#for the record *I* am pro-treehouse

[unmaskedagain]

Remember You Young

I answered this ask because I thought it was adorable. I loved the show they wanted me to do, and I want to see who could guess it before it became obvious. Its a one-shot . 

She was being followed. At first it had been daunting when she realized it, and Marinette had done everything she could to shake them off her trail. Then she realized she was being stalked by kids. Literally kids. None older than ten or eleven at best.

           They had been terrible at hiding, rarely ever whispered, argued constantly, had the most outrageous costumes but somehow managed to keep up with Marinette’s every move... most of the time. They ran around with toy guns and pretend walky talkies.

           It either said the best thing about the kids’ skills, or the worst thing about Marinette’s.

           There was a husky boy who ran around in a blue shirt and goggles. He never took off the old pilot’s hat he wore. He was also… always eating cheese. Or candy. He liked puns that caused his friends to groan constantly.

           There was an Asian little girl who wore an adorable green sweater that was too big for her and the arms of the sweater went well past her hands. She was girly and seemed to be the sweetest of the bunch. Honestly, she was the happiest girl Marinette had ever seen in her entire life. The only time the kid had gotten upset was when she had cried when couldn’t find the stuffed animal she wanted in any of the stores. Marinette had been heartbroken for her. The bluenette didn’t know what a ��Rainbow Monkey” was or why it had to be French but she was going to get it for the girl if it was the last thing she did it.

           A bald British boy seemed to be the leader as everyone took direction from him. Marinette had never seen his eyes due to the black glasses he wore. The kid seemed to believe himself to be some sort of superspy. He had a fierce take-charge attitude and barked orders like a pro and preferred to a treehouse their hung out at as headquarters. He didn’t smile often.

           A pretty black girl seemed to be the one with the most sense of the much, and the most style. She wore her hair in a long braid, a blue shirt-dress and an old red cap. The girl had a natural charisma and coolness to her that made Marinette feel awkward in comparison. She seemed to second-in-command .

           The smallest of the bunch was a blond boy with an unfortunate bowl cut and a bright orange hoody. He was loud, brash, and was the “tough guy” of the bunch. He picked a fight with nearly everyone. A fierce little guy that called Marinette a “Ruddy Teenager.”

           However all the kids seemed to dislike adults and teens to some degree. They cast suspicious glances at everyone thirteen and older no matter how nice they were. None of them ever called each other by their names, always opting to follow the rules of whatever game they were playing and called each other by numbers. And always mispronounced the word: number.

           Numbuh 1. Numbuh 2. Numbuh 3. Numbuh 4. Numbuh 5. Marinette hadn’t gotten close enough to figure out who was who but she did suspect the numbers were ranking order or anything. They were probably just random.

           After over two weeks of being stalked, Marinette still hadn’t been able to figure out what they wanted from her. Only that they didn’t know she was Ladybug. It was frustrating.

           She finally got answers one day while walking home from school when she got attacked by an evil cat lady who weaponized her pets, a deranged dentist who put braces on everyone, and a man dressed like toilet. They attempted to kidnap Marinette and raise all out heck on everyone around them. They weren’t Akumas. They were just crazy people.

           The kids fought them back. They saved the day. They saved Marinette. The villains ran with their tails between their legs.

           …Suddenly everything the kids had been doing didn’t seem like a game anymore.

           …Then the kids kidnapped Marinette. The kids jumped her, hogtied her, gagged her, and carried her back to their tree house… which Marinette now realized was way more advanced than any tree house should be. EVER.

           As soon as they got to there, and Marinette was uncharitably tossed on to the couch, the kids panicked.

“We shouldn’tve done this!” Goggles boy chimed. “We weren’t supposed to make contact. Moonbase will decommission us for sure.”

“And let the adults have her, Numbah 2,” The bald boy said. “I think not! We can never let the adults win. Its against everything the Kids Next Door stand for.”

The black girl nodded, “Numbah One’s right, we can’t let Father have what’s in her brain,” She said. “It could destroy the KND!”

“But that’s not possible, Numbah five, we all know that!” The girl in green said. “She got decommissioned. Her brain got all wishy-washy. Right, Numbah Four?”

           The blond boy huffed, “Yeah! Numbah Three’s got a point. And what’s so important about some ruddy teenager anyway? Tell you what! We should drop her artic ocean and never look back.”

