Hopes and Fears

Recording drum covers is a difficult feat, especially for a person like me, who is, I must admit, a bit technologically inept (yes, when talking to me about technology, I'd prefer that you pretend I'm five years old). Part of the difficulty, aside from all the tech stuff, spews from the fact that recording decent drum covers is very expensive. I don't mind the practicing part; although it's time-consuming the fun I get out of it cancels that out. However we all know that money doesn't grow on trees no matter how much we wish it did. After talking with a friend with much experience in this field, I learned a thing or two about the materials I'd need to have in order to record drum covers that are not rough on the ears.

With all this said, I'm sad to say that I won't be able to make drum covers just yet. And I really wanted to so badly. It's just not financially possible to make decent covers at the moment. That and I need time to learn and familiarize myself with an audio mixer, among other recording equipment.

In order to make decent (meaning that it's not unclear and really poor quality on video) drum covers I'd need to have microphones (at least four of them for main drums/cymbals), cables, speakers, an audio mixer, a laptop that isn't broken (mine has a virus still -- shouldn't have seen that unrrated video! Just kidding (about the video) -- or am I??!!), as well as a certain music program and a video camera.

All that comes out to at least one thousand bucks. Lord knows that's not lying around anywhere, at least not under my foot.

But out of all those audio/recording equipment, the one that excites me the most is the audio mixer. Roughly, I think (remember I'm not a tech buff), this is how it outlines. I have to attach the microphones to the snare, floor tom, bass drum and overhead for the cymbals and tom-toms. With the cables, I'd attach those mic's to the audio mixer. What the audio mixer does (again, I think) is that it takes the sound that the mic's pick up from the drums/cymbals and I could create the listening experience for the listener, should the listener be wearing headphones/earphones. For example, I'd want to give the most authentic sound by making my hi-hat sound more to the left on the headphones because that's where my hi-hat is. The snare, a major part of the drum set, would most likely be centered. I'd make it so that low pitched sounds are on the bottom right when (you'd hear those sounds on the bottom right with your headphones)and nice splash cymbals and crashes on top, just like my real drum set. That audio mixer would be attached to speakers in which I would plug in my headphones so I can hear what I'm playing. The mixer would also be attached to my laptop which would have installed in it a music program in which I can edit the sound coming in. As for the video, well that's what the video camera is for. I'd video tape me playing to the drums and when it comes time to putting everything together, I'd mute the sound from the camera and replace it with the results of the editing in the music program. Then all I have to do is sync that up. If my friend could actually teach me all this, to be honest, I'd think a miracle just happened or a musical magic trick.

Does this all make sense? Am I boring you? It's all so interesting me; I've always wanted to organize sound and play around with it. I just never had the guts and determination to do it, nor the equipment, money and person to help me. But suddenly that all seems closer than I could have hoped for mostly because my determination to audio mix songs has peaked to an all time high.

And I wouldn't only have to use the audio mixer for my drums. I could use it with the piano too. Perhaps I cold make songs on the piano, record it and mix it up with the mixer and then add the drums for my own song. Now all I need is a guitar (preferably electric but it could also be acoustic), lyrics and a singer. but now I'm just asking for a. . . band!

Oh my--

Oh my goodness--

That'd be . . .

Sorry, just had a near uncontrolled ecstatic/excited moment; I had to let the feeling run through me.

Imagine - no seriously - imagine if I were the audio mixer in a band I'm in! I'd love to be the drummer/audio mixer/song writer/co-composer of a rock band (alternative or not, whichever, or a hybrid of both). Just short of that I could just make songs myself (if I had the proper recording equipment and mixer). I'd do the drums and piano (yes, it'll be piano rock) and maybe get Kuya to do the electric guitar, unless it's acoustic (but then it wouldn't get the effect of a real rock sound) or I could do the electric guitar sound using my keyboard (it'd be on a different sound other than grand piano). Yeah -- baby this could work! I just need the time and the dough.

