Dec 17 – The Goose is Getting Fat..
I have been mindful of the fact that I have not made an entry but it is probably a good thing that I’ve been too busy to sit down and write something! We sold our house in NW and have bought a new place in Clayton Heights. Very domestic neighborhood, exactly what I need these days! I have been busy doing VO work over the last few months, I am not certain yet that it is a working relationship that I want to keep long term. The VO work can be a lot of work and the group that I do work with seems unorganized which can be frustrating! I have a few things in mind like audio books but we’ll see what the New Year brings! I completed another 3 imaging libraries and am just finishing up my website so that I can market them. I have also completed a ring tone library called “Broken Mobile Tones” which, you guess it make your phone sound like it is broken when it rings! I am not exactly sure how to go about marketing a ring tone library yet as uploading a single ring tone to iTunes costs $19/year using a service provider like Tune Core and I have 25 ring tones to upload at the moment. A little risky if you are not even sure that you will sell anything! I am now the coordinator of a Propellerheads Reason User Group in Vancouver. We had our first meeting on December 10th and it went very well. The group members were generally more advanced than I thought they might end up being which is good because I would like to learn as much as I will likely teach. The next meeting in in January and it will be for “power users” so I am in the middle of arranging people to make presentations. I traded in my Honda CRV for a 2012 Odyssey. For a minivan, it’s pretty bad-ass! (at least that’s what I keep telling myself!) Coltrane is growing like crazy and has developed such a personality. It looks as if we are going to name the next Adderley, whether it is a boy or a girl. Thank god Amber puts up with me naming my kids after jazz legends! We have an envelope on the fridge that actually has the gender in it however we are not going to open it until our anniversary on December 29th! We move into our new place late January which will give Amber about 2 months before she’s due. Wow, life just rolls along! Merry Christmas!
SEP 17 - SERIOUSLY?
Yeah, I’ve been busy but this is crazy. I didn’t realize that I hadn’t updated my blog since May. Well now, where to begin! Coltrane turned 01 and we had a super fun, outdoor birthday party for him including kiddy pools and ice cream cake! He not only walks but basically runs now and can climb the stairs with little effort which is kind of sketchy! We are expecting #2 on April 01st !! We’re playing around with the idea of moving once again. Oh.. Did I mention that we moved back into our house in New Westminster? New West is a great city and an amazing place to jog but the house could become a little cramped so we’re looking for something bigger.
The Red FM Run came and went and over all it was smooth sailing. We incorporated a listener appreciation BBQ after that was quite successful. We are now planning a large, outdoor concert at Central City for November 10th. The performer is Lehmber Husainpuri (but that’s still an industry secret!). We are planning for about 5000 in attendance however the City of Surrey is worried that we will have upwards of 10000+ so they are making us block off the street in front of the stage area. In any case, it could be crazy and should be a lot of fun.
Just completed a 100km relay race in Princeton on the weekend. My team consisted of 8 members and my leg was the first which as 17k and almost 100% uphill. The experience was a lot of fun and of course we hit a few wineries while there as well which goes without saying.
Distinct Broadcasting has been doing a fair deal of production over the last few months. You could say business is good however I’m still working on my 2012 goals and beyond. The sound effects libraries are still in production but I hope to have my radio imaging library (Impact v2) done in the next month or so.
The Red FM Run came and went and over all it was smooth sailing. We incorporated a listener appreciation BBQ after that was quite successful. We are now planning a large, outdoor concert at Central City for November 10th. The performer is Lehmber Husainpuri (but that’s still an industry secret!). We are planning for about 5000 in attendance however the City of Surrey is worried that we will have upwards of 10000+ so they are making us block off the street in front of the stage area. In any case, it could be crazy and should be a lot of fun.
Just completed a 100km relay race in Princeton on the weekend. My team consisted of 8 members and my leg was the first which as 17k and almost 100% uphill. The experience was a lot of fun and of course we hit a few wineries while there as well which goes without saying.
Distinct Broadcasting has been doing a fair deal of production over the last few months. You could say business is good however I’m still working on my 2012 goals and beyond. The sound effects libraries are still in production but I hope to have my radio imaging library (Impact v2) done in the next month or so.
