Are we ready to take this to the next level?

Truth be told, I was disappointed with the performance last weekend. In fact, watching the vid made me depressed even more.

If there's one fact that I realized, it's this -- people are happy with small bands. These are the bands who are trying to prove themselves and having their songs heard. The problem is, though these bands play and sing for just the fun of it, they get scared the moment they see the stage, or the crowd. Next thing you know, they give up on music completely.

This fact never felt so real. I even had the impression that we were not walking away from the stagelast weekend.. we were running. Deep in our hearts we know that we are running away. Proof? Watch the vid, especially at the last part. And then ask yourself--now that you've seen the stage, and you've experienced the crowd.. are you still up for it, or isn't it about time we give up on music completely?

To me, the answer is obvious. Music has become everything to me, to the point that I even regret the fact of not being a music major. Oh well, everything happens for a reason.

I know it's going to get hard from this point on, and I'm not even certain on who gets to walk with me along this path. I never really imposed on anything NEWTONE should do after the contest, but now I believe is the time we get this straight.

To whoever decides to follow me into this ditch--my standards will be raised a few notches. If you guys think that the rehearsals were tormenting enough, guess again. I will point out each and every mistake, and fine-tune all of your pieces. In fact, I'll even tell you straight on if you deserve to stay in this band or not considering your level of skill. I will start handing out GuitarPro files with just my tracks on it and leave you the task of filling out your own tracks. And finally, since I'm the manager, you can expect that I'll sign up the band for each and every opportunity that we get to take the stage (which I believe is the only way to beat the "stage presence" or what's also known as "stage fright").

If you're still up for it--I am in need of a Lead Guitarist, a Bassist, a Drummer, a Keyboardist and a Vocalist. Probably a mixer as well.

NEWTONE or not, this time I'll be critical. I'll choose my crew. Only those with the skill and passion for their instruments gets to be picked. Auditions? Probably. I'm serious.

バンドやりませんか?

I wonder if it could've been different if it started like this..

Mina konnichiwa. A pleasant afternoon to all of you. First and foremost, I'd like to say that WE ARE PHYSICS MAJORS and music isn't really our thing. So if you here me sing some flat notes, or if the instruments freeze at some parts, Gomen Gomen.

It is a given that we don't even know why we're here. It's Carmen's fault for getting us in an anime music video contest that turns out to be a J-POP/ANIME SINGING contest.

She even picked the right FILM and now MUSIC DIRECTOR for the job--Earl. Being the perfectionist that he is, he's the guy responsible for tormenting our lives these past few months. Thank you Earl.

I also want to thank our humble sponsors, the PANGANIBAN for the Fender Squier Strat and the CABELLO foundation for the Yamaha ERB-070. Yung nagpahiram kay Master ng Yamaha keyboard at kay Carmen ng Rockstar Strat, maraming salamat din. To Kuya Ian for mixing our tracks, and to Kuya Auditions for blaming us for the damaged snare drum last night, maraming salamat din.

To all those who believed in us and all those who supported us, we dedicate this to you.

Earl keeps on telling us to sing or play our hearts out. However, we don't really know what that means or what it's all about. So for now, being our first and hopefully not the last time we perform for a crowd, we'd like to give it a shot.

This song is Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha's opening, Mizuki Nana's "innocent starter." Hajimarimasu.

NEWTONe disbands?!

I think I'm feeling a bit of mixed emotions today. I'm happy by the fact that we were able to perform at the Market! Market! Activity Center, but it saddens me--the fact that we did not perform at our best.

Not really dismayed at losing, for all intents and purposes I was there to enjoy the show. I'm sure that I met this objective, but then yeah--losing proves the fact that we are still innocent starters (the choice of song fits). A lot more has to be done in terms of stage presence (which I believe completely ruined the show for us).

In any case, since everyone will be in SPP mode starting today (to please our advisers), I guess for now we're on our own.

P.S.

On a side note, I believe the organizers and the MCs were fond of NEWTONE among the other groups.

Sig was quite happy the fact we were there, and if there was an award for being obedient--we could have won it. NEWTONE was the only group to arrive before the 7am call time, we followed all of their guidelines and submitted their requirements on time, and we went back to the dressing room at the appointed time.

The MCs also liked as a lot.. probably because we're not snobs. I really enjoyed chatting with them. I wish I gave a copy of the single to Aryn (the female MC who was very fond of NEWTONE).. and probably to Mr. Watanabe-san as well. It's a bad thing to run short on CDs..

awoo...

I was expecting someone (Earl) would post something last night.

Grabe sobrang nakakapagod ang araw namin kahapon kaya nakatulog ako agad pagdating sa bahay at hindi na nakapag-online.

Hmm... kahapon, actually simula Friday ng gabi, nagkaroon ng series of unfortunate events... snare problem, Neil's bag and Master's adapter, Carmie's loose string, unsuccessful katips trip, Carmie's camera... That's probably not the whole list. Gomen, gomen.

