Randomosity by BluAssassin

The 10 Commandments of Goal Setting

2013-11-12T12:55:00.001-05:00

So, it's been a while...

I admit, I'm not a regular blogger. I do sometimes have topics I'd like to discuss, but by the time I have the time to write about it, I've moved on and no longer feel the passion. Yaknowhatimean?

Anyway, I was cleaning out an old email account and came across these commandments. It's the end of the year and it's about the time most people start to plan for 2014. So, I thought I'd share.

I got this list from the Goals Guy (www.goalsguy.com).

Thou Shall Be Decisive
Success is a choice. You must decide what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it. No one else can, will, or should do that for you.

Thou Shall Stay Focused
A close relative to being decisive, but your ability to sustain your focus from beginning to end determines the timing and condition of your outcomes.

Thou Shall Welcome Failure
The fundamental question is not whether you should accept failure. You have no choice but to expect it as a temporary condition on the path way of progress. Rather, the question is how to anticipate failure and redirect resources to grow from the experience.

Thou Shall Write Down Thy Goals
Your mind while blessed with permanent memory is cursed with lousy recall. People forget things. Avoid the temptation of being cute; Write down your goals.

Thou Shall Plan Thoroughly
Planning saves 10 to 1 in execution. Proper planning prevents poor performance.

Thou Shall Involve Others
Nobody goes through life alone. Establish your own "Personal Board of Directors", people whose wisdom, knowledge and character you respect to help you achieve your goals.

Thou Shall Take Purposeful Action
Success is not a spectator sport - achievement demands action. You cannot expect to arrive at success without having made the trip.

Thou Shall Reward Thyself
Rewards work! Think of what you will give yourself as a result of your hard work, focus and persistence - you deserve it!

Thou Shall Inspect What Thy Expect
The Shelf life of all plans is limited. No plan holds up against opposition. Everything changes. Therefore inspect frequently and closely, it's an insurance policy on your success.

Thou Shall Maintain Personal Integrity
Maintain your commitment to your commitment. Set your goals, promise yourself that you will achieve them. Eliminate wiggle room and excuses. That's personal integrity!

That's it! Take what you need and leave the rest.

Just in case I have another long hiatus, Happy Thnaksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Lol

The End

2012-11-28T11:30:00.000-05:00

Yup! It's the end of the semester and this is my last blog post. This semester was an interesting mix of of projects. I learned a lot in the recording studio and I did quite a few interesting projects. I'm currently working on mixing a few songs for my Multi-track recording class and a final project for my Computer-Based Production class. This last project is also a little difficult. I was inspired by a classmate to create a loop. Unlike the track I made earlier in the semester which was a combination of already created loops, I plan to create my own loops in Pro Tools, which is actually not as easy as it sounds. As usual, the problem is staying focused on what I have started and not changing everything anytime a new idea pops into my head. So here's a hint at what I'm working on:

By the way - here's the finished Disco Mix...

Disco DJ?

2012-11-07T12:50:00.000-05:00

So now we're on to creating a mix in Pro Tools. I've decided to go with Disco because it's music I haven't used in a while. I loved listening to it as a child. My Mom owned every Donna Summer album ever put out.

But I digress...

I thought it would be fairly easy, since I've done a dancehall reggae mix for a previous class. Welp, not so much. It's a very complicated thing. And I'm not sure that I have enough time to pull it off to my satisfaction.

With reggae, the beats are similar, if not exactly the same. With disco, they all have different BPMs (Beats Per Minute) and some start slow and then speed up ("Last Dance" by Donna Summer). So, I'm gonna give it a try. I'll let you know how it turns out.

In the meantime, here's a lesson on Tempo Matching in Pro Tools.

Mixing

2012-10-19T13:41:00.003-04:00

Today's post is about mixing. I like it. How can you tell if mixing is for you? If you don't mind hearing the same song 250 million times, then mixing might be your dream job.

