alionmind News May 2017 - The progress, so far

Yes, it is already June, and I wanted to post this alionmind News blog since a few days. The reason why this didn't happen is, that I hoped to get the alionmind website up and running and also a new AlionLive video uploaded. This issue of the alionmind news would have been far more impressive then. So, before we dive into the things that have been accomplished in May 2017, we get into the things that haven't:

Website(s)?
I had to learn about a lot of things in May, regarding to webdesign. The internet has changed somewhat since I dived into the depths of webdesign, web programming and all that for the last time. Thus my recent websites always looked not just a bit oldschool...in a bad way ;) And also, websites have to be flawlessly viewable on a lot of different devices today. Mobile is a must. Another thing is, that people are used to fancy multimedia elements on websites these days. And these are just the few things I can tell you about, without drifting into the tech details. So I had to learn about new web standards, features of new versions of software frameworks and last but not least, new tools. Aside from the ongoing learning process, I had to come up with a new concept for the website(s) and also re-write all of the text content, as the old content doesn't meet my current standard. A last, but not very unimportant fact is, that I do not just build one website currently, but actually five. The work, I am currently doing, is not just used to create the main alionmind records website. It will be re-used for the sites of alionsonny, Cimelium and Willma Poppen also. So, once the alionmind site is finished, which will happen in a few days, all the other websites will also be finished in about 2 or 3 days. Enough about that ;)

Another AlionLive video?
Yepp, and while having the illusion of getting the website(s) done, I also thought that I might be able to finish the last real part of the 'Spring in Madeira' series. Simply no time for it. The raw cut is done, but I have to write tons of subtitles, do hundreds of transitions. Nope, didn't happen. I'll work on that video, once the main workload of the website(s) is finished. May take a bit of time. After that last part, I'll record a short, but necessary aftermath and then the eternal series will finally end.

The 'Madeira' album by Cimelium is OUT!
If you follow me on Facebook or read the Cimelium blog, you'll already know it: The third album by Cimelium in total and the second alionmind album this year is out in the wild. You can buy it in all well-sorted online shops for music, for example GooglePlay (CLICK!) and iTunes(CLICK!). And if you are stingy and if you don't want me to get rich, you can also stream it on all well known streaming platforms, such as Spotify (CLICK!). So finally, after all the other backlog has shrunken a bit, I'll be able to work at another alionsonny album. So, friends of the weird kind of Reggae, be ready. By the way: did you know, that the alionmind records portfolio now has 14 album releases? Yepp, time for a 15th. :D

AlionLive is alive with a new video!
As I already mentioned, I wanted to get out another one, because it is about time. But I am glad to announce also here, that after over a year of silence, the 'Spring in Madeira' series has finally a new part. It was uploaded about 3 weeks ago, so I suppose, some people will already be grudgy again, because they think I broke my promise of continuing AlionLive again. Folks: Making videos is NOT my main job. If I would get paid properly for it, my output would be larger. But currently, making music is quite more rewarding. Once I get more subscribers and a significant increase of views, I could put more focus on AlionLive. Ok, but here's the new video. It is the next to the last real part of 'Spring in Madeira'and we go hiking again. The sountrack is completely from the 2009 alionsonny album 'Reggae?'. You like the music? You can get the album on GooglePlay, iTunes and everywhere else. Streaming is also possible on Spotify. And here's the video:

What's next?
Well you know already, and EXACTLY in that order:
1. Finishing the website(s)
2. Finishing the 2014 Madeira video series
3. Starting to work at the new alionsonny album 'Phoenix'
4. Starting to work at the 'Bike ride to the North Sea' video series
So, let's work!

alionmind News April 2017 - alionmind is conquering the world with music!

Strong statement, right? Hello first, and I apologize for the long time of silence. As you might have noticed, 2015 to 2017 was not a great time for the house of alionmind. Well, since everything is largely getting back to normal, I would like to at least post the monthly alionmind news in time. But since there is still a lot to be done on the way to "normality", I can not guarantee anything. Long preface. what's new?

Sales are going up steeply 
First of all, I would like to proudly announce, that the products from the house of alionmind now sell in 51 countries around the globe. A few days ago, I got the final sales statement for February 2017 from my distributor and it's the most revenue-generating month since alionmind records exists. I bet, that now you are interested in a few details. No, I'm not going to mention any amount of money. This is business secrecy ... for reasons. But I can tell you where the most was sold / streamed. Let's start with the number of sales in the various countries:

United States	17,6%
Japan	8,8%
France, Germany	7,4% (each)
Mexico	6,7%
Brazil, United Kingdom	4,6% (each)
Argentina	3,9%
Chile	3,2%
Hungary	2,4%
Canada, Philippines	2,1% (each)
Spain, Sweden	1,8% (each)
Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Russia	1,4% (each)
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Slovakia, Turkey	1,0% (each)
Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland	0,7% (each)

The remaining 5.9% (rounding errors reserved) are distributed between Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Latvia, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Singapore, Ukraine and Uruguay. I think I must probably start promoting more in these countries ;). But you see: Almost the whole world now listens to alionmind music.

How about the distribution of sales across the 3 music projects? Here we go:

alionsonny 18,3%
Cimelium 15.0%
Willma Poppen 66.7%

 As you can see, Willma Poppen has left the previous bestseller Cimelium far behind. I am astonished about this. I had not expected the success of the latest Willma Poppen album. What makes me particularly astonished is that a large part of the sales of Willma Poppen (about 70%) are achieved by a single title on the album "Willma im Wunderland". It is the title "RaumZeit", which many people around the planet seem to like.

