DVD Burning

(October 10)

As I try to burn the video I'm going to use for tonight's live show onto DVD, I realize that the Adobe Premiere no longer detects my DVD drive.

It was working fine till last month. But since then I renewed my hard-disk and reinstalled the OS, so I guess something has gone wrong because of that.

Well, the show is tonight and I have to do something about it before the evening. Not only do I want to prepare the DVD, but I also wanna rehearse and change the guitar strings. On top of that, packing all the equipments takes some time and I'd like to take a shower before I leave because it's an all-night event.

Having tried other fixes only to see no luck, I decide to export an AVI file from Premiere first, instead of burning onto DVD directly, and then write the file to the disc with another software. Now I need an application which converts the AVI to some video files such as VOB.

Web-searching let me find one from a US vendor costing $25, and another from a UK vendor costing 40 euros. First I try the cheeper one with the demo version, but it doesn't quite do the job. It doesn't produce all the VOB files needed.

I'm not sure if it fails because it's the demo or because it simply doesn't suit my case. On the other hand, the one from a UK vendor does it all right. The application is ConvertX, made by VSO.

It's an unexpected expense of 40 euros, but luckily euros and dollars are relatively cheeper against yen recently, so in that sense it's a burgain on a good timing. Burning a DVD with the aid of this application produces a better result than burning directly from Premiere, so I'd want it anyway.

I pay with Paypal, and 30 minutes later I recieve the license key via email. Right on time. If I couldn't have prepared the video, I'd have had to do the moonwalk I just learned lately, in order to keep the audience from noticing the lack of it.

10:57 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Olivier Messiaen

This week, I've been troubled by the oral herpes I talked about before. Oral herpes is a viral disease which causes blisters around your mouth when your immune system is down due to fatigue.

Frequent herpes outbreaks.. One of my friends worried for me that I might be HIV positive, judging from my immune system being so low continuously. He even asked if I had "a sex with a weird woman." LOL

No worries about that. I am relatively on the clean side when it comes to sexual activities, and I've never taken action since I confirmed to be negative in the last HIV test I took. I never got blood transfusion either.

By the way, I'm listening to the music by Olivier Messiaen a lot lately. He was a 20th-century French composer who wrote using scales he himself invented. He also notated birdsongs and incorporated them into his works. I'm really digging Turangalila and listening to it over and over. An orchestral tune with an electronic sound.

Messiaen had a mild form of synaesthesia and he saw colors when he heard some chords. Synaesthesia, I've just learned, makes one of your senses work when another has received stimulation. For example, it lets you see numbers in certain colors, or hear a sound upon seeing the light.

Those kind of things are really cool. It's like the true sign of genius, kind of thing.

Well, I always start wanting to eat curry whenever I hear flamenco music, but this is conditioned response, not synaesthesia. In the past I always played Paco De Lucia albums when I made curry. For some reason I felt that cooking went smoothly with the music on, but now I think it was just an assumption..

3:57 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Waves Plug-in

I'm still studying how to use the plug-in software, Waves.

Training using an audio-attached tutorial book. I'm learning about dance-music production and mastering procedure.

And, as I reproduced and remastered "It's So Dark" according to the knowledge I acquired from it, the tune's sound quality soared incredibly.

http://www.masaoka.info/sounds/its_so_dark.mp3

Until now, I think I was obsessed with how loud I can make my tunes, or how much "gain" I can obtain in my tunes.

Sure, this is important. If you neglect on that, your tune will be defeated by the volume of others' music. But what's more important is the way you make your tune sound, and for that you need to control the bottom and high ranges of audio separately. That's what I have learned just now.

For example, music like what I make sounds neater and more organized if you give the lowest sound range, below around 200hz, to the kick drum almost exclusively.

But other parts usually contains sound in that range too. A bass part may sound mainly around 500hz, but it also sounds at 200hz or 100hz, for instance.