I'm mixing a song called "Holding Nothing Back" by a Christian Rock group by the name of Damascus Road. They're a pretty talented bunch. I enjoy time in the studio with them.

Anyways, the first thing I had to do was EQ the tracks. There were over 16 of them. Then we get into actually mixing the tracks together to make them sound cohesive.

One thing I know for sure: You can mix a song until forever. I don't feel like I'm done, but I could tweak this song forever. LOL

Here's a photo of my mixing screen:

Chroma Keying

2012-10-05T12:17:00.000-04:00

Soooo, I had to choose a project for class and I decided I wanted to learn how to chroma key. I'm not really sure what I was thinking. It's obvious that I had no idea what a pain it would be.

The thing I hate to do the most is shoot video. If I never have to touch a video camera again in life I will be OK. Yet, when I learned how chroma keying is done, I wasn't deterred.

A classmate took some time to out to show me how to use the green screen and how to accomplish chroma keying in post-production. Shout out to Jonathan for being so patient.

Now that I know how to chroma key, I don't think I will have a reason to use it. LOL

Here's the project...

Using Apple Loops in GarageBand

2012-09-21T15:08:00.002-04:00

So, I had to do a project for a class. Any project. Anything that would teach me something new. Well, if you know anything about me, you know I’m an over-achiever. So what project did I choose? As the title tells you, I decided to create a track using Apple Loops in GarageBand on my Mac.

I had never created a track in my entire life. I thought it would be fairly easy, but umm errr…

My first challenge was choosing a drum beat. I hadn’t really sat down and just listened to all the beats, so I kept changing my mind every time I heard something new. I eventually abandoned working from the beat first and decided to start with my first love: Strings.

I listened to a few and found some I liked. Now, how do I make it into something you wanna listen to? I knew I wanted an intro that was different from the rest of the track, so I chose a loop that I liked, but didn’t think would sound good repeated. Then I added the second loop of strings. But I needed some kind of transition between the two so I added shakers. Then I found a beat that worked with String Loop 2. I liked it, but it didn’t sound FULL. So, I added Stand-up Bass. I just needed something to satisfy that need for a little BOOM.

Now what? How long should the track be? Wouldn’t it be a little boring if I just kept this same loop repeating over and over and over and over again? So, I need to break it up and insert a change. Insert String Loop 3. When I heard this, I almost scrapped everything and started over. I REALLY liked it. But I would never finish if I kept that up. So this would be a sort of chorus (if I were writing a song).

Add a transition and a new beat. Now make the main beat blend into the chorus.

Repeat.

Here’s the result. I can tell you how I recorded the visualization on another blog…

Our Family Legend

2012-08-31T13:14:00.000-04:00

Every family has one; the one person who has talent worthy of recognition. Not just the one who can sing at family reunions or the one who can cook their a$$ off. The one who becomes a professional singer or becomes a professional chef. That one.

We have many talented people in our family with talents that range from the performing arts to business management. But our family legend took his talent and made it a family business.

Paul Lawrence Dunbar Kelly is our family legend.

To the public, he was known as Paul Kelly (his wikipedia page). I called him Uncle Lawrence. He was certainly a colorful character. He was a mix of confidence, humor, intelligence, creative genius and eccentricity all rolled up in one. He would sometimes say the craziest things, but if you understood the foundation on which he made his statement, it wasn’t that crazy at all.

Growing up, we always knew that Uncle Lawrence was a famous singer. I never actually got to see him perform live, but the house was always full of his music. My aunts, Juanita (his wife) and Verdell (his sister) were his background singers. They all wrote a lot of the songs he sang and the family even started a publishing company that also included my Dad, Aunt June and Uncle John.

He had a “Paul Kelly” Van that he must have used to transport the band and the equipment. As a child, you don’t think about these things. All I know is that it was considered a treat to ride in it. We (my cousins and I) would race to sit in the backseat of the van. Whenever we hit a bump, we would almost hit our heads on the roof and we’d yell “Bump! De Lump!” Makes no sense to other folks, but that was what we did in the back of the “Paul Kelly” Van J.

