andrew dodson

As I continue updating all of my sites, incorporating CSS, my newest site is one for Distinct Impressions. Nothin’ too fancy, but I have some great ideas for the next site design now that we’re getting pictures onto the site…

Distinct Impressions new site

I visited a few Frankfort websites tonight, that – honestly – I don’t visit often at all. Actually, I didn’t know two of them existed, but had only visited the other a time or two. They’re actually very good sites with lots of good information about the community. Go visit ‘em:

VisitFrankfort.com
DowntownFrankfort.com
SaveTheGrand.org

I’m pleased to announce the “official” launch of the CLS blog. While it’s been active for months, we’re just now getting around to posting regularly. For starters, our first “This Week at CLS” article has been posted, recapping the previous week’s activities. We’re in the process of coming up with more ideas for regular blog posts (Did You Know?, weekly pictures, etc.). To the best of my knowledge, we’re the first business in Frankfort with a blog. If you know of someone that’s beat us to the punch, email me.

Visit the CLS blog

…ordered pizza online for the first time in my life. What makes the story interesting is that it was a carryout order. On top of that, the pizza place is less than a mile from my apartment. Eh… I thought I’d try something new today. We’ll see how it goes…

Okay… I think I’ve recovered from my crazy weekend – just in time for another weekend!

Song of the Summer – 2006
Last summer, I unofficially dubbed Coldplay’s “Speed of Sound” as my Song of the Summer. This summer, I’m pleased to announce Keane’s “Is It Any Wonder” as my Song of the Summer. I absolutely love this song.

Treo Bandwagon
Last week, I hopped aboard the Treo bandwagon. I’m still learning what all the little sucker can do. It’s pretty sweet though. I’m also excited about switching to Sprint – nothing against Verizon, but everyone around these parts is on Sprint (or so it seems).

JMB Album
Almost done. One more song to mix completely, and then tweak the mix on the rest. We’re close.

God Stuff
Sunday night was the JMB’s first ever performance at my home church – The Point. There was a great audience on hand, and all I can say is that it was a really special night for me.

2006 has been a very interesting year for me, spiritually. I feel I’ve grown more so far this year than when I first became a Christian. It’s been fun.

I’m finishing off a 20-hour day here at CLS.  Yeah – that’s right.  I’ve been at CLS for the past 20 hours.

Due to the craziness of our current production schedule, it’s been almost impossible to keep up.  At the same time, I’ve been chomping at the bit to finish the new CLS website design.  So, I decided to kill two birds with one stone, suck it up and stay here for as long as it takes to finish the website and get caught up.

While I’m hesitant to say that I’m caught up, I’m pretty close.  I know, however, the cycle will begin again come Monday morning.

In regards to the website, it’s by far the best site design I’ve done so far.  It looks great (in my opinion), it’s functional, and very informative.  I have to fix a couple of minor bugs at some point, and I’m going to add a FAQ page in the About section.  I’m normally not one to pat myself on the back, but after a 20-hour day, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.

New CLS website 

At long last, I’ve completely (mostly) work on The Point’s media site. It ain’t too shabby, and it serves its purpose. Keep it bookmarked to check each week’s sermons, audio, pictures, video (hopefully soon), and more.

The Point:media

LeBron James’s website is a flash nightmare. Sure it looks cool, and all the little animated effects, sounds, etc., are all really nice. But, it takes FOREVER to load, even on a high speed connection.

This site is a perfect example of why I don’t like to use Flash on my websites. Oh yeah – I forgot – before I could even see the site, it informed me that I needed to download the latest version of Flash. After five minutes, I was finally able to see the front page of the site.

Not good. (I don’t recommend going to see the site if you’re on a lower speed connection, or don’t have the time or patience to deal with it)

I’ve started the process of mixing the JMB album – again.  New vocals have been recorded.  New drums have been recorded.  Percussion overdubs are happening.  A couple of minor guitar overdubs will be recorded on Monday.  The album is finally coming together.

Josh has very graciously allowed me to use his Behringer Truth monitors for mixing.  They’re awesome!  (Josh – how much do you want for ‘em???)  My mixes so far have come out pretty good because it’s very easy to mix with the Truth monitors (100 times better than what I normally use).  At the rate mixing is going, I should be finished later this week.  Once again, I’ll let the band take a listen, we’ll make final (final??) adjustments and then be done.

It sounds great so far….

This is getting interesting.  Since buying an electronic drum set, in the back of my mind, I’ve had this thought – What can I do next?  What’s the next step with electronic drums?

It finally hit me.  I’ve decided to add a guitar effects processor to the electronic kit.  Thanks to my buddy Brad, and his new music store, I’ve found a great deal on a Digitech RP100.  I started playing with it tonight and instantly thought of all the different things I could do with it.

It’s also led me to start listening to Charlie Hunter’s latest project – Groundtruther.  It’s an experiment with electronic drummer Bobby Previte.  I purchased all three of their albums on iTunes, and I’m currently listening as I type this.  WARNING:   It is very weird music.  Even for my taste.

I can’t see myself using the effects unit much for Josh Martin Band stuff – it just wouldn’t work on any of our material.  It’s already a stretch for me to use electronic drums in that setting.  However, I expect to get use out of it with The Point’s praise band, as well as my own future endeavour – a solo electronic album.

Yeah – you read that right.  I’ve been planning a solo electronic album for quite some time (years, actually).  It’s an attempt to show my appreciate for (some – not all) electronic music, and combine that with my love for drums, percussion, weird sounds & more.  It hasn’t been until recently, though, that the project has gained some credibility (the electronic drums, a space in which to record real drum tracks, etc.).  I fully expect to begin work on the mostly improv album sometime this summer.

What next?