Sunday, June 01, 2014
Looks Can Be Decieving
When it comes to Digital Audio Restoration. Often things that look irreparable can be cleaned up, and sometimes things that are barely visible can be irreparable.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Audio Restoration Process
For those that are curious about the process and delivery method of my transcription service.
It Starts with a recording. Provided by the client. (hopefully that's you.)
The Physical Medium is cleaned thoroughly to ensure the sharpest recording possible.
Some records require a little more cleansing than others.
Don't try this at home.
(Unless you've been properly trained as I have—otherwise, you might damage the tunes)
Then the record is played, and the sweet, sweet, sounds are scientifically transferred from the Analog to the Digital realm.
The sneaky little notes have to be trapped, so I use this device, much like the Ghost Trap in Ghostbusters--Unlike Ghostbusters however, turning off the power supply doesn't blow up the fire station.
Then, like a Drill Sargent at a futuristic boot camp for newly digitized melodies, I iron out those tunes and make them like new again, clicks, crackles, and excess noise are removed methodically and with precision.
Most transcription services use a simple, single pass, click and crackle processing. I use a multi-pass algorithm for click and crackle removal that surgically removes the unwanted noise leaving little or no distortion in it's wake.
Finally the product is delivered on Compact Disc in this snazzy paper sleeve of my design. Unlike commercial paper sleeves, mine are printed with the Original Album art, and are designed so that they can fit into a Jewel case if you so desire.
It Starts with a recording. Provided by the client. (hopefully that's you.)
The Physical Medium is cleaned thoroughly to ensure the sharpest recording possible.
Some records require a little more cleansing than others.
Don't try this at home.
(Unless you've been properly trained as I have—otherwise, you might damage the tunes)
Then the record is played, and the sweet, sweet, sounds are scientifically transferred from the Analog to the Digital realm.
The sneaky little notes have to be trapped, so I use this device, much like the Ghost Trap in Ghostbusters--Unlike Ghostbusters however, turning off the power supply doesn't blow up the fire station.
Then, like a Drill Sargent at a futuristic boot camp for newly digitized melodies, I iron out those tunes and make them like new again, clicks, crackles, and excess noise are removed methodically and with precision.
Most transcription services use a simple, single pass, click and crackle processing. I use a multi-pass algorithm for click and crackle removal that surgically removes the unwanted noise leaving little or no distortion in it's wake.
Finally the product is delivered on Compact Disc in this snazzy paper sleeve of my design. Unlike commercial paper sleeves, mine are printed with the Original Album art, and are designed so that they can fit into a Jewel case if you so desire.
Star Wars Sound Track in Dolby Surround on LP
I just finished processing the Original Star Wars Double LP for someone, On a whim, I took it a step further and processed it for Dolby Surround (Star Wars Was the first movie mixed in Dolby Surround, I've heard that most movie soundtracks after 1977 on vinyl, are the same audio mix from the film and thus are encoded on the vinyl in surround—they just have to be decoded) and it sounds AMAZING!!!
It's hard to believe the original source is vinyl when listening to it on my Surround Sound System. (Even though I did the transcription myself)
It's hard to believe the original source is vinyl when listening to it on my Surround Sound System. (Even though I did the transcription myself)
Monday, May 26, 2014
Fathers Day Gift Idea
Fathers Day is Coming Up!
LP Transcriptions Make Thoughtful Gifts. A Forgotten Memoir of his Youth, like a High School Choir/Band Album--
or Perhaps something he brought home from a mission or a trip abroad?
Now is the time to think about it, transcriptions and clean up take some time to do.
Contact me for pricing.
LP Transcriptions Make Thoughtful Gifts. A Forgotten Memoir of his Youth, like a High School Choir/Band Album--
or Perhaps something he brought home from a mission or a trip abroad?
Now is the time to think about it, transcriptions and clean up take some time to do.
Contact me for pricing.
Digital Audio Restoration
I realized that not everyone I know is on Facebook, and I would hate for all you Blog followers to miss out on this...
Do You Have An Audio Restoration Need? I can fulfill your audio dreams, and solve your audio nightmares.
