Open Bar: Curbside Pickup Only

[Scribbly]

Last night was the first night that I've slept more than 3 hours in the past 2 weeks.

Glad I got there.

I was getting WEIRD.

[Cramulus]

Next month, this bar thread will have been open for 3 years.

its pretty weird that scrid is still serving beer to people via drivethrough window

I mean, it's 2023, they can just come in and sit down


and we don't even have a drivethrough window--scrid is handing full beers to people at the McDonald's drivethrough

[chaotic neutral observer]

I have two questions:

Why did Prigozhin turn back, and why was he (apparently, if perhaps only temporarily) forgiven?

Neither of those things make sense to me, from which I infer that something very interesting happened behind the scenes.

[Faust]

Its with news like that that I wish cain was still about

Speculation abounds:

The reddit mill is saying its because putin was able to threaten a large number of Warner troops families as leverage to turn away.
The pardon is needed so they don't change their mind, and because Russia still actually need them to bolster a largely green army with experienced fighters

[Scribbly]

I've mostly been taking Beau's analysis on the situation. When it comes to the military he knows his stuff. He's put out a lot of videos and the one this morning is interesting in the implications.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eHnTG2NB60

[altered]

I've been pushing through a very upsetting (but not bad) breakup by, uh, working on a remix and some trance synth leads for the Memorrhage guy. And crowdfunding my home-recording setup so I can contribute vocals. (Isolation shields worth a goddamn are PRICY.)

I think this is the most involved I've ever been in music. Almost daily I'm discussing with actual successful underground musicians my opinions on production and songwriting, and they're taken seriously. I can commiserate over EQing synth organs to sit nicely in dense mixes* and the other person will nod sadly and say "the decay..." because we've both been there.

It's really nice to be taken seriously by musicians who are legendary among "Thinking Man's avant-death metal" elitists and have done everything from chiptune grindcore to Bay Area screamo to nu metal. It's times like this I know my faith in my musical abilities is not Dunning-Kruger shit.



* Seriously, have you tried to do this without having to automate every band of an EQ to shift note-by-note? it's a fucking NIGHTMARE, and if you're gonna tell me to break out the comb filters I'm going to tell you to put that shit on some Scriabin-ass synthetic chords so you can hear the pan-pipers of Azathoth for yourself. It is an Incontrovertible Fact that organs, even basic ass synth organs with 3-oscillator formants, are made for filling every frequency above the fundamental with pure clean tonal bands and you had just better hope your tits that you have the headroom in your fucking mix to pull that off.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I've been pushing through a very upsetting (but not bad) breakup by, uh, working on a remix and some trance synth leads for the Memorrhage guy. And crowdfunding my home-recording setup so I can contribute vocals. (Isolation shields worth a goddamn are PRICY.)

I think this is the most involved I've ever been in music. Almost daily I'm discussing with actual successful underground musicians my opinions on production and songwriting, and they're taken seriously. I can commiserate over EQing synth organs to sit nicely in dense mixes* and the other person will nod sadly and say "the decay..." because we've both been there.

It's really nice to be taken seriously by musicians who are legendary among "Thinking Man's avant-death metal" elitists and have done everything from chiptune grindcore to Bay Area screamo to nu metal. It's times like this I know my faith in my musical abilities is not Dunning-Kruger shit.



* Seriously, have you tried to do this without having to automate every band of an EQ to shift note-by-note? it's a fucking NIGHTMARE, and if you're gonna tell me to break out the comb filters I'm going to tell you to put that shit on some Scriabin-ass synthetic chords so you can hear the pan-pipers of Azathoth for yourself. It is an Incontrovertible Fact that organs, even basic ass synth organs with 3-oscillator formants, are made for filling every frequency above the fundamental with pure clean tonal bands and you had just better hope your tits that you have the headroom in your fucking mix to pull that off.

Do you take very dumb music requests? Because there is a very dumb thing I want

[QuestionsTheSoil]

I used to play guitar, but kind of fell out of it because life. I got kind of decent I guess, and it was cool, maybe it's worth picking up again? I tried songwriting, which didn't go anywhere, but maybe I could try again.

IDK, for a while, I've just felt sapped of creativity. I lost passion for anything.

Damn, I miss when things felt good and I had hopes and dreams.

[altered]

I've been pushing through a very upsetting (but not bad) breakup by, uh, working on a remix and some trance synth leads for the Memorrhage guy. And crowdfunding my home-recording setup so I can contribute vocals. (Isolation shields worth a goddamn are PRICY.)

I think this is the most involved I've ever been in music. Almost daily I'm discussing with actual successful underground musicians my opinions on production and songwriting, and they're taken seriously. I can commiserate over EQing synth organs to sit nicely in dense mixes* and the other person will nod sadly and say "the decay..." because we've both been there.

It's really nice to be taken seriously by musicians who are legendary among "Thinking Man's avant-death metal" elitists and have done everything from chiptune grindcore to Bay Area screamo to nu metal. It's times like this I know my faith in my musical abilities is not Dunning-Kruger shit.