So I modify the other parts than the kick drum using EQ utility, so they won't sound below 200hz. Then I go on to do the similar adjustments concerning all the other parts.

With all that work, I'm facing my machine all alone at home, as has been the case recently, but last night I went out to Bullet's in Roppongi to feel relieved. Somebody, why don't we sit down and talk at Bullet's sometime.

10:26 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Rage Against the Machine (in a way..)

I use plug-in software called Waves, and right now I'm studying how to use it.

It's the things such as reverb, delay, compressor, EQ, etc. Those techniques have little to do with "music" in a pure sense, but nonetheless it makes a huge difference whether you use them or not.

Let's say, for example, you write a tune in the formation consisting of drums, bass, guitar, piano, vocal and strings.

Naturally, you record all the parts and mix them. But that mixing stage needs little devising.

If you mix them as they are, they usually cause some kind of "clashes." Dark guitar sound clashes with
bass, snare drum clashes with vocal, kick drum clashes with bass, etc.

Humans can hear a wide range of sounds from the low tones of rumbling of the earth to the high tones of metal being hit. From 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz in frequencies, I believe.

The want of enjoying this "hear-able range" in a full swing, our horny nature, has been an engine in efforts such as inventing new instruments or finding new ways of arrangement, throughout the history.

The 20th century introduced the "engineering" for recording as a profession, and in the recent several years we've seen the tasks becoming executable on household PCs. Here comes the chance. Now all the horny musicians are dying to seize the technology. And, as you might guess, I'm right in that race too.

So anyway, my days still are occupied by facing the machine one on one. Someone please have a cup of coffee with me..

3:42 PM - 3 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Apartment names in Japan

Right now, I'm doing maintenance for my PC. It's a PC I built myself, and the main hard-disk on which the OS is installed seems to be aging, so I replaced it with a new one. A leap from 80GB to 250GB.
 
 This is kind of a large-scale project, because I'm doing it all the way from installing the OS to a new drive. I'm pretty much constrained to sit in front of the machine all day, to install the software or move the data, etc.
 
 Inevitably, that causes lack of conversation with people. By coincidence I had a couple days with no lessons, so I even had a day in which I had absolutely no exchange of spoken words with anybody.
 
 Therefore, I made some phone calls to my old pals in order to keep my speaking ability while we learned about each other's recent lives. And what came up as a kind of interesting thing in the chat was that she live in an apartment building whose name is a crap.
 
 Well, that applies to me too, actually. My apartment building has this glorious name of "City Homes". I feel pretty nervous when I have to tell that to someone. When I'm asked my address, I go straight from the street number to the room number and skip the embarrassing name.
 
 (Stupid names for apartment houses. This is one of the merciless Japanese problems, folks.)
 
 But nonetheless, some people just "force" you to tell your apartment's name. In those occasions, I intentionally make a mistake and say "City Boys" or "Sherlock Holmes" and then say "Oh, sorry, City Homes" because it helps ease the tension and embarrassment. No, I don't. I'm kidding.

4:34 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

New Tune: It’s So Dark

A new tune called "It's So Dark" was finished.

This time it's Drum n' Bass. Also, I'm playing distortion guitar a lot in the live shows lately, so I reflected that in the recording.

"The Dark Knight", a movie I saw last month was so shocking that it made me want to write a song focusing on the dark, sinister side of life and society.

"Drum n' Bass" is a style of dance music which developed mainly in London and Bristol in the 90s, and it's characterized by the use of high-speeded breakbeats (a part of drum beats cut from an existing recording.)

The production technique of this style, which involves slicing of the sampled breakbeats, modifying them, mutating them and putting new life into them, seems to me that it symbolizes the things unique to this era, such as genetic modification or raging HIV virus.

From '95 to '96, I was in London, which was the seismic center of the style, but at that time it was rather difficult to obtain the "breakbeats" in good audio quality.　It was something only a handful of creators and others with connection, or so-called "people in the know" could access.