Have you got stacks and stacks of vinyl records just lying about? Or perhaps just one or two precious gems that you can't part with.
Perhaps you don't have a working turntable, or perhaps you have a low quality turntable and would like to hear what those records should really sound like.
Maybe you have a multitude of cassette tapes lying about.
Do you have something rare and out of print—or a precious piece of family history that everyone in the family would love to hear, but no one has the equipment to play it.
Speaking of Precious Family Moments, do you have a moment of Family History Locked away on an "Ancient" piece of mysterious technology? I can unlock its mysteries for you.
Have you got something from your youth, that you would like to share with a new generation?
Maybe you found something unusual at a yard sale and would like to hear it, but you don't want to invest money in equipment for just one record.
Perhaps something really old that you have and would like to hear, this 1916 Edison Diamond Disc for instance.
Or maybe you found a Cylinder Record of that Poem Grandpa has recited all your life, and you would like to hear the original.
Do you have some Quadraphonic Records Lying About, and are you itching to hear the glorious 4-Channel Surround?
Don't want to buy specialized equipment from the 70's Just to Hear A record or two in surround?
Do you have audio repair needs? Is that recording extra crackly? Did the Air Conditioning Ruin the Audio of your best take?
Contact me for details.
Do You Have An Audio Restoration Need? I can fulfill your audio dreams, and solve your audio nightmares.
Have you got stacks and stacks of vinyl records just lying about? Or perhaps just one or two precious gems that you can't part with.
Perhaps you don't have a working turntable, or perhaps you have a low quality turntable and would like to hear what those records should really sound like.
Maybe you have a multitude of cassette tapes lying about.
Do you have something rare and out of print—or a precious piece of family history that everyone in the family would love to hear, but no one has the equipment to play it.
Speaking of Precious Family Moments, do you have a moment of Family History Locked away on an "Ancient" piece of mysterious technology? I can unlock its mysteries for you.
Have you got something from your youth, that you would like to share with a new generation?
Maybe you found something unusual at a yard sale and would like to hear it, but you don't want to invest money in equipment for just one record.
Perhaps something really old that you have and would like to hear, this 1916 Edison Diamond Disc for instance.
Or maybe you found a Cylinder Record of that Poem Grandpa has recited all your life, and you would like to hear the original.
Do you have some Quadraphonic Records Lying About, and are you itching to hear the glorious 4-Channel Surround?
Don't want to buy specialized equipment from the 70's Just to Hear A record or two in surround?
Do you have audio repair needs? Is that recording extra crackly? Did the Air Conditioning Ruin the Audio of your best take?
Contact me for details.
Wednesday, July 03, 2013
Little Updates
Well, it's been a long time since I posted anything here. In fact, Blogger had me link my account to Google+ when I started to do so. Perhaps that will mean more people will see what I post. Maybe not.
Anyway, I wanted to mention something that has been on my mind. A while back I wrote a post about family members not using my Wife's expertise when purchasing a home. I wrote that because I was frustrated and I couldn't let it go—writing it, was my way of letting it go. As soon as I posted that, I no longer was feeling angry at people and within a week, It was completely gone from my mind and all the bad feelings were gone and I could get back to feeling the same way about family members that I always had before.
In January I got laid off—This is happening with a frequency that I don't like. Luckily it has nothing to do with incompetency on my part, and everything to do with incompetency on the government's part. I was told that it was a direct result of Obamacare + the end of the Bush Era Tax Cuts, my employer simply could not afford all the new fees forced upon him by government oversight. I am firmly in the Less Government is Better than More Government Camp. You will never hear me utter the words, "There ought to be a law..." Frankly, new laws should be the last resort.
Six months later I'm still looking. So, based on the track record from last time I was looking for work—I only have a year to go before I'm employed again. YAY
Recently, some family decided to use my Wife's expertise when buying a new home.
Anyway, I wanted to mention something that has been on my mind. A while back I wrote a post about family members not using my Wife's expertise when purchasing a home. I wrote that because I was frustrated and I couldn't let it go—writing it, was my way of letting it go. As soon as I posted that, I no longer was feeling angry at people and within a week, It was completely gone from my mind and all the bad feelings were gone and I could get back to feeling the same way about family members that I always had before.
