Author: Nicholas Toone

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Computer Update.

Got the XPS back from Dell on January 7. It works!

… except when I plug in the power adapter, then the touch pad stops working.

Logged a ticket on January 8.

January 10 I get a reply asking if I want to ship it to the Advanced Resolution Center. “It should only take 3-5 days.”

I let them know I just got this thing back from the Advanced Resolution Center and asked what other options there are.

In between all this, the touch pad starts randomly working while plugged in; maybe two out of every five attempts.

January 12 I get a reply asking if I want to have someone come to the house and replace the motherboard.

I take a deep breath and reply telling them the motherboard has been replaced twice now and that another motherboard seems like overkill. I tell them I’ll deal with it for now and open a new issue if it becomes completely unusable.

This is unfortunate because when it’s working, this XPS is a great machine. I just can’t get past the issues I’ve had in the past five months.

As with everything from Dell, it’s all turning into ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

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Never 100%

I was working on a new video detailing the last few months of 2021, but we all know how my video & audio work is going.

In the meantime, I’ve been transcribing my video scripts to blog posts. I don’t feel pressured to finish videos because I’ve no plans to become a full time YouTuber. It’s been six months since my last video and no one is kicking in my door looking for a new one. This is just fun for me.

So what’s been happening? Let me tell you …

Continue reading “Never 100%”

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The Saga Continues

I Hate Dell

I’m worried this page is going to become nothing but an anti-Dell site.

Current XPS status: The tech showed up. The computer worked fine for him so he didn’t replace the motherboard. He updated the BIOS. We turned it on and off again more than a dozen times. It worked. I thanked him and he left. I worked on it for the rest of the afternoon. Turned the computer off. Later that evening I opened the lid…

It wouldn’t boot up. Same shit as before.

Called Dell. The guy on the phone was apologetic. I roasted his company a little.

Me: “You realize I am now doing my work on a ten year old Mac Mini?”

Him: “Wow, that must be slow.”

Me: “Sure, but it still turns on.”

On Christmas Eve, Dell shipped me a box. I packed up the XPS and dropped it off at Purolator.

Current Status: “A tech is fixing your computer. One or more parts are Delayed.” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If I get this thing back and it acts up again, I’m going to take it outside and back over it with my car. More than once.

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The Low Budget Lifer – Episode Four – 5/26/2021

Episode Four: “Can Cheap Drums Sound Better?”

Today we’re going to talk about improving the sound of cheap drums without spending a fortune. Hear the difference fresh drum heads make to the cheapest drum set on the planet!

Evans D2 Coated Heads: https://www.daddario.com/products/percussion/evans-drumheads/drum-set/drumset-tom-batter/g2-coated-tom-batter/

Episode notes:

      1. This is the first time I’ve ever changed drum heads; I’m still learning how to tune so they may be a little off.
      2. By the time I was editing, the cost of the Evans Tompack had gone up from the $40 I paid to just over $50. While that’s still a good price, don’t give up! Keep searching for deals.
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Overnight Success

I’ve got not one, not two, but three Vlog episodes in various states of completion. I’m not going to lie, this YouTube thing is a wee bit more difficult than I expected. This shouldn’t be surprising to me, yet here we are.

It’s been over a month since I put up a new video. Since the BDI21 episode, life started to creep in and I managed to find myself behind. In that time though, a strange thing happened:

A couple of people subscribed, someone liked, and someone commented; all without any promotion. I haven’t really told anyone about this little project, it just … is. So the fact that people are finding this and taking a liking to it is pretty cool.

I sincerely take my hat off to all those who have found success on YouTube simply because the amount of work you need to do is mind boggling. Starting out, not only is there scripting, filming, editing, releasing, and promoting content, it’s all being done between and around what is referred to “normal life”.

This makes me think how ridiculous the idea of the “Overnight Success” is. Unless you’ve won a lottery or were born into wealth, there really is no such thing as overnight success. Just because we haven’t heard of a certain singer before a certain date does not mean that they all of a sudden popped up out of nowhere ready blow your mind. Nothing appears out of thin air, ready made with a number one song. Even those by the numbers, label created, top 10 boy bands require an insane amount of work get off the ground.

The cool thing about this project is that it just is. Some days I’ll have time. Other days I won’t. This is fun and I want to stay that way. If a few of you want to come along for the ride, no matter how sporadic, you’re more than welcome to.

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The Low Budget Lifer – PV01 – 4/11/2021

Product Video One: “BDI21 – Cheap Bass Amp Modeler”

In amongst the Vlog uploads, this is a series on cheap equipment where I’ll talk about various pieces of budget brand mics, instruments, and other toys.

We’re going to kick things off with my favorite budget pedal, the Behringer BDI21.

The BDI21 is a surprisingly good modeler/preamp/DI that will cost you around $40.

https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0294

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The Low Budget Lifer – Episode Three – 3/24/2021

Episode Three:  “You can’t make an omelet…”

Spring is here! In today’s episode, I dive into my songwriting process because if you don’t have a song, you have nothing to record. In the immortal words of Brad Goodman: “There’s no trick, it’s just a simple trick!”

Free VST amps really help during the writing and arranging process; you can use them to get a feel for which way your new song is headed.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Be sure to support the developers if and when you can!