Colin OOOD

It's a great album - I love it.

Hi there... I guess we couldn't expect to be able to have an album cover as different from what has gone before and still be able to please everyone - but I'm very glad that the critical comments about it have been over a matter of personal taste rather than originality! As Pavel has said, the cover art he posted is final (although I'm still working on the art as a whole and until I go to bed tonight it could still be changed) and sets the theme for the rest of the package. The dogs were drawn as a doodle by an artist who is a friend of a friend; the original drawing is about 5cm across, and I first saw them enlarged to about 1 metre across in a picture frame on my (ex) girlfriend's lounge wall. At the time Andrew Humphries and I were just starting work on the Voice of Cod album; I fell in love with the drawing instantly, and knew from the beginning that I wanted the dogs as the cover art for the album. To my eyes they have so much personality - they seem to be leaping off the paper, and each one shows different aspects of both of our personalities: friendliness, assertiveness, openness, and a certain degree of both agression an wilful naivety! But whatever it is they are doing, they are leaping out into the world to do it together, just as Andrew and I are doing with the album. To me, those dogs represent us. As far as the rest of the cover goes, I was aiming for a simple, clean design that highlighted the drawing I like so much I also wanted a certain amount of detail in the background to satisfy the eye so I placed a warped and distorted circuit-board faintly behind the dogs to make it look as if they are leaping free from some piece of twisted technology. Perhaps the circuit-board could be a little darker and more obvious though... hmm... <tweaks Photoshop> Obviously as a creative person I would very much like what I do (whether it's the music or the album artwork) to be universally loved... however I know that's impossible, and that there will be people who dislike the music on the CD just as much as slyman604 dislikes its cover - in fact even though this is the first negative comment I've ever had on it (and believe me, I showed a lot of people that drawing before I started on the artwork!) I wouldn't be surprised if someone ends up posting it in the 'other' thread at some point! I would hope that it's not just the fact that it looks different to other album covers that have gone before it that made slyman dislike it - I would like to hear his reasons rather than just a blunt "that looks awful!" comment, as it might help me improve things for the next cover I have to design for the OOOD album. Finally I'd just like to repeat a quote I heard recently that (to me) applies in this instance: "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got"... and if I see one more fractal bloody Shiva on an album cover, I'll...

I guess I'd describe it as funky melodic full-on, with progressive moments and vaguely experimental leanings. Best idea though is to go to the link in my signature and decide for yourself!

Still blue... I've got a signed CDR of the album (complete with an unfinished version of the most recent track) in my hand now, I just need to know who to dedicate it to. Pavel? Or my right hand?

I'll give you a signed copy if you can make my name purple on Isratrance.

Dunno if this has been posted yet, but you could do worse than check out our website: http://www.voiceofcod.com You'll need broadband to look at the flash site as it's quite a biggun. Our album "We Are Free" is due out at the beginning of July - you can hear clips of some of the tracks on the site. Cheers, hope you like it... Colin

Wow... I don't know what to say... Never thought I'd write a collector's item. $38.50 for one of my records? That's insane! I wish I could help you out but I've only got one copy left myself... and it's staying here! CD, however, could be a different matter...

OK, all systems go! Really looking forward to this one, the first of our outdoor parties this year. the weather report is improving, we've hired the sound system, van and generator, we've got some first rate guest DJs... Can't wait. We expect to be starting sounds before midnight... if you've been to any of our previous parties, I should tell you that it's not in the usual place, but a little further down the path in a larger area that's set back a little more from the river. As usual, please don't park on the hill or on the curve of the road - last year when people did this a lot of cars got towed away! Also please don't drive vehicles down the path as it attracts completely the wrong sort of attention You can park without problems on the straight road at the bottom of the hill. See you there!!! Finally, all the best to the Liquid Connective crew for their party tomorrow night... hope y'all have a blinder.

--==:: Monkibizniz Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse Party (oh, and it's Ryo's birthday too) ::==-- Friday May 16th 2003 - Avon Gorge, Bristol John Phantasm (Phantasm Records) Chrisbo (Pagan, Return To The Source) Ryo (Unconscious Collective) Rama (Unconscious Collective) Stevie (OOOD, Unconscious Collective) Natzan (Tribe Of Frog) Geo (Entheogenic, Tribe Of Frog) Dr. G (Entheogenic, Tribe Of Frog) Situated in a secluded green space by the river, within walking distance of the city +++++ Plus +++++ The usual free vibes, VJs, fireworks, chai, and lots and lots of friendly monkies! Watch this space for more information/info line IMPORTANT - No parking on site!

--==:: Monkibizniz Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse Party (oh, and it's Ryo's birthday too) ::==-- Friday May 16th 2003 - Avon Gorge, Bristol John Phantasm (Phantasm Records) Chrisbo (Pagan, Return To The Source) Ryo (Unconscious Collective) Rama (Unconscious Collective) Stevie (OOOD, Unconscious Collective) Natzan (Tribe Of Frog) Geo (Entheogenic, Tribe Of Frog) Dr. G (Entheogenic, Tribe Of Frog) Situated in a secluded green space by the river, within walking distance of the city +++++ Plus +++++ The usual free vibes, VJs, fireworks, chai, and lots and lots of friendly monkies! Watch this space for more information/info line IMPORTANT - No parking on site!

The average value of a waveform should be 0 - this means the speaker cone spends equal energy either side of its rest position. DC offset is what you get if there is a constant voltage on top of the waveform - a signal oscillating at 0Hz is effectively a direct current. On a spectrum analyser you can see a DC offeset if the lowest frequency of the graph is at a constant level, or never goes below a certain value. A spectrogram will show a continuous line for the lowest frequency. To get rid of a DC offset, EQ the sample with a low cut filter set to 30Hz or less. Confused? Sorry. Colin

I'd say Cubase (but then I'm biassed) - Sonar is a little young and clunky. Your hardware MIDI interface will probably give you a little better timing than a USB one (esp. if your USB buss is doing other things as well) but probably not really noticeable with your Sony. You need as much RAM as your laptop can handle. Colin PS Tracks please!

