Not to be labelled as only a political blogger due to my last post, here is some of the other things I am promoting around the web.

Over at RfL, I have not done any 2.0 shows this week due to another head cold. My voice and throat are out of whack, but I have been busy. I started a new section called, “The New Media Cynic,” where I take on what I perceive to be the myths in the online media world.

Also, I have divided all the categories in to individual feeds so that people can subscribe only to the content they want. Don’t worry, if you are prone to worrying, the main feed, which brings all of RfL to you is still in place.

Now, why is there yet another slowdown in the RfL production? I am having a crisis of
Faith. Not of belief, but of how to conform the RfL media to get inline with my Christian Beliefs without scaring off my fans.

Why does that matter?

Because I want to create content that reaches everyone, not just those that believe like I do. Lewis, Tolkien, and others, obviously more creative than I, have used allegory to such an extent that both Christians and non-Christians love their work, and in the process, get their message.  Head over to Jesus Pirates for more on this topic.

And, as always, most of my time is devoted to Certified Golf. Jobs, eh?

Cheers,

Eban

Oh yes, it is the Juggernaut, which is normally Hard Rock and Metal Friday, but this week it is Hard Rock and Metal Saturday. We have music from around the globe to kick your ass today.

We have bands from around the world for your ears. From The Netherlands, we have Chiraw and Non Devine. From California, we have favorites In Silence. From Nevada, we have royal court members Darque Carnival. From Washington, we have Lucid. And from Norway, we have K9!

That is a lot of great hard rock and metal music! Seriously!

But you know it would not be RfL 2.0 if that is all we offered you. We have our look at celebrity birthdays as well as trivia from Jan 24th. How about the first beer can? That is interesting, right? How about the gold rush? What about the product that got us all saying “anal Leakage?” Even the Eskimos, pies, and indirectly, Steven King, play into all of this.

Sj takes the reigns to tell us what happened to the stars of the movie, “The Breakfast Club”, and even confuses Judd Hersch with Judd Nelson. What an idiot! And just for kicks, he also let’s us know just why Andy Dick is, well, a total dick.

That is a lot to fit into a show, but we do it, mistakes, mis-takes, and all.

It may not always be pretty, but it is always fun.

Cheers!

Music on the show!

Lucid – Sirens

Non Divine – Visions

Darque Carnival – Down Driven

In Silence – To Walk Away

K9 – Fraction of Time

ChiRaw – Domination

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A Mevio Production

RfL sites

Reaching for Lucidity 2.0

The Jesus Pirates

Eban at Mevio

RfL at Myspace

Eban at Facebook

RfL at Twitter —–

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We are back, and we are starting with an artist spotlight quickjabs, episode #403. Thgis is all about Richard Seypka from Canada, who just happens to be the perfect match for our long awaited return, and first show of 2009.

We are returning with our first full length episode, including SJ, on Friday as we have to come back with a Juggernaut. Until then, we will have one more Quickjabs.

Also, on Thursday, I am hosting the Inside919 Business Network January Social. It will be a red carpet kind of broadcast live on the net. If you want to catch it, I will be posting info soon. It will be available on the Inside919.com front page. It should be a lot of fun!

It is great to be back in action.

We missed ya!

Check out Richard at http://www.reverbnation.com/richardseypka

Songs on today’s show:

Minds, Flashback, and Halos

—–

A Mevio Production

RfL sites

Reaching for Lucidity 2.0

The Jesus Pirates

Eban at Mevio

RfL at Myspace

Eban at Facebook

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A New Show, Monday!
Now, you are asking yourself, “did I really just read that?”
The answer is YES, you did just read that. RfL 2.0 is back on Monday. In February, you will also see the return of the Animated Adventures.
You have probably already noticed the new splash page that greets you when you visit the site. It is all part of the new direction of RfL. A direction I have been wanting to follow for some time now, but due to other obligations – and yes, it is what you are thinking, unless you are not – I was unable to do things exactly as I wanted.
Those times are gone now, and my focus will be back to what I originally wnated to accomplish. The shows will be better for it, hopefully.
So, cheers to all that have stuck around. And cheers to all the new folks as well. This will be a fun ride, again. Why again? Well, I don’t think it is much of a secret to old timers, ugh, I mean longtime fans, that the show had stopped being fun. Now, consider the last year as an abomination. It is back to the fun here at Reaching for Lucidity Productions.
And for those wondering, I am still under contract with Mevio. It is just that things have changed. I really can’t explain more thatn that.
Cheers,
Eban

This is the Reaching for Lucidity 2008 Halloween Special!

This is going to be fun.

SJ starts things off today. It is fitting as he is a 500 year old red demon boy form the 5th dimension. The music today is all kinds of spooky.

We hear from Calabrese which opens and closes the show. Never so True brings up zombies, while monsters are the theme from Never so True, Matchbook Romance, The Hoodlum Circus, and The Powerknobs.

