Clive should have received a hefty commission from the bookshop on day two of the Emotional Intelligence course.  He mentioned Tara Bennett-Goleman’s book Emotional Alchemy several times.  In the lunch break most of the class brought the book from the small store behind the Tea Rooms.  This store had an amazing collection of Psychology and Buddhism books, making my credit card quiver in my bag.

“Who am I if I am not my usual pattern of assumptions and self-definitions?”

- Tara Bennett-Goleman

This is such a powerful question.  When we peel back the layers, what is left?  And are we brave enough to see and try?  Listening to a podcast by Jack Kornfield the other day he cited a great quote by James Baldwin:

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to the hate and ignorance so stubbornly is because they sense when that is gone they will be forced to deal with their own pain.”

“Your suffering is not you

it’s ok to not be ok

nothing is perfect, and that’s ok”

- Clive Holmes

Compassion is a big topic.  Where to start?  Perhaps with what grabbed me most?  “If you have a talent to receive compassion, you have no limits on giving.” Clive said and the whole room perked up as if confused with what he had said.  In the western world we are taught to give, continuously.  To do things for ourselves is selfish.  So when Clive said to receive means you have not limits on giving the class breathed a sign of relief, and many emotions came out.  It is a difficult thing, to receive.  Even just a thank you – to really take it can be difficult sometimes.  It took me a long time to learn how to receive a compliment.  In New Zealand to be above or set out from others is negative.  You don’t want to acknowledge success in yourself or others.

Pity is without compassion.  It has ego, but compassion has respect.  There is a fine line between compassion and being walked on, and we talked a lot about this.  Clive said that to be compassionate yet have that street wise knowing of when to have boundaries is key, and that out of compassion for others you can’t be a soft touch.  Otherwise you are feeding their habits and attachments, and not respecting yourself.  Knowing when to be open and when to have tough love is a skill, and to have compassion, respect for yourself is essential to truly give it to anyone else.  “If it’s good for the other person but not for you, then it’s not compassion” Clive dropped another anti-cultural teaching at us, creating confused looks, and breath holding.

]]> http://snippetsofeverything.com/2009/12/23/this-was-our-classroom/ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:52:34 +0000 ames http://snippetsofeverything.com/2009/12/23/this-was-our-classroom/

As the EQ and Buddhism retreat dug deeper we learnt different meditations to help turn our reactions into appropriate responses, by cultivating time, and space, and self awareness.  To have self awareness of those button pushers, with time we can master them, if we are motivated to do so.  Clive talked about habits a lot: one of my favourite topics.   As physiological systems, being able to cultivate habits is both our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness.  They help us learn things quickly, but also help us take on unskillful things we later struggle to get rid of.

“Anything that takes us out of our habits is good,” Clive said nodding his head.  You could see every cell in his body emanating agreement.  Ultimately habits are reactive as they use pre-paved pathways which are normally filters, conditioned responses, deep seated beliefs, which aren’t necessarily real.  But if we are out of our habits, we can respond instead of react.

Suffering can become a habit and just like giving up smoking we can give up suffering.  This reminds me of one of my favourite quotes “some people are content to suffer.” But first we need to realize we are, realize we can change and then be motivated to do so.

“When we are lost in thought, in our habitual mode, we have left ourselves.  We are not there.” – Zencast

]]> http://structuredroots.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/of-lavarocks-and-antiname/ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:40:02 +0000 tradersolstice http://structuredroots.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/of-lavarocks-and-antiname/

The solstice has passed, but I have not. There was no sitting on a beach in Clam Gulch, watching the sun dip just below the horizon over the Alaska Peninsula – the fireworks were hired to play that night, and no one was disappointed – and there was no standing gloriously atop some mountain ascended by chairlift in the early afternoon darkness, waiting for the sun to touch the landscape so I could race it down, falling below the light before it had a chance to retract itself. The joke was not funny anymore, but I laughed to myself anyway. Failure was key, because the white torches were bound to flare up, or so I thought, and my dependence was disaster. Never count on the light. Never mention neversummer, everwinter faded into highlights – in memory of them, in memoriam.

