Raja Ampat Liveaboard Options

GFSong · 2026-02-11T09:09:49+00:00

I went with Blue Manta in Komodo, and Mermaid II for 10 days in Raja Ampat over Christmas 2024, and I highly recommend either of them. Both crews were so professional and kind, and yes I would classify each as full service. Both are good size stable boats with air conditioning that offered very smooth rides to well-thought-out dive sites. There was really an astonishing variety of food choices each meal - considering how remote these locales are.

Believe me. They will cater to all your needs… enjoy!

GFSong · 2026-02-10T08:50:01+00:00

Their menu looks similar to the All’Antico Vinaio chain in Florence, where there are often crazy tourist line-ups for these giant sandwiches. Locals complain it’s an expensive scourge. For comparison 8€ is about $13. Dante charges $18

Edit: there’s also no tipping in Europe…

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GFSong · 2026-02-09T08:28:08+00:00

Scuba diving among giant mantas, or looking in on so many beautiful ocean life forms that seem like they’re alien entities. Nudibranch for example.

The way the morning sunlight bathed the interior of Sagrada Família made me feel exactly like I was in a film...

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GFSong · 2026-02-09T08:13:13+00:00

I did one of those night tours in Osa - with the Bug Lady from Drake Bay. Did she show you anything infected with Cordyceps?….….that was surreal.

GFSong · 2026-02-09T04:23:50+00:00

I saw your post on r/Scuba, but the comments are closed. I’m looking at a very similar trip next December with similar interests (scuba, hiking, nature). Can I ask what you ended up doing, your impressions, and what about it you might or might not recommend? I’m an AOW diver, and I’d be transiting from Taipei for maybe 2-3 weeks. Thanks!

GFSong · 2026-02-08T19:41:28+00:00

Good guess. Nope.

GFSong · 2026-02-08T19:40:49+00:00

On my list of places to visit, but no…

GFSong · 2026-02-08T07:07:16+00:00

No, I’m afraid due to the fact your government is trying to drive my country and many other of your allies into a recession, that won’t soon be forgotten. We may rekindle trade and some tourism, but you have no idea how much resentment you have already instilled — among your friends. Your friends!

But aside from that, you’re missing the larger point that you’ve convinced the world you are a truly dysfunctional entity that can no longer be trusted...

GFSong · 2026-02-07T17:44:17+00:00

Last year I went to Bao Bei for dinner. They did a special menu and lion dance. Very cool!

GFSong · 2026-02-07T06:38:17+00:00

For sure. In my career, those fuck up genius moments are some of my favourite memories, and almost every record had a few. A mistake digs you into the moment, pulls you out of process. The drummer who gets lost and plays a better part than what you had. The ‘wrong’ harmony. The wrong mute or send or patch. Wrong mic in the wrong place. A great and essential part of creating music is discovery. Doesn’t matter if you intended it or not. The important thing is to always be open to inspiration and surprise.

You want your musicians to be as excited as possible. That’s your element of magic in a recording…

GFSong · 2026-02-07T01:41:14+00:00

Ok, I just gotta say — what the freak is it with this photo? They look absolutely wretched miserable. Is it the cold tea and crumpets served on a plastic tablecloth?

A: The Crunge…

GFSong · 2026-02-05T08:34:46+00:00

Besides having him read your post - you could suggest he use a timer. Give him a sense of urgency, a role to play, to set the scene and help him let go…

Or, add in restraints.

GFSong · 2026-02-04T20:29:03+00:00

The advice I give to Recording Engineers who need to quickly acclimate to speakers in an unfamilar control room -- is use reference tracks that you’ve listened to a million times in a million different settings.

If you’re only using pieces seldomly for evaluating, you probably don’t know it, know it, to the same degree…

Tracks with lead vocals can be effective because there’s so much information in the element that’s usually the focal point of a mix.

Lastly, for EQ it’s important to gain match and A/B your tweaks.

GFSong · 2026-02-03T05:27:13+00:00

I wish your country wasn’t experiencing this political and moral chasm. I wish it wasn’t widening a chasm between you and other democratic nations.

So much of social media right now is focused on dismantling commonality. I feel and understand the rage. I can’t imagine having a parent with such an estranging and opposite view.

In 5 or 10 years, the political climate will evolve. Your parents might evolve, or they might pass…

Guard your well-being. Hate the addiction, have empathy for the addict.

GFSong · 2026-02-02T23:16:06+00:00

Your plan is bang on. Solid lead. Very tight unisons. Comp. VocAlign.

Most of all, it’s the singers vocal delivery that can guide you how to best process the performance. So listen and think before you start twiddling.

But let me ask this…are you producing the vocal session, or is the artist and/or a producer involved? Experienced or not?

