Wednesday, September 8, 2010 The "Hazards" Of Subbing

Well, my plan had been to put "In Search Of Truth" here this week, since I took Monday off. But last night I got a call to substitute teach Wednesday through Friday of this week.

One of the hazards of substitute teaching is that, even though it's a side gig, it forces me to instantly drop whatever else I have planned for at least a day and sometimes for up to a week.

All things considered, it's a great way to make a little money while running a small business. But it doesn't allow me to do much advance planning. So if you're waiting to hear from me about an e-mail or something like that, know that I haven't forgotten you (as far as I know) and add about three days to whenever you thought I might get back to you.

;-)

I'm pretty close to finishing "In Search Of Truth", so plan on seeing it here this Friday! Thanks for your patience!

-Paeter Frandsen

Friday, August 27, 2010 Online Radio and Completing The First Mix

You can now hear songs from both the Spirit Blade Special Edition and Spirit Blade: Dark Ritual at www.Christianindustrial.net and www.creukradio.org.

Be sure to request one of our songs if you stop by!

You can also hear the track "Soldiers" on the most recent Creukradio compilation! The compilation is available for free download at the Creukradio website. Click on the "Comps" page to download. The name of the compilation is "Remnant".

If the day goes well, I will finish the first complete mix of the Spirit Blade Special Edition. I will be gone all of next week and noticed that I seem to always be "forced" to take vacation time right when I'm about to finish a major goal I've set for myself. It would be VERY satisfying to be able to take the finished mix with me on my trip, but given my history I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

Although I will be mostly off the grid next week (no blog posts, podcast or e-mailing), I may still pop into the forums once or twice next week. If you haven't stopped by yet, come and say hi! We continue to have some great conversations going on there and I'd love to connect with you!  www.spiritblade.net/forums

Have a great week!

-Paeter Frandsen

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 Music Selection Finished, Final Mix Begins!

As of yesterday I am finished selecting music for the Spirit Blade: Special Edition!

Starting today, I will go through the entire project and insert the music I have selected, re-balancing the mix as appropriate. This process will probably take a couple of weeks. After that, I will have Randy Hesson(Vincent) come in to record the end credits and I will begin test listening while Ryan (my graphic designer) makes adjustments to the CD art and sleeves.

We're getting closer all the time!

Friday, August 20, 2010 New Video!

Last night I posted a new video on our youtube page which gives a behind the scenes look at how I created the dragon sound effects for "Pilgrim's Progress: Similitude Of A Dream". This installment is the first to feature video from one of my recording sessions. So if you think you'll get a kick out of watching  me make weird noises at my microphone, be sure to check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y__jicUfGlI

Enjoy!

-Paeter Frandsen

8-19-10 Finishing Up Music Selection

I've got a really good pace going and if it continues as it has been I should be finishing up the music selection process for the Special Edition of Spirit Blade before the weekend. Then it should take me about a week to mix them into the scenes properly and begin the test listening and polishing process.

I'm also working on another behind the scenes video for Pilgrim's Progress that I should be releasing today or tomorrow. Stay tuned!

-Paeter Frandsen

8-13-10 Music Selection

As of now I'm about halfway through the music selection process for the Special Edition of Spirit Blade. This is one of my favorite parts of the process, because the main mix is done so I'm mainly just adjusting levels, but when the right piece of music is dropped in, it completely transforms the nature of the scene.

I think the music I was able to find for "Dark Ritual" played a major role in making that project what it was. The same is certainly true for "Similitude Of A Dream". I've been excited for a long time to give the same treatment to Spirit Blade.

However, Spirit Blade will have a fairly different musical style than Dark Ritual. Where Dark Ritual used epic orchestra and choir in its score, Spirit Blade will have a more modern/electronic feel to it, in keeping with the high technology setting of the story.

I'm hoping to have all music selected by the end of next week, and for test listening to begin soon after!

Have a great weekend!

-Paeter Frandsen

8-11-10 Playing More Catch up

As always happens whenever I take time off, I returned to a mountain of things to do before I could get back to mixing. (Barely got "In Search Of Truth" done in time!) Finally picked up mixing again yesterday and I'm currently on scene 37 of 39! So close!

I'm singing at a memorial service today, which will take me away from my desk for a couple of hours, but I'm still hoping to be done with the core mix and working on editing the score before the weekend.

I can only guess, but I'm hoping the score editing will take a week or less and test listening can begin one or two weeks from now.

But if that's gonna happen, I gotta get back to it!

See ya!

