It seems I am a singer

Another great gig, just brilliant, we made a few mistakes, but he we're not pro's and we managed to pick it up every time, it was awesome, and I had multiple people..even my boss tell me I did a geat job on my number...I am genuinely gobsmacked, I just don't have the words but I am feeling incredibly pleased with myself....so its a good time to have a treat of chips...and sushi...Back on the Diet Sunday after the BBQ which hopefully wont' be rained off.

We should be able to get some pics from the 2 gigs as there was an official photographer there taking snaps..I will poste them here and on FB when I get them.

Ahthankyew

86.7 yes I said 86..Records all round

Yesterdays nerves and squeaky bum, as well as abstaining from lunch while we set up, caused a massive big drop...yeahhhhhhhh a record drop in 1 day.

I have another gig later today, doubt I'll lose another big chunk, but  losing 5 Kg in under a month is pretty good going. I guess I am pleased with myself.


Record marking speeds....I managed to do all my PR4 Marking in 5 working days, and entered in 7....result..

 I need to be evern faster on the CT2 ones though....will be hitting the grades tonight.

Got a BBQ event lined up for tomorrow, with friends from work and poker and music all coming together ...but it looks like summer might be over already if those storm clouds gathering are any indication.


Ahthankyew

Great gig, even with the feedback

We had a slightly twitchy start as our PA was set a tad too loud for our 1st number and I had a bit of feedback on my solo which threw me off time a tad....or 2.. but once we settled we had a brilliant gig.
Our sound guy(s) kept track of the levels from then and a great time was had by all.

I'm still genuinely quite flabbergasted that people complimented me....yes I said complimented, me ..ME...on my singing...wow...I just don't know how to react to that..
Aside from mum, who is obliged to say nice things about what I do, in our "Mother:Son, what you have to do before I choose your home", agreement. I've never been complimented on my singing....ever..Even I don't much like it.

I do my 1 song pretty well, "Stuck in the Middle",  but it actually was the song that got everyone up on their feet, and then the rest of our gig kept them there. What a great experience.

We have another one tomorrow..hopefully the feedback problem won't reappear and I can nail that 1st solo, looking forward to seeing if I can get a repeat set of compliments. ;)

I'm now a ssstaaaaaahhhhrrr daaarlinks.







Ahthankyew

87.6k...almost and butterflies, sure to lose some more fom crapping myself

The display wobbled a bit on .6 and .7 before settling on .7.. I had a pee just after but didn't weigh myself again but am sure its gone down to 87.6. Really impressive.


Am sure to lose a bit more today though, since StarrCase have a performance today at the Hotel and Management Graduation ceremony. I've also been roped in to help award diplomas...quite a bit different to the way we do things at IGAD, but we're all one big happy university so am happy to help out. I'm suited and booted for the occasion.

I think this performance will go well though, we've just had a sound check and we sound pretty damn good. Even me.!!! Am sure to lose a few pounds in sweat and fear.
What a difference a proper sound/monitor set up, with an engineer, makes! Though my VoiceLive confused the hell out of them trying to work out where the harmony's were coming from. We play at 5 so am doing a bit of CT2 Marking now.

Marking for PR4 was finally finished last night at 4-30am after 4 marathon sessions since Friday...written tests sound like a good idea but trying to read handwriting worse than mine (I never thought that possible) with often poorly formed English...and get it done as quick as possible so they can get ready for a retake meant I had to finish last night no matter what...by 4-30 I'd pretty much lost the will to live but I got through it...so I'm not only nervous but vey tired, I may drop off in the middle of a slow song.

anyway.....zzzzzzzz

I'm not recording the concert but I hope someone is, if so I'll post links.



Ahthankyew

Boo yaka shaaaaa 87.9Kg

Course I had to have a pee to get it there, but I finally cracked 88kg :D

To celebrate or perhaps to punish you..here's a set of my "best" recordings....basically the ones I don't feel too ashamed of

I am really pleased that 3 people have Favorited my last effort, the live loop of Set the fire....even though some of the singing was a bit ropey and the harmonic female amplifies any pitch wobbles, it was a cracking session. I made Brenda laugh out loud with my swearing outbursts as I made mistake after mistake before getting it right.
Its been getting a lot of plays too, so it seems to be going down well in the home recording/tone deaf community.





Ahthankyew

88.1Kg...could I actually get to see 87?

Finally got a chance to play with my GR-55 hooked up to my RC300 looper...powerful tools...added to that my Voice Live 2 and a harmony setting to give me a female singer to duet with and ..boom
my version of Snow Patrols Set the Fire to the 3rd Bar.

Its not 100% and it was done after 30 takes getting my tap dancing wrong a few times and kicking in the strings at the wrong times. But overall i was pleased.. I need to try and do this as a multi track version to get more dynamics and depth to it, but as an "as Live" performance this is one of the best things I've done.

Love the GR-55 as I now get used to how to use it...it adds so much to things with so little effort..

Anyway...I've never said this before about at track I've done..but hope you like it?


Ahthankyew

88.2 but it wobbled on 1...

I seem to be losing 100-150g a day, so not bad. Might be able to put off the gym for a while longer as long as the diet itself is working.