Elements expose themselves daily, and still we are enamoured of them – to remind ourselves what we do not take for granted. Familiarity is a vast wasteland into which we cannot venture, but instinctive loyalty is required. Ambivalence reigns over kings and queens and those opposed will suffer the defeat of resolve, of confidence. The unicorn remembers your face, and will not forget that wistful tune we sang to lure it in, and she will not return to that place again, lest she loses herself in its beauty and is tricked by the jestering explorer.

If I could EQ the sound of fear, I would take away the high end and make it sound less like a snake’s whisper. I’d give it the tone of the music you close your eyes to, no matter where you are, and I’d amplify it into the valleys you’ve made your homes, and the earth would take care of the effects, the reverb tail and the compression into something tangible, understandable and self-explaining, because I magnify it and show it for what it is, and like that old man said, mystery is where truth exists. So cover in dust the instruction booklets and open up the maps – you’ll see where they lie in waiting, in anticipation of your arrival. The rooftop was just the beginning, your thought process the route we’ll take – just print it on the back of my hand and we’ll be forever ready.

Kagyu Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Centre

We were sitting in the communal tea room have the morning dose before the next talk and KC asked one of the monks “how long have you been here?”

“I came here to visit a friend for the weekend.  That was 26-years ago”  he replied.  That appeared a common thread at Samye Ling, with answers varying from 4 to 10, to 26-years.  It is definitely a special place, in the middle of nowhere.  Clive Holmes was our teacher.  He has been involved with Buddhism for 30-years, including a year long retreat in India.  He had a wonderful presence of wisdom, and character.  Clive talked about the five fingers of emotional intelligence (slightly different to those by Goleman), that all join together by the palm to form this beautiful skill: to know what pushes your buttons and have the self-mastery to over ride it.

1. Self awareness: knowing thyself and keeping integrity and being true to yourself is a lot less stress!  Knowing yourself helps to be fluid and adaptable.  Being able to help yourself skillfully.

2. Self mastery: knowing when not to be rigid.

3. Compassion: pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.  How to be free of the reactivity of pain.

4. Motivating: self, and others.

5. Social intelligence: listening below the surface of what is really happening and developing intuition.

The main teaching was how to change a reactive response to an appropriate response.  To see things as they actually are, instead of through our filters, our conditioning, or our beliefs.  When we see things through these masks we react.  When we see things logically we are guided to respond appropriately.  It is as simple as that, yet so not simple!  Our bodies are built for conflict, and as Clive said, “it is not our fault we were born with these bodies that have emotions.”

]]> http://revealintelligence.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/dating-life-and-eq/ Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:40:14 +0000 Ranya http://revealintelligence.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/dating-life-and-eq/ http://orangewhimsicals.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/%e4%ba%ba%e7%94%9f%e7%9a%84%e8%bf%9b%e5%8c%96%e3%80%82/ Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:37:58 +0000 orangewhimsicals http://orangewhimsicals.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/%e4%ba%ba%e7%94%9f%e7%9a%84%e8%bf%9b%e5%8c%96%e3%80%82/

I’ve been contemplating for a long time if I should write this out at all, I guess I should after all.

I don’t need hanger-on friends.

I know a lot of people, my cellphone’s phonebook is bursting with numbers. It may seem like I have a lot of friends, but something which happened about 2 weeks ago, made me think otherwise. It brought a brand new perspective to my eyes. Everything seems so clear now.

I don’t need anymore of this bullshit drama from people who are 1) not blood-related to me, 2) don’t give a damn when I am in trouble myself and 3) expect me to die for them any time. You are not fit to expect anything from me at all.

Yea, your lives are all very interesting, good for you. Now get the fuck out of my sight and leave me alone.

I hate people who lie, I hate people who lie to cover up a lie they made. I hate people who whip out the “I’m-absolutely-innocent” wild card, complete with their doe-eyed expressions, when they are lying to cover up an old lie. Whole bunch of fucking bollocks.

