Dream Sequence by FarFromThere

Our prog song!  Time signature changes, irregular time signatures, polyrhythms  and atonal guitar riffs, this is a weird one.  The style isn’t normally my taste but it’s actually one of my favorites that we played.  Jeff had this written prior to us forming as a band and is one of the first things he threw at us.  Jeff, Brandon and I had been jamming together for a while before Jared joined us on drums.  When we first started out this was a really tough song for me and Brandon for obvious reasons.  Interestingly, this was the song that really sold us on our drummer Jared.  There was some uncertainty about him on his first jam session with us but he picked this crazy song up right away and really impressed us.  He’s been great and we’re very glad we stuck with him.

In addition to being a complex song that needs to be really precise this was our most difficult demo to mix.  All our demos are self mixed, not professional done.  Jeff, Brandon and I are all good at different things when it comes to mixing and between the three of us, I think we generally do a pretty good job.  On this one we had to enlist the help of our friend and the head of our label, Ken Kato.  We got some good lessons on mixing heavier music.  It was also a lesson for us in making sure you’re happy with your raw tracks because there’s only so much you can do in mixing.  Ultimately I think it came out very well and I think the demos we recorded afterwards are even better for having that experience.

The bass part mostly follows the guitars during the distorted parts.  When that’s all the song calls for I’m happy to do that.  It’s always my goal to serve the song and never just play notes for the sake of doing so.

I was mostly sticking to root notes for the verses as well for a long time but wanted to do more with that part of the song.  I couldn’t figure anything out that I liked better until I stumbled on the BBC’s “How Music Works” series on youtube.  Specifically I saw the part about contrary motion in bass parts.  Up until that point all my bass parts moved in the same direction as the guitar part. I watched that and said to myself ” what if the bass moved in the opposite direction of the guitar on Dream Sequence?”  The basic part wrote itself from there, although I’ve added some little things to it since.  I’m very proud of that part and definitely want to get into writing more parts along those lines in the future.  I guess my band likes it too because they left it really high up in this mix.  Interestingly, it’s mostly roots and fifths, so it goes to show how far that can take you in writing bass parts if you don’t get too corny with it.

The post topic for the week: pets.  Also, let’s all welcome Kas to the blogenning!

What would my ideal pet be?  Whenever my parents ask me or my brother what we want for a gift for our birthday or things like that, we tell them a pony.  Obviously this a running joke, we all know how that turns out. I don’t really want a pony.

Well, honestly, I don’t really have any desire to have a pet of any kind currently.  Unfortunately there’s not really much for me to say on this topic.  I’m allergic to cats and dogs.  My personal association with pets is mostly negative at this point though.  Sneezing, itching, wheezing, watery eyes.

I realize there are lots of other pets that wouldn’t cause those symptoms in me.  I never really had a pet growing up and pretty much any friends I knew who had pets had cats or dogs.  My parents were never really wanted to keep pets.
I never really managed to get attached to any animals and pretty much lost the desire to do so.   My brother eventually persuaded my parents to get a hamster and them some gerbils.  Curiously my mom actually became very attached to them but I never did.

If everyone is a cat person or a dog person I’d probably be a cat person if it were possible.  I’m much more the loner, do your own thing type and I respect that in cats.  Also, kittens are adorable.  If I weren’t allergic and had grown up under different circumstances I would probably have a cat.  As of right now I don’t really care that I can’t.

Warning: if you don’t know anything about computer programming this post will make no sense whatsoever to you.

I once had a conversation with Brandon and mentioned my skepticism about design patterns.  I tend to think with a few notable exceptions they fall into one of two categories: wrong and obvious.

I think the best example of a really silly design patter is the adaptor pattern.  If you have 2 interfaces that you need to convert between and you need to read that in a design patterns book to figure that out you’re hopeless as a programmer anyway.  It’s not even the case that the design pattern people were providing a name to something people were doing.  It was a shim or a wrapper before anyone came up with “adaptor”.

