So.. I’m working on my first bit of sound work since upgrading from an 867 MHz G4 to an 8 core 2.7 GHz Mac Pro… This is totally produced with Reason thus far.. It’s a work in progress, and I wanna share… so check it out by clicking here (and then following the link), And if you’re feeling kind.. leave a comment and tell me what you think.
I just bumped into this Mac Pro review on ars technica. It’s the first review of the Mac Pro I’ve read.. It’s probably a little narcissistic to say this, but if you’re interested in what I’m using, it’s probably a good review to read. The difference between there review unit, and mine, is mines has 2.8 GHz processors, as a pose to the 3 GHz system they used.. and of course I got the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, while they used the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, which is in Apple’s default configuration (and as they say, kind of a cheesy card for such a pro system). So they have faster processors and I have a better graphics card. Oh, and mine’s a little cheaper then there’s.
Even though I own the computer, I’m still interested to see what reviewers have to say.. As I’m coming to it from such an old system… I have no real idea of where the Mac Pro fits in the scheme of things. On the bases of this question, the ars technica review didn’t really help me all that much. For instance, I wonder what the power difference is between an iMac and a Mac Pro, or a Mac Book Pro, and a Mac Pro. Is it really worth all the extra money, from the perspective of power? Further, there benchmarks don’t have anything to do with what I’m using it for.. which is sound, video, and animation. I suppose the last problem was.. they are so technical.. they don’t bother to break stuff down, or explain some of there new fangled techno jargon.
I guess where things come out is… Well.. its interesting that if you took a single 2.8 GHz core from the new Mac Pro, and compared it to.. if they even had them, a single 2.8 GHz core from the old Mac Pro, the new one would perform significantly faster in a number of instances.. The reason being faster RAM, bigger buss, and more cache on the processor..
From my perspective.. the advantage of the Mac Pro is being able to have a better graphics card.. this is big if you’re interested in animation… I like being able to have so many internal drives.. mine has 3 500 GB drives in it, plus the default drive.. 2 of which are set up in a RAID. I like being able to have 2 24″ HD monitors attached to it… and I like having room to upgrade, as far as RAM is concerned. These advantages mean a lot to me.. I don’t know if they mean enough to be worth giving up on a portable.. but it does allow me to set the trajectory of my work in a different direction.
I had planned to get a Mac Book Pro but, when I was buying, it was clear that the then current Mac Book Pro was at the end of its product cycle and I hate to buy new computers then.. So that was one of the bigger reason behind going with the Mac Pro. In the last week Apple has come out with new Mac Books, and Mac Book Pros.. which leaves me feeling a little pissed off. Pissed because my Mac Pro only came in the last week or so.. because of how long it took Apple to configuring and ship it.. unacceptable! So what was the advantage of buying this then? Well, again, it facilitates me going in a different direction then I otherwise would have.. Consequently Apple is Dead to me! (click here for the Apple is dead to me back story)
I have, in my head, the notion of buying yet another computer.. in maybe 2 years. If things stayed, technologically, as the are today.. having bought a Mac Pro puts me in the position of feeling like.. it would feel fine if my next computer was a Mac Book.. For me a Mac Book doesn’t make a very good primary computer.. slow graphics card, small screen.. But if you have a primary computer that meets these bills, even if it’s a little older.. then you’re demands are a little less. Plus, with at least a few apps, you can network your computer’s together to have more power.
The new Mac Book offers more hard drive space standard, and a faster processor.. It’s got 2 finger scrolling, though I don’t know if that’s really new or not. The Mac Pro is the same story… faster processor and more drive space standard..
If you ask me, the extra hard drive space is “about time.” I say this simply because, when I was shopping for a Mac Pro, I really felt the need to add additional disk space to it.. which came at something of a premium.. So this kind of a big thing for me.
Oh yes.. and the Mac Book Pro does come with a multi touch mouse.. same deal as the Mac Air, which is very cool.