I especially despise people who have once expressed their distaste in liars, lie in front of my face and then act blur like a fucking sotong. Eh, you seriously think I’m deranged or what? Or do you think I’m that ill-equipped with simple analytical skills?

Is there any difference between you and him at all? NO. NOT A SINGLE BIT AT ALL. Right now I don’t see what was so wrong about him lying to you and then trying to cover up the traces. I really don’t see what’s the big damn deal! I mean, you are in the same league as him, no? I already tried to sound you out, hoping that you’d come clean with me. But no, you didn’t.

YOU MORONS – EPIC FAIL!

I’ve also officially given up on drama mamas, males and females alike. If you have so much drama talent to spare, please make your way up Caldecott Hill and dish out your drama there instead. Your talent would be much more appreciated over there.

Were you looking for any by-product of sympathy? Like sympathy sex? Sympathy hugs? Sympathy words of encouragement? Sympathy dinner? What is it you were looking for? Tell me!

I cried WITH you, I don’t think you would ever do that for me. My heart ached for you, I don’t think yours would ever ache for me. Do you know that you made me felt like a total fool and a complete idiot? Thanks!

So tell me, what’s this bullshit about FRIENDS? Do you know how simple my life would be without all these people? I won’t have to bother about what Friend A is saying about me to others, I won’t have to bother about Friend B’s latest breakup, I won’t have to worry about how Friend C is coping with the death of his/her pet lizard.

Great, so since everyone is happily leading their own lives and only come to me when they need some sympathy, I shall do the same! No, wait! I’ll be a better person than these people! Because I am going to happily lead my life and I won’t see a need to go to any of these mofos for any sympathy of any sort ever. EVER.

I don’t see why I should go hound my friends for sympathy, it’s very unfair to them. Likewise, if they are real friends, they won’t put me in a situation where I have to shoulder their burden for them.

Then there’s another kind of people; the ones who only come to me when they have an immense need to show off – their wealth, their happy lives, their knowledge, their popularity and yada yada, whatever. Haolian never mind, haolian finish still act humble. Win already. 

If you are really that happy, you wouldn’t even need to show it off to me – because you will be too happy to even bother about showing off.

I don’t show off to anyone because I don’t see a need to. And let’s say I can’t contain it anymore and die die HAVE TO break a happy news to someone, that person would most likely be Matty. And Matty won’t ever think I’m showing off, because she SHARES my joy with me sincerely.

Honestly, when I am really happy, I’ll be so into the moment that I can’t even be arsed to tell anyone about it. And that is part of the reason why I often have huge breaks in between blog posts. You want me to say it now? Because I have TOO MUCH exciting things happening in my life recently – I don’t even know where to start, so I just fuck it.

I’d very much rather spend my time on more productive stuff than to compile bits of my life into a novel for people who won’t sincerely share my joy with me. I mean, I won’t be able to find gold in my poop if I tell anyone about such stuff, right?

Did I tell you about my Gucci bag? Did I tell you about my DKNY watch? Did I tell you about the cute Mr Bean’s teddy with a Santa Claus hat and chio pink furry bedroom slippers which Mom got me? Did I tell you about the 2 nights which the 女朋友 stayed over at my place and how she so sweetly helped me with the laundry? Did I tell you about my new chio pinky ring? Did I tell you about my chio gel nails or post any photos about them? Did I tell you that I removed my gel nails last week and I have short, fugly and brittle nails now? Did I tell you that I’m preparing for an Art exhibition with my friends sometime next year? Did I tell you about me and the 女朋友’s very cool and exciting plans for our future? Did I tell you I’ve gotten myself another credit card? Did I tell you I bought two new bras two weeks ago? Did I tell you about the 32″ LCD TV I have in my room now? Did I tell you about my new baby pink mouse? Did I tell you that my colleague got me a super chio Sari from India? Did I tell you about the fantastic lunch I had today with my colleagues which cost about 500 bucks?

NO! I didn’t! I could have, but I CHOSE not to. Perhaps I used to (on this blog that is), but I don’t anymore, because all these is just so… pointless and lame.

