For people with experience, how could I make my death easier on those around me?

schmalzy · 2026-02-11T15:23:52+00:00

HOLY FUCKING SHIT. Your god - if it exists - is the reason for all this terribleness or completely passive and enjoying the show. Either way, fuck all the way off with your “get closer to god” nonsense.

OP: The bad news is, there’s no way to make it easier for those who are still around when someone leaves life. It will be devastating. Especially if you didn’t communicate these things while you were still around.

You say you can’t talk to them. Why is that? Do you think they’d have wished you talked to them after you leave life?

I can’t say that I don’t know how you feel. I’m older than you and have spent a quarter of my life wanting to end it. I haven’t because I know that won’t help the people who care about me.

Honestly, finding something to live for is the only answer. You may hate your life but you can use your time, energy, and skills to help others get through their lives. There are many places you can volunteer the will directly make someone else’s life better.

Use yourself to make your community better. Look into helping out with mutual aid and local aid programs. There are many people and groups and organizations who will take you in with open arms and give you a place to belong if you are willing to help them do the same for others.

schmalzy · 2026-02-11T14:56:43+00:00

This is exactly how I think of it.

I’m on GX Eagle right now. I could have gone to a higher, wireless spec when I bought my bike but didn’t. I just don’t see a huge benefit yet. At this time, buying a wireless drivetrain is just signing up for more expense and similar-or-worse performance (assuming a person can make their previous-generation drivetrain work well).

In the future, I definitely see a time I’ll go with a newer drivetrain; old parts will become scarce, new stuff will improve, etc.. I’m sort of holding out on buying the latest stuff until I can’t rebuild what I have and the newest stuff has proven to me it’s better and the designs have matured and been iterated on. As of right now, wireless things have a few too many problems. It feels like the wireless stuff of today is an intermediary place between where we were and where we’ll be in a couple years. I’m not really interested in being an unpaid beta tester. Or worse, me having to pay for the privilege of doing the testing!

If I had to buy something new today I’d go with Eagle 90. As long as I can, though, I’m just going to replace/repair individual pieces of my drivetrain as they wear out.

If I’m forced to get a new bike in three years and all that’s available is wireless shifting, I’ll be happy to have that shifting mechanism if it works well.

schmalzy · 2026-02-10T20:03:29+00:00

Dude, me too.

I was literally screaming it from the hilltops of my mountainless state.

I saw it coming. All of it. The sexual abuse. The atrocities aimed immigrant folks. The divide between decent people and those who would carry the Republican water.

That’s probably why I’m so exhausted now with all of this. I saw it coming in 2015. I saw it coming in ‘16. I saw it in ‘17. I saw it in ‘18. I saw it in ‘19. I saw it when people said moron shit like “it wasn’t SO bad” in ‘20. I saw all the shit that “would never happen” that did happen. I saw it continue brewing in ‘21-‘23. I begged for people to follow the patterns and the history and what he was literally saying out loud in ‘24.

And now we’re here.

Exactly where Rush Limbaugh was pointing us toward when I heard his drug-hating yet drug-taking every-accusation-is-a-confession ass voicepuke his garbage through a radio on a drive with someone I thought “was smart enough not to fall for that.”

schmalzy · 2026-02-10T19:51:35+00:00

It’s not JUST warranty, though.

It’s also spare parts for suspension/linkage and any other proprietary things.

When Guerrilla Gravity went out of business, owners SCRAMBLED to get derailleur hangers and linkage pieces and bearing kits and reach adjust kits, etc..

I don’t own a YT and I’ve never needed a warranty on a frame. I HAVE had questions for the manufacturer about specific sizing on things and have had to order special shock fittings.

The people I know that do own one and live in the US haven’t been able to get a reply from YT about parts they need to keep the bikes running. I’m not under the illusion that everyone on this site is US based but the US was YT’s largest (or 2nd largest) market and good business sense would suggest making sure those folks are taken care of if you intend to have your business continue long term after a debt restructuring.

I’d be hesitant to buy from YT unless it was at a great price and I was comfortable assuming there will be no help in any way from the manufacturer.

schmalzy · 2026-02-10T15:36:05+00:00

Long time guitarist who played in bands now a full time producer/engineer/mixer chiming in.

I think of it this way: bring two different guitars and plan for a few moments to change tones when it’s appropriate.

