raem promotion photo

Diary - Production/Build 2006

Kitlist
Posted on June 2nd, 2006 02-06-06_1706.jpg The controller keyboard
Kitlist
Posted on June 2nd, 2006 02-06-06_1707.jpg The sound of muzak
Kitlist
Posted on June 2nd, 2006 02-06-06_1702.jpg Software synths
The city
Posted on June 3rd, 2006 03-06-06_1406.jpg On the streets, recon.
The studio
Posted on June 5th, 2006 04-06-06_1853.jpg An evening of rehearsal
Battery test
Posted on June 9th, 2006 09-06-06_1527.jpg First trial of the battery test rig. Two 12 volt batteries connected to the DC in with internal batt still present for backup. Duration test involves running the cpu at production levels.
Batt Test continues
Posted on June 9th, 2006 09-06-06_1659.jpg Test continues with periodic meter checks. Losing about 0.3 volts every 30 minutes. This test has only the laptop powered by the battery rig, future tests will see powered speakers, mixer and the small keyboard added in turn to measure battery charge lifespan.
Batt Test objects
Posted on June 9th, 2006 09-06-06_1735.jpg On the left, one of the powered speakers that will be used depending on the tests. Lower right of the photo is the white square head of the webcam that will be used for documenting the performances in elevators.
Batt test end
Posted on June 9th, 2006 Test ended after 2.5 hours use with the voltage dropping to 18v. Automatic switching to the laptop internal battery occured when the voltage dropped below 18v. The internal battery has previously been measured to last an hour on full cpu load. Recharge time is to be measured before adding the speaker pair to the next test.
Amp and speaker test
Posted on June 9th, 2006 09-06-06_2047.jpg Start of the amplifier and speaker 12v battery test, volume is set to maximum below level of distortion. Not much bass present as yet.
End of the first batt test
Posted on June 9th, 2006 09-06-06_2318.jpg 6.5 hours later, the first battery is recharged. The amp speaker test ended per the 2.5 hour duration with a drain of .16volts. The next test phase will involve the laptop, amp and speaker running off the two 12 volt battery combo to determine the viability of this setup. Two plus hours of playing time can be added to with the internal laptop battery and the remaining external battery charge might prove enough to power any other devices for as long as the laptop stays powered.
Batt test 2
Posted on June 10th, 2006 10-06-06_1613.jpg Batt test 2 commences with the laptop and amp, speaker combo. Audio sounds scratchy and is at low level when the software is used but clean and loud when an mp3 is played. A ground loop isolator will need to used to clean the signal up.
Batt test 2 changes
Posted on June 10th, 2006 10-06-06_1820.jpg Well the 2nd test got changed after 1 hour due to the amp or speakers fritzing out as volume changes were made in attempt to get the best sound out of the unit. Now, the laptop is plugged into the GLI and then into the stripped back mixer. This test is now being used to get a better picture of the rapid voltage drop that occurs during the last 30 minutes of battery use before the laptop auto switches to internal power. This switch may also have an effect on the audio signal so this will be monitored as well.
CPU overload
Posted on June 10th, 2006 The second test ended with a clearer understanding of what is occuring to the laptop during the rapid voltage drop after 2.5 hours of running. The initial battery voltage was 24.42v, after 2.5 hours the voltage read 21.55v and over the next 3 minutes that dropped to 17.91v. It was at this point that the cpu didn’t have the power necessary to run at 100% and so the synth program running went into a hang mode and stopped all audio. Consequently this made the voltage on the battery flick back up to above the 18v threshold. Considering that it is unlikely that performance time will be a continuous 2.5 hours in length and more likely to be a series of short runtimes, it will be vital to have some voltage metering placed in-circuit so that the 3 minute rush of voltage drop can be planned for, which will probably involve pulling the external power source and switching to the internal battery at a suitable time.
The mixer worked adequately though proved that the audio from the laptop is quite low level and will need the Ground Loop Isolator in the signal path. A search will commence for a replacement (or repair) amp and speaker combo, which will end up being a desktop computer speaker pair as they seem the best solution for the small performance space of an elevator and the drain on the power supply.
