armistead burwell smith the 4th of pinback plays an almebic bass. This sort of bass has active pickups and a very distinctive sound, it is more like a guitar, clean and crisp. I don't have $12,000 for a signature almebic deluxe 5, so i was playing around with some vst and sound effects to find that "sound."

The bass guitar is a "peaky" instrument. It is one of the few instruments (along with some drums) where it is common to compress the sound before it hits the a/d converter. The reason is that the peaks are so high that if you actually captured them, you would lose too much fidelity in the low end. So you have to compress the signal. So I was listening to the almebics and decided that's where the sound came from, that is, the signal was uncompressed. Normally you can't do this, but if you have active pickups this means you can process the signal before it gets out of the guitar so you can compress or limit the signal and then re-expand it to give back the dynamics inside the bass guitar, and that signature texture of the active pickup.

So here's what I did, I compressed my bass signal as normal and then routed that to an "uncompressor." I tried a dozen different compressors, and finally found one that gives me that "sound."

http://thirtytwoaudio.co.uk/Downloads.aspx

That's the Multi-band expander by 32 audio.

I was able to get something very close to the pinback sound by keeping the sub expansion at 1/4, low expansion at 1/4, low mid at 100% expansion, mid hi at 75% expansion, hi at 0%.

This is not an eq. An eq just filters (actively or passively) the sound. An expander will make a soft sound even softer and a loud sound louder, but just for particular frequency ranges.

I also tried ampeg's bass guitar cabinet and pickup emulator, guitar rig's bass cabinets and heads by native instruments, redshift's pickup emulator, but none of the emulators gave me the right sound that this multi-band expander does.

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My computer's been on the blink for a while, so I've been using Sarah;s, which has led to a pile of post-it notes and scribbled-on scraps of paper gathering on my desk. A lot of these were reminders to post this or that on the blog, which, I obviously didn't do. Sarah spent many hours yesterday trying to revive my ailing machine, which is more or less now acting responsibly. We'll see how long that lasts. In the meantime, I'm gonna play catch-up with a few random mentions of this, that and the other:

- The House of Fun Art For Sale list was updated after we got home from the Baltimore Convention, I just never told anybody because I'm such a savvy business person. We got hit with some unforeseen expenses (inc. a hefty car repair bill, ouch) so I'm offering up some new pieces, a few of them relatively big ticket items, a few of them relatively affordable -- pages from Milk and Cheese pages, Bizarro Comics/Bizarro World, Hellboy: Weird Tales, as well as a few pin-ups, odds and ends and the cover to Dork #6, which was The Eltingville Club issue  (a note to the reader/customer who purchased the back cover to #6 and the Eltingville t-shirt some months back - I have lost your contact info, which is why I did not write you about the front cover. If you're reading this, please get in touch with me, because I feel badly that I screwed that up. My apologies!). Also, we've lowered the prices on a number of older pieces on the list. Several pages have already sold since we added the new artwork, as a few regular customers contacted us, but the list has been updated to reflect those purchases. If time allows we'll be adding more stuff before the holidays and we'll likely put some more layouts and small pieces up on e-Bay as well.

- I am going to be appearing weekly on the SLG Radio show every Thursday, or at least every Thursday SLG head honcho Dan Vado puts a show together. My segment will be taking place in the last fifteen or twenty minutes of the show. We'll talk about comics, I guess. We'll see. So far I've mostly yammered about nothing in particular while Dan tries to get a word in edgewise. It's a live call-in show, so folks can participate if they want. Previous broadcasts are archived on the blog radio site and upcoming guests are announced on the page as well, so check it out.

- Speaking of radio, I don't remember if I posted about Jill Thompson and I having been guests on Robin McConnell's Inkstuds radio program recently. You can listen to the episode here. Inkstuds is a great comic book resource, Robin's interviewed a terrific array cartoonists over the course of its 4-yr run (Happy Anniversary, btw).

- Speaking of interviews, here's one Jill and I did with Crimespree Magazine regarding Beasts of Burden.

