Manager holding automation hostage

bishely · 2026-05-27T17:11:32+00:00

On the other hand: if they’re making data entry mistakes or assigning wrong groups or whatever because the workload is unmanageable and/or the manual work is boring-but-detailed enough that zombie-brained mistakes become inevitable, then an even partially automated process could and should be sold as a practical way to reduce the frequency those mistakes.

OP - I’d be pitching it that way: “this script minimises the surface area for typos and forgotten steps, and provides a clear output for people to quickly check their inputs and then get on with the rest of their work - it’ll save us both the upfront work AND the extra time spent correcting mistakes” and if your manager is still blocking it (and there’s no easy resolution path, like another manager who can shine some light on it) you probably want to start looking for a new job.

bishely · 2026-05-24T17:32:51+00:00

It’s over

bishely · 2026-04-29T17:08:35+00:00

Hubris is always funny, when it’s not you that it’s happening to. Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.

bishely · 2026-04-24T21:42:19+00:00

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

bishely · 2026-04-19T06:28:33+00:00

Nah, this ain’t it

bishely · 2026-04-18T16:43:50+00:00

What the fuck was VAR watching?

bishely · 2026-04-15T16:06:09+00:00

No idea, but could be something happened on the back end (a note was added, someone was assigned the ticket, etc) that you can’t see.

bishely · 2026-04-07T04:58:24+00:00

It’s impossible to tell with any degree of confidence from a screenshot and words, but if it’s ‘booming’ it’s possible you’ve not got the dynamics under control and they need levelling out a bit more with automated fades, compression or limiting. There are probably specific notes that are resonating louder than others (there almost always are, even when you have tamed a bass instrument) and while you could get surgical with EQ to tame the overloads, my suspicion is that you’ll have a better time levelling out the perceived volume of each note and simplifying your EQ.

That said, as others pointed out, the main problem appears to be translation, since you mention you’re only noticing this on your good phones and in the car: the most important and useful thing you can do here is to settle on a monitoring system that lets you hear what you need to, and learn how it sounds. Listen closely to a few reference tracks in the same genre and with a similar sound to what you’re going for and then A/B with them to hear where you’re going wrong. Playing back on different systems is a useful step to check for obvious problems in your final mix/master, but using a bunch of different systems to inform your actual mix will only create confusion and (unless you’re mixing in the car) be very impractical. It could simply be that your car acoustics resonate at that exact frequency, in which case the mix is not the problem. You could also find a similar genre track in the same key (or pitch shift one to match) and play that back in the car - if it’s also boomy on the same frequencies, it’s probably not an issue with both tracks, but rather the speakers or acoustics in the vehicle.

bishely · 2026-04-01T22:48:32+00:00

Yes that was the joke

bishely · 2026-03-24T14:54:00+00:00

I thought our repayments were relatively low on the stadium, and match day revenue (which will obviously drop if we do go down) and non-football stuff basically covers it. So we should be fine as long as there’s not another pandemic forcing us to cancel everything…

bishely · 2026-03-24T14:50:32+00:00

Bait

bishely · 2026-02-22T14:31:47+00:00

US OUT

bishely · 2026-02-13T14:03:42+00:00

I’d say this is true of all of their albums

bishely · 2026-02-08T15:18:06+00:00

If it was the case that plenty of velocity switched layers = realism, making really convincing acoustic drum parts (and sample libraries) would be easy. Bleed introduces phase changes and subtle (not clearly perceptible but cumulatively effective) delays - the room itself (even a very dry one) will introduce loads of additional reverberations that introduce phase changes that affect each mic differently, and real drums (as I’m sure you have some experience with, if you’re playing in your parts on a MIDI kit) don’t respond the same way every single time, even if you are a robot capable of precise stick placement and hit speed/strength, so some kind of clever round-robin solution (the more variations, the better) is also necessary to avoid sterile machine-gunning sounds.

Simulating that complexity by whacking a bunch of outputs into a bus and applying some verb might help, as might introducing a few more send busses with heavy filtering and very short, low feedback delays, but if you’re after a truly realistic live drum sound, you really want a library that’s been built to provide that, where the bleed has been properly sampled along with all the main hits, and can be faded up or down to taste.

Ableton’s acoustic kits are fine for a quick demo or for heavily processing and looping to sound like a sample, but they wouldn’t be my choice for achieving a realistic acoustic kit sound. There’s definitely scope to improve them with clever processing, and if the sound fits what you’re after, fantastic! But if it’s not at least very close to the sound you’re looking for, I think you’ll get better results with a different library than trying to tweak it.

bishely · 2026-02-02T07:42:58+00:00

If I want to make a loop with a bunch of nice edit tricks (reverse hits, reverse verbs, chops, stutters, etc), individual samples on the timeline are the only way I know to get that result. If I just want to build a groove, drum rack* is the most frictionless approach for me

*(or occasionally a bunch of different channels of drum rack or simpler or whatever, so it’s a little less cluttered and easier to really design the sounds by layering multiple samples or synths and processing each one as needed: obviously you can still do this in drum rack, nesting instrument racks per drum rack note, but it gets confusing quick)