See, spooky!

SJ and I talk about the history of Halloween, Rfl style. We hit on the spooky Halloween celebrity birthdays. We even have some trivia for you that all happens on October 31. To top things off, SJ tries the toxic punch that is brewing through the show, with an extreme reaction.

Demons, eh?

Enjoy the show, and have a great Halloween.

Cheers,

Eban and SJ

Music on the show

Calebrese: Zombie I, Midnight Spookshow, and Backseat of My Hearst

Never So True: Zombie Movie

Matchbook Romance: Monsters

The Hoodlum Circus: Space Monster

The Powerknobs: Monster Party

—–

A Mevio Production

RfL sites

Reaching for Lucidity 2.0

The Jesus Pirates

Eban at Mevio

RfL at Myspace

Eban at Facebook

RfL at Twitter —–

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I am sticking to the written word today. I can’t get a show out like this. If I find the proper meds to make this better, I will be sure to have a lot on hand tomorrow for the Coffee House.

This officially sucks!

So, no show today, sorry.

No Cheers Today,

Eban

We have music from In This Moment, Poisonblack, Into Eternity, and Attackhead. We are going to send you into the weekend with the best metal and hard rock stuck in your head.

Would you want it any other way?

I thought not!

No big celebration today, just great tunes. Again, would you want it any other way?

Again, I thought not.

We also have our regular segments, celebrity birthdays, trivia, and finally back from vacation, it is the return of SJ!

Yeah, you could have probably lived without that one, but we take the good with the bad, eh? (Yes, I will have to deal with SJ after writing that)

So, kick back, buckle your seat belts, and get ready for some brain scrambling music. It would not be a proper Friday at RfL otherwise.

Cheers!

Eban and SJ

Music on the show

In This Moment: Forever

Poisonblack: HateLove and Left Behind

Into Eternity: Splintered Visions and Time Immemorial

Attackhead: Waste of Life and Lead the Blind

—–

A Mevio Production

RfL sites

Reaching for Lucidity 2.0

The Jesus Pirates

Eban at Mevio

RfL at Myspace

Eban at Facebook

RfL at Twitter

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Well, being sick is not fun.

But, I am on the mend right now. I am still having a lot of trouble with my left ear. I can barely hear out of it, and as a media producer – an audio guy to be more specific, this is not a good thing. I may be making a trip to the doctor soon.

The trip to Cali for the orientation for my new job went great, other than the cold. The new position is more than I thought and I am being given a long leash to prove the power of social media to drive business. I love situations like this, it is up to me to make or break it, and that is cool.

For those that do not know, I am the E-commerce Director for the Wake Forest branch of Certified Golf. So now let’s see just how many heads I can blow in this position. My boss in Wake Forest and the big guys in Cali seemed to scratch their heads about my ideas, but are excited enough about what I said to let me go and prove my points.

How is that for an adventure?

Well, that is my update for now. Look for a new Wednesday Coffee House and show #400 on Friday. Yes, it will be a Juggernaut, and it will rock hard! Also, check out the Monday show, which features indie artist and podcaster, Cush.

Cheers,

Eban

Well, being sick is not fun. That is one thing I think most people will not argue about. Being sick while having to fly all day is hell, not only for the sick, but for all those surrounding the sick.

Luckily, I am on the mend right now. I am still having a lot of trouble with my left ear. I can barely hear out of it, and as a media producer – an audio guy to be more specific, this is not a good thing. I may be making a trip to the doctor soon.

The trip to California, the orientation for my new job, went great. Other than the cold, that is. The new position is bigger than I thought and I am being given a long leash to prove the power of social media to drive business. (or to hang myself, but we know that won’t happen, right?) I love situations like this, it is up to me to make or break it, and that is cool. I am the only person I trust 100% at least 45 % of the time.

For those that do not know, I am the E-commerce Director for the Wake Forest branch of Certified Golf. So now let’s see just how many heads I can blow in this position. My boss in Wake Forest and the big guys in California seemed to scratch their heads about my ideas, but are excited enough about what I said to let me go and prove my points. It seems like us tech types speak a foreign language at times. At least that is what I am told.

How is that for an adventure?

Well, that is my update for now. Look for a new Wednesday Coffee House and show #400 on Friday. Yes, it will be a Juggernaut, and it will rock hard! Also, check out the Monday show, which features indie artist and podcaster, Cush.

Cheers,

Eban

Anyway, can’t let illness block the show, so today we have an artist spotlight on Cush. Not only a great indie artist, but also a great podcaster that has been around since the early days.

So enjoy as we keep moving to #400!

Cheers,

Eban

Cush’s Myspace

Things I Say Podcast

Songs on the show

Won’t Let It Rain, Sweet Doomed Angel, and Sorry I ruined Your Life

—–

A Mevio Production

RfL sites

Reaching for Lucidity 2.0

The Jesus Pirates

Eban at Mevio

RfL at Myspace

Eban at Facebook

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Check out our sponsors and partners, please.