Two new albums released since the last post 
 Since the last post on this blog was created in September 2015, two released albums were not mentioned here. Which? As I already told above, the second album by Willma Poppen "Willma im Wunderland" is available and is currently by far the absolute bestseller in the alionmind portfolio. The album is, as always, available on all known sites for music sales, e.g. on iTunes (CLICK!) And GooglePlay (CLICK!). Streaming on Spotify (CLICK!) is of course also possible. If you prefer to buy your music somewhere else, just search for "Willma im Wunderland" at the service of your choice.

Also, since February 2017, the second album of Cimelium "Ad Hominem" is available. Attention: This is a pretty dark album, as the Cimelium fans, as far as I've noticed, like it. You also get this album on all music sites on the web, e.g. on iTunes (CLICK!) and GooglePlay (CLICK!). Also the Spotify (CLICK!) link is not missing here.

Cimelium's album "Madeira" 
Yes, what about that one? I had to stop working on this album at the end of 2015, because of many unpleasant events, shortly before completion and I started working again at it in March. However, both my quality requirements and my way of working have now drastically changed, so I can not just complete the whole thing quickly. Nevertheless, I am confident that the release is only a matter of days. However, as I will mention in the next sections, I have also to bring a few other things back to life. So it can also be a metter of weeks. Let's see...

AlionLive? 
Yes, the AlionLive channel is, as my other video channels, now abandoned for over a year. This is to change very soon. Then you finally get the last episode of "AlionLive - Spring in Madeira". After that, I have a nice long series about a bike trip to the North Sea for you, a series about a trip to Madeira in 2015 and also a small series on a trip to Cyprus, from which I returned yesterday. There is much to catch up.

Websites?
Yes, the websites of alionmind records and the 3 music projects are still offline. I have a lot of somewhat time-intensive stuff on my to-do list before I can relaunch those websites.

So, this was a very nice block text. This was absolutely necessary after such a long time of silence. As mentioned above, I will do my best to provide you monthly with the latest news from now on. On Facebook, you could get the latest news all the time. But there are still many, who do not like Facebook and Co. And these folks should also be provided with the latest events around alionmind. For this time, I say goodbye until next time.

New music video: "Brainforest"!

Yeah, it has been a while since I wrote something new here. This has reasons ;). Currently I am still messing around a lot with the new Willma Poppen album. YES, it will be out very soon! Now I needed a bit distraction, and so I created a little humble music video for a classic. By chance I found a folder full of forest photos on my hard drive, which Malina shot someday. Because I never planned to create a full featured music video for that dusted old track "Brainforest" from my first album "XperiMental Reggae WorX" (2004), I decided to simply use that folder full of photos. I think the result is quite good. Have fun!

alionmind News March 11, 2015

The news this time are, once again, that there is actually no news. Well, not really, because even though nothing new has been released, a lot has happened "in the background". And that will soon end the "lean period".

As announced, I firstonce generally stopped the work on video projects in order to fully concentrate on the release of the Willma Poppen album "Willma im Wunderland". And regarding to this, contrary to the first try, I take my time. I should already know that it is not particularly fruitful, but rather ends terribly, when I put myself under too much pressure actually ;).

So what actually happened regarding to Willma Poppen album then? For this I need (or I want) to tell you about my approach to the release of an album. You hopefully know all those pre-release versions that I upload to SoundCloud. These are more or less elaborate song ideas. They are sometimes closer to and sometimes a little farther from the final release versions. Generally I assume that corrections to both structure (composition / arrangement) and the mix have to be made. And that's what happens first when all the tracks are ready for an album in the pre-release version. In general then for each track the following steps are taken:

1. Create a final composition / a definitive arrangement. Here, all parts of the song are again placed under the microscope, imperfections are repaired, some things get improved and generally a version gets completed, that I regard as suitable for publication, regarding to the structure.
2. Export all mixer channels (dry and without compression) at 192 kHz sample rate in WaveAudio at 32 bit float resolution.
3. Import the audio tracks in a project (the mix) with exactly the same mixer channels and effects. For short: The generators, such as Synthesizers, are replaced by rendered versions in WaveAudio.
4. Now I mix the different channels, so that I get a good mix peaking at -6 dBFS. This mix is ​​rendered as a so-called. PreMaster in 192 kHz WaveAudio in 32-bit float, of course without any compression.
5. This PreMaster is imported into a completely new project. There I am doing what I call mastering. The result is then the final release version.

So far, so good ... How far am I with the 13 songs for the album? It may sound just like a little, but currently I have the final composition / the final arrangement ready for almost half of the tracks. For each of those tracks I have already exported each mixer track and created an approximate, but not finished, mix version. Not a single track is "mastered" yet. Regarding to this I must say, however, that a good mix reduces mastering almost to the task of increasing the volume to peak at 0 dbfs. So probably for many of the tracks, there's not much to do at the mastering stage.

Why does it take so long? As I said, I take my time and as I said, creating a good mix simplifies everything. So I currently put a lot of emphasis on that the arrangement almost delivers a good mix. Furthermore, I have experienced unpleasant surprises when I opened the project files of some of the older tracks and had to do some unexpected work in creating the final composition / arrangement of the tracks.

Well, and so that this blog post does not entirely come without sound and images, I embed 2 excerpts of the progress at the end as a small video. Well, at the moment this is all what I can give you. I would say that in one month it all will look better :D

alionmind News February 10. 2015 - Rising from the ruins ;)

Hello, and welcome to the first alionmind news since a long time and also the first in 2015. Why has this blog suddenly been awakened from it's deep sleep? The reason will please the friends of music and the friends of the videos will maybe get a little grumpy: Due to recent events, I have decided to restrict work on videos and finally put more work into creating new music. This is now possible and necessary.

