hey all i know i haven't been the bestest 'blogger' in town - i.e. non consistent, randomly timed, sparse, tumbleweeds, etc - to name a few tags pertaining to my abilities to keep up with the ever so evolving world of information exchange.

however my early new years revolution... drumroll... blog.offthesky.com.

i'm gonna try and keep a decently steady stream of new ideas, discussions, music/label reviews, interviews, tutorials, and hopefully community projects (once things get offtheground of course).  well i have hi hopes so we'll see how far i get!

so if you're a musician and would like me to review your music, please send me a link to a proper .zip of your album and i'll try and review it(if it's conducive material of course - i'll listen to everything though)...

if you have good ideas of things to blog, please feel free to send me a link to some weirdo sound art/music related/etc. etc. concept and i'd love to cross link or showcase it!  the idea is building the community, etc.

okay so feel free to check out the official offthesky blog

Sony MDR-EX70LP Earbud Headphones($30) - these are absolutely amazing for the price!  they have super high detail for audiophiliac listening; super amazing stereo field for mixing;  great bass response; and best of all i have left them in for literaly 8 hours without any soreness or pain. 

i use them to mix records, with my ipod, and while field recording.  they block out tons of background noise (i have fallen asleep using them).

heres a link to more reviews:

http://www.epinions.com/Sony_MDR_EX70LP_Fontopia_Earbud_Headphones_Headphones/display_~reviews

wow i'm so excited to find other artists who are on the same page or have already tredded down these roads of thought i'm on.  i just found a link to an american composer from alaska who creating installations using tectonic/weather pattern data via max/msp to drive colors and sound!  also his music is beautifuly natural.  i highly recommend checkout out his link:

http://johnlutheradams.com/new/index.html

so i just found this amazing link to a company that sell special sensors that allow you to turn all kinds of physicalities into midi data such as temperature &  humidity, body movements, light levels, magnetic field strength, proximity or distance, 360 compass orientation, ambient volume,  etc.

check out: http://infusionsystems.com/catalog/index.php

also a link to more great midi controller links: http://www.synthzone.com/ctrlr.htm

okay since i've evolved over from bigger, more expressionisticly limited daw programs such as cubase sx to ableton 6, because of its simplicity and unlimited creative potential - it has become one of my prized sonic sculpting tools next to audiomulch and reaktor.  of course no program will ever be customizably open enough to lend the perfect interface or features set for any one artist.  but there is hope...

my biggest peeve with ableton has always been its strangely arranged and un-customizable keyboard shortcuts:  such as having to press "ctrl-e" to splice a sound clip in half... or having to stretch my hand and press "ctrl-b" to switch between the draw tool - which for me is a must since automation of effects is a massive element in the organics and texture of my sound.  plus double clicking to creating an automation point simply wears my finger down and makes my arm hurt after about 2 hours of intense editing.  clicking and dragging on an effect or vsti knob can be a pain after a minute or so of moving the mouse around...

so i finally figured out a couple amazing free programs that allow you to "re-route" your keyboard so that all the multiple button keyboard short cuts can be squeezed in just one key each on the keyboard.  check out a free program called "hotkeyz 2.6".  with this program i have remapped all the albeton keyboard shortcuts that i use so often to fit into the left hand most side of the keyboard.  everything is super easy now.  i can just hit the "q" key to switch between the draw tool, and the "z" key slices my sound clips.  copy and paste functions are now the "a" and "s" keys...  and so on...
 
as far as remapping the mouse buttons go, if you use the built in windows "mouse keys" - under control panel->accessibility options - then all the mouse functions automaticly become a part of the number keypad on the right of the keyboard.  you can remap whatever keys to control the double-click, drag, and right click functions from anywhere else on your keyboard.  right now my left caps lock = double click, my left windows key =click/drag... this will probably save me from getting carpal tunnel syndrome in a couple years which is priceless...

of course the next version of albeton might very well allow the user to change these keyboard shortcuts for themselves(fingers crossed)... but for now hotkeyz together with the mousekeys windows program is the very best ultimate workaround.  but these shortcuts can also work well with any other sound editing program you use.  the double click feature works for me in just about any program i work with.  the click drag is awsome for selecting a knob on an effect and then just moving it with the mouse freely (and not having to hold down my finger on the mouse button for a while...)

so in final, this is an amazing time-saving technique to use regardless of which programs you are into.  it could help the health out of your arms in the future.  btw: if you would like my hotkeyz keyboard remap template file to use in ableton, please contact me through myspace...

i'm very excited to announce a new non-profit organization call the sound machine.  it is comprised of a group of artists who are contributing their video and audio skills - i.e. songs, videos, etc. to compose a dvd or cd comp who's profits will go straight to the roald dahl foundation (http://www.roalddahlfoundation.org/).  please check http://www.thesoundmachine.info/ for more information. 

its a wonderful thing when artists are donating their talent and credability to help out children in need...

okay so maybe this is old hat for sum, but if not, here's an idea to get the most out of texturizing any drum loop, melody line, or field recording - take it and split it up into 3 or four different frequencies (using a band-pass filter) so the one sound becomes 3 sounds: a bass lower frequency version, the mid version, and the high version. 

Ableton live has a nice 3band EQ where you can turn off the other bands and isolate the one frequency you want to effect.  Then just route the 3 different sounds into different effects and compile them all back into one sound in the end.  the effects you use are up to you...  

so i was just talking with a mentor friend of mine today about metaphysical subject matter when i came to a great epiphanic realization.  considering the fact that we are all built up of a series of resonating energy pulses (yeah im talkin atomic level) stacked on more levels of resonations and pulsing surrounded by a miasma of pulsation patterns (think the film pi; the karmic theory; or the action reaction theroy - also all part of a huge stack of resonation systems) - our reality and personalities can be easily theorized as a direct relation to sound energy pulses in so many way.  i mean its all really relative anyway right?

so with that in mind, i came to the conclusion that as a musician that there is no better way to give back to humanities struggle to mental freedom than by incorporating proven ancient sonic healing techniques into the music i make to try and resonate with more positive patterns in peoples minds (a 5th harmonic series, for example, is a proven coupling of notes with an instinctualy happy emotive force in the human mind). 

but at first, or at least until i understand this whole chakra thing better.. the best way to subvert the dominant paradigm in people is by stealthy ninja action by sneaking in tried and true sonic healing tomes of tonal combination into the backgrounds or melody structure of the actual songs.  why not make the music have a perfect intent at the same time by exploring the 5th series.  maybe people will fall asleep to it but they'll at least have some really cool trippy dreams doing it...