subbing @ indochine, empress place

indochine disrupts your diet, i'm...on a conservative diet. but it was only for two nights so...live and let live. the food was simply AMAZING! stew / pan fried beef, crème brulée, house wine...see, one can't have too much greens peas and staple food.

daniel IS a cold joke musician. we funked L-O-V-E but pity we enjoyed it more than the sleazy fri crowd. ivan from ALD was there to guest sing a couple of swing tunes.

terrible photos, but i was there to play, not shoot. so.

thanks james!





1. front view
2. stage view, daniel setting up
3. green tea cake
4. crème brulée!


indochine website

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computer music lessons.





i'm offering to coach the following topics

- acid pro, garage band, cubase, pro tools, audacity
- home audio recording knowhows
- drum programming (BFD)
- mixing techniques

should these topics interest you, drop me a mail and we'll talk from there.

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people!

the animation i did sound design for, nanoboy, will be aired on okto from this coming sat, 130pm!

it's largely about this trio of nano superheroes battling against evil microbes of the microcosmos. through this educational, fun filled, action packed cartoon we learn more about our bodies and how they work or don't. kids and parents will surely enjoy!

i think.



anyway, for more info pls visit the official website

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28th june, amara sentosa, grand ballroom

he, a DR.
she, a SIA girl.
they, the most travelled couple i've played for.





the usual wedding montage of growing up and courtship pictures were replaced by photos of their travels to all continents and favourite cities. he planned a speech in his laohong (full of air; inarticulate) hokkien on the pretext (my gut) of wanting his grandma to understand who he was appreciating, and it was a bond plan. it knocked a few tables worth of guests off their seats and charmed his elders and seniors.

sound was everything we could ask for. they ran on wireless, but we needed monitors and control on our end, and the sound tech whipped out a 12 channel yamaha mixer! i had my 414 as OH and brushwork was my, muesli bar.

ALL NATUREL.

thanks to JASMAN!











1. board, outside grand ballroom
2. L to R: huibing, jixiang, myself (during break)
3. setup
4. mixer, hands of soundman jasman
5. view of ballroom, before dinner
6. ballroom, during dinner
7. table decor
8. table decor...again

thanks to alittledream!

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WOOT! channel news asia!

will talk in depth on the local animation industry and we'll be featured for the music and sound design for scrawl studios, 14th july, 830pm. Godmazing!

june is quite a nanny. everything is so laid out, not much room to flex. well, at least we're meeting broadcast dates. breather soon, pls.

and don't fart again (while we gasp for breath!), you china animation companies!


L: the cartoons under our belt
R: shooting a colleague doing audio post

buffet lunch @ straits cafe, rendezvous hotel



double voices' (the mando pop tag team) gig at SAM went well, so we got a fat meal at the reputable peranakan buffet restaurant. tien yao, roy and mrs, jamie (i think i finally got your name), chi sheng, soundman friend + another friend (in white), 1x funky couple and kat tan. i'm anti crustacean, but apart from the shelly things and for its price (35sgd++) it's not too bad. thanks double voices! (roy and jamie)

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14th june, fullerton hotel straits room.



2 weeks before this gig i chanced upon the bride's blog, and she wrote that after serious consideration (to that extent), her hubbytobe said yes to hiring ALD, and though she had faith in us she crossed her fingers in hope that we wouldn't disappoint. such stress!

but we came through, i believe, and delivered what we had set out to.

straits room is the favourite of some vocalists, but a challenge to us musicians. the piano is against 2 high adjacent walls, which robs the highs and makes the lows muddy. the hotel doesn't allow instruments to go into their system BUT HA (bevlyn and hsin yeow!) i managed to PR a vocal mike for my percussion last night and really, the jazz standards and english classics are so so much better with audible brushes.

jo on voice, adeline on keys, wah yong on electric bass, me on percussion.

i personally enjoyed close to you. we never jammed this samba-ish version before!




