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OT - what good things came for you or those you know from the covid year?
Not to diminish the pain and disruption many have had over the past year. I know there will be people in this thread grieving the loss of loved ones or the loss of their own health. For me, the past year has had very very mixed blessings but I still recognize I came out of it a lot better than many .
There was a good article in the Guardian this morning that made me decide to start a thread focusing on any positive things that came out of this past year.
This was the year that I started my channel and actually learnt how to use at least SOME of my huge collection of apps in a properly deep way rather than just buying them and twiddling with them. It was the year that I became active in this forum, where I met some truly fine people who I am glad to call my friends, even if we have just chatted over the phone, email or social media so far rather than meeting in person, and many others who I don't yet know so well but care about and feel warmly towards nevertheless.
So what good has come for you out of this terrible covid year? What are you grateful for?
Comments
Not to be a wet blanket, but can we even have discussions like this anymore without them becoming political and getting closed?
This one is positive, at least in theory, so I reckon it won't be sunk 😜
I know more than several people who died due to COVID or pneumonia this past year, so it hasn’t been wonderful, but there is the possibility that the billions of dollars spent doing the research to create various vaccines might result in a cancer vaccine at some point in the future. That would be a tremendous benefit stemming from this otherwise tragic situation we are just starting to emerge from.
Well, I reunited with my ex-wife in Savannah, Georgia, and we had each other during this past year. I had returned from Istanbul, Turkey with no prospects. The isolation provided focus and time to make 11 new albums since last March. This forum, and its cool compadres, was always there. I am grateful.
To witness acts of kindness locally and further afield and also to keep a good stock of toilet roll, in case of emergencies.
I learned Flutter. The week we came home to stay home, I started into it, as a means to do UI mockups, and basically used 2020 to bury myself in Flutter and nothing else. Stopped making music, stopped painting watercolours, just learned more and more about Flutter.
And my wife and I got folding bikes.
Oh, and also, I started doing a film review at work each morning in our Zoom morning meetup, it started because I had a chromakey screen and video lights anyway. Each morning I put a few slides from a film behind me, then started talking about the film a bit while I changed the background pic in zoom, then dug out my proper video gear to do a split screen and PIP with a nice 2x1 multiviewer fed into external video into Zoom. Then I got another BlackMagic ATEM Mini Pro (I’d had ATEMs in the past, and still have a lot of my video gear such as a Decklink 3D in my Linux machine, plus loads of converters, scalers etc). By then I was doing a 5 min morning spot pre-meeting for anyone who wanted to join early, then the meeting starts when I finish and everyone’s there by then. Then I started live-streaming it to youtube at the same time. And this morning I did a review of possibly one of the most ridiculous and obscure films I’ve done.
(subscribe and like, if you want).
But yes, life’s become limited and concentrated. Flutter + graphics all day, bit of cycling, write up a film review + Keynote slideshow, present it the next morning on time, then Flutter UI mockuping all day, etc. I’m tired.
I wrote both a short film that I’ve storyboarded, and just recently an even shorter one that I might have a chance of making without needing external funding. Been meaning to get to this point for years as freelance life often leaves gaps for backburner projects but it’s proved tricky to get going until now...
Well the last year further validated for me the yin/yang of life and how things seem to balance out. On the negative side regarding COVID, my father died, my mother was in the hospital for 6 weeks, my mother in law for a month, my brother for a month, and my daughter had it twice.
However, it was also one of the most creative years of my life. I relearned photography, started doing videography, started two YouTube channels, wrote over 20 songs for a duo I’m in, and started back up with ambient/electronic music, primarily on the iPad. Plus I discovered this forum and get to hang with all of you fine folks.
My mastering business had one of its best years ever, thanks to so many people being forced home with lots of time on their hands. Also some of my investments from years ago did MUCH better than expected this past year, and I'm now giving serious thought to early retirement in order to travel more (once we can).
I ordered an ipad for garageband (first daw) on the day my job went virtual. Later I found this forum. Now I am thinking about trying a DAW on a laptop. Or going eurorack. But resisting both successfully so far, as well as AAS. Anyway I maybe like sound design more.
Online gigs. Not everyone has embraced them, obviously, but I've gone from seeing one of my favourite musicians live once or twice a year (if I'm lucky) to weekly and from my sofa.
I'd suffered a chronic forearm injury from overworking on double bass gigs while living in Dublin (high rent -> more gigs). Was seriously impairing my ability to earn an income as I was constantly pushing against the physical threshold in my primary income stream and never really healing.