* Seriously, have you tried to do this without having to automate every band of an EQ to shift note-by-note? it's a fucking NIGHTMARE, and if you're gonna tell me to break out the comb filters I'm going to tell you to put that shit on some Scriabin-ass synthetic chords so you can hear the pan-pipers of Azathoth for yourself. It is an Incontrovertible Fact that organs, even basic ass synth organs with 3-oscillator formants, are made for filling every frequency above the fundamental with pure clean tonal bands and you had just better hope your tits that you have the headroom in your fucking mix to pull that off.

Do you take very dumb music requests? Because there is a very dumb thing I want

Depends. I can't record vocals yet (the crowdfunding was just finished thanks to one of you wonderful fuckers, but it needs to be ordered and arrive) and I can't do physical instruments, but I have production expertise and am pretty good at electronic music -- especially simpler stuff like trance, DnB, goth-industrial.

When I do have my bedroom studio setup done, I specialize in harsh vocals, but I can sing okay. Nothing special, poor range, lacking power, but it's something.

[altered]

I used to play guitar, but kind of fell out of it because life. I got kind of decent I guess, and it was cool, maybe it's worth picking up again? I tried songwriting, which didn't go anywhere, but maybe I could try again.

IDK, for a while, I've just felt sapped of creativity. I lost passion for anything.

Damn, I miss when things felt good and I had hopes and dreams.

Honest suggestion: channel that hopelessness and frustration into creativity. Not necessarily music, just making things in general.

You're not alone in how you feel, but you are alone in the ways you'll express that. No one will be fed up and downtrodden the same exact way as you, which sounds like it's isolating, but it isn't.

People want to hear, see, feel something that reminds them of what they're going through, but in someone else's words. Making something is healthy catharsis, and helps others that find it, too.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I've been pushing through a very upsetting (but not bad) breakup by, uh, working on a remix and some trance synth leads for the Memorrhage guy. And crowdfunding my home-recording setup so I can contribute vocals. (Isolation shields worth a goddamn are PRICY.)

I think this is the most involved I've ever been in music. Almost daily I'm discussing with actual successful underground musicians my opinions on production and songwriting, and they're taken seriously. I can commiserate over EQing synth organs to sit nicely in dense mixes* and the other person will nod sadly and say "the decay..." because we've both been there.

It's really nice to be taken seriously by musicians who are legendary among "Thinking Man's avant-death metal" elitists and have done everything from chiptune grindcore to Bay Area screamo to nu metal. It's times like this I know my faith in my musical abilities is not Dunning-Kruger shit.



* Seriously, have you tried to do this without having to automate every band of an EQ to shift note-by-note? it's a fucking NIGHTMARE, and if you're gonna tell me to break out the comb filters I'm going to tell you to put that shit on some Scriabin-ass synthetic chords so you can hear the pan-pipers of Azathoth for yourself. It is an Incontrovertible Fact that organs, even basic ass synth organs with 3-oscillator formants, are made for filling every frequency above the fundamental with pure clean tonal bands and you had just better hope your tits that you have the headroom in your fucking mix to pull that off.

Do you take very dumb music requests? Because there is a very dumb thing I want

Depends. I can't record vocals yet (the crowdfunding was just finished thanks to one of you wonderful fuckers, but it needs to be ordered and arrive) and I can't do physical instruments, but I have production expertise and am pretty good at electronic music -- especially simpler stuff like trance, DnB, goth-industrial.

When I do have my bedroom studio setup done, I specialize in harsh vocals, but I can sing okay. Nothing special, poor range, lacking power, but it's something.

I'm looking for a "dramatic movie trailer" downbeat cover or remix of Billy Joel's My Life that fits the overall vibe of the Andor soundtrack. I'm very normal.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Just came back from my audiology appointment.  Mild mid-range hearing loss sloping into profound on the high ranges, and my word recognition is complete soup in the left ear (along with that slope being much steeper on that side). Nothing I didn't *know*, but it's on paper now and really-real. They also said I'd be a good candidate for hearing aids, but since I can function day to day I don't need to rush in.

[altered]

I've been pushing through a very upsetting (but not bad) breakup by, uh, working on a remix and some trance synth leads for the Memorrhage guy. And crowdfunding my home-recording setup so I can contribute vocals. (Isolation shields worth a goddamn are PRICY.)

I think this is the most involved I've ever been in music. Almost daily I'm discussing with actual successful underground musicians my opinions on production and songwriting, and they're taken seriously. I can commiserate over EQing synth organs to sit nicely in dense mixes* and the other person will nod sadly and say "the decay..." because we've both been there.

It's really nice to be taken seriously by musicians who are legendary among "Thinking Man's avant-death metal" elitists and have done everything from chiptune grindcore to Bay Area screamo to nu metal. It's times like this I know my faith in my musical abilities is not Dunning-Kruger shit.



