on the right, make sure that guitar layer is louder on the right, guitarist on the left, louder on the left speaker and so on)
• USE your equalizer: make some samples have more bass, less bass, more/less treb to lessen the flat sound. Note: do not add in too much bass or treb or else the sample will distort in sound.

USE a good program to mix your tracks that actually producers from record labels use such as:

1. Reason
2. Logic
3. Acid Pro

A source for many inspirations: The Exchange District & The Forks. Great Architecture with some street art here and there. It’s similar to Downtown Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market area except the streets are much less populated (sometimes empty) and a tad more run down, but it adds age & character.

Where I’m staying for a month: Osborne Village

My project that I’ve delayed since the end of high school (2006) is back >> indiekool.com.
It’s kind of slow at the moment, but I’m going to add tons of music reviews and random stuff along with searching for more interviews. I haven’t checked my email address for indiekool in ages and realized there were some PRs requesting interviews and such time to revive the blog!Also: With a little bit of SEO work, the site ranks on the first page for “indie culture”