| December |
[Dec. 17th, 2009|03:17 pm] |
I'm kinda lost right now. My life is broken into non-intersecting chunks. I turn one way and things are going very well. I turn another direction, and crazy and unpleasant things are happening. I keep going. I face the good side. I drown myself in projects and work. I could probably go every day and night for a few weeks and still not have all the projects I've began finished. Still, I have to take breaks for sanity. Now, though, when I take breaks, I just have no idea what to do. I end up sitting around, and nothing seems fun.
I like building things and I like fixing things. That is what keeps me busy. It's fun, but more than just being fun, I find it very gratifying. I build and i fix and I learn about what I'm building and fixing. I like that ah-ha moment; I like that moment of figuring something out. Eventually, I get burned out, and it seems like I have nothing outside of my little world of music making and gear. It just feel like killing time until I get up for work, or have my next nerd-out or rock-out time at the practice space.
It's not like I don't have direction. I definitely have interests and goals and desires. It's just the part of me that makes me try has turned off for a lot of the time. So where to now? |
|
|
| I am busy. |
[Sep. 25th, 2009|05:09 pm] |
I am busy, and (of the most part) I love it.
The week, in addition to working at my day job every day, I worked at the studio monday night, had a band practice tuesday, a different band practice wed, a show thursday, and then a show tomorrow/saturday.
Next week might be filling up, too.
The pedal business has been put off this week, though I still have a fuzzy bunny and the big fluff for sale. BUY THEM! Also, I might be building some livingly crafted preamps for bass and guitar. I'm very proud of my work, but in more of a craftsman way than a concepts way.
I gave the GvsG mixes to Tardon for mastering. Album/EP 2 looks like it will be having its release in mid December, after David gets back from India. We could try to do it before he leaves, but all the clubs that I like are already booked.
Off to the weekend. |
|
|
| CARTOGRAPHER!!! |
[Sep. 18th, 2009|03:11 pm] |
First Cartographer show in 2 years. Plus Chris Bolig is sitting in on drums for this one!
 |
|
|
| Exhausted, but well. |
[Sep. 14th, 2009|11:16 am] |
Last night and today I started to get really sick of the pedal thing. It's going pretty well. It seems to be scaling nicely, and at the same time it just began to leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Then it hit me. I've been getting my hours cut at work bit. I've been working six to seven hour days. I've been making up for it by pushing really hard with the pedals. Even though I only do maybe two to four hours of work at a time, I think I was at the practice space/workshop every day last week, from Monday 'til Sunday.
This was because I'd get out of work at 4:30 most of the time, so I'd go to the space and get a couple hours of work done before I went home, or before band practice. I did get quite a lot done this week. And I did have quite a bit of relaxation time as well. But I still feel this acute exhaustion that I can't quite place.
Tonight, it's off to mastering, with two or three projects on my plate. Woo!
Ben |
|
|
| Status report: |
[Jul. 27th, 2009|01:48 pm] |
We all know that no one posts here anymore. The only people putting long winded rants up on the internet on a regular basis are clawing and grasping for some kind of internet notarity. Well, maybe not all. Still, as we get deeper into the age of self publishing, I'm seeing three major situations start to form out of the goo of infinite possibilities.
1. people just want to keep track of their lives, perhaps for their own future knowledge, and share their details with some fo their friends.
2. people want their life to be some kind of reality show in which the world is held rapt by one's personal endeavors.
3. people want to share detailed information about a certain subject, such as a food blog, or recording web-magazine, or a journal of cycling rides.
I've always said that I liked keeping my journal for me. I like to look back at what I wrote 10 years ago or more, and see if I seem like a whiney kid or not. I like to remember the smaller waves I made with my life which got forgotten between the big waves that hit.
Recently, I feel like I've been living a simple but busy life. I'm doing lots of recording, lots of building, keeping very busy at work, having many lovely meals that Amanda makes, and generally creating my own little world in which I live. I'm happy doing that. I feel like I'm boring, like I should want to have more adventures. I kind of do. I just find myself getting interested in some little thing, and then I explore that and it gives me great pleasure to learn. When one little thing dies out, there are three or four new little things grabbing my attention.