When I mentioned those categories, Brandon initially said that he thought of the Singleton pattern as being in the obvious category but I claimed it falls into the wrong category.  We never had a chance to finish that conversation so I thought I’d get back to it here.

The stated reason for wanting a singleton is so that there will only be one instance of a class.  The real reason for using a singleton is because you want a global variable.  We all know global variables are bad but giving global access to an object through static method is good and clean design because … why exactly?  You know that you don’t need to do anything special to have exactly one instance of a class, right?  You just make one instance and then you don’t make any more of them.  If there’s a good reason to think that things will go horribly wrong if there are 2 instances (there usually isn’t IME) you can keep a static count and have the constructor throw an exception on all calls after the first to be paranoid.  I just don’t see why global access is necessary or desirable.

Any code that depends on your singleton being a singleton has an implicit static dependency.  That makes it less testable and it’s behavior less predictable.  It’s better to just pass the instance around as an explicit argument so you can mock it out for testing.  Dependency injection is your friend.

Furthermore, I know you’re very sure it’s the right thing that should only be one instance of the class you’re making a singleton for.  Think back to your experience programming, how often are you right about things you’re very sure about?  If you’re anything like me, not very often.  If it turns out you’re wrong think about the impact on the code-base of using a singleton vs if you had just made one instance and passed it around.  If you were wrong and you didn’t make a singleton, you probably don’t actually have to do much of anything to accommodate the change.  If you made a singleton you need to track down every single call to getInstance and figure out what needs to happen there now.

Are singletons that bad?  Well, no.  If using the singleton pattern is the worst thing about your code-base you’re doing pretty well.  Depending on how your code-base looks it may be worth continuing to use it out of consistency.  Even if I’ve convinced you, you’re probably not going to have the time to factor them out any time soon.  Just realize that you’re using glorified global variables and if you get attacked by raptors for it I’m not responsible.

A lot about music this recently!  It’s very much at the front of my mind, for obvious reasons.  It will continue to be a major subject that I talk about on this blog but I’ll be mixing it up more going forward.  Plus, prior to starting the blogenning, I did say that I’d write a post on each of these demos.

Broken Umbrella by FarFromThere

This one is our opener and would probably our hit single.  Music by Brandon, lyrics by Jeff.  Lyrically I really like the way Jeff goes against the normal idea that the singer “needs” the person that they’re after.  “I don’t need you/but I want you”, refreshing in a happy pop song!

Musically, well, the main thing to talk about here is the bass line.  It’s a very bass driven song and a reminder of both how far I’ve come and how far I have left to go as a bass player.  Brandon brought this song to us with the bass part for the verse written, only a few months into picking up bass for the first time.  I was still struggling much, much simpler bass parts at that point.  I really like it and it makes the song, but it was very frustrating.

At the same time, I’m very glad we we’re the kind of band where I’d get that kind of stuff thrown at me.  We stretched each other and gave each other opportunities to shine.  Lots of bands will tell the bassist to just play root notes, and I didn’t know what I was doing at the time and couldn’t play very well at that point so I wouldn’t have been able to blame them.  That’s not how I want to play and I’m glad to play with people who challenge me.

Despite being much more up my alley than a lot of our other songs, it took a long time for me to really be able to appreciate this one.  I had to focus too hard on playing it.  In the spring I finally got to the point where I could actually enjoy playing it and it was really nice breakthrough.

I can’t deny that I’ve come a long way since the and people seem to like the song and like my playing on it.  Yet, when I listen to it, I can’t help but hear all the little imperfections in my playing and realize I’m still not happy with it.  I guess most musicians are that way about their own recordings, even those who are much better than I am.  I hope you enjoy it and I hope I will be a much better bass player by the time Jeff gets back!

My theme post for the week based off of Will’s about his birthday and getting older.  Also in blogenning related news, please welcome Andrea to our growing ranks of evil conspirators bloggers!

