NIN Remix

For all of ya who dun know, you can get NIN's raw wav files for remix.

Go check it out and remix some shit!

Trio of Doom

Trio of Doom consists of John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius and Tony Williams. This is a jazz/rock album and the first five songs are live takes from 1979's Havana Jam in Cuba. the rest of the album are recorded in the studio.

For a album recored in the late 70's/early 80's everything sounded really nice and clean.

Listening to this album is like listening to three great masters playing individually but yet they compliment each other really well. Tony Williams ferocious hi hat and snare rolls combined with McLaughlin's violin like guitar and Jaco's fat and rounded bass tone seamlessly fits in.

The dynamics of this album is incredible. When listening to modern albums, you will hear a lot of heavy compression, everything is very much at one volume or a particular place in the mix. However Trio of Doom is different, you can hear the dynamics very succinctly and clearly for each player.

Anybody who is a jazz/rock fan should get this incredible album.

9/10

Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos 5.1

Systematic Chaos is ballsy and dark but dun be mistaken its not heavy like Train of Thought. The overall theme is like sadness, you have songs that talks about monsters, people dying and stuff.

As expected the longest song on this album clocks in at 16:38 and the shortest song is 5:35. Songs like Constant Motion and The Dark Eternal Night are extremely heavy and ballsy. The song Forsaken feels out of place, it sounds like something you will hear on the radio and not on a Dream Theater album.

For the 5.1 mix, you mainly have vocals and bass coming from the center speaker, front left/right contains the drums, guitars and keyboard. Back left/right is mainly backing vocals and some acoustic guitars/keys. One of the immediate difference of a 5.1 and a stereo mix is, 5.1 feels more spacious everything is spread out nicely.

8/10 for this great progressive rock album

Travis Barker

Travis Barker is the ex Blink 182 drummer and this is his version of Soulja Boy's Crank That. This is some intense drumming!

AC/DC Live

This is an old classic live album. I still remember back in 1992 when I bought the cassette version of this album...ya I'm that old :/

This is a new remastered 2 CD set. This album was remastered by mastering guru George Marino from Sterling Sound. If ya wondering whats mastering, well here is a pretty good article on mastering by The G-man.

For those who are unfamiliar with AC/DC they are a very well known rock band from Australia formed in 1973. Some of their well known hits include Thunderstruck, Shoot to Thrill, Hells Bell, Highway to Hell and For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

I dun particularly like the way Brian Johnson sings but however I really dig some of the guitar riffs by Malcolm and Angus Young. In alot of their songs, you can hear that they are very much influenced by the blues. High energy arse kicking riffs!

7/10 for this great album!

Opeth - The Roundhouse Tapes

I've never been a huge fan of these Swedish progressive metal masters, Opeth. Its probably because they down tune too much, it makes everything sound really bassy and dark, even the way the album was mixed, its really dark too, the cymbals are way in the background, at first I was like shit is my hearing gone? I can barely hear the highs.

By the way this is the first Opeth album I bought. I've had heard some of their stuff from friends and via the web. It didn't make me go wow but they definitely did not make me go yucks. In particular I like The Night and the Silent Water, Windowpane and Blackwater Park. Did I mention that this is a live album? But it does not feel like an live album. You dun hear the audience a lot.

This seems to be the current trend at the moment. You dun really hear the fans as much now, only at the intro, outro and when the band ain't playing. It feels too clean :(

Overall I would say the mix and feel of this live album fits Opeth. I'm very interested to get the 5.1 mix of Ghost Reveries I've never heard a 5.1 mix of a progressive death metal band, should be interesting to check them out.

6/10 for this album

Stunts

Oh man check out some of the stunts, crazy stuff.

Rain/Zouk

Man its been raining like crazy for the past couple of days in Singapore, a typical day for me...I leave my apartment, dry and reach my destination, wet.....

And I'm using an umbrella, the rain is juz too fucking overwhelming....

Anyway, I'll be doing FOH at Zouk this coming Thursday for the SAE party.

So be there or be deaf

Transformer Cosplay

I'm not a huge fan of cosplay but this is some serious shit!

Guitar Pickups and Snare Drum

Check that out...freaking kool :)

Face Book

Facebook addicts check it out its for ya'll

Art?

This is pretty kool so check it out!

Live Earth DVD + CD

Went to the record store today, Live Earth DVD + CD is out in Singapore, bought it straight away cuz its for a good cause!

Plus you get to listen to some really cool music and learn ways to save the earth too :)

Support Live Earth!

MDA Rap

MDA is Media Development Authority and they are in charge of censorship in Singapore.
I juz wana say this is pretty awkward but still pretty hip. I actually went through the whole clip.

World Community Grid

I've been involved with World Community Grid for over one year.

And quoted directly from their website:

"World Community Grid's mission is to create the largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. Our work is built on the belief that technological innovation combined with visionary scientific research and large-scale volunteerism can change our world for the better. Our success depends on individuals - like you - collectively contributing their unused computer time to this not-for-profit endeavor."

WCG is involved with several projects like Help Conquer Cancer, Fight AIDS @ Home Project.

I urged everybody to take part in this very meaningful projects :)

Radio mix/Stereo mix...handphone mix?

If ya not in the music industry, you probably won't know that, we have different audio engineers doing different mixes. Some audio engineers specialize in doing mix for radio, some for movies, some for CD...etc etc

When I was going home last night on the subway, some kid was blasting some song on his cellphone like real loud and it occurred to me, I should really be taking advantage of the technology, its no longer cool to juz use a iPod, dude its like back in the 80's, ur only kool if you carry a huge boom box around!(except you use ur cell phone now!)

Maybe I should start pitching myself as "Specialize in Cellphone mixing"

Catch ya all later!

Part time or Freelance?

I've been working in Singapore for a number of years and been to a lot of interview.
According to some reports, it takes an average of six months for someone to find a new job in Singapore.

Other than asking the typical questions like "Tell me more about yourself?", "Tell me why you are suitable for this job?" and my favorite question or sometimes they will tell you straight in the face, "You will most likely be required to work OT(overtime) and we don't pay OT, you MIGHT be given off in lieu, whats your opinion on this?" or more subtly "What do you think of working OT?"

I get the usual oh you mainly did part time work, in our company we don't count part time work as experience.....

Even though my part time work is directly related to job I've applied for....

I realize that when you say "Part time" in Singapore it roughly translate into something like working at Mcdonald's or waiter/ess. Basically it means, you work when you are free and you dun need any specific skill set.

A better way to term yourself is to use the word "freelance" Apparently by using "freelance" it gives you that "WoW" factor, I've people telling me, "I heard freelancing is really hard in Singapore you muz be really good to freelance!"

And NO, I'm not trying to LIE....I'm juz trying to get credit for my experience and I dun really like it when people tell me oh you dun have experience cuz you did work part time so we can only give you entry/basic pay......

Hence by using the word "freelance", it seems like its giving me a slight edge :)

Cheers

Largest Flying V?

Saw this on Youtube, check out this dude playing Pink Panther at Times Square.

Chinese Ghostbusters?

Man I dun know what to say, I'm not a believer of such stuff but ya we still have people believing in exorcism...career enhancement rituals...

Ghostbusters in Singapore

You believe in this kinda stuff?

Visual Sound Theories

I juz got this in the post yesterday. I really dig Steve Vai's arrangement of the songs.

For Your Info, this is not your typical, Live with an Orchestra album. Steve Vai rearranged his old songs for this project. For example, in the song For the Love of God, the harp was playing the chord progression. I think the new arrangements gave a very grand feeling to the overall sound.

Anybody who is a Vai fan should check out this DVD/CD!