Proud To Be Pinoy

Mom sent this via email....

We should be proud to say: I AM A FILIPINO, just as this man CARLOS P. ROMULO declared.

In his career in the United Nations, CPR was a strong advocate of human rights, freedom & decolonization.He was the 1st Asian President of the 4th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (1949-1950). During the selection of the UN Official Seal, he looked over the Seal-to-be & demanded: "Where is the Philippines?" US Senator WARREN AUSTIN, head of the Selection Committee, explained: "It is too small to include. If we put the Philippines, it would be no more than a dot." "I WANT THAT DOT!" insisted CPR. So today, a tiny dot between the Pacific Ocean & the South China Sea can be found on the U.N. Seal -the Philippines!

In 1948 in Paris, France, at the 3rd UN Gen. Assembly, CPR strongly disagreed with a proposal made by the Soviet delegation headed by ANDREI VISHINSKY, who challenged his credentials by insulting him with this quote: "You are just a little man from a little country." In return, CPR replied: "It is the duty of the little Davids of this world to fling the pebbles of truth in the eyes of the blustering Goliaths and force them to behave!", leaving Vishinsky with nothing left to do but sit down & behave!

I Need Your Help

Dear Friends, Family, and Fans, 

I'm sending this out because I need your help.

I am currently doing a not-so-new concept, which I'm hoping would do great for the purpose of this message...

I'm doing a friend and fan funded album. It's not something new but it's rarely been done especially here in the Philippines. I'm simply calling it The Album Project for now. 

It is simply asking for financial help of friends, family, and fans, to fund the CD replication. It may be a big amount on its own but here's where everybody comes in...

All that's requested is a Php500.00 donation/contribution (whatever you want to call it) from each. You can give more especially with the twist I'm putting into this whole package: I'm treating it as a pre-order of the CD from anyone helping out so basically you're not just giving money, it will also serve as your advanced payment for your copy. Should you decide to be generous and give more, then every Php500 gets you a CD. If you give Php1000 then you get 2. Of course, the CD inlay will contain the names of ALL people who have made the CD production possible and will be acknowledged accordingly. And yes, you will get freebies aside from the CD as an additional thank you.

I sincerely apologize if this came across as "spammy" and if you have received a similar text or msg from me before. I am just simply blasting this out now for anyone interested to help out. To those who already have sent in their "help" a huge THANK YOU and a Big Hug goes out to you!

If you are interested to be part of this project, please do send me a private message stating your intention to help, so I can thank you directly and assist in the process. I'm thinking of just doing it via bank deposit for now.  And NO I am not scamming anyone off of their P500.00...

The album is entitled Easier This Way, which is a song-based electronic album with a tinge of alternative-electronic-pop for lack of a better classification term. It's a mix of Dirty Vegas slapped with a little bit of Keane. That's exactly how I put it. It's a mix of happy, sad, love, and Christian tunes. I've been cooking this album, believe it or not, for 6 years. Yes, 6 years. So imagine how excited I am to be sharing this with you and asking for your help for this. It's something really close to my heart. I had to add this paragraph to let you know again this isn't a scam or something hehehe 

Depending on how fast we can come up with the money to pay for replication, I do hope to release the album by Summer of 2010 :) Once this rolls, I shall be doing a regular update for everyone to see where we are with this. I am hoping to raise P60,000 initially for the first copies.

That's it! Thanks for taking the time to read this and I do hope you can help me out. If you can't, then that's a-ok as well! Just help me pray for the success of this album!

God bless!

Cy - silverfilter

A Long Day...

Thursdays is caregroup day or commonly known as bible study for everyone. I recently changed my routine and I simply just take a nap from the previous day to be able to make it on time. I realized every time I take a full sleep, I usually arrive late. Problem with the naps is that I need full rest after that since technically, I'm still up from the previous day, right? Sounds easy to just go home and sleep but with the heat these days, it's something else... really something else. But today, it didn't affect me. I was so wasted, I slept through the heat. 

I woke up early afternoon reading a text from a client following up on an ad I'm doing so I had to get up and work on it immediately. It was a blessing the idea was approved so I didn't have to redo the whole thing because I had to prepare and leave to go to a friends house...