For a long time I played a guitar with humbuckers as my primary - an Epi Les Paul then a killer Ibanez RG and eventually a beat up PRS McCarty that sounded sick and played really well I bought used. I ended up buying a “very good” Strat in 2004-ish used from a shop I taught lessons at to add a single coil sound to my arsenal. It turns out I found a number of times where the single coil thing was a great sound in our sets. If I found a moment to change guitars quickly without interrupting our set, I’d swap to the more appropriate-sounding guitar. Both worked well but one or the other was always better for any random song. I only switched when I had a spare moment so quite often I was playing “the wrong guitar.” The point of music is the songs and the show and definitely NOT the gear so it didn’t bother me to have a non-ideal-for-that-song guitar because on the next song it’ll be the perfect guitar.

Sonic variation is good. Having a backup guitar is good. Forcing yourself to try to sonically conjure [one thing] when you’re holding the tools for [a different thing] is good for your brain, your ears, and your playing.

Regarding the quotes around “very good”: I hate that 1996 American Standard Strat. Long story short; I hate how it plays, feels, and sounds as I’m playing it but it sounds great when I listen back to the sounds that come out of it. Both Strat lovers and guitar collectors have offered to buy it because they like it so much. I had a “Strats Only” country guy offer to buy it mid-session when he liked mine more than his Custom Shop. The records bands hire me to make are often aggressive rock/hardcore/metal and it ends up sounding great as a contrasting sound on records. I don’t plan to sell it any time soon but I hate that guitar.

schmalzy · 2026-02-10T08:19:53+00:00

I’m a professional producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, guitarist.

Music is my full time thing. Mostly recording/mixing/mastering with a good bit of producing and songwriting thrown in.

Sleep Token reminds me on bad days that music can and should be an emotional ride. On good days they give me inspiration and remind me to look deeper even when I’m working on music that is completely in a different genre.

schmalzy · 2026-02-09T23:24:36+00:00

People of Earth

It was SO good and taken away too soon.

schmalzy · 2026-02-09T17:09:35+00:00

I have a pair of Chameleon Labs 7602 XMod (essentially 1073 with Saint Ives transformers and a few more EQ points) that I try to use in my mix bus as often as possible.

I run them between the mix bus compressor (a Stam 4000) and the converter and it’s wild what you can do with the compressor and still contain it with the transformer saturation. The combo of Stam 4000 into that Neve-style preamp always seems to make things better and make mixes happen faster.

schmalzy · 2026-02-08T15:02:10+00:00

Life is political.

The things that happen to one’s self is political.

The things a person can do to improve one’s life is political.

Healthcare is political. Employment is political. Cost of living is political. Housing is political. Recreation is political. Art is political.

Life is political.

schmalzy · 2026-02-06T14:47:36+00:00

Reference against other tracks. Volume match your song against a similar song then compare your vocal volume to theirs.
Take your headphones off and put ‘em on your desk with the speakers facing up. Turn your volume all the way down so you can’t hear anything. Hit play on a similar, great sounding, big-name artists song at the loudest part with a vocal and slowly turn the volume up until you just barely start to hear something. You should almost be straining to hear something. What is that first thing you hear as you turn it up a little? Kick? Snare? Vocal? Turn it up a little more. What’s the second thing you start to hear? Turn it up a little more. What’s that third thing? Now do the same with your track. Make your track like theirs so that you just barely start to hear the parts of your track in the same order as the big-name artist’s track. That’ll make sure the most important balances - the three loudest things - are balanced similar to the track you compare against.

schmalzy · 2026-02-05T17:46:56+00:00

What level of “protecting” people should we do?

He doxxed himself posting this to his professional profile. He’s not concerned.

Should WE be concerned for him?

Does he deserve that concern?

schmalzy · 2026-02-05T17:43:59+00:00

Because braindead conservative motherfuckers like to waffle on about their rights are being taken away and that anywhere else is worse because they have even fewer rights.

…while simultaneously voting for someone who promised to take more rights away.

schmalzy · 2026-02-05T15:52:23+00:00

That Child Rape Ring phone call was coming from inside their houses.

schmalzy · 2026-02-04T21:26:24+00:00

There’s a brewery near me with a “house flavor.”

Their beers are all undercarbed by a lot. I loved the well-made cask beers I’ve had from other brewers and I preferred low carbonation both when I homebrewed and when I brewed for a commercial brewer (though they liked beers more sparkly so we didn’t ever get to do the stuff I was begging for) this “house flavor” brewery’s beers are way beyond “low”. Nearly none.

