Coffee Cup Challenge NOVEMBER

Okies people, I've had the chance to think, and I'm going to make this one where you can choose a challenge because I couldn't think straight, I'm full of a cold and well, lets just say that if there's a choice, it makes it easier, right? right...
Here goes...

1) A three minute track containing the elements of the season we're now in

2) A three minute track consisting of the ails of the season (coughs, sneezes and the likes)

3) A three minute track of events in your area for the time we're in (Diwalli, Bonfire night...that sort of thing)

All submitted tracks will be played on the final Sunday of November.


BIG THANKS TO:
Alvaro M Rocha for taking part in the October challenge :-)

Submissions due by (and no later than): 26th November

Thanks all!

Don't forget: CLOCKS GO BACK AN HOUR THIS WEEKEND!

Yup, it's that time of the year when we all scramble for our clocks and remove the hour that summer gave us.
Not that I object to handling clocks twice a year, but even so, the tradition goes back so far that, heck, it's not worth fighting/arguing over. It's something that has to be done - and done it will be.
It seems a strange thing to be doing, but at least it means the mornings will be lighter and the evenings a bit darker - and thats nice, I somehow like the cosiness that an evening brings in winter, but I yearn for the long summer evenings where I can take evening strolls and watch the sun setting. Winter will become the time for afternoon strolls and watching the sun setting in a different way. There's something mystical about watching our largest star in winter that in the summer, doesn't feel the same. There's a certain mysticism in winter that summer can't match. The sunsets look more fiery, the sky goes some incredible shades of red and clouds... echoing the colours of the sun and managing to look doubly superb. Coupled with the changing of the leaves on the trees from green to shades of reds and yellows and browns in one of mother natures messiest of displays. I know it's all down to clorophyl and all that... but hey, can't knock it! It just looks superb when the leaves start turning.
Or you could be where I am. Yellowing leaves cos, going red isn't the done thing... fallen brown leaves all over the floor, blown by the wind into your face as you try to go about your business....made slippy by the rain, thrown by kids as you walk past... erm.. yeah.. give me that - and give me the council gardeners, armed to the teeth with leaf blowers... my sanity needs preserving.
One other good thing - the wildlife, and with that, the squirrel. The lone solitary grey standing in the middle of the garden at the back, staring directly back at me through the kitchen window, it's big black glassy eyes staring at me with the sort of intent squirrels look at people at, the sort of stare thats hideously cute tinged with a hint of madness thats greater than the size of the animal.
I won't go into detail, but me and that squirrel have issues. And one day, these will be resolved.. either for the better or for the worse.
Ok, so I've gone on a little bit... purely unintentional.. really.
My suggested reading for this weekend is *HERE* and I'm surprised to find out that British Summer Time in 1968, didn't finish until 1971!
So don't forget the clocks this weekend.... that is, if you're reading this and you're in one of those places affected by the hour thing.

Sundays Audio Coffee goes out at it's usual time. Halloween edition this week, plus the entries in the Coffee Cup Challenge.

Audio Coffee:
7am EST
12 noon in the UK
1pm across most of Europe

Novembers Coffee Cup Challenge will be posted here over the weekend.

Grrr.... if it's not one thing, it's something else...

...and I'm not a happy bunny at the moment.
As if I havent suffered enough already, I mean, two weeks of a bad back, now it's almost bloody certain that my next two shows will mostly comprise of my affliction of having another cold.
Thats meant in total this year is that I've now had three colds , one injured knee, bad back pain for at least a month and ok, not really an illness, but certainly, a rather bloody and awkwardly located blister on my left heel.
Ah yes, I've had the puffy ankles - I'm sorta used to that thing now, had it long enough to know what to do and when.
My poor elderly computer has been having its own problems too. That can be cured by reinstalling the OS after I've formatted the sucker. I've so far spent the week committing stuff I can save to cd for when the computer is back to rights.
I have had far too many problems with it over the last few weeks that it has taken my attention away from other things. Once it's all successfully reinstalled, it'll be sweet to use - and feel fast (one thing it sure as hell isn't at the moment).
And playing Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 will probably feel a lot better too... as will a lot of other stuff thats essential to my day to day being.
I generally use a lot of open source programs - these will be heading back to the hard drive because being without them is something I'd rather not be.
Progs:

Stoik:
Image capturing: (webcam stuff) nice and quick to use, surprisingly a decent emergency to have running.
Film convertion software: Best thing I ever downloaded. It converts wmv to avi and a couple of other formats. I like it because it does it's job.

