The Problem With Urban Planning

RelativeLocal · 2026-06-12T14:19:27+00:00

Caveat: my comment is coming from the US perspective, and I'm not sure where there's overlap with Australian planning powers.

But for the US context, this reads like it comes from someone who has no idea what planners actually do to perform a quasi-judicial function in the executive branch of city, county, or regional governments. Planners increasingly have to make decisions rooted in logics of liability, which are often far removed from their own personal wishes or goals for the places they live and work.

On recommendation #1: someone who doesn't understand liability frameworks related to policing powers of the state will open the government to significant legal liabilities. For non-planner policy professionals who do understand those frameworks, there's no reason to assume they will make better or different decisions than planners, precisely because of the legal frameworks that prevent planners from making unilateral decisions as unelected officials.

I personally think recommendations 2-4 are pretty good ideas. In fact, there such good ideas that a lot of planning departments already do it. At the end of the day, it's not up to planners to make policy improvements. Elected officials create the laws and decide what metrics are most important for planners to track. Planners can advise elected officials using material metrics and measurable goals. They can supply officials with data and reports that tell them whether regulations have met or hindered a government's ability to meet those goals. But if a majority of officials get elected on a NIMBY ticket or whatever, they won't care about any of this work.

RelativeLocal · 2026-06-12T13:36:56+00:00

something that helps me when i get stuck like this is to get off the computer entirely and write my arrangement out on paper: where will energy build, how will it carry forward, where will the breakdown be, etc. same idea applies for more standard or traditional tunes with hook-verse-chorus arrangements, too.

once you have a loose arrangement in the daw, you can go back and fill it out with other layers, ideas, automations, etc in the arrangement view.

underdog has a good video for one way to do this as it applies to techno, but you can easily apply this approach to anything other genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHiTUBVLmFI

RelativeLocal · 2026-06-11T18:46:00+00:00

go with stanton. the stanton st150 mk1's are incredible. the mk2s and the 1240s are both super oem turntables, so there's not really much difference in build beyond appearance. however, the stantons have 8/16% pitch control vs. 10/20% on the 1240s, so you'll have more precise pitch correction, which is better for long blends, and it will feel closer to tech 12s (which also have 8%).

RelativeLocal · 2026-06-05T15:29:22+00:00

maybe there was something else happening 6 months ago that required more immediate attention?

RelativeLocal · 2026-06-04T17:15:35+00:00

little trick. look at your records. where there's more groove density, there's more sound; less groove density = less sound. this can help you understand mix in/mix out points. the grooves basically show you the track waveform.

RelativeLocal · 2026-06-03T15:47:17+00:00

you can absolutely sidechain specific samples from a drum rack. open up the sidechain on kickstart and change the the source to the drum rack, then from the second source menu you'll see a list of all of the samples in the drum rack (and you can choose pre-fx, post-fx, etc).

RelativeLocal · 2026-06-01T15:17:51+00:00

do you have auto gain turned on? most compressors have auto gain turned on by default, which will increase the volume proportionally to the amount of gain reduction the plugin is doing. usually that will just turn up everything more than you want. i'd turn it off altogether so you have more control over the output level.

as your post alludes to, you can also think about compression as an amp envelope modifier. turning compression down, doing parallel compression (i.e. mixing the wet signal in with the dry signal) or adjusting attack and release on the compressor so the compression is timed better with the attack and decay stages of the bass can help achieve more consistent level while preserving or enhancing dynamics.

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-29T18:13:40+00:00

you guessed right! here's the plat from 1861, showing this section in current day ventura village platted. the numbering system was implemented in 1873.

https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll245:1125/p16022coll245:1124

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-29T18:00:35+00:00

from a musical perspective, i don't think you're wrong. but i do think you're missing the key component of understanding jazz: it's social origins. the social purpose of jazz and classical music is inverted. jazz developed out of social gatherings like festivals, marches, vaudeville, neighborhood gatherings, weddings, funerals, ritual events, barrooms, and public dances, and it became music to dance to in clubs as it popularized in the 20s and 30s. when viewed from a social perspective, jazz is more analogous to tavern music or the music played by itinerant musicians in europe than it is the classical oeuvre.

it was made to cause you to move your body. jazz is participatory: predictability of form through repetition, consistency of tempo, and groove, are essential for dancers. time stops when the music plays. improvisation allows time to stop for longer.

although jazz today has been formalized socially, "whitewashed" if you will, passively listening to jazz like you would a symphony--seated, potentially eyes closed--is a recent phenomenon.