Rehearsal
Posted on June 12th, 2006 11-06-06_1809.jpg Completion of the second rehearsal for the upcoming Electundra gig at Loop bar this Wed night. The setlist has been made and all thats left is to rehearse again just prior to the gig. This performance is mainly to practice the music we will play live in city elevators.
Rehearsal
Posted on June 14th, 2006 14-06-06_1359.jpg The last rehearsal prior to the Electundra gig at Loop Bar commences. RAEM plays at 9pm.
Electundra
Posted on June 14th, 2006 14-06-06_2008.jpg Setting up for the gig.
Post Electundra
Posted on June 14th, 2006 14-06-06_2253.jpg The blue screen of death. And so a gig of extended feedback and self oscillation and sweet melody. Not always approriate for an elevator but there you go. Visuals provided by Object State were from the RAEM video shoot for the track submitted for the Electundra DVD.
New amp test
Posted on June 30th, 2006 30-06-06_1448.jpg A new amp and speakers found on the side of the road are being tested for sound quality. 2 speaker pairs divide the sound so theres good eq possibilities. One cone is damaged though and already its proven a major source of audio distortion. The amp itself seems ok apart from low levels and weak bottom end.
Extra Extra Read All About It!
Posted on July 3rd, 2006 03-07-06_1753.jpg The cause of some concern at the RAEM studio. But live calming music might aid those trapped…
Briefcase – before
Posted on July 22nd, 2006 21-07-06_1505.jpg The latest addition to the raem kitlist, on special at Myer. Soon to be hacked and modified to house the laptop, amp, speakers, mixer and webcam.
Briefcase – layout
Posted on August 4th, 2006 21-07-06_1514.jpg Layout of the components to be housed in the briefcase lid. The two large speakers might be replaced with smaller ones and their position may be changed to face the inwards. This change will come about if a suitable method of hiding any speaker holes cut into the lid cannot be found.
Casio test rig
Posted on August 4th, 2006 04-08-06_1452.jpg After a bit of faffing around with polarity and gaffer tape, a test rig for the Casio CZ101 gets set up for a battery drain test later tonight (or more realistically, tomorrow). Hopefully the casio and 2 fx pedals can be run off the newly acquired 1.2 amp 12volt battery, freeing up the third 7.2 amp battery for use with the laptop enabling longer performance times per day.
Casio batt test
Posted on August 18th, 2006 18-08-06_1250.jpg Well after a slight delay, the batt test for the casio takes place. This involves hooking up the 7.2 amp battery to the keyboard, switching on both oscillators, adding noise modulation and holding down some keys with weights – in this instance 2 ac adaptors. Not too sure on the polyphony but i think it is 4. Hopefully all this makes the synth run at maximum power consumption. This test has run for an hour so far.
Kitlist
Posted on August 18th, 2006 18-08-06_1302.jpg This is the means for RAEM to update this website, a RAZR V3x phone. The camera is set to the lowest resolution so the photos on the site are quick to load. Photos are then attached to an email and sent to the server where WordPress does the parsing. Nifty. This allows updates on-the-fly from whichever elevator we happen to perform in. There is one annoyance with this though and that is typing the text on a phone keypad, hence some entries might be brief. However, no l33t spk!!
Casio batt test end
Posted on August 19th, 2006 18-08-06_1603.jpg The casio batt test ended after 3.5 hours (because i had to go to work) with the voltage reading 11.99 on the 7.2 amp battery. The next test is going to have two effects pedals hooked up to the casio to measure the voltage drain. If there is little change in the voltage after 3.5 hours then another test will be made using the smaller 1.2 amp battery. If this works well then the playing time can be extended to over 3 hours with the laptop using all 3 of the 7 amp batteries. Another alternative is to hook all the batteries together to create a single power source thats carried in one case and has umbilical cables that can plug into the casio and laptop. Otherwise the batteries get seperated into the 2 cases making them self contained and more mobile.