           Numbah five groaned, “Are you stupid, boy? They sent Numbuh 274, I mean Chad, after her. And CREE! They wouldn’t have done that if she wasn’t important. The supreme leader wouldn’tve sent us to stop them from getting her! Ya moron.”

           Marinette frowned at that. Chad, the handsome foreign exchange student that came to Marinette’s class a few weeks ago. All the girls in school thought he was so dreamy. Even Marinette, even though she had been perplexed at the sad, almost wistful looks he would shoot her when he thought he wasn’t looking. And at the stories he told about his childhood, and woud look at Marinette like he was waiting for her to jump in and finish them. Almost like he knew her. Or expected her to suddenly remember him.

           The same with Cree, a foreign exchange student in a grade above Marinette’s, but to a lesser extent than Chad. The older girl liked to make sly remarks about what being a teen meant where she came from. She cracked what seemed to be inside jokes at Marinette and looked crestfallen when it was clear the bluenette didn’t understand what she meant. Then Cree would grumble about stupid kids ruining everything.

“But WHHHHYYY?” Numbah Four whined. “We got sent a like bajillion miles away to         a city where they force kids to eat bugs and smelly cheese all to protect a teenager. A TEENAGER! And they don’t even tell us why.”

           Numbah Two frowned, “It is kind of strange. I mean we hate teenagers! They’re the worse. Why save this one?” He looked at Marinette like she was specimen in a jar.

“Because team,” Numbah One announced loudly, pausing for, what Marinette knew was, dramatic effect.  “She is Numbah Seventy-Two.”

           Gasps rang through the room. The kids reared back as if struck. Their eyes went wide and they started at Marinette in awe.

“…Or at least she used to be,” Numbah One added.

“Woah,” Numbah Four said, looking at Marinette with newfound respect.

           Numbah Two sqeauled, “This is the best day ever. You have to sign my Yipper card.” He told Marinette. “It’s an ultra-rare collectable. Only three still exists. The rest were destroyed.”

“But, but, but how?” Numbah Five asked, removing her hat. “All records of Numbah Seventy-Two was struck from the history of the KND. Only the supreme leader and her team ever knew what happened to her.”

“They pinky-swore not to tell anyone what happened!” Numbah Three added. “No one would ever break a pinky promise.”

“That’s true,” Numbah five nodded. “No kid ever would. Expecially not her team. She saved us. She saved the KND. She saved the world and made it better for kids everywhere.”

           Numbah One nodded. “Exactly. No kid would ever break the solemn oath. But do you remember just who was one her team?”

           Looks of realization appeared on the kids’ faces, and then anger.

“Numbah Two Hundred and Seventy-Four,” Numbah Five said bitterly. “He was Number Seventy-Two’s second in command for years. And He betrayed her. Why am I not surprised?”

“But why?” Numbah Two asked. “I mean if she was still Numbah Seventy-Two I’d understand. She stopped Principle Boutface from ending summer vacation forever. She stopped Father from making Halloween adults only forever and ever. Name a bad guy, and I can guarantee she kicked their butts! And most importantly she even beat…” Numbah Two paused, clearly afraid. “well you know. She’s done loads of cool things. But She can’t remember anything. So why? Why come get her now?”

“She beat who?” Numbah Four asked. “I don’t know. Who’d she else did she beat? Why were they so important?”

           Numbah One and Five looked away. Both remembered but neither wanted to say anything.

“We were still just little babies when it happened,” Numbah Three answered seriously. “Still finishing training. We never really knew what was going on. Too little for anyone to tell us. We just knew it was bad. Kids were always scared, always hurting…”

“It was a dark time,” Numbah One agreed. “Before Father took over, there was another in charge of the evil adults in the world. But he worse than Father could’ve ever dreamed of being. Kids were scared to go to sleep. They were afraid of their closets and what was under their beds. OF every shadow. No kid would be caught out after dark. They were too scared. Nowhere was safe. No one was safe. Not from him. Not from…”

“The Boogieguy,” Numbah Five finished. “The most powerful leader the adults ever had. The strongest, most evil villain you can imagine. But Numbah Seventy-Two refused to back down. She was the only who could stand up to him. The only one to ever beat him.”

           Numbah Two nodded, “Legend says the Boogieguy had a nasty plan to open a portal to unleash meanest, nastiest monsters another world to get kids to behave better. But Numbah Seventy-Two heard and went to beat him once and for all. And she did too. She trapped him in his own trap. He’s been there ever since!”