* Seriously, have you tried to do this without having to automate every band of an EQ to shift note-by-note? it's a fucking NIGHTMARE, and if you're gonna tell me to break out the comb filters I'm going to tell you to put that shit on some Scriabin-ass synthetic chords so you can hear the pan-pipers of Azathoth for yourself. It is an Incontrovertible Fact that organs, even basic ass synth organs with 3-oscillator formants, are made for filling every frequency above the fundamental with pure clean tonal bands and you had just better hope your tits that you have the headroom in your fucking mix to pull that off.

Do you take very dumb music requests? Because there is a very dumb thing I want

Depends. I can't record vocals yet (the crowdfunding was just finished thanks to one of you wonderful fuckers, but it needs to be ordered and arrive) and I can't do physical instruments, but I have production expertise and am pretty good at electronic music -- especially simpler stuff like trance, DnB, goth-industrial.

When I do have my bedroom studio setup done, I specialize in harsh vocals, but I can sing okay. Nothing special, poor range, lacking power, but it's something.

I'm looking for a "dramatic movie trailer" downbeat cover or remix of Billy Joel's My Life that fits the overall vibe of the Andor soundtrack. I'm very normal.

I can almost imagine this. I'm a dork, so I'm imagining it as funeral-paced symphonic blues/funk, like Zeal & Ardor's Hold Your Head Low but with piano and big, swelling orchestra instead of the guitar strums and short heavy sections. That would be really cool. But I don't think I can help you here.

I could mix and master it (the key to moody movie trailer music cover stuff: per track - expand, dither, noise gate, reverb; overall - compress until the mix pumps and heaves like a motherfucker, master), but I couldn't make it. You'd need at least one real live musician, someone who can work with symphonics appropriately, and probably a good, loud singer for that real powerful "impossible odds" movie trailer vibe. I can do none of these.

Sucks about the hearing, but yeah, at least you know now. My hearing has made it through an astonishing amount of abuse, and I've been eyeballing some concert earplugs to cut down the impact of dogs barking, traffic noise and, of course, the rare concerts I go to.

[altered]

Yesterday I did a vocal recording for Memorrhage LP2. I had to do 8 throwaway takes to get one good take due to not having a good vocal recording stack. When I finally got a decent take, de-essed and de-hissed, I learned some things.

1: I have a lisp. No one told me about this, and it's very mild -- but it means when I de-ess, you just hear the th instead. Need a de-eth plugin, too.

2: My vocal distortion when recording is WAAAAY higher than I thought it was when just practicing. I thought I was in hardcore-range, but my vocal distortion is closer to the most extreme of post-hardcore. Garry said "Zao, but filthier". I said "whisper-scream harmonic content, death-roar volume, blackened-crust pitch". I have to dial that shit back and get shoutier when recording, the level of distortion is just insane -- the waveform looked like someone ran it through a fucking bassist's fuzzbox with the gain maxed. All I did for recording was use Airwindows Density2 to stand in for a mic preamp since I'm using a USB mic, and throw on some compression to help normalize the volume. I did that distortion with my raw voice.

3: Holy shit, I burnt my voice. I'm feeling it today. That shit is crispy. Gotta be more careful and maybe try not to do 9 g-d damn takes of max-distortion high-pitched shrieking.

4: Actually, I'm a g-d damn good harsh vocalist. I kinda suspected this, but hearing it for real is a different story. When Garry put it in the track, pretty much just some mild EQ work and a delay based on Static-X vocal delays to fill, it took the guitars in the chorus and dragged them up by the high-frequency hair. Yes, the chorus -- this is a keystone vocal feature. I've never actually felt vindicated on this level about my skill before. Legitimately, the vocal stem, for all its flaws (recorded in a garage while cars were going by on a subpar microphone, vocalist lisping, vocalist didn't know their own power) sounds INCREDIBLE.

Today, I need to rest.

[Scribbly]

It has been a wild ride these past few days.

The charity I've been putting so much effort into over the past 4 months has collapsed due to the founder's mismanagement and bigotry. Which was a shock.

Sunday felt like I'd had my heart ripped clean out. Spent a lot of it crying. I haven't felt that bad since I lost a friend to covid. It kind of shook me up that it hit me as hard as it did.

Back to work monday. Put on the smiley face. Everything's fine. We're all fine here.

Yesterday it was strongly suggested I put in an application for a new position at work that would be far more interesting and a small pay bump. In a totally new area requiring totally new skills and probably demanding far more time. Conflicted on that.

And today my request for medication which my GP has been assuring me every step of the way would be routine was rejected.

I tried as hard as I could to keep the NHS out of my treatment over exactly this kind of bureaucratic battle. But I'm trying not to be too cynical. Have a call in a few hours to speak to a pharmacist and find out why he is overruling two doctors. We will see how that goes.

Charity failure is still raw but I'm not crying about it any more, which is an improvement. Just need to take a little time to regroup. Made some good contacts and we're getting drinks in a couple weeks. Maybe we can find another route to help.