Adaptor woes
Posted on August 23rd, 2006 23-08-06_2242.jpg The laptop adaptor is fritzing as usual. The cable from the adaptor drops voltage depending on its angle, here showing 3.x volts. So it looks like a hack into this is now necessary – better than spending a ton on a new one.
Bass bin boom
Posted on August 24th, 2006 23-08-06_2323.jpg After playing around with the laptop adaptor till it kicked out enough juice, a chance was had to test out the speakers in an ad-hoc cabinet. Here an old desk drawer covered with a chipboard panel is used. The dimensions of the drawer are close to the maximum size cabinet possible within the briefcase. The sound is a lot warmer, better low freq sounds eminate enough to allow the overall volume to be dropped. A test was made with a baffle jutting up to the speakers cutting the cabinet by a third – resulted in less bass than acceptable. This test is enough to allow a commitment to be made to this amp/speaker combo being housed in the briefcase.
Bring on the beats
Posted on August 24th, 2006 24-08-06_0048.jpg Thanks to Mike Cupcake’s mashup via winamp, a bit of eq tweaking goes on during the wee hours. Plugged the echo indigo card in (the blue light) as well to check the sound quality – an easy couple of notches on the volume dial added. Low freqs still arent very loud without distorting but other low freqs can be eq’d up to fill the gaps. Thats the benefit of using synths to create new sounds as opposed to trying to recreate familiar ones. More eq tests when the cabinet is built and the freqs around 100hz can be dropped.
Press junket
Posted on August 25th, 2006 25-08-06_1904.jpg According to the age newspaper we are hot in september. August? Luke warm.
New amp
Posted on September 5th, 2006 04-09-06_1450.jpg Triple J visited the studio to conduct an interview for their arts program. During this it seemed a grand idea to play the casio through the battery powered amp; you know, the one found on the side of the road. Well it seems that the casio audio gets distorted at nearly all volume levels, something to do with old keyboards and sods law. So, the picture above is of the new 50 buck 12v amp ready for hacking this weekend.
Gig time
Posted on September 5th, 2006 05-09-06_1843.jpg The flyer for the upcoming gig at Horse Bazaar on 20th September. A Wednesday, not too sure when we play but the thang starts at 8pm. Ideally the full mobile sound system will be kicking out the jams or whatever the jive talk equivalent is. So you might get a couple of suits playing with their briefcases. Oh yeah, free entry. Can’t go wrong, well actually lots can…
Socket to me
Posted on September 8th, 2006 08-09-06_0021.jpg Did a quick test with the old casio and the new amp to make sure that quality was paid for and that raw mono 80s signal didnt fritz the speakers. All good, levels and quality. But of course its a 2.1 amp and has that dandy green 2 sleeve jack. So hopefully i can do a little bass management by hooking the LFE to both channels and letting the audio automagically sort itself out, or just dont use it…more tests tomorrow afternoon.
Gotcha
Posted on September 8th, 2006 08-09-06_1351.jpg And that would be why the Dell adaptor kept dropping voltage…
Process hunt
Posted on September 8th, 2006 08-09-06_1711.jpg Every 20 seconds the system process ups its cpu use and disrupts the audio output. Not good. To find out what it was polling i started closing start-up apps, removed all cards, the dvd-rom and then started disabling device drivers. Seems obvious now but it was the network adaptor causing the regular glitch.
Speaker pr0n
Posted on September 8th, 2006 08-09-06_1756.jpg Disassembly commences with the amp giving up its innards with the aid of a hammer.
Plan of attack
Posted on September 8th, 2006 08-09-06_1852.jpg The crude scribbles serve as a basic guide to the layout and wiring of the briefcase lid. Plenty of room amongst the components for air within the encasing speaker cabinet.
Test everything
Posted on September 8th, 2006 08-09-06_2059.jpg This test involves 2 batts for the laptop and 1 batt powering the amp at half volume, the fan and the casio doing its 4 note brass ensemble. With all the services and hardware removed from the laptop the cpu is now running at about 60 percent whereas before it would max out all the time. Spiffy.