I posted a tweet sometime last week about how I shall only care about 6 people in my life from now on, you want to know who these people are? Let’s see…

• Dad
• Mum
• Brother
• Pauline
• The 女朋友
• Matty

From now on, whatever nonsense which anyone (other than the 6 people I’ve listed above) throws in my direction shall be flung right back in their freaking faces. I don’t need your bullshit! You can say shit about me, you can go around and badmouth me, you can gossip about me, you can criticise me all you want. GO AHEAD. BE MY GUEST. I DON’T CARE.

The 女朋友 can vouch for me that I’ve been living with this newfound enlightenment for the past few weeks and I am a lot happier this way. I’m in fact, very grateful for this great revelation and am loving every moment of being nonchalant with bird-brained idiots.

As long as the people who try to hurt me or make use of me is not one of those 6 people who I really care about, I won’t even waste my energy to get affected by it. If you are nobody to me, why should I bother about what you think?

But of course, I’m not gonna be completely cold to friends who have never hurt me and who genuinely need a helping hand from me. If it’s within my abilities, I’ll help. Remember this though, if you are drowning, before I jump into the water to save you, I’ll first look around for a life buoy. Only when there is no life buoy in sight then I’ll try my best to bring you to safety. You get the drift.

I’m also still game for a cup of coffee, parties and shopping sessions. I’m not disowning everyone I know, not that serious yet lah. I’m merely drawing clearer lines and giving priorities to people who mean a lot more than an average friend to me, they deserve it. The amount of love these 6 people have given me unconditionally cannot be compromised for anything else.

I no longer wanna be a 两肋插刀 kinda friend, I’m learning how to be selfish for my own good. I’ve been too loyal to the wrong people and that was taking a toil on me. 

You guys should pick this up too. It’s working for me rather well, nowadays I have lesser to worry about and I am generally less uptight about things. Trust me, life is so much simpler when you narrow down the people who really do mean something to you. A lot of things in life are actually very simple, it’s the people who complicate matters. When life is simplified to its basics, the path ahead seems so much smoother.

My late grandfather told me this when I was 14, “酒肉朋友不是朋友”. I can assure you he was speaking from personal experience, he was an alcoholic who didn’t give a damn about his family. He created enough damage to account for the dysfunctional and traumatising childhood my Dad and his siblings had.

When I told Mr. M about this newfound revelation of mine, he said, “Welcome to the club. You took so long to realise this?” Ah well, it’s better late than never.

I’ve redefined the meaning of a “friend” in my dictionary – he/she should be someone you are certain you can rely on ANY TIME, ALL THE TIME. And for this kind of friend, any amount of sacrifice is worth it.

It’s not that hard. You really don’t need that many friends.

I was talking to a homeless man next to the cash machine tonight after putting my lose change in his cup.*  A young child was smiling at him while holding the hand of her Mum in the line for the other cash machine.

“Kids always smile at me, but adults don’t.  Why?  Because children don’t judge me, they just see me.”

Many of the Buddha’s words of wisdom relate to being child-like.  A wise thing indeed, unconditioned.

*Tonight is 9 December.

Entah kenapa, beberapa bulan terakhir dan mendekati akhir tahun banyak masalah dan kehebohan di kantor…dari mulai hal kecil sampai hal besar semuanya diributkan! Hhhmm..jangan2 nanti ada yang berpikir “Emang di kantor gak ada kerjaan apa?!”. Mengamati satu persatu, kasus perkasus dan orang per orang, ada hal yang cukup mendasar dan saya ambil sebagai tagline adalah “Seberapa baguskah EQ yang anda miliki?”.