I’ve been thinking a bit about this blog, this site, projects, strategy, and blah blah blah… about where thing’s be at, and where I should like to take them… Seems worthy of a little blogging, don’t cha think?
You know, social media.. a big part of it is “you should be your self:” Success in personal branding has something to do with authenticity. Mitch Joel talks about “the snow flake theory” in relationship to personal branding.. that we are all snow flakes, each individual, and thus we differentiate our selves via nature, as a pose to via consciouses will.. Ok, maybe Mitch doesn’t use anything like those words, but if he had my background he’d say it like that!
Yeah… so like.. I’ve been thinking about this sorta thing and thinking.. hmm.. sometimes I go into this super duper intellectual mode.. which is something I dig, to be sure.. but folks who have a different sort of insanity from my own… I think that kinda talk can produce certain digestive challenges. And it occurs to me, I have a whole lot of what we call in the biz “personality.” And that personality ain’t coming through so much… Or maybe it’s not that… maybe it’s just like.. I want to speak more freely.. or I want to do something.. I’m not even sure what it is.. It’s just that I feel it in my bones, do you know what I mean?
Anyway, I figure I need to blog more.. I’m thinking I’d like to have more blog entries.. probably shorter.. just like snippets of thoughts… Just little things. I also think there are certain “blog strategery” reasons for doing this..
I suppose a lot of what I’ve been doing with this blog is.. just getting my feet wet a bit. I mean I haven’t even been keeping this blog for that long.. since sometime around Boston Podcamp 2… so in so many ways I still feel the need to find my voice…
I mean.. how much of this should just be my personal voice? “And this is what I had for lunch today.” Can what a person had for lunch today be interesting? I tend to believe anything “could” be interesting.. depending where the beholder is coming from.. and I’m fascinated by consciousness.. as well as streams there of.. and I don’t mean to go so far as to talk about life casting.. but… there’s something in there of value to me.
A few latter:
So would you like to hear some thoughts about new things on the drawing boards? I’m thinking about creating some new podcasts… The master podcast feed, for these, which would include them all, you can subscribe through iTunes by clicking here. Right now that’s a somewhat faded podcast.. But one idea I had was to have several things you subscribe to.. that would all be sorta “they come out when they come out,” which is to say producing regular content wouldn’t be on the agenda but… One idea is to show works in progress.. as we speak I’m working on some new Reason content, and I’d love to be able to take you into the studio with me.. lets check this out.. Where I’d share these projects I’m working on.. and sorta talk about what they are all about..
A whole lot latter:
In keeping with the notion of posting more often, and making them short, how about I post this now?
Check out this here video:
I used to like Hilary Clinton, but now… not so much. I was amazed at how well this video expressed my feelings on the subject. It seems as if.. the truth of which it speaks, is lost in the collective unconscious of cable news.. analysts talking about the horse race don’t seem to have a clue as to why Obamma seems to be racing forward… It’s as if the people know.. just not the news ileitis…
Of course I say this as friends argue for Hillary.. and if it wasn’t her shooting her self in the foot this way, I might be arguing for her to.
I think it’s pretty safe to say that, politically speaking, I’m a little bit to the left of center. That said, I don’t find conservatism to be without value.. Indeed I’ve had debates with conservative folks where I’ve taken the more conservative position. At any rate, I’ll tell you that I value good ideas more then I value from where in the political spectrum that idea comes. I value substance… I value intelligence. William Buckley, I think it’s safe to say, was smart and substantive.. and there’s no doubt that he’s contributed much to my political understanding… and so with that I want to share some Buckley with.
You just don’t see TV like this anymore!
Can you even believe this kind of thing was on TV at one point? I confess that I tend to side with Chomsky in this debate. When I watch this I feel like my knowledge of history is rubbish.
Here’s an interesting bit… Buckley Vs Gore Vidal.. on what is needed in a president.. sort of interesting to watch today.
and part 2:
Who here’s wants a Pepsi?