Uber test end
Posted on September 8th, 2006 08-09-06_2348.jpg End of test and the laptop goes auto shutdown after 3 hours of steady running. Usual sudden voltage drop within 5 minutes, gotta get a voltimeter. The casio and amp batt showed a voltage of 11.9 which means i can easily power the mixer as well. 3 hours playing time is a good amount per day of performance. Next test involves wiring the LFE to the main speaker outs to check the sound quality and run it from the one batt with the mixer added.
Second day testing
Posted on September 9th, 2006 09-09-06_1119.jpg This time the mixer is added to the circuit of casio, amp and fan. Seems the RCA sockets dont work so using the phono. The LFE has been slaved to the left speaker and adds nice low freqs but its final wiring will be to both left and right.
Batt test case
Posted on September 9th, 2006 09-09-06_1529.jpg Completed 2nd casio and amp test with 3 hours playing time achieved. Then went to Vic market and got these two cases for half a ton. The bigger of the two cheerfully announces that its expandable, which is good cos it will house the battery pack at the base for ballast. The casio is then stood upright and rests above the batts. The two cases will be bolted together and a metal frame inserted to allow the cases to serve as a keyboard stand. Genius!
Successful wiring
Posted on September 10th, 2006 10-09-06_1516.jpg After a couple of hours wiring and soldering, the briefcase gets its innards. Bottom left of the photo is the amp, just above that is the fan, then the LFE and at top left is the power distribution circuit with a voltimeter inline. On the bottom right is the right speaker, then the mixer and then the left speaker. There will be 2 umbilicals, one for power and audio into the briefcase and one for power out to the casio.
Out go the lights
Posted on September 10th, 2006 10-09-06_1754.jpg And just when i get the 24v umbilical wired up, the laptop refuses to boot. Either the hard drive died or the adaptor that decided to fritz down to 10v fried the electrics. Theres always something!
Arrivals
Posted on September 11th, 2006 11-09-06_1326.jpg And there it is, a new lappy ready for installs, batt tests and processor checks. Bon voyage to the dell, 4 years good service gigging and the like.
Cpu test
Posted on September 12th, 2006 12-09-06_1151.jpg Did a minimum install on the new lappy, OS updates etc and of course all IBM Thinkpad utilities bringing the processes to 36. The audio is uninterrupted though despite the cpu swinging from 50-90% but the usual bare bones running environment will be sought out. Batt pack tests with the T30 will commence this weekend. Specs are: P4m @ 2.0gHz, 1Gb ram, 40Gb hd, the basic ports and dimensions about 1cm smaller on all axis than the dell. Noice.
Fixit part 1
Posted on September 13th, 2006 12-09-06_2342.jpg Fixed the swingin’ cpu by switching the audio device from direct sound to multimedia which also changed the latency from 10ms to 92ms. Prior to this change the audio came out distorted, now all is good and the cpu is clocking in at 10% lower than the dell which hopefully translates in less voltage being used therefore longer playing time.
Builders karma
Posted on September 16th, 2006 16-09-06_1144.jpg Construction takes place with the frame of the briefcase and speaker cabinet getting the electronics housed. Off to geek central tomorrow, a computer swap meet…there might be the parts necessary to revive the ol’ dell because, well what happened was the new T30 stopped booting so its now back at the shop for who knows how long. Perhaps theres an analogue curse on RAEM? Still, went up the street the other day and found a sparkly G4 by the road…maybe a linux install…or hack my pc into it…
Now i know what you mean
Posted on September 16th, 2006 16-09-06_1559.jpg The cabinet, held together with gaffer, sits quite neatly in the briefcase lid. Lower left are the 2 voltimeters, then the LFE and the fan. At the top are the 2 speakers and the 4 channels for the mixer. Bit of tweaking to go to get the cabinet to fit securely and anchored, then strengthening, carpeting and finally testing.