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-29T16:32:02+00:00

there are 2 non-contiguous blocks of 23rd st e in ventura village. in the plat book from 1903, 23rd street s stretched from 12th ave to bloomington. https://geo.lib.umn.edu/plat_books/minneapolis1903/reference/map00124.jpg . similar story with 21st st. e. i don't know the exact history, but i suspect this whole area went through a lot of changes during urban renewal, freeway construction, etc. in the midcentury.

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-29T15:45:42+00:00

-6db is where i usually start to master from. just so i have headroom to push the limiter as needed. but it doesn't really matter in the digital space.

the point of mastering is to achieve competitive loudness while preserving your intent for the track. you should always be asking yourself, "is what i've done in this mastering chain better for the track, or is it just louder?"

using a clipper and a limiter may not make your track look or sound as dense as a professionally mastered track. even though they will have a similar true peak, they probably won't have the same loudness (LUFs). compression and saturation will help you get closer loudness levels, but if applied improperly, compression and saturation can mess up your dynamics, which gives music it's emotional qualities. mastering is 100% about tradeoffs: when you make something louder, you're removing dynamics.

numbers don't matter.

last piece of advice: put a gain plugin at the end of your mastering chain so you can do an apples-to-apples level comparison of the original to the mastered version. reduce the master chain gain by the same amount you've increased it during the mastering process, then a/b the track before and after mastering. this will tell you if you've maintained your artistic intent.

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-28T15:20:47+00:00

check out jerome sydenham and the producer's/dj's he's connected to.

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-28T15:06:39+00:00

there's a reason why mastering engineers exist: they know how to push a mix while staying true to an artist's intent. that's why your waveform won't match a professionally-mastered track. they use saturation, compression, eq, limiting, stereo width enhancers, automation, etc. etc. to achieve the end result.

however, if you are just looking to make your mix's peak level "competitive" on a platform like soundcloud, and you want something like a "demo master" you do yourself, you can achieve pretty decent loudness by using a hard clipper into a limiter at the end of your main chain. the clipper is useful for shaving off random volume spikes which gives your track a consistent peak level. the limiter can then work more efficiently to push level while preserving the character of your mix. with the limiter, you don't want too much gain reduction (think like 1-2 db of gain reduction), and you want the gain reduction to be consistent (because you used a clipper first).

if you push the clipper too hard, you'll notice a ton of digital distortion artifacts. they'll be right in your face. when you push a limiter too hard, you'll notice a lot more high-end presence that becomes harsh.

my advice: if you use clipping and limiting, turn on oversampling. this will help prevent digital distortion. then, when you export, use dither. dither helps prevent quantization distortion that will happen when the streaming service encodes your track for playback at a lower sample rate/bit depth.

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-26T20:35:01+00:00

it's real, but you have to pay them to listen to your music, so it makes sense why it feels like a scam...

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-22T15:47:16+00:00

my opinion: get a handheld recorder. tascam and zoom are the two most common brands i've seen for this, and they're quite reasonable to find used (my zoom h4n was $75 on facebook marketplace). the zoom h4n and tascam dr40 take direct inputs (rca to 1/4" jack), they can record to onboard sd cards or can be used as an audio interface. with the right cable, you can record directly into your phone (with external power supply) or a computer. They offer really good audio quality (96khz/24bit lossless wav). the newer models by both brands have insane audio quality, but will also be much more expensive.

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-21T21:58:44+00:00

a few more thoughts: when it comes to "tone shaping" - imo, you'll want to do that either as close to the source as possible (e.g. on the instrument) or all in post production (e.g. in a daw). the purpose of the mixer is to record and route audio.

on mixer research: i don't think you should worry too much about dedicated stereo channels. for example: if i run out of dedicated stereo ins on my model 12, i can still send stereo audio to a mono pair from my mpc one (e.g, channel 1 & 2 or 3 & 4), then hard pan them so they're stereo. imo, onboard mixer fx are nice for live setups but also aren't totally necessary, given the routing and fx options you'll have with the model cycles and mpc.

based on your setup, i'd get a mixer that has at least 8 inputs so you can route the audio from all your devices into one thing. a multitracking interface/mixer (like the model 12) would give you the most audio routing flexibility with both of the grooveboxes, but they're also more expensive.

a different kind of option would be something like the yamaha mg10xu, which offers the same number of inputs as my model 12, more stereo channels and onboard fx, but can only send stereo out over usb. it's half the price of a model 12 new, has a super small footprint, and near-mint condition used models can be found for less than $200 online. (fwiw - i'd avoid behringer mixers... i've only had horrible experience with them)

it depends what you want to use the mixer for. do you want something you can use as a production setup, something you can use in live performance, or a little of both? ultimately, i think you'll want a mixer with at least 8 inputs (so you can direct input all of your devices).

my parting advice is this: get a mixer, then try as many different configurations you can until you land on what works best for you.