Numbah Three added, “Numbah Seventy-Two finally defeated the Boogieguy, she locked him away in a place so scary, so terrifying not even the adults would be willing to go near it. Which it means it has to be really, really, REALLY, scary. Only she knew how to get him out. She used a super-secret password that only she knew. And then, and then she, she!” Numbah Three burst into tears.

Numbah One placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, “To stop the Boogieguy for good, and to make sure no kid ever had to suffer his wrath again, she decommissioned herself. She was only eleven.”

“It was a hard sacrifice, but one kids everywhere will never forget,” Numbah One vowed. “And the Global KND didn’t let it be in vain. We fought back harder than ever before. Her team-”

“But, but,” Numbah Four look around, “She wasn’t even a teenager, why’d she go and do a stupid thing like that for?”

“To save us,” Numbah Five answered, and put her hat back on. She looked at Marinette with hard eyes. “To save the KND, and protect kids everywhere. Because of her, the KND finally turned the tables on adults. We weren’t scared of the dark anymore.”

“Was never the same!” Numbah Five snapped at him. “None of them were ever the same after fighting Boogieguy, after what happened to Numbah Seventy-Two. They couldn’t handle being around each other anymore. They are transferred to different teams. Their entire sector was retired. Number Three Hundred and Sixty-Two. Numbuh Sixty. My sister- Cree! Numbah Two Hundred and Seventy-Four, UGH! Look what they became. Ya don’t need to be decommissioned to not recognize them anymore.”

           It went quiet. The kids not knowing what to say. Marinette had never been so confused in her life. Had she been some sort of Spy kid? Had her memories been erased? What was going on?

           And if everything, the kids were saying was real, and Marinette decided that it was, then she was a little peeved at Chad and Cree, her old teammates apparently, for going against everything this KND had accomplished… That Marinette had apparently sacrificed herself for. And what for? To side with some evil adults?

“…The KND have figured out a way to destroy Boogieguy forever,” Numbah one said. “Unfortunately the adults have also become aware of the Boogieguy’s location and want release him. In order for either side to succeed in their mission, we need Numbah Seventy-Two.”

           All eyes turned back to Marinette.

Numbah Five cast a sad look at Numbah Seventy-Two, Marinette, “Chad and Cree will come for her.” Of that Numbah five was certain. The lone picture of ABC that sat next to Cree’s bedside nightstand was proof enough of that. It was the only thing her big sister ever kept of her KND days, apart from her memories. The only “little kid” thing she didn’t scorn. “They won’t stop until they get her. I don’t think Cree or Chad ever forgave the KND agreeing that Numbah Seventy-Two should erase her memories.”

           They never forgave themselves for letting her, Abby didn’t add.

“She was decommissioned, hello!” Numbah Two reminded them. “She can’t remember anything.”

           Number One took off his glasses and looked at the teenager who, in another life, had been everything he ever dreamed of being in the KND. She was a legend. A hero. She had, once, been the best of them all. “She will.”

[agent-kentauris]

day 176

im going to be honest: ive done ZERO research as to whether any of these logs are ‘08 accurate (rome-accurate, for that matter). im suspecting no. but i dont have time to research ‘em right now, so, accept my ‘08-offending apologies for the moment, instead

Thursday

fuck this. fuck all of this. you know? she’s right. we should just call the cops

Um, of course I’m right, because that’s there job. And they can call in other people, right? Why not? Okay so if they can’t call the spies up then they should hire their own.

for the record i am officially against police spies just for the record

 Friday

Mmm…that was irresponsible. But what the hell. Happy two-week anniversary. We’ve got to get back to Rome before Rome falls apart without us. I think we’re, what? An hour away?

Okay, logs. Do them. My head is killing me.

I couldn’t take the city anymore, and surprise surprise, neither could Madison. So…we left. We meant to come back but damn did driving fast sure feel good. We’re in…Capua? Okay, we’re in Capua. Good to know. I…vaguely remember saything something about Shakespeare. Maybe that’s why. Had to get out of there. Had to get off the map. And it turns out they make really, really good wine here, too. I’m not entirely sure about that, actually. It might have been shit. My recall is limited. According to the logs from yesterday, there was some discussion about police spies? And Madison wrote in the logs. I remember we had a long discussion about treehouses. I think. Madison is anti-treehouse. I remember that distinctly.

How can someone be anti-treehouse? They’re amazing.