Also, I think I enjoy the variety of have many projects going at once. For instance, a few years ago I rented a car to go on a weekend trip and explore the north bay by myself. I got the car, I threw my bike and guitar, some clothes and my sleeping bag in the back. I headed out for a weekend of wandering around. I went to a few towns. I had a nice lunch by myself. I went and saw the ocean in Bodega Bay. Then, near dark, I started to think of all these things I wanted to do at home. So I turned around and drove home. I did take the scenic route; I was in no hurry. Still, rather than get lost in the north bay (one option), I chose to return to my apartment where I could work on any number of my interests, and jump in between each at any time (many options).
This weekend I mixed some Guitar vs. Gravity, worked on a pedal, hung out with Stephen, ate a lot of delicious food with Amanda which she made, walked around the street fair in Alameda and recorded the ambient noise, went for a bike ride, went for a couple walks, watched a number of DVDs from netflix, saw the end of the Tour de France, and so on. There is no big, overarching drive or goal. Instead, there is a cumulative satisfaction from many shot avenues. I'm not saying life is perfect. I'm just saying that I'm enjoying a lot of the little things without checking to see what they add you to at the end of the day. |
|
|
| Nerdy Sunday afternoon. |
[Jul. 12th, 2009|04:19 pm] |
I showed up at the practice space to do a bunch of work and I found David, Guitar vs. Gravity drummer, playing drums and getting some gear to sell to Starving Musician. We got to hang out and talk and ended up working on some mixes, which wasn't planned, but was a nice thing to do.
While all this was going on, I put my Ampeg V-4 on the variac to try and re-form the filter caps.
After that I started working on a fuzzy bunny pedal, and then I found I was out of 10k pots. I began working on a custom bunnydrive/booster for a friend. While doing this I found that I had ordered more 10k pots, but they were just still in the shipping box, and not in my drawers.
So I just hammered ahead with both pedal and tried to work evenly on each to hopefully save time in the long run. All that time I was slowly ramping up the voltage on the V4. With about a half hour left, I stopped where I was on the pedals and tried out the Ampeg. No luck on a three hour re-forming. In good news, though I should be able to finish both the pedals on my next build day.
Not bad for a three and a half hour day of work. |
|
|
| Another synesthetic experience |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|01:42 am] |
I was walking to Whole Foods today when a couple ladies walked by me with some notable perfume. The ladies weren't notable at all, and the fragrance really wasn't that great either. What happened, though is that I had a particularly strong scent to pitch experience.
It got me thinking about how all the words I use to describe scent are the same words I use to describe pitch or tonality: bright, dark, low, high, deep, thin, reedy, harsh, full, distant, direct, spacious, etc. In fact, I often don't think of actual scents words unless I need to describe them to someone else. I would never think, "that smells like rose," unless I had to tell someone else. |
|
|
| Guitar vs. Gravity Recording, Day Zero |
[Apr. 19th, 2009|08:08 pm] |
Guitar vs. Gravity discovered that it's easier for us to record on practice days than block out a big long weekend. We all have opposing weekend schedules. So this Wednesday, tracking will begin. However, I got a head start today with setting up the room, running mic cables and setting up mics.
David's new 70s Ludwig kit.
David's kit with a bunch of microphones.
Throne view... expensive mics.
Guitar fort with a wall removed. Also, nerd devices.
The world's best sounding amp.
You can find more photos and super hi-res versions here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benadrian/sets/72157616978643525/
Can't wait to actually, you know, make the music. |
|
|
| Lots of random thoughts. |
[Apr. 9th, 2009|01:45 pm] |
Today I've been scattered, but in a fun way.
There are blooming and blossoming trees around Lake Merritt, which seems like some one it trying fancy up the pollution. I know the trees can't help it, but it looks like they're trying too hard.
This reminds me of the new GvsG EP, which is yet to be recorded. It has a pretty cohesive theme about urban decay, society falling apart, art and intellectualism dying, future societies in chaos or under a larger controlling force, etc etc.