Our Sponsors

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Strip Away The Pounds at Fat Loss Reviews

Cheers,
Eban

Reaching for Lucidity Productions

Eban at Vox (phone posts)

The Jesus Pirates

It is 1 full year of RfL. We have been around since 2004, but today marks the 365th episode! (Technically, there are more, but who cares, eh?)

We also finished off the first 5 days of the challenge that SallyGirl threw at us. After completing this week, I think we can do this. We did alter the challenge just a bit though, we don’t have to do the Sunday shows to win. we may still do a couple, however.

Now, on to the show!

It is a Quickjabs today. I wanted to do a full show, but ate up all the recording a prep time dialing in the recording settings. I can’t record like I was at 4 shows a month. I had to redo my old rig and settings from when we were on 5 days a week. The sound has been bad this week as I don’t have the extra editing time any longer.

It is the Juggernaut today! Hard Rock and Metal Friday. In this Quickjabs, we feature the music of Warbringer, a band out of California. Get ready for some sonic brutality!

Songs on the show

Dread Command and Combat Shock

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I can’t wait to get my next show out tomorrow. the mic just plain rocks!

Enjoy the review, and the BLUE “The Ball” microphone review and sound sample.

See you here tomorrow for the Juggernaut, Hard Rock and Metal Friday!

Cheers,

Eban

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You may remember yesterday I said I was happy to be getting a new studio toy, “The Ball” microphone from Blue. This is not to be confused with the Blue microphone most closely associated with New Media, The Snowball, no this is the original ball from Blue, which is blue.

Yep, I have a a blue “The Ball”, which is so much more sweet than blue balls, eh?

Well, I am in love with this microphone, completely. It is a dynamic, but get this, it is a phantom powered dynamic. The phantom power is for a balancing circuit that that smooths out the signal, making it much more rich than a regular dynamic. It is exactly what I was looking for.

I have long been a fan of using dynamic mics instead of condenser mics for home recording. Yes, the condensers sound better, but the majority of home recording folks do not have a pristine recording environment. It is harder to get a clean sound out of a condenser at home than with a cardioid pattern dynamic. Even if the sound is not as rich or powerful, at least it is easier to keep unwanted noise at bay, which is a better trade off.

You can fix sound a bit in production, but it is very hard to take out noise without damaging sound, thus taking away that perk of condenser mics.

Also, homes can be a destructive space. Dogs, kids, clumsiness, things that do not happen at the perfectly setup studios, are a regular day’s routine at home. Condenser mics are not that sturdy and even a light tap can damage them irreparably. dynamics are closer to bulletproof.

Even with that, however, the fact that quality Chinese made condenser mics brought the price down to that of quality dynamic mics, and home recorders want the props of using studio quality equipment, you can see why so many at home producers went with the condensers.

Still, one question I get often is how to reduce the intrusion of unwanted sound? I always ask back, do you have a condenser or a dynamic?

Even a tight cardioid pattern condenser will pick up the smallest ambient sounds. A dynamic with a tight cardioid pattern is much more forgiving.

So, I have used dynamics for most of my New Media career. I did flirt with condensers for a bit, but went back to my trusty dynamics. I still was always on the lookout for a better sound, however.

Enter “The Ball”. Unlike the other BLUE mics, this one is dynamic. But it does have that balncing circuit that runs off of phantom power. This is the perfect mic for me, I am now convinced.

Normally, I am not a fan of best of both world things as you tend to end up with something less in the trade off. Not with this mic. Even though it offers performance in the middle of condenser mics and dynamic mics, it plays to the strengths rather than the weakness of both.

You get a great, deep, and smooth sound from this mic, and it takes well to EQ tweaks. This means you can manipulate the sound curve right off of your board and tweak it just the way you like. Is it up to a high dollar condenser standard? No. But it does not have to be. The sound of this mic is all it’s own, and it is sweet.

Add to this that it has the sturdiness of a dynamic. Also, it rejects ambient sounds very well. the cardioid pattern gives a great sweet spot, but rejects the unwanted.

And how about SPL? SPL means sound pressure level. It is the amount of pressure the mic can handle before distorting. This has always been a strength of dynamics. Condensers can’t take that high of a pressure. This mic? 162db! It is absolutely mind blowing what this mic can take without distorting.

Even though Blue offers two USB condenser mics that they market to New Media and home recording guys, the Snowball and Snowflake, I would have to say leave them alone. Get a mixer or an audio interface with phantom power and get “The Ball”, the Blue blue ball microphone.

Here is a sound test. I am still tweaking the sound, but you will get the idea.

I can’t wait to record with this little bugger.

Cheers,

Eban!

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I think that what Oprah has achieved, with all the obstacles she has overcome, is worthy of deep respect. Unfortunately, last year Oprah did something that has me thinking that there is a dishonesty about her now. Listen for my take.

Cheers!