The small hard
Posted on September 17th, 2006 17-09-06_1052.jpg Your intrepid reporter crosses the thin blue line to get the skinny on a mo’board – the camberwell computer swap meet. A rich pageant of cliches, Far Side characters and enough blinky lights to festoon Bendigo. But i have a lead to chase up tomorrow – gotta speak to some joe, goes by the name of Long Tran. Its getting late, the church spire announces midday, soon every freak and burb dweller will be trawling the streets looking for a cheap latte fix, taking up space with their over-sized shopping bags and wondering where the next thrill will come from. Its time for me to take refuge from the city that never sleeps, except after 3am.
Womble-tech
Posted on September 17th, 2006 17-09-06_1300.jpg And now the large suitcase gets its framework from the parts of a bookshelf and a dish rack. This unit will house the power pack at the base consisting of 3 12volt batteries. Above that will be the guide rails for the casio to aid in sliding it in and out.
Not much bookcase left
Posted on September 18th, 2006 18-09-06_0150.jpg The prototyping for the suitcase has nearly finished with the power pack and the keyboard guide completed. The small bag atop it has been bolted and a keyboard stand base has been inserted, though there might be a few versions until it functions properly. Depending on time available this prototype will serve as a template for a production version but as it will remain hidden throughout performances it will probably be painted black and used. However, the prototype of the briefcase PA wont leave the studio as a cleaner cut-out of the facia awaits painting and fitting. Tomorrow is mobo day, oh yes it is.
Its alive
Posted on September 18th, 2006 18-09-06_1302.jpg A piece here, a piece there, a change in facial features and a “cross your fingers and pray” mobo install later and we get life in the dell. CPU runs well, OS seems stable and the BIOS is happy in its approximation of self awareness. All that needs to happen now is for its affections towards that pretty G4 to be misunderstood and result in all the villagers lynching it atop a windmill.
Turn it up
Posted on September 18th, 2006 18-09-06_1715.jpg Amongst the sawdust, offcuts and multitude of cables and circuitry, we rehearse for wednesdays gig. The dell is behaving however the casio lost its memory and has to be reprogrammed. And remember, its all about the music – as Paris Hilton once said, “I, like, cry whenever I hear my album…”
Live and in the flesh
Posted on September 18th, 2006 18-09-06_2056.jpg The rehearsal ended well with a bit of solo tweaking tomorrow before this Wednesday’s gig. This isn’t part of the Fringe Festival but is a chance to perform live some of the tracks we will play in elevators in a couple of weeks. It was thought that we might be able to perform with the full mobile PA system, cases and batteries but the laptop erm, situation, meant that construction isn’t complete – next weekend is the deadline for that. So anyway, the gig is at Horse Bazaar, 397 Lt Lonsdale St, just up from Elizabeth. Starts at 8pm and there is NO door tax! Thanks to Clan Analogue for hosting their new mid week live electronica night called Hump.
Nice night for a walk
Posted on September 20th, 2006 20-09-06_1959.jpg The den of the horse bazaar, awaiting punters and those with nothing better to do. Taking a moment to smoke a wee dart of Dr Pat outside. Now where did the dj go?
And so say all of us
Posted on September 20th, 2006 20-09-06_2058.jpg And the crowd goes wild. Not for us mind you, an over 50s birthday party arrived. I bet 20 bucks theyd want shush to have speeches but instead they sang happy birthday. At least in key. And no, we didnt play in an RSL!
Get crackin
Posted on September 22nd, 2006 22-09-06_1031.jpg The suitcase nears completion with supporting beams added to stabilise the keyboard when its played. The 2 effect pedals will probably get velcroed to the top of the keyboard. Manage to sleep through the alloted time for an interview with the breakfast show on channel 31 but tv appearances at SEVEN in the morning arent wise. Still, gotta photoshoot with MX magazine and then off to TripleJ for an interview with John Saffran and a spot of playing live to tape as the show goes out on sundays methinks.