In January I got laid off—This is happening with a frequency that I don't like. Luckily it has nothing to do with incompetency on my part, and everything to do with incompetency on the government's part. I was told that it was a direct result of Obamacare + the end of the Bush Era Tax Cuts, my employer simply could not afford all the new fees forced upon him by government oversight. I am firmly in the Less Government is Better than More Government Camp. You will never hear me utter the words, "There ought to be a law..." Frankly, new laws should be the last resort.
Six months later I'm still looking. So, based on the track record from last time I was looking for work—I only have a year to go before I'm employed again. YAY
Recently, some family decided to use my Wife's expertise when buying a new home.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Also, I know I ranted last time, and it probably sounded like I was complaining about how "Life's Unfair" to those that don't know me very well—Well, I know life isn't fair. I teach my kids life isn't fair every time, "That's not fair!" or some variant escapes their lips. In fact, I've heard them tell their friends as much from time to time, which is awesome.
Here's the thing. I live a blessed life. The Lord has watched over us time and again. We even found out about some circumstances with that other Realtor that told us that the Lord was watching over her when that previous transaction took place, and we were glad that she got that paycheck, because she needed it even more than we did.
And, I'm sorry that I'm a weak man, I'm sorry that in order for me to Get Over Something that in my head I knew was something I just needed to let go, I had to write about it publicly for my psyche to get the message. I'm far from perfect, but I'll keep trying.
I shall leave you with this (My Demo Reel), if you know of anyone that could use my Digital Media Skills, send me that way, part time, full time, freelance—I'm flexible:
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
My New Favorite Saying, If only I knew how to pronounce it.
Ged tha mi bochd, tha mi uasal –
buidheachas do Dhia, ‘sann de Chlann ‘Illeathain mi!
buidheachas do Dhia, ‘sann de Chlann ‘Illeathain mi!
Translation: Though I Am Poor, I Am Well Born—Thank God I Am A MacLean!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
The Key to Sgt. Excerpts
I think that today I shall share the Key to the things found on Sgt. Excepts Only Parts of "Concerts" Grand.
This red doesn't look all that great on screen—but it looks Fantastic when printed.
This red doesn't look all that great on screen—but it looks Fantastic when printed.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Sgt. Excerpt's Only Parts of "Concerts" Grand
I took a class called Digital Audio Essentials last semester.
The First Assignment Given (And the Last Assignment Collected) was a "Desert Island" CD
i.e. a collection of our favorite songs.
I never knew how difficult it would be to narrow my favorites down to one CD. (I ended up doing a Double Disc Set and there are still things missing from it.)
I thought that I would share some of the Things that I did for that Assignment.
I'll Start With the Cover:
As a Teaser of things to come, Here's the e-mail I got from my Professor when he saw the project:
Richard-
Wow. I'm blown away by your CD project. Not only for the coolest project ever, but for the incredible depth of the selections. And you made it a concept concept album to boot.
It is crazy cool, and by far the coolest project ever submitted. Will you be my bff? OMH, Jeff Wayne? Who even know's that piece anymore? Movie Man by the Osmonds is one of the most overlooked Osmond tracks ever. And that album was their Pepper. Weird Al's shows do rock! Peter Gunn - yeah! Freberg as a concept piece bookending the 2nd CD? Brilliant. Art of Noise - forgotten gem. Ballroom Blitz, just crazy 70's rock. And peaches is the best song the Presidents ever did. Seriously, we need to get together this summer, when I get my album shelves made. You will freak over my album collection.
You oughtta consider taking the audio restoration class. I'm teaching it this summer (if I get one more student it will carry), and in the fall. You would literally groove to it. Nice Job, easy A+, I will hold this up to future students and say "try to top This".
The First Assignment Given (And the Last Assignment Collected) was a "Desert Island" CD
i.e. a collection of our favorite songs.
I never knew how difficult it would be to narrow my favorites down to one CD. (I ended up doing a Double Disc Set and there are still things missing from it.)
