Auto-tune to the RescueAuto-tune, it’s all the craze now a days. Just in case you don’t know what it is, it’s an audio plugin that makes T-Pain sound like he can sing. Who knows, maybe he can sing without it but I’ve never seen it. And I guess that’s the point, Auto-tune corrects your voice so it sounds like you’re completely on pitch. With Auto-tune you don’t have to be dead on to sound good.
The use of Auto-tune is a controversial subject. Some music purist believe there is not place for it. Some use it purely for the vocal effect while still others use it because without it they would sound horrible. One thing to note is that for Auto-tune to work correctly you do have to be able to carry a tune to a certain degree, you just don’t have to be perfect.
I recently put out a mix tape. I wanted to include a “diss” of a fellow DJ but I wanted to do it in a creative way. I ended up recording a song using Auto-tune, singing a “parody” of Snoop Dog’s “Sensual Seduction” track. I figured if he could sound good with Auto-tune, me a former Jackson 5 could have been should be able pull it off as well! Check out the final results below. I think I just may have Snoop beat! Well … maybe
The #snowpocalypse of ‘09
On the night of Friday, December 18th, 2009 it began to snow in the DC metro area. The snow for the entire next day and didn’t stop until night fall. In some areas, more than 20 inches of snow was recorded. At the end of it’s furry, this storm set the record for most snowfall for December in the District of Columbia.
I had the “pleasure” of experiencing this historic event by effectively being snowed in my neighborhood. The buses were down and the Metro soon came afterward and already having 2 incidents with my car in the snow I definitely wasn’t going to be driving! Being that I did most of my growing up in a middle-class New England town where there never was a shortage of snow come winter time, experiencing winter snow storms in the city is truly a unique experience. I had a similar experience in 2003 where I was stuck in New York City in a huge snow storm and one thing I noticed both in DC and NYC is that when the snow starts to fall in the city, so do people’s inhibitions. People forget about their age, about their differences or social standing and all come together to make snowman, slide down hills on improvised sleds, and have snowball fights.
With the advent of social networking and smart phones, collaboration is much easier to achieve. Some people organized a snowball fight to take place on 14th & U. I wasn’t aware of this plan but I happened to be walking on U Street and heard people laughing and screaming in the distance as I approached 14th street. It was actually quite a site and I took part in one “battle” for a bit which was timed based off of the red lights. About 10 or so minutes after I left the scene, a few of the “snowballers” threw a snowball (or two) at a hummer driving by. The driver got out of the car and proceeded to show his gun. He didn’t point it at anyone but the gesture definitely was an abuse of his power.
The one thing I do feel that many people haven’t been saying in regards to this situation is that the kids really shouldn’t have been throwing snowballs at moving traffic. The cop’s reaction was unprofessional and although it may fly in the hood, it’s not gonna work with the U Street crowd who are armed with iPhones and youtube accounts! Below is footage from the incident. After the detective pulls out his gun there is a kid that still nails him in the face with a perfectly placed ball of snow!
Despite the snowball fight incident, it was beautifully refreshing to see DC covered in generous layers of white fluffy stuff. For that one day, the snow covered the harsh realities of life and for a moment brought joy to an otherwise politically charged and divided city. Below I captured some images and video of the snow storm, or as it was referred to on Twitter, the #snowpocalypse of ‘09.
Reviving my site!
It’s sad really … www.lonnygomes.com has sat dormant for quite a while. Since my last post I have gotten side tracked with moving, getting my car stolen, getting locked out, having my apartment flooded … the list goes on.
In the midst of all the drama I have gotten a few things done. I’ve made a mix tape, done some demo recordings and started research in developing applications for the iPhone. I’m going to work at being better with updating my site with upcoming projects so stay tuned!