15 MAY - I NEED TO SHARPEN THE SAW!
Cole is so freaking amazing, who knew life could be so wonderful upon becoming a parent! He’s now almost 30 pounds and a full-fledged crawler. We are now on constant alert because when he’s on the ground, things seem to fall to the floor! Amber & I celebrated her first Mother’s Day together having breakfast with her family and dinner with mine.
The Red FM Walk & Run is coming in July so we’re busy at Red FM planning all of the details. We are going to incorporate a 5k run as well as the 10&2k events this year because we had so many requests for it. I guess that 10k can be a bit daunting even for some people who already run. I had to change the date to 08 July because I was unable to secure a start line clock but all is still well. A really nice woman ended up winning the car at Vaisakhi this year. Our ever-changing on-stage system for determining the winner went over quite well. We had just enough suspense without forcing our audience to wait too long before finding a winner. Distinct Broadcasting is rolling along well, this past month I continued working on the 2 new sound effects libraries. I wanted to have them complete this spring but it is now looking like July as a release period. I picked up a new recorder today called the Roland R26 (she’s a beauty!) so once the 2 radio imaging libraries are complete in July, I will begin recording the next using the R26 called “CARS”. Any guess what I’m recording? I attended the BCAB annual conference last week at the Hyatt in Vancouver. It was a fascinating event covering a large variety of broadcast & media related topics however social media was certainly the subject most covered. It is incredible just how much the face of media in changing at the hands of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and the like. One really needs to stay on the cutting edge of these applications if they desire to remain relevant.
I have not written any music for myself since February, which seems a bit strange since it’s been such a huge part of what I do for so long. I have continued to produce and even recorded & mixed a girl this month but other than writing jingles for commercials haven’t sat down and just written my own material. God, if only I was a vampire and didn’t need sleep at night, I could finally put the kind of time in that I’d like!
I registered for a 100k run with my friend John & and small team in September. It is a relay so I will only have to do 16k myself however I believe that my section will be a gradual uphill grind for most of it. I shouldn’t complain though because John signed himself up for 2 sections. (He’s a freak!)
The Red FM Walk & Run is coming in July so we’re busy at Red FM planning all of the details. We are going to incorporate a 5k run as well as the 10&2k events this year because we had so many requests for it. I guess that 10k can be a bit daunting even for some people who already run. I had to change the date to 08 July because I was unable to secure a start line clock but all is still well. A really nice woman ended up winning the car at Vaisakhi this year. Our ever-changing on-stage system for determining the winner went over quite well. We had just enough suspense without forcing our audience to wait too long before finding a winner. Distinct Broadcasting is rolling along well, this past month I continued working on the 2 new sound effects libraries. I wanted to have them complete this spring but it is now looking like July as a release period. I picked up a new recorder today called the Roland R26 (she’s a beauty!) so once the 2 radio imaging libraries are complete in July, I will begin recording the next using the R26 called “CARS”. Any guess what I’m recording? I attended the BCAB annual conference last week at the Hyatt in Vancouver. It was a fascinating event covering a large variety of broadcast & media related topics however social media was certainly the subject most covered. It is incredible just how much the face of media in changing at the hands of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and the like. One really needs to stay on the cutting edge of these applications if they desire to remain relevant.
I have not written any music for myself since February, which seems a bit strange since it’s been such a huge part of what I do for so long. I have continued to produce and even recorded & mixed a girl this month but other than writing jingles for commercials haven’t sat down and just written my own material. God, if only I was a vampire and didn’t need sleep at night, I could finally put the kind of time in that I’d like!
I registered for a 100k run with my friend John & and small team in September. It is a relay so I will only have to do 16k myself however I believe that my section will be a gradual uphill grind for most of it. I shouldn’t complain though because John signed himself up for 2 sections. (He’s a freak!)
