More Stuff

Good evening all

So, I moved last month. Sudden right? Well, it’s been something I’ve needed to do for a long time. I didn’t move far, just about 30 minutes away. Unfortunately, I’m in an apartment now so I couldn’t bring my drums with me. I’m considering getting a sweet electronic set, but I want to wait a bit to make sure it’s the right move. Also, I may have nabbed a small drummer gig with some peeps I know. We’ll see where this goes, as I’m transporting a chunk of my drum set to the practice/rehearsal space tomorrow.

In non-drumming news, I’m prepping some more poem postings. To be teenager-ly vague, I feel like I’m far enough away from the situation to start posting some more. They’ll get more personal, but they won’t fully reveal what happened. Nothing I have written gives the entire picture, just pieces here and there, considering it all spanned over several months. The next page should appear within the next few weeks, on the anniversary of when it all began. At least, that’s the plan :)

Some Stuff

So, I’ve had some personal stuff going on since the beginning of the year. It has been highly distracting and it’s something that I have caused. While I don’t see it as all my fault, I realize now that I wasn’t seeing the situation in the appropriate way, thus causing even more pain recently. That’s why there’s a “Writings” section now. Everything that shows up there was written post-event, so they all still mean something to me. There is still quite a lot that isn’t there, but may show up someday. I may also elaborate someday, but I’m still way too close to the situation for that to be plausible right now

In other news, I’m still practicing drumming, but due to said personal stuff have been putting it off. It also seems like WMG is cracking down on covers of their music, so that news makes me a liar. I will probably have to change up the list. Oh well

Final List One - Double Bass

So after sifting through the songs I chose, I noticed most songs we double bass heavy. My final decision was to base this list around that so every song has an element of double bass, mostly long stretches of it. It will be a stamina-heavy setlist, but I'm ready for that. Here it is, the final list:

Band - Album - Song

Bullet for My Valentine - Fever - Alone
Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists - Avarice
Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings - A Rite of Passage
Five Finger Death Punch - The Way of the Fist - The Bleeding
Jeff Williams - RWBY Volume 2 OST & Score - Time to Say Goodbye (featuring Casey Lee Williams)
Mötley Crüe - Carnival of Sins - Red Hot
Rammstein - Herzeleid - Der Meister
Rush - Vapor Trails - One Little Victory
Spheric Universe Experience - Anima - World of Madness
Stratovarius - Dreamspace - Chasing Shadows
Teramaze - Esoteric Symbolism - Line of Symmetry

Of course, they may not be released in this order since it is clearly in alphabetical by band name. I have started practicing them already since there are parts I don't quite get yet. These will be done soon, after Retail Shiz 2 if I decide to continue that project. This is gonna be fun

Last Change to List 1

So here I am, three and a half years after the first list was altered, and I'm ready to change it one last time. I currently have sixteen potential songs on the list and I want to cut it down to eight or ten songs. I will try and narrow it down today and post it when it's decided.

HINT: I feel it's a much heavier list than before. Previously, I created five lists for my interpretations (the original then changed mix, and four after that). I kinda stole from those lists and am combining some aspects of them to this one now. Needless to say, I'm gonna have to rework those as well. :)

Procrastination No More!

Quick Update:

I let procrastination get the better of me over the past couple months. The second session of recording did get corrupted and I let that get to me. I recently read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and that helped me put what I want to do in perspective. I'm done making excuses and the filming is done for the next four songs in my mini-series here. I purchased the 2018 version of my editing software (MAGIX Movie Edit Pro) so the processing power is finally lag-free. Editing is underway and I plan on releasing the videos over the next week or so. Here's to a productive 2018!

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It's Time to Get Serious

That's not a joke. I'm truly getting serious about posting more drum videos and my thoughts on music. About a year and a half ago I purchased a GoPro Hero 4 after my best friend Jason got me an earlier model (actually not sure what it is exactly). I released some WWE covers that Halloween but haven't done anything since. Recently I purchased two more Hero 4's and a couple mics (snare and overhead) to beef up my sound. I have let myself become too complacent and it's time to make and push out some content. I even recorded something earlier. Here's a preview:

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I have a little mini-series planned that is five songs long. I want to record them over the next couple days and start uploading within a week. Let's do this!

Strike

So, I recorded a cover of Lindemann's Praise Abort and uploaded it to the YouTubes. I got an immediate strike so I'm going to take it easy on the interpretations until the strike is resolved (by Timeout, since I cannot appeal it).