I thought that I would share some of the Things that I did for that Assignment.
I'll Start With the Cover:
As a Teaser of things to come, Here's the e-mail I got from my Professor when he saw the project:
Richard-
Wow. I'm blown away by your CD project. Not only for the coolest project ever, but for the incredible depth of the selections. And you made it a concept concept album to boot.
It is crazy cool, and by far the coolest project ever submitted. Will you be my bff? OMH, Jeff Wayne? Who even know's that piece anymore? Movie Man by the Osmonds is one of the most overlooked Osmond tracks ever. And that album was their Pepper. Weird Al's shows do rock! Peter Gunn - yeah! Freberg as a concept piece bookending the 2nd CD? Brilliant. Art of Noise - forgotten gem. Ballroom Blitz, just crazy 70's rock. And peaches is the best song the Presidents ever did. Seriously, we need to get together this summer, when I get my album shelves made. You will freak over my album collection.
You oughtta consider taking the audio restoration class. I'm teaching it this summer (if I get one more student it will carry), and in the fall. You would literally groove to it. Nice Job, easy A+, I will hold this up to future students and say "try to top This".
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
I Have Indeed Fallen off the Radar (Though I Have a Wool Hat Just Like Radar)
Just Some Quick Updates.
I'm attending my 2nd Semester back at School—I'm in a Story Boarding class and an Audio class, great hands on stuff.
My Job at Kids Know it is a Blast! I love being a part of something creative. If you have any Ideas about Subject Matter for Animations, let me know. (The Black Holes Video was sort of a request from someone at a trade show.)
I'm attending my 2nd Semester back at School—I'm in a Story Boarding class and an Audio class, great hands on stuff.
My Job at Kids Know it is a Blast! I love being a part of something creative. If you have any Ideas about Subject Matter for Animations, let me know. (The Black Holes Video was sort of a request from someone at a trade show.)
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Kindle App Update
My Kindle App on my Android Device informed me last night that there was a new update available.
There was a note in the whats new screen that caught my attention. It reads PDF files now. I had to check it out.
First of all, I had to copy the pdf that I wanted to view into the Kindle App Folder. I'm not a fan of that. I have literally thousands of books in PDF format that I keep on a micro SD in my Android Device. (Notion Ink Adam, thanks for asking, I've been meaning to write up a review of it ever since I bought it) Making a copy of one or two that I'm currently reading wouldn't be too bad, but if I was browsing through files I would definitely use a different program.
The File I decided to go with is a Monstrous beast of a thing: 196 pages, two columned text, and Illustrations; it has crashed every single PDF reading App I own (there's a caveat to this I'll get back to in a minute.) I think the PDF is just not optimized, it's a fairly slow document to deal with, even on my PC. Kindle Handled it Like a Dream. My only complaint is that it doesn't have a cover in the Kindle App, but I can probably figure out how to resolve that on my own.
Now to the Caveat. I was reading an article today from someone about getting past the jpeg2000 problems that iPad's Acrobat reading applications have, and I realized that I have the Android version of the Adobe PDF viewer that the author was referring to. So I tried my Monstrous beast of a file in eZPDF Viewer, and it handled it just fine; it must have had an update, because last time I tried it in the program it crashed. Kindle does have an Advantage over the eZPDF viewer...it's free and saves your position in the book automatically, but ezPDF Viewer handles Outlines.
Quick Update, this morning I was looking at some files and noticed that when I select a PDF file it now asks me if I want to Open it with Kindle, It opens but does not add the Book to your Library or remember the last page you were on. I did a little Test, and ezPDF Viewer does remember the last page you were on. (There are probably limits to this—I didn't test it extensively). I think I'm going to be reading using ezPDF Viewer for a while now. I was not using it before, because it turned pages slower than Adobe's Viewer, but that seems to have changed.
Another Update. I discovered a functionality in ezPDF Viewer that could be useful—it can read the PDF file to you in a Simulated Voice. It's not perfect, but I've heard worse.