I feel like I’ve recently reached an interesting point in my life where I’m thinking a lot harder about what I really want to do with it.  I grew up in a middle class family and had the typical experience that much of the beginning of your life is charted out for you.  You go to school, you go to college, you get a job.  Check. So what now?

I guess the cliché next step would be get married and start a family.  Well, maybe at some point.  That seems to be happening later and later with my generation.  There’s also the minor technical point that I haven’t found the right person, whose willing to put up with me, yet.

Yet at the same time my current freedom to do what I want with this stage in my life has made me more engaged with what I’m doing than I have ever previously been.  There aren’t enough hours in the day, in a way that I didn’t have that issue when I was going through the motions, trying to meet my obligations.  Don’t get me wrong, I found things that interested me and had hobbies I enjoyed.  They were “extracurricular” and I always had to focus on where I was headed.  I have a job I like and believe in now.  I love where I live and have a killer apartment.  I don’t have anywhere to “go” in any grand sense I can focus now a lot more on giving my life it’s own meaning.

I want to travel.  I’ve never been outside North America and I want to fix that.

I want to keep myself in good physical shape.  I want to run more.  I want to bike to work more.  I want to start taking my Yoga practice more seriously.

I want to keep myself in good mental shape.  I want to keep up with what’s going on in the software development and computer science world.  I want to write (hence the commitment to blog again).  I want to read more again.  I want to philosophize.

I want to become a better musician.  As much of my time as my band has taken and as much as I’m looking forward to the reprieve until we start up again, to catch up on all this other stuff, I can’t wait until we get back to that point.  There’s nothing I’d rather do.  I play three instruments and I’m not happy with my abilities on any of them.  I want to find the time and discipline to really work on them.  I want to start writing my own songs and helping more with the writing process.  I want to listen to more music and broaden my horizons.

I want to keep a balance and not burn out.  I want to just hang out with friends sometimes.  I want to be by myself and veg and recharge when I need it.  I want to play games, watch movies, even some TV.  I want to get reasonable amounts of sleep.

And that’s just for starters really.  Perhaps none of those are traditional, ambitious goals.  I want to play in a band and have fun and make great music but I don’t have any real goal to hit it big and become a rock star.  I think these are the better sort of goals to have and still plenty to do anyway.  I’m not sure how much of that I’m actually going to manage but above all I’m want to make sure I enjoy the ride.

I don’t know where getting older in the future is going to take me.  If you had asked me years ago, what my life would be like at this point, I don’t think I would have been anywhere near the mark.  I think so far it’s worked out pretty well, I think my life is a lot more fun and interesting than I thought it would be.  Hopefully that will continue.

I will leave you with a song again.  Jonathan Coulton is best known for making nerdy and comedic songs and releasing them on the internet.  Unlike most of his work this is a serious one, although one with a strange premise.  George Plimpton walks up to you in a bar and give you some advice about how to live life.  For those of you who don’t know who he is, as I didn’t prior to the song, he did a lot of things.  While I find most inspirational songs schmaltzy, I think this one really works partly because subcounsiously, JoCo was really giving himself a pep talk, trying to get himself through is “Thing a Week” project.

My band, Far From There, will soon be put on hold.  Our lead singer and lead guitar player, Jeff, will be moving out to Berkeley, CA to go to seminary.  Yes, the frontman for my band is studying to become an Episcopal priest.  It is a strange world and Jeff is a strange person.  Tomorrow will be our final practice together before he goes.  He will be moving back in 3 years and will will get back together at that point, as well as whenever he’s back in town. After he leaves, Brandon, Jared and I will try to start a new project in his absence.  We will definitely be looking for a new singer and we will possibly want another guitar player as well.