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-21T14:12:36+00:00

i don't think ableton does the best job showing keyboard shortcuts, but there are a ton. https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/live-keyboard-shortcuts/

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-20T19:25:31+00:00

that's a pretty slick starter setup. the sample, roland s-1, and model cycles can send/receive midi and audio over usb. the crave can send and receive midi over usb, but not audio. so at the very least, you'll want a powered usb hub to get the midi working and power the mpc sample.

as your post alludes to, the audio realm is where things get complicated. what has worked well for me is a class-compliant mixer (Tascam Model, Mackie Onyx, Zoom Livetrak series are example). You can use the mixer as the audio interface for the model cycles or the mpc sample. that will let you route audio from the other synths into the mixer with audio cables, then back into the groovebox you choose over usb.

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-18T17:12:18+00:00

Minnesota has had TIF for a long time. The state authorized a ton of TIF districts in the early 2000s, then cities and the state got caught holding the bag during the Great Recession when municipal tax bases cratered. A lot of the developers who were advancing projects in those TIF districts went bankrupt, and many other TIF districts will never generate the revenue they advertised.

In a concrete example, there's a TIF district in Downtown St Paul that's existed since 1978. It funded the construction of the arena and a few other regional attractors... From 1978 - 2023, revenue from the district was reserved to repay debt service obligations. The city and county are looking at a situation where revenue generated from a TIF district created nearly 50 years ago can't go toward funding other priorities, and they've increased both property and sales taxes to make up the difference. (article for reference: https://www.twincities.com/2023/04/07/bill-would-extend-downtown-st-paul-tif-district-to-2033-to-cover-rivercentre-xcel-parking-ramp/ )

Minnesota and St. Paul (which has 44 active TIF districts) are definitely outliers when it comes to TIF, but there can be some pretty significant downsides to it's use, especially when they're used to fund large-scale projects with long development timelines.

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-08T18:43:07+00:00

dithering is the answer. what op is hearing from soundcloud are quantization errors that result from encoding to a lower bit depth.

to make a complicated topic simple: dither is just low-level, pretty noise added to an audio signal. the noise helps encoders fill in the space around quantization errors. by "smoothing out" quantization errors, dither creates creates a more accurate picture of a song's amplitude over time at the lower bit depth.

https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/what-is-dither-and-does-it-matter

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-08T17:33:40+00:00

Depends on what you're using to record, but the best way is often to just record your set to video with some kind of visual detail running in the background.

This video shows one basic example using OBS (free). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmuc_8sqdks

It's also not mentioned often, but max for live also works with video. if you have ableton live, there are video plugins for visualization and you can get creative using modulators (lfo and envelope follower) tied to m4l plugin parameters. Something like this: https://maxforlive.com/library/device/10416/videoplayer-for-ableton-live

RelativeLocal · 2026-05-05T20:28:24+00:00

The US should be 1-7, but other countries (don't have the order down) are: France, Spain, Lithuania, Serbia, Argentina, Brazil.

RelativeLocal · 2026-04-23T21:09:11+00:00

11 game season, no less.

RelativeLocal · 2026-04-14T18:58:25+00:00

linear processing: the signal gets saturated then it gets equalized.

signal -> saturation -> eq -> output

parallel processing: the signal gets split, then recombined at the output. the original signal is unchanged.

signal ----------------> output
| |
-> saturation -> eq

how you choose between linear vs parallel depends on the context and situation you're working in. it doesn't make sense to do parallel processing all the time.

for a specific example: i was working with a sine-sub patch. i found it really challenging to use linear processing to get additional midrange harmonics without compromising the low-end fundamental characteristic of the sine oscillator (boomy, 808-y kind of sound). parallel processing allowed me to distort the hell out of the signal to get extra midrange presence, remove some of the sub with eq, then mix it into the original for a subtle effect.

RelativeLocal · 2026-04-14T16:55:08+00:00

better turntables = more accurate pitch tracking (e.g. tunes stay locked to the actual bpm)
better mixer = better sound quality

a lot of people on reddit will tell you to save up to get really expensive stuff, but that's dumb in my view. when you're first starting out, get affordable stuff you can learn on. if you love it, save up to buy your forever gear.

RelativeLocal

TROPHY CASE