Nowadays, thanks to the development of the Internet environment, you can acquire those breakbeats with relative ease. The beats I used for this new tune was sampled from an Incredible Bongo Band's '76 tune "Apache", and it has been used countless times in dance music.

I guess I should be feeling like I "finally realized my love for Drum n' Bass".

"It's So Dark"

(Verse 1)
I step outside for some fresh air
A hungry stray cat groans and glares
Chilly night wind runs through my hair
A homeless man quivers on the stairs
I hear an engine-roar of a speeding car
Harbor lights are twinkling very far
Familiar streets now look so bizarre
It almost makes you forget where you are

(Chorus)
It's so dark, and so stark
Making me so afraid and dismayed
It's so dark, and so stark
Making me so alarmed and disarmed
It's so dim, and so grim
Making me so afraid and dismayed
It's so dark, and so stark
Making me so alarmed and disarmed

(Verse 2)
Visions and thoughts are entwined
Almost like a hallucination of some kind
I'm going into an altered state of mind
With none of my sense left behind
Policeman questions a dreadlock guy
Somehow the whole sight looks wry
And my throat starts turning so dry
Maybe it's because I'm feeling high

(Verse 3)
There's something strangely new I sense
Like a bunch of random views in a sequence
It's quite unusual but not nonsense
And the pressure of it is indeed intense

9:39 AM - 3 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

The Da Vinci Code

 

I didn't have any lessons today, so I watched a movie in the morning and played guitar for the whole rest of the day.

The movie is, I know it's kind of late, "The Da Vinci Code." I read the book before but I've never seen the movie.

Lacking patience, I have only read very few novels in English. I mean I've tried many, but I've finished only a few, and this Da Vinci is one of them. It was so interesting that I kept excitement all the way through my reading, frequently visiting my dictionary.

The author Dan Brown unfolds the story based on his very bold assertions, and I guess it caused a ripple among Christianity circles around the globe. The assertions are:

- Jesus Christ was married.
- His spouse was Mary Magdalene.
- That Magdalene was a prostitute is a sheer lie told by Roman Catholic.
- Mary Magdalene was pregnant with Jesus's child.
- After Jesus's death, Mary moved to France and gave birth to a daughter.
- The descendants of Jesus and Mary later created the Merovingian dynasty.
- It's Mary Magdalene, not the disciple John, that's portrayed on the left of Jesus in the Da Vinci painting "The Last Supper."

Well, they are very bold and radical, I guess. I suppose many among ministers or teachers do oppose to his view completely. And if he's done the same with Islamic theme, he would have to worry about safety.

And the movie. I didn't like it too much. I'd already built images of some main characters, so I couldn't help feeling kind of strange when I saw Tom Hanks playing Langdon, or Ian McKellen playing Teabing.

(By the way, I really like "Forest Gump" played by Tom Hanks.)

Changing the subject, I eat cucumbers fermented with nampler, and they taste great. All you have to do to make them is to half-peel the cucumbers, salt them to extract water from it, drain the water, mix with Thai nampler sauce, and leave them in the fridge for a bout a week. They are the best when they start to taste a little sour.

1:01 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

About Having Changed My Name

With a very few exceptions of people I know from my childhood, most people don't know that my name has "officially" changed this year.

Masaki Okamoto is my "real name" which now is registered, but the Masaki part is something I came up with myself.

The first name my parents gave me was Masao. From a Japanese' perspective, it looks a little outdated.

This is kind of hard to explain, but Japanese names seem to be a lot more time-sensitive than English names. For instance, "John" has been a very good name forever and it will probably stay so for a long time from now on too, but Taro or Kojiro or Ryunosuke, which used to be great names for a given period of time respectively, are all out of fashion now. Completely.

A guy's name which ends with "o" was pretty overused by older generations, and what made it worse was that the Chinese character which was assigned to the "o" was very old-fashioned.