The Situation
I had a musical creative crisis, which meant that I could not work on music since last fall. To compensate for this, I then decided to work more on videos section and even started 3 new Youtube channels. For whatever reason - but we are happy about it - it seems that the music crisis somehow "dissolves". Just like that ... And now it would be stupid if I would continue to invest a large part of my time in creating various kinds of videos. The listeners of Cimelium and Willma Poppen music are not just slowly getting a bit grumpy, because they are waiting for ages for the promised albums. And I also do not ommit the fact, that the sales of songs and albums still bring more profit than the advertising revenue on Youtube. So we start again with the music, and that with full force, so you finally get new music.

AlionLive - Spring in Madeira?
Friends of the videos, don't be sad. I'll still work on videos from time to time. The "AlionLive - Spring in Madeira" series is completed just to slightly more than 50%, the next Madeira trip is already booked and the series will be finished in any case until the start of the trip. No, I will not tell you the date for security reasons, but let's say I have about 3 months left.

Tutorials?
Since this takes a huge amount of time to prepare and create, I'll will restrict this most of all video formats. Currently the channel is indeed amazingly well visited, but not as much that I could say that it would have the highest priority. But it will definitely go on.

Music videos?
Since one can always work a bit on those and most of them can be done fairly quickly, there'll be something going on from time to time. Let me surprise you.

Let's Play videos?
I guess I'll still do a lot of those. If I work hard on music again, of course I need one or the other hour of leisure that I can spend on a little game. One can then also record the gameplay and we get a lot of nice little Let's Play videos. So this will go on!

Ok, that was it actually for this news. As usual, and as in the previous news, I want to briefly wrap up again the little that has been done at the house of alionmind since the last blog entry. There is only one, somewhat strange, new piece in music, but a lot of new videos.

Willma Poppen - Ding Dong Merrily On High
Quite unnoticed, because not announced on the official Willma Poppen blog, I created a little christmas song, just for fun. It's a pop-techno version of the old Christmas song that I've already dished out sometime ago for the alionsonny project in a Reggae style. I think it is, despite the creative crisis, quite well done ;) The song is available for free download on Soundcloud, so: Grab it!

AlionLive - Spring in Madeira
I worked on the video material of a total of two days and created four videos out of it. Sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it is necessary to divide a day in two videos. For both, day 7 and 8 this was the case. Otherwise, the videos would have simply became too long, and one or the other has already complained that those four videos are still too long, despite of the cutting. Overall these four new videos are a whooping 2 hours, 35 minutes and 22 seconds long!

Day 7 - Part 1 - The Fortress
At the beginning of the 7th day, we visited the fortress "Fortaleza de São João do Pico". More info on the official AlionLive blog!

Day 7 - Part 2 - ART!
Then we went into the old town to extensively visit the artists' quarter. More info on the official AlionLive blog!

Day 8 - Part 1 - Ponta de São Lourenço 2014
This video shows a wonderful hike in best weather at a place we visited in absolutely bad weather already in 2012. More info on the official AlionLive blog!

Day 8 - Part 2 - Bus ride Ponta de São Lourenço - Funchal
A veeery long video for the, surprisingly enough, not just a few friends of bus ride videos. More info on the official AlionLive blog!

Tutorials on "Multiversity of Alion"
Here we have just the series on audio visualization in Blender still, but it already grew by as much as 4 videos. By now everything is already quite complex. So, if you are able to endure my lousy English, are not completely inexperienced in Blender and want to learn a bit, have fun:

Let's Plays on AlionLiveLP
Now, that finally the problem with Youtube blocking my videos in Germany is solved (do not ask how), I have recorded a bit for you again. There's currently no AlionLiveLP blog, but all the info can be found in the video descriptions. A total of 18 (!!!) new videos have been uploaded. If I embed them all here in the usual size, this blog will be totally "unloadable". Therefore I just embed mini previews here. Simply switch to full screen, or just visit the channel ;)

The Forest - English Edition
If you want to experience my lousy English again, there's a little "The Forest" series, in which I steal a native's house and defend it against the owners, sometimes using evil tricks. Here are the videos in order:

       


       

The Forest - German Edition
Yes, if you are able to understand German, there's also a series. Unfortunately, after an update of horror, the game started to stutter like hell. After a time, this was really no fun anymore. However, some funny and some amazing moments happened during this series. See for yourself:

       


      

The Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind (German)
Yes, my very first Let's Play series was also continued. A total of 7 (!!!) videos have been added, of which the first 4 show the rather arduous life of a weak cat in the dangerous Vaardenfell. BUT: The last 3 parts are very "special". Actually I wanted to play while being a little drunk on New Year's Eve, but the glorious idea was then to also record and upload it. Oh well...

       


       

alionmind records music videos
On the music video channel unfortunately only three new videos have been uploaded. More is in the works. Patience: Sometime the complete alionmind catalog will be available. I promise! Here are the latest 3 additions:

alionsonny - Exploring Alion Forest
For this song from the 2010 album "Alion - The Original Soundtrack" I have decided to create a video from pictures that Malina and I have taken some time ago in a forest near Hamburg.

alionsonny - Individuality
The video for this alionsonny classic from the album "Dub Antiquities"  was once more created using  the ZGame Editor visualization software.

alionsonny - The Cursed Cemetery
For this song, which is also from the album "Alion - The Original Soundtrack", I decided to go the easy route and simply cut together some pictures of the official cover art. Not every song needs a complex video ;

And this is the end!
Yes, it was more news than I actually expected ;). There could have been just a bit more music. We will change this now. Let's get to work!

alionmind news November 9th, 2014

After I already "skipped" the October news, I want at least let you know, why there's no or just little news. First: No, I didn't give up on creating music. And also the "AlionLive - Frühling auf Madeira" video series will be continued. I just have an ongoing motivation problem. You know: To work several hours on something and then see, that is enjoyed just by a handful of people does not create great motivation to carry on.