APR 10 - SO MANY THINGS, SO LITTLE TIME
It looks like I may have sold one of my houses pending subjects. I will know by this Friday (13th), which will be a huge relief as the main part of the house has been sitting vacant for over a month. I have been doing extensive renovations on the house in New Westminster. Renovations are tough work but very rewarding once complete. Distinct Broadcasting is working out a deal to do voiceover work for a company in India. More to come on that situation if it all ends up working out! I have been up at the crack of dawn whenever possible to do Distinct Broadcasting related marketing however it now seems that Coltrane is waking up earlier and earlier every day so I may have to adjust my time to the evenings! This morning Coltrane woke up at 6am so by the time I started a pot of coffee and began sending emails, I had to stop everything and begin his breakfast. Coltrane is quickly becoming mobile; he now gets himself into crawling position and moves around a little. He’s not properly crawling forward yet, he tends to roll around on the floor and push himself backwards. I’m pretty sure that he’s weeks away from full fledge crawling. (Yikes!) We’re now entering our last week of the car giveaway contest at Red FM. It feels like it all came and went quite fast this year and over all, the contest was successful from a numbers perspective. We always consider participants when calculating the success of a contest, this year the numbers have been good. Vaisakhi in Vancouver is the coming weekend then finally Vaisakhi in Surrey is the weekend after where we will determine who our car winner is. I love putting on live shows as you never know what to expect, especially at Vaisakhi but they are a lot of work and I’m usually pretty tired afterwards. Finally, the Red FM Walk & Run is coming up quickly as well on July 15th. I’m having trouble arranging a finish line clock and scaffolding, as there are many events on the same weekend. I like new challenges because it keeps organizing events like this interesting.
FEB 18 - MEXICO AND A CLEAR FOCUS
I just spent over a week down in Playa Del Carmen Mexico at an all-inclusive. I never imagined that I could literally sit around for days on end without losing my mind from boredom but it’s official, I like all inclusives! I brought my laptop so I was able to begin a new sound effects library, update my business plan and design a course layout for a class I am teaching in March. I did not leave the resort very much so for the first time in years, I went on a holiday and didn’t actually make any local recordings.
I had managed to work at Air Canada on the side for years taking leave of absences whenever offered enabling me to work in broadcasting. The day finally came that I was recalled and it was just not possible to return. The benefits were nice but frankly I hated traveling stand-by, it makes your holidays very stressful. With Distinct Broadcasting, Red FM and my family, there is just not enough time in the schedule to include working at Air Canada anymore. Today coincidentally would have been my 14 year anniversary working at AC. Good luck to all my old friends and co-workers at the airline.
On that note, I traveled to Mexico on a confirmed ticket as a regular passenger and it was totally stress free! Coltrane was still a baby when we got back in Vancouver but it’s amazing how much they change in even a week. It’s great to be back!
I had managed to work at Air Canada on the side for years taking leave of absences whenever offered enabling me to work in broadcasting. The day finally came that I was recalled and it was just not possible to return. The benefits were nice but frankly I hated traveling stand-by, it makes your holidays very stressful. With Distinct Broadcasting, Red FM and my family, there is just not enough time in the schedule to include working at Air Canada anymore. Today coincidentally would have been my 14 year anniversary working at AC. Good luck to all my old friends and co-workers at the airline.
On that note, I traveled to Mexico on a confirmed ticket as a regular passenger and it was totally stress free! Coltrane was still a baby when we got back in Vancouver but it’s amazing how much they change in even a week. It’s great to be back!
FEB 05 - 6 MONTHS YOUNG
Tomorrow Coltrane turns 6 months; he is growing quickly and showing so much development every day. Coltrane is just awesome! I have now formally launched the Robotic Percussion Audio & .REX file edition libraries. I am learning a lot about on-line marketing, specifically using forums to market my sounds to applicable groups and people. The imaging libraries are by far selling the fastest; probably because the sound design market is less saturated imaging sounds then music loops. All is well however and I have already begun designing 2 new imaging libraries for radio producers! We are off to Puerto Plata Mexico in a few days as well. We’re going to an all-inclusive and I am an all-inclusive virgin so the experience should be interesting! I am hoping to get some cool recordings while out and about but I am not looking for anything in particular. Red FM is doing well, upgraded my machine to an iMac. I find it funny how people are so impressed by the fact that you use a Mac. Marketing is fascinating!