- Speaking of Beasts of Burden, here's a preview of the first three pages of the upcoming third issue, which is an Orphan solo adventure. While the orders for the series have been less than stellar, the response has been extremely gratifying, and it doesn't look like retailers are getting stuck with too many copies dying on their racks. We've also received some very nice comments about the series from creators like Neil Gaiman, Dave Gibbons, Len Wein, James Robinson and Eric Powell (all on Twitter), which has been cool as all hell to see, I must admit. #3 ships on the 25th, and hopefully will be a fun sort of palate cleanser after the downbeat second issue. At least that was the plan.

- Geek Alert: Universal Monster movie fans take note - I accidentally stumbled across a reference to The Universal Cult Horror Collection, a set of five lesser-known weirdies including Murders In The Zoo, The Mad Ghoul and Rondo Hatton as The Creeper in  House of Horrors. The set is only being sold through TCM.com (and one other online source, but the price is the same, iirc), it's part of a deal TCM made with Universal to release some films on demand, and hopes are high that perhaps this could lead to getting Island of Lost Souls out on DVD. The films can be bought separately, as well. I haven't seen any of these, I'm sure they're nutty jerk-fests, but I love this stuff. Now, if I could only afford them...

-I've got something like seven new Fun Strips done or almost done. I've gridded up a batch of strips and pages to work on whenever the ink's drying on another job, so who knows, I may have some Dork-type comics to show you folks sooner or later. Still trying to get more done on that Milk and Cheese strip I started and posted a bit from a little while back, but it's slow going. 

- I'm also working on a pin-up for a charity auction that has been fun, little cartoony versions of as many old Marvel Comics villains as I can remember the details for. It's a small piece but I'm trying to get as many figures in as possible, I think I have thirty or so right now. I'm trying to see how many characters I can draw more or less by memory, and then I'll get the reference out and see what I screwed up, and complete the details on the characters I don't know well. Some characters I can't even lay a single line down for, so they'll need reference. In my head I can see The Mandarin and Klaw, but on paper...nada (besides the sonic weapon -- weird!). But it looks like 80% of these bums are still floating around in my memory banks while I forget my social security number and my own phone numbers. Maybe I'll scan it as it stands and post an in-progress image. Or maybe not.

- If the November issue of Nickelodeon was the swan song for the magazine, I'm depressed. If December turns out to be the final issue, still depressed. We had a gag panel in the November Nick...what a bummer to see it end. And just when Emily started reading it, of course.

- I've been reading a lot of Spider pulps, my first Avenger pulp, old horror short story collections, some Fritz Leiber SF short stories, some Robert Bloch, some recent young adult fantasy series (The Magic Thief and The Last Apprentice), some David Goodis crime novels, some lesser-known (to me, at least) Black Lizard crime reprints (The Vengeance Man, You Play the Red and the Black Comes Up), some Jim Thompson, and some Blackjack manga. Nothing heavy, nothing too depressing.  The Lawgiver is planning a house move, and is culling his library, so I've been hauling bags of old paperbacks over here to digest and then donate. I'm keeping the Spider paperbacks, though. It's been a lot of fun, and a lot of it is research for projects, so it's sort of work, as well. Some days I just want to stay in bed and read until I fall back asleep, like when I was a kid on a rainy day. 

- I'm doing a lot of stuff for Bongo right now, and for the foreseeable future --, and it's time I got back to that. 

Latersville, all.

Slowly, but surely, my immune system is defeating the crud.  

I got myself back on Goldenseal suppliments Friday afternoon... since then I have been getting progressively better.  
Yesterday afternoon, I took a nap... during which my sinuses seem to have hit a turn around point.  Now they're just annoyingly drippy and pluggy rather than painfully so,  I was able to sleep through last night with a minimum of discomfort... although I had really weird dreams.  (This happens whenever I use some kind of sedative... I took NyQuil last night to put me to sleep and calm my cough.)

Fever is gone... as is the malaise.  Cough is minimal.    

It seems as if the good guys are going to win out sooner rather than later. :)

For now, though, I think I may take another nap. 

This year, Hello Kitty turned 35, so Happy Birthday! I have had more HK and other Sanrio items than I can count.

In honor of this, I dressed as her for Halloween.


I'm also a big fan of Badtz-Maru (the cynical DJ penguin) and Keroppi (the happy frog).