Well.. I feel like… in all of these debates I’m siding with whomever Buckley is debating against… So.. lets move onto one that.. is more in keeping with honoring the life of Buckley.. a kind of retrospective of Buckley.
What I love about Buckley is… how he speaks, how he articulates.. his play with language. There’s also a certain elite arrogance to him that I really love… I mean how can you not enjoy that? It makes him so much fun! Yeah, I guess I think he’s a little crazy in many of his political positions.. but I still enjoy watching him take those positions, argue for them, etc.
It is poignant, him talking about leaving the land of the living, and the end of that video.
One last bit of video.. follow this link to a C-Span’s In Depth interview with William F Buckley, that is if you’re not overloaded as is. This is a great interview.. and it really does take you in depth into William F Buckley.
And with that, I shall publish this entry.
It’s been a while, ha? Man, I’ve been suffering through a bit of a nightmare. My old computer died.. and with it all my passwords and user names.. and access to all my sites.. and so it’s taken me this long to get back in here.. I’ve been blogging, in the mean time, on my myspace.. if you’re into reading me and find that nothings happening here.. that’s a place you could always go and look.
So lots has been happening since last I spoke here. I’m not even sure what I’ve said here and what I haven’t.. I don’t mean to repeat myself.. but um.. I don’t know, I think today’s blog post ought to be a random smattering of.. just whatever might be in my head and wanting to express its self.
I finally got Reason running on the new computer, and I’ve started my first project… Reason on a Mac Pro is very different then reason on a G4 Power Mac, or for that matter Reason on a budget PC laptop from a few years back. My suspicion is that Reason doesn’t have great multithreading.. which means it’s not great for taking advantage of multiple processor cores.. which is at the heart of what makes this new computer so powerful.. I’m only using, at the peak points of my current project, about 10% of my processing power, but Reason tells me I’m about half way through my processing power. I’m not sure exactly how this works but…
A big part of the difference, between working with Reason on the G4 versus Mac Pro, is how many effects and instruments you can use before your computer starts to choke. Normally I’m working under fairly strict restrictions.. but so far on the Mac Pro.. I have no sense of limitations.. or at least not of limitations that I in anyway feel.
The implication is… well I just keep throwing instruments and effects into the rack.. I’ll sorta be thinking “well, for the next section I want to sorta go in this direction” and I assemble a kind of sonic pallet for doing so.. but I feel as though I’m putting together a larger pallet then I’m actually using.. Or.. the project simply hasn’t grown into the pallet yet.
An implication of this is you’re projects can become a little unwieldy.. Suddenly you have to organize and manage about 10 or 20 times as much stuff.. You’re thinking along the lines “how can I take advantage of the power difference between the new system and the old one?” An obvious answer is that you’re now able to enter a world of sonic complexity that is many order of magnitudes beyond where you previously were at. All of which is great, but it also magnifies the labor in equal measure.
It’s been a little while since I’ve done much with Reason.. since I was doing serious sound work.. not since november really.. So a part of what I’m doing now is really just warming up.. really just sorta.. well trying to get to where I was at before.
You know.. my music production process is a little complicated. It’s the sorta thing where every breath you breath.. every bit of energy, you can put into it.. At that point there’s a richness, and a complexity.. that… well its as if your head can only hold so much at any given time.. and so to fully jump in these waters, you need to be willing to make a deep commitment.. and there’s a kind of transitional period between normal life, and the life of one who’s spending time in these waters.
Once I’m fully warmed up.. the challenge is to take this stuff to a whole new level. I suppose the trouble is that Reason is only a small fraction of the new software studio environment.. I’m also going from Live 6, to Live 7, going from Komplete 3 to Komplete 5, and going from a very old version of Digital Performer, that I never really mastered, to the new version. So as deeply as I might be trying to jump into Reason.. it’s really only a very small part of a larger world to jump into.
