Great tune! I like that some of the pop-punk sounds from 20 years ago seem to be coming back into fashion.

Wonder if they’re planning a US tour any time soon?

One of the later SNES games called Secret of Evermore!

It’s kind-of a spiritual successor to Secret of Mana, but with a more sci-fi bent.

I like Michael’s channel, he’s got a good technical backbone and is able to explain things simply and without leaving important nuance out. He also edits really well visually in his other videos, if you can’t catch up to technical jargon you’ll just see and hear what’s going on. That’s how tutorials should be!

Fully agreed! I dig his calm demeanor quite a bit, and will definitely be checking into his other work. You make a great point about jargon: I’m not afraid of it, however, my academic background is in the social sciences. My professional audio background came from an apprenticeship-like situation, and every so often, I actually do find myself behind the curve when it comes to technical lingo.

Though I totally agree, most youtube tutorials are a way rougher trip, but so are any written blog posts and guides. And those are more difficult to verify because you need to research writer’s credentials, where as in a video you can already tell how good the producer is.

A very fair assessment — not every discipline can be as straightforward in video tutorials with regard to assessing quality! I’m just glad Michael isn’t screaming 😂

I am a really slow and inattentive reader, so visual instructions work better for me. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so I try to post an overview in text on what the video actually explains. That way, I’m not wasting text that most users probably won’t read and try to give a good idea of what the video covers to those who do. Part of it is also done in the title. Let me know if you have any feedback relating to that, I’m always looking to improve my writing style!

Your synopsis was great, and I don’t see anything wrong with your writing style! Your spelling, grammar, and punctuation are pretty damn good for a random internet post, I appreciate that you included some of Michael’s major points — the latter is what got me to check out the video, and, like you said, hear his demonstrations.

I’m not typically a huge fan of YouTube tutorials in general — I usually prefer reading — however, I’ve stumbled on this guy’s videos before, and I really enjoy his work!

While mixing, I’ve been keeping a bypassed bx_solo (Plugin Alliance freebie) on my master bus, and I have it set to mono. Every so often in the mixing process, I’ll kick it on to make sure everything is legible, and now I feel validated by this video.

I’m newish to the plugin space, but two that I’ve found myself using quite a bit are:

Analog Obsession’s Comper

Comper is a compressor with both serial and parallel options. I feel like I’ve gotten better sounds from this than the official Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor emulations from Plugin Alliance. Of course, that could be user error — I am a lowly live sound engineer, after all ;)

Tokyo Dawn’s Records’ Nova Dynamic EQ

I just like the way this one sounds. Does what I want with a good spectrum analyzer built in. I intend to purchase the full version soon, but I’ve found the free version very useful in my mixes. On the mastering side, I leaned into rhe Kirchoff EQ from Plugin Alliance, but it seems a bit unstable and feels a little overkill on the mixes where Nova gets the job done just fine.

I’m late to this party, but you might appreciate the open source Axis and Allies engine called TripleA.

My step-dad was a big WWII history buff, and he had the pc version of Axis and Allies installed on the family computer! Loved it and occasionally fire up TripleA for nostalgia.

Thank you for this! Graeber was my favorite anthropologist, and his work informed my research in grad school.

I departed the academic world years ago, but felt a huge loss for the discipline and for the global left when he passed. Currently working my way (very slowly) through The Dawn of Everything.

Interesting take, but super surprised to find it paired with an Isaac run!