Anyways: Today I will finally continue with the video tutorial series on audio visualization in Blender. There's a special reason for this: Yesterday I visited my little Youtube tutorial channel for the first time since, I think, 1 month. I had almost given up on this, because after uploading the 2 first videos, I got so little views on them, that I thought, it is not really worth all the work and nobody was really interested in that stuff. When I visited the channel yesterday, I got to know that meanwhile over 100 people have watched the 2 videos, I got some "likes" and one nice person even wrote a comment, that he liked my style of doing tutorials. While drinking 2 bottles of good wine I did the math, took a look at the statistics and... found out that this tiny little Youtube channel, with just 2 videos on it (which are blocked in Germany) and 11 subscribers, is the most successful of all my projects. Yeah, if you do the math, this channel is performing even better than AlionLive with it's 80 videos, 64 subscribers and over 20.000 views. It is BY FAR performing better than the alionmind records music video channel... not to talk about the gaming channel. As a plus, this channel exists just for a bit more than 3 months and has been unmaintained since at least one month. If I leave the AlionLive channel (exists since more than 3 years) unmaintained for 1 month, the view count drops to 3 views per day. Seems we spotted a pattern here ;)

And also, with a bit of math, it turns out, that if I would put the same amount of work into new tutorials as I put into creating music, this Youtube tutorial channel would generate even more cash than I get from sales and streams of my music on iTunes, Amazon etc. BOTTOM LINE: Creating music is unprofitable! Period! At least if you are not one of those "magic beings" you can hear on the radio who generate money out of thin air aka popular music ;). As I said, this doesn't mean that I stop creating music. Impossible! But it shifts the priorities not just a bit. I could ignore what I just found out and just carry on, scattering my time equally between all the projects... with foreseaable results. Of cause i do the things I do mainly, because I like to do them and not just for the money. But I can't afford the luxury of 100% doing this, or I would risk being homeless etc.

So I will create more tutorials, because there seems to be a real demand for this, contrary to my music and other "products". Sounds harsh? You bet it does! So, there's no new music now for almost 2 months. The last AlionLive video has been uploaded more than 1 month ago and it's the same with the alionmind music video channel. What has this guy done since then? Not much. I tried a lot of new things, which will probably one day will inflate my portfolio of skills even a bit more ;) The only visible results are a few gaming videos, I will embed below. So, if you like to watch some twisted gaming action, this is most probably something for you.

Yeah, sorry for the lack of "look at all the stuff I finished". I also wish I had such a big list as "back in the days". But i am sure things will get back to normal soon. Stay tuned! And here's the gaming videos. Enjoy!

alionmind News September 14, 2014 - AND WHAT NEWS !!!

I think I have to organize the alionmind news differently this time. There is in fact so much to report that it is otherwise difficult not to keep track of everything. Let's start with the topic that was quite underrepresented during the recent editions of the alionmind news: MUSIC. Only the alionsonny project got no new sound material this time, but:

Cimelium
Here a piece of music for both, the more friendly album "Madeira" and a dark one for the psycho album "Ad Hominem" was produced. Nevertheless, we still lack two pieces of music for "Madeira" and for "Ad Hominem" we have almost 50% of the tracks finished. So the release of a new Cimelium album will probably take some time, but one will still be released this year.

Cimelium - Queimadas
Fitting for the recently uploaded part of the "AlionLive - Spring on Madeira" series, the latest title for "Madeira" album describes the picturesque location Queimadas. As quite often recently it is in a "semiorchestral" style, even though at about 50% of the playing time a fairly unexpected pop rhythm section drops in. It is again a nice positive track for the lovers of the more beautiful music ;). Listen for yourself and read more details on the official Cimelium blog.



Cimelium - Nihil Verum
Nothing is true ... if this does not awfully sound like "Ad Hominem" ;). Well, the new addition to the dark album in my opinion is not sounding very dark. Rather once again spiced with unusual and funny filter experiments. Someone already said, the piece would be too happy. Well, people always have to exaggerate :). Listen for yourself and read the details on the Cimelium blog.



Willma Poppen
The Friends of danceable madness and Funfair Techno (TM) jubilate and rejoice, because finally it's done: All 13 tracks needed for the album are complete in their first version (pre-release version). Now we just need to polish it all. Yeah, keep talking... Joking aside: There is still a good piece of work ahead, but a release date is now inside a foreseeable time range.

Willma Poppen - Liebe
Strange title? Yepp! And a beautifully fitting song for "Willma im Wunderland"! Because I didn't count correctly, I actually thought that this would be the last song for the album and thought, "What a great finishing track!". Well, but then there was still one missing. Learn more about this a little further down. And you can read more about the song "Liebe" on the Willma Blog.



Willma Poppen - Abendspaziergang
...and no: This is not a "Strandspaziergang reloaded", even if some folks say this and actually a certain amount of inspiration flew from one song to the other. No, it is an absolutely new song and a great capstone for the album. Read more on the Willma Blog.



AlionLive - Spring in Madeira 06 - Santana, Queimadas, Faial
Where there is fullness on one side there must be a lack on the other side. The music lovers really had to experience this during the last months. This time it is the other way and there is only a single AlionLive video. But what a video it is: This time we went hiking again in the north of the island. And before I now describe the whole thing again, read the AlionLive blog for more information.