No gigs for a whole year and experimenting with analogue synths and orchestration in that time over guitars has allowed me to reach a point in my healing where I can attend 2-3 rehearsals a week (possible under MU rules as it's on label premises) and practice at home in between without feeling any of my previous pain and post-exertion symptoms. I'm going to keep up the healthy rhythm I'm in now and slowly re-introduce the double bass starting a few weeks from now.
Feels good!
Was it a worthwhile endeavor? I sometimes consider learning these types of technologies, but always find a reason not to. For one, they tend to change so often. I also mostly avoid the ones spawned from Big Tech (in this case, Google).
I take it you needed something deeper than the usual suspects for UI/UX prototyping or Bootstrap, Foundation, etc.?
I'd recommend it. It's well thought out. The whole Material Design thing is also very well thought out, at least, to start with.
For me, It's more an alternative for things like Adobe XD, by which I mean, I want to make something that is more than a walkthrough of slides. Doing a flutter_web app lets me make a block model that has some semblance of functionality from an interaction point of view (not the functionality of the whole app, I don't bother with that, that's for the devs to figure out). I know I'm probably the only one in the world using Flutter for that, and it's a bit of an abuse of what it was meant for, but I needed actual interaction prototyping that XD can't do for me – that's working at a different level. All I'm making is demo block models that have a "working part" that I'm prototyping.
I used to do that in html/css but although that's easy at the initial level, it doesn't scale by the time you've got something a lot more complex and unmanageable. A tech like this, though, is hard at the initial level but scales nicerly when you've got any realistic complexity. I mean, it's hard enough to put off most designers, so most designers will be scared away by what seems like real programming (and it is, but I ignore a lot of the complex capabilities, I'm only making models).
Thanks, Ian!
Two good things came on March 1: a ronroco and a banjo. I had commissioned them from two different luthiers and they both arrived the same day. What are the odds?
I can play anything with strings, but banjo is very, very difficult for me. The hardest string instrument I’ve ever tried. I’ve gotten nowhere with it so far. Ronroco is a dream, though. Classical guitar technique works very well on it. After three weeks I am already getting great stuff out of it.
They’ve inadvertently made everybody healthier with this lockdown nonsense. I’ve literally never seen so many people outside exercising, walking with their kids, biking, hiking, kayaking, etc. Just try to go buy ANY outdoor sporting equipment. Good luck. I’m an avid mountain biker (like 30+ years) and it’s been absolutely hell trying find any components. Bikes are flying off the shelves and there’s HUGE wait times for new bikes. Never seen anything like it.
Another great thing is homeschooling. I love it. Decided my children are not going back to regular school. They’re getting a far better education now and have more free time to be creative and play.
I received more money from the government.
Took up a new hobby (DJing).
The hospitals in my area have been a lot more orderly and chill since Corona virus protocols put in place.
No more waiting in packed waiting rooms for an hour+
No more crazy homeless guys smoking meth inside the back door, lol
That's great. Have you tried anything like Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais or Egoscue Method for that issue?
Amazing. Yeah it is fantastic to see the upsides there have been for some people through this.
I spent way more time with my wife and daughter than I would have normally, and I'm grateful for tha extra time together.
Great year work wise.
Produced a 3 tune EP earlier in the year then produced my first ios only tune over winter break. Learned a ton, and I definitely have a better appreciation of the passion expressed for ios music expressed here.
My heart goes out to those who have suffered and lost loved ones.
Creativity & Knowledge, both Musically and in general due to spending more time indoors, I’ve spent more time on my iPad, reading, fiddling with synths, exploring ideas, basically more iOS Music Making, and everything that entails.
That's awesome. If nothing else good comes from the pandemic, I hope it forges stronger bonds with loved ones and gives people perspective on what really matters in life.
I never really considered it as the issue was already reducing my income and I keep myself busy so didn’t really feel like I had time to start out on my own.
Perhaps I should look for some long term exercises to do or something. I saw an NHS physio for about 6 months who gave me some stretches but she really has no idea what the problem was — basically just said to follow whatever advice the musicians union or colleagues in music might provide as the issue was too specific for her to help.
Finally learned how to play the Linnstrument with two hands. Something @LinearLineman posted about really learning the melody for improvisation got me going to play the standards I heart so much again but on the Linnstrument. It’s been the most amazing musical journey since punk rock! Just added a ContinuuMini to the equation, I’m in MPE dreamland.
You can definitely get books on Feldenkrais and Egoscue that will help a lot and won't need a teacher. Alexander Technique needs to be hands on maybe, but these others less so
Thanks!