I think I can safely speak for the three of us when I say that this is going to be a scary time for us.  I’ve never played in a rock band before but I really feel like we have something special.  There’s a chemistry in the way we write together and play together and with Jeff gone, something will be missing, something beyond just missing a singer and guitar player.  There’s a big part of me that’s worried we won’t be able to find that again.  We will not find, nor are we looking for a direct replacement for Jeff.  Hopefully our new project will be just as awesome in a different way.  At the moment the prospect of finding someone talented, who gels with us musically and who gets along with us feels a bit daunting.

Both in the context of the band, and otherwise, Jeff has been one of my best friends over the past 2 years.  I wish him all the best in Berkeley.  I hope he will keep making awesome music while he’s there and we’ll try to return the favor.

The following is a song by Ben Gibbard about his band breaking up.  Obviously on less amicable terms and obviously they got back together to play it.  I think it captures that uneasiness of not knowing what the future holds better than any other song I’ve ever heard.  More amazingly, it also captures the beauty in that.  Enjoy!

G&L seems to be a bit under the radar despite making top notch musical instruments so I thought I’d show them some love here. A bit of history, in 1965, Leo Fender the Fender Musical Instrument Corporation to CBS, but soon became dissatisfied with direction the company was taking under it’s new owner.  After his non-compete was up in 1980 he founded G&L guitars.  G&L makes classic Fender designs that everyone is familiar with, updated Fender like instruments with various improvements and several completely new designs.  G&L guitars sell at similar prices to Fender’s but from my experience, seem to be much higher quality and have more attention to detail.

My L2000 is the cheaper import version (“Tribute” in G&L speak), made in Indonesia.  It’s similarly priced to a made in Mexico Fender.  Despite this, I was blown away by the quality.  My Jazz Bass has had a professional set-up, but my G&L plays better having barely tweaked it since it arrived.  The fingerboard feels great.  Between the massive bridge and the incredibly stable neck, the sustain is unreal.  It has lots of nice little feature that you don’t really expect on a sub $1000 bass, like the tapered tuners which guide the strings downward when it’s being restrung.  On most guitars you’ll get a big knot there unless you’re careful but the G&L is set up to guide the strings into place without having to worry about it.

It has lot of knobs and switches which give a ton of tonal possibilities.  It is unique in having a passive 2 band eq.  I currently tend to run the eq knobs wide open but it probably warrants further experimentation on my part.  The knobs are treble control, bass control, and volume.

The switch nearest the bridge is an active/passive switch.  The preamp is very transparent and is mostly useful as a small boost or a buffer to prevent tone suck that comes from long cables or pedal chains.  In addition to the normal active mode it has a third position to give an extra treble boost, probably intended for slap playing.  The pickups are incredibly hot and I try to balance the volume with my Jazz bass so I generally run it passive mode, with the volume rolled of slightly.

The next switch is a series/parallel selector.  Traditionally humbuckers such as those in a Gibson guitar are wired in series which gives them the extra mid boost that they’re known for.  Parallel sounds a bit thinner, more open, more natural like single coil, though without the high end bite or sparkle single coils are known for.

The last switch is the pickup selector.  The neck pickups plenty of treble and clarity and the bridge pickup has plenty of bass but they definitely give distinctly different flavors to the tone.  I like the bridge pickup in series mode by default which gives an aggressive tone with a lot of treble and presence.  The neck pickup in series mode is great for a big, full, smooth sound.  That setting is a bit Precision bass like.  I don’t like series mode with both pickups which just sounds a bit off to me.  Both picks in parallel modes sounds very nice though, it captures some of the openness of a Jazz bass, though due to the pickups being humbuckers lacks a lot of the edge.  The bridge pickup in parallel mode is great for a slap (or would be if that were a thing that I could do…).

With all settings it creates a very pure, very clear tone when plucked softly and gets a nice growl when played aggressively.

My only complaints about this bass are matters of taste.  The neck is too wide for my taste, I prefer a thin, Jazz style neck.  The other issue is just that I seem to prefer single coils for bass overall.  There are certain bass lines that just don’t seem to sound right to me with humbuckers.  (This is very odd because I prefer humbuckers on guitar and definitely lean much towards Gibson, on bass I’m completely the opposite way)  At some point in the future I have my eye on a G&L SB-2 which should be more to my taste in both those respects.