Audio Visualization in Blender - Creating a Frequency Analyzer - Tutorial
Although all videos are blocked in Germany on my two new channels by default because of nonsensical GEMA claims by Youtube, I do not give up. This time I show you how to build a working frequency analyzer in Blender.

Three new Let's Play videos on Morrowind
Yes, and both the first part and these 3 were blocked by Youtube promptly because of nonsensical GEMA claims. This is especially great because videos in German language that are not available in Germany make incredibly much sense ;). I still do not give up and keep going. I hope more and more people use ProxTube, Proxmate & Co. to show Google that this is not ok. Here are the latest Morrowind videos.

The Forest Gameplay - Welcome to Novo Funchal!
Also blocked in Germany, but in  English language and therefore less tragic ;). Actually that was just a test shot of the Early Access Games "The Forest". But then everything went wonderfully out of hand and I did not have the heart to deny you that ;). WARNING: VIOLENCE, BLOOD AND STRONG LANGUAGE!

alionmind records music videos
As many as four new of them we have again. And thus the alionmind music video channel grows at least in terms of available videos. Regarding to viewers it is unfortunately still a bit meager, but the channel is not even six months old and currently I upload exclusively antique material. So there is still room to grow ;).

alionsonny - 80s 4 Ever (Electronic Space Rock)
This was real madness. In the context of training for my tutorial channel I had modelled a classic VU meter in Blender and then also uploaded a little video of it on Facebook. This video got such a great reception that I was so crazy to render a 5 minutes video of an animation of it. Result: 120 hours of rendering time. My pretty quiet laptop rendered a whole week during the night hours. Sorry: NEVER AGAIN! ;) However, the result fits very well with the, incidentally very popular, track "80s 4 Ever" from the album "Electronic Space Rock".

alionsonny - Exploring Alion Forest (Alion - The Original Soundtrack)
Somewhere I had a few photos, taken during a little walk in the woods in northern Hamburg, on the hard disk. I decided to create some kind of a music video in the style of the video for "Autumn" out of them. And actually it fits very well for the song "Exploring Alion Forest" from the album "Alion - The Original Soundtrack".

alionsonny - Individuality (Dub Antiquities)
This is the only one of the four videos that you actually can really call a music video. Once again I used the visualization plugin ZGame editor, integrated in FL Studio, and the result is in my opinion very good. And since this visualization software works quite well with the old dubby alionsonny sound, "Individuality" is another track from the album "Dub Antiquities" which has a fitting music video now.

alionsonny - The Cursed Cemetery (Alion - The Original Soundtrack)
The video for the classic "The Cursed Cemetery" from the album "Alion - The Original Soundtrack" is the simplest: I just put together the images from the cover art set of the album and some private graphic experiments in a slideshow and the result is quite nice :).

Ok, and this is the work of the past month, plus 5 days. I think: Not bad! But let us see if we can beat it all the next month ;).

alionmind News August 10, 2014

Unfortunately again no new music this time. First this is because of a slight creative block at the house of alionmind and also I have, as already last month, more focused on my activities in creating videos. And here really a lot has happened. So without further ado, let's get right into it:

AlionLive - Spring in Madeira 04 - From Vale Paraiso Parque Ecologico do Funchal
This fourth part is quite short and leads us once again on the trails of my journey in the year 2012. We hiked from Vale Paraiso, near Camacha, to the Parque Ecologico do Funchal. All other information can be read on the AlionLive blog.

AlionLive - Spring in Madeira 05 - Chillax in Funchal
The fifth part of this series was also completed this month. After the partly chaotic events of the previous days, we granted ourselves a day of rest in Funchal. However, we were anything but idle. A detailed description with some images can be found on the AlionLive blog.

Audio Visualization in Blender 01 - Creating a Level Meter - Tutorial
I did it: My tutorial channel on YouTube has been created. It does not yet get very much attention, which is probably caused by the fact that it only contains one video yet. This will change soon. I also have promoted the channel not very much so far. However, the largest share of the lack of audience may have a different reason: The video is unfortunately blocked in Germany because of completely insubstantial GEMA claims, although the video contains only my own music. The background music is from my project Cimelium. Because by now quite a lot of videos on the AlionLive channel contain just the same music at full volume and are available in Germany without any problems, the whole thing is very strange. In addition, some short parts of a yet unpublished work of the Willma Poppen project are included for demonstration purposes. I recommend to the interested viewers in Germany to use the absolutely legal Browser plugin ProxTube or the even better-functioning plugin Proxmate. Ok, and here is the tutorial, which explains creating a simple level meter in Blender. In the next part we will build a 16 band frequency analyzer!

Let's Play Morrowind - The birth of Chlach Tharr
And there's another new video channel! After one or two people recommended to also to create a so-called. Let's Play channel, I've done it. Also not much happens there. And also the first video on this channel is blocked with the typical GEMA message  in Germany. Here I can maybe understand why this is, because the soundtrack of the game Morrowind was unfortunately released on CD and therefore may fall under the reign of terror of the GEMA ;). Nevertheless, the soundtrack was created specifically for this game. And because the publisher of the game, Bethesda, has agreed with the uploading of Let's Plays and their monetization, everything should really be fine. Anyway: Here also ProxTube or Proxmate helps.