Gr8 player:
More recent addition to my pc. This player plays the files that windows media player craps on. I recently downloaded a film of a game on a website and when WMP played it, it greenscreened and refused to play the film and left me with just the audio - I got Gr8 player to run the file and it did - so sweetly, it was the deciding factor in my keeping it. You can play a wide variety of media on it - mp3's are fun, you can speed them up and slow them down and I'm impressed at the clarity at which it does it without making everything sound choppy or over/under compressed.

FOOBAR2000:
Wow.. this prog has never failed yet to impress me. I can't believe this prog is as good as it is and it's FREE!!! It's perfect for listening to audiostreams on the internet and the goodies its packed with are a godsend! The wide stereo feature is simply the best I've heard (for my pc and speakers anyway!)and I love the fact that buffering problems I've had with winamp and WMP are non-existent with this amazing piece of software (which I have to say, doesn't need the fixes that some players get on an all too frequent basis). I've used it off and on over the last four years and it's never ever let me down. It just does the job it's asked. So what if it doesn't support video? I didn't want it to play video............!!!

Winamp:
Did I really just mention this after praising FOOBAR2000?! ok, so I did. I only have it cos I get stupid people ask me 'you use winamp, don't you?'.... I say yes, and I mean yes and then I kick open FOOBAR and it's good to see other peoples reactions when their servers pick up something else... Winamp is good for it's visuals thing, nothing more. I wouldn't pee on it if it was on fire really, but it's there. It's like not being a tea drinker but having teabags in just in case someone who drinks tea visits.. that sort of thing. Actually, I use it for editing stuff. There's something about winamp I like when it comes to assissting my music production and keeping the damned thing away from the internet that I like. Yes, I know you can't record stuff through winamp, it's just a playing tool while I use another prog and record off the soundcard... (hit record in editing software, hit play on winamp, record on editing software, stop winamp... edit... happy...)

VirtualDub:
Great little prog thats a godsend for .avi file editing
Anvil Studio:
Just because... and it's good...

The Dee Sampler:
best.drum.prog.EVER

Antivirus software: AVG

Firewall: ZoneAlarm

Adware and Spyware tools: Spybot


Plus a few puzzle games...

But once everything has been sorted out, I can work on some halloween promos for Sundays show.
I can do it. I've done it before. I surprise myself at how quickly I can work when the mood takes me.

Please feel free to follow and use the links provided in todays post for your own personal use.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating and later on, I shall be chewing around this page for my computers needs and burping in satisfaction for my computers benefit.
Lengthy post, I know.. some people require explanations and thats whats there. If you don't like it, don't complain to me. I know what my computer likes and what it will run. All I've done is provide links to content and programs that if you don't run them already, you might want to give them at least a try before you say ANYTHING about them. Whether you like them or not, these programs are going to be on the internet regardless. All I have done is link to them. I'm not paid to link to them, I have linked to them because sometimes, the better software out there isn't necessarily always the software that you have to PAY for...
Just because it's got a fancy logo.. just because something has a glamorous look... it doesn't mean that its any good. To me, fancy stuff means 'I look good but don't do much' and plain stuff says 'bring it on...!!!!!'
Think about it people.. what are you using that you pay money for that you can download for free on the internet and it *DOES* the job?
I could go on, but I won't. I want to give you food for thought. How much do you know about computers? How much do you know about the internet?
Less than you think............................... and thats the honest truth.
Now shut up whining and pass me my windoze repair kit... I have a computer to fix.

Audio Coffee Challenge

Well, my bad for not keeping up with things and my bad for being busy as ever. But here's a reminder of the challenge for the month of October.

A three minute composition comprising of 2 electrical household items.


All submitted tracks will be aired on the 30th October in the Halloween Special of Audio Coffee.

Novembers challenge will be posted the same weekend.

Something Arty....

No real release date as yet.. will let you all know when I know...

Should've posted this LAST WEEK....

My html skills defy a certain logic sometimes. One minute, I seem ok with it, the next, it's like 'hello.. I don't know what the hell I am doing...'
So while my skills are fairly pap, naff, crap, non-existent, do enjoy this picture I took in Manchester last week while I still have something.

