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Troisnyx
Soundsmith, artist, and writer. Known for self-backing choir. Especially love drumming.
If you'd like to work with me, send enquiries via DM or my email at mail@troisnyx.co.uk
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Annette Walker @Troisnyx

Age 32, she/they

Music Director

Lancashire, UK

Joined on 6/26/11

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There's a new instrument in the collection.

Posted by Troisnyx - November 6th, 2014


Guess what.

It's another blooming drum. Or rather...

3805804_141529737523_175935.jpg

...whatever this monstrosity is called. I've seen bongo drums in pairs; I have no idea what a set of three is called.

Seán and I were walking past the local market when he gave this excited shout of "Annette, look left: there are drums!" I looked and I thought I initially saw two pairs of bongos, presuming one was behind the other. Then we came up close and then we saw... well, this. It was going for £15, we needed a replacement for our bongos, and this was too good an offer to pass. We did give it a little test play before buying it -- it sounded lovely, but to be fair, it was a cold, wet, windy day, and this market was an outdoor market, so it wasn't a good benchmark for what its actual sound was.

We put this in a heated room just to let the skins dry out, and then I gave it a bit of a play. I can safely say that even when it's warm and dry, it sounds marvellous. I'd like to do a demonstration of sorts sometime, once it's restored, and if everything goes to plan, I might throw in the other percussions we have. Might. And if that goes to plan, I hope to push Seán's camera skills to the limit...


In other news, I'm slowly healing from that depressive period. I can't say I know how well I'm doing -- only that I am feeling and looking at things better than when I last wrote. I've been spending the last few days finishing off Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, but not up to 100%. If anyone has tips on how to get some of these elusive Power Cells, I'll be very grateful.

I'm now revisiting Final Fantasy X, a game known for its in-universe strawman dialogue. And awesome battles, awesome music, and RPG character stereotypes. Let the fun times roll!


Comments

Filming drums high-quality (in terms of camera placement & movement) will be incredibly difficult if you're only going to have one camera+operator, because you cannot do cuts or transition effects at all (except maybe at the start and the end or if you mirror/multiply the footage).
I'm thinking it will be great if you could time camera panning with the music: on the most intense part you'd do a slow close-up into the drums, and after the culmination you quickly zoom out all the way back to what it was before. And I think it would be a mistake to move the camera away from the drums at any time for any reason: be it for the reason of filming your face more closely (it is often done in footage of performers playing) or your costume (it would make things more in-character) or the surroundings.
Oh I've just got an idea. You can get a second camera and hide it somewhere (over the performer's shoulder) so that it always films your hands on the drums' surfaces. That way you could do cuts and have absolute freedom with everything.

About Final Fantasy X: what do you mean by strawman dialogue?

By strawman dialogue, I mean: the Yevonites hate the Al Bhed, the Al Bhed hate the Yevonites, each hating the other for petty reasons, and as far as the story goes, one strawman stereotype is going to prevail in the end, in this case, the Al Bhed -- it doesn't explore people who have deeper spiritual connexions than just, "do what the precepts say and you will be saved." Naturally, this sparks a lot of hot-headed commentary. Christian fundamentalists will make this a comparison to Judaism, atheist and agnostic hotheads will make this a comparison to Christianity, and the flame war goes on and on outside the universe of X, as well as within, solving no problems whatsoever.

I like those camera ideas. Mind, a lot of drums will be used: we have three bodhráns, these drums above, one djembe and one set of ankle bells to play around with. The way I see it, it's going to involve a lot of cuts. So to a degree, there's a lot of freedom as to what can be done with the camera. Perhaps I ought to storyboard this once the piece is finished, and see where this'll take me?

It's good to hear that you are on the mend, Trois. I'm positive that being able to restore and play the new bongos will help, too :)

At the time that I write this comment, they have been restored. Playing them has certainly helped; sharing the drums with others has helped too! I don't know what it is... I want to share music, get others to play too.

