Cell-phone confrontation therapy, yep

So I’m dozin’ on the train in the quiet car about 7:45 this AM and dooshie sitting right behind me  takes a cell phone call and keeps talking. I give him a minute or two and ask him to take it down to the vestibule. He tells me, “mind your own business.” I repeat myself and he says, “Fuck you!” I say, “No, fuck you and get outta the quiet car.” He says, “Shut up or I’ll slap the shit outta you!” I say, “You are threatening me over a cell phone call? Fuck you and back it up, tough guy!” He says, “When we get off the train, I’m gonna slap the shit outta you, you’ll see.” In the mean time, of course, he loses the call, and shuts up for the last 15 minutes. I get off the train-car first and wait for him. About 40 people get off and he’s still sitting on the top deck, as I can see through the window. Another passenger gets off and we have a conversation and he commiserates with the conclusion that this guy is not coming. I realize that almost everyone is gone and I’m about 100 yards from the station, he’s still not out and when he does come, we’ll be alone, so I walk into the station and wait for him.  Now I’ve walked 100 yards thinking this guy is behind me so I stop just inside the station and await him. After a couple more minutes he comes in, one of the last of the entire 12-car train (ours being #11 from the station). His eyes get big and I walk up to him and say, “C’mon tough guy, you threatened me, let’s finish.” He devolves to calling me, “fat boy” and saying he’s gonna kick my ass. I note out loud he needs a shower. (Greasy face, 6′, 175 lbs, mebbe 28-30 inna hoodie and kahkies and workboots …) “Let’s go, you loudmouth pussy”, I say, and he says “It wasn’t even a quiet car!” WTF? I say, “Not only are you a loud-mouth pussy, but you are stupid!”  There’s 100’s of people passing by from the trains, many stopping to watch. He quickly walks away in the opposite direction of where I’m going (the Loop) and then calls out from about 25 yards, “C’mon, we’ll go outside and I’ll slap the shit outta you!” I laugh at him and repeat what I just said and he hurries away.  A really nice (and actually notably attractive) woman approaches me and says, “Let him go, it’s not worth it”, etc. Never saw him before, but I do look forward to seeing him again!   Moral of the story? Don’t assume the dozing fat, old guy is gonna take yer crap.

162.205.198.38 carpal diem! THD vlayman blog vlayman.bandcamp.com thehungrydrunx.bandcamp.com

Asked Re: Choosing the Right Monitors, I answered

(I note that this response was to a fellow traveler looking for monitors under $200, and whether or not to be concerned about lack of room treatment.)

Aiight, I am not a pro but I am a prolific and long-time experienced recordist (read, “old”), with a fairly extensive but low-cost collection of gear in my bedroom studio (“bedio”).

Glad to meetcha.

So, my $1.280 is to do a little research, and seek out used gear. I rely – have for years – on Tannoy PBM 6.5 II monitors, which can be easily found on the Ebog for under US$200. I recall certain KRK’s, Alesis and even Samson speakers being praised in years past, such that 5 or 10 years later might be extremely good buys. (FWIW, I used Optimus 5’s for a long while, and OK results, with cross-references in the car, the home stereo, etc.) I have a pair of Auratones which, while not “nice” to listen to, sure give me good mixes, and I paid far less than your limit. For that matter, I have a $50 Tivoli that I am confident I could use along with a shite stereo boombox and get presentable ruff mixes of the rock stuff I do.

I wouldn’t be too concerned (place any particular greater emphasis) about low-end reproduction in that cross-referencing can help, low-pass filters can help, etc. You can always add a cheap sub later, if you need to get a rough idear of what’s down there … (Hate subs for mixin’, myself, but they come in handy on certain material, such as EDM and even noise/industrial.) Front vs. back vs. no port is something of a matter of preference as well as a dictator of monitor placement (rear port has to be farther off the wall for accuracy), but ports are basically seemingly essential if you want reasonable low end from small monitors and drivers.

Room treatment? Understand that I am speaking of low-budget approaches, entirely un-sanctioned, and from my own particular [lack of] taste and experience. That said, one of the purposes of near-field monitors, and indeed headphones, is to minimize the effect of the room you are in as you go about trying to blow minds. That’s not to say simple issues, such as trying to be in the center of the room (I’m not) and and least 6-12″ off the walls (I get 6″, ahem) should be ignored. The heavy blanket thing may feel useful, but ultimately gets oppressive, and fucking dusty. I do things like open the closet doors, keep lots of pillows on the bed (It is my “bedio”), use sensible volume levels (I like 82db at the listening position, but start much lower and try at least one mix much higher) to maximize that “near” part of “near-field”, toe the speakers and keep them at proper height while trying to keep reflections minimized re the desk, etc. I do have a cuppla bass traps … And like I said above, I change out speakers, and sometimes use headphones (I like Sony MDR 600’s for their imaging and bass exaggeration), and I often drop into mono for multi-track level-checks, as well.

Finally, ” to be able to accurately hear an honest representation of what I have tracked and be able to make the correct mixing decisions” is as much abut experience – particularly including your non-standard listening environment and gear (by what I mean, you are not moving from one expensive pro studio to the next) as it is the room and the gear itself, which latter two things arguably only make things easier/quicker/more repeatable, but not necessarily better.

Or at least so I tell me.

DISCLAIMER: a pot of coffee and the Sunday morning news shows, as well as a slight hang-over and rapidly building heat and humidity, have gone into the drafting of this novella

bandcamp; vlayman;
THD; blog.
I mix with olive juice.

New The Hungry Drunx album: *Monkeyshine*

1. Do (What would you have me) 03:36
2. Incentivized 03:38
3. Shoshana 03:12
4. Whom Do the Gods Serve 03:45
5. Shadow Bleeds 04:17
6. Cry for Help 03:31
7. Hitman (I’m my own) 04:24
8. Tears 03:58
9. Monkeyshine 03:23
10. Fakin’ OK 03:33

Some old songs, some newer, some old f*cks playin’ ’em.

released August 18, 2017

Snarl: batterie.
Vlayman: d’autres choses.
Percussion recorded at Snarl’s in Portland WA, all else recorded and mixt and masturd at Feta Central DDL, outside Chi.
Fartwork by BeansOnToast.
No bonobos were impregnated in the making of this album.

bandcamp; vlayman;
THD; blog.
I mix with olive juice.

Vlay-Wullie: *Fake News*

Just a 3-song EP

1. Drink (Why I) 02:59
2. Fake News 03:19
3. JAMC (the song) 04:03

A collab atween a Scot and a Yank, yeah.

Oor Wullie played/recorded drums on all and add’l percussion on # 2 and #3 and keys on #3, from Glasow; Vlayman played all else from Chicago.
Fartwork by BeansOnToast
Mixt & Masturd by Jose Jones at Feta Central DDL

bandcamp; vlayman;
THD; blog.
I mix with olive juice.