mjolnir
Staff
Your observations of my nonsense fail to excuse your bad sense
Posts: 319
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The Pub
Feb 20, 2021 10:37:06 GMT -5
Post by mjolnir on Feb 20, 2021 10:37:06 GMT -5
For the dirty Americans in the server, how'd that winter blast impact you, if at all? I've been stuck at home for the past 5 days due to it and am only stupid enough to risk driving to work today!
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metalmike
Staff
We need it as a liquid in our veins instead of blood
Posts: 298
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The Pub
Feb 20, 2021 15:23:07 GMT -5
Post by metalmike on Feb 20, 2021 15:23:07 GMT -5
For the dirty Americans in the server, how'd that winter blast impact you, if at all? I've been stuck at home for the past 5 days due to it and am only stupid enough to risk driving to work today! More of an annoyance here in New England. 4-5 inches of light, fluffy stuff. Not the wet, heavy crap that can freeze into an impenetrable speedbump at the end of my driveway or ice that can take down power lines.
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The Pub
Feb 21, 2021 10:03:01 GMT -5
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Post by reigninbloodygore on Feb 21, 2021 10:03:01 GMT -5
Yeah, that winter weather stuff is nuts. I’m originally from Arkansas, so if I was still there I’d know the feeling. Fortunately according to my family there, it’s not as bad as the situation for some in Texas with regards to power outages and outrageous bills being faced. Before I moved to Shanghai, I lived around the Phoenix area though, and they look pretty comfortable over there. Hardly ever rains there anyway, so I’m not surprised they’re not included in the blizzard madness. Drive safely, you guys.
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mjolnir
Staff
Your observations of my nonsense fail to excuse your bad sense
Posts: 319
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The Pub
Feb 25, 2021 17:55:28 GMT -5
Post by mjolnir on Feb 25, 2021 17:55:28 GMT -5
Technically starts tomorrow, but I'm sharing it now
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The Pub
Feb 25, 2021 23:54:31 GMT -5
Post by doomyguy on Feb 25, 2021 23:54:31 GMT -5
Technically starts tomorrow, but I'm sharing it now Hey, thanks for sharing, will have a look.
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Post by reigninbloodygore on Mar 7, 2021 0:59:18 GMT -5
So while I am a performing violinist, I'm also teaching music at an international school in China (keeps the Visa alive lol). This year I finally convinced the school to let me teach orchestra class, as opposed to open-ended and more childish general music stuff like I had been doing in previous years there. The biggest downside to starting orchestra in a school that isn't more than 500 students is that the school doesn't feel much need to provide me with much resources and stuff. So it requires me to write music because the school doesn't like to spend money on sheet music that's already written. They don't realize what kind of pain in the ass that is for a teacher, but thankfully for them, I really know how to write music. I just don't like making time for it.
But so be it. I have 8 orchestra class groups I see every week from 6th grade up to 10th grade, all beginning orchestra groups because they didn't have this opportunity in the past. Every few weeks I need to compose a new larger scale piece of music for each group to learn to help advance them and give them a goal for performance, etc. Having just binged that Battleroar album, To Death and Beyond, I can't think of anything else in my head for inspiration. Musically, the big finishing track on that album is quite simple. A repeating E minor chord progression with a monstrous melodic line over everything. Well, I couldn't help but decide to feel inspired by that when considering that my 10th grade class group is very bottom-end heavy, with 8 cellos and 4 violins (odd combination, truly, but it's what those students ended up with in their instrument selection for the year lol), so I am here writing in a coffee shop in Shanghai drinking an amazing pour over brew from Guatemala, writing out something that sounds as if it belonged on that album. It's not very original, but those Chinese kids mostly have never tasted anything like this kind of music before. This will either go well in the sense that they'll see how badass it is, or they'll think it's cheesy. Hope it's the first of the two. hahaha!
But really, doing this really brings me back to my original idea, which led to me buying an interface and a quality ribbon mic. I had goals of writing and recording a metal inspired album, played only on my violin. I had way too many conflicting ideas surrounding the idea as I couldn't decide what to do about percussion needs. Not really fond of using programmed drums or anything like that. But I don't really want to go learn how to play drums and buy a set either. Ugh. Also, I need to finish my project of covering Traveler's song, "Mindless Maze." The guitarist Matt Ries liked the bit I did cover and sent him, and he said their vocalist wanted me to finish it and he'd sing over it. But I got so busy and then later lazy... and well, you all might know how that goes. Oh well.
Back to writing this epic metal inspired string orchestra piece.