First of all, I had to copy the pdf that I wanted to view into the Kindle App Folder. I'm not a fan of that. I have literally thousands of books in PDF format that I keep on a micro SD in my Android Device. (Notion Ink Adam, thanks for asking, I've been meaning to write up a review of it ever since I bought it) Making a copy of one or two that I'm currently reading wouldn't be too bad, but if I was browsing through files I would definitely use a different program.
The File I decided to go with is a Monstrous beast of a thing: 196 pages, two columned text, and Illustrations; it has crashed every single PDF reading App I own (there's a caveat to this I'll get back to in a minute.) I think the PDF is just not optimized, it's a fairly slow document to deal with, even on my PC. Kindle Handled it Like a Dream. My only complaint is that it doesn't have a cover in the Kindle App, but I can probably figure out how to resolve that on my own.
Now to the Caveat. I was reading an article today from someone about getting past the jpeg2000 problems that iPad's Acrobat reading applications have, and I realized that I have the Android version of the Adobe PDF viewer that the author was referring to. So I tried my Monstrous beast of a file in eZPDF Viewer, and it handled it just fine; it must have had an update, because last time I tried it in the program it crashed. Kindle does have an Advantage over the eZPDF viewer...it's free and saves your position in the book automatically, but ezPDF Viewer handles Outlines.
Quick Update, this morning I was looking at some files and noticed that when I select a PDF file it now asks me if I want to Open it with Kindle, It opens but does not add the Book to your Library or remember the last page you were on. I did a little Test, and ezPDF Viewer does remember the last page you were on. (There are probably limits to this—I didn't test it extensively). I think I'm going to be reading using ezPDF Viewer for a while now. I was not using it before, because it turned pages slower than Adobe's Viewer, but that seems to have changed.
Another Update. I discovered a functionality in ezPDF Viewer that could be useful—it can read the PDF file to you in a Simulated Voice. It's not perfect, but I've heard worse.
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Moleskine vs. Leuchtturm1917
I know I said I was getting back to blogging. I wrote this a while back, my server where I host all my pictures was undergoing some maintenance, and now I have finally posted it. --Enjoy--
My brother introduced me to the Moleskine. Let me quote from their website.
Here is a picture of a couple of my Moleskines:
I have Several, and after trying out a number of different ones, I decided that I liked the quadrille (gridded) paper the best. I purchased and carried several of the smaller ones before I ever considered buying a mid-sized one. As it turns out I really like the mid sized one, and I carry it almost everywhere.
As my last Moleskine was nearing completion, I happened upon a Leuchtturm1917. From what I can tell, Leuchtturm1917 is the notebook that Moleskine thinks it is (I stole that line from another blogger). Leuchtturm was founded in 1917, which seems to be the time period that Moleskine bases their books on.
But let's talk about what differentiates the two. A common practice among Moleskine users is to set aside a page or more to be used as an index/table of contents, which requires that you go through the book and number the pages. Leuchtturm has pages set aside particularly for this purpose and the pages are pre-numbered.
I've never had a problem with the paper in the Moleskine, it seems to handle the ink from my favorite pens without problem—but I guess fountain pen ink doesn't work very well with them. The Leuchtturm paper apparently alleviates this problem (except in the case of very wet inks). I can't really speak for that, but it's nice to know they have thought of it.
The Leuchtturm I have is the same height as the Moleskine I have, but the Leuchtturm is slightly wider without being unwieldy.
Moleskine and Leuchtturm come in a variety of types. Sketch (No Lines), Quadrille (Graph Paper), Ruled (Lines). The Leuchtturm has one up on the Moleskine though—they have a dotted grid. There is a grid of Dots on the paper, giving you the functionality of the Grid or lined paper; yet the dots are so lightly printed that the paper also works quite well for sketching. Speaking of lightly printed, the other Leuchtturm options (Grid and Ruled) are printed lighter that their Moleskine brethren. The patterns are not difficult to see, but they are very unobtrusive and get out of the way when scanning.
The Leuchtturm has tear out pages in the back, Moleskine does not.
They both have a convenient pocket in the back of the notebook.