We gotta sit here until I’m sane enough to drive back. Madison’s gone out walking to get some coffee. Or cake. I honestly forget which one she said. Both are good. We’re gonna get looks from the people at the checkout desk. AAAAAAah my head hurts. Fuck everything.

 Saturday

Safehouse sweet safehouse. We took Marburg’s phone apart today. Took a while to figure out how to rip GPS data from it – took a long while before that to figure out if his phone would even have it. But it did. One small piece of luck. I taught Madison how to comb through it.  Here’s what we found – the man actually really does love gelato. So I was dead on about that. He also goes pretty frequently to a chain grocery store, and he has to pass a market to get there. Our dear poser elitist. He also goes to what Madison has informed me is a pretty upscale gay bar outside of Rome.

More relevant: right before he left for Genoa, he went to two very odd places.

One, a ruins outside of Carsulae – a ruin that is currently closed for renovations right now. Which, also according to Madison, is a thing that people do. Renovate ruins. Feels like something magical was lost from the universe.

Anyway, the second place is a warehouse in the Aprilla district, on the outskirts of Rome. That one’s odd because he had to go way out of his way to get there. I guess he could have been storing things that he wanted to bring with him, but I doubt it.

I’m gonna hit the warehouse before he comes back. He might be back already, but he might not be, so the sooner the better.

[jacksonhenry297]

The Top 5 Platforms For You to Learn Coding

In earlier times, learning computers and coding was for the geekiest of geeks. In those times, not many people opted for computer programming courses. But, that’s not the case in modern times. Now anyone can learn coding by sitting on the couch at their homes. Learning the basics is not enough in today’s life as we need to be extra productive. Learning how to code can change anyone’s life for good. In our technological world, it has become more important to learn computers at the highest level. Even schools are adding programming language into their syllabus. From this, we can estimate the importance of computer programming.

Do you want to learn a computer language? Can’t find the best source for learning how to program? If that’s the case, then we have a solution for you. No need to go on a hunt or search for an institution, because there are various websites through which you can learn coding at any time from anywhere. Do you want to know about these websites? If yes, then go through the full article to know the best sites on which you can learn coding.

The Best 5 Websites for Learning to Code Online

There are various options available on the internet that you can use to learn to code. Many people search for the best institutions to learn how to write a piece of code. But that option is time-bounded as every institution or college has a time limit up to which you are bound to pursue a course. But, that is not the case in online learning. So, it is always a better choice to learn anything through online sources. With a lot of available options, sometimes it becomes a bit difficult to decide what suits us, or which website offers more productive learning. And for that purpose, we have lined up the best five websites on which anyone can learn to code. Some of these websites are paid while others are completely free. A major benefit of learning to code on these websites is saving time, as it is an accessible option. These websites not only make you an expert in coding but also issue a certificate to you. These are some of the best sources of learning that anyone can choose. Let’s head to the list of the five websites that you can access for learning how to code.

The Codecademy

Codecademy is one of the most popular websites that is accessed by millions of people to learn to code. As per their estimation, it is recorded that around 25 million learners use this website. Codecademy offers several computer programming courses that include HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL, Python, C, C++, and many more. If you are a true computer enthusiast, then this website will be the best option that you can choose. This programming website is partially free for users. To avail extra benefits from this website like personal learning plans, and quizzes, learners need to consider its pro version. To access this site, users need to create an account to have access to all the courses.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is another popular website that you can access to pursue any course. Being a non-profit organization, this website aims to provide free education to learners worldwide. The website not only allows you to learn programming languages, but it offers a variety of other courses as well. You can learn mathematics, physics, or any subject or language that you want. On this website, you can connect with around 40 million learners and discuss various topics related to your subject. This platform is supported by several big companies, namely Google, Oracle, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Walt Disney Company, and many more. And the best part is this amazing site is entirely free to access for all the learners.

Team Treehouse

This is an online programming service that enables its users to pursue several numbers of programming courses. Team Treehouse is a learning site that is worth being on the top in the list with the amazing offers that it provides to the learners. The courses that are offered by this website are more project-oriented rather than language-oriented. It is a must-visit site for learners who are passionate about building their career in programming. There are a plethora of courses with videos and quizzes that make it easier for learners to understand concepts related to their course content. The computer languages that it offers to its users are HTML, CSS, CSS3, Javascript, jQuery, and many more.

