Rogue Process [terminated]

Obligatory Periodical Update

2009-07-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

As much as I've promised to keep this thing updated, I've had neither the drive nor the inspiration to do anything remotely music-related until recently. Deleted the RP Myspace recently as I was pretty unhappy of the image it gave of the project. I'd rather play my cards somewhat close to my chest and update only when I've got something to show for it.
Eitherway, with that being scrapped I have also scrapped anything I had to show for a new album, as I have been pretty unsatisfied with how things have been going on that front recently. Besides, with the upheaval at college, as well as having to find work, and generally being at an extreme low-point in terms of creativity, I thought it best to let it incubate for a little while.
However, I have recently started working on some new material and I'm pretty happy with the direction it's taking so far. Nice balance between noisy stuff and melody, and between pop-oriented sounds and experimental stuff too. Some of the previous stuff might rear its head in some form, but I don't know right now.
I'm currently staying away from my home flat, as I've had to take work down in Dunbar (35-mile commute on a bus = NOT WIN) and with this I've generally been writing exclusively on the laptop.
No hardware. Not even a MIDI controller :S Although I think I'll definitely pick up one of those sexy little Akai nano-keyboards when they're released. Rawr!
Yeah, having no keyboard really hampers your creativity, and I'm a BIG fan of their MPK keyboards. Very responsive and full-featured, and built like absolute tanks to boot - hell, I dropped mine quite violently and it didn't suffer a scratch!
Anyway, this super-extra-caffiene fuelled entry has gone on long enough. Shall update when I have more to update about. Pinkie promise!

Ahh baws.

2009-05-19T06:19:00.001-07:00

In case anybody (IF anybody!) reading this is wondering why I never update or bother to promote this blog, it's because over the last couple of years I have been very busy studying for an HND in sound production. Of all the things the course (and education in general) has taught me, the thing that sticks out the most is that taking my hobbies and creative endeavours and try to make a living out of them is a really bad idea.

Sure, I've learned lots of other stuff like never trust anyone else to set up your gear, that everybody else is a fucking cretin (especially tutors), oh and a couple of things about acoustic theory and digital audio, but that's besides the point... On Friday, our main SSL/ProTools HD rig mysteriously crashed. We weren't told why, but were assured everything would be back to normal shortly. After coming in today to retrieve a few files off another machine, I was told by a fellow student who had been working in the SSL suite that morning told me that the cause was a mechanical HDD failure.
Everything that anyone who used that desk in the past 10 months or so is gone. Everything. My mixing and production assessment is null and void, with the very real possibility that I will have to return next year to resit, as well as many others who "were not dilligent enough" to back their work up. Great. Another year at this POS college.

What really awestruck me is the sheer lack of comprehension the staff have had in getting our 'amazing' new setup off the ground. Back when the new campus first opened, there were many complaints about various things that could have been handled better, all of which got the rather immature response that students were being 'ungrateful' despite us all channelling a rather exorbitant amount of state funding into the place to recieve a good education.
Where was the sense in purchasing four SSL AWS900 mixing consoles, each of which cost around £43 thousand (and ship with unstable firmware i might add), to then attach them to junkpile Dell desktop computers that couldn't have cost more than £300 a pop complete with a single piece-of-shit HDD that breaks down after 10 months?

I asked my tutor a shortened version of that question this afternoon, to be told rather nonchalantly that "it's a shame for the students who were not dilligent enough to back up their work". When I asked about a backup system, I was told that "ProTools doesn't support RAID". Well gee-whizz. Thanx for that total gobshite answer! Not only is that not strictly true (many users report successfully doing so), ProTools gives you the option to back a project up to a separate HDD as standard. Why was this not even looked at? Sheer idiocy. I'm seriously completely livid that they're blaming students for not backing their work up, when it would have cost them a nominal fee to outfit all the ProTools rigs with backup drives, in case of a crash.

Fuck it. I've wasted another two years of my life, getting an education that I'll likely never use. I'm done.