Here I go again, talking about my hobby and totally ignoring what I really should focus on, my English teaching career. You know what I noticed? When people ask (particularly the elderly), what I'm taking up, and I'd respond with "English," the first thing that comes to their mind is grammar; but that's not all it is. it's a whole lot of writing and literature and they don't even want to stress grammar (unless it gets to the point where it gets in the way of great essay content). That's why lately I've been answering people with, "English and literature." Sorry for that random bit - it just popped in my head. So I myself absolutely love my hobbies more than my planned career. If only I were as enthusiastic in teaching as I am in recording (which I haven't done yet and still so want to do it) music and creating music, then I'd get better grades I bet. I must admit it's been slowly declining (just a tad) as my love of music has increased tenfold these past few school semesters. Oh man. then there's writing short stories. I find that more fun than learning about teaching even if it's time-consuming. it tests my creative writing skills and makes me appreciate short stories more now than ever. I love writing - creative writing - because it's like creating music.

And tennis. That's a whole other story. I love tennis and it's probably the oldest of all my hobbies. Tennis has been there since my junior year in high school. Yes, the explosion of interest in writing and music came with the college package. So what was I before tennis? An obedient nerd in school, purely academic. Nope, didn't play sports, didn't work out at the gym. I started working out/running in college too. It seemed like I experienced a late growth spurt in college in terms of my hobbies. Late bloomer is what I am -- better late than never. And yet for some this isn't late at all.

Music, tennis, writing, music, tennis, writing, music, tennis, writing, music, tennis, writing, watching Whose Line is it Anyway?, music, tennis, writing, music, tennis, writing, music, tennis, writing, music, tennis, writing, music, tennis, writing, music, tennis, writing, music, tennis, writing, music, tennis, writing.

That's all I think about. My love life is dry, though. Some may say it's nearing a confirmed non-existent status that begs for me to get out more (a breath a fresh air and hope and potential, away from a rusting dungeon, I might add), but to me it's more of a void-turned unconscious/conscious urge. Think of a reserved seat. It'll happen; it's there and yet it's not. I want it to materialize, for sure. Then again, who's totally sure about anything, you know? When will I finally record drum covers? That question gets annoying sometimes when other things are pestering my mind.

I feel like I'm spreading myself over too many slices of bread. I once wrote a birthday poem for Ate Sherry, in which I told her how life is a balancing act. Oh, the metaphors I think up. But seriously, I've never meant it as strongly as I do RIGHT NOW. Oh my God, how am I going to balance everything? School is going to start soon. I'm going to have to work extra hard in school to compensate for my declining interest in it (I'm heavily relying on the "I hope I get back in the zone - the one where I have a deep desire to teach" wagon). I'm going to have to get a part time job and schedule work hours (hopefully I get a job in a music store) so that I can earn money and save it up for audio/recording equipment (from here on out you ain't gonna see me touch my savings account except only to add to it). I'm going to have to find time to work out and stay in shape and I'm going to have to find time to continue writing (I'm thinking I should continue what I've been doing during my school semesters, which is generating ideas to write while I work out or have them magically appear at my doorstep in my mind right before I sleep).

I'm spreading myself, spreading myself thin. Balance . . . Bern you have to balance. But it's so hard, sometimes I can't. Yeah, but you have to if you really want to do everything you love (I wonder how far I can go without sacrificing anything . . . oh I'm pushing boundaries, baby). But it's so hard . . but you have to, you've got to -- and that's the last word, like fists climbing up the handle of a baseball bat.

You know what I really want? I just wanna . . . I just . . . I wish I could improve in all aspects of my life simultaneously. I wonder if that's possible (if it is, I'd be on cloud nine instead of in my troubled mind). I just need time to be kind to me and to cooperate with me. Oh, and good people - supportive and inspirational - to surround me. And I need the skills to perform the best balancing act I can ever pull off; that'll be my physical rendition of life. And the end result? My personal satisfaction and I hope the enjoyment of others from it =).