It's Gettin' Cold in Here...

"...so put on all your clothes!" Who remembers that Nelly single?

Etude 003: Presets Only!

Good god damn, it’s cold out here. I know, looking at the forecasts and the reported temperatures, that I regularly live through much worse in Chicago and Toronto, but the buildings here are not at all prepared for this kind of cold, so even on subway platforms and in office buildings, it’s freaking cold. Don’t even ask me about my apartment.

Anyway, my day was pretty unexceptional again. I was productive at work, had a decent English class in the evening, and then came home and plugged out a pretty decent “étude” track. After spending hours last night pulling samples from field recordings and trying to clean them up for use in Ableton Live, I decided today to only use pre-set instruments and effects, so that I could spend more time building loops and a longer track. The results were pretty decent, methinks.

I noticed today in the subway (yes, I’m not getting on a bike again until the ice on the roads is gone) that the “soldes” season has started today. France has some pretty strict rules about when stores can have sales. Unlike in the States or Canada, there is no “sales rack” at the back of the store. The whole store goes on sale for about a month after the Xmas season, and then again in the summer. Generally speaking the “soldes” in January are a massive shopping frenzy, but reports are suggesting already that this year’s traffic will be lower. As a result, a lot of stores are marking down their stock to 70%, 80% and even 90% down. So I clearly need to go out this weekend and shop with money I don’t have…