-Paeter Frandsen

8-4-10 The Mystery Quest For a Web Presence

Developing and connecting with an online audience continues to be a huge and constantly changing challenge. Where to spend my time and energy? Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, our website, the forums, the podcast or some other new gimmicky thing on the web?

Naturally, the answer is "all of the above", but there is still the constant question of "how much is enough" for each of those. We're a production company, after all, and I have to leave time for producing things other then web posts and free content if I hope to see this thing grow in both quantity, quality and effectiveness.

So I do what I can and try to impose boundaries on myself so I can still actually work on audio drama, and every once in awhile I'm rewarded with some forward motion that may be small, but is still encouraging.

This morning after reading an article about developing a web presence for yourself I tried searching for "spirit blade" in both google and yahoo. Our site still comes up as number one in both places, but now our company name finally comes up in the "suggestion" drop down box in yahoo.

Even more encouraging, a search for "christian sci-fi" puts us at number six on google (up from 10 or 11, found on the second page) and number two on yahoo! And many of our other web locations pop up not far below our main site in search results. 

So my big thanks to all of you for reading the blog and tracking with me on facebook and elsewhere!

Keep tracking with us and before long we may even hit number one for "christian sci-fi" searches!

Woohoo!

-Paeter Frandsen

7-30-10 10 Out Of 39 Scenes Left!

Progress has been going great on the Special Edition of Spirit Blade! I only have 10 scenes left to mix before I go back and add the new scoring to each scene.

Yesterday I found myself with an unusually large amount of time for mixing and completed 3 or 4 scenes in one day! (It felt really good.)

Given what happens to Raan at the end of Act 2, he suddenly takes a lot more work to mix into scenes in act 3. The original mix already had some cybernetic sound effects, but in order to match what we hear in Dark Ritual, I'm adding a few more layers and completely replacing his footsteps as well.

I have this crazy fantasy of getting the core mix done before I go on my out of town trip next weekend, but I kinda doubt that will happen.

The podcast may be late this weekend, posting Saturday night instead of tonight. My sister is watching our son while my wife and I enjoy a "24-hour date".

Have a great weekend!

-Paeter Frandsen

7-28-10 23 of 39!

The remix continues to go well. I'm currently mixing the Atlantis attack on Ebony's apartment. One thing I notice as I remix is that I didn't have a good sense of how to "block" scenes in Spirit Blade. Too often, I would try to keep an entire scene locked into one frame of reference, giving a different percentage of panning to each character to represent where they were in the room. But when you have 4 or 5 people in a room and want to have them all in definitively different places, you wind up with some people panned 80% to the left or right, resulting in a very uneven overall sound.

I've been taking the opportunity to "re-block" some scenes and "re-pace" some others. In this scene it's a bit of both.

The extra action and sound cues have slowed down the process a bit for scene 23, but I'm very happy with how it's turning out and I'm also pretty happy with the time I'm keeping on this project.

Speaking of which, better get back to it!

-Paeter Frandsen

7-23-10 Officially Halfway!

Thanks in part to the new audio leveling software I'm using, I am officially halfway finished with the core mix of the Spirit Blade Special Edition!

When the "core mix" is finished, I will go through and decide what music to use or buy for each scene (buying all at the same time saves me money). Once I've done that, I'll mix the music into every scene, making adjustments to dialogue and effects along the way. This process should only take a couple of weeks. Then factor in another week or two of test listening and about two or three more for CD printing.

As I like to try and say, "it will be done when it's done", but you're welcome to take all of that information and speculate!

As a reminder, the podcast is coming later this week because of ComiCon. I plan to release it sometime between Sunday and Wednesday.

Have a great weekend!

7-22-10 Mega-Mad Props To The Jesus Geek!

You may have noticed that I forgot to post on the blogs yesterday. Part of the reason is that I'm a doof and just forgot. The other reason is because of a new bit of software I've been introduced to that totally sidetracked my day out of excitement and drastically changes one aspect of mixing audio drama that has always been a pain and taken a very long time. For more information on this necessary evil, check out the new behind the scenes video released this week at:

http://www.spiritblade.net/freestuff

Before I even had the chance to announce the release of this video, John Wilkerson of the Jesus Geek Podcast watched it and e-mailed me with a suggestion for a free bit of "underground" (but totally legal) software that I immediately checked out. It's amazing! And it will significantly cut down on my overall production time. (By as much as 10% or more!)

So I have to give out huge Mega-Mad Props to the Jesus Geek and suggest that you all go check out his podcast at http://jesusgeek.info !