Gomen T_T

Hay basta ang galing niyo, you guys should keep playing. Lalo na si Carmie dahil may fans na siya hihi. I'm going to miss watching and listening to you guys practice. :) Ack mushyness. See you next week! Domo arigato!

EDIT: Ang kaisa.isang pic natin kahapon na meron ako. Gomen.

~jaa

nag post n ako :)

sorry ngaun ko plang naiblog.. neweyz ang mga pics na to ay from kuya ed.

Ito ang mga pics ng recording namin for Tomorrow at Innocent Starter!




kkatapos lang nito mag recording ng lahat ng instruments yehey. nagprprepare na for the vocalist.

... nkkpagod mag bass noh?

...si ed ang kumuha ng larawang ito. wacky shot uli.




ehehem... ganito po pag nagrerecording na for the vocalist part ng kanta. :) masaya makinig sa labas ng room habang kumakanta si jica ng Innocent Starter.

ayan we are done with the v-voice recording!!!
the tracks are now ready to be mixed and burn.

It took us 4.5 Hrs to finish this recording.n_n






ang post na ito ay available din sa youtube... :)

NEWTONE single [innocent starter] report!!

With just a few days left before the live event, there just doesn't seem to be any tension in the air for NEWTONE. Probably due to the fact that we only have two weeks left before the SPP deadline, a lot of stuff to do for AP 186 and 187, not to mention a coming 142 exam.

The shirts are on their way, and the cd covers are almost done. What remains is a final rehearsal on the night before the big day.

In any case, for those who don't know, the live event will be held at Market! Market!'s Activity Center this Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 2pm. It's sponsored by the Japan Embassy so there's plenty of other activities there aside from the concert.. So to all NEWTONE fans, we hope to see you there!

this disc is worth 1.7k.. and it's trash.

NEWTONE Emergency Lunch Meeting tomorrow. After 161.

My most rash ranting ever: We need to record again. This just won't work out.

To start, the drums were bad. They're just not right. And the mere fact that it wasn't recorded as a whole, the fact that the tempo changed at the bridge was just too obvious. There were a lot of missed cymbals, the rolls were bad and the kick drum was wrong at some parts.

The bass recording was an injustice to the newly purchased Yamaha. There were some parts in the chorus where the bass was leading the drums. And the tone wasn't set right (but i'll probably owe this to the lack of a pre-amp.)

The keyboard was high by an octave. It made it difficult for the vocals to sing the song.. there were a lot of flat notes on the vocals because of this. It's probably better to split the keyboard and strings track.

Guitar 1 plainly sucks. The volume wasn't leveled in the intro, and it had a terrible end. Same goes for Guitar 2. Can't hear Guitar 2 between the chorus and the second verse (obviously the strings track was louder and it wasn't in sync with Guitar 2.) I'm owing this to the fact that I've practiced a lot longer than everyone else, but my mistake was the fact that I had limited practice with a guitar that's connected to a good (Marshall MG Series) amp.

Guitar 3 was nowhere to be found. Same goes for Guitar 4.

Vocals was dead. Sounded like she was singing because she was forced to do so. It's the 'need to' or 'have to' rather than 'want to.' She was good in her own right, but it's dull. It's plain. There's just no 'feel' to it.

Now you know why there has to be an emergency meeting. And I'd like to remind everyone that we only have two weeks left.

If it's just the effort, we'll probably win this contest--but that's not what they're looking for. If we wanted them to see our efforts, we won't give them a song.. we'll give them a rant. These people are obviously looking for results and I believe that with the kind of performance we had last weekend, we're just not taking their expectation seriously.

It's time we get serious. It's no time for burning out. It's about time we stand up and tell them--'we're the best band there is.'

busy bees

Carmen and I were supposed to post an entry last Tuesday after our 5:30pm to 7pm classes. But then Carmen ended up busy at the library. And the rest of the week we were both super busy. She didn't even get to practice with us yesterday because she had to do an experiment. The entry was going to be full of pictures from practices. Tsk tsk. Oh well, next time. :)

And hmm on busyness... Ack! SPP deadline's on August 3 T_T ... I don't even know what to do for SPP yet. Deadlines do get extended most of the time but only by a few weeks. And hmm... 186 blog reports are due every meeting day... Plus labwork...

Mangs is back and well na! :) But she needs to avoid strenuous physical activities pa... Mag-ingat, Mangs, okie? :)

Earl is back na rin but still coughing. Carmen has a cough din. You guys get well right away, okie? hehe :)

We're recording na on Saturday! And at night. I hope Master doesn't get too tired from his afternoon seminar. And I hope we all do great! :) Waaa pressure. Nurr nurr nurr. Let's just enjoy the recording, horayt? :)

At dahil sabi nga ni Earl, play your heart out. Naalala ko itong xkcd strip:

Haha.

~jaa ^__^

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Spent the entire day yesterday in a hospital bed.. waiting for that 0.9% sodium chloride solution bottle connected to my hand through a plastic tube line to get depleted. Time ticked slower with each drop.

I won't make it to Jica's vocal practice today. I just hope they push through with it anyway.