Finally starting to setting into a period of peace now that exams and so on are done, still got some retakes to deal with but the never ending appeals from students are drying up and I will get a weekend to myself. I have a lot of marking to do but am fairly sure I can do them in 4 big sessions and still get some time to myself this weekend.

The Weather has turned spectacularly nice with sunshine and only occasional showers. So its looking good for the family visit next month. We're going to have a BBQ next weekend to kick off the summer but I need to find out where I can get gas for the BBQ, I think it must be nearly empty by now after occasional use over the last 2 years.

Also next week I have the Starrcase gigs, and will be doing a spot of practicing so I get my timing and solo's right. Sadly I am having to fill in on some Bass parts as Carlos won't be with us but am sure I won't make to  much of a mess of it since bass on my GR-55 is fairly easy..just play it on the guitar.




Ahthankyew

88.5kg and near the end

Of the academic year I mean...tomorrow my PR students do their exam...on Friday CT students hand in their assignments..I will try to gade the written exam on Thursday and get it done leaving me the weekend to worry about the CT..
There will be retakes though, hence the urgency in marking....but basically its almost done.

We also leave the Pakhuis, our home for 5 years and move into the main NHTV building next block so lots of endings in sight. A big party is planned for July 4th to celebrate our Game release party and the end of the era.


Diet is going well, more due to smaller quantities than the actual low carb/high protien concept but it is working, I am not constantly starving and snacking on roast beef or salami sausages is quite nice ;) I'd kill for a bag of chips though.

End of year also means Starrcase have our gaduation gig to perform, or in this case gigs, as its held over 2 days, and we have to do 2 sets...we're busy rehearsing and accomodating a late line up change but overall its going well. My singing is getting better so I am starting to feel less stressed about my 1st public tonsil exercises.
Wish I could get my Mustang Sally solo as good as my singing though, I seem to keep making mistakes in it...I almsot always improvise it and lose control sometimes...perhaps I should just learn something and stick to it.....but thats not really what soloing is about... :D It'll be all right on the night.
I hope!

Ahthankyew

89.1Kg :D GR-55 is still amazing and finances sorted

Weight is dropping but hard to say if its just water, though I am regulating my carb intake quite well. Trousers already starting to slip down without a belt so....

Used the GR-55 for the 1st time in anger at the StarrCase rehearsal, it was brilliant, I was able to add atmosphere and variety to our set, and the abilty to dial in some power by bringing in a Les Paul screamer on the PA while I played Margaret through the amp, made some of my solo's even better.

It was well received by the other band members but I am not so sure the Gadgets who like a more stripped down sound will like it. Cant wait to try Creams White Room with an organ backing the into riff :D

The mortgage is finally transferred, after months of faffing about with the bank, Bina and I signed the papers at the Notaris yesterday to close the old mortgage, remove her liability and transfer it all to me..That finally lets me take stock of the income/outgoing and make a few decisions.

I am sadly going to have to change my power company, I use Greenchoice, even though they are very expensive, at 190euros pm, they are 100% renewable energy, but as the new mortgage is going to cost 100-200euros per month more I need to cut costs .I expect another less green supplier will give me half price which will offset the extra costs somewhat.

Next task is to find a cheap little motor to get to and from band pactices..I am not mad keen on having a car, but given the amount of band work I am doing now I need to be able to transport my gear. I wonder if I will be able to keep my cycling up when a car is in the parking spot!!!



Ahthankyew

'kin hell..thats amazing

I am still trying to get my head round the GR-55, it is an AMAZING thing, really amazing, I updated the firmware on it today and got even more sounds which are just amazing. And the amazing thing is that these amazing sounds all sound perfectly like the instruments they say they do, amazing.

Well yeah but wow its complex. This is not a plug and play gadget by any means. I need to take a lot more time to get used to it, before I abandon my normal gear for the bands.
As is normal at the weekend I'm trying to do some school work so can't let it distract me too much.  ;)

I had a bit of a play around with creating my own patches last night using the free GR-55 floorboard software which is ermm amazing. But even so I found it hard to work out what I was doing most of the time, but I did get a cool clean pickup sound with a CTL pedal overdrive boost on it. But trying to do a drums patch worked for a while then stopped...so not quite sure how that works..

Playing drums on a guitar is freaking strange...and the pickup might need a bit more adjustment as it was triggering too many but even so...with practice this will be amazing. but trying to send the patch to the unit it went into a mad synth mode.

Hooked it up to my PA today to hear it clean and  wow. I thought my Adrenalinn III was an amazing pedal/box, especially when I got a control board for it. But this...its...just amazing!

Its going to be a while before I can post anything..It does work out of the box of course but I want to really get my head around it before I try anything recording wise.




Ahthankyew

92.1 yes...another diet

1st of the month so its a start point..Brenda, who has the most amazing dancers bod, has suddenly noticed that she's been eating a lot the last few months...mainly due to yours truly providing food. (She can burn water!!)

And she has therefore decided she has to shed the excess milligrams as soon as possible...meh

In support of her efforts which will probably succeed in about 3 days..I have agreed, to join her in a healthy low carb eating ....attempt :D

I'm going to get these excess kilo's off..about 20 of them...gulp.

sigh..here we go again..


edit I removed the orange background form Sabrina's HTML code....back to  nice white colour



Ahthankyew