Why do I not write love songs? Do I just not understand? Do they bore me because I don't understand, or they're just non-interesting to me? I feel like a schmuck when I write love songs because it seems like I've heard everything. I also fear that I just can't be sincere in song form.
I was reminded today why the high-schooler 80s revival bus me so much. They outfits aren't coherent. I'll see a dude wearing rocker pants with a jock polo shirt. Then he'll have on new wave sunglasses and punk rock boots. His shoes want to kick his shirt's ass, and then buy drugs from his pants, who just sold the last of the coke to the sunglasses. IT'S ALL WRONG!
I finally got the pedal instructions in the mail to Eric in Indy. I have a contractor. I think this means I'm a half-real business.
I want to shoot some kind of video or videos for the GvsG release, or as promo for the release.
I like to use pencils at work, and I don't like the way they write unless I sharpen them with a razor. So in my top drawer I have a razor and a little subdivided section part filled with shavings and graphite dust. In a way, it looks nefarious.
My brian is turning into mush this week. The weekend will be nice. |
|
|
| Car problems |
[Feb. 18th, 2009|10:47 am] |
After returning from Costa Rica I found my car difficult to start. It had been sitting for about twelve days. I would crank it, and it would have to turn over about 10-15 seconds before it started. Once it started, it would run fine until it sat overnight.
After a few days, things changed. It began to start okay, but it ran with a very low and rough idle. I had to drive with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake so that I could apply just a little gas to keep the car running while I was stopped. I looked at the engine, and the alternator belt was very loose. I tightened that; it was a quick fix and seemed to help.
Then things changed yet again. The car would sometimes run rough, but sometimes run fine. Then, while I was driving to work last week, my car just shut off on my. It didn't sputter or run rough. It was just as if someone killed power to the system for a split second. This happened a few more times until finally, last Thursday night, I started the car, it started, and then immediately shut off. Luckily I was at band practice, so I just left the car at the practice space.
The problem was very confusing. The car started, the engine was receiving gas. It just would not stay running. When it died, it was a power loss, and all the gauges shot down to zero. I went back on Friday after work to work on the car. The battery was firmly connected. The spark plugs wires were all connected fine. I double checked the wire from the coil to the distributor. I checked the battery voltage. I pulled fuses on the fuel pumps to see if one was not working. I'm sure I did a number of other things. While I could get the car running, if I put it into gear, it would falter, usually shutting off. Still, i thought maybe I could get it home
Saturday Amanda and i went to pick up the car. I started it up, got to the gate of the practice space, and then it died. I was able to limp it back into a parking space. So Sunday I went back and tried cleaning the battery, and doing a ton of other stuff that I could do. I could get the car running, but I could always make it fail. That was it, it was time to get it towed to the shop.
I took the afternoon off on Tuesday and went to the broken down car. I decided as a final stray I would swap batteries between my car and Amanda's car. I started to disconnect my battery, and I notice one of the smaller wires coming off the positive terminal was frayed. It went to some important looking part I couldn't identify. I have all my amp repair tools at the practice space, so I went inside and got my wire strippers and a new ring terminal. I as able to put it on in a few minutes. I clamped the battery terminals down, and the car started. When I put it into gear the first time, the electrical faded then jumped back up. I drove it all around the lot, and only got a few voltage dips, but it never shut down on me.
Right then Amanda called and suggested i pick her up and we try to drive the car home. I was nervous. I still wanted to get it towed at first. However, AAA will pick me up no matter where I break down. So I went home and we returned to try and get my car home. Once I got on the road, the car ran great. In fact, it seemed to be running better than ever. Today I drove it to work, and it ran great the whole way.
I'm quite surprised that I seem to have fixed it. I keep expecting it to strand me on the way home. We'll see. |
|
|
| Hey, a rock show! |
[Feb. 8th, 2009|10:55 pm] |
This should be a great show. Sure, it's a Tuesday night, and it will probably be rainy, but who cares! We'll keep it early and I promise a great time with excellent bands.
Thanks! |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
benadrian's journal
