Fishing for a Chorus Worth Keeping

"Nemo" is the name of the song that was conceived about 5 years ago now. As with all of Kj's songs - it started out in the 'folk' arena with the intention that when played back all on its own with just vocals and acoustic - it would hold up on its own.  This is the approach we've taken with every song so far.

The lyrical content was inspired by Kj's reading of 20 000 Leagues Under The Sea.  He really embraced the view of the captain and his goal of living beneath the sea as far away from the corrupt ambition of humanity.  So there's some weight in this tune.  The chorus needed(s) to really stand out on this song.

The elements of the chorus have been scribed for some time now.  However the time signature of 4/4 just didn't have any impact.  As the nautical literature for Kj's inspiration on this song, i too have drifted to a nautical literary works - Moby Dick.  And let me tell you - this chorus is my 'White Whale'.

When Kj and I recorded the demo's in my basement a long while ago - i pushed to re-write the chorus in 5/4.  It really changed the song's attitude.  It was big improvement - but one that has always not sat well with me.  5/4 is very specific and when applied with an alt-rock tempo - it can be at times 'cliche'.

It sounded good, but we discussed as group that we didn't want to do what was 'easiest'. So again - the chorus needed to be re-worked

My recent purchase of a Korg - SDD 3000 digital delay unit was the inspiration behind now what is a 6/4 chorus - think of an exaggerated waltz tempo. I was attempting to replicate the riff done in the previous 5/4 but with all the extra time now added - i had to change it up.  A happy accident happened in the  studio when I unintentionally hit an extra note.  It delayed magnificently through the effects chain.  Ten minutes spent working out this discovery and we had the new chorus riff.  Mike tracked some drums to test it out and with some twee-zing  we got it!


A few listens the next day and Mike and I discussed it and went back into the studio to track it officially.  The new Korg dialed in with its frequency oscillation on the repeats really help with the feel of bobbing in the water.  Mike's percussive builds really add the weight necessary for this track.

Each chorus builds with additional guitars adding to an explosive ending to the song.

All that's left now is to work out the old guitar solo on the new time signature. But based on some recent Instagram pictures - i think Mike has other ideas for it.  I can't wait.

What i learned so far from this particular song construction - sure it's great to do something conventional - but it's far more rewarding to really dive in,  rip convention apart and re-build. The effort is well worth it.

Sharepoint Server Logs Eating Up Drive Space

Determined there were 7GB of logfiles in :
C:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\14\


Trying to delete/move failed - access denied because files are locked

Found this excellent article by Doug Allen:

http://blogs.c5insight.com/Home/tabid/40/entryid/401/SharePoint-Usage-Logs-Not-Being-Removed-Fixed.aspx

Quick Fix:

On SharePoint Server server - restart SharePoint Timer Service  (services.msc)
Log into SharePoint Central Administration
Go To 'Monitoring'
Go to Timer Jobs - Check Job Status
Find Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Usage Data Import and click on it.
Click 'Run Now'


This should blow out the log files fairly quickly.

Replace Harddrive in PVR PACE

Does your PVR skip? Jitter? Hickup?

I noticed mine was starting to over the last few months. Since i bought mine outright refurbished a few years back and the warranty was non-existent i had no qualms ripping it open and trying to diagnose it myself. Some research on the internet suggested replacing the coaxial cable and hard resetting the unit.

These initially helped - but for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. All signs pointed to a failing hard drive. I opened it up to find a standard Seagate Sata drive. Replacing it didn't work. The unit hung up on boot up suggesting that there was some boot data needed on the actual hard drive to make the unit operate.

• I grabbed a very good hard disk cloning utility, put the PVR drive into a spare PC and took an image of the existing drive. 
• Next I grabbed a similar sized drive and swapped it into the spare pc and ran the disk cloning software again. I blew out any partitions and data on the replacement drive and restored the image to it. 
•  Amazingly - there was 7 partitions - a few Linux swap partitions, an MBR and then the bulk partition of un-allocated space - presumably where the actual recordings go. I put the newly re-imaged drive into the PVR and it booted

It quickly flashed a message stating "Formatting Hard drive". This I took as good omen as it recognized the drive.