On my Zarmattathustra’s Deep Space Adventures project, I anticipated much of where I pan on going now. ZDPA was about trying to do the most I could with as little as I had.. that 867 G4… So I explored creative possibilities that circumvented the limited processor resources.. which forced me to explore working in ways I hadn’t before. Well.. in many ways that’s where I’m going now.. accept add to that having a hell of a lot more power.. like maybe by a factor of 24 or so?
I’ve set before myself a notion of a project that would take 2 years to complete, but central in this notion is the idea of mystery. What this means is.. yeah, sure.. we have this 2 year guideline… but we don’t even know what the guideline really means!
Along time ago I was thinking.. If I could only get this set of tools together.. just imagine what I could do. Well, now its time to explore that for real. Will it be anywhere near my dreams? I don’t really know.
The guideline… lets just atomize it. Lets just talk about what we REALLY want to accomplish.. not what we think we should, or to worry about ways of rationalizing what we really want. I think there’s a sense of a timeline for skill development. Another words.. I’m interested in what I’ll be capable of at whatever period of time.. perhaps even more then I’m interested in producing finished, or great, product.
Another important thing is to actually produce finished project.. hopefully of some greatness.. and actually bring it to market, and try and make some money from it. Actually turn all this crazy art stuff into a business!
Do you spy a contradiction in here? Well I think what I’m saying is.. you could look at a 2 year span of time and think “what could I achieve in that time period?” I think what I’m saying is that my metric for success is not what I can achieve in that time period in a purely products sense.. I think product is a part of it.. is central to the journey and adventure.. but its needs to be balanced with other ends as well.. which must be given equal weight…. or weight equal to.. however important I want to make them.. Or I mean its an open question as to what the order of wills ought to be… this is a part of the mystery we must manage.
A few latter:
I think Reason is inspiring this thought.. along with the prospects of new sound software. In the mix of things I’m planning on taking on, sound is the part that I already have the strongest mastery of. Another words it doesn’t have a steep learning curve associated with it. I want to go nuts with music, but that doesn’t necessarily forward the cause of mastering steep learning curves, though it does further many things.
If sound were to be the center of what I’m doing.. Perhaps 3D and video.. perhaps I don’t need to bring these things to a super level of mastery.. I mean if these are projects that are more bout the sound then video.. I say this knowing full well that animation and motion graphics are important to me.. creating an aesthetic experience is important to me.. but maybe…
A few latter:
Well I guess the question could be like.. how complex a given thing is. Ok, we all know that high level 3D takes about 6 months to get so you can actually do it.. but lets say you carved out a kind of niche.. particular parts of the whole where you were to put your central focus on.
So lets say we want to start by creating some basic models… well maybe not all that basic but… If we are doing a space opera.. we probably want to build some space ships, some and some “sets.” If photography is playing a key roll in our adventures.. much of the sets could be.. almost like faux 3D.. like you take a photograph and cut it up, and use parts of it for different things.. instead of going to the trouble of modeling a forest.. you have pictures of clumps of forest.. maybe even video of forests… that get projected onto 3D Models that are.. well I don’t know what exactly.. but simple anyway. We’re not shooting for realism.. we are abstracting things, surreal-izing them if you will. And doing so in such a way that they require less mastery of the over all learning curve.
And we’d probably want to create some characters in here somewhere.. but the point is.. is it possible to get great results by limiting our scope in certain areas.. there by managing the learning demands? If I can create a visual language that only uses a part of the total tool set.. I can then bring that to mastery in a much shorter time period.
Latter:
Ok, lets post this sucker.
Well I’m back from my shopping spree… and so here I am, blogging the story.
It started with the realization that via my Father’s ATM card I could get $1K out of the ATM at a shot.. so out to the ATM we go.. but apparently the ATM didn’t want to give me $1K. Ok, I’m new to all this stuff… but what the hell? Why is banking such a pain in the ass?