I had to drive to a friend's house coz he needed help recording voice for an AVP for his dad's awarding ceremony. It was a quick visit then I was off after recording and rendering. 

After that I swung by starbucks in alabang to pick up a check from another client for a song I'm doing. This was on my way home because I had jamming...

Got home, jammed and enjoyed every minute of it. It's my new silverfilter band and I was very happy to hear for myself how those electronic songs I wrote sound in a band setting... bliss.

Jam ended midnight as usual and I was off to grab dinner.

Now I'm just blogging and I guess from all the work today, I guess I deserve to rest? Perhaps a movie...

Cy

Faith and Security

As a freelancer, security in finances can sometimes be a worry since you never can tell when projects will come in. In some ways that's what I envy with people who have stable jobs. However, I am thankful that I am a Christian. Why? Because I don't fear or worry about lack. Even in trying times, faith gets me thru because I know in my heart that at the end of that rope of faith, God is holding the other end and he will pull thru with that faith and deliver.

Over the years, it has been my comfort. My personal security is that my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches and glory.

Even at times when I know that I'll be approaching zero bit with bills to pay, I know that God will not allow His children to be put to shame. I have ALWAYS experienced how He makes sure everything I need is provided. You'll be surprised because it's always in time for when you need it.

That is how God looks after His children. Try God if you have searched for answers but have always doubted. He will not fail you because He first loved you even before you turned to Him.

May His light shine upon you.

Cy

What To Blog, What To Blog?

For the first time in my "plan" to blog daily, I don't know what to write. 

I want to write about my experience about that horrible neighbor who went crazy on me yesterday but I don't feel like it. Maybe coz the memory of it ruins my mood... 

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions on how you do it...

Cy

Some Stuff About creating Albums...

Locally, I've found the process simple but some steps require a bit of time and effort... and money. So to give you a better and basic idea, here it is.

1. Make your music. Write it and record it. Have it mixed and mastered.

2. Design your album cover/inlay. What I usually do is design it myself but you can have someone do it for you of course. If you design it yourself, you can do it during downtimes when you're not inspired to write but want to accomplish something and be productive. If you already finished writing, the perfect time is during waiting while it's getting mixed/mastered since you'll have more than a week to work on the design. If you're having someone else design it, you can give everything early on. 

3. Once you have the master disc and design, you can start replication. 2 options... DIY or a "middleman company." 

DIY - you can go and call the replication company directly, accomplish the forms required from the OMB or optical media board (this requires payment unforunately). Some replication companies also can cover for the inlay so that's one less thing to worry about. Otherwise, you should look for a printing company for that. 

Option 2 is to go thru a middle-man company. This is easier. For a minimal fee for labor and everything, you can have everything be attended to by a dedicated company while you prepare and spend your time planning your album launch, or tour.

4. When replication starts, you can download the copyright forms online to submit to the national library (requires payment as well) to secure the legal copyright of your material. 

5. Wait 2 weeks from replication and then you get your CD! It's that simple!

Oh yeah, have a budget of 60k Pesos for 1000 copies :)

Hope this little entry helps and sheds a bit of light.

Cy

Writers Block...

There are tons of articles you can find online about it and how it can be broken or avoided. But for the sake of this entry, I'd like to put down some that works for me and how it does.

As some of you may know, I like writing music and words to music since I love writing songs. I also go to the geek side of not just arranging but mixing the music to the final output. In a way, it can be or IS overwhelming to be honest. But in its own way, I guess it works for me to break that writers block. 

Here's the usual scene.

I write some music and record a draft. Put other instruments along with it and see how it sounds. After that, I decide to write some lyrics... BAM! No inspiration or whatever... sometimes, I just put my focus on mixing the material to make it sound really good. Maybe making it sound really nice will inspire me enough. Sometimes, I can just go on and close the session and write new music for another song.

There are also days that I want to write music to even start with but nothing comes out. So during these times, I usually open up the old songs and just listen. Sometimes, I go back to other songs that don't have lyrics and maybe by this time, I have lyrics but no music for another song. Other times, I just go back and mix and mix and mix because when it comes to the mixing part, it's not completely about the "creative" process but more on the technical aspect of how it all gels and sounds with the frequencies and volume etc. This exercise does help and in a way balances out the sides of the brain used at certain points in the creating process.