New List of Songs

They won't necessarily be released in this order but I figured this is a more well-rounded list compared to the original. I kept some songs from the original list to keep up the complexity factor.

A Little Change

So I decided to change the list of songs I'm gonna work on to reflect a less show-offy viewpoint and emphasize more groove and (hopefully) creativity. I have it mostly figured out and I'll post it when it's finalized.

Ten Songs to Learn

It's official; I'm out of my Pop music phase and back to normal. I'm now back to Progressive Metal, specifically Dream Theater and random bands from Bandcamp.

Also, at work, one of my new co-workers (who incidentally got hired on for the Cash Office) is a drummer. This got my brain working overtime and since I have the Only Child Syndrome, I can't help but see it as a competition (it doesn't help that he's five years younger). Instead of playing around to songs I feel like in the moment, I now have a list of ten songs that will learn to my highest current ability. Here they are (in no particular order):

Next Idea:

My next idea is to get a few more cameras to record my stuffs. I may try out some GoPros since I see them everywhere and the quality seems really good. My vacation starts next week and the Austin/RTX trip begins next Thursday so my funds are getting low. Still, that's my goal for the near future.

So

Well, recently I've decided that I want to try to get into the music field.  I don't know how I'm going to accomplish this but I'm going to try.

RTX 2013

Thursday morning, I'm leaving for Austin so I can attend Rooster Teeth Expo from July 5-7.  It's not a terribly long drive, only about three hours in good traffic.  I'll preregister when I get there then I'll have all day to mess around.

I attended last year's event and it was fantastic.  I'll be alone this year but it'll be a good time.  :)  I'm very nervous, but the excitement is just building.

I'm Back

I've been gone for a little while; we've had some health issues in the family. They're still going on now but I felt that I need to continue working on this website. I'll keep uploading content and organizing what I have currently. I'm also putting together a demo reel so I can have a clear piece to send to potential employers.

Boom

It's done, Demo Reel 2012 is complete.  It took three iterations with some constructive criticism from friends on the Facebooks but it's done.  I'm really proud of it and I hope you peeps enjoy watching said video.

It's time to start sending it out.  *crossing fingers*

Workin' Workin' Workin'

So, I'm working on my demo reel that's two years overdue.  Oh well, progress is progress I suppose.  So, uh, I have no idea how long to make this thing.  I'm currently at around five minutes ... is that too long?  Probably

Previously iPad Blog, Now Generic Blog

Well, I'm sitting here at my computer, mildly frustrated that my iPad isn't publishing my post that I'm about to type up here.  Oh well.  Anyway, I know the website is still under construction and currently password protected as of this post, but I want to get my thoughts out.

A lot of my school work that I have video of is up and man does it make me have nostalgic thoughts about my time at UTD.  I met a ton of really cool people there and I hope we keep in contact at least to a minimal degree.  As I was going though my old hard drive backup, I came across all my Digital Video Production projects that I thought were lost.  It made me happy seeing all this stuff but what really grabbed me was the last project I did with my friend Sarah.  She came us with this really cool Zombie thing and I think it came out well.  I got to shoot a lot of the footage and solely worked on the credits/blooper reel.  Well, watching the credits sequence made me want to see what she did for her Senior/Capstone project because I knew she was expanding on this idea.  So, I find her on Youtube (I thought I was subscribed to her because we worked on a project a couple years prior in our Cornerstone days, but apparently I wasn't) and watch her four-part mini series thing.  I have to say I really enjoyed it, more than our original project.  You can see her ideas be far more realized and come out more fully.

Check out her Youtube here and especially watch her Just A Little Apocalypse series.

That's it for now, I'll get back to you later.

Finally

Alrighty then, two years after I graduate the University of Texas at Dallas, I finally make a portfolio website.  Right now, all it contains is work from my time at UTD but I plan on adding a couple things I'm working on now.  Sadly, it seems I don't have everything that I did but I'll try to post all the stuff I have.  It's mostly pictures but I'll also upload the videos/playblasts that I saved.  For reference, I also have two YouTube accounts:
Durango188 - My professional channel, which includes my work
CypherRahl - My other channel, which includes games and other things

Anyways, welcome to my website and I hope you enjoy what I have here.

PS:  Thank you Rooster Teeth for being awesome and mentioning this website ... and giving me a 10% discount.  :)