From here it was off to Guitar Center, they where having some sort of mysterious sale. Guitar Center is a somewhat evil institution.. or it seems to me this way every time I go.. Well sometimes they can be cool.. I actually am on something close to a first name basis with many of them… after all I seem to be helping them put there kids through college and all that.. but I don’t really trust these guys..
Do to the mysterious sale, the place was pretty crowded.. a sales guy.. trying to get buy.. sorta bumping into me.. you end up bumping into people an awful lot at times like these.. And just the way the guy calls me.. “buddy” or was it “partner” or I don’t know what it was.. but it was definitely creepy.
Prior to leaving the house, I had kind of gone over my budget to see where I was.. and what I discovered was.. well that what I’ve been looking to buy is a little bit more then what I’ve budgeted for. This meant today’s shopping spree would likely be less then I had planned.
It turned out, there was no compelling reason for me to spend any money at Guitar Center. So it was off to Microcenter.
I haven’t really done too much shopping at Microcenter.. but I don’t know of two many computer stores closer by.. I recently took a field trip to the local best buy and.. well I was unimpressed… It’s surely the place someone goes when one doesn’t know any better… So it was off to Microcenter, which was way off in Boston. (more then a 44 min drive)
I had gotten a little news paper thing with various sales.. They had 500 GB SATA hard drives, on sale, for $104. I’m planning on working with high definition video… and even with standard definition video.. you never really have enough hard disk space when working with video. So I thought “hmm, maybe I should get 3 of these” and I did.
The sales people at Microcenter, as near I can tell, work on commissions… but unlike Guitar Center, I’m inclined to trust these guys.. And unlike an Apple store.. you get the feeling that we are in touch with reality at Microcenter, as a pose to being in touch with our desire, at the expense of reality, as we are at Apple. In fact I was really blown away by how good the shopping experience was at Microcenter.
Next morning:
My “tool budget” was really something I did to try and give me a framework for thinking.. so that I wouldn’t go too crazy.. one must be smart about these things.. its just a way of.. thinking through this stuff.
One of the things you get into is.. if you shoot off in 5 different directions, you can’t really go as deeply as if you just went in one. I suppose it’s all about trade offs. The question is, what and where do you want to make your trade offs?
For me there’s a real process to all this.. a process that’s like a spider weaving his web.. he doesn’t think about how he’s going to build the web, he simply does it out of his nature. So.. I guess what I’m doing is trying to explore all these subjects in order to get an image of these worlds.. that’s one phase. Another phase is dreaming about what you want to do.. what you could do.
This is sorta like my process in general.. I’m thinking mostly intellectually: I have so many ideas that I work through, so much information that I’m always processing, that it’s entirely impossible to keep it all in my head at any one time.. So there are often times where I find myself in a position where I have no idea how I got there.. Or sometimes you’re positions come under pressure.. where you are forced to articulate you’re position… in order to maintain your ground.
To the subject of budgets.. it’s a little like this.. like “why am I making these choices, or thinking in these ways?” Well, I take a step back and realize that my true center has something to do with multimedia.. I like the camera I do.. because its perfect for just putting in your pocket, it’s not really that expensive, and it’s capable of great results. Sure.. It doesn’t put me in the greatest position to call myself a serious videographer.. but you know what? I’m not really trying to be a serious videographer. I mean sure, I want to make this feature length film.. do this crazy project.. and make it amazing..
But in a lot of ways the film is more about sound then it is about video… to say nothing of animation.. I mean the sound is probably going to be the center of it all. Hmm.. as I think about it now, I realize I haven’t posted any of the drafts that talk about the actual project ideas.. so I guess this is just a preview of it?
Anyway, my point is that it’s all just a part of the process.. and exploring that process seems something worthy of blogging about.
I’m a slight bit over tired as I write this.. I’m feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the prospect of the computer’s arrival. There is so much to try and get in order. Getting ready means doing lots and lots of research on gear.. lots and lots of gear.
