So, Advanced Budget Studios took a bit of a break during the holidays, and with that came the usual curiosity as to how the new year would be. Well, I'd have to say that 2011 is looking great.  We started off the year recording a wonderful new artist named Taylor Miller.  He'll have a website up soon, and his music sounds fabulous! ...

So, when I started the re-design of my studio website, I knew I would need sliders, but I didn't realize how many unconfigurable, and generally static sliders were out there.  I must have gone through 5 iterations of sliders before I found one that matches my needs (and probably will be the go-to slider for any project I work on in the future)...

Man... I'm kicking myself right now for not taking a photo of this amazing musician, but I was way too interested in the music I was hearing to worry about silly cameras. Taylor Miller came in for a visit, and recorded 3 original songs tonight.  They have yet some proper embellishment to receive, but the tracks we got tonight were primo.&nbs...

About 2 months ago, a great musician, designer, and friend sent me a new design idea for AdvancedBudgetStudios.com.  After getting various opinions, I decided to have a go at it.  Also, with all the free time I had during the holidays, I thought it would be a good time to get crackin'. So, without further ado, I present you the new and ...

Okay.. Not really the "radio", but a cool little Internet radio station picked up Herod the Fink (a band I'm in), and decided to feature us.  They decided to play our song, "Desperate Husband's Chorus", and I think it's way cool. The radio station is called "LDS Music Today" and can be found at http://www.ldsmu...

Since we haven't been booking clients during November and December, we've had a few extra moments to really think about and research the needs of the studio.  The success this little studio has had is very exciting, and only makes us want to hone our craft that much more. Honing the craft is great, but pouring the success of the studio back ...

So, the Christmas season is officially here, and I'm feeling more Christmas Spirt than I ever have in my life - by a long shot. I attribute this to two things...  First and foremost, attitude, and making good choices.  To me, Christmas is a spiritual season because it's filled with love, good will, charity, friends, and family.  If...

Friday December 3, 2010 Today was filled with the usually chore, practicing for the Christmas Cantada, and puttting up the Christmas tree. Finally! me and my family put up our tree. We usually do it after Thanksgiving but we where a little late. You know. The more the years go by the faster Christmas seems to come. I can remeber when I was a litt...

Scramjet, a valued client of Advanced Budget Studios (and an amazing band, as well), has recently arrived in the top-ten list of a contest put on by X-96.  Please support them by clicking here and voting for them and their awesome song, "Tread Softly". Thanks, and thank you, Scramjet!  You guys are awesome!  ...

It might be that I'm a techno-geek, but the first thing I thought of when I read this was "social media".  People went from house to house and "labored exceedingly" all through the night to let it be known where Jesus was going to come the following day. Also interesting are the activities of the people when the arrived t...

One thing I noticed while reading verses 7 through 11, apart from the torn emotions of all the people, was what caused their emotion. Why did they feel so "amazed" and fille with "pain and anguish", and with "exceedingly great joy"?  Well... When was the last time you felt filled with pain and anguish for some...

Three things stood out at me during tonight's study session: 1. I wonder where the translation of the plates of Lehi are right now?  I've never read the history of the Chuch, so I don't know if it's documented there, but Joseph Smith had them, and had them returned to him after he lost them.  Did he destroy them?  Are they somewhe...

 So, last week, a client came in who presented a song to me, and we proceeded to record it.  It quickly became a favorite of mine, and I've since decided to produce it up beyond what it was originally, with the permission of the owner, of course.  The song is an acoustic version of Yellowcard's "Ocean Avenue", and I really,...

Just thought I'd let ya all know that I did something yesterday that I haven't done in years, if I've ever done it before at all.. Turns out I had band practice for two bands on the same night.  So, beginning at 4:30, and lasting until 11:30, I was at band practice. I don't think I've ever played the drums for 7 hours straight.  My ha...

Last spring, I modified my car - and then modified it again. The 2nd modifications entailed me re-programming (or flashing, or tuning) my car's computer.  One thing I didn't realize at the time was that evidently, a standard protocol for most tuners out there is to turn off the O2 sensors which monitor emissions after the catalytic converter...

