=================================  

'I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today,

life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.'

Maya Angelou 

Menu: 

Is this the big time? [ we get caught up in a today problem ]

Want to play better guitar? [ this is good stuff ]

Ever wondered about that sound?  [now you will know]

How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?  [ a good tip ]

Testimonials

Subscriber's Section [ best Mac/Protools set up? ]

The gags: .....      [The weather forecast? ]

 

Is this the big time? [ we get caught up in a today problem ] 

My band were thrilled to be asked to appear at ‘The Event’ … one of the longest running music festivals in the UK.  In Southwark, London to be exact. 

Yep our audience was very 'ethnic' in Southwark .... a nice mix of people.  I always find it odd when a mixed audience like that gives us a great reception ... considering our music style is very much easy listening.  

And sadly a boy was stabbed and bottled … mindless?  The police closed the whole festival down at 8pm Saturday … crazy. 

After we finished [we were on at 3pm] I went to Guildfest in Guildford .... my son Oliver is one of the organisers.  Huge festival ... Brian Wilson was very disappointing ... just sat there in the middle of the most out of tune singing of his Beachboy tunes ... with the inevitable 'Festival Kik Drum' mix.  You know the sort of sound ... "once you have the kik drum set then just pile the rest on top" ... I hate that mix.  So 60’s, 70’s pub rock.  

Wailers were good at just being 'The Wailers' ... Bob Marley’s band - soft old school reggae with as much charisma as a pair of socks!  

Charlatans were excellent .. but that 'mix' again? ... good drum sound ... good effects [usually sadly missing at festivals]  

Stranglers [disappointing] September [excellent but only a back track plus two dancers] Happy Mondays [boring and self ingratiating]  

Will Young had the best mix on the outdoor stages ... but soft – with lifeless drums and the main vocal buried ... no noticeable effects [that didn't help] .. the only outdoor mix with a proper kik drum/bass mix ... each audible in its own frequency range.  

The most exciting performances and mixes were in the Rock Sound Cave ... two bands stood out ... ‘Kylesa’ with two drummers and the best stereo mix I have ever heard of a Rock/Thrash band ... stunning! Watch out for them .. a USA band.  The other was ‘The Ghost of a Thousand’ .. again a stunning mix ....loud?  Yep ... The Rock Sound Cave got the most attention from the Sound Level Police .... the Digidesign’s VENUE SC48 Live Sound Mixing Desk easily outperformed the Midas Heritage desks universally used on the main outdoor stages.  

Digidesign proved yet again that brand name and a huge price tag is not everything.

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?langid=100&navid=544&itemid=6682# 

Quite amazing to see the sound jockeys arrive, load in their USB flash sticks ... cable up and go .... the first tune had as great a mix as the last tune .... way to go?  

MARSHALL were easily the amplifier of choice through the whole Festival ... I noticed a strange Marshall lookalike ... from memory called Mantrall ... with the logo placed the same as Marshall ,,, what a cheek? 

 

'I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights .'

Maya Angelou 

  

Want to play better guitar? [ this is good stuff ] 

How to Improve Your Guitar Technique - Part 1 by Tom Hess http://tomhess.net/ 

Looks like a stunning way forward for average guitar guys striving to be better … I love the Way he sets it out: 

Life is too short to waste time on the trial and error approach.

Life is too short to waste energy doing things that don't really matter or don't work.

Life is too short to not pursue your music-related goals, dreams and ambitions with all your effort. 

Do you want to improve your guitar technique, play guitar cleaner, eliminate sloppy playing and unwanted string noise? Sloppy guitar technique is a very common problem. 

All looks rather good for me.

 

'I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.'

 Maya Angelou

 

Ever wondered about that sound?  [now you will know] 

That weird sound on Beachboys records?  [Good Vibrations]  Sounds like a saw being bowed but it isn’t ….  It crops up on all sorts of hit records today. 

It’s a Theremin.  They say the sound was found by accident in a space technology laboratory.  Someone then thought it would make a different sound to the emerging synthesisers …. It certainly is a show stopper when seen ‘live’. 

Check out how weird it is: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn4TgYkqdi8&feature=related 

Or a really ancient film: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5EzKtn2ARE&feature=related 

And a tutorial?  Should you ever get your hands on one? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd4jvtAr8JM&NR=1

 

'I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.'

Maya Angelou 

 

How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?  [ a good tip ] 

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following Digits on your phone: *#06#. A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.  

When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either.  If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

 

'I've learned that  people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget how you made them feel.' 

Maya Angelou 

 

Testimonials 

“Hi Dec

Thank you again for your advice and assistance. This is what you promised you would do and you keep to your word regarding advise once I became a member of the Serious Writers Guild.

Thanks again 

Arfon Williams”

Regarding body changes, she said there were many, occurring every day...like her breasts. 

They seem to be in a race to see which will reach her waist, first.