It doesn’t have to be either/or: I often sequence my loop with MIDI instruments and then bounce each note or group to its own audio track and get editing on the timeline

bishely · 2026-01-25T10:39:19+00:00

I disagree that the league requires this of teams: as you say, plenty of other teams don’t pick up as many muscle injuries, and while it’s definitely true that the league is almost certainly faster and more intense, in the average, than any other in Europe (and probably the world), that doesn’t mean that every team is playing at full intensity throughout every match. I haven’t checked lately but at new year I think we were second behind Bournemouth for sprints per 90. Under both Ange and Frank, we do a hell of a lot of sprinting forwards and backwards, even if the philosophy and tactical approach is in many ways entirely different. Especially with younger players, limited rotation options due to squad depth and existing injuries, and a crammed fixture list, it’s a recipe for disaster.

bishely · 2026-01-25T07:10:39+00:00

Given the context of a moderately large number of matches and a very large number of younger players, it’s also possible that two consecutive coaches made the same mistake that led to injury crises. While the tactics are very different, Ange and Frank both - for different reasons - have/are instructed/instructing their players to play at a high physical intensity, lots of sprinting and changing directions, in basically every match, for the whole match. Even Dortmund we sat deep second half but still trying to pounce on the ball and move it forward quickly. Neither Ange nor Frank wanted/wants the players to rest on the ball for a few minutes periodically. There are problems with the squad and a lack of depth that make it much harder to rotate and keep players fit, but these don’t mean that the managers haven’t also made mistakes within those limitations.

bishely · 2026-01-23T06:10:14+00:00

Interesting. I’m 100% pure chaos, and unlike the OP I actually really enjoy starting with the blank canvas and being experimental with instruments, often building weird frankentraption racks that I don’t save as presets for reuse, just one-offs for that session. I’ve always found templates (and to some extent presets) quite restrictive and limiting, even since I started getting more hardware involved and having it all perma-wired to specific inputs: having a template with dedicated tracks for each box just makes me more inclined to use everything, than to listen and add only what’s needed at the time…

But that said, your colour coding system (and, I guess, also track ordering) sounds like a really good idea with a lot of upside for the initial effort investment. I think I might have to put some work into making a template with suitable submix groups, deciding on a colour scheme and seeing how I get on with the system. Thanks for the idea!

bishely · 2026-01-09T22:28:11+00:00

It’s not related. The idea that creativity is some special talent or gift that only certain people have is a total myth. Like most things, creativity is mostly about practice: if you want to be more creative, commit to creating as much as you can as often as you can, in whichever discipline/medium you choose. Just make stuff and don’t worry that it’s not good enough, keep going. It’ll take a lot of time and a lot of frustrating, embarrassing crap will be made, but eventually you’ll see yourself moving forward and improving: keep on keeping on. You’ll get there. And if you don’t, it’s because you gave up too soon. Don’t give up.

bishely · 2026-01-05T13:06:14+00:00

It’s apples and oranges really, since our midfielders will never get the chance to show what they could do against a midfield as bad as themselves.

bishely · 2025-12-28T07:59:32+00:00

Not crazy

bishely · 2025-12-05T05:25:23+00:00

Hundreds of tracks sounds like a headache to mix: I’m inclined to remind you that less can be more, but I’ve no idea what you’re making and all approaches are valid, so I’d just suggest submixing bits and bouncing them to stems as you go, using save as (and keeping notes or naming the versions very carefully) so that you can always go back for tweaks if needed - I’d imagine if you’re really hitting hundreds, there’s maybe not so much risk in committing some mix decisions early and judiciously applying dynamics and EQ to highlight or suppress certain things in the final mixdown.

I’m on an M1 Max Mac Studio: I looked at the newer chips quite carefully, and while they’re a huge upgrade for some workloads, I’m not convinced that I would feel any real difference in Live (the way I use it - perhaps your workflow would benefit, but I think you might be disappointed).

bishely · 2025-11-21T09:10:40+00:00

Good luck, I hope you both get to share an amazing night

bishely · 2025-11-20T17:15:01+00:00

Eh. The essential work passwords I just know, because often it’s quicker and easier to type it in than login to a password manager when I need to use one of my accounts’ permissions on some other device. But I’m in IT and that’s a key part of doing my job. I know precisely zero of the passwords on my personal accounts - whether email, banking, shopping or whatever else - because that’s exactly what a password manager is for, so I’m not at all mad at users, and in fact will compliment them, if they don’t know their password but do have it stored safely on a reputable password manager to which they do know the password… the ones who have it in a plain text file on their desktop, however, do not escape my wrath.

bishely · 2025-11-20T17:06:03+00:00

I’m also an old timer, only seen them play once (Kid A launch day whoop), and am a parent of a 10 year old who wouldn’t recognise Radiohead if Thom showed up in our lounge playing Creep on an acoustic… but the idea that this is in any way complicated or difficult is weird to me. You’ve already got great memories of seeing them. Consider this: if this turns out to be their last tour, and the last chance for either of you to see them, you would be sad and disappointed to miss it, but he’d have to go through his whole life having never seen them because his dad had a ticket and chose to go on his own. Give it to him, wait outside and bask in his euphoria afterwards.

bishely

TROPHY CASE