Prairie Producers Collaborate in Creative Contest

When I did a callout on Twitter looking for any hypercubists who were musicians and interested in collaborating on doing a mix of one of their songs, Hearts and Clefs had also stepped up.

Hearts and Clefs is from Saskatchewan, and I'm from Alberta, so it was a grand ol' time for a couple of prairie guys to work on a collaboration like this.

When it came to choosing a song for the project, Hearts and Clefs gave me the opportunity to pick any song from his web sites. I selected Three Years... a nice little song that tugs at the heart-strings a bit with a nice guitar, some bass, a little sax, and some interesting vocals/lyrics... A nice little selection of source tracks to work with.

The original recordings, however, had some obtrusive pops throughout (possibly from a bad cable/jack during recording). But that didn't deter me! Using filters, EQ's, compression, etc., I was able to eliminate most of those pops. I couldn't remove some of them from the main vocals, so I added an effect to the vocals such that the dull pops sounded like they were part of the effect.

The additional mixing and mastering to the song really brought out some of the interesting parts of the song, and gave it a little more emotional tug. I hope you enjoy the new mix.

Visit my contest canvas to compare the original Three Years song (written and performed by Hearts and Clefs) with the new mix, Three Years (Qubic's Lonely Mix), produced by me, Qubic. And while you're there, please cast a vote for me.

Also visit Hearts and Clefs contest canvas to experience his creative work, and cast a vote for him, too, while you're there.

East Meets West for Creative Contest Collaboration

I did a callout on Twitter to all hypercubists looking for any musicians in the hypercube contest interested in collaborating on a remix of sorts of one of their songs. I figured this would be a great way for a couple of us to show our creative abilities and have some fun doing it.

Strych9 stepped up right away for this little creative challenge. Strych9 is from Montreal, and I'm from Calgary, so this was an opportunity to add a little cross-Canada creative to this cross-Canada contest.

The two of us immediately got to work on a new mix for his fabulous and fun rockabilly style cube song called 3 Dimensional Rock.

I asked Strych9 to produce some additional guitar segments and vocals for the new mix, and he quickly produced some very useful pieces for the mix. With additional feedback from Strych9 to guide me in keeping his original intent for the song, it was now up to me to rework the mix and apply additional mixing and mastering techniques to make his music shine.

When it comes to music production, there's a creative side and there's a technical side (I'm sure there's other sides, but just go with me on this one). My expertise lies more on the technical side and trying to bring the creative and technical together to produce the right results. My technical production work allows musicians to focus on the creative stuff, and leave the techy stuff to people like me.

Watch the 3 Dimensional Rock original music video by Strych9. And while you're there, please cast a vote in his direction.

Listen to 3 Dimensional Rock (Qubic Tesseract Mix), mixed and mastered by me (Qubic). And while you're there, please cast a vote in my direction.

I recommend that you first listen to the original version by Strych9, then listen to the mix I produced so you can hear how post-production mixing and mastering can enhance the musician's music and make it more enjoyable.

Digressionally Creative

The work office can sometimes be a source of creative inspiration outside your normal work tasks. Those inspirations can come from something that somebody said or did, or your work environment, or a combination thereof, and possibly others.

The team of six software developers that I work with are situated in an interesting cubicle area that has 2 entrance ways... well, actually... more like one main entrance way and a second narrow escape alley.

Our team has gained a bit of a reputation... I'm not going to explain what that is, but it's not entirely my fault. However, that narrow escape alley can come in handy sometimes.

The contriver of puns that I am, I couldn't just say this pun... I had to spice up the cubicle space with a couple of signs... For some people, it might be a warning.

Borrowing a little alley humour from Harry Potter, I appropriately named the narrow alley "Digression Alley". The sign is situated outside the cubicle area as a bit of a warning for all those who enter.

Of course, the sign situated inside the cubicle area, as you head out through the narrow alley, is appropriately labelled "Regression Alley".

Whatever magic is cast on you as you enter Digression Alley is respectfully removed as you leave through Regression Alley.

Did I mention that one particular task that software developers (or testers or the QA group) perform after programming changes have been completed for software is something called regression testing?

Poem: Imprisoned Fortitude

I live in this room
     no doors
     no windows

[so I can sit in the dark]

just six dank stone walls
     built
     by my own instinctual fears
     strengthened
     by each love lost

[so I can be stronger]

to keep me confined
     from love
     from loving
to keep the memories
     from entering
     from escaping
to keep
the pain

I should have said good-bye
when I had the chance

I should have at least cried
when they turned and left

I should have loved them less

I should have

I should have brought
a hammer and chisel in here
to keep me company

Poem: The Game of War

Fear in people's eyes,
terror in their minds.
And trying times
shed tears of pain
through anguished cries.

Bodies dropping to the dirt
while fallen souls are rising up
within the dust of dying men.
And soldiers' eyes
are pierced by death
while their enemy's beds
make their only rest.

Blood on their clothes,
empty are their souls.
And mortal men
embrace their fears
by killing their foes.

Endless killing for an end
while fighting souls are burdened by death
within their surly plays to live.
And leaders play
the game of chess
with men to expend
and lives to trade.

Poem: Foundations of a Life

The ceiling is so high
in the room in which I stand
that I can not see it.

All that I see
are the endless rows of columns
supporting it.

Gold (Ticket) Cube

Woohoo! I mean, Yeehaw!!! (I'm supposed to be a Calgarian)

I received an email today from The Hypercube with the fabulous news that I was selected as one of the 500 final hypercubists to audition for 1 of the 50 Nissan Cubes.