A short time later I got my cable subscribers default navigation screens and I was in business.   The process didn't restore any of my old recordings - but I was fine with that.

 I watched live TV - specifically hockey for almost an hour and so far no glitches!

Hope this helps someone. I spent too much time on the phones with little help. So - if you're having issues with your PVR - you may buy yourself some time by cloning your hard drive and replacing it.

Droppin the Bass

Managed to sneak away to the studio the other night.
 
With some help from MC we nailed down the bass part for the next song of the recording project.

Tracked it a few times and we believe we have got a few good takes that are keepers.

It's very minimalist and very tonal.

It gives the song a lot of breathing room.   It's a fairly intimate song so the bass should compliment KJ's vocals very nicely.

This is one of my most creative bass parts I've crafted to date.

I don't purport to be a bass player.  I'm a guitar player attempting to play bass.  Not having any experience on the 4 string the consensus among the group is that I can potentially come up with non-standard 'go to' bass lines.

So far so good.

Podcasts

If you're into podcasts and are looking for some recommendations here's what I've been tuned into for a long while (in no particular order)

Grantland 
Specifically Andy Greenwald,
Do You Like Prince Movies,
Girls with Hoodies,
Hollywood Prospectus

There's a really great one about the career arc of film director Steven Soderbergh

If you're into Football - they have plenty to offer on that subject matter as well). Great website overall.

Tim and Sid
(From Sportsnet- their entire show is carved into 1 hour episodes each day)

Spark
CBC's Tech podcast with Nora Young

Eli Glasner
CBC Movie Reviewer

Get-It-Done Guys' Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More
(Stever Robbins)

Hockey Central
(Sportsnet)

Pensions Plan Puppets
(Leafs)

TedTalks
assorted collection of Ted Talks

Stuff You Should Know
How stuff works website

Documentary of the Week
BBC Radio

Day 6 

(CBC Radio)

Paris Letters

I just completed reading Paris Letters - One woman's journey from the fast lane to a slow stroll in Paris.

Without being preachy the author Janice  MacLeod describes how she took many of today's practices of minimalism, journaling  and slew of other self discovery tools to centre herself and find clarity in her life.

As she eventually reveals to herself that the rat race isn't for her she sets her eyes on the lights of Paris. Not to vacation but to live there.

A daunting and ambitious notion. But with any goal - they all begin with the first step.  In her case she asked herself - how much would I need to save in order to live for one year without working?

This was followed up by - "where does all my money go now?"  This to me was the most intriguing part of the story. 

The film Fight Club has a line that says
  "the things you own end up owning you".

Janice instead of trying to figure out how to afford the life she currently has while away instead tackles the problem by being subtrative.  "How can I reduce my cost of living so saving enough is more attainable?" 

So begins her relentless attack on her consumerism ways.  She starts to widdle down her belongings. Her goal - she'll be able to pack her belongings into one suitcase.

The rest of the story is just as inspiring.  It's light but has enough substance to make you wonder "what if".  

A good recommendation for anyone looking to make some changes in their life - big or small. 

Nuisance Bears

From www.tbnewswatch.com

A recent article Bear Visit was posted in the news which has re-ignited the Bear Hunt issue.  I'm not going to weigh into the hunting debate.  I'm not qualified to do so.

However the point I'd like to make is the issue of urban sprawl.   Instead of the city continuing to develop more and more sub-divisions which I believe stresses the road/water/electrical infrastructure, why doesn't it start building 'up'?

I think its time for Thunder Bay to start building decent sized apartment and condo buildings in the city.  If the Ring of Fire ever gets started - Thunder Bay would surely see some rise in population.  They need to live somewhere.   I'd hate to see more urban sprawl.

It's a chicken and egg scenario. The bears aren't a  nuisance - the people building houses 'out there' are.  Bears and other wild life are part of the surroundings and should be considered part of the deal.