Production @ MindSay 
I chose to do a different song, but remain with the same band. Coldplay. After I had put up "Violet hill", I got a large number of requests to try "Viva la vida". There were too many to to pass it off. So I deided to record that one next. It's another one from their latest album with the same title.
some consider that it's not very professional to cover songs with backing tracks, but I always find a way of learning something in most things I do. I really want to improve my production skills. It's ok to record all the right bits for your song, but if the mix isn't produced properly, then all that work means very little.
One of the aspects I've been concentrating on is vocal production, and I've been trying to match that of the original song. It's made a big difference to my ears, and it's teaching me how to produce my own voice in relation to the different types of music.
I've implemented vocal boosting on this song. Plus low to moderate plate reverb in the verses. I've used the Chorus effect and a heavier plate reverb in the choruses.
This is the result. Viva la vida.
Now for some up to date figures from my Youtube account.
Subs have come and gone, but yesterday I awoke to the pleasant sight of 6 new subscribers. That puts the figure at 727.
Channel viewings are currently 16,529.
The overall video viewings have made it! They've gone past the quarter million views. All of this within a year of putting up my first Youtube video. The current figure now stands at 254,512.
I'm hoping I can now do that old album track cover that I said I was going to do in the first place :)
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Date Line June 17, 2007
Can you envision gasoline being affected by the Right-wing doctrine of inflicting "The most harm on the most people?"
Have you heard of ethanol? That great product which will be grown and serve to replace gasoline? You understand, of course, that the production of ethanol consumes significant energy and, as touted by many, will cause an increase in food prices. You do know that?
Well, in anticipation of the current joint effort of Congress and the Whitehouse, the oil industry has begun to scale back plans to expand refinery capacity. Smart move.
If the political unification holds, and produces the usual quality of planned social destruction, ethanol will be a bust.
However, even if it is successful, the objective is to increase the cost of energy; and that cannot be done if there is more product on the market.
Bush has called for a twenty (20) percent decline in gasoline use by 2017; that mandates a twenty percent decline in necessary production.
Why expand capacity, when the stated point is to reduce the amount of product currently being consumed by a fifth?
Obviously, if the only eighty (80) percent of current, or projected, gasoline needs is available, the reduction goal shall be achieved. Bush will enjoy his first and only successful "stated" objective.
Of course, the real cost of gasoline at the pump will probably double. More important, it will take far more than ten years to make ethanol a viable, widely distributed, alternative fuel.
In terms of scaled back capacity, what are we talking about?
Last year, the industry had projected a ten (10) percent increase in capacity; or roughly 1.6 million production barrels a day.
The Senate is seeking ethanol production to reach 15 billion barrels, or 41 million barrels a day, by 2015. The Senate also expects that to double by 2022.
Clearly the Senate expects there to be more ethanol than gasoline. If we put that in comparative terms, 41 million bbl ethanol verses, at the ten percent expanded capacity, about 18 million bbl gasoline.
Those figures would make the United States a net exporter of energy.
There has to be something wrong with this picture. The published numbers simply do not make sense. The America cannot grow that much raw material; we don’t have it in corn, or in grass, or wood.
The cost of any capital expansion project is amortized over decades. It is not expensed against income in the year the expenditure is made. If you reduce future income, you reduce the justification for capital investment. If you threaten profits, you reduce the basis, justification, for business expansion.
Back to high school economics, the Supply & Demand curve; there is an optimal point where production matches demand producing neither shortage nor excess. Let demand exceed supply and watch prices rise.
Cut production capacity, with constant demand, and unit prices will be seen to increase. Cut production capacity, with constant decreasing demand, and unit prices will be seen to remain constant.
Let Congress try to manipulate the marketplace, and shortages are inevitable. To manipulate a market, it is necessary to control all aspects of that market.
To decrease our reliance on gasoline, it is necessary to do the thing Congress refuses to do; it is necessary to double the milage vehicles receive from a gallon of fuel. Look to Japan and Europe to push in that direction while American firms manipulate both their books and their Congressional delegation.
How do we impose the most harm to the most people? The American economy is twenty percent of the world economy. If we can destroy the American economy, we can collapse the world economy.
How do we impose the most harm to the most people? We must make the cost of goods and services in America increase. To do that we must decrease the supply side, while allowing the consumption side to remain constant.
Have you heard of "Supply-side Economics"? Ronald Reagan and the Right-wing Conservatives touted that, as they ran up record deficits.
Fudge with the supply and the demand, as reflected in real need, is unaffected. The only effect that can come from supply-side shortages is price increases; these will be followed by a collapse of competitive ability; which, in turn, will lead to more out-sourcing of back office analytical services, or out-sourcing of production.
Out-sourcing does not affect only one business class, that which is dependant on face-to-face contact with the consumer. Once all the industries, including food production, have been outsourced, there are no consumers, because there is no economy.
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We the people can no longer afford to wait for someone to save us from ourselves. Our commitment to more continues to lessen our chances of survival.
Now is the time for all good men (and women) to come to the aid of their planet. Now is the time for all good people to say no to Madison Avenue and the temples of consumption. Wal-Mart, Kmart, Costco, Best Buy, and idiot presidents who tell you to go out and shop in support of war are not looking to the future outside of quarterly profit projections.
We can no longer afford the conveniences that litter our homes, pushing us deeper into financial and ecological debt, and threatening our communities. We just can’t. And no amount of Pollyanna thinking, or faith-based denial, will alter the inconvenience of the climate change.
In other words, we’re toast.
(Bob Nanninga - from "one nation under gluttony, avarice, sloth")
So, my host mother often invites me to go to the theatre with her, and I accept anytime I am able to. I love going to the theatre, and I find that it really helps me to figure out what I comprehend and also get to test my rapid-fire French skills. The theatre is interesting because the actors are using very specific vocabulary and they often talk with accents or in strange voices, so it is difficult for a person to understand if French is not their native language.
Akila told me that she and her friend were going to the theatre Friday and that it would be a good opportunity for me to talk with some interesting people, so I was really excited. We got in the car to go to the theatre, picked up Isabele, and we were on our way. Minutes later we arrived in front of a house and parked the car. I was really confused. Akila was like “ok, we’re here.” So I got out, and I asked her if we were at the theatre. Apparently it is really common here for traveling productions to go to peoples’ houses and present their play for only 30 or so people.
So, we went in, did the whole kiss introduction, talked for a while and then the production began. It was only one lady, and she came down the stairs for a dramatic entrance. After that, she performed alone for one hour and did two costume changes. It was really neat because she included the audience. I have to admit though, that I was mostly praying that she wouldn’t ask me something because I didn’t want to have to explain that I had no idea what was going on in the play. Haha.
After she finished her performance, everyone clapped for a really long time, so I figured it must have been really interesting. Don’t get me wrong here, I understood a lot of what she was saying, but I couldn’t piece together a story because I didn’t get any of the context. Akila told me after it was over that the word she kept repeating meant fortune teller, and it was a story of a woman who had a twin sister when she was young who died and she assumed her personality. After she explained that to me, I understood a lot better.
The actress came over and I got to speak a bit with her. She told me that I had great energy coming from my eyes while she was performing, whatever that means. Akila told her that I look at the television like that too, and we were the only ones who laughed at that. I hope she didn’t take offense…it was only a joke. I am supposed to go to the theatre again next week, but I guess it could be another home performance. I have to say that it was very interesting.
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