I am not affiliated with G&L in any way, I’m just a satisfied customer.  If you’re searching for a new bass or guitar, particularly one in the vein of a Fender type of design, definitely give G&L a look.

For those of you who don’t know I have recently left my job at BBN Technologies to start a job at athenahealth.  BBN is really cool place in some ways I was sad to go.  They created ARPANET!  There are a ton of really smart talented people working there and I sincerely wish them the best of luck.

At the same time it really wasn’t the right place for me.  With no disrespect meant for people who work in Defense, it’s not really what I want to do.  I’m very much a dove, politically speaking and have lots of issues with U. S. foreign policy.  I took the job when I was graduating school, at the bottom of the recession and there wasn’t much else out there.  I rationalized, they don’t make weapons, they make things that really become useful to the general public.  Still, the reality was I never really able to invest myself in what I was doing there.  The pragmatic difficulties of working in Defense continued to come up.  BBN got bought by Raytheon.  Raytheon makes weapons and suddenly I had to do the moral calculus of whether that actually changes the situation.  Well, I’d really not have to do that calculus.  I asked myself whether I’d want to be there in 5 years and there was no question for me that the answer was no, so it was time to start looking.

athena makes web based software for handling medical billing and medical record.  Fixing the broken healthcare system in the is country , helping doctors wade through the mess that they have to deal with so they can focus on seeing patients, these are things I can really get behind.

For the time being, I’m going to be working security for the website, obviously a huge deal since the company deals with so much sensitive information.  I’m currently at the stage of starting a new job in software development where I am sifting through way more information than I can actually process and picking off low hanging fruit bugs to actually accomplish things.  Everyone there has been great so far and I look forward to getting actual things done for them.

Despite a number of commitments I’ve tried to make to post to this blog regularly I have failed miserably at keeping up with this.  The original plan which became known as “The Blogenning” was that a group of us would go post for post with one another.  After a few months that fell apart and but we have decided to make a new agreement to try to get each other to keep up with our blogs.

The rules as stated by Ian:

• The first rule of the Blogenning is that you always talk about the blogenning.
• The second rule of the Blogenning is that you ALWAYS. TALK. ABOUT. THE BLOGENNING!…
• *ahem* The third rule, three posts per week, minimum, is expected from all members of the Blogenning, ere they risk countless ridicule, name calling, and badgering (with sporks… arse eels, and possibly even badgers).
• The fourth rule of the Blogenning is that of “The Rotation.” The Rotation is a thematic challenge, started every week by a rotating member* of the Blogenning. The first post of this week by the scheduled member becomes the challenge theme, and the same topic/category of post must be written by all members of the Blogenning that week. This means that if I write about rabid bunnies as my first post on my week, you all have to write about them at some point. Or if my first post of the week is a poem, you all have to post a poem by the end of the week. This postdoes count towards your weekly total, so it is not “extra.” The punishment for failing The Rotation is to produce an extra post the following week to make up for it (meaning that if I do not make one of my weekly posts about furries during Jaco’s week to meet his challenge post of “The Wonders and Joys of Furries” then I will owe an extra post the following week covering that topic. If I still fail to produce said post… the group shall think up an appropriate punishment.
• And finally, rule five of the Blogenning… have fun. This is meant to be an enjoyable and inspiring project. So if it begins to feel like a chore, or even like a second job… let the group know.

Other blogs that will be participating that you should check out:

• Brandon at Extant Musings
• Belynda at Dimestore Romance
• Erica at Words, Words, Words
• Ian at Aberro Specus
• Ishana at Delightfully Twisted
• Jaco at Jaco’s Random Writings
• Rachel at Life & Times of a Female Software Engineer
• Tom at Time with Tom
• Will at A Chain of Letters

Expect to hear from me again soon and often!