And remember. Do read my blog. It might not be that entertaining as a whole, but there's some educational aspects to it that are worthy of note.

Back to the er.... back.... ouch

Sometimes, I can go for weeks, sometimes months without incident. I'm usually damned proud when I can go any length of time without rendering some part of my body as 'injured'. So I think I can put 2005 down as 'the year my body popped and forgot to pop back again'. Hello to the long standing knee injury and a big welcome to the back pain I am now suffering.
Saying that, the show this week will go on regardless.. yes, yours truly here is just too goddamned stubborn to take a health break and get this thing sorted out. Well, it's more a brain and hand-eye co-ordination thing than a 'running about like a maniac' thing - except when I need the inevitable comfort break... besides, I've had this back problem for more years than I want to mention, its just that sometimes, I know I have had much better days than this.
I know it all started when I fell out of bed when I was aged of the single digits and right now, every day feels like I fell out of bed.
So by adding an injury on top of another slightly older injury thats an aggrevated older injury, at the moment, I'm hardly fun to be around.
But excercise does help.
I'm not the sort to retreat off to bed for days on end *because*. I'm a believer in carrying on until there's such a time as it's impossible to carry on. I did start the Ampcasthon earlier this year with a somewhat freshly injured knee, I've done a show with a fully developed cold and a chest infection - this is no different.
By keeping myself as distracted as possible, I generally find I can deal with any pain much better than letting a couple of painkillers decide.
Painkillers are fine in theory - for minor aches and pains, sure.. they'll deal with that. When you have the sort of pain that won't go by taking painkillers, then in MY opinion, the best form of action is to deal with it another way, usually by excercise and just slowing down enough to give the affected area some chance.
I only give a pain so long before I'm off to the doctors with it - and THEN I'll probably get something for the pain.
The only thing is, at the moment, all my efforts are only going so far. I think by Monday, I'll be crawling off to the doctors surgery and making myself an appointment.
(There isn't much one can do of a weekend around here, being ill Monday to Friday is ok though... just don't be sick over the weekend - the nearest emergency doctors is four miles away and it's NOT easy to get to.)
So for now, I'll put up and shut up. I'm liable to moan and get cranky, be bolshy and tell people what I think about them. I'm slightly unpredictable when I'm like this and please don't read into this and take it at face value or misinterpret whats here.
*I* know *me* better.

Today is October 15th, the day that licenced shops can sell fireworks to OVER 18's. Sales of fireworks will end at close of trading day on the 5th November.
During that three weeks, anyone caught misusing fireworks or are under the age of 18 will be cautioned, fined and have anything that might cause an offence confiscated. You will only be allowed to use fireworks between 7am and 11pm.
I'm not entirely clear on all the facts, so don't quote me. But today is the start of a jittery three weeks for me.
New ceiling please, new nerves and possibly.. new heart...
sedatives don't work, I fight them and end up 10 times worse. No, I'll be out with the cameras doing stuff to try and shake this irrational fear.


SHOW AS NORMAL TOMORROW.

*COFFEE CUP CHALLENGE*

There's only 2 weeks left for submissions. *remember* Include 2 household appliances into a 3 minute track.

What is 'ambient music'?

Ok, so I was asked to cover this subject on my weekly broadcast, but completely failed to do so due to one reason or another, so I'll publish it here instead (gives me time to think about things and edit them accordingly, whether thats now or much later).

What IS ambient music? well, what colour is grass? There are so many colours and varieties that it would be impossible to go through them all, but as a generalisation, I personally see ambient music as being music that one can listen to as just a little higher in volume than normal background noise. Ambient music is not the kind of bouncy boingy 'thud thud thud thud' of other music. For me, ambient music is the sort of thing you can listen to when you want to relax with something that isn't the regular standard of usual. Ambient has a relaxed tempo - I mean, come on, anything like heavy metal going at 400bpm isn't exactly 'chill out' is it?
Ambient music can be anything.. the sound of the washing machine or the recorded sound of the washing machine having gone through several processes to make it sound something like vaguely musical.
tonally low sounds can have an ambient effect, the crackle of static on an electricity pylon (which scares the crap out of me but hey, it does sound kinda nice and I wish I could remember to take some recording gear out one of these nights...), the purr of a cat, the drone of the pc fan... yup, tonally low sounds DO have an ambient effect. I remember studying this kind of thing at college years ago when we were given a rough introduction to 'how sounds can affect and influence people'. That said, tonally higher noises, or sounds of a greater pitch than would be if regarded as ambient can have an opposite effect. Mixed in the right proportions, you can achieve good ambient music with a combination of tonally high and low sounds.
There's an irritant quality about some tonally higher sounds compared with tonally lower sounds, which I do think the commercial music world is all too aware of and uses to its advantage, hence the repetitive quality of some songs out there - it hides it well, but as someone who really gets irritated to the point of annoyance at some high pitched sounds, I hear it, and more so on the radio and in shops too where they make it impossible for you to ask the staff anything because they're deafened by the raucus din on the store amazingly bad hi-fi and it's series of badly positioned speakers and the fact that they don't want to admit to liking what they're hearing and can't be bothered dealing with you.