Maya Angelou

 

Subscriber's Section [ best Mac/Protools set up? ]

“Hi Dec 

What is the best Mac/Protools set up for me? 

 I will visit the Apple website now to learn more about the G5 Pro, I guess there are somethings I missing out. 

G*****” 

My Reply:    

Our rules are "one short reply to ONE question on music FOR NON-MEMBERS, Members of 'The Serious Writers Guild' have unlimited personal access to Dec by direct telephone, Fax and Email, apply at https://secure.mistral.co.uk/makehits/swgappsecure.htm ".     

[Any advice given here shall not be deemed as financial or legal advice under any existing or future laws of any country] 

 

G***** 

<<<<< I will visit the Apple website now to learn more about the G5 Pro, I guess there are somethings I missing out.>>>> 

The last model G5 was the Tiger [that is the one I have]   

Mac OSX Version 10.4

Processor: Dual 2Ghz PowerPC G5  [this is what makes it so fast]

Memory 2.5 GB DDR  SDRAM

Hard disc space 40GB 

Year of manufacture 2005 

You can obtain Dual core, quad core and octo [8] core ... 

You can also upgrade the operating system to Leopard 10.5.6 for approx $60   This will then take Protools 8 [the latest, just released] 

I also have a Freecom separate stand alone hard disc 250GB ... so as I finish a project I clean it up [get rid of all the out-takes and rubbish] store it on that hard disc ... thus the Mac hard disc is always practically empty.  Protools saves every single tiny bit of information re. The project [so you never lose anything] ... you then have to clean out all this rubbish information [an easy task].  A good discipline is to always keep the Mac specifically for music and music alone [that is what I do] 

The latest Mac is the Leopard ... the cost is still very comparable to PC and the power is out of this world.  You will find that professional Mac users will always go for the latest model... so you will always find bargains on Ebay etc.  That is where I got mine ... it was sent from the USA. 

The Mac operating system is much more reliable, more powerful and much faster than PC ... the system is totally different ... for instance, you never have to defragment a Mac.  It is also much faster and much more efficient in loading programmes and in adding more disc space, self powered plug-ins etc.   Every operation can be done by the owner in minutes.  No technical knowledge is necessary. 

I would also suggest, in the future to aim for having two monitor screens ... this makes life much easier as you can have the Edit window and the Mix window showing together at all times rather than flicking between them on one screen.  This is how most studios are set up. 

I would suggest that this set up plus the Digitech Rack 003 factory would cost approx. $1,500 to $2,000.  So you know what to aim for? 

Regards

Dec [Cluskey]  dec@makehits.com  

2 Gold discs in 2008!  Decca have relaunched their ‘World Of’ series on the back of those hits.  Readers Digest are now promoting a triple album set …. Do you think I can help your music career succeed?  

Check out 'How to Make A £Million From your Music' at http://www.makehits.co.uk.  Secure purchase at https://secure.mistral.co.uk/makehits/swgappsecure.htm or fast cred*it card line: +44 1323.728005 or UK 01323.728005 

Please consider the environment, do you really need to print this email?  

 “How to Make A $Million From Your Music”. To see the course go to http://makehits.com/products090707/million.html   fast cred*it card line: +44 1323.728005 or UK 01323.728005 

To purchase go direct to: https://secure.mistral.co.uk/makehits/swgappsecure.htm

 

“3 Minutes on the Radio with Dec” …. Available immediately at http://www.myspace.com/makehits 

=================================  

The gags: .....      [The weather forecast? ] 

It was October and the Indians on a remote reservation asked their new Chief if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild.  

Since he was a Chief in a modern society he had never been taught the old secrets. 

When he looked at the sky he couldn't tell what the winter was going to be like. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.  

But being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"  

"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold", the meteorologist at the weather service responded.  

So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more firewood in order to be prepared. 

A week later he called the National Weather Service again, "Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?"  

"Yes", the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's going to be a very cold winter." 

The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find. 

Two weeks later the Chief called the National Weather Service again, "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"  

"Absolutely", the man replied. "It's looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters ever."  

"How can you be so sure?” the Chief asked. 

The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting firewood like crazy."

===================================

http://www.Twitter.com/DecCluskey

 Unsubscribe?  Simply send a blank Email to dec@makehits.com with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.  Please ensure you reply from the Email address we sent to. 

If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list, (if you have trouble unsubscribing, or have questions about the list itself)

send email to:  contact@makehits.com 

 This publication is copyright (c) 2009
serious writers guild, mailto:webmaster@makehits.com   
 Registered Office: Stanton prior, darley road, meads, eastbourne bn20 7uh
also at denton road, meads in the UK
Also at: Il Cortes Del Golf, El Paraiso, Benavista, Costa Del Sol   

tel: +44 (0)1323.728005   fax:+44 (0)1323.729318

Company Registration Number: 1361967   VAT [Value Added Tax] Number: 315 7172 69 

Proud Members of Eastbourne Chamber of Commerce 

www.myspace.com/thebachelorsconanddec