Two REAL music videos on the alionmind records Youtube channel
Yes, in this video channel I have invested most of the work last month. Again, however, the number of viewers is relatively small. This may have to do with the fact that I am currently uploading only ancient sound material. I will indeed, as already mentioned, make my entire repertoire available on this channel. In addition, 5 of the 7 (!!!) freshly uploaded videos consist only of a still image, showing the respective album cover, while the music is playing. I've told you that it is not worthwhile to create a proper video for any old track. But I also created two REAL music videos. I will embed them now and the still image videos can be found at the end of this blog.

alionsonny - Message To Planet Earth Music Video
Since this classic from the debut album sounds a lot like running water, I have decided to cut together the best matching sequences from the videos of my trip to Madeira in 2012. In addition I have added some fun color manipulation and also integrated some of my experiments in the field of Audio Visualization in Blender. And by the way: I'll explain the techniques for creating those visualizations in the future on my tutorial channel :). Here's the video:

alionsonny - Victory Dub Music Video
And for another song from the debut album "XperiMental Reggae WorX" there is a music video now! This time it is a pure audio visualization video. To create it, I have decided to use the ZGame Editor plugin, which is included in FL Studio. This plugin makes creating the pure functionality a lot easier than if you want to achieve the same with Blender. The downside is that this tool holds some unexpected surprises that one needs to circumvent. Anyway: I have created something quite good, I think so, as my first attempt of using that tool. Judge for yourselves:

The still image "videos"
For these I have not done more than to throw the particular album cover of the respective album and the particular piece of music in the video editor. This is a work of just a few minutes. So I can showcase those old tracks again to you all while not spending too much time doing it. In total I made 5 of them. I embed them below:

So, that's it for this month! I will try to focus next month more on the production of new music. Let's see if this works ;). See you next month!

alionmind News July 11. 2014

In this edition of the alionmind news you will read about some amazing developments at the house of alionmind. This time I can't simply put everything into the categories video and music. And also not much happened on the musical side. So I decided to simply list the news in chronological order. As I said, this time there is not much to report on new music. To be more precise, only a single new piece of music has been presented during the past month. Why? I have noticed for some time that the resonance on my musical activities is stagnating at a low level. At the same time, I noticed that the video segment is becoming increasingly popular. Since I've always acted audience oriented, I react on the described development with intensifying the activities related to videos and my presence on YouTube. Since my day only has 24 hours, my activities in the field of music have to be reduced to do so. However, the past month is an extreme case and I hope to bring my activities in the future into some kind of a balance. Ok, long preface! What has happened? As I said, only one piece of music was presented. On the other hand a whopping 5 videos have been uploaded with a total running time of 1 hour and 49 minutes. I also set up a completely new video channel for music videos for all 3 alionmind records projects and 18 music videos were uploaded or re-uploaded to it. So much for the short format. Now, everything as promised, in chronological order:

10:06. Video: "AlionLive - Spring in Madeira 02 - With Malina in the footsteps of 2013"

Here it is, the second part of the new Madeira video series. We hike from the Parque Ecologico do Funchal across the plateau north of Funchal to Poiso. Sounds familiar? No wonder: I hiked the same route, already in 2013 two times. Read more about this video on the AlionLive Blog.

16.06. Video: "Bike Ride Lüneburg Heath 2013 - Day 3 - Through the heart of the Lüneburg Heath"

The third part of the series brings what the friends of this series have eagerly waited for and what already was foreseeable in the second part: Purest Lüneburg Heath! And this time, two fellow musicians will be presented with their works in the soundtrack. More on this, also on the AlionLive Blog.

22.06. Video: "AlionLive - Spring on Madeira 03 - Hike from Santo da Serra to Faial"

Two videos of the same series in one month ... we had this ever before? I think not :). And yet: The third part of the new Madeira series has been uploaded this month. And what a part it is! A colorful hike from the picturesque mountain village of Santo da Serra, via Portela to Faial. And also in this video two guest musicians contributed to the soundtrack. Read more about this also on the AlionLive Blog.

24.06. Cimelium - Sic Parvis Magna

The only musical newcomer this month is a title for the rather dark Cimelium album "Ad Hominem". More can be read on the Cimelium Blog.

24.06. Partnership with the Freedom! Youtube Network

Some would have never thought it would be possible, but in fact I have finally found a Youtube network that absolutely pleases me and gives me all the freedom and the absence of everything which made it impossible so far to partner with a Youtube network. If you are looking for a network without the usual constraints and lock-in contract, you are absolutely looking for Freedom (pun intended). You have a video channel and are looking for a great network? Click here and BE FREE!

01.07. Video "AlionLive is now a partner of the Freedom! Youtube Network!"

Because I was so incredibly happy to have finally found a Youtube network which did not put me in ball & chain, gives me all artistic freedom and does not rob me of all rights to my works, I created a little AlionLive Special. You find more about the video and some info on the AlionLive Blog.

05.07. Birth of the alionmind records Youtube channel

On the occasion of the partnership with Freedom I decided to bury the old dusty video channels of the alionmind projects merge them into a brand new Youtube channel. And that's not all: By and by all the (estimated) 300 songs of the alionmind  repertoire will be uploaded to it. But this needs some time. For the time being now 18 music videos (mostly older material) are on the channel. Read more on this in a post on the alionsonny blog. Click here to visit the brand new channel. Please do not forget to subscribe to the channel, because you want to certainly not to miss any video. As I already mentioned, pretty much will happen there soon.

10:07. Video: Bike Ride Lüneburg Heath 2013 - Day 4 - From Asendorf to Hamburg

So now this is done too! Also this small series is with this, admittedly, quite oblique, fourth part finally at an end. We ride from the far north of the Lüneburg Heath, across the Elbe bridges,  directly home to Hamburg. Do not miss this! More about the video and a bit of summarizing background information can be found on the AlionLive Blog.