Brother Packer's talk about everyone in the church being the same, and no office being more important than the other was very inspirational to me this conference, along with Thomas S. Monson's talk about Sister Patton and the talk he gave in 1969 concerning her and the death of her son in the Navy. I feel inspired as I sit here listening to the l...

Okay...  Quick story... Last Thursday, I was looking around the Internet for a great deal on a new pre-amp I want for my studio.  Happens that about 2 hours into searching, I found a deal almost too good to be true.  I found my 8-channel Focusrite Platinum Octopre for $300.00 less than anywhere I could find ($400.00 less than retai...

 Wow...  When I wrote this in March of 2009, "During this year, I both think and feel (logically and spiritually) I will be stretched more than I've been stretched in years.  This one's gonna be a toughy.  As for now, I feel anxiously optimistic.  Yup..  That about hits it on the head."  I had n...

 So, I'm pretty sure these words are being spoken to us, the Gentiles, and they are meant for people living now.  The last chapter was spoken to those who would be alive during the coming of the Book of Mormon, and it doesn't seem like this chapter deviates from that. Interesting that included in the list of "wicked ways" is t...

Of course, verse 1 immediately reminds me of verse chapter 36 and what I wrote about that.  But then, verse 2 held just as much interest for me.  First off, it seems that Alma talking to his three sons in these chapters has something to do with his being old enough to die at any time.  Yet, Alma's words talk about him having great jo...

 So, lately I've been thinking a lot about what life is all about, and kind of pondering upon times when I've been doing well, and times when I've been doing not-so-well. I think the most important thing you can do in life is stay close to the Spirit of God.  Lots of things seem to get in the way from time to time, but that's the nature...

I've been using Linux now for long enough to have heard just about all the facts, opinions, babblings, and flame-wars about Linux security vs. Microsoft security. *sigh* It seems that every time I try to explain to people the added security inherent to Linux, they have all sorts of explanations why my explanations are bogus.  Some of my ...

So a little more than a year ago, I took my mustang out for the first time on the Salt Flats.  I had a blast out there with my good friend Steve. On the way home, Steve had some problems with salt lining his rims, causing some tire imbalance, so we  got off the freeway, I showed him what the problem was, and as I was getting back on th...

Oh, man...  Where do I even begin this post?  And from which angle?  How about I just start typing and figure it out when I'm done....  Yeah, that's what I'll do. I just finished reading this Microsoft article which explains, using no uncertain terms, how to get "IT Management" to see the "value" in upgrad...

I run a server in my home.  It's nothing more than a hobby-type server that runs gentoo Linux, a couple of web-sites, my myth-tv installation for my home-theater, and all the family files.  I also have about 150 compressed movies on there, all of which can certainly take up a lot of hard drive space. I started this project back in 2004...

 So, I haven't been one to get on the 31 days of Thanks in November, just because I generally think it's shallow to do such a thing only in November, as we should be doing it all year round, but that, in itself, is even more shallow, because I've never ended up actually doing anyhting of the sort, ever.  So, this November, in the Spirit o...

I have written quite a bit about this chapter during previous years' studies.  To begin, I noticed this time that it is by the "spirit of prophecy" that Zeezrom's thoughts are made known to Alma and Amulek. I also noticed that during the buffeting these prophets delivered to Zeezrom, not one attack was personal.  They were sim...

 So...  I thought I'd be going to bed, but here I am. When the Spirit directed me to come down and write down my testimony, I wasn't (and still am not) quite sure what to write.  This certainly isn't due to a lack of testimony comparative to other times I've done this, but rather quite the exact opposite.  It is because my tes...

So, I was on my way to work today, when my phone rang - displaying an unfamiliar number.  With everything going on in my life, I decided it would be a good idea to answer it anyway. Turned out to be a really good idea. Last week, I decided to take the time to draw out plans for the studio and turn them in to the city for approval.  I ...

Tired of the same old colors?  Try customizing the color scheme of your ILMJ blog!  Here's how to do it: First, make sure you go to your blog home page.  If you're not sure how to get there, simply click on "Blog", and choose your blog.  You will then be at the home page of your blog.  From there, you will noti...