Access denied
Posted on September 22nd, 2006 22-09-06_1310.jpg Of couse, getting in the elevator is one thing but getting it to move is another. This one had swipe card access only for button pressing fun. So we stood awkwardly for the journey as our authorised fellow passenger waited for us to swipe our floor request. Maybe that RFID forum could come in handy? But then, this project is about public access to public areas and “acceptable” behaviours within them, not about forced entry. The measure of this project is with public and corporate response to us playing ambient music in elevators, whatever those responses might be.
The airwaves await
Posted on September 22nd, 2006 22-09-06_1556.jpg Here at the ABC southbank studios RAEM set up our kit ready for a bit of recorded live to air action for JJJ. Someone called father bob is fussing around and adding witty asides. Going to air this sunday sometime between 9 and 11pm
Stand to attention
Posted on September 22nd, 2006 22-09-06_1819.jpg There was a few moments of wondering how the briefcase could be raised to the height necessary for performance and remain stable enough to play. This version has a standard 1/4 inch screw camera mount attached to the underside of the briefcase, this then locks into a tripod. It is quite stable though the case padding is allowing a little movement, this might end up being cut out.
Glue everywhere
Posted on September 24th, 2006 24-09-06_2228.jpg After this weekend both cases should be finished. The frame for the pa and mixer has only to get some mounting points to attach it to the briefcase. Then sealing, painting and assembly later tonight and it should all be ready for some tests tomorrow morning. Also for tomorrow will be the first recon for accessible elevators and depending on time we might conduct a test performance in the elevator at RAEM studios building.
The vapour trail
Posted on September 25th, 2006 25-09-06_1304.jpg After an allnighter session watching glue dry, now i get to watch paint dry. Such a rock n roll lifestyle. Kinda delerious from no sleep and waaaay too much coffee so i think today will just have a bit of elevator recon, no operating machinery, driving vehicles and making life altering decisions. Maybe i should play with some glow sticks…
The black box rocks
Posted on September 25th, 2006 25-09-06_1717.jpg Well the building has finally finished and a circuit test is taking place with the powerpack powering everything and the lappy rockin the mashup tunes. After this test the wiring can get secured with solder and glue gun fun. The power umbilical has a 4 way socket for quick connection and all the power runs have terminals inline to act as a sort of circuit breaker. This is what we like, success after a long sleepless weekend. Bring on the elevators!
Amp detail
Posted on September 25th, 2006 25-09-06_1705.jpg Close up of the amp controls consisting of master volume, power switch, power light and a headphone socket. Above this an old computer PSU fan is busy sucking air into the box to keep the amp heatsink vented. Air is expelled through the mixer cutouts and whatever holes i havent plugged yet. The large bass speaker, or Low Frequency Effects, has at the moment a crappy gauze over it that at the least needs to be made taut.
Guts o gusto
Posted on September 25th, 2006 25-09-06_1606.jpg The guts of the black box in need of some cable stays and mayhaps some gaffer for, well no reason really. The umbilical cables can be seen bottom left of the box and has a 12volt and 24volt line, audio from the casio, power to the casio, audio from the laptop and power to it as well. Looks kinda crap so i reckon a hose to contain them all will be best not just for appearance but also for strength and safety.
Voltage meterage gauge
Posted on September 25th, 2006 25-09-06_1704.jpg Close up of the voltimeters showing the juice flowing through the circuits and the umbilical leads. The bottom meter is measuring the power going to the laptop which has a max of 24.x volts and a shutdown voltage of 18 and under. Previous tests have shown a rapid decrease in voltage after approx 3 hours running so the meter will hopefully be readable enough to allow a graceful shutdown. The last test did show the meter needle waving somewhat presumably when the CPU cycles up so i think the meter is accurate and responsive. The top meter is for the 12volt circuit that powers everything else and tests have shown that after 3 hours there is usually a drop of only 1 volt. Chatting earlier, the lads of RAEM thought that three 1 hour sets should be enough per day and that will probably mean 3 different elevators per day. Two fun packed weeks spending 30 hours in 30 elevators.