So in celebration, here's my precious Gold (Ticket) Cube...

Check back here in a few days... I'll have more information on how to vote for me, and how you can check out the creativity of the other 499 finalists.

Out of Character

Every Halloween, the company I'm employed at holds an afternoon Halloween event with fun activities where employees are asked to (optionally) where a costume.

For Halloween 2008, I originally planned to go as Balki Bartokomous from Perfect Strangers, but as Halloween approached (I procrastinated of course), I could not find a suitable vest that would help people make the connection.

So now it was the morning of Halloween and I still didn't have a costume. I stopped in at The Real Canadian Superstore, only to find that all Halloween costumes and accessories were ransacked. But I did manage to pick up a Heads Up Harry (life-size animated talking zombie figure) for half price... If I couldn't dress up, at least I could bring my buddy Harry, who was Halloween-ready.

Now it's lunch-time, and still no costume. I zipped out to the mall for lunch and hit Spencers Gifts. I was able to find a redneck baseball cap with long greasy curly locks attached (last one in the store), glass bottle glasses, and a set of hillbilly teeth. And luckily, I had a set of overalls from a cable company in the back of my car.

I was going to be some fictitious Billy "Cable Guy" Bob character, and no one in the office knew.

I secretly slipped into the costume. But at the same time, I slipped into the character behind the costume. I changed my stance, my walk, and my talk. Of course, the hillbilly teeth had a lot to do with the alteration of my speech, but my words were now from the mouth of Billy Bob.

Here's the before-and-after pics to show my usual office persona and my Halloween Billy Bob persona. Actually, the "before" pic was taken a couple of days ago, but I think you get the idea of the physical transformation. Uh, I'm the one on the left if you're wondering... and that's Heads Up Harry on the right (it looks like he's lost a bit of weight, and I've gained a bit).

(For larger view, click on above images)

A few people had a difficult time figuring out who I was (or even if I was supposed to be there), and I had a great time being someone else for the afternoon. I didn't let up... I stayed in character the entire event, until it was time to pull off the costume.

Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any video of my character from the event... that would have been ideal to show how I pulled it off.

So instead, I'm going to try and persuade my colleagues to leave comments about their point of view or experience. If you're curious, come back to this posting during this upcoming week to read the comments left by my colleagues.

Sweet Ride

I couldn't leave this series of X Cubes at only two. It needed at least 3 Cubes to keep this a well-balanced cubular theme.

This could be the sweetest ride this summer...

Got Cheese?

One of the other hypercubists, PhantomJoe, left a tweet for me on twitter, "cheesy but I love it!". I'm assuming he was referring to my Nissan Ice Cube image. Thanks for the, uh, compliment, Joe. :)

Well, the contriver of puns that I am, be it literal or visual, I could not resist the challenge. PhantomJoe, I give you the cheesiest cube of them all...

Note: No cheese was harmed in the making of this image.

Cool as an Ice Cube

I couldn't resist... the coolest car this summer would be a Nissan Ice Cube.

So here comes the puns...

You could really keep your cool in a hot situation with a cube like this.

Having a tough time meeting someone? This cube would be the ideal ice breaker.

If you've got other cool puns, one liners, or pick-up lines to go with this ice cube, leave it in a comment.

Poetic Interlude - Dusk

The hypercube posted a tweet on twitter this late evening asking us hypercubists to show some creative. I've been busy with other things tonight, and it's a little late, so I thought I'd pull out a poem I wrote some years ago and illustrate some of my creative diversity.

I appreciate any respectable comments (good, bad, or ugly), so don't be shy... let me know what you think, or give an analytical insight to your interpretation. I'm always interested to hear how my work is interpreted.

Dusk

Dusk's final glory,
Nature's conclusion
to a clear summer day,
captured

          without diffusion

within the surface
of a clear calm pond
where images pass
and colours bond

          like a photograph
          beneath polished glass

It's Nature's daily epitaph
written in shades of blue
and streaked with crimson and brass
that bleed

          where the horizon should impede

beside the silhouette
of tall straight grass
blackened
deep and dark:

A picture of heaven

          when I was only eleven

broken
by the shapeless form
of a deer
face down

          hidden from the rays of light

wallowing ever so slightly
at the edge of the pond
where the bulrush grow
and the colours bond.

Coincidences Speak Volumes

When I first received the notice from Nissan about the cube® contest, I couldn't help but notice some similarities between the hypercube branding and my own Qubic branding... cube-like name, cube-within-a-cube design, and even one of the colours (blue) is used in both designs.

Coincidence?! Perhaps more like a sign... a little carrot and a bit of a nudge to persuade me to enter this social contest.

I created the Qubic brand when I first started my hobby in music production back in Jan 2008. The word Qubic is a combination of a couple of words and concepts.

First, the word cubic means having the form of a cube but is also associated with cubic metre, which is a measure of volume (gas, liquids, solids). But another meaning of volume is a measure of loudness of sound.

Second, the word cue, which means a signal to begin an action, as in cue the music to start, or cue an actor to begin a scene.

Third, the word queue is associated with cue between some languages, and means to wait in line or line up single file. Although it has some association with music (create of set of songs which are played in sequence could be considered a queue of songs), it is more relevant to my career as a Software Developer, where data and data records are queued for processing. The music production work that I do is performed on digital files, so this had some relevance to me.

Thus... cubic + cue + queue = Qubic

For the logo design, I played on the cube idea from cubic. Playing with 3D cubes of different sizes and orientation produced a very interesting 3D optical illusion of cubes.

Is the center cube in or out? If you stare at it long enough, you'll drive yourself batty.