Anyway, back the subjec of what is ambient music.

I like ambient music. I like creating 'ambient pieces'.. there's something relaxing about it after racing about like a maniac recording an absolutely specific sound and then finally doing something with it. For me, the relaxing comes when I don't have to swear at soundclick.com and my stuff uploads first time without a hitch.
There are of course pioneers of ambient - without their influence on the world, we'd all probably be into trash metal by now and Britney Spears wouldn't be in the news as often or in the charts or whatever... Metallica would be gods of their genre along with Black Sabbath and all that. Synthesizers, sampling and ambient belong together. They're the three essentials ambient artists like myself hold dear. Well, along with a computer, internet connection and somewhere to dump..er.. hold our beloved music pieces.
Ambient drum and bass is another planet entirely, and one I visit often. It's not the harsh hard kind of full throttle electronic or the sublime relaxing 30 minutes of washing machine on spin cycle either. Its the wrong side of the right side of ambient for me, it's like the bad boy of the washing cycle where a sock gets lost. But its' mostly good. I tend to think of ambient d&b as being the same as plain ol' ambient, but it's just a little beefier - all the spin cycle and a few muted drum loops.
Ok, so I'm doing a lot of 'use of the washing machine' here - so what! This is MY reflection on things!
I do however draw the line at noise. Noise is noise. Unless it has a purpose, its got no intentions at all. There's no build up, no dramatic middle bit and the end tends to fade out leaving you wonder why you spent 40 minutes listening to it.
HOWEVER.. 40 minutes of noise thats been cleverly edited to sound like something else and have some kind of plan (like, an intro, a middle and a decent end) isn't all that bad and has to make you feel like you've been listening to it for only 4 minutes.
And thats another thing. Some short tracks sound longer than they are and some long tracks sound shorter - it's one reason why I do my show every week by playing longer and longer tracks as the show goes on - it's all psychological. You'll remember the shorter ones as the longer ones are playing and a couple of hours later, you'll remember the longer ones as though they only played for a couple of minutes. Try it, you'll see that I'm right!

So anyway dear reader, there we conclude this weeks dive into the world of ambient. Next week, 'Cliff Richard - just WHO is his plastic surgeon?'

Some things I'm liable to forget...

I have a good memory, normally. But come Sunday, come showtime - come memory loss!!
I mentally plan the whole thing out over the week, and thats a good thing, usually by showtime, in the week thats just passed, things happen, and while I don't have anything written down to aid or assist me, by the time I'm live, I'm making the whole thing up as I go along - not too bad a thing because stuff happens in the hotline that jogs my 35 year old memory back to some kind of life - and thats good. I almost feel as though the hotline is my thing to remember stuff. Things like URLs and links tend to be neglected though and thats why (before todays show) I'm addressing that little issue.
Firstly, I've had some good news this week, I've actually had some pictures published in a local newsletter - something that has been distributed in the area and has gone into the letterboxes of several thousand homes this week - and that same publication can be read online aswell (pdf format of course). I do some photography and in July, I volunteered my photography services for the purpose of capturing the summer fun day here. It was a VERY hot day indeed and armed to the teeth with three cameras, I set about the task of shooting anything that moved over the course of 5 hours, surviving on no more than fruit smoothies bought at the event (and very nice they were too, they kept me going!)
Ok, so here is the link to the PDF of the publication. you'll need a pdf reader to fully appreciate it. Adobe Acrobat will do the job nicely.
I've pictures on the front cover and on the inside in a full page spread.

Ok, thats all for now, I got me a show to sort out!