Udacity

Udacity is another free/paid language learning website that offers many courses to learn. It is a website that is highly recommended by many big platforms. The main aim of this website is to make education more accessible to all people free of cost. However, to have extra benefits, you can avail of its pro plan that is available at an affordable price. Learning can’t be easier with the help of this platform. This is a must-visit website for all the learners if they truly want to learn computer languages. The website provides video tutorials with quizzes at each interval. Like the above-mentioned sites, the languages that Udacity offers to learn for its users include Java, HTML,5, Python, Algorithm, and many more. 

Udemy

Udemy is also a leading online education platform that offers various courses to pursue by the learners. Along with the language courses, it has a host of other courses to offer as well. With millions of users, Udemy has become the best seller on a worldwide platform. The language courses that it offers include Python, Javascript, HTML, and many more. Learners can access any of the learning material at their own pace. It is a free language learning application that can be accessed on all platforms, including Android, and iOS. You can access this site without any charges.

 Jackson Henry. I’m a writer living in USA. I am a fan of technology, arts, and reading. I’m also interested in writing and education. You can read my blog with a click on the button above.

Source-  Learn Coding

[hinumelawsonn]

Our Top 5 Blog Posts of 2017!

We reviewed our top blog posts of 2017 and here are the top stories!

Natural Gas vs. Propane vs Electric: Which One Heats More Efficiently? 

All types of heating have their pros and cons, below are comparisons of Natural Gas, Propane, and Electric heat sources.

Natural Gas vs. Propane: 

Both are fossil fuels and are largely produced domestically in the United States.

Propane is compressed into a liquid form and either sold in portable canisters or delivered via truck to a permanent storage tank on their property.

Natural gas remains in its gaseous state and is delivered to the home via a pipeline.

Natural gas rates are measured in price per cubic foot, propane is measured in price per gallon. The cost of both are prone to fluctuation over time.

Natural gas, when discharged into the environment is a greenhouse gas whereas propane is not classified as such. Propane is a green fuel before combustion and remains environmentally friendly even after it is used. Both are environmentally safe.

Propane can be used for a variety of different home appliances, from stoves to clothes dryers, giving you off-grid independence if other utilities fail… Read more

2.  5 Benefits of Target Marketing

Marketing veterans know that a shotgun approach to advertising is inefficient and ineffective.  Building a targeted marketing strategy puts company on a better path and trajectory. Target marketing helps you be in-front of the appropriate perspective customers more efficiently than any other marketing strategy.

Let’s dig into the benefits:

Allows You to Focus on & Prioritize Customers – Break your overall target market, existing customers, or prospective customer base into manageable segments such as: geography, product type, demographic, etc. that you can direct specific marketing messages to. Those messages could be things like:

a.  As an automatic fuel customer with XYZ Oil company, we want to provide you this exclusive offer to join our Budget Program

b.  As a service plan customer with XYZ Oil company, we want to offer you this limited time Cap Program Offer

c.  As a new customer, XYX Oil company would like to offer you a buy one get one free service plan as a new automatic fuel customer

By evaluating your segments, you can prioritize which customer targets will be most valuable – whether that is moving existing customers up the loyalty scale to utilize more of your products and services, or signing up a new customer with both fuel and service, you can determine the most profitable opportunities to go after with your outreach… Read More

3. What is The Difference Between Renewable Diesel, Biodiesel and Clean Diesel?

These fuels and technologies may sound very similar, but they are quite different in how they are created, produced, perform, and are used in application. Learn about the similarities and differences between these three diesel fuel alternatives.

Renewable Diesel Renewable Diesel is also known as Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) or second-generation biofuel. It is made primarily from biomass waste and residues, often the same feedstocks as biodiesel. It is created by one of three primary methods: hydrotreating, thermal conversion or biomass-to-liquid. During the production process the impurities are removed from the raw materials and hydrotreated at a high temperature. The final product has an identical chemical composition with fossil diesel fuel.

It can be used in high concentrations and as a standalone product in all diesel engines. No modifications are required to use renewable diesel and it can be used right away.