Let me give you an example: Say one day you decided you wanted to go do “video production.” Ok.. groovy, so you need a video camera, right? Ok, what do you get? We could vaguely say that there are 3 strata’s of video cameras: Consumer, Prosumer, and Pro. What are the pros and cons of the various stratas, particularly in relationship to “what your needs might be.” More complicated is the matter of.. well, how do you figure out exactly what your needs are? If this were not enough, there is the matter of.. well for video production you might also need microphones, video editing / production software, depending on the camera, you might also be looking into lenses.. you may also be looking into light rigs.
Well I suppose I don’t quite have to figure all this out overnight. But I must be starting work as soon as the computer arrives..
I actually have half a mind to buy two cameras, though I don’t know that I can actually afford this. I’m looking seriously at the Panasonic AG-HSC1. This camera has the advantage of not looking like a pro camera, is really small, and is capable of very pro results. (perfect for “social media” aplications) The AG-HSC1 came out about a year ago, cost a little over $2k, and now I’m finding it for under $1000! You don’t normally find pro in video cameras for under $1K! Still, its not exactly without it’s compromises.. not that you can get an uncompromising camera on a limited wallet.. But there are other cameras, for a few grand more, that might fit the basic bill..
So you see.. do you go on to research all this stuff before you make a move? I mean if you spend $1K on a camera, but the one you really need is $3K, then now you’re in for $4K.. Thus the feeling of there being so much to take in.. But if you go “hmm, I can see how this camera over here has it’s place, and that one over there has its,” well maybe its all ok. So what I’m thinking is.. the cost of cameras are falling dramatically these days.. so that what $1K buys today is probably very different from what it buys a year or two from now. So maybe the best tact is to take a long view?
As I write I’m watching “Lust for Life” on Ovation, one of the new channels we get as a result of Fios. Lust for life is one of the definitive films of the life of Vincent Van Gogh. This portrayal of Vincent reminds me, in eerie ways, of my own life.
Much latter:
I’m exhausted.. time for bed.. but I want to publish this even as my thoughts are incomplete.. I’ve been thinking of doing more short ones.. blog entries that is…
What I did want to say is that the feeling over being overwhelmed is not really from the issues of video cameras, so much as by everything.. Hard drives, RAM, Daws, electronic drum machines, electric base, Liquid Mix, and on and on and on… so many different areas to focus on.. eventually your focus grows dim, as its so dispersed over so much territory.
Ok, enough of my complaining… good night…
It should get here in 6 days. My life will start a new.. There’s more to say, but I’m too tired now.. I’m now even more pissed at Apple.. after they send me a thing to give feed back on my shopping experience, which was piss poor, and they didn’t even give me the space to express myself.. which I only find out after writing a lengthy response (too many characters).. They really like to rub it in!
Today is move from Comcast to Fios day. Fios is better then Comcast… by a long shot. I had Comcast for internet and cable.. and for about the same cost, I now have Verizon for cable, internet, and log distance.. and all 3 is better. I am signed into, like, a two year contract in order to get that sorta deal, which is perhaps the only down side… oh, and they added cable to a 3rd TV set.. when I get my new computer, with the high def monitors.. I can even get HD channels.. for like another $5 a month.. and they set up a home wireless network.I gotta go do some grocery shopping.. the house is low on food.. and while I’m out.. I will definitely pick up a wifi card for my cheesy PC laptop. That will be bitch’n! Just the freedom to roam the house.. blog while in bed.. whatever… Next day:The only thing that bothers me about moving to Fios is.. the cable is now more complicated. That’s not a problem for me, but it is for my dad, who’s the guy who watches the most TV in the house anyway. If that were not enough, he has dementia.. which makes learning new tricks all that much harder.On the positive side.. we now have voice mail, which will be too complicated for dad, which means I won’t have to worry about loosing messages because he took them off the machine!