So, and that's it for this month. I apologize for the lack of musical news, but, as I said, the demand determines the supply here. See you next month!

alionmind records News 08.06.2014

Exactly a month ago, the last alionmind news were published. And I can well be proud of all that happened during this one month. In short: 3 new songs were presented in form of pre-release versions and in addition also 2 new AlionLive videos with a total running time of over an hour were finished and uploaded. This is still not a record, because there were quite more fruitful months in the past. It would have happened a lot more, if not again technical and personal difficulties had disrupted the workflow. Especially I want to mention here, that after less than a year of use my studio headphones lost a stereo channel and had to be sent in for repair. If you remember the review in the Audio Arsenal blog, I want you to know that I now strongly relativize this review. Anyway: Without studio headphones I am hardly able to do anything related to making music currently. Anyway, soon it goes on. Let's now go through the events of the past month in detail. Let's start with the music:

"Poiso" for Cimeliums album "Madeira"
This is now the 10th title for the more "happy" of the two Cimelium albums in progress. Just 3 more and I can start creating the release versions! The present work is probably again a little surprise for those who follow the progress on the "Madeira" album. It will be a very colorful album with many different styles and experiments. This time I decided to go for an orchestral approach without the use of rhythm instruments. Read more about the piece in the official Cimelium blog.

"Nachtwanderer" by Willma Poppen
There is only one project, where is more progress going on than at the next Cimelium album. And this project is the new Willma Poppen album! Well... with 11 completed pre-release versions, the upcoming album "Willma im Wunderland" is just one track in advance. But if I tell you that the completion of the remaining two tracks is only a matter of minutes, you will understand that we are really very close to a a new album release. Stupid headphones! ;) The latest song by Willma Poppen: Once again, it is a piece which does not really fit into any genre. Just as you know it from me already. I experimented a lot. Just for example: The typical offbeat Techno Bass has been replaced by a damped acoustic rhythm guitar. Also I placed a lot of rhythm changes, "sonic surprises" etc. in this track again. So this piece is anything but boring. A listener described it quite appropriate, I think: "A journey through the past four decades of electronic music, a part of everything thrown in a blender, mixed well and you have a cocktail that makes everyone dance". Thank you, Bernd! This actually very well describes the entire album "Willma im Wunderland" and I'll probably just steal this for the albums description ;). More about "Nachtwanderer" in the official Willma Poppen blog

alionsonny's "Farm Dub"
Last, but not least, there's also something new from alionsonny project. Yes, the condemned live longer! The first track since the release of the "Continuity" album is stylistically a trip back to the roots of alionsonny project. Not quite back to 2004. For this it lacks the very exaggerated bass and muddy mix ;). But otherwise everything is back and you feel transported back to the year...  let's say in 2006? Wild Dub experiments and absolute disregard for the reggae purists who actually want that Reggae remains as it was between 1960-1980. Who thought I would finally step off the path of provocation, gets a well deserved slap with this track. More on "Farm Dub" can be read in the official alionsonny blog.

Sorry, fans of the dark side of Cimelium!
Before we get to the videos, I now have to apologize to those Cimelium listeners who do not like the path the Cimelium project went on with the "Madeira" album. I call them jokingly the "Cimelium Goths" ;). You wait longingly that more happens on the dark sister album "Ad Hominem" and I'm sorry that you are this time the only ones getting nothing new to hear. But also for you I was not idle, but then came the problems with the headphones... Also you can look forward to one of the next songs for the "Madeira" album, which will sound quite more "dark". And I promise you: As soon as the headphones are back, your demands have highest priority for me.

AlionLive Frühling auf Madeira - Part 1
Let's get to the videos! Here of course the new Madeira series has currently priority. There's quite very slow progress going on, since I currently generally, let's say, have to struggle with a problem of motivation in the video field. On May 20th the introductory part of this brand new video series about my trip in April 2014 has been uploaded. As usual with the introductory parts of large video series, this includes a long "opening speech" (about 10 minutes) from me. But quite a bit of springtime Funchal is shown during the remaining 15 minutes. In the next part we really start. Read more about this video in the official AlionLive blog.

AlionLive Bikeride Lüneburg Heath 2013 - Day 2
Did I write a bit earlier about the condemned living longer? This is even more true for this video series! So many who stumbled across the first part while searching on Youtube, wondered when this series would be finally continued. Also the regular viewers asked this question one time or another. The latter rather less because they knew about the last Madeira series and that I absolutely wanted to finish it and therefore it had priority. Now, that I got some air, I decided to deliver the missing 3 parts as soon as possible. Indeed, it is quite a nice little series and before the next bike ride begins (it is season again ;)) I would like to have finished at least a big portion of this series. In this part we explore the impressive Lüneburg Old Town and then ride on to the heath, where we visit a Stone Age heath cemetery. More on this video? You know -> AlionLive blog!

So, that's it for this month! Let's see what the next one brings. However, I must point out that I recently started to develop software again (programming). Yes, I have re-discovered my love for this kind of work again and have therefore perhaps less time for making music and editing video. Let's see, how do I get this managed. For now I say goodbye. Keep an eye on the blogs and Youtube! If something new happens, you read it first there. And do not forget Facebook and Twitter. Since everything is even more up to date there. I also have a few places left on my Facebook friend list. So if you want to always be completely up to date, just send me a request!

alionmind News 08.05.2014

As announced in the last alionmind news, this time there is not much new to report, but a surprise. Well, a few are likely to know already about it. But there are still many who are not friends on Facebook with me, nor read the blogs of the individual projects, nor have subscribed to the Facebook pages of the projects. For those folks it will be a surprise.

No Music
Yes, you read correctly: These are the first alionmind news in which I have to tell you that none of the music projects has been blessed with new sound material. Why is that? Read on ;). However, new songs are in the works for all three projects, so soon you will be able to listen to something new.

