2010 Midwest AES Summit
I just returned from another AES Summit at Webster University in St. Louis. A great place to mingle and learn from audio professionals and students. This year George Massenburg was one of the presenters at the summit. He is an interesting person to listen to… a great evangelist for high quality audio. This is a guy who reminded me of why I got into this in the first place.
Let me explain… Music is like a drug to me… Really good music keeps me coming back to it.
Current trends in music has left me questioning why I even bothered. However… George puts up the multitracks to Stevie Wonder’s Superstition and Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On…. And I had a moment where I reached euphoria… I remembered why I got into recording, audio and music.
While those tracks were playing… it was quite a feeling… not because I was familiar with the songs… but I realized that through all of the imperfections in the tracks… they were still magic. Stevie playing all of the instruments on a song is much how I do things… I am not comparing myself to Stevie… but I can understand how Stevie had built the songs from the ground up.
And James Jamerson’s bass playing on What’s Going On was extremely refreshing to hear solo’d out. What a feeling… what a vibe…
I guess in all of this… the point is the creativity of a single artist… as well as a bunch of artists coming together making a song. It is about the artist… the music… the song… the vibe. Imperfections are part of human existence… It is refreshing to hear them in a song…
Today’s music is lined to a grid… autotuned… edited… tweaked… perfected… and totally sterilized…
I wished that we could get back to producing music with a vibe… a feel… with some imperfections… maybe putting the band in the same room and taking tracks as a group… playing as a band. No more grids… or Autotune… unless it is used as an instrument…
I know how I want to move forward in audio and music… Look for more posts on this… I hope to break this down in the coming weeks…
Kids Prayer Time Before Bed
Tonight at prayer time just before bed… I was observing my kids… and their prayers. I made some interesting observations about them.
The prayers they offered up were unselfish, all pointed outward, meaning toward others, and with such an expectancy and innocence that it caught my attention.
Sometimes I catch glimpses that I am doing things right as a parent. I lose focus with all of the wrong things I do… but sometimes… I find little hints that I am not doing too bad…
Here is what I noticed about their prayers…
They are unselfish and pray for others… they have this innocence we all should have when talking to God…
It is amazing the things we learn from our kids…
Bald Eagle
Today I saw two Bald Eagles near my home. The two eagles share egg duty in the huge nest they have built very high in the tall trees. One eagle stays with the nest while the other one feeds and protects. When the bird flies… it is extremely majestic in it’s movement and glide. I have seen eagles in captivity before… and they are beautiful… but to see one in a natural habitat… living off of the land… preparing for the birth of it’s chicks… is truly an amazing sight. I will try to get pics over the course of the next few weeks. Of course I will not invade their space or become a threat to the birds… but in the event they are flying around… I will attempt to capture a snapshot of them.
Digital Artwork
Posted by dmatchack in Uncategorized on January 23, 2010
Well… so I like tinkering around with 3D apps… I found e-on software’s Vue to help create photo-realistic terrains and scenery. I am attaching some pics I have recently created. I need to tinker around with the camera on this one since it appears the DOF is out of whack… or the trees are just blury…
Enjoy
Cheesecake Recipe
Lazarus 
Cheesecake Recipe
Below is the cheesecake recipe I spoke of on my Facebook page. I have discovered that it is the old Lazarus restaurant recipe. Not sure how many of you remember that… but great tasting just the same.
Anyway… here is the recipe. Enjoy
Crust:
1 3/4 cups graham-cracker crumbs
1/3 cups butter, melted
1/4 cups sugar
Filling:
3 (8 oz. each) packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
Topping:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Preparation
Crust:
Blend cracker crumbs, melted butter and 1/4 cup sugar. Press the crumbs onto the
side and bottom of a well-greased, 10-inch spring form pan. Set aside.
Filling:
Mix the cream cheese and 1 1/2 cups sugar for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs and
vanilla. Beat the mixture for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 300°F.
Turn the cheese mixture into the prepared pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes. Remove
from the oven and let cool at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Topping:
Blend the sour cream, 1/4 cup sugar and the vanilla. Pour on top of the cooled
cheesecake and return to the oven for 10 more minutes.
Varieties
Amaretto:
Add 2 ounces amaretto instead of vanilla to the filling. Decorate the topping
with toasted sliced almonds.
Chocolate chip:
Add 6 ounces crushed chocolate chips or shaved Swiss chocolate to the filling.
Decorate the topping with shaved chocolate or crushed chocolate chips.
Chocolate marble:
Remove 1 cup of the plain filling and add 2 ounces of Nestle Toll House Choco
Bake. Pour onto the remaining filling and swirl lightly just before baking. No
topping needed.
Yield: 1 10 inch cheesecake.
A Good Song Brings Back Memories!
Picture this… your shopping in a grocery store… the music is being piped out of the Muzak machine while you shop… all of the sudden a song comes on that stops you in your tracks…. suddenly a life time of memories flash before your eyes. You can picture exactly what you were doing on the day you first heard that song…
It happens to me all of the time..
Eric Clapton – I Shot the Sheriff… puts me in the family car with my dad and my sister Lisa going to the Ohio State Fair in 1974 very early in the morning… I was 11… almost 12. I can remember him cranking up the radio… AM Radio… of all things… but I remember it being a very cool tune… and still is to this day!
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (the whole album)… I am at my grandmother’s house with my dad and my uncle Art… in front of the stereo. And my dad is pointing out the panning and other engineering work done by Alan Parsons on that record. (I am grateful for that… I think my dad set me up to hear music differently than most people hear it)
That is just two examples… I got a gazillion of them…
Do you have any?
Leave a comment…
[NOTE] If this is your first time commenting, I will need to approve it before it can be seen… this reduces the spam postings.
Priorities…
Well… I got a lot of things I am doing these days… software development full time as a consultant (.net / classic asp and vb)… music creation for video and film… being a dad and a husband. Some days, there are just not enough hours in the day. I find myself faced with the challenge of how to accomplish all I need to do without neglecting anything or anyone. In my younger days it seemed I was better equipped mentally to pull stuff like this off… but that strategy included working all nighters and getting very little sleep. The older I get… the more I seem to need my sleep… so that strategy doesn’t seem to be working lately…
I said all of that to say this… in all of my experiences… I found that it is best to determine what is really important… and what is not. Prioritize! Now that means different things to different people… To me, being a husband and father is at the top… I am charged with providing for my family and ensuring that they have what they need and that in the process of doing that, I don’t become a stranger. That in itself is a monumental task sometimes. Work schedules, deadlines, all the stuff that go with today’s fast paced work environments will set me up to fail with my family if I am not careful. Of course I want to be successful with my work… but in the grand scheme of things… my work is not what I am most concerned with… I want lasting memories with my kids and my wife… When I pass on… I want them to remember me for being a Dad that put them first. And I want them to have good memories of me that they take to the grave with them.
So this year… 2010… I have determined to be the best husband and father I can be! Trying to find the right balance between work and family and play… It will mean some things don’t get done on time… or at all… but in the grand scheme of things… those things won’t really matter anyway!
Life is really short… I have to make the best of it while I am breathing…
Log in to my blog and tell me… what things will you do this year to change your life?
Welcome
me at the SSL C-200 in Atlanta
Hello all! I see you found my blog… I plan to post a daily article on here about something that is on my mind. At least once a day is my goal… sometimes I may post more… we will see…
I see it as educational for both you and me! You get to learn stuff about me that you never wanted to learn… and so do I!
…so sit back and strap in and enjoy the ride!
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