They both have a ribbon bookmark. My last Moleskine bookmark frayed almost immediately after I purchased it. I thought it was made of a synthetic material, and tried to seal it using a flame, and nearly had a more serious fire on my hands. The glue came loose literally when I was moving the bookmark out of the way so I could write on the last page of the notebook.
The Leuchtturm bookmark appears to be synthetic and feels like it could take more abuse.
Moleskine wins in the elastic band category. The band on Moleskine is tighter, and feels more substantial than the one on my Leuchtturm.
The Leuchtturm1917 comes with Labels. It's my understanding that the intended purpose of these, is that they are to be placed on the notebook once it is full.and you are storing it on the shelf. They come with Spine and cover Labels.
So far I'm really liking the Leuchtturm better. I have the quadrille variety, I was hoping to get a dot grid—but the university book store (where I discovered the Leuchtturm1917) did not have that particular flavor. I'll have to order one online.
A Pic of My Leuchtturm1917:
My brother introduced me to the Moleskine. Let me quote from their website.
Moleskine® was created as a brand in 1997, bringing back to life the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers over the past two centuries: among them Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin. A trusted and handy travel companion, the nameless black notebook held invaluable sketches, notes, stories, and ideas that would one day become famous paintings or the pages of beloved books.These notebooks are based on notebooks made by small bookbinders and sold in stationary shops in Paris in the late 19th–early 20th century, Moleskine was a nickname that Bruce Chatwin called his notebooks by.
Here is a picture of a couple of my Moleskines:
I have Several, and after trying out a number of different ones, I decided that I liked the quadrille (gridded) paper the best. I purchased and carried several of the smaller ones before I ever considered buying a mid-sized one. As it turns out I really like the mid sized one, and I carry it almost everywhere.
As my last Moleskine was nearing completion, I happened upon a Leuchtturm1917. From what I can tell, Leuchtturm1917 is the notebook that Moleskine thinks it is (I stole that line from another blogger). Leuchtturm was founded in 1917, which seems to be the time period that Moleskine bases their books on.
But let's talk about what differentiates the two. A common practice among Moleskine users is to set aside a page or more to be used as an index/table of contents, which requires that you go through the book and number the pages. Leuchtturm has pages set aside particularly for this purpose and the pages are pre-numbered.
I've never had a problem with the paper in the Moleskine, it seems to handle the ink from my favorite pens without problem—but I guess fountain pen ink doesn't work very well with them. The Leuchtturm paper apparently alleviates this problem (except in the case of very wet inks). I can't really speak for that, but it's nice to know they have thought of it.
The Leuchtturm I have is the same height as the Moleskine I have, but the Leuchtturm is slightly wider without being unwieldy.
Moleskine and Leuchtturm come in a variety of types. Sketch (No Lines), Quadrille (Graph Paper), Ruled (Lines). The Leuchtturm has one up on the Moleskine though—they have a dotted grid. There is a grid of Dots on the paper, giving you the functionality of the Grid or lined paper; yet the dots are so lightly printed that the paper also works quite well for sketching. Speaking of lightly printed, the other Leuchtturm options (Grid and Ruled) are printed lighter that their Moleskine brethren. The patterns are not difficult to see, but they are very unobtrusive and get out of the way when scanning.
The Leuchtturm has tear out pages in the back, Moleskine does not.
They both have a convenient pocket in the back of the notebook.
They both have a ribbon bookmark. My last Moleskine bookmark frayed almost immediately after I purchased it. I thought it was made of a synthetic material, and tried to seal it using a flame, and nearly had a more serious fire on my hands. The glue came loose literally when I was moving the bookmark out of the way so I could write on the last page of the notebook.
The Leuchtturm bookmark appears to be synthetic and feels like it could take more abuse.
Moleskine wins in the elastic band category. The band on Moleskine is tighter, and feels more substantial than the one on my Leuchtturm.
The Leuchtturm1917 comes with Labels. It's my understanding that the intended purpose of these, is that they are to be placed on the notebook once it is full.and you are storing it on the shelf. They come with Spine and cover Labels.
So far I'm really liking the Leuchtturm better. I have the quadrille variety, I was hoping to get a dot grid—but the university book store (where I discovered the Leuchtturm1917) did not have that particular flavor. I'll have to order one online.