Get typing
Posted on September 26th, 2006 26-09-06_1013.jpg If you live or work in the CBD or maybe you just seem to spend lots of time in elevators so you have a “favourite”, well you should email us and give us the details of this magnificent vertical conveyance. Email to cityfreqs@akm.net.au leave us your name and mobile number if you fancy an sms update as to when and in which elevator we will appear, or leave a message in the comment section of this post. This website will also be updated live from “the field” with photos and info just prior to performing and during, hopefully with some interesting reactions from punters.
Watch the wall my darling, while the elevator men go by
Posted on September 29th, 2006 29-09-06_1645.jpg A bit of construction, a bit of wiring and some shopping for materials was how today was spent and an interview with Amber from SBSradio at the corner coffee shop as well. A couple of hours was then spent trawling the west side of the cbd for suitable elevators that were accessible and had no muzak. All the buildings entered were at least ten storeys high, had no reception desk and some even had cafes on the ground floor – good for early morning starts. None had any swipe card barriers but most needed a card to activate the floor buttons inside the elevators, so we had more of those special moments where the others in the elevator waited for us to “swipe and press” our floor only to have our inaction looked upon with suspicion. Good times. So the pic above is of the inaugural Elevator of the Day. It gets the award for its elegance, style, atmospheric lighting and power points. Yes, who can resist 240 volts AC when ya pushing 3 hours max playing time from batteries? Perhaps buildings like this will become a sort of bonus gig each day when the batt pack is depleted we can still play, though the security camera dome might have eyes attached that are on the lookout for such electrickery.
Oh it does fit
Posted on September 30th, 2006 30-09-06_0254.jpg The black box is being fitted into the briefcase lid and tests are carried out to determine the materials and/or baffles needed to get the best sound quality. Methinks a 3am google search for a speaker cabinet construction primer isnt exactly what i had planned for tonight. Anyway, the lappy fits well, the lid closes easily and dj food’s jazz breaks are running out of winamp to provide some rhythm for the caffeine. After a bit more tinkering theres gunna be some painting, oh yes.
Saddle up the horses, we head east
Posted on September 30th, 2006 30-09-06_1740.jpg Well, just before i have to goto work heres some photos of the nigh on completed kit. The above photo shows all the cases that we will carry onboard – sounds glamourous, onboard. The suitcase combo with casio, powerpack and umbilical is on the right. On the left is the briefcase containing the laptop, amp PA system and a wee little Realistic Concertmate keyboard (doubles as a calculator). Behind that is the shoulder bag with the tripod (no, not ipod) inside. The idea is that all this looks like average joe white guy business gear and camoflaged we can move amongst the suits at will. Of course, we do have rock n roll haircuts to add a bit of visual interest.
Finito for a while
Posted on September 30th, 2006 30-09-06_1753.jpg And this is how we look after undressing. When we are “onboard” the suitcase and casio will be behind the tripod so that we face each other when we play – another behaviour frowned upon in elevators. As of now the gear is all ready and working with just some cleaning up and attaching a cable from the briefcase body to the lid that is strong enough to take the extra weight of the amp PA at an increased angle. Tomorrow is rehearsal day.
At least im looking up at stars
Posted on October 1st, 2006 30-09-06_2333.jpg Well, while the power pack recharges and some glue drys on the fx pedal attachment for the casio, here at RAEM studios its good to kick back with a cup of tea and a trawl through tvinjapan.com to pass the time. Just a few more additional fixes to the gear before tomorrows rehearsal of the music and the embarkation techniques. Current thinking is we will take an elevator to the top floor, hold it there, unpack the gear and start playing before continuing the “journey”. The practise of this will take place here in the building housing the studio, ought to give the bleary eyed footy watchers something to confuse them other than trying to remember that last bar visited that stood out not least for the vinyl decor but that that was where they lost their trousers. Saturday night in the cbd – not so much lifes rich pageant, more lifes debt ridden moomba.
Live from Home Elevator
Posted on October 1st, 2006 01-10-06_1513.jpg Rehearsal commences in the local elevator with much confusion from the residents. The common question is “up or down?” to which we sagely reply, “anywhere…”

onwards to the tour of 2006