Annette! It's been a while, I'm always free to lend an ear on Skype when I'm on, don't forget that! I'm happy to hear that your mood has improved though, Jak & Daxter is a game that will put anyone in a good mood!

I want to send you some stuff with the Bodhrán, I'll try to invite you as a tester and if you like the track maybe we can do a dueling Bodhrán track for fun! (Unless that's already been done before, then maybe something else!)

OH MY. BODHRÁN DUEL. Never done before on Newgrounds; I HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND that we actually do something along these lines. <3 <3 <3

How far are you on Jak & Daxter, out of curiosity? If you've 100%-ed the game, I might boot up the game and let you know which Power Cells I'm finding difficult to get.

I'm on Skype often, just invisible on most occasions. Or even if I'm online, I might take a while to reply. Shoot me a message there, if you'd like, and we can chat more. I'll be looking forward to it. ^_^

Three drums instead of two? I would call it a "badongo". :P

I'm glad to hear that you're pulling out of that bout of depression. I haven't been as depressed lately, but I have been terribly exhausted for no reason which conflicts badly with my always-busy-must-do-everything nature. I'm going back to a psychiatrist this week, and if he prescribes medication I'll give it a chance.

Today and yesterday have been pretty good though. I've been tired, but not too tired, and have manged to keep busy all day. I'm still not up to regular working order, and haven't been producing anything music or artwork of note, but at least I am doing /something/. :)

Oh gosh >_< Cheesy names are one thing, but 'badongo'? I think we'd all be going 'dooooohhhh, bad pun.'

I'll edit this response in due time; something's come up.

Yay!

And as far as Jak and Daxter goes, I definitely haven't 100%'ed it yet haha but I wish. You'd really need to be in scouting mode to pull that off. I have the first two for PlayStation 2 and I've tried the third one at a friend's house. As soon as Naughty Dog stopped developing the game it seemed to have lost a bit of it's magic. Same with the Crash Bandicoot series :/

You've been added as a beta tester for the track though Annette! I can send you the WAV file anytime if you want to make sure the timing is lined up. I was a bit rusty but it was fun to play again haha.

Scouting mode? o.O *is confused*

I've done about 80%, myself. As for the other two: I'm playing Jak II and I'm stuck on it. Jak 3, I have managed to complete up to 106%. Though I thoroughly enjoy all of them, I find Jak II the hardest of the three.

Thanks for adding me to the track by the way. (And please spell 'bodhrán' correctly, for the sake of everyone's reading pleasure. <3) I've been trying to access the file but I keep getting 404 errors; I wonder if something's up with the site...

No pun intended. :(

Gotcha. ;-)

And about doing something in the midst of a perceived artistic void: I'm with you on that one; going through exactly the same thing for the time being.

Haha by scout mode I just meant on the lookout to get every last powercell. Thats weird about the 404, it played for me. It was just a basic improv though anyway could prob get a better take. I could also just send it to your email I think I still have it but if not shoot me a quick PM.

For the longest time I didn't even know it had a D in the spelling, my dad speaks Gaelic and has always just pronounced it "bore-on" haha. But yeah I'll be sure to adjust it lol I just dont't know the hot key for that accent mark.

I've got a new e-mail address now; I'll either send you a PM or a Skype message about it.

It's pronounced close to "bore-on," or even "bow-ron," but Irish spellings are always the most confusing thing. I've got a question for your father, and a genuine one, because I'd like to know how to pronounce this sentence -- "go raibh maith agat, Ceann Comhairle" (it means 'Thank you, Speaker' as in Speaker in Parliament).

If you're using a UK or Irish keyboard, then the hotkeys for fada on the A are Ctrl + Alt + A (or capital A, Ctrl + Alt + Shift + A). Not sure if a US keyboard has hotkeys like this.

(By the way, my fiancé is Irish too, but only knows five words in the Irish language...)

Cool drumsies!

Hehehe, thanks! ^_^