Therefore, I kept thinking I didn't like my name, and luckily I got a permission from the family court, to officially change it to Masaki, this June.

To explain the "officially" part, I started using this Masaki name in 2000. Since then I had been Masaki among friends and colleagues, and Masao for public offices (like the city office or banks) for almost 8 years.

For me the year 2000 was when my job as an employee in a record company ended and I started to work as a freelance, doing translation for CDs. (I don't do this job anymore.)

I was convinced that having a not-cool name was a disadvantage to be a successful freelancer, so I started to call myself Masaki Okamoto then. It's not a super-cool name, but it's at least not out-fashioned. And it's close enough to the former name to feel easy.

So that way my life with two Japanese names (besides Masa Oka) began. And somewhere along the path I came to know that if you have used certain name for a long enough time, you can make it your real name.

All you need to do is to keep the documents which can prove that you actually have been using that name, such as posted materials or payment notices, and then apply at the family court.

I searched on the web to learn how long was "long enough", and it seemed that about 7 years would be. So I waited a little longer and applied after 8 years.

I had quite a lot of documents to show from the 8 years, but surprisingly I only had to attach only a little portion of them. In the "reason you want to change your name" column of the application form, I wrote something like "It'll be of advantage for my career to have a name which is more likely to draw esthetic interest, and this name is already better known in my friends' circles."

The judge was a woman. I'm not sure if this led to the smooth giving of permission, but I think that if I was encountered by a real hard right-wing male judge or somebody, I'd perhaps face difficulty.

I took the permission to the city office and changed my register, called my brother and told him about it, and talked about it when I went home in Wakayama lately. I have only told one person in terms of my childhood friends, but sooner or later they'll know it, I think.

2:36 AM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

September 05 - 07 (Oral Herpes)

(September 5, 2008)

11:00
The MIDI controller I sent from my home in Wakayama arrives. I'm playing piano for the gospel lessons and I need to improve a little more, so from now on I'll practicing with this.

13:00
A guitar shop "Acoustic Avenue" in Karakida. I also brought a 3/4-scale guitar from home, and I ask the shop staff for maintenance of the guitar. These mini-sized guitars are great for girls.

20:00
Yodobashi Camera, Shinjuku. To check out some webcams, which I intend to buy one someday soon. With a webcam I'll be able to teach online, chat with overseas friends and such. It'll be very useful.

23:00
Program instrumental parts for the tunes I play for gospel lessons. When I've done for several tunes, I'll burn them onto a CD and give it to the student. Then she'll probably be able to practice on her own more easily.

(September 6, 2008)

I develop some cold sores around my mouth. I have oral herpes. Maybe I worked too aggressively yesterday. If you have oral herpes, you get red blisters around your mouth when your immune system is down due to fatigue and such.

15:00
Tama-center. Bossa Nova guitar lesson. "Wave", "The Girl From Ipanema", "Desafinado" and "Chega De Saudage". I'm pretty happy because the student shows great advancement.

22:00
Watch a movie, "Brokeback Mountain." I've become a big fan of Heath Ledger since I saw "The Dark Knight" a while ago. In this "Brokeback.." work he plays the role of a country young man in the '60s, but you could never tell it's the same actor who plays the role of "the Joker".

I'd like to watch more movies Heath Ledger is in. That I hope will be my humble tribute to this genius who suddenly passed away in January this year.

(September 7, 2008)

10:00
The blisters I have above my mouth get exacerbated.

Currently, there's no cure for herpes. Once you get infected, the virus will stay in your body forever and it will cause recurrences when you're tired, stressed and so on.

But there is a way to suppress the virus's activity, and that is to take a high amount of lysine which is one of the essential amino acid. Also it's better if you don't take much arginine.

12:00
Check three drug stores in Shimokitazawa, to see if they have lysine supplement, but no luck. It's sold commercially in the U.S. and Australia, but in Japan you need a doctor's prescription to get it.