Why peace OR freedom? Seems to me it's a totally illogical up question implying you can only have one or the other but not both. As in: "What would you prefer, if you could only have one of the following: a) your heart beating, or being able to breathe" Peace and freedom are both attainable on a personal level for EVERYONE, RIGHT NOW. All you have to do is make the change in your perceptions and thereby your actions (ok, maybe it's not quite that simple but you know what I mean). For example, imagine if everyone thought this way... PEACE: I try my hardest to act towards others as I would like them act towards me. I realise I cannot always succeed, but when I fail I do all in my power to show the other person that it was not meant personally, and make good my failing. As my life progresses I know I will fail less and less often, as my experience and wisdom increases. A person who attacks me - whatever form that attack takes - does not know me (or they'd know I was no threat to them), and so their attack should not be taken personally. Retaliation serves no purpose other than to perpetuate bad shit. FREEDOM: My actions are constrained only by my desire to act, my confidence in the success of my actions, and my desire for peace. I accept responsibility for the results of my actions. As the Beatles said, "There's nowhere you can be that you're not meant to be" - If I obey a stop-sign it's because I don't want to cause an accident, not because I've been told to stop. My dealings with people are all in good faith, thereby eliminating fear and paranoia. The above is a very poor statement of what I believe, and I realise it sounds idealistic, but I think it shows that peace and freedom are in no way mutually exclusive, but two sides of the same coin. Wars will end when soldiers (who are, after all, people like you and me) refuse to fight. Read a bit of Robert Anton Wilson (especially the Cosmic Trigger series) for more information on changing your reality. Colin

Autopan needs to be used on a stereo track or it won't work right. Colin

Timestretching. Lots of it. Colin

I'd be interested in joining a future project. Not yet though, I want to wait until I have broadband, which should be relatively soon. Colin

Anyone using copyright material (eg samples of speech or music, lyrics, melodies, etc) in their own work must, by law, be granted a license to do so by the owners of that copyright. But most people in psy trance don't bother. Colin

Yes mate, JAPAN... specifically Tokyo, specifically Akihabara and Shibuya. Japanese-made equipment can be bought for about half the price you can get it in in Europe. There are also places (if you can find them) that sell second-hand stuff even cheaper. There are some incredible shops with MOUNTAINS of vintage analog - ever seen 7 Prophet 5s in a row on a shelf? Be aware that new equipment bought in Japan will be 110V - you will need to spend extra on a power transformer which is often not cheap. Colin

Oh yes... and compress the fuck out of it, too.

Yeah, Reactor rocks in terms of what it can do; it's just that I prefer to spend my time making music rather than programming! I also have some slight compatibilty issues with my system - I've lost work cos of Reactor and that's made me a bit wary. Mainly though it's the time out from writing; it is certainly one of the deepest and most powerful pieces of software I've used. Colin

The program is in your head, dude. Colin

No, you're thinking of Real World, another imaginary concept. Colin

My system is 90% virtual; the only hardware I use at the moment is a Korg Karma. My PC is a PIII 600, 512 MB with a Yamaha DS2416 card (which I rate very highly, despite having too high latency to play live virtual synths - boo!). I too have a rack full of hardware that I now use solely to impress girls with (only joking, Sheila!). Softsynths I use include Battery, Pro 52, Absynth, Pentagon, Beast, Delay Lama, PPG 2.V; 90% of my effects are Waves. I post-produce myself but always keep un-mastered versions for professional mastering (as and when So there. I think that some softsynths are easily up to the same quality as good hardware (particularly Absynth, Pro 52 - even Pentagon makes a great noise) - after all, the only difference between digital hardware and software these days is that with VSTi's the processing takes place inside your PC rather than a separate box. The one area where hardware DEFINITELY scores is accessability; zero latency and knobbage are essential if you want to spend more time making music than programming. Analog is a different matter; you have to work quite hard sometimes to warm up even the best VSTi. A good way to go in my opinion is to get 1 good multi-purpose digital synth (eg Karma, in my case) with a keyboard, 1 or 2 bits of quality analog - you can't go wrong with Roland, Korg made some good synths but stay away from all but the BIGGEST of Yamaha analog synths, unless you're shit-hot with a soldering iron - and the fastest PC your money will buy. Oh yes, and some decent monitors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After all, they are the only thing you actually listen to. Get some shitty ones, too, and alternate listening to them. A decent mic will go a long way to make your music and sounds more original too. Then, once you've got your kit together (I forgot to mention a good mixer) spend as much time as you can spare getting to know each piece inside oout (although if you just dive in to make tunes this will happen over time anyway, if you have half a brain). Colin

DEFINITELY RVerb for natural (!) reverb... although convolving reverbs like Acoustic Mirror should theoretically be more accurate. I just find the RCerb makes my mixes come alive! Colin

Kicks can often benefit from a cut (maybe -5 to -10 dB) around 300 Hz (1 oct-ish bandwidth) and another, narrower cut around 180 Hz. To manipulate the sub-bass element separately use a narrow cut/boost at around 60-90 Hz (check a spectrum analyser, eg FFT4VST, Spectralab or Waves PAZ Analyser to get the exact frequency). You can find the click element between 1K-3K, and it may be worth putting a steep hi-cut at around 5K. As for MS20 vs SH101, if EP thinks he can get the same sounds out of an MS20 then this is probably because he DOES get the same sounds; stands to reason (IMHO) that people who say otherwise probably can't program synths as well as he can. Colin