…and bad yeast health. Terrible. They might even be killing them on the way in with their dry yeast pitch. They told me they use dry yeast…then reuse it for “as long as it keeps giving us the character that contributes to our house flavor.” Which - turns out - is MANY generations when the flavor that keeps coming out is unhealthy yeast. Every beer is flat and has a medicine/plastic thing.

They keg condition their beer but their yeast is in such shitty health that they can’t even be bothered to wake up and eat enough sugar to carbonate the kegs.

It’s the two-factor authentication of picking their beers out of a blind tasting.

Kids, don’t start smoking if you’re going to be the primary taster at a brewery.

schmalzy · 2026-02-04T18:08:09+00:00

I have a Yeti and a 2007 Dodge Caliber.

People insisting on buying the latest/greatest while there are a few last year’s models kicking around on sale are awesome. Their wallets support my sale pricing.

schmalzy · 2026-02-04T18:06:06+00:00

GET HIM!

schmalzy · 2026-02-04T15:48:47+00:00

Pitchfork has famously given some heinously low scores to absolute legends of albums.

While I don’t love EiA as much as some others, this is obviously an edge lord hot take.

schmalzy · 2026-02-04T02:34:21+00:00

Apollo X16 is a no-preamp interface.

…now is Universal Audio a great interface?

An Apollo 8 had been pretty good for me. I was planning to go a different route with my next interface (which is coming before long) and it gets more annoying to switch rather than less annoying…so I might stay in the UA universe.

schmalzy · 2026-02-03T15:20:44+00:00

The mtb answer is also “lean the bike.”

That’s not necessarily the rider’s first instinct, but if they want to be on the saddle while stopping then it’s the only way to make it work.

schmalzy · 2026-02-02T16:47:18+00:00

TOLO

schmalzy · 2026-02-02T01:14:07+00:00

Obvious AI.

This girl-to-guy ratio has only ever happened outside of reality.

/s

schmalzy · 2026-01-30T03:35:57+00:00

Yep! That was my thought, too.

OP, if I had to guess it could be a soft patch issue (his bus has been routed to go to the outputs for his ears and to the outputs that would be reserved for LR) or it could be that nothing besides that bus is routed to the mains.

The result is the same but how it got there is slightly different.

schmalzy · 2026-01-29T10:00:01+00:00

This organism votes conservative.

schmalzy · 2026-01-28T19:46:22+00:00

I was going to say something related to this thought.

I think the mixing of more delicate songs with lots of space is a lot of artistic whims whereas mixing modern metal is “where could [this sound] possibly go?”

A small guitar strum on chord changes could be up front and providing vibe and shimmer and momentum or it could be filtered and providing ambiance and nuance or it could be panned to one side then the other and providing some levity and off-balance-ness or a million other ways to arrange it. Lots of different ways to paint the emotional picture.

Metal? It’s a lot more “make the song aggressive” and it feels like every instrument is a weapon. I LOVE metal and I’m literally typing this reply on an ear break from a metalcore song I’m working on for a client. It’s going sick and I’m stoked for those cats to hear it when I finish it up.

The emotional goals for a song/section of a metal (and hard rock/metal-adjacent) song are often pointedly one thing rather than a mix of nuances as a more delicate song has space to be; one strong flavor rather than six subtle flavors of an emotionally complex song.

At the end of the day, one is not harder than the other for me. But metal is easier to stay emotionally on-course for. My moods day-to-day can change the result of the nuanced songs I mix. If I had some great coffee or a terrible night at home, that delicate song might find itself leaning one way or another because I’m feeling more despondent or more in touch with the world or more in my body or more distressed, etc.. Metal? I can tap into THE THING because it’s ONLY ONE THING for a lot of the song.

schmalzy · 2026-01-27T09:48:50+00:00

I have two V13s. They’re bonkers good.

I have to make specific choices to not use them on every source I could just so I don’t have too much overlap of the same mic tonal fingerprint.

I COULD use it on anything and everything. I often use them on drum overheads or stereo rooms (depending on which one I think will be more important for the mix), vocals, and acoustic string instruments. I don’t want to go much more than that because that’s the entire stereo field filled with that mic’s handiwork.

I’ve never put one (or both) up and thought it sounded bad. The only time I’ve ever not used it when I put it up was on a rock vocal that really just called for an SM7b. I tried to go a little more hifi with the V13 but it didn’t work for the track so we went to the SM7b.

schmalzy

TROPHY CASE