This fuel is made for cold conditions, and since its properties are identical to high-quality fossil diesel fuel, vehicles are safe using this fuel even at winter’s coldest temperatures. Users may need to treat the fuel with an additive to address lubricity issues associated with no oxygen in the fuel, much like petrodiesel… Read More

4. What is Renewable Natural Gas? (RNG)

Renewable natural gas (RNG), or biomethane, is a pipeline-quality gas that is fully interchangeable with conventional natural gas and thus can be used in natural gas vehicles. RNG is essentially biogas (the gaseous product of the decomposition of organic matter) that has been processed to purity standards. Like conventional natural gas, RNG can be used as a transportation fuel in the form of compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG). RNG qualifies as an advanced biofuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Biogas is produced from various biomass sources through a biochemical process, such as anaerobic digestion, or through thermochemical means, such as gasification. With minor cleanup, biogas can be used to generate electricity and heat. To fuel vehicles, biogas must be processed to a higher purity standard. This process is called conditioning or upgrading, and involves the removal of water, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and other trace elements. The resulting RNG, or biomethane, has a higher content of methane than raw biogas, which makes it comparable to conventional natural gas and thus a suitable energy source in applications that require pipeline-quality gas… Read More

5. Tiny House and Big Ideas 

In January, I started some new things to kick off the new year — a new job with AMERIgreen Energy, a new year’s resolution to commit more time to cycling and a plan to do some tiny house living!

Tiny house living?  How is that possible you might ask…

For the record, I am a big fan of the tiny house movement, and so is my family.  More often than not, the TV at my house is playing Tiny House Nation or Treehouse Masters , the tiny house kindred program.  As a family, we’ve talked a lot about tiny house living, and have even considered it.

While I don’t think I would ever pick up my family of 4 and move from a 2000+ square foot house to something less than 400 square feet, the idea of simplifying your life by lessening possessions has some real appeal.  My family and I relish in the thoughts of what’s shown on those television programs.  We try to imagine what it would be like to live in a tiny house, what important possessions we would decide to keep and most importantly, how the four of us would survive living on top of one another.  It’s fun to imagine what it would be like, but almost dreadful to think about really doing it… Read More 

  [Read More ...]

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Our Top 5 Blog Posts of 2017! was originally posted by Energy News That Matters

[itsyaboybigc-blog]

Post Mortem

Introduction

After about 9 weeks of recording and mixing, all I can say is, never again. I swore in my post mortem I’d never spend as much time in lab 2 again, but I think I doubled it this trimester. That being said, I think creatively I really achieved what I was hoping to, whether or not I achieved what I wanted in terms of my mixing remains to be seen. As usual, I will reflect on each song individually and compare to what I believe is a similar work, so here’s my reflection on “Warp”.

Prelude

It’s worth noting that due to me swamping between DAW’s that have different fade functions, I messed up the fades on Pro-tools doing my final batch fades and parts that are meant to be faded out are now audible and very obvious, including a guitar jack getting pulled out, so thank you Pro-tools for that.

Darkest Carnival

Certainly the heaviest and most “traditional” song on the EP. It begun with the intro guitar riffs which i thought had quite a sinister undertone to it and I thought it would be a good song to start the album off with and  build it up. I’m quite happy with the clean guitar tones I recorded for this track and the helix FX I used I think sound really nice, my only change to them is I’d like to maybe make the tone a bit warmer from the amp instead of having to EQ it in. Then the heavy guitars came in and my problems started. The initial tones I captured from the amp were okay but definitely had to much highs and I found the sounds too piercing, the only way I was able to salvage them was to record anther take using the Helix amps sims so I’d have complete control over the tone I was capturing, however I’m still not to thrilled with how it sounds and will likely re do it at a later date. I initially had a synth solo that would kind of transition the song into the more electronic direction the EP was heading but it honestly sounded terrible and I decided the best option was to do a super 80s heavy metal guitar solo, I regret not using a wah-pedal on it and going full Kirk Hammett but I quite like the tone I used. I used electronic drums for the intro and Battery sampled drums for the heavier parts, both were fairly easy to mix but getting Battery to sound like a real drum kit was a bit of a challenge. My Idea for this songs vocals comes from Katatonia’s song “Inside the City of Glass” where it has no singing but whispers that eeire play out in the quieter parts of the song. As I wanted to keep all the vocals for this song kind of different to the usual I had a whisper track run through a delay, two reverse delays delaying at different rates, a reverse reverb and a regular reverb. I think the result of this made a vocal track that really fit the sinister vibe of the song as few words are distinguishable but it’s still obviously someones voice which i really like. If I was to compare this to an existing track I’d compare it to “The Darkness Within” by Machinehead, the tones are crushing and defined yet not to piercing with the higher frequencies which I was really trying to do, but certainly did not achieve. I think the distorted guitar tones used in this track is what I was going for Over all I find this song to be the most lacklustre but I am quite happy with the cleans and the vocal parts.