Have you read “The bassist’s guide to injury management” by Randy Kertz? It might be worth a read. I have the first edition and it is good. It focuses primarily on electric bass but still could be helpful.
The Bassist's Guide to Injury Management, Prevention and Better Health (Musician's Health Resources Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077XVSBKT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_XVFB3M51QRB9J1616ZYZ
Unfortunately upright is such a physical instrument. I don’t own one anymore and there are times I think I might want to get back into it, but I really don’t have room for one. By the time I stopped playing upright though I really excelled more at making noise with it in a rockabilly fashion than at making music with it.
Currently I have a 34” scale electric upright that someone built for me, but I don’t use it much. I really only play electric bass now. I do get to do sound for some amazing bassists though and when someone really knows how to play the upright it is a wonderful thing.
I wish you the best with this, I have psoriatic arthritis, and wasn’t surprised as I dealt previous autoimmune stuff, so for me it was a countdown for a while when my basses had to get smaller and lighter. A 5 string kala u bass was my primary instrument for a few years, then a marleaux Consat sopran strung up in standard tuning. Luckily my health has improved with some (sometimes, I’m not that disciplined sadly) lifestyle changes as well as a medication that has been helping greatly, so I can play 30” scale instruments comfortably for whole gigs again. Of course, 4 month breaks between each bass gigs have certainly allowed rest!
Anyway. Before I ramble too far, I was considering sending as a PM but then thought maybe the info could help others too, so I hope you don’t mind. Happy to move it to another discussion so as not to derail the thread.
I play a Banana Bass. It’s not as full-bodied or powerful as a double, but it’s less physically taxing, and has an interesting sound of its own.
I have healed shoulder and elbow problems with gentle Indian club workouts. Start with very light-weight clubs, no more than 1.5lbs at most.
Pardon my long aside in the above post.
Certainly there have been terrible things from the pandemic, and my family and I have not had even remotely the devastating effects that I know others have had. The company that I was working for as a clinical social worker closed at the end if 2019, which was my very big sign to finally go full on in live sound, studio work, and playing bass. Until the lockdown, things were good. Somewhat reduced income of course after having a full time job plus freelancing in audio, but still more than enough to pay our bills comfortably, and my wife was still working full time as a speech therapist (and still is).
Things stopped at the lockdown for me for a time, but we were ok. Slowly I started getting some remote mixing work from my main church audio gig, and I also used that time to learn from webinars and such.
I have to say, it’s been an adventurous year, but I’ve gotten to do some really fun and unexpected things- more remote mixing, and then some album projects including tracking, mixing, mastering, etc. Very slowly now things are starting to take shape that more projects like that are trickling in from referrals.
I also worked for 4 months doing audio/ video for a pop up drive in theater at a mall in the area, and that was so much more fun that it should have been. Plus, partway through we needed more staff and my daughter came on staff, so we got to drive to work together and she really fit in and had a blast. We are hoping it comes back for the spring/ summer. We’ll see, but if not, it was a great experience.
Also, because of mixing more projects for people paying me to do so at home, I met an engineer in the area who works for softube because I started using console 1. He then recommended me for an adjunct teaching job at the community college where he teaches, teaching intro to music tech and audio engineering 1, feeding into his engineering 2 and 3 classes. I am loving it so much, and I would never have predicted that I’d be teaching a year ago. I’m so grateful for the opportunity and the students have taught me so much so far.
Luckily, we have been healthy here, as has my extended family, and for the few that got Covid they were not extremely ill and were able to make a full recovery. Not only that, my body, from autoimmune conditions and general stress of working 7 days per week for years between 2 careers at the same time, was really breaking down. 2019 and 2019 for me were difficult health years. I have been able to rest a lot more during the pandemic, which has definitely helped my general health. Any lost income is offset (mostly!) by this, because I think I would have not been on the earth for too much longer if I continued the way I was. I definitely did not want my legacy to my kids to be “well, my dad worked a lot.” I got to watch my 17 and 15 year old daughters play on the same soccer team last night for the first time ever (15 year old was subbing on her sister’s club team as both of their teams have the same coach), with the 15 year old scoring a beautiful goal on a nice move then long shot from outside the 18.
But I do know people who died from it, some in bands that I’m in or other associations, and that is heartbreaking. Any effects on our finances and such will recover at some point in the not so distant future I’m sure, but my heart goes out to those who lost their lives to this, that’s so much bigger than any time of inconvenience in my life.
It’s been quite a year for everyone I would imagine. I’m enjoying reading about others’ experiences as well.