L to R: jo, adeline, dexter, elisabeth, me, wah yong



1. board
2. lift
3. ballroom view
4. champagne pouring / nuptial wine
5. ALD musicians with the couple
6. setup (LOOK, MICROPHONE! I GOT LINE IN!)
7. waffle ceiling

more photos (and ALD's offical writeup) soon!

thanks to A Little Dream!

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13th june, four seasons hotel.



there was so much wit against the groom but it rocked the ballroom with laughter. clever jokes from close friends spoke of how they've seen him (and her) through the 9 years of courtship. i was so taken in (even julian's) that i stood throughout (and i don't enjoy standing) the speeches. eli, one of the bestmen, said this of julian (teasingly, of course)

"julian would double the distance to accomplish goals when needed - i stress - when needed. using "god" to describe him would be apt. you see, he is high and mighty, he sets his own rules and does his own things and you can't say anything. plus, if he does any work, it's a miracle."

the 2 bestmen were supposed to sabo him to do a song (which he had prepared), which in the end he had to diy sabo because they forgot.

adeline on keys, fabian on sax, bevlyn on vocals and me on percussion.
bevlyn got a neumann vocal mike! i'm GASing now...shrug.







that's...my transcript. beansproutless, succinct.




enjoying the rehearsal...


inhouse nasi goreng for dinner

more photos (and ALD's offical writeup) soon!

thanks to A Little Dream!

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RETRO wedding @ fullerton hotel straits room.


a serenading first set (hsin yeow, bevlyn and ivan)

sometimes ALD gets party animals (no pun!), and they want their live music more happening. so i lugged 1/2 my kit and an amplifier (because fullerton doesn't allow any instruments or equipment into their sound system except their own, so couples going for fullerton pls take note!) down to the really lavish wedding dinner and together with a piano (in the photo) and a soprano sax we gave them berlinda carlise, timmy thomas, bananarama and joan and the blackhearts.







2. L to R hsin yeow, bevlyn, ivan (adeline in the back, on the piano)
3. hsin yeow belting out (probably his fav tune or line)
4. disco fever! (bride and groom gyrating away to the retro tunes!)
5. L to R adeline, me, ivan, groom, bride, bevlyn, hsin yeow
6. the 1/2 a kit i brought (and amplifier)

official writeup and photos 1-5 from a little dream

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pop @ SAM.

sat evening. TY, roy, female singer (sorry i can't remember your name!), chi sheng and i did a 1 hour set @ the singapore art museum. roy and the lady (sorry again!) belted out popular mandarin tunes, CS was the pianist / spiritual figure (direct chinese translation) TY was guitarist / harmonica player and i was on the djembe.


L to R: chi sheng, TY, me, roy and the lady (sorry once again!)

a crowd of 150 for chinese pop is good turn out, even if it means friends and relatives. after the stint i borrowed a couple of hours from sunday for a beer @ paulaner with the gang and some new acquaintances.




soundcheck.









1. TY and me, playing some song
2. hall view, before show
3. TY sound check, before show
4. i think i was requesting for an XLR
5. setting my eq (meddling, basically)
6. trying out the (blinding) lights

thanks to roy, lady (oops...) and TY for the photos!




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the May things.

apologies! things happened, and i'm still reacting to them so the diy recording tutorial and harmony podcast series will have to move to june. sorry! meanwhile, other updates:

wedding. juliana and ee chia @ waterfront lawn, rasa sentosa.

they had no wet weather plans (yikes!) but the gloomy sky let up just before sundown. i brought the full kit, and it was my first with just a piano. the stage couldn't accomodate and they had planned for activities so we had to migrate to the grass patches above. we proceeded to realise that we needed light (outdoor, no direct light) for our lyrics and charts and also a flat ground for the drums and mikes.



we ended up here (the most even ground we could find!)

so we moved a second time, with a light. after having located the sweet spot, we became too far from the speakers, and since there were no monitors we had to adjust to latency. (phew!) so marrying couples, take note if you intend to have a live band outdoors!

but we pulled it off. and the wedding was great! windson and juliet went trilingual and attempted several oldies, chinese and cantonese classics and the guests joined in the choruses.





from L: juliet, juliana, ee chia, me, windson, joel

photos (and more on the wedding) from a little dream




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