ghost

I'm finally back. Last night, I dreamt that I was sat around a table in the staff room of the place I do work experience at with the characters of Dragon Quest VIII (best DQ btw). Angelo announced to us all that he was sick of being a Templar knight and was going to become a minstrel. I cuddled up to him and told him I thought that was hot then we stood up and he hugged me back. We kind of stumbled onto all the staff members' bags and we kissed and I don't remember much after that but knowing Angelo, I'm sure what happened next was... interesting. Also, you know when something doesn't explicitly happen in a dream but you feel like it's true of that dream? It was never stated but I feel like I was dating the hero of DQ8 at the time so I was basically cheating on him right in front of him. Dream me is a homewrecking binch.

PSA to cough and sneeze with your mouth covered, especially in the colder months of the year 🤧 it's basic manners. 
The beast next to me at work came back from a holiday with the worst cough and has made 0 effort to not spread it to all of us. No amount of vit C and propolis can save me from reckless dumbasses. 

I’m so sick of... everything. 

Yeah, I believe so.

*This comment is entirely based off credits for mixing that I saw on discogs, just fyi.  

It would've been interesting to see more people remaster the tracks originally done by Tue Madsen since he was such an influence on the band's sound from DSS - Arche. Specifically, I'd be really curious to see what a Japanese sound engineer would do as I feel like there's a stark contrast in the way the songs are mixed on this collection and it seems to be divided by regional preferences (and by regional I just mean that there seems to be a different sound profile preferred by engineers from different countries). For example, it sounds like the Japanese engineers like cutting out the lows more so that the songs sound cleaner, but perhaps a bit on the sterile side for some songs. Western engineers sound like they like keeping the lows more for a bit of a dirtier sound which in turn makes some tracks a bit muddled sounding. Try taking a listen between Filth and Sustain the Untruth and I think what I'm saying might make sense (the prior being re-mixed by a Japanese engineer and the latter by another Western engineer that's not Madsen).
 
Now, you might say it's probably just because Filth was originally from 2001 and STU was from 2014, but if you take a listen to the Cage remaster (1999) I feel like the low ends on this mix are boosted way more than the original. And wouldn't you know, Western engineer. Just my observations, but I really wish Dir en grey would go back to using Japanese sound engineers because, overall, I prefer the way they mix the band's music. No hate against Western sound engineers at all as there are plenty that I love, but for whatever reason the ones that end up working with the band just seem to do a less than stellar job. 

double fixed 🙃
 
tbh, Kumo is one of my favorites by them still. That guitar solo in "Kisei -Parasite" takes me straight back to the late 90's/early 2000's the moment it plays.

double fixed 🙃
 
tbh, Kumo is one of my favorites by them still. That guitar solo in "Kisei -Parasite" takes me straight back to the late 90's/early 2000's the moment it plays.

fixed 😉

So I had a weird dream last night. Putting it in a spoiler for people who don't like nudity or assault situations:
 
 

Quick, someone tell Hizumi it's okay to make heavy music again. Get him a copy of Dogma and Ninth ASAP.

Quick, someone tell Hizumi it's okay to make heavy music again. Get him a copy of Dogma and Ninth ASAP.

Quick, someone tell Hizumi it's okay to make heavy music again. Get him a copy of Dogma and Ninth ASAP.

Quick, someone tell Hizumi it's okay to make heavy music again. Get him a copy of Dogma and Ninth ASAP.

Quick, someone tell Hizumi it's okay to make heavy music again. Get him a copy of Dogma and Ninth ASAP.

Quick, someone tell Hizumi it's okay to make heavy music again. Get him a copy of Dogma and Ninth ASAP.

Dressed up for Halloween as a cheap Ai from gulu gulu.  I actually felt really beautiful lol 
 

Met Charli XCX. She's nice.
 

I don't revisit Hotarubi on its own ever, but I've always liked it when I listen to Macabre from front to back. Toshiya's got some great bass lines.
 
Side note, I really wish I could've seen them during their Macabre tour aesthetic back in the earl 2000's. It's gotta be my favorite look from the band.
 
 

I don't revisit Hotarubi on its own ever, but I've always liked it when I listen to Macabre from front to back. Toshiya's got some great bass lines.
 
Side note, I really wish I could've seen them during their Macabre tour aesthetic back in the earl 2000's. It's gotta be my favorite look from the band.
 
 

I don't revisit Hotarubi on its own ever, but I've always liked it when I listen to Macabre from front to back. Toshiya's got some great bass lines.
 
Side note, I really wish I could've seen them during their Macabre tour aesthetic back in the earl 2000's. It's gotta be my favorite look from the band.
 
 

While this sounds great on paper, I'm very skeptical about how they might be executed as most of their remastering efforts have either been negligible or took something away from the original mix. I did, however, think Vestige of Scratches was an overall good remastering of older tracks and would be totally on board for a similar sound. Songs like "Child Prey" hit so much harder and having a Vulgar remaster with VOS execution would be amazing.

Yeah, I believe so.

*This comment is entirely based off credits for mixing that I saw on discogs, just fyi.  

It would've been interesting to see more people remaster the tracks originally done by Tue Madsen since he was such an influence on the band's sound from DSS - Arche. Specifically, I'd be really curious to see what a Japanese sound engineer would do as I feel like there's a stark contrast in the way the songs are mixed on this collection and it seems to be divided by regional preferences (and by regional I just mean that there seems to be a different sound profile preferred by engineers from different countries). For example, it sounds like the Japanese engineers like cutting out the lows more so that the songs sound cleaner, but perhaps a bit on the sterile side for some songs. Western engineers sound like they like keeping the lows more for a bit of a dirtier sound which in turn makes some tracks a bit muddled sounding. Try taking a listen between Filth and Sustain the Untruth and I think what I'm saying might make sense (the prior being re-mixed by a Japanese engineer and the latter by another Western engineer that's not Madsen).
 
Now, you might say it's probably just because Filth was originally from 2001 and STU was from 2014, but if you take a listen to the Cage remaster (1999) I feel like the low ends on this mix are boosted way more than the original. And wouldn't you know, Western engineer. Just my observations, but I really wish Dir en grey would go back to using Japanese sound engineers because, overall, I prefer the way they mix the band's music. No hate against Western sound engineers at all as there are plenty that I love, but for whatever reason the ones that end up working with the band just seem to do a less than stellar job. 

While this sounds great on paper, I'm very skeptical about how they might be executed as most of their remastering efforts have either been negligible or took something away from the original mix. I did, however, think Vestige of Scratches was an overall good remastering of older tracks and would be totally on board for a similar sound. Songs like "Child Prey" hit so much harder and having a Vulgar remaster with VOS execution would be amazing.

Back with another drawing. I've always wanted to draw a desert landscape so this is my take on it. I started this one last year and then went into a slump. Finally overcame my laziness and finished it.

Fall fal fall. Out with the ugh, in with the calm.