Woohoo! Thank you John, for using your powers for good and not for evil!

-Paeter Frandsen

7-14-10 Questions For Randy and Tully! (Vincent and Raan!)

In anticipation of the release of the Special Edition of Spirit Blade, I've asked Randy Hesson (Vincent Craft) and Michael Tully (Raan Galvaanik) to sign some copies of the original Spirit Blade to be made available as part of a Collector's Set.

I decided that, while I'm reconnecting with these guys, it would be a great opportunity to catch up and ask any questions that you might have for them. I'll be recording our conversation and will later produce it as a special feature for the website, so I'm currently collecting questions to ask these guys and would love to get one from you!

Questions can be serious or crazy. They can be connected to Spirit Blade Productions or completely unrelated. You can ask their opinion on something, find out their favorite "fill in the blank" or confirm those rumors about a third nipple. Whatever's on your mind!

Post your questions here or call and leave a message I can use in the feature- 206-350-1226

I'll be connecting with these guys in just a week or two, so don't delay!

-Paeter Frandsen

7-9-10 Almost 1/4th Finished!

Despite a few setbacks this week, I'm currently mixing scene 9 out of 39 of the Spirit Blade: Special Edition. I completed 1-8 out of order over the last two weeks and I'm VERY excited to be hearing these scenes come alive in the way I've wanted them to for the last two years!

Along the way, I'm also re-recording a few of my lines and had my wife re-record a few of Ebony's. It's been a very unique challenge to record new lines and match them next to old ones. My approach to everything was so different the first time, more than four years ago. I'm adjusting EQs to make the new lines fit next to the old ones. I'm also performing the role of Merikk much like I did the first time, with a little more naive energy and spark than he has in Dark Ritual.

Well, that's all I can think of to write, so it must mean I should get back to mixing!

-Paeter Frandsen

7-2-10 New Behind The Scenes Feature and Forum Launch!

Busy week! I've remixed Merikk's encounter with the mysterious Messenger as well as his plummet onto a random family's hover-cruiser! Forgot how funny Joy Currie is in that scene! I was crackin' up now that I can actually enjoy how the rest of it sounds!

But there are two new things for YOU to enjoy this week, too!

The first is a 30 minute audio special feature called "Behind The Songs Of Spirit Blade". I take you through every song in Spirit Blade, showcasing a bunch of old audio clips (featuring never before heard audio including clips from the live show!) to demonstrate how far these songs have come since they were first conceived. It's a strange and often embarrassing look at my creative ideas, but if you've been enjoying the new Spirit Blade Song Bundle I'm sure you'll find it very interesting!

You can download it now for free on The Media Page! 

The second exciting bit of news is the launch of The Spirit Blade Underground Forums!

This is a brand new community for fans of Spirit Blade Productions and Christian Geeks everywhere to hang out, talk and explore ideas together! Be sure to stop by and say hi!

I'll see you there!

-Paeter Frandsen

6-30-10 Mixing Scenes and Prepping The Forums!

Halfway through the week and as usual it feels like there are not enough hours in the day!

While finishing up "Dark Ritual" and the entire time I worked on "Similitude Of A Dream", I looked forward to creating a Special Edition remix of Spirit Blade. After more than two long years of keeping it on the back burner, I'm finally able to work on it and move forward with the fixes and remixes that have been haunting my mind more often than you can possibly know.

I've also discovered the unique opportunity to make a few (and I do mean just a few) minor changes to the script. At least as far as Ebony or Merikk's lines go. No major tampering, but a few minor tweaks here and there and a few brand new lines that I think will clarify story elements and bring character to the forefront just a little bit more.

In one sense, starting work on this project is like heating up leftovers. But in another sense it's like working on a brand new project. And without so many of the monotonous details at the beginning that make starting a project an uphill battle!

Meanwhile, I'm also working with a couple of Spirit Blade community volunteers to launch the Spirit Blade Underground Forums! The site looks great and everything is almost ready. I hope to launch the forums by this weekend, but I will make an announcement here to let everyone know for sure when we launch. I hope you'll come by and say "hi" and connect with me or some other like-minded folks!

Well, back to work! The night is young and Spirit Blade won't remix itself!

-Paeter Frandsen

6-25-10 Song Bundles Are Available And The Secret Project Is Revealed!

They're here, they're here!

The song bundles are available for purchase right now at www.spiritblade.net !

They've been a lot of fun to work on and I'm glad to finally be able to share them with you! Enjoy!

