The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

All about the drum rudiments today as I have a go at trying out a few of the patterns in George Lawrence Stone's book, Stick Control for the Snare Drummer. LOTS of exercises but, when played back, it just sounded like someone practicing their rudiments. Add in some FX and reverse the track and... this is what you get. Keeping it simple and practicing at the same time. Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com!

Dec 20/2021! Can only do this for another 79 years before it’ll be moved another day ahead!

Reading Michio Kaku’s The Future of the Mind. I remember seeing it years ago but, after reading his other books, I felt this one was very much like a summary of what he had written before. Now, however, ten years later, it’s a good refresher. Interesting to see how the understanding of the human brain has only really taken off in the last 30 years or so!

New tracks are up on the website! Uploaded quite a few as I needed to catch up. Also updated Audio Blog section.

Thinking about how to make my life easier by possibly posting to my website first and then grabbing that info and posting to Anchor. Not sure which would be easier. Could I even automate the creation of a blog post with the proper HTML tags, etc. and then somehow append that to the current page? Then grab that and add it to Anchor.fm?

Looked into various audio mixing APPs for my phone. Dolby On seems to be the top suggested free audio mixer / post-production APP out there. Found a few others but some that have been written about aren’t available in my Play store for some reason. Having an audio editor on my phone would make some things easier, but it lacks the ability to give a “big picture” of what’s going on. Good for a simple podcast, but maybe not for audio post just yet. The screen is too small!

Shows notes up on stevensirski.com

Have a good one!

La dee dahhh... don't want to do this sooooo imma just gonna press some keys and see what happenss..... Then this happened. "Mixed Beats" is the pleasant accident that happened when I simply started pressing keys on the keyboard. Originally I was going to create an electronic track of some sort so I pulled up the "Advanced Machines" digital kit. I played along for a bit and created what I thought was a bit of a rhythm, but there was no real focus to the group. Then I thought, instead of overlaying more tracks, why don't I just copy + paste the same MIDI track and use four different kits? This is the result! Kits used: Advanced Machines, Autumn Leaves, Blazing Hot, and Crate Digger. Literally, the exact same MIDI tracks were used for each kit but I cut out some parts on each track to let the others breathe when necessary. I'm a little surprised it worked but am happy that something was able to be created. Goes to show: showing up is half the battle, and putting in some effort pays off. Show notes and tracks up on stevensirski.com!

How about playing the drum set with one hand? Think it's possible? It is, but it's not easy to play very fast. This track is an attempt to play at around 120 BPM with only one hand, similar to playing the keyboard or piano with only one hand. It can be done but, as you'll hear, there are quite a few missed notes and places where the beat should be louder than it is. I'll leave it as is, this is take 2, since, when I tried to do a third take, I started over-thinking it and it got messy quite quickly. It seemed best to keep things simple and I'm sure if I simplified even more, this could be used in a live setting.

Cold outside, windy cold. Being the old guy, what does it mean to be 'old'? Do you feel old? When 'kids' say 'adults', do you think they actually think you know what you're doing?! Yea, think about that... New track! Arkan on a Desk! Great reverb and rhythms on this track. Natural, one take. Intermittent fasting / restricted eating / 16 / 8 / whatever... fewer calories means deficit means loss of weight. But my target is fat. New issue of Foreign Affairs is up, do you read the mag? Show notes, tracks, and more up on stevensirski.com. Have a great end of week!

Whooops... not getting that done today! Workout complete though! Guess I gotta practice my rudiments after all since my sticking is all over the place... and slow! R L R R L R L L! Learning Chinese by reading a menu? Easier when the menu is variations of the same thing, not so easy when each item is completely different! And... if you could, what age would you go back to? How old would you return to if given the chance? Show notes up on stevensirski.com. Have a great day!

These hours and days are flying by. Not bad when you're having fun! Solstice coming up, then Christmas, then New Year's, then Olympics, then Spring Festival... I almost can't wait until the end of February! What's with the no uploading of podcast videos? I'll tell you why... And what about those drum tracks?! Show notes up on stevensirski.com, have a good one!

Early to work on a late start morning. #yey New tracks up for December Drumming: homages to the office worker. Use what you got to make rhythm! My offerings: pens and hands. Getting another NAT test tomorrow, some meetings with folks later in the week. Show notes and music tracks up on stevensirski.com. Have a great week!

How late is too late :D

New tracks up

Bombers for the W! Two in a row! Grey Cup Champs! Feels like when I was growing up.

Vaccine mandate: Beijing only, and mainly if you're in a customer service position, which I am distanced from because of teleconferencing.

Applied to work from home. Mixed feelings but I know I'll save A LOT a of time.

Starbucks busted for unsanitary practices!

Intermittent fasting, to skip breakfast or not? How do you compress your eating?

Show notes up on stevensirski.com

Have a great week!

Vaccine MANDATED. Would we have the same response if it was an alien creature? Would we reject vaccees for any sort of virus from outside of Earth? Something to think about anyway. Updated website, archives, etc.

Morning with Chinese grammar,

1. 可... + verb + 的 = is it worth it?

2. ...好...以便 = prepare well so that...

3. 除非 (chu fei) = unless...

Working on tracks. Hard to hit the proper notes on the iPad, they need editing. Not easy to play live.

Found an old track I can post.

Work tomorrow! May be one of my last!

Show notes on stevensirski.com

Have a great end of week!