Summer, Wellington, 2009

Made this little video as a Holiday Hello! for my friends abroad. It shows some impressions of the summer that has finally begun here in New Zealand.

"Wellintgon,Summer, December 2009"

Jupiter and the Other Side of the Bay

Shot through my telescope. I made my own adapter for my Canon SLR - took like 10 minutes and off I went - first about 5km distance across Wellington Bay. And here's Jupiter and a couple of it's moons - not very exciting, but, well, a bit.

For a Gray Monday

For a gray Monday. Made today - finally a song without a beat. Mostly my old analogue stuff. Just had fun - a relaxing piece - inspired by the gray skies and relentless drizzle and rain on this monday in Wellington.
Leave me a comment if you hate it or like it. See you soon!

One Last Look ...

Quick painting inspired by a project I worked on recently. Made from a render in Vue and a few photos. Rough around the edges but hey ...

One Song and Four Photos

Say Hello - a little music sketch I did over the last two days. Uses all old analogue synths of course. Lead voice in the second part is done by a Roland SH-2000 - a synth from 1973. Very nice little critter.

Here are three photos from when Glenda and I went to the Cook Islands recently. L0ve the sunsets!

Otherwise - work's still going strong but the show is in it's last throes. Hopefully things will tone down a bit soon, so I can make more music and even ... paint!!! ;)

Until then!

Candy Skies

Hi! Still stuck in the vortex of vfx production. Not much time for creative endeavors - started a few songs, none of them finished - but that's pretty much it. But here - a little colorful New Zealand sky for you!

And Still Going ...

Hi everyone! Or whoever is still checking this blog after such a long time of radio silence. Now we're really into full steam ahead with the work on James Cameron's "Avatar". He actually came to visit us artists last friday. It was really cool. He had some very kind words about our work and one could actually feel the moral-meter raise considerably (not that moral's low).

He shook my hand after I told him I worked on two of his earlier projects (Terminator 2/3D and Titanic) and said "So you're back for more!".

He also talked about the matte paintings for Avatar for about five minutes which was a real boost for my colleagues and me. JC proceeded to tell us how people reacted to seeing 25 minutes of the movie in Amsterdam.

Their impression must have been similar than mine - we also had a screening that day: Even though I've been working on this for a long time it was breathtaking to see everything in context. I can't really say anything but that it blew me away.

See you on the other side!!!

Kneedeep ...

... in work! We're going full bor eon that James Cameron movie, so that doesn't leave a lot of time for creative endeavors. Well; I've still been taking photos, making a tiny bit of music here and there but it's mostly the crumbs of creativity. Work's taking the most of it.

On the other hand, work is quite exciting these days since I'm finally learning lots of new things and am being challenged to the fullest again. It's a steep hill to climb, but I love it.

Winter is continually creeping into Wellington, until it will be here in full effect in about a month or so. Summer was sweet but short. As always - but I don't mind. I find winter in New Zealand much more stimulating than summer in Los Angeles.

So, bear with me - I'm sure I'll post something of substance soon. Until then it's patience for you and overtime for me ;)

Halfway There ...

So, during my vacation I spent a lot of time fixing up a 1973 Yamaha XS650. I bought it already chopped into a frisco style bobber, but the finish was pretty hasty in the details and the candy color scheme was not really my taste.

I repainted the tank and fenders into WWI olive drab. I repainted the risers, the chainguard and some other smaller parts black. I installed a Ford Model A brake light. I removed the old, beat up pipes and installed 29" fishtail exhausts. I installed a new mirror and handlebars, a speedometer and added new grips.

I did some refurbishing of the carburetors, installed a new fuel hose and an inline fuel filter.

There are still quite a few things to do - mostly the alternator, which is too old to charge the battery. I'll probably have to get it rewound and install new brushes. Lastly, the fishtail pipes will need some baffles, because, oh boy, are they loud!

before:


after:

I Call It ...

... the cockpit! So I finally got my Korg Mono/Poly back from service. Tim Prebble here in Wellington did a quick and excellent job! He's looking at my Roland System 100 right now, which is the only analogue synth missing from this picture.
I had forgotten what a crazy machine the Mono/Poly is since I hadn't been playing it for a couple of years now.
Please look at the B/W photo for a description of the different machines in the photo.

I Love My Bicycle Helmet ...

... because yesterday it saved my life. Pretty much 24 hours ago I was laying on the side of a road here in Miramar, bleeding, moaning and yelling for help.

Here's what happened:

After work, I decided to go for a bicycle ride up on a hill that I'd never been on. Going up wasa nice steady climb - I love going uphill. Finally on top, where one can find a now defunct jail, I turned around to go downhill.

It was a wonderful summer evening and I was starting down the hill, faster and faster - the road had wide turns so that I ended up with a speed of about 50 kph (30 mph). Coming around a turn I noticed a speed bump a few meters away from me - and I'm headed straight for it - it was poorly marked, so I didn't notice it sooner.

I panic-braked and unfortunately locked my front brakes. The bike went up over it's front wheel and flung me down the road - while still doing between 40 and 50 kph. Wheeee!

I saw stars when I hit the road. Next thing I remember is me laying in the middle of the road, bike a few meters down. I rolled myself off the road and just laid there, whimpering.

My iPod waas still playing, but I really didn't feel like music anymore, so I pulled the headphones out of my ear. It took me a while to find the shuffle and turn it off.

So, there I was on the side of the road. Unable to move. No cars coming by - but finally, after abot 10 minutes of calling out for help, a bus arrived. He called an ambulance and took my bike off the road.

Today I'm really hurting and am sporting some massive bruises on my bum. My back is scratched and I think I was using my right calf to brake - a lot of skin is gone. It'll take a while to heal.

But if I wouldn't have worn a good bicycle helmet, I'd be dead now.

Wear your protective gear people! Seatbelts, motorcycle helmets, gloves, leather, etc. - because you never know when you need it.

I'll be posting photos as soon as I feel a bit better ...

Three Fotos, Four Songs

First some photos I took recently. I really like the one with the moon because it counterplays the street lights below.

Been pretty busy in the studio recently. I got myself a new synth - a Midi Moog - which in a Mini Moog rack-mounted and midified. Following are four new songs I made over the last few months. The UFO one I posted already, but this time it's a high quality mp3.

Robots - this one I made fairly quickly, but had a lot of fun doing so and it came out pretty well for my standards ;) It sounds very Kraftwerky - well - it's got synths and is about robots. It features a Roland SH-09, Roland RS-09 and a Korg MS-10.

Secret Nazi Rug - someone who I was friends with for years suddenly went crazy and really hurt me for no good reason. I made this song to get over it and hey - it worked. Please understand that I was really mad when I made this - that will explain the chorus.
Features the most extensive vocal work I've ever done ( that's not saying much) and the usual gaggle of synths - including the Midimoog on bass and accompanying keyboard. Some people don't like the Autotune effect but I had to give it a try - especially since my singing was so off.

Traktrak - this one I made fairly quickly. Most interesting thing might be me playing two synths (RS-09 & RH-09) at once in the first melody part. My favourite part is the crazy synth solo in the second part. I kept switching the octaves up and down while paying and gives it a bit of an over-the-top feeling.

UFO - my first try at vocals after a long time. Lil' fun song

Please enjoy. I make those purely for the joy of creating them. I don't claim that they're professional or anything, but they might be entertaining - please give them a try! :)

Still here ...

Hey. Long time no see. I've been laying low recently. Work was bearing very hard on me and sucked out all the little creative juice I had left in me. I am now recuperating. Taking time off. Relaxing. Thinking. Switching off. We'll see what comes of it. I'll let you know.