Seorang Einstein Ilmuwan Fisika Teoritis terbesar dalam abad ke 20 yang dianalogikan untuk menggambarkan kecerdasan otak seseorang apakah juga memilliki EQ yang cukup bagus, sehingga dia bisa bersosialisasi, berempati, bekerjasama dengan orang lain di dalam lingkungannya? Nampaknya tidak ada bahasan untuk itu (ya karena memang saat itu belum dikenal istilah EQ). Tapi jika yang dinilai adalah IQ, maka sebagian orang menganggap bahwa IQ Einstein sangat tinggi, namun dari saya yang tau Einstein memiliki IQ yang gak jauh beda dengan anak saya saat umur 6 th yaitu 160 (he.he.). Kalopun ada sumber yang menyebutkan Einstein ber-IQ tinggi paling hanya beberapa angka di atas 160..

Sebelum abad 20 an IQ nampaknya menjadi hal yang terpenting untuk menilai kepintaran dan kesuksesan seseorang. Nilai IQ yang tinggi sering dijadikan modal untuk kesuksesan dalam pendidikan, karier bahkan kehidupan…

Namun berkaca dari apa yang sudah pernah saya lihat, dengar dan alami serta rasakan, nampaknya IQ bukanlah jaminan untuk mengemukakan alasan bahwa Si A adalah orang yang tepat untuk menduduki sebuah jabatan dikarenakan dia pandai secara keilmuan, kompeten di bidangnya dan seabreg alasan lain yang menjadikan si A adalah orang yang mumpuni dan WAH….

Saya tidak tahu persisnya bagaimana pernyataan Daniel Goleman di dalam bukunya (karna belum pernah baca bukunya..paling cuma liat dari cover ama bolak-balik halaman doang, di toko buku pula!) he..he.. meskipun demkian sedikit yang saya tau bahwa Daniel Goleman adalah seorang CEO Emotional Intelligence Service yang mempelajari ilmu otak dan perilaku manusia. Daniel Goleman sempat menyatakan bahwa EQ lebih penting dari IQ (kesuksesan seseorang tidak dinilai dari IQ nya melainkan dari EQ yang dimilikinya). Cukup sudah pembahasan tentang Daniel Goleman…Nah sekarang kembali lagi di tempat saya bekerja.

Setelah beberapa lama bekerja di sana hampir menginjak tahun ke 5 bahkan, saya akhirnya mengetahui lebih banyak tentang karakter-karakter teman sekantor…Hampir semua karakter manusia ada di sana (kecuali karakter yang mengarah ke psikopat hehe..). Saya pikir karakter-karakter yang dimiliki orang tidak akan berpengaruh besar terhadap pekerjaannya, ya lagi2 menjunjung tinggi profesionalisme…Ibaratnya kalo seorang penyiar sedang siaran tentunya dituntut untuk membawa suasana posotif, semangat dan ceria…tidak peduli apakah lagi bokek, diputus pacar atau sakit gigi!! Intinya “keep smiling”. Dan selalu jawaban yang sama…PROFESIONAL dong! Hidup profesiolisme!! Tapi nampaknya saya mulai tidak percaya dengan kata-kata profesionalisme tersebut. Yang saya percayai adalah seseorang akan menjadi profesionalisme sesungguhnya atau profesionalisme sesaaat tergantung bagaimana karakter asli dari orangtersebut..

Sering, tanpa kita sadari kita berupaya untuk memanipulasi guna mendapatkan “profesionalisme” tersebut. Nah ini yang akhirnya menjadi parah…Ibaratnya kalo kita seorang resepsionis dan pada saat bertugas kita sedang sakit gigi maka yang sesungguhnya resepsione tersebut akan merasa jengkel dan kesakitan, namun berhubung pekerjaannya adalah berupaya menerima tamu dan memberkan penjelasan sebaik2nya dengan ramah kepada tamu tersebut, maka sekali lagi demi profesionalisme yang tertangkap oleh para tamu adalah “wajah senyum dan keramahan sang resepsionis” (tanpa diketahui oleh para tamu apakah senyuman yang diberikan ikhlas atau tidak). Inilah yang saya sebut sebagai “profesionalisme sesaat”. Yang dikhawatirkan adalah ketika Resepsionis menjumpai tamu yang agak ‘berbeda’, maksudnya tamu yang tidak kooperatif, tamu yang menjengkelkan, tamu yang banyak maunya, tamua yang sering protes dan hal-hal yang menyebalkan lainnya. Nah, sampai pada titik ini muncul pertanyaan “Berapa lamakah si Resepsionis tersebut mampu mempertahankan ‘gawang profesionalisme’ nya??