A Pic of My Leuchtturm1917:
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
I'm returning to Blogging
Aaaaaaaand, I'm Back. It's been quite a while since I posted anything of significance.
Unemployment is one of the most time consuming things I've ever had to deal with and I'm happy to say that I am once again Employed.
Today I'm in a class I had scheduled before I was Employed—learning Javascript
Unemployment is one of the most time consuming things I've ever had to deal with and I'm happy to say that I am once again Employed.
Today I'm in a class I had scheduled before I was Employed—learning Javascript
Friday, August 26, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Check out my newly re-launched website, share it with your friends, hire me , leave comments, whatever you want =D
http://www.VizionStudios.com
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Show Reel
This is some of the work I have done in animation. I decided to try uploading to YouTube for the first time since it launched in 2005.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Low Key—Instead of High Adventure
Episodes like our Session of Deadlands: Reloaded last night, remind me that I am not terribly great at improvisation. I don't look forward to the sessions that rely a little too much on what the party might decide to do with information that you (as game master) have given them in a previous session.
Every time I tried to prepare myself for this session, I didn't know what to prepare. Once the session started, I realized that it should have been a pretty easy choice. For some reason though, some of the obvious things just weren't standing out in my mind's eye. I think because, I was mentally staring at the Big Picture, instead of the most immediately available information. I was using my mental telescope, instead of my mental microscope.
This led to a session that was very unfocused—because I was lacking mental clarity. The posse used information that they had at hand to make a decision on where to go next. I rolled for an encounter and sent a Giant Salt Water Crocodile after them, which they defeated handily. (The previous session's monster—a giant squid—took an very appropriate number of combat rounds to dispatch; I thought the Crocodile, being so much tougher would be very difficult for them to resolve. . . it sadly was not)
I realized, after they got headed in this direction that there were two things I should have done for the session prep.. Two things that I can do for every session of this game and be successful. One: Look at the direction they most likely will travel, and taking into account method of travel, devise a number of encounters (and check if there are any Plot Point related Adventures geographically on the way). Two: figure out what their contacts will want them to do. (i.e. Mr. White or the Explorer's Society, etc.)
I felt I was really off my game—I even forgot about shaken status, momentarily, when calculating damage from a monster. Next session should be better. I always worry that people aren't having fun, and try to keep the game the focus of the evening, but I was having focus problems myself, so I didn't succeed in keeping the game the focus of the evening. I don't think I've had a game with that much Out of Character Chatter, since the time I had Nine people show up for a session.
Every time I tried to prepare myself for this session, I didn't know what to prepare. Once the session started, I realized that it should have been a pretty easy choice. For some reason though, some of the obvious things just weren't standing out in my mind's eye. I think because, I was mentally staring at the Big Picture, instead of the most immediately available information. I was using my mental telescope, instead of my mental microscope.
This led to a session that was very unfocused—because I was lacking mental clarity. The posse used information that they had at hand to make a decision on where to go next. I rolled for an encounter and sent a Giant Salt Water Crocodile after them, which they defeated handily. (The previous session's monster—a giant squid—took an very appropriate number of combat rounds to dispatch; I thought the Crocodile, being so much tougher would be very difficult for them to resolve. . . it sadly was not)
I realized, after they got headed in this direction that there were two things I should have done for the session prep.. Two things that I can do for every session of this game and be successful. One: Look at the direction they most likely will travel, and taking into account method of travel, devise a number of encounters (and check if there are any Plot Point related Adventures geographically on the way). Two: figure out what their contacts will want them to do. (i.e. Mr. White or the Explorer's Society, etc.)
I felt I was really off my game—I even forgot about shaken status, momentarily, when calculating damage from a monster. Next session should be better. I always worry that people aren't having fun, and try to keep the game the focus of the evening, but I was having focus problems myself, so I didn't succeed in keeping the game the focus of the evening. I don't think I've had a game with that much Out of Character Chatter, since the time I had Nine people show up for a session.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Three Posts in One
I've had three sessions of Deadlands since I posted last, so I'll be writing about all of them.
The posse had a severed finger that had given them directions that pointed them in a south easterly direction. I had no plans for what would occur between their current location and the location the finger was leading them toward. I decided to try out the tables in the book designed for creating adventures on the fly.
I have to admit that it was very fun rolling that big, over-sized, D20 over and over again—while my players watched on in horror. I didn't tell them what I was up to and they seemed to grow more nervous each time the die rolled.
What's fun about tables, is that they give you very basic and specific information, but really it's not enough to go on. I ended up having them rowing their canoes, running into a Tugboat (that may or may not be haunted—which was fun to run). They then spent some time lost in the maze, following a mystical compass and then had to travel across land to get to their location.
The next session was a fairly straight forward following of the information in the book. By straightforward, I mean that they solve all the problems in completely different ways than what the writers of the book seem to intend. They broke into the facility in a round about way, they took out a number of guards in an unintentional way, using something that was intended to be an obstacle to the players, but ended up not being an obstacle to them. (Thank You Bad GM Die Roll—I chose to roll the dice to determine that outcome, so I had to go with it.)
Then the next gaming session was the reverse trip through the maze, to complete the mission that they were running. This time, I did all the dice rolling ahead of time. (During a break at a 4E Dungeons and Dragons game earlier that day) They were to encounter a Mexican Ship that was sinking, being fought over by two other Mexican Ships (the reason this was happening was there for back-story but it never came up in game)—there was to be a Giant Octopus, and a Whirlpool.
P's character ended up jumping in the water to take on the cephalopod (No Swimming skill, but he aced the roll) and ended up taking it out almost singlehandedly. I'm sure there were some rules about running that particular encounter, that I missed, but it sure made for an exciting time had by all so it doesn't matter—I'm the sheriff and that's how I run my game.
There was a lot of box text that I just read straight out of the book at the end of the session, it made for a rather dramatic end to the evening, and I think a good time was had by all.
The posse had a severed finger that had given them directions that pointed them in a south easterly direction. I had no plans for what would occur between their current location and the location the finger was leading them toward. I decided to try out the tables in the book designed for creating adventures on the fly.
I have to admit that it was very fun rolling that big, over-sized, D20 over and over again—while my players watched on in horror. I didn't tell them what I was up to and they seemed to grow more nervous each time the die rolled.
What's fun about tables, is that they give you very basic and specific information, but really it's not enough to go on. I ended up having them rowing their canoes, running into a Tugboat (that may or may not be haunted—which was fun to run). They then spent some time lost in the maze, following a mystical compass and then had to travel across land to get to their location.
The next session was a fairly straight forward following of the information in the book. By straightforward, I mean that they solve all the problems in completely different ways than what the writers of the book seem to intend. They broke into the facility in a round about way, they took out a number of guards in an unintentional way, using something that was intended to be an obstacle to the players, but ended up not being an obstacle to them. (Thank You Bad GM Die Roll—I chose to roll the dice to determine that outcome, so I had to go with it.)
Then the next gaming session was the reverse trip through the maze, to complete the mission that they were running. This time, I did all the dice rolling ahead of time. (During a break at a 4E Dungeons and Dragons game earlier that day) They were to encounter a Mexican Ship that was sinking, being fought over by two other Mexican Ships (the reason this was happening was there for back-story but it never came up in game)—there was to be a Giant Octopus, and a Whirlpool.
P's character ended up jumping in the water to take on the cephalopod (No Swimming skill, but he aced the roll) and ended up taking it out almost singlehandedly. I'm sure there were some rules about running that particular encounter, that I missed, but it sure made for an exciting time had by all so it doesn't matter—I'm the sheriff and that's how I run my game.
There was a lot of box text that I just read straight out of the book at the end of the session, it made for a rather dramatic end to the evening, and I think a good time was had by all.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
I've been without Employment for Seven Months and I went to a workshop today. I need to work on my networking and for that purpose I have swallowed my pride and Joined Facebook—Though I kept my personal details at a minimum; Facebook does not instill confidence in me as far as security and privacy are concerned.
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