If all else fails, I usually sleep or turn on the TV... most of the time. Down the line options are go outside, play with the dogs, watch a movie, or just go to my drum set and pound away. 

Just find that balance that can get you out of the creative process when you have nothing coming out and once you get back, you'll be in the zone... and most importantly (after of course praying for inspiration), be patient. It can take a day or two but it will come. Make sure you have something to document, record or help put ideas down if you're away of your workstation. I usually record melodies or lyric ideas on my crappy mobile phone recorder. It sounds horrible during playback but helps you remember that moment of inspiration!

Enjoy writing!

God bless

Cy

How To Clean Your Sneakers/Shoes >

Being a noob in cleaning sneakers, I did some research and with a little understanding and "diskarte," I present a little tutorial on how to clean your sneakers... Well, this is how I did it at least. 

What you'll need:

Running Water

toothbrush

1 smooth rag for the shoes top portion

1 rag for the sole

soap

pail or basin

Let's start...

1. Get your shoes (duh!) 

2. Pour water onto your shoes... get it soaked!

3. Remove the shoelaces if it has any. Reason I put this after pouring water instead of pouring onto it to give time for the water to seep thru your shoes while you're removing the laces.

4. Rub your sole rag onto soap or pour it onto the rag. Your choice depending if you have liquid, powdered, or a bar.

5. Clean the sides of the sole and then sole itself

6. After that, get the smooth rag for shoes with suede or anything that needs something smooth rather than brushing it. 

7. Once again, apply the soap. What I did on mine was just get pinches of powdered soap and sprinkled it on the areas where I was to use the smooth rag. 

8. Now get your toothbrush. 

9. Apply soap on brush and onto the areas that need brushing. In my case, my rubber shoes had a net-like skin which could take mild brushing. 

10. Rinse well...

11. Pour water inside the shoe. then pour it out. 

12. Apply soap inside the shoe by hand and rub it clean all over the insides of the shoe.

13. Pour water again... and again... and again until soap suds aren't visible anymore to be sure you rinsed it well.

14. Set your shoes aside to dry 

15. Get your shoelaces and apply soap on it or slide it in between a rag with soap. I put this after to give time for the shoes to get excess water off before putting it out for final air drying 

16. Rinse your shoelaces.

17. Pick up your shoes and laces and put it in a ventilated place. I put mine in front of the fan. 

17B -  Some say put paper towels inside to absorb the moisture :) Didn't have any so I just let the fan run on high. 

18. Clean up your wash area. 

19. Go back and look at your shoes and smile at how clean it looks!!!

NOTE: You can rinse the shoes every after step like after the sole or after the smooth parts. It's really up to you!

Enjoy!

Cy

Chores...

Just spent the whole afternoon fixing our garden. More cleaning and fixing. We had a LOT sorted out, Praise God! Good thing I had some workers helping me out the whole afternoon. 

After that, I wanted to do some cleaning inside the house but I felt I needed more time for that and with work lined up, I decided to just do something else... I ended up washing and cleaning 4 pairs of shoes I haven't been wearing for quite a while (some over a yr) because it was stocked and was so dirty. I also washed a pair of sandals I bought more than a yr ago that I also haven't worn more than maybe 4 times. Now I feel like I have 5 pairs of new footwear haha! Nice!!!!

I'm loving my new sleeping schedule. I get to accomplish more and I like it a LOT!!!

Honestly, I seem to enjoy doing chores like cleaning and fixing stuff. If I had a complete set of tools, I would be doing the plumbing already here hehe

I like productive days and this is one of those...

Cy

February Project Album

So far I've got 4 songs arranged already. 5 songs with drums and bass. Vocals
last for all of them.

This rpm challenge is honestly a GREAT exercise. If I don't make it for the rpm
challenge like for the site, on a personal level, this really helped me.

It stretched me to JUST WRITE without any excuses and it really forced me to.

And right now, aside from the challenge of coming up with 10 tunes or 35 mins of
music, I extended the challenge on my end to just do everything in props'
Record.