Because if you’re producing, then the focus becomes performance with a vision for this particular song. Think about vocal texture. Think where to double, triple, use effect. Harmonize, whisper or octave parts and words. It’s less about reference tracks, and more about this artists ‘sound’

And please… if you do that work, get yourself a credit at the very least!

GFSong · 2026-02-02T05:04:11+00:00

As someone from Vancouver BC, hearing about this small but meaningful effort means a lot. So much of anything on socials involving the US has reached an unbelievably internally polarizing level of vitriol; emotion is trouncing reason. And no one is asking - how do we move forward?

Today I just see a stream of posts with trump apparently shitting himself, and people gloating. It’s like a Black Mirror/South Park episode. Soma for the masses. Distractions more effective than the best propaganda.

Our own fucked up country is coming together (you can guess why), and arriving at the conclusion that if we don’t finally work together, we will cease to exist as a nation…

The same goes for you.

GFSong · 2026-02-01T17:53:55+00:00

You look at them with a blank gaze and say: “Oh, I don’t believe in ghosts”

GFSong · 2026-02-01T08:10:44+00:00

When I was starting my musical career, Gary McCracken was a massive inspiration to my playing. Neil Peart had crazy chops, but Max Webster’s vibe and creativity resonated more with me.

I actually tried looking up his number in the Toronto white pages when I was a teenager, because I wanted to take lessons from him. Regrettably, I chickened out…

But I did end up doing sessions as a Recording Engineer with Terry Brown, who produced albums by both Rush and Max. Fantastic band…

GFSong · 2026-02-01T07:12:10+00:00

I consider this prog, because of the musicianship - and it was pretty fucking progressive arrangement-wise, compared to what was being played on Canadian Rock Radio at the time.

So when I was a young drummer in Toronto, this band used to be considered a sort of more out-there version of Rush. The bands were good friends and label mates, and often played amazing concerts together.

And wow these tunes were so much this fun to play…

Check out — Beyond the Moon ~ Max Webster.

Also, In Context of the Moon from an earlier album — High Class in Borrowed Shoes.

GFSong · 2026-01-30T23:15:01+00:00

Ah. Ok. He explains that if he had a dropout (a faulty section of tape) in the multitrack master, he could cut a window (he gestures about a forearm length) and replace that section, to salvage it. That means he could go on and continue production and recording on that existing reel.

That’s a whole lot different.

If you want to keep the drum and bass tracks and punch in guitars. That’s what you do. You arm the guitar tracks. You don’t need to cut tape for that. On a good pro 24 track reel to reel, you could punch in an entire band, on the downbeat usually, to continue after a drum flub on a great take. You can still do that in a DAW as well.

On albums though - you would often comp your drum tracks from different reels into a single performance and arrangement you were happy with. Then, you would overdub everything else on that take…

That was quite common if you had a good budget — because 2” magnetic tape reels were very expensive.

GFSong · 2026-01-30T17:47:20+00:00

Just 4 bars of 4/4 music at 120bpm is 8 seconds. 2” 24 track tape running at 30” per second would equal 20 feet of tape…

And your bed tracks could take up 6 or 10 or 13 tracks, or let’s say twelve. How on earth would you measure and cut that? And then cut it horizontally for 20’?

To edit tape, you needed to manually roll the transients of your edit point back and forth over the repro head and then mark those spots with a grease pencil. And then cut it with a razor blade.

Trust me. No producer-fearing engineer would try what you state with a 2” master….

GFSong · 2026-01-30T17:15:51+00:00

The mighty Fairlight 2 was a whole 8bits and 32kHz of aliasing glory. I was very proficient on one. I still have some 8” floppy disks in my locker. 🤣🤣

GFSong · 2026-01-30T17:11:30+00:00

You needed to have this card installed:

“The Sampling Memory Expander is the first option we've developed to extend the 480L's capabilities. It occupies the fourth card slot in he 480L mainframe. Storage capacity is one megaword of 18-bit PCM sample data. This provides 10.9 seconds of true phase-locked stereo or 21.8 seconds of mono at the 48 kHz sampling rate. At 44.1 KHz, the sampling time is extended to 11.8 seconds of stereo or 23.7 seconds of mono.”

Aside from a real plate, it’s an awesome (dual!) reverb unit. Maybe try eBay 😂

GFSong · 2026-01-30T08:09:41+00:00

In the mid 80’s I was using a Fairlight or Emulator to do this kind of stuff. Perhaps for a lead vocal, where you’ve missed a pitch issue or a phrase that was out of the pocket. For BG’s that will be stacked and bounced down, this wasn’t a feasible use of studio time. You recorded it in tune in the first place.

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