And at long last I can finally reveal the nature and title of "The Secret Project" I've been talking about for so long now.

The completely remixed songs from "Spirit Blade" are more than just a stand alone project. In the fall of 2010 it will be my pleasure to release the "Spirit Blade: Special Edition" audio drama!

If you look back at my tweets and do some decoding, you'll find the letters SBSE pop up repeatedly, or other subtle references to the title. Of course, I'm probably kidding myself that any of you didn't already have it figured out. Still, the suspense of not knowing for sure was fun, wasn't it?

Now, for some of you, this will come as exciting news. (Hopefully MOST of you!) But some others may be wondering why I'm making a Special Edition of Spirit Blade instead of working on an all new audio drama. (Ahem! Like Spirit Blade 3!!)

Well you can find the answer to the question of "Why A Special Edition" in an article I've written and placed on our website at: http://www.spiritblade.net/site.cfm/sbp/spiritblade1

And if you have any other questions, feel free to send them my way and I'll be happy to get back to you!

But what are you waiting here for? Start your "Spirit Blade: Special Edition" experience right now with the new song bundles at spiritblade.net!

Welcome to the exciting rebirth of Spirit Blade Productions!

-Paeter Frandsen

6-25-10 Song Bundle Previews!

Both song bundles have been given to my "tech guy" to upload and prepare for sale on the website, but you don't have to wait! You can listen to three of the songs from the Spirit Blade song bundle right now at the Spirit Blade Productions Myspace Page-

http://www.myspace.com/spiritbladeproductions

Or the Spirit Blade Productions Facebook Page-

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spirit-Blade-Productions/119416379367?v=app_19935916616&ref=ts

You can also download previews of all the songs in the online store at www.spiritblade.net or listen to previews on the Spirit Blade Underground Weblog. www.spiritblade.net/blog

And keep your eyes here! I will post an announcement as soon as the song bundles become available, and announce the "Secret Project" at the same time! Don't be the last to know!

-Paeter Frandsen

6-23-10 Getting Back On Track

My weekend away with my family was JUST what I needed and it's great to be back with a refreshed perspective.

A couple of updates. First, I'm currently prepping some guidelines and a "job description" for those who volunteer to be moderators on the Spirit Blade Underground Forum we'll be launching soon.  If you're interested in moderating on the new forum, please e-mail me at paeter(at)spiritblade(dot)net for more information.

Today I am giving what I hope will be the final listen through on all the songs for the song bundles. If that goes the way I hope it will, I'll be able to drop off the files to my tech guy later today. If the song bundles go on sale as early as this week, I'll immediately make a post here, so stay tuned and check back often this week and next!

And when those song bundles go on sale I'll also be announcing he name of the Secret Project! So you've got twice the reason to keep one eye right here!

-Paeter Frandsen

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 Frustration and Delays

You'd think that since I'm only working for me that I'd be able to plan my own schedule better. But actually the reverse is true. When you're the only guy running things, you're the guy running EVERYTHING. And between trying to launch a new forum, watching E3 coverage just to have something to talk about on the podcast, and getting two new products ready for launch, all while crunching to get ready for a three day weekend... I've about hit my limit. Something's gotta give.

It can't be the podcast, since I've committed to running weekly codes in my show for a podcast network contest. It can't be watching and blogging on E3, because I have nothing else to talk about on the podcast this weekend. (I mean tomorrow. Crap. Gotta do that early this week.)

So you guessed it. It's gotta be the song bundle launch. I was really hoping to launch next week. And I take my self-imposed deadlines so seriously that I become very stressed out if I sense I'm going to miss them. Such has been the case this week, and it's shortened my fuse a bit. Not fair to my family and a terrible way to try and enjoy a weekend vacation.

So I'm giving myself permission to bump my deadline to an unspecified date this year. ;-)

Don't get me wrong. I have every reason to think that I will be able to clean up the minor details I discovered in the mix of two songs today in just a few hours tomorrow or next week. And at that point I'll hand it over to my tech guy and he'll be able to upload it to the store in a day or two. (He's usually MUCH faster than that, even.) So if I wanted to continue to stay in "stressed mode", I'd say the bundles will still be released next week or the week after.

But I think I'd rather stay out of "stress mode" and just say: They'll be done when they're done and I'll keep you updated till then.

For those who may be anxiously awaiting the release of the song bundles, I would really value any grace ("undeserved favor") you can extend to me regarding the release date. And for those who don't even know what the crap a "song bundle" is, thanks for humoring me.

Have a great weekend!

-Paeter Frandsen