Finally, this is my conclusion: no matter how smart and intelligent are you.. its nothing!! till you can control your emotion, you make a good relationship, you can work with your team, you have a good empathy and sympathy to others….That makes you as a good person, a good friend, a good employee and a good manager so these are what we called EQ.

Coffee you could say, is my hobby, my addiction, my past time.  Oddly enough I take photos of coffees I enjoy.  I started this when I got my first digital camera and now can’t seem to stop.  The coffee addiction has spread to a taking photos of good coffees addiction.

This was in the Tibetan Tea rooms at the Kaygu Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist centre in the middle of nowhere.  My double espresso had a delicious creme, and a kiwi name.  I don’t just like cafe dwelling for the caffeine.  That’s definitely a bonus, but the real bonus is the whole experience.  Cafe’s are my contemporary museums and there is always a story to be told before, after or during a visit to a cafe.  On this particular occasion KC and I had spent some time traveling north from Manchester up the M6.  We got off at Lockerbie and thought we might stop there for some lunch but it was dead and nothing looked appealing.  We continued following our map to Samye Ling thinking the towns on the map might have a pub for a nice hot lunch.

Forty-five minutes later we arrived at Samye Ling after rolling through town after town – that is, three houses next to each other actually constitutes a town, and a location on a published map in Scotland.  Hungry we hoped there might be something at the Buddhist Centre but weren’t sure if there would be anything, and my expectations at 2.30pm were not high.  To our surprise the Tibetan Tea Rooms awaited with it’s home-made danishes, soup, and gorgeous coffee.  All veges were organically grown from the garden just a few metres from the cafe.  It was well worth the wait and beyond any pub hot dinner.

Terry West has released Twelve, a free graphic equalizer effect plug-in for Windows.

Modeled after some famous hardware units.

Note this is a beta version, expect some bugs (or hopefully not). Todo: Auto-bypass per band, Autogain, Automation.

Twelve features

• Bypass.
• Output gain.
• 12 graphic bands.
• 3 Q settings.
• Limiter.
• Exciter.
• 14 presets.

Twelve is available as a freeware VST effect plug-in for Windows PC.

Download it here + 3 other nice plug-ins from Terry West >>

拽什么拽！

I am so gonna MAJOR blog about my life one of these days! Though I don’t have any idea what I should be blogging about…

Aiya, just whack only lah. Not that difficult to flaunt-blog right? Simple as A-B-C, easy as 6-6-6. Yea, flaunt-blogging, I coined it.

Maybe I can consider blogging about the below-mentioned stuff in future (not to mention, I have to blog more regularly. It’s cool to flaunt blog regularly. Ahem.)

• Profess my love for the 女朋友 96584129727893 times everyday for 365 days perhaps? (and for the love of Mary, why do so many people think that my 女朋友 is my 男朋友?! But I must say, the 女朋友 is rather successful in fooling so many people effortlessly and unintentionally. Thumbs up for you Baby. )

p/s: From now on, Baby shall be known as “the 女朋友” on this blog.

• Provide real-time reports of my whereabouts, what I’ve eaten, what colour is my shit, what consistency is my mucus and blah blah, well you get the drift.
• Basically, the key is to turn my life into this sibeh happening and cool fairytale on this blog. Nevermind that 80% of that crap is gonna be exaggerated and/or blown up like a motherfucking gigantic pufferfish, 重点 is MUST-BE-HAPPENING.

Wow, that sounds like a plan huh?
Make believe is fun! Totally turns me into a juvenile all over again! Woohoo! I like!

Whoops… I forgot this shit is meant for the insecure kids only. Totally out of my league! Looks like I gotta stick to being a boring person after all. Sheesh. 