The line6 rack on it kinda sucks so it's proving to be more of a challenge but
it's one of those challenges that make you work and make do with what you have.

I could use logic and guitar rig which will make it sound awesome. But now it's
about making Record sound decent enough for release coz I plan to release this
album after February. :)

Stay Tuned! I shall make a sample available really soon!

Cy

Just wanted to share a little story I read... Don't just walk on by.

Just read this online...

This one described an experiment organized by the Washington Post in 2007. A man played six Bach pieces on a violin for 45 minutes in the Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning. During the time he played, approximately two thousand people passed through the station. Of those, only six people stopped and listened, and then only for a very short while. The greatest levels of enthusiasm were displayed by young children, several of whom tugged on their parents, asking to stop and listen, but without success.

This concert, enjoyed by virtually none of the two thousand in the station that day, was given by the renowned violinist Joshua Bell, playing some of the most intricate pieces ever written. Two days before his concert in a theater in Boston had sold out with ticket prices averaging $100.

Timed Tweets...

If you're "quite" a sucker for Twitter then you might want to look into Hootsuite. It's been there for quite a long time already and I just didn't bother with it before but wanting to up the twitter experience on my ipod, I bought it. 

Basically it's a twitter client like most but its special feature is its timed tweets. You can prepare tweets in advance and program it in the app to be sent at a certain date. 

Now you may ask, why the need?

For me, promotion is key so a little help in tweeting on schedule will assist in visibility for album or show announcements. For now, I'm using it to preprogram sending of my daily trivia for my followers.

For addicts, you can "lessen" the frequency of flooding by instead setting intervals between tweets. That helps your followers as well.

For the rest, I'm sure you may find some use for it. I've read some people use it to remind themselves of something. 

So feel free to use and enjoy. I believe it's a huge step in your tweeting experience :)

God bless

Cy

Just spreading behind the scenes...

Hello Everyone! Hope everyone's feeling blessed and living blessed! Feel free to join my fanpage if you're a fan/friend or you wanna learn more about my silverfilter project :) http://www.facebook.com/silverfilterofficial and I'd be bold enough to request for you guys to share the link if possible to help. Repost it on your FB, blog, or wherever. A Million thanks in advance. and of course, my mailing list hehe http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/silverfilter/ As usual http://www.twitter.com/silverfilter And in other news... I'm finishing (oddly) an alternative rock album under my silverfilter aka. This should be interesting. Still weighing things if I'll be giving it as a free download. Let's see :) Thanks again for your continued support on Facebook! I do hope to see you soon on my mailing list! :) God bless Cy

Loving The Work That You Do...

Everyone of us, including myself, can get overwhelmed with our work from time to time. Some, however, would literally hate work or the jobs that they hold. I don't blame them. But I'd like to encourage anyone experiencing this to try to at least see the positive side of it. Yes, you may hate everything your work stands for, you may hate your boss, you may hate anything that reminds you of work, but you know one thing? 

YOU HAVE WORK. YOU HAVE A JOB.

For that, you can be thankful for you are one of those in the world who does have something constant. You have something that let's you survive at the very least. You're not out looking for one, or worse, looking for something to eat because you don't have the money for it. 

A few times a week, people drop by the house asking for work. Truth is, there's nothing to be done here. Much more, we don't have much to pay for that extra work but people still try. Why? Because they need food. They need even just a little. One guy often visits asking for anything that can be done to get paid for something to feed for his family. They're looking for ANY job and funnily, sometimes, people have jobs that they studied for or even liked at the start but eventually learned to hate and despise it. 

Be thankful for the little things so that God can trust you with something way better later on. 

Don't forget to smile :)

God bless

Cy

photo by bdgamer

150 million Dreams...

Something light for today...

As some of you may know, the jackpot for Lotto today is 153 million. But for the sake of estimates, let's just put it at 150. 

Last Sunday, it was one of those days where my mind drifts when asked about the "what if you won?" question. Like a lot of you, I'm also one of those who enjoy shutting reality for a while and letting my mind drift away and think of that what if. 

So of course, I asked myself... what if I won 150 Million pesos? What would I do?