I recently enrolled in a Broadcast Production program to become a recording engineer. Having attained some technical knowledge, I reached out to Uncle Lawrence to see what I could do to help him revitalize his music (he was really big in the 60s and early 70s). Most of what he needed, I didn’t have the talent to provide. He needed marketing. But the technical stuff I could handle. I helped him release an MP3 album (1984 )through iTunes and other various online stores. In doing that, I learned that he had his own record and publishing company.

I also learned that he has a loyal fan base in the UK (Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven). I often wondered what would have happened if Uncle Lawrence had actually moved to London instead of South Carolina. He’d probably be like one of those classic performers who never stop touring and performing.

Uncle Lawrence passed away on Sunday, August 19, 2012. There is nothing that can fill the void he left in our family. But his music will live on and I will continue to be its advocate.

My next goal: Get his music on Pandora.

Here are a few of my favorite songs by Uncle Lawrence:

God Can (as sung by the Staple Singers)

Get Sexy

Stealin’ Love On The Side

Stealing In The Name of the Lord

Personally (as sung by Jackie Moore)

Today's Top Video on Vevo

2012-08-24T13:00:00.000-04:00

Before we get to the meat, let me apologize for my lengthy absence. Life has gotten pretty hectic for me, but that will no longer be an excuse. I will try to update regularly, but hey, I'm only human. ;-)

And with no further ado....

Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe

I am sooooooo not the demographic for this video. It's cute though...LOL. Teen girls must be the key demographic on Vevo if this is today's top video.

New Video: Mindless Behavior - Mrs. Right

2011-07-19T11:00:00.001-04:00

New Video: Sade - Love Is Found

2011-07-18T11:00:00.001-04:00

Sampled: Snoop Dogg - That Good

2011-07-15T11:00:00.001-04:00

Here's Snoop's ode to Mary Jane...

Here's where he sampled from...

Remake of the Week: Come Together

2011-07-14T11:00:00.001-04:00

Here's The Beatles' original version...

Here's my favorite version by MJ...

New Video: Mann - The Mack ft. Snoop Dogg & Iyaz

2011-07-13T11:00:00.002-04:00

New Video: Big Sean - I Do It

2011-07-12T11:00:00.000-04:00

New Video: Usher & Enrique Iglesias - Dirty Dancer

2011-07-11T11:00:00.003-04:00

Sampled: Notorious B.I.G. - Everyday Struggle

2011-07-08T11:00:00.002-04:00

Here's one of my favs from Biggie

Here's who he sampled

Remake of the Week: Spotlight

2011-07-07T11:00:00.008-04:00

Technically speaking, this is not a remake. Here's Ne-Yo's demo of the popular song.

Here's Jennifer Hudson performing the hit written for her debut album

New Video: Rick Ross - 9 Piece (Explicit) NSFW

2011-07-06T11:00:00.004-04:00

New Video: Jennifer Hudson - No One Gonna Love You

2011-07-05T11:00:00.004-04:00

New Video: Eminem - Space Bound

2011-07-04T11:00:00.003-04:00

Sampled: Aaliyah - More Than A Woman

2011-07-01T11:00:00.001-04:00

Here's Aaliyah's hot track...

Here's who she sampled...

Remake of the Week: Mystery

2011-06-30T11:00:00.001-04:00

Here's the original by Manhattan Transfer

Here's Anita Baker's more popular rendition.

New Video: Yo Gotti - We Can Get It On

2011-06-29T11:00:00.001-04:00

New Video: Marsha Ambrosius - Late Nights & Early Mornings

2011-06-28T11:00:00.001-04:00

New Video: Chris Brown ft. Justin Bieber - Next 2 You

2011-06-27T11:00:00.001-04:00