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Post by doomyguy on Mar 7, 2021 4:51:49 GMT -5
That is awesome - respect! Who knows, perhaps you will be the spark of a symphonic epic metal movement in china
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metalmike
Staff
We need it as a liquid in our veins instead of blood
Posts: 298
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Post by metalmike on Mar 7, 2021 5:37:44 GMT -5
I would love to hear the kids playing the piece as well as your Traveler cover \m/ \m/
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The Pub
Mar 7, 2021 5:51:00 GMT -5
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Post by reigninbloodygore on Mar 7, 2021 5:51:00 GMT -5
I would love to hear the kids playing the piece as well as your Traveler cover \m/ \m/ If I still have the original on my iPad GarageBand app and can figure out how to upload it on here, I’ll do that. After I sent that to Matt Ries, I finally had the spark to get serious with it. I bought Reaper DAW and all the needed equipment. Then life got so busy in a sudden and everything just stopped. And then the worst part is when your home space is noisy, it makes recording a no-deal. I was lucky being the only person living on the 7th floor in my workplace apartment. Now there is another family on the 7th floor, as well as the apartment unit next to mine being designed inside now, so it’s noisy all the time. No place to record. :/
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The Pub
Mar 7, 2021 6:08:14 GMT -5
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Post by reigninbloodygore on Mar 7, 2021 6:08:14 GMT -5
That is awesome - respect! Who knows, perhaps you will be the spark of a symphonic epic metal movement in china Thanks man~ Hmm, sparking a metal movement here? I always think it would be fun to expose these students to metal, but man, metal has a strange existence in China, making it a tricky topic here. On one hand, it is so absent in the culture that it isn’t very well known, so when people do hear it, their reaction is usually nothing more than a giggle and a “I don’t understand this music.” But on the other hand, there is this Chinese tendency for silent judgment which could potentially hold you back, depending on which people have strong reactions. Then again, the majority of people here don’t show any harsh criticism towards it. They think it’s interesting when they learn someone likes it. And while I say that it’s mostly an unknown music style, there is evidence that some people here are deep fans, which would explain why Chinese streaming apps like the Xiami app I had which was closed in February have a very impressive collection of metal bands/albums which can be listened to for free. I went through all of Immortal’s discography on Xiami right before it got shut down, in fact. The biggest shocker for me, is that coming to Shanghai I have yet to find more than one Chinese citizen who likes metal. Keep in mind that Shanghai, last time I looked, is a population of more than 28 million people, and it is truly believed to be well over 32 million in actuality. And the only metal fan I found was in my work city in Kunshan, near Shanghai. We rode the elevator up in my apartment complex by chance at the same time. He had a Cannibal Corpse shirt on, and I asked if he liked the band or if he just found this random shirt, and he told me he’s a metal fan. That was one of the happiest days of my life in China. The other happiest was when I was driving on the highway in Shanghai and got passed by a Jeep with an Arkansas license plate displayed in the back window. Me being from Arkansas originally couldn’t help but get excited. Haha
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The Pub
Mar 7, 2021 16:32:22 GMT -5
Post by metalcrypt on Mar 7, 2021 16:32:22 GMT -5
Fuck. Canada, second largest country in the world by land mass (after Russia) has about 38 million people. Imagine 28-32 in a single city.
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The Pub
Mar 8, 2021 14:58:06 GMT -5
Post by doomyguy on Mar 8, 2021 14:58:06 GMT -5
That is awesome - respect! Who knows, perhaps you will be the spark of a symphonic epic metal movement in china Thanks man~ I have yet to find more than one Chinese citizen who likes metal. Keep in mind that Shanghai, last time I looked, is a population of more than 28 million people, and it is truly believed to be well over 32 million in actuality. And the only metal fan I found was in my work city in Kunshan, near Shanghai. We rode the elevator up in my apartment complex by chance at the same time. He had a Cannibal Corpse shirt on, and I asked if he liked the band or if he just found this random shirt, and he told me he’s a metal fan. That was one of the happiest days of my life in China. That is crazy indeed. That is more people than any number of European countries put together - and no metal scene. Different part of the world for sure.
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The Pub
Mar 8, 2021 19:07:02 GMT -5
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Post by reigninbloodygore on Mar 8, 2021 19:07:02 GMT -5
Fuck. Canada, second largest country in the world by land mass (after Russia) has about 38 million people. Imagine 28-32 in a single city. In some way, you don’t really feel it. In other ways, you feel it a lot. Most notable differences are things like the fact that in Shanghai and other big cities over here, you should never expect to have your own table at restaurants and should always expect to share with complete strangers. Also, due to the number of people, city planning doesn’t allow for big on-surface parking at all the stores and everything like back home, so parking is either a disaster or done in underground parking structures. It makes owning a car somewhat inconvenient, especially since public transportation here is outstanding. But yeah, being born in a city of 20,000 people and moving to Phoenix, a city around 5-6 million was one thing, but then I came here. Haha, it’s wild.
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The Pub
Mar 8, 2021 19:09:44 GMT -5
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Post by reigninbloodygore on Mar 8, 2021 19:09:44 GMT -5
Thanks man~ I have yet to find more than one Chinese citizen who likes metal. Keep in mind that Shanghai, last time I looked, is a population of more than 28 million people, and it is truly believed to be well over 32 million in actuality. And the only metal fan I found was in my work city in Kunshan, near Shanghai. We rode the elevator up in my apartment complex by chance at the same time. He had a Cannibal Corpse shirt on, and I asked if he liked the band or if he just found this random shirt, and he told me he’s a metal fan. That was one of the happiest days of my life in China. That is crazy indeed. That is more people than any number of European countries put together - and no metal scene. Different part of the world for sure.
Let’s not say there’s not a metal scene. It’s there, but so well hidden. And a search on metal-archives will show that most metal bands in China are not in the Shanghai area. Most of them are further north, in areas like and around Beijing. Doesn’t really matter though, since many of the ones that can be heard aren’t all that good anyway. The best Chinese metal band I can recall from my discoveries is Explosicum, a thrash metal band. But while they’re quite decent, I feel little need to listen to them when there are so many better bands.
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mjolnir
Staff
Your observations of my nonsense fail to excuse your bad sense
Posts: 319
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The Pub
Mar 10, 2021 17:30:36 GMT -5
Post by mjolnir on Mar 10, 2021 17:30:36 GMT -5
Welp, got my first dose of Bill Gates Mind Control juice today. Outside of blood shooting out of my fingers at 60psi and the bizarre urge to hail Gates as my supreme ruler, I feel fine.
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