Here was my initial set of answers including those I thought of today hehe

- give my tithes to church so that's 15M. 

- Buy 2 houses. One in Ayala Alabang, and another in Tagaytay

- Finish my music studio!

- Buy 4 cars. One for me, another for Berns, A family van for the future, and of course one toy car hehe

- Buy mom and dad a house and a car each as well. Same goes for my sister

- Fund the school my dad's been planning all these years.

- Renovate our original house

- Pay for a satellite church. I wanted to put up a small church under New Life (my home church) in a place where we don't have one yet.

- Donate to a cause

So far that's it. The rest is put in the bank. I haven't really thought of where to invest it yet...

Funny thing is, this was kind of a general idea. If you noticed, I didn't even put what type of car. I really haven't given it much thought at this point. I just want to have a clear idea of the bigger picture :) At least with this list online, I can go back to it once I do win!

So there. That's a glimpse into what my passions are... What's your 150 million list?

Cy

Just a Little Update On My February Project...

It's only been a week but I'm GLAD (seriously) to report that there's been progress. 

I know that my last update was just I think 3 days ago but a lot has happened already. There's a new song done and another on the way. Since I wrote an update on the number of songs the other day, i'd like to talk about the lyrics...

As a songwriter, it's hard to sometimes come up with lyrics. Words to music for me is very personal especially in the sense that I really need inspiration to put something on paper. It may not be something 1st hand but it doesn't come anytime. It may be a little bit easier to write ANYTHING but sometimes, some pieces of music have that matching set of lyrics that have to go with it and that's where inspiration comes. 

For the february project, I've written down a few songs and here are the inspirations and ideas behind 'em

1. A song of someone waiting for "the one."

2. A song for our loved ones talking about reassuring that whatever happens, we shall do everything to give them the best

3. A quirky song about someone being cheated on by his/her partner

4. A love song inspired by my recent engagement

5. A song of Jesus' comfort for his children

So as you can see, there's pretty much half already. I'm on my way to finish the 2nd half of this project. Pray for me and I hope you all can support me in this. 

God bless :)

Cy

photo from champagnechic

I Want To Reach Schools with My Music

I've been thinking ever since that I really should be tapping into schools or students in general. I want to present and expose my music to them but seeing that I've already graduated yrs back, I really don't know at this point how to start. Any idea? I'm desperate... 

If you're willing to help out, then that's a HUGE PLUS!!! hehe Hook ups would be great, or if you have any suggestion on how to reach them, fire away. Let's have an idea bomb here :)

Thanking you in advance...

Cy

I Think This Is Getting Out Of Hand

I just saw this issue on a forum I'm part of and it literally is way out of hand...

http://techdirt.com/articles/20100120/1028177833.shtml

basically it's collection societies asking to be paid for music played in Prison... I think this is best put in tagalog... "Eh kung di ba naman sila tanga eh!" There!

I mean, it's not like those people chose to be in prison and went there for the music! Now collecting societies are going way beyond because of greed and an inappropriate understanding of where music "can" be paid for. 

It's sick actually...

By doing that, those very collection societies are harming the musicians they're supposed to be protecting by limiting the reach and potential market...

There's even another story about a beauty parlor being asked to pay!!! 

Ibang klase talaga...

Cy

photo via muffet

4 out of 10

Here's a little update on my 10 songs in February project. 

I pretty much have 4 strong songs already where I've done basic arrangement. I have 3 or 4 sketches recorded on my phone just so I won't forget how it sounds. 

The way I see it, I'm halfway there in terms of writing the songs but recording them is another story. I'll make it...

I plan to release the so-called single next week but ONLY for people who register and sign up for the mailing list. I will only make it available for silverlisters since they have priority for singles, studies and demo materials :) so head on over to silverfilter.com to sign up!

I'm pretty excited for this particular project.

Oh yeah, I've just been using Propellerhead's Record for this, my Fender acoustic guitar and my Fender Strats. Fun!!!

Cy

Directions...

Sometimes I feel I'm all over the place.

Just with doing electronic music, covering various styles can sometimes lead to being too spread out or unfocused. But I see it as a good thing rather than being stuck with just a style. I'm actually happy I'm able to broaden my sound.