I have no idea who is dressed up as these characters. I found this on Google. It looks like it was taken at the Baltimore Convention Center, so I'd guess that this was from Comic Con (or maybe Otakon). But I don't really know, especially since I'd think it would be more crowded. Anyway, it's cute!

health care reform bill with no public option..wtf..why are we giving MORE money to health insurance companies?!

and i don't understand the no federal funding for abortions. does it even support abortion when the mother's life is in danger. did abortion ever get federal funding? if the supreme court(which is a federal court..RIGHT?!) passed roe v. wade...then why can't they back up their decision with funding? i highly doubt MILLIONS more women will get abortions because it's federally funded.

why are men getting all the ed drugs they need and women keep getting restrictions placed on what they can/can't do with their bodies?

jesus christ what a mess.
UGH.

(and i hope my taxes don't go up too much..i in no way supports this shitty version of the health care reform bill)

 

***
Borscht!...Finally got word of when the Borscht Film Festival is happening. This year it is at the Olympia Theater (at the Gusman Center), November 28th (@7pm). The Crew and I got this project turned in on time, and we'll have it ready for youtubing once it makes it's initial premier.
***
Carrying More Stress in the Jaw...The toothaches came back this week. After a quick trip to the Dentist, it turns out another wisdom tooth is pooping out, this time with a cavity already in it. If I had Dental Insurance (or any insurance) I'd probably get the cavity filled in or the tooth pulled out, so I'll just have to resort to pain killers and red wine for now. The pain has been subsiding over the week, but now I got another tooth in my head to worry about.
***
Ghetto Gig...Band practice with the crew has been going extra-ordinarily well. We decided to utilize the drum kit on the keyboard (via Garageband on the Mac) for percussion purposes for our live shows. We play to an already constructed drum beat that sounds more dynamic than your average drum loop. The core of the band is stronger than ever, me and Eric (our guitar master) finally got to do some real rehearsing when we drift off into our extended drum and guitar jams instead of rigidly playing to a song. And we even managed to write an original song! I think the next show will go off better than our last gig, this time we've prepared for all disasters. I'll have video later on in the show, I even cooked up a special little youtube post of me and Eric riffing on some classical music. Stay tuned for that, as for me, Showtime is in a few hours so I am out of here. Come see us at..
GHETTO BLASTER PARK
74 NE 17th Street
Downtown Miami

Celebrating childhood goodness again. And yes, one of my favorite 'toys' was not really a toy at all but a child-size bookshelf in the living room, the sort that was divided, with a sliding chalkboard top that revealed a storage bin beneath. I devoured books from the time I was in kindergarten.

361. sock sliding on hardwood floors
362. Dr. Seuss
363. skipping stones across the lake
364. forts fashioned of couch cushions
365. E.B. White*
366. Saturday blueberry muffins**
367. Shel Silverstein
368. Beverly Clearly
369. wheelbarrow walking on your hands
370. red light, green light
371. hide-and-seek
372. Judy Blume
373. treehouses
374. the much anticipated arrival of the Sears Wishbook catalog in the mail***



* Every night, at bedtime, my mother would read a chapter of a book to me. My favorite as a little girl was Charlotte's Web.
** They were a special once a week treat. To this day, mom still makes me blueberry muffins on my birthday if I am in town.
*** Funny story but D said he would get it, tear through the pages and hastily scribble down a wish list. I would peruse the book a few times, take a notebook paper, methodically draw columns down it and then write out the page, item number, item description, size or style (if applicable) and price, before giving my wish list to an adult. I told this story to D and he said, "Somehow that doesn't surprise me."

in ann arbor, on hoover street right next to the football stadium there was a store called "Purchase Radio" founded by roy purchase in 1930. After roy retired, he got Dan McCullough, his son in law to run it. For decades people who did their own electronics would go there, you could buy op amps, tubes, wire, transistors, circuit boards, and of course, all kinds of cool shortwave radios. It was a very typical small electronics parts store, which used to be found all over the nation. Home brew guys would go to the store, and sit around talking shop, and would even help you draw up a circuit.

sad pictures here:

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In 2007 Dan retired. Of course, it's easy to find electronic parts you want on the internet. You can go to mouser.com or digikey.com. There are plenty of people to chat with too. You can post your circuits on diyaudio.com, and yes it's cheaper now, of course you have to wait for the mailman to come, and you never talk face to face with anyone.