QUIT BUZZING AROUND LIKE A FUCKING BEE, YOUR LIFE IS PERFECT AND DAAAAMN AWESOME! WE TOTALLY GET THE POINT.

—–

Nevertheless, I still love my 女朋友. ♥
5½ years and counting, we’re so cool.

How to Produce Hip Hop Beats: Mixing Synths

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By type3beats
User-Submitted Article

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Produce Hip Hop Beats: Mixing Synths

www.type3beats.com

Synth lines are heavily used in West Coast & Dirty South Hip Hop music productions. This article hopefully helps you gain an understanding of where they should fit in the mix. Things to watch out for when mixing synthesizer tracks into your beat are volume, dynamic range, and how the tone of your sounds fit into the mix. Techniques you may want to use to sound unique are automation, filters, and arpeggiators.

Click Here for your Free Traffic!

There are a lot of music plugins online. I really don’t need to buy any, lol. Just kidding. There are some i see for sale that i think i might buy sometime. …maybe, lol. When everyone gives something away for free where does that lead? The free to get people to your site only works when others aren’t doing it too.

I love all the free EQ plugins.

It’s the end of 2009.
Was it a good music year?
I think 2010 will be an electronic music boom.

When mixing, there are two different approaches to take when processing individual tracks (channels, instruments, sounds, etc) -

1. Try to make the track sound as ‘good’ as possible on its own, and then fit it into the mix; and
2. Pay no attention to the integrity of the track’s individual sound and ruthlessly filter and EQ it so that only the most useful parts of the sound contribute to the mix.

Both approaches are valid. Which approach you take will depend on the type of mix you’re working on and your own personal style.

Approaching each track individually can be a useful approach if you’re aiming for a natural-sounding mix. This way, each instrument can be closer to its original (or expected) sound. The character of the sound it more complete and more nuanced. This approach would be achieved by using gentle shelving EQ instead of filters, wide and shallow parametric EQ, and a tendency to cut rather than boost. The downside to this approach is that it can make a mix sound very cluttered and crowded – especially if there are a lot of instrument or the instruments are badly-played.

Alternatively, you might approach each track as a collection of sonic characteristics to pick and choose from. This will lead to aggressive filtering and more surgical/targeted EQ, with a tendency to boost as well as cut. This way the mix can be very clean and controlled, and can be particularly useful in modern ‘highly-produced’ music such as electronic music. The downside is that the mix can become too produced, with each instrument sounding quite unlike its natural self. It can also result in mixes that sound thin, empty and gutless.

Personally, I take both approaches. Generally I try to keep foreground instruments as natural as possible. As I work my way further back to the background instruments, I get more and more surgical and ruthless. The more ‘produced’ a mix is, the more I’ll tend toward aggressive filtering to cut out the unwanted characteristics of each sound and keep the desired parts. The more natural a mix is, the more I’ll tend toward gentle shelving EQ to softly de-emphasise the unwanted parts of the sound and emphasise the desired characteristics.

-Kim.

When I got my EQi results, I wasn’t too surprised to see that my Empathy score was the highest. I like to consider myself a caring person. The EQi defines empathy as “the ability to be aware of, to understand, and to appreciate the feelings of others,” so I guess I am good at it…

What was very helpful and useful to me professionally was not just knowing that I am empathetic, but how that can be good and bad in a work setting.

Clare provided the feedback for my EQi results. Because my empathy is high and my assertiveness is lower, I can let my concern for people and their feelings get in the way of saying what it is that I want/need to say.

Clare proposed some strategies to compensate for my lower scores using my higher scores and I’ve been implementing them over the last few months.

Looking back on it, one small conversation in regards to my EQ levels has really helped me move forward in my professional careers. It’s pretty cool.

The emotional intelligence course in Scotland was amazing. Most courses I’ve done have focused on EQ of dealing with other people. This focused on EQ with ourselves. One story I liked in regard to taking on peoples comments, or judgements:

The Buddha was walking with his followers and some random folk started abusing them as they walked through the town. The Buddha said and did nothing other than continuing on his way.

