Closer to the Edge

A quickie recording – didn’t really spend much time mixing it properly. Partly because the backing track I filched from the net sucked, so I kinda lost the motivation along the way hehehe.

The reason I tried it though was for three things:

  1. I wanted to see if the [Shure] Beta58 could be used for my vocal recordings. While it’s an inferior mic compared to the AKGs I’m using, it does have a great polar pattern to block out the noise that comes from the road beside my room which would mean less EQing/noise-gating to get the sound I need… assuming, of course, I could even do it.

  2. A couple of the plugins I use particularly for my vocal tracks have been discontinued, and are now incompatible with the 64bit Windows 7 environment I’m running Sonar on. So I’m trying some plugins that come stock with Sonar in the hopes to get a sound I like… and hopefully future-proof my vocal workflow while I’m at it.

  3. I wanted to see if I can actually sing a 30 Seconds to Mars song. I love the band, and idolize their vocalist – I wish I could even sing 1/8 as good as Mr. Leto. Read More

MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro

One thing I wasn’t able to to when I got the MacBook Air (Air) was to make a video of it going head to head with my old 2.4GHz 15″ MacBook Pro (MBP) w/ 4GB RAM and 250GB HDD. The reason I got the Air was precisely because I had already sold [and given away] the MBP – so it was good as gone. Another reason was because the MBP was a 1st Generation unit. While it did have the comparable specs to compare the Air with, I also didn’t want to leave “room for doubt” because of its age.

Luckily, I was able to help a friend out in sourcing a brand new MBP. What’s better is that the MBP had the exact same specs as my old MBP – the only difference was the 13″ native resolution [was smaller than the 15″]. But other than that, it’s exactly the same… and it’s from the newest line of MBPs Apple released.

My previous post just showed a video of the general impression I had of the Air on it’s own, but now I present to you a legitimate head-to-head comparison video of how the Air stacks up against what’s supposed to be a more powerful MBP of the same “generation.”

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MacBook Air: Hands-on

Okay, how about a post where I’m not talking out of my ass? Let’s talk technology, people. I replaced my 1st gen 15″ 2.4GHz Unibody MacBook Pro with the new 13″ 1.86Ghz MacBook Air and I’m going to share my thoughts on the matter.

Now for those who know me, you may be wondering why I would get such an underpowered machine to replace a MacBook Pro. In a nutshell, I’ve always liked the concept of the MacBook Air; that is to say that as much as I’m a power user, it being underpowered was never the “deal breaker” for me. I didn’t really mind compromise because I had a desktop for the real heavy lifting. So the question was never “How powerful is it?” but rather “Does the power/experience it offers justify the price tag?”

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Reality saved my soul

The title of this video is actually “Science Saved My Soul” – but of course, having the same temperament as the speaker id sooner say “life/reality.” Science is a tool [just like Religion may very well be] to understanding the world – but at the end of the day we are trying to make sense of what is real.

If there is one thing I would change about this video, it would only be that the author should’ve tried to be more “diplomatic” in the parts where he directly addressed the points of religion/atheism (i.e. lessen the bias against the former)

But don’t get me wrong, it’s well articulated as is – and any open-minded thinker, religious or otherwise, would not have any issues with his claims. But of course the goal is always to reach as many people as you can to make them see something they never bothered trying to see – so it wouldn’t hurt to be more “diplomatic.” I was thinking he should’ve presented it the way Carl Sagan did with the Pale Blue Dot

But all in all, I think it’s a beautiful piece. And well worth the time to watch regardless of your “affiliation.” Read More

External Drive fix for OS X SL

I’m aware not everyone has the same setup as I do, so I’m not sure if this is even applicable. But I’ll share it anyway in case people are experiencing the same issue.

So I’ve decided to “upgrade” the Hackintosh 1 My main desktop/work computer to Snow Leopard (SL). I was hesitant to leave Leopard (especially for the work machine) because of this bug I experienced in my MacBook Pro.

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Notes

Notes
1 My main desktop/work computer