Lost Tracks

2009-03-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

Some of my previous work from the planned release 'Cognition' is now up for free download on Bandcamp. Some of it had to be ommitted due to glitches in Bandcamp's upload software, but all of the stuff I really wanted to put out is up there.
In the coming days, I'll add more tracks, outtakes, some artwork, notes for each of the tracks and other things to fill it out, so please keep checking back.

<a href="http://rogueprocess.bandcamp.com/album/lost-tracks">Cognition by Rogue Process</a>

Please feel free to do whatever with these tracks, and if for some reason you like them, do let me know :)

More changes...

2009-02-23T18:04:00.000-08:00

Hey, sorry it's long time, no update, although that seems to be a pretty typical pattern of what I do these days. Urrgh, college and work are draining me.
I think I'm probably going to scrap the album I was working on entirely. I mean I'm still fond of it and all, but really, the songs in it are getting on for 3 years old now. I've changed a lot as a character since then, and I suppose I feel that I've moved on from what made those tracks as endearing to me as they were back then. Finishing them off, or even re-doing them would feel kind of contrived.
Not that I want what I've done to go to waste, I've wasted my effort on too much creatively in recent years, be it other music projects or my art. I'll probably do a quick mastering job and release the lot in its current form on a service like Bandcamp, draw a line there and start on a new body of work. I've been listening to a lot of different music recently, and am feeling rather inspired, although whatever it is I end up producing will probably sound a lot different to what I've done in the past.
I'm still waiting to hear back as to whether the track I did with Ali on vocals is going to get released on the Zero Demographic compilation, but all signs point to 'yes', so at least something productive will have come of the old work. I was quite proud of how it ended up sounding, although some of the backing vox I did were pretty iffy. Hopefully some folk'll like it.
I'll try to keep this updated more regularly from now on.

Oh god, here we go again...

2008-12-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

I'm going through another phase of my body-clock deciding to spaz out on me as of recent, and I haven't seen daylight at all today...
On the bright side, however, I've been working on some music for a second release (yes, the one after the first one which isn't complete yet, but gimme a break!). This second release will be entirely made on my current setup, as opposed to the first album, which is about 85% Sonar/PC based.
Of course, lots more to come, but here's a taster clip of my most recent activity:

New material preview by Rogue Process

Okay, I'mma try sleep some. I've taken enough Valerian root to tranquilise a great whale for several days, so all going to plan, I SHOULD get a good sleep. I hope.

GEAR!!!

2008-12-08T17:05:00.000-08:00

Since I really cannot resist a good bit of nerdin'-out over gear, and in case anybody out there wants to know my current equipment list, here's a semi-comprehensive list of what I use to make music on:

Workstation/DAW:
Powermac Dual G5 2Ghz, 2GB RAM
Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM

Interfacing:
Presonus Firepod
M-Audio MIDISport 8x8
Carillon Control49

Hardware:
Roland JP8000
Roland TR-606
Korg Electribe MX
Korg Electribe R

Software:
Logic Pro 8
Lennar Digital Sylenth
FXPansion Orca
Rob Papen Albino 3
Native instruments Reaktor 5
Native Instruments Pro-53
ReFX Nexus
ReFX Vanguard
Audio Damage Automaton
Audio Damage BigSeq
MDSP LiveCut
DestroyFX Buffer Override

Welcome back

2008-12-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

I've started this blog, as momentum is finally picking up on my musical project, Rogue Process, along with a bit of a change of direction, in that I'm finally accepting some outside help, in the shape of Ali McDonald, vocalist for Livingston-based hardcore/punk band Redundant.

In the blog, there will of course be info about the day-to-day goings on within the project, as well as various musings from myself, probably including stuff about various bits of musical gear, my college course, other UK-based industrial/electro acts, and pretty much anything else under the broad spectrum of 'stuffs dat i liek' music-wise.

To kick things off, here's a remix I've been working on recently for my mate Phil's project 'Anowrexiya'. It's sans-vocals currently, and there are certain elements I'm going to change before it gets committed to .aiff, but it should give you a pretty reasonable idea of what to expect from the finished product:

AnoWrexIya - Conductor (Remix by Rogue Process) by Rogue Process

In other news, Ali and myself should be meeting up on Thursday to record some vocal tracks, so all going to plan, there should be a lot of new stuff to show very soon :)