His followers said, “aren’t you going to say something?” The Buddha said, “if someone offered you poisonous food, would you eat it, just because it is food?”

from OwnTheMix.com:

On a warm planet, close, close by, a powerful force was stirring in the underworld, patiently awaiting the time for it’s release. This force was to be realized in the epic pairing of Pale & Telly as the Heroes 4 Hire, and their quest for pure listening pleasure. As up and coming producers in the burgeoning music scene of Baltimore, they hope to attract eyes and ears to their diversely influenced brand of hip hop. Their debut album, “Sex, Drugs & Chopped Up Soul”, features a host of emcees from both their hometown and around the globe, demonstrating the broad reach of the Heroes’ sound. Ranging from fun to introspective, their style is both classic and trend setting.

You can check out the album sampler here:It features tracks from 2 Mex, Hezekiah, E Major, Illy Emcee, Nightwalker, and more.

OK, so in an earlier post I showed this 3D EQ, which was nice, but the animation of the EQ bars were not so great.
Check out the same EQ with a delay and smooth keyframes.

Below is the same EQ using sound keys. I think all 3 versions are nice in their own way, but we will probably all agree that sound keys is the winner!

The Dark Triad – Part 4 Psychopath

Skip to: Part 1 Intro –       Part 2 Narcissist –      Part 3 Machiavellian

The hallmark of psychopathy is a lack of empathy.  In fact when it comes to empathy, psychopaths have none; they have special difficulty recognizing fear or sadness on people’s faces or in their voices.

In a 2002 Study, David Kosson and Yana Suchy, asked psychopathic inmates to name the emotion expressed in each of 30 faces; compared to controls, Psychopaths had a

significantly lower rate of accuracy in recognizing disgusted facial affect.

Psychopaths are glib and superficially charming, and many psychopaths are excellent mimics of normal human emotion.

The consensus among researchers is that psychopathy stems from a specific neurological disorder which is biological in origin and present from birth.  It is estimated that one percent of the general population are psychopaths.

For Psychopaths other people are just a mark, to be duped, used and discarded.  They lack any sense of guilt or remorse for any harm they may have caused others, instead rationalizing the behavior, blaming someone else, or denying it outright.

Psychopaths also feel no anticipatory fears, they are virtually oblivious to the threat of punishment.

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Last two days I have been observing the happenings in the world of education and careers. Thousands and lacks of career aspirants putting ahead their next step ( aglakadam ) into the CAT trap.. just to find that, for a change, this ime the Mouse has trapped the Cat …

Well this now looks a as an issue more serious than just a technical bug.. an examination f the international stature being conducted across the globe for admissions to an institute which is identified to churn out the Best of the best human resource to the industry.. could not even manage an entrance test… Is Technology so unmanageable in today’s world of hi tech revolution?

Or is this the out sourcing which is the culprit! but then an institute of the stature of IIM is only expected to outsource such critical function into a highly reputed and well trained & safe hands .. well Prometrics is a name of repute.. but is it that they were over confidant and did underestimate the technical challenges in the process..

Whatever may be the issue, this flaw of CAT examination mismanagement has highlighted a few thoughts :

1. Utter failure of a MANAGEMENT institute of world repute to MANAGE entrance examination! जिसकी एंट्रंस ऐसी हो, आगे क्या होगा (Jiski Entrance aisi ho, age kya hoga)?

2. Total lack of planning, no rehearsal before actual execution!

3. Failure of Outsourcing model in conducting online examinations!

4. Failure of antivirus protection systems, how safe are our websites?

Whatever may the reasons, the losers are the serious students who intended to appear for the CAT examination.. as is well known that this test is not just the test of your IQ & subject knowledge it as well tests you EQ… one needs to be well prepared, more than well studied to take on the tests.. I have seen students into the process of mental make over just before CAT examination dates .. they all will have to redo their efforts .. A few such students have their academic calendar’s ahead and some had even booked travel reservations for successive dates .. those from small cities and towns…

Is the IIM listening to the problems faced by such students?

Ajit Varwandkar / www.aglakadam.com // 30.11.2009