But considering that I also love being in a band, playing blues and funk; then adding alternative rock on the side suddenly makes things interestingly complicated in a way... On top of that, it's not like I'm just playin guitar but also drumming for my other band.

I'm headed in so many directions sometimes I just want to be on one road...

Where will I go? Or better yet, where will I go next?

Cy

So Little Time... Seriously.

I aim to finish these this February...

- Album mastering and preparation for March 2 release of new silverfilter album entitled, Manila Electronica.

- Line up all tracks for mixing and mastering for Lovecore's debut album

- Finish my 10 songs in February personal project

Now here's the thing... on top of all that, work's getting in the way... now I guess this is where my previous entry comes in hahaha But seriously, work's gonna be eating a lot from February that I need your prayers to be able to finish all my goals for this month. I REALLY need to...

(deep breath...)

Cy

Is Piracy Killing Music?

I'm not here to discuss the effects of file sharing to the record industry but I wanted to talk about the core of it all... the musicians.

I've always read the statement from musicians saying something like, "please support my album and buy it/don't support pirated music so we can continue making music for the fans." I'm sure this is a common thing and I'm also sure every person who reads this entry have once in their lives heard or read this. 

In a way, I definitely understand where that's coming from. But before, I also shared an idea quite different. I also considered the thinking, that true musicians WILL make music regardless if they were selling millions or nothing at all. I thought that passion came first rather than sales. I, of course, still believe that. But somehow, I also realized the facts surrounding the main statement I mentioned earlier. 

Maybe it's not about selling music so musicians can continue making music but being able to let music sustain us so we can allot more time to make music and focus our talents on it. 

Think about it, a lot of musicians have to get a main job, which may be quite far from music just to be able to live by the day. If they worked 8 hours a day plus preparations and stuff, they hardly have time to focus making music. I know A LOT of musicians who either gave up music or set music aside because they simply don't have time anymore.

It's actually sad. 

Now, if we look at not supporting piracy or simply supporting these very musicians, I do believe we can expect something greater and better from their output because they can dedicate more time to make music. I'm trying to say this from a bloggers standpoint but as all of you may know, I am also one of them. 

I guess in a way, I'm just thankful to God that He has sustained me over the years by living off of music even if it's not exactly my own. I do still pray that my music will one day be enough to make a living out of but until that day comes, I will press on and write more music for everyone.

Cy

photo from toobydoo

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I just got back from getting all our drum tracks for the album. Now it's all sorted out and labelled ready for mixdown... And just when I thought things couldn't get any better, my friend and I were ableto sort out mu harddisc problem which I mentioned a while back. Turns out it's not my power supply. The board where the HD is connected in the casing got fried so the HD wasn't damaged at all! Now I'm waiting while I backup everything to my bigger HD.

Finally!!! God is so good!!!

Cy

10 Songs in February?

I just joined this campaign online called The RPM Challenge. 

Their challenge basically is to create 10 songs or 35 minutes of music in February. I was reluctant to join at first because of all the things that I have to finish this month but I paid the site a visit and was inspired by the write-up regarding their challenge...

They were saying it's not about making THE album but simply, AN album. It's a no excuses approach to set a goal, make and record music; and hand it in by March 1.

Let's see where this goes.

Who knows, this might end up as a silverlisters exclusive in the end. This'll be fun :)

Cy

On Band Producer Mode Today...

spent the day at a friend's home studio rendering and editing the drum tracks for the album of my funk-rock band, Lovecore. From the 14 songs, we're down to 2. It's not like we're actually done with the album but here's a short explanation...

We recorded in a Protools equipped studio and was given protools files. Unfortunately, the studio where we recorded our drums closed down so we didn't have time to actually render it to be able to import it into any DAW. We were left to find someone with Protools, someone with time, and someone willing to be fed instead of paid. Praise God my friend from gradeschool offered to help!

So we spent the whole night and even if I was sleepy at times just waiting there, the excitement of finally having it in my hard drive kept me awake. 

Once we finish later, it's just a matter of importing it into my computer and lining up everything.

It's getting close to completion I can actually taste the album...

pray for us :)

God bless

Cy