14:00
The sores look terrible, so I cancel both of the two evening appointments in which I was suppose to meet my friends.

19:00
Since I couldn't buy the supplement, I decide to take lysine from food. The foods containing high amount of lysine are meat (red meat, pork and poultry), eggs, sardines, cod, and soybeans. Arginine are highly contained in milk, sesame, salmons, and brown rice. These I avoid for now.

Eat boiled beans, 2 packs of Natto (fermented beans), and drink miso soup. Stir-fry beef and eat it. Boil spinach and eat it. Swallow a raw egg. After doing this much I started to feel a little better.

21:00
Continue programming for the gospel tunes.

4:35 AM - 4 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

September 03 - 04 (Wakayama)

(September 3, 2008)



10:00

Machida. To start the travel home in Wakayama prefecture.



I was going to pick up the Shinkansen tickets I reserved online, but it
was required to be carrying either the credit I used for reservation or
the reservation number, to pick up the tickets. And I didn't have any of
those, so I was forced to go back to my apartment.



It's entirely my fault that I didn't carry my booking number, but
nonetheless, the ill-mannered response I get from JR staffs annoys me a
lot. This is what you get when you choose to use the formerly state-owned
JR. Perhaps I'd better use airways next time.



14:30

Shin-osaka. On the way, the Shinkansen train stopped for 30 minutes due to
heavy rain between Gifu-hashima and Maibara.



Eat a set meal of grilled Mackerel and rice at Miyako-tei restaurant. Next
to Miyako is a curry restaurant and next to that is a ramen shop, but I go
straight into Miyako-tei.



The set meal, served with Hiya-yakko (chilled Tofu), is nutritionally
well-balanced, and it's as cheap as 650yen even when ordered with an egg,
and let you refill the rice freely.



17:00

Gobo. In the coastal area of mid-Wakayama, there is a city with a strange
name called Gobo. The name comes from it's historical origin, a city
developed around a temple. "Bo" represents the monks. Population: about 27
thousands.



With my mother who drove by to pick me up, I visit my father in a
hospital. He's suffering from an illness called Tick and he cannot speak
words. And he can only take liquid food from a tube connected to his
belly.



He looks a little better than the last time I saw him, but still it seems
he probably won't live long. For some reason regarding to my
family-environment (it's a long story), I've lived without having much
communication with my dad. And probably the chance to make it up for it is
forever gone.



To think about that, it's a shame. But regrets don't help, so I think I'll
have to build an image of fatherhood in me myself.



20:00

Dinner. Sashimi of Tachi-uo, Hira-aji and Isagi. I never knew there was
some kinds of Aji fish. My mom was born in a fishermen's town, and she
knows a lot about fish.



(September 4, 2008)



13:00

Visit Mr.A whose residense is about 20 minutes' walk from my home. He is a
veteran recording engineer who migrated from Osaka to Hidaka-town,
Wakayama, and he lives in a self-designed house to work via internet
connecting him to Osaka and Australia. Pretty original life style.



His Golden Retriever shows nervous moves and starts to bark. I look
outside, and see some monkeys. 5 or 6, maybe a family.



On the Shinkansen train going home, I listen to a Miles Davis album called
Quiet Nights, to which Gil Evans contributed as an arranger. I like the
works they collaborated on a lot. "Birth of the Cool", "Porgy and Bess"
and "Sketches of Spain" are also good.



The arrangement by Gil Evans, one might say, is like an amusement park of
sound. There must be many kinds of amusement park, but his has everything:
merry-go-round, haunted mansion, roller coaster, Ferris wheel.



The hamburger you eat in the Evans Park is very nutritious, and you'll be
feeling so good when you start to head home. Gil, when he started to know
Miles, was often spotted eating radishes he bought from outside while
watching live performances of his friends. Him having spent a long time as
an underdog, his art is full of entertaining-ness of everyday people.

9:04 AM - 3 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment