Blogging has opened a new gateway to build communities. People share various information world-wide. However My pleasure ride in Blogging for about 2.5 years [325+ Blogs] is about to end. Yes I have made up my mind to quit. 1st Due to tight schedule next questioning my self “what is the point?” Hence this will be my final posting at least for now.
Blogging has been always been an interesting hobby - writing about various things – especially about music & cricket- my favorite subjects. My friends and well wishers have always encouraged me; thanks guys; Also I make sure that I don’t hurt anyone personally in my Blogs, however still if my opinions had hurt anyone, honestly that was not my intention, this is the appropriate time for me to apologize for my carelessness, if any.
This Blog from now will serve to inform the world about my musical work and releases from time to time. Starting with this weekend at NJ, I will be sound engineering a live Tamil music show for New Jersey “Symphony”. A real honor for me – other than audio mixing performance of top class musicians, there is one more honor - the band will be performing 2 of my songs from the H1BEES album. Thanks to Ramani, Suresh Ramachandran, Drummer Karthick and other folks in the band for this great opportunity. Looking forward for the show, here is insider info: Just got the song list - it is simply peppy and fantastic. If you are around NJ, do drop in for a fun filled musical night. [dont forget to say "Hi" to me in the mix board area]
(Ps: I am now in the process of finding instrumentalists for my next album, if anyone interested send me an email [srikanth @ h1bees dot com])
Finally,
Thanks every one for reading my Blogs, I am sure the same level of encouragement from you will continue in my musical ventures.It is time to close down, So Long! Friends
4/19/06
4/14/06
யாத்திரை [Voyage]-
பாடல்: கண்ணதாசன்
தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு நல் வாழ்த்துக்கள்
Next Single Release: யாத்திரை [Voyage]- பாடல்: கண்ணதாசன்
Thanks to Udhaya and Raja Govindarajan.
Writing a melody line for a poem written by the greatest Poet of my time – “Kannadasan” is a genuine pleasure. You will find that how the words are tightly constructed, just ready to be composed as music. I realized why a musical genius like M.S.V adores this great poet. From a composers perspective, Kannadasan picks words that are perfectly ready for any “Sandam” where even a part timer [like yours faithfully] would have fun composing. When I read the Yathirai poem sent to me by Udhaya, believe it or not - the tune and arrangement just came to me from some where and was ready to be served without touching any instrument power. This is true inspiration;
The poem has about 50 lines of which I took 16. I took the liberty to add an interesting aspect. A set of chorus lines appreciating the great poet, Udhaya a fully developed fan of Kannadasan came out with those lines in matter of seconds.
Vocalists for this track - Introducing Anjali Vasudevan – Based out of Virginia, was referred to me by [Kansas] Raja Govindarajan. Anjali auditioned in my studio and at once impressed me a lot. Anjali can sing Hindi, Tamil, and English and talks few unknown languages [to me] like Pasthu, Arabic etc. Anjali also sang in another project [to be announced shortly]– of mine for a movie maker based out of Atlanta. She did backing vocals and some musical parts in Hindi, English and Pashthu in the other track. Very sweet person to work with, took all my inputs and worked hard to get the emotions right. I liked her unique tone; I hope you like it too; we did this recording in about 4 sessions. She is a new comer to recording arena and she definitely needs your encouragement.
You would find arrangements to be similar to 65-70s R&B/Jazz Genres, it was intentional. Kavingar Kannadasan in this poem talks about “Yathirai” [Journey.] As a fan of Kannadasan and Tamil language, it is a great pleasure for me to release this on Tamil New Years Day.
With this introduction, Yathirai – my first KANNADASAN song;
கருவினில் தொடங்கிய
குழந்தையின் யாத்திரை
உருவினில் முடிகின்றது -- சிறு
உருவத்தில் தொடங்கிய
மழலையின் யாத்திரை
பருவத்தில் முடிகின்றது!
பருவத்தில் தொடங்கிய
காதலின் யாத்திரை
பாதியில் முடிகின்றது -- வரும்
பாசமும் நேசமும்
மோசமும் வேஷமும்
ஞானத்தில் முடிகின்றது!.........
DOWNLOAD HERE....
Next Single Release: யாத்திரை [Voyage]- பாடல்: கண்ணதாசன்
Thanks to Udhaya and Raja Govindarajan.
Writing a melody line for a poem written by the greatest Poet of my time – “Kannadasan” is a genuine pleasure. You will find that how the words are tightly constructed, just ready to be composed as music. I realized why a musical genius like M.S.V adores this great poet. From a composers perspective, Kannadasan picks words that are perfectly ready for any “Sandam” where even a part timer [like yours faithfully] would have fun composing. When I read the Yathirai poem sent to me by Udhaya, believe it or not - the tune and arrangement just came to me from some where and was ready to be served without touching any instrument power. This is true inspiration;
The poem has about 50 lines of which I took 16. I took the liberty to add an interesting aspect. A set of chorus lines appreciating the great poet, Udhaya a fully developed fan of Kannadasan came out with those lines in matter of seconds.
Vocalists for this track - Introducing Anjali Vasudevan – Based out of Virginia, was referred to me by [Kansas] Raja Govindarajan. Anjali auditioned in my studio and at once impressed me a lot. Anjali can sing Hindi, Tamil, and English and talks few unknown languages [to me] like Pasthu, Arabic etc. Anjali also sang in another project [to be announced shortly]– of mine for a movie maker based out of Atlanta. She did backing vocals and some musical parts in Hindi, English and Pashthu in the other track. Very sweet person to work with, took all my inputs and worked hard to get the emotions right. I liked her unique tone; I hope you like it too; we did this recording in about 4 sessions. She is a new comer to recording arena and she definitely needs your encouragement. You would find arrangements to be similar to 65-70s R&B/Jazz Genres, it was intentional. Kavingar Kannadasan in this poem talks about “Yathirai” [Journey.] As a fan of Kannadasan and Tamil language, it is a great pleasure for me to release this on Tamil New Years Day.
With this introduction, Yathirai – my first KANNADASAN song;
கருவினில் தொடங்கிய
குழந்தையின் யாத்திரை
உருவினில் முடிகின்றது -- சிறு
உருவத்தில் தொடங்கிய
மழலையின் யாத்திரை
பருவத்தில் முடிகின்றது!
பருவத்தில் தொடங்கிய
காதலின் யாத்திரை
பாதியில் முடிகின்றது -- வரும்
பாசமும் நேசமும்
மோசமும் வேஷமும்
ஞானத்தில் முடிகின்றது!.........
DOWNLOAD HERE....
4/6/06
Guest Writer - Shankar's Views
Since we are in the midst of the cricket season and India has unearthed some fine young players coming through the ranks, I wanted to go back in time and check out some of the players who have come up through the cricket system in various countries. I went back to the U-19 World Cup held in 1988 in Australia which was won by Australia.
India was led by M.Senthilnathan and members of the team included Ajay Jadeja, Pravin Amre, Nayan Mongia,Venkatapathy Raju, Hirwani etc. The opponents were quite formidable and included Atherton, Ramprakash, Nasser Hussain, Chris Lewis etc for England, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam, Basit Ali, Mushtaq Ahmed for Pakistan, Stuart Law, Alan Mullally for Australia, Lara, Jimmy Adams, Ridley Jacobs etc for WI and Kaluwitharana, Jayasuriya etc for Sri Lanka. It's interesting to see that so many cricketers have been a product of the system and have gone on to accomplish a tremendous international career.
However, here is a little cricket trivia that might amuse you. This player Rajitha Amunugama represented Sri Lanka U-19 in that world cup. He did not have an international career that can be spoken about but did have a decent domestic career. So, what's interesting about him then?
He has the longest name among any first class cricketer ever!! Check this out...
Shankar
ps: Shankar Nagarajan, [a good friend mine] would be writing his views about cricket via my Blog [whenever he feels like] :)
India was led by M.Senthilnathan and members of the team included Ajay Jadeja, Pravin Amre, Nayan Mongia,Venkatapathy Raju, Hirwani etc. The opponents were quite formidable and included Atherton, Ramprakash, Nasser Hussain, Chris Lewis etc for England, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam, Basit Ali, Mushtaq Ahmed for Pakistan, Stuart Law, Alan Mullally for Australia, Lara, Jimmy Adams, Ridley Jacobs etc for WI and Kaluwitharana, Jayasuriya etc for Sri Lanka. It's interesting to see that so many cricketers have been a product of the system and have gone on to accomplish a tremendous international career.
However, here is a little cricket trivia that might amuse you. This player Rajitha Amunugama represented Sri Lanka U-19 in that world cup. He did not have an international career that can be spoken about but did have a decent domestic career. So, what's interesting about him then?
He has the longest name among any first class cricketer ever!! Check this out...
Shankar
ps: Shankar Nagarajan, [a good friend mine] would be writing his views about cricket via my Blog [whenever he feels like] :)
Game Day
[India vs England - 4th one day]
India wrapped the one day series quite comfortably. Dravid played one of his best one day knocks in recent times. Even Viru I thought was back in action however fell for the spinner. Irfan is now a genuine batsman, playing number 3 is not easy; he seems to deal this task with ease. He always gives India the break through during his initial spells. Sreesanth started of well in front of his home crowed, however started to bowl poor length & line.
Agarkar’s bowling was something more than "pathetic" and very soon he settled down into his usual donkey drop mode. Why Munuf Patel was dropped and Agarkar was picked - a million dollar question which has no answer. Yuvarj in full batting mood made sure India won without hiccups. Raina supported him however for the way he got out - Dravid should punish him by saying “stand up on the bench” for rest of the evening. Raina threw away his wicket.
In fact other than one batsman all other wickets were donated to England. The one player Yeh! Mr. Kaif, He was as pathetic as before but an optimistic Dravid and Chappel would supply load of eye wash fluid to the world by saying say Kaif was just 95 short of a well made century. I clearly see Dravid adopting double standard here. Kaif needs to be kicked out. There is no other choice.
England’s vulnerabilities are being exposed right from the first game by the Indians; they don’t seem to get it right. And there is no point in weeping about the missed in Delhi etc. Bottom line India is a better team. Did anyone hear a bunch of donkeys braying “olla llaaas” during the drinks or over breaks, total annoyance; Next one day over to the North east frontier city Gauwahati, climate should be better than this steaming hot pot. I like to see a 7-0.
Finally, America voted out its best vocalists yesterday. One person who can really sing was shown the door for not singing some depressing country music properly. I think it is going to be American I-DULL from now on.
Good day,
ps:Any thing that touches the bat is a missed chance for Dean Jones. Siva once again started of “coming to age” issues – this time for Dhoni. :)
Agarkar’s bowling was something more than "pathetic" and very soon he settled down into his usual donkey drop mode. Why Munuf Patel was dropped and Agarkar was picked - a million dollar question which has no answer. Yuvarj in full batting mood made sure India won without hiccups. Raina supported him however for the way he got out - Dravid should punish him by saying “stand up on the bench” for rest of the evening. Raina threw away his wicket.
In fact other than one batsman all other wickets were donated to England. The one player Yeh! Mr. Kaif, He was as pathetic as before but an optimistic Dravid and Chappel would supply load of eye wash fluid to the world by saying say Kaif was just 95 short of a well made century. I clearly see Dravid adopting double standard here. Kaif needs to be kicked out. There is no other choice.
England’s vulnerabilities are being exposed right from the first game by the Indians; they don’t seem to get it right. And there is no point in weeping about the missed in Delhi etc. Bottom line India is a better team. Did anyone hear a bunch of donkeys braying “olla llaaas” during the drinks or over breaks, total annoyance; Next one day over to the North east frontier city Gauwahati, climate should be better than this steaming hot pot. I like to see a 7-0.
Finally, America voted out its best vocalists yesterday. One person who can really sing was shown the door for not singing some depressing country music properly. I think it is going to be American I-DULL from now on.
Good day,
ps:Any thing that touches the bat is a missed chance for Dean Jones. Siva once again started of “coming to age” issues – this time for Dhoni. :)
4/5/06
A Simple Guide to Learn Sequencers - Part-4
Day 4
It is all about Tracks
Track is the most important component of a sequencer; 90% of operations performed on a sequencer refers to a track. Track is a container that stores various types of data and messages which can be manipulated. Let us peek into some data level details captured by a midi sequencer.
Note: Each note in general midi has been clearly named, meaning every note has a unique identity. Starting from the C0 the lowest sounding note and goes on up till C7. Middle C would be C4. The number part here denotes the octave. Every note is represented in this Note name + Octave number [of a piano] combination. Further for every note played, there are 2 vital elements attached to it, namely the length or the duration of the note [how long it was played] and the volume at which the note was played, the volume is called velocity. Velocity is arrived by capturing the finger pressure. When a keyboard can recognize the velocity and pressure applied by the player, we call it a touch sensitive keyboard such keyboards will spit velocity data along with each note played. Softer the hit – smaller the number, the maximum velocity is 127. Note: All number ranges in the sequencer are 0-127 only, why? Just Google for it; In short, Remember, a sequencer when capturing a note – it also captures its velocity, the start time and its end time in the bar.
Note is just one of the element a track can store, there are other elements, like Control changes, Patch Changes. What is a control change? Midi supports various controls like the Sustain pedal in a piano], Pan position [in a mixer] Pitch bend using a pitch bender. Sustain is how long the note needs to be sustained, this is generated usually by a foot pedal controller. Pan position, in a stereo where the sound would be place, 64 will put it in the middle, while 0 or 127 will be hard right /left pan respectively. There are many controllers out there today, a funky one would be the breath controller, using which we can add breathe effects to wind instruments; however the keyboard has to support it. Most of the higher end boards support various such funky controllers.
Another very important data metrics you will find in a track is the Pitch bend data. Modern keyboard have this controller built in, it can pitch bend a note. Sequencers can understand pitch bend data too. Long ago I have used pitch bend without the controller, how?, key-in data manually to simulate it. Not anymore though, pitch bender is a vital component for a keyboard.
Patch Changes, you can change the patch numbers on the keyboards by firing back midi message to the keyboard/salve. In fact today using midi we can do sound effect changes, arpeggios pattern changes, every other nook and corner of the keyboard can be manipulated with Midi, this does not stop only with keyboards, Effect processors, vocals processor support midi events can be controlled via sequencers.
When you dissect a track, you would see a combination of notes, controllers, Lengths etc. The sequencer power here is realized when? Remember all of these complex parameters can be edited and manipulated as numbers.
To summarize “Track” [in OOP terms]
A Track has following properties
1. Name – Alphanumeric
2. [forced] Midi channel – Number [1-16]
3. [forced] Port number – Number [1-127]
4. [forced] Velocity – Number [1-127]
5. [forced] Pan position – Number [0-64-127]
6. Key Transpose – Number [-127 - +127]
7. Mute – True or false
8. Archived or locked. - True of false
We can perform various actions on a Track - [methods in OOP terms]
1. Clone
2. Copy [input range]
3. Interpolate [input range]
4. Quantize [input range]
5. Record [input range]
6. Punch in [input range]
7. Delete
8. Paste
9. Transpose [input range]
10. Split notes
Next we will check out few global parameters of a sequencer.
All Rights Reserved (c) Srikanth Devarajan, Unauthorized copying or re-publishing of this article is prohibited, you have license to learn! And pass it on to others with the authors name intact. If you want to syndicate this, kindly contact me at srikanthD at gmail.
its wednesday! So What?
Indians will be facing England in Kochi, Local boy Sreesanth is pumped up but under slight pressure to perform in front of his home crowd. Greg the control freak Chappel has proclaimed that he has great faith for Kaif and Viru; Halo!
Where was so called faith for Gangully then? Who by all means has better performance report card than Kaif. Who just manages to trouble the scorers once a year; Kiran More for his part uttered his golden words, it seems getting in Gangully will confuse the winning combination. Further chairman of selectors said “there was no questioning the Delhi batsman's credibility”. “He has an outstanding record. He is second only to Sunil Gavaskar in the number of double centuries scored”, see the Double standards here - More & Cronies without given proper explanation managed to drop a person who has scored more runs than Sunil Gavaskar in one day. Gangully should have been given few more chances to reinvent himself. It is very clear that it is personal vendetta. “Kaif – Best ofLuck Duck”.
Finally
check this short film call center movie Very funny, don’t be too sensitive - treat it as humor. imo a well made short film :)
Good day.
Ps: this my 303rd posting!..2 years of blogging gone, about 60 more complete one man year of worthles data. Planning on closing it down then.
Where was so called faith for Gangully then? Who by all means has better performance report card than Kaif. Who just manages to trouble the scorers once a year; Kiran More for his part uttered his golden words, it seems getting in Gangully will confuse the winning combination. Further chairman of selectors said “there was no questioning the Delhi batsman's credibility”. “He has an outstanding record. He is second only to Sunil Gavaskar in the number of double centuries scored”, see the Double standards here - More & Cronies without given proper explanation managed to drop a person who has scored more runs than Sunil Gavaskar in one day. Gangully should have been given few more chances to reinvent himself. It is very clear that it is personal vendetta. “Kaif – Best of
Finally
check this short film call center movie Very funny, don’t be too sensitive - treat it as humor. imo a well made short film :)
Good day.
Ps: this my 303rd posting!..2 years of blogging gone, about 60 more complete one man year of worthles data. Planning on closing it down then.
4/3/06
Weekend!
India Wins, Yuvraj played one of his best knock ever, I watched the whole innings in spite of a loooong day. Some of the drives he played were simply a class apart. Seriously his batting did help me to reduce crave for Sachin’s power play. He was well supported by Raina.
The pitch was similar to a well cleaned pavement often used in the paddy - husk separation process, in and around Gobi-Chettypalayam area. The last time they played cricket here - Raina was 14. I don’t get BCCI’s so called rotation policy. It looks more complex than the Jeevan Dharas and Jeevan Sathis from LIC. How can they permit an international game in an arena that has not seen even a local cricket game for the past 5 years? The pitch had awkward bounce and run scoring was a task. The sight screen malfunction, do they need to make more money by renting out this important apparatus of the game? What is the point in showing “Indian Oil”, “Samsung Tv” on a sight screen? Get some life guys.
Let me add the standard line borrowed from Dravid - Sehwag’s batting form is worrying. The point is it all in the stats; in about 30+ games he has just three 50’s
Kaif made another well crafted and devoted ZEROOOO. Basically scoring Zeros for India was leased to Agarkar till 2005, but from 2006 Kaif paid a lump sum and took over the egg making contract. He seems to manage it better than Agarkar. As of now there seems to overstock of Eggs, - You can place order to Kaif Egg mart by calling (850)-04-000 wow! , for some reason the phone number seemed to match his recent scoring pattern. Why don’t they drop this guy? Come on Dravid “be a man” [Thanks Russel!] – Recall Gangully - he averages better and has scored more runs for India.
Irfan bowled well- he got all the wickets using slower ones. This messaged was repeated about 2000000 times by L.Siva and Nasser Hussein. Basically my request to Nimbus –please do not get both on the air at the same time; Nasser passes a well crafted “blade” to L.Siva every 2 minutes, who in turn makes sure he uses it in full. This goes on and on …at 4.45am you are better off muting the damn speakers.
Dish Network carries the subscription advertisement and captions after every wicket, this is really stupid. Why? This advertisement can be seen only by the subscribers. They have already paid for it and are watching the dam game, then why in the world pester, harass them to subscribe the whole series again and again? The music for this clip is also compressed to a higher volume level; it is so loud at times it wakes up neighbors. A real nuisance; There was a fantastic caption, for latest cricket news and views check www.dishnetwork.com/cricket, is it? This page was last updated when Genghis Khan ruled Mongolia; why the cricket operators in dish network are so dumb about cricket?
English were beaten by a better team today! Way to go Dravid and Co.
Finally,
Weekend music show was a blast, my part - sounds came out really well, it was encouraging when many congratulated me on the sounds. Thanks guys. It is always fun working with Raskia, bunch of talented musicians, but more than musicians, they are great friends to spend time with, the whole thing was kind of getting back all my school buddies, total fun. Best compliment came from a gentle man who was watching me mix, after few songs, he came to me and asked “is the band lip syncing” Wow – Yes the mix was so original and I don’t blame him for that question. Guys were thrilled when I told them about this; “Dil Se re” topped the chart;
Good day.
The pitch was similar to a well cleaned pavement often used in the paddy - husk separation process, in and around Gobi-Chettypalayam area. The last time they played cricket here - Raina was 14. I don’t get BCCI’s so called rotation policy. It looks more complex than the Jeevan Dharas and Jeevan Sathis from LIC. How can they permit an international game in an arena that has not seen even a local cricket game for the past 5 years? The pitch had awkward bounce and run scoring was a task. The sight screen malfunction, do they need to make more money by renting out this important apparatus of the game? What is the point in showing “Indian Oil”, “Samsung Tv” on a sight screen? Get some life guys.
Let me add the standard line borrowed from Dravid - Sehwag’s batting form is worrying. The point is it all in the stats; in about 30+ games he has just three 50’s
Kaif made another well crafted and devoted ZEROOOO. Basically scoring Zeros for India was leased to Agarkar till 2005, but from 2006 Kaif paid a lump sum and took over the egg making contract. He seems to manage it better than Agarkar. As of now there seems to overstock of Eggs, - You can place order to Kaif Egg mart by calling (850)-04-000 wow! , for some reason the phone number seemed to match his recent scoring pattern. Why don’t they drop this guy? Come on Dravid “be a man” [Thanks Russel!] – Recall Gangully - he averages better and has scored more runs for India.
Irfan bowled well- he got all the wickets using slower ones. This messaged was repeated about 2000000 times by L.Siva and Nasser Hussein. Basically my request to Nimbus –please do not get both on the air at the same time; Nasser passes a well crafted “blade” to L.Siva every 2 minutes, who in turn makes sure he uses it in full. This goes on and on …at 4.45am you are better off muting the damn speakers.
Dish Network carries the subscription advertisement and captions after every wicket, this is really stupid. Why? This advertisement can be seen only by the subscribers. They have already paid for it and are watching the dam game, then why in the world pester, harass them to subscribe the whole series again and again? The music for this clip is also compressed to a higher volume level; it is so loud at times it wakes up neighbors. A real nuisance; There was a fantastic caption, for latest cricket news and views check www.dishnetwork.com/cricket, is it? This page was last updated when Genghis Khan ruled Mongolia; why the cricket operators in dish network are so dumb about cricket?
English were beaten by a better team today! Way to go Dravid and Co.
Finally,
Weekend music show was a blast, my part - sounds came out really well, it was encouraging when many congratulated me on the sounds. Thanks guys. It is always fun working with Raskia, bunch of talented musicians, but more than musicians, they are great friends to spend time with, the whole thing was kind of getting back all my school buddies, total fun. Best compliment came from a gentle man who was watching me mix, after few songs, he came to me and asked “is the band lip syncing” Wow – Yes the mix was so original and I don’t blame him for that question. Guys were thrilled when I told them about this; “Dil Se re” topped the chart;
Good day.
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