The Forlorn

This song is where the album takes more of a turn towards the more obscure electronic/metal fusion. It starts out with a droney synth, electronic drums and lo-fi vocals and I’m really happy with how this turned out, except for the vocals which are most likely place holders for now. I was going for a sound similar to Nine Inch Nails’ new EP “Add Violence” and I think i got that vibe with out it being a ripoff. The song Then suddenly takes of into a heavy saw/square wave synth that I wanted to sound like the synth equivalent of a distorted guitar, form there guitars and lead synths are added to create a sort of build up. I was hoping to replace a vocal part with a lead synth that would kind of solo through out the whole song and I quite like how it sounded when it all came together. The guitars for this track took a bit of time and a second recording session but I think i managed to achieve my goal of having a heavy but dull sounding tone the chugs along in the background, but I’m not 100% happy with the lead tone and I’m not sure what I don’t like about it. Out of all four songs I think this one was the easiest to mix and I’m fairly happy with how it turned out.

Agony

This song was the first one I wrote earlier this year and kind of what started the idea for this project. the whole song was based around the two music box riffs and the creepy lead synth I think sound sort of like a human voice doing some sort of wailing. The crunching tone that plays through out most the song is actually a bass hitting power chords because I wanted to experiment with a bass taking more of a guitar roll and I think i’ll do it more often in metal as bass power chords sound very brutal. This is kind of similar to the previous song in the sense that it slowly builds up focusing around a lead vocal replacing synth, but was much harder to mix as I found it hard making a place for everything to be heard. As per what seemes to be the theme for this EP, the guitars caused me issues and were re-recorded. I wanted them to sit in the background and not stick out to much but finding the middle ground between typical guitar levels and not being heard at all took almost all the time I spent mixing this track. The drums were a simple 4 piece electronic kit and I’m really happy with how they sound, especially the crash which sounds like someone dropping a metal sheet in a massive cave or something. I wanted the vocals for this song to be as if its another instrument instead of the usual use of vocals being the focal point for the song, so I recorded some low pitched growling vocals with heavy reverb to sort of echo out in the middle of the mix just to really create the climax of the build up. I tried thinking of a song to compare this to but it’s probably the weirdest song I’ve every written and I’m not actually sure what it sounds like, probably more comparable to came sounds tracks where its just repetition with things being added and taken away to create and evolving song. 

Malevolencia

The final song and probably the song I spent the most time on. I wanted to finish the EP on a more mellow note as most metal albums have one song that’s more calm or acoustic than the rest. I was lucky enough to be able to work with my friend Tim Mead from Treehouses on this track and I am very happy with his spoken word parts. We got it all done in about an hour and he had so much lyrical content prepared I was able to pick and chose which lines I wanted. Tim is really professional in is approach to music and recording and  really puts a lot of emotion into his writing, I hope to work with him again soon in some other musical project. This First section of this song was really enjoyable to mix, the clean guitars came through really nice and worked well with the organs, it’s my first time working with an organ I think they sound great. The EQ sweep into the 8 strings it probably my favourite parts as it bring a rather mellow song into a heavier, dronier song. Also my first time working with an 8 string guitar and I look forward to working with them more as I found it really easy to mix them to sound heavy without actually needing to gain the amp that much, which removes all the high-end that gives me headaches. The second half of this song however was a right pain in the ass and as expected, was re-recorded. All the tones had so much high-end and it was painful to listen to, only on the last day did i realise I couldn’t actually hear the organs and brought all the guitars down to make the organs audible, this really saved the song for me as I was close to scrapping the whole end as it sounded awful.

Concluding Statement

I think this semester has been the most full on in terms of skills I’ve had to learn. recording and mixing guitars is certainly no walk in the park and I’m going to have to do a lot of research over the break before undertaking my final major project of a heavy metal album mixed in surround sound with lots of synths and string sections, I believe this semester’s project has prepared me well for this. I realise that this EP doesn’t really fit in anywhere and the songs are all quite different, but I’m happy with how it turned out and I like to think they all feel linked somehow in terms of the dark feel to the whole EP. I look forward to releasing Warp along with Eco on Bandcamp, however for now they will remain on soundcloud as the graphic artist has not yet finished the album artwork and I want to do more one more final mix on each track.