It's become strangely impersonal, but internet shopping is an irresistible force.

I checked one day to find out how far I would have to drive to buy a power audio ic to fix an amp I had and the nearest place was chicago. I think there are less than a dozen electronics parts stores like purchase radio used to be left in the nation. The internet ate all of the rest.

The internet is busy eating up all the specialty shops like this. But it won't stop there. The internet will eat up anything that can be easily shipped. One day the only retail that will be left will be furniture stores, grocery markets, pet stores and clothing stores (pre-built furniture is expensive to ship, food you eat every day, pets don't travel well, and clothing needs to be tried on).

sears and roebuck was the pioneer of shop at home.



The reason that sears and roebuck catalogs never killed brick & mortar is that it was impossible for any paper and ink catalog to have enough selection. The internet fixed that.

• 08:57 is getting ready for a bridal shower. #
• 15:54 is transitioning from bridal shower/ dress try on mode to Fight On! mode. #

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http://realmofryan.blogspot.com/2009/11/nanowrimo-2009-week-1.html

Midnight tonight brings an end to the first week of National Novel Writing Month 2009, the first 168 hours of novel writing. To keep pace for making 50,000 words by midnight on the 30th, writers should have reached 11,669 words by the end of today. Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo, posted a video at the website urging everyone to push to get to 15,000 by the end of Monday. A good sentiment; I wish the video weren’t so freakin’ embarrassing to watch. Seriously, Chris, an Ewok? You think an Ewok will inspire people? BRING ON GODZILLA! Now that’s inspiration.

Me? I’m at a touch over 30,000 words. This puts me on pace for most of the first drafts I’ve written, including the book for NaNoWriMo last year. I’m a touch ahead from last year, but that’s because I took a day off from writing anything during the first week of last year’s NaNoWriMo, and I’ve written every day this year so far.

Observations on the first week? Is it different than last year? It’s a new novel, a different world, so that’s quite different, of course. I’m doing freelance and tutor work instead of doing a day job, so that alters everything. And I went in with less planning on the novel than last year, so I feel my work this year is a bit “wobblier,” but I don’t have a fear that what I’m writing is unsalvageable garbage. I won’t really have a good opinion of it until I read through it a month after I finish it. But so far, it seems close to what I anticipated it might be. Even though it looks like I’m writing in a fast delerium, I do take care as I write, use the backspace, make minor edits, and try not to simply pound out random thoughts when I get stuck. That works for some people, but I do need my first draft to feel cohesive, if not necessarily “good.” My high word count comes not from speed, but from training myself over years of writing to simply sit down and just write and not get up until I’ve put in the promised time. In some parts of my life, I’m not very disciplined, but when it comes to writing, I’m fierce about it.

Once I finish this “Weekend of 10,000 words” I’ll drop down to shorter amounts during the workweek… but if I have my pattern properly marked out, I should make it to 50,000 words on Sunday the fifteenth. However, I can already see that the book will go to around 75,000 words, so I’m in for the full month haul like last year. I think 75,000 is my magic first draft number. It seems the right start for a Young Adult novel.

A portrait of the band, We Are The Fallen.

The butterfly is a classic symbol of rebirth after death. I thought it was appropriate, considering that most of the band are former members of Evanescence.

We Are The Fallen
Acrylic and Digital

All I see is black and cold
As I try to pull you down
To the ground, the ground

You bury me alive
And everybody's got to breathe somehow
Don't leave me, die
Too consumed by your own emptiness and lies

AliceMeichi.com - Illustration Portfolio

This and many other prints of my artwork can be found on my store: store.alicemeichi.com.

A portrait of the band, We Are The Fallen.

The butterfly is a classic symbol of rebirth after death. I thought it was appropriate, considering that most of the band are former members of Evanescence.

We Are The Fallen
Acrylic and Digital

All I see is black and cold
As I try to pull you down
To the ground, the ground

You bury me alive
And everybody's got to breathe somehow
Don't leave me, die
Too consumed by your own emptiness and lies

AliceMeichi.com - Illustration Portfolio

This and many other prints of my artwork can be found on my store: store.alicemeichi.com.