AlionLive - Return 2 Madeira is finally finished!
You know that already? That's great! But for those who do not already know, I mention it here again. After almost 1 1/2 years it was indeed about time, especially because of the next news. As always, there 's more to read about the last part and end of the series on the official AlionLive blog.

AlionLive - Frühling auf Madeira
Yes, you read correctly: Soon a new AlionLive video series about Madeira will start, as Malina and I once again visited my beloved island, and this time in full bloom. A detailed description, including a preview of what awaits you and some photos, can be found on AlionLive blog!

Finally, I want to let you know that I started to work on the video series about the bike ride to the Lueneburg Heath in 2013 again. I had to pause this work in fall 2013, because it was important to me to finish "AlionLive Return 2 Madeira" prior to the recent trip. So, that's it for this time. And now it should be also clear why there is so little news this time. Next month I have much more for you for sure!

alionmind News April 02. 2014

Once more quite late, but here are the, to some extent, monthly alionmind news. While I had to complain about a lack of news when publishing the recent editions of the alionmind news, this is really not the case in this issue. 5 new AlionLive videos with a total of almost 2 hours of exciting action, two new pieces of music and the availability of the alionsonny album "Continuity" on the, as I think, most important sales and streaming platforms, give me a reason  to look back on the past almost 1 1/2 months with satisfaction. The news in detail:

"Continuity" is available on iTunes and Spotify
For some time now you can easily buy or stream the latest alionsonny album on iTunes and Spotify. Both, Amazon and emusic are still asleep. But if they don't want to make money, then that's fine. Especially since both platforms, as I can't say often enough, rather rip off the artists, both through their pricing, as well as in respect of the shares the artists receive from the sales. A detailed blog post about the availability of the album can be found on the alionsonny blog.

Willma Poppen - Blauer Montag
The newest track for the soon to be released album "Willma im Wunderland" has not only an unusual title, but also a, for "Willma Poppen", unusual creative approach and sound. The meaning of the title is likely to open up to anyone who has at least once heard the piece completely and has lived in the 80s. Thus 10 of the traditionally 13 songs for the album are now finished in the form of pre-release versions. Read more about the song on the "Willma Poppen" blog.

Cimelium - Santo da Serra
Also for Cimeliums album "Madeira", you can now listen to a new pre-release version, which is about the picturesque mountain village of Santo da Serra this time. However, this version is with a 100% certainty very far from the final album version. Therefore there's a need for a particularly large number of feedbacks, suggestions, etc. Read more on this song on the Cimelium blog.

5 new AlionLive videos
For AlionLive, since the last aliomind news, there has been such a large output that it may be considered erroneously, that creating video would be from now on the new main field of my person. This is by no means the case. Various factors, which I will not describe in detail here, contributed to this amount of new video. This had however, and that should not be left unmentioned, a rather positive effect on the viewer and subscriber numbers of AlionLive channel. For the first time, the number of monthly views exceeded 1000 Views. However, this was probably also caused by the separation of the AlionLive project from the alionsonny project, particularly the Facebook page. Anyway: Here are the videos in detail:

AlionLive Return 2 Madeira - Day 12 - Hike from Faial to Portela
More information about this video on the AlionLive blog!

AlionLive Return 2 Madeira - Day 13 - Hiking with Beatrice
More information about this video on the AlionLive blog!

AlionLive Return 2 Madeira - Day 14 - Weather Apokalypso
More information about this video on the AlionLive blog!

General Rundkopf
About this, I would like to write a few words ;). As you can see from the viewer count of both videos, this two-part nonsense- and information series is probably not responsible for the "viewers boom" on AlionLive. I also got quite a lot of negative feedback concerning this format. And in fact there are plenty nonsense Youtubers out there with an increasing tendency for making fools out of themselves. Nevertheless, this will have been certainly NOT the last trip to the pure nonsense domain. Here are the two short videos, the first of which explains why I wear military clothing recently and the second with a short fashion show on them. Read more information on the "General Rundkopf" videos on the AlionLive blog.

Ok, and that's it for this time! But I can promise you, that I will have a big surprise for you the next time :).

alionmind News February 19. 2014

Blender 3D particle animation from an AlionLive intro.

On the very day a month ago, you got the last alionmind news. This time again I have rather little new to report, and that bit mainly has to do with the alionsonny project. But one of the news is really big news, and you guessed probably already know what it is. The fans of the projects "Willma Poppen" and "Cimelium" will again be disappointed, but they will get something new as the very next task. I promise!

"Continuity" is out now!
Yes, it's done. The album is currently only available on Routenote, but will soon also be available on all major music sites and streaming portals. And now before I write everything again, I rather refer to the detailed post on the alionsonny blog. There everything is explained in detail (CLICK!).

alionsonny.de is up to date again
What? You didn't notice that the homepage of the alionsonny project was not updated for quite a time? Great... or not, because that means that you probably didn't visit the site for quite a long time ;). More details about this can be read also on alionsonny blog (CLICK!).

AlionLive is now a separate project
Some alionsonny fans, who are in no way interested in my videos, have complained regularly that the messages about new videos etc. were over-present on the alionsonny blog. Others were less interested in the music (*gulp*), but only in the videos. Therefore, there is now also a separate AlionLive blog and a Facebook fan page that you can "LIKE" if you want to. I am very happy about each and every "LIKE" this page gets. The separation of the AlionLive project not only enhances the little alionmind "internet empire", but also opens up some new, and  for the fans very useful, possibilities. On these I am currently working. I only mention here the downloadable hiking routes and waypoints in KML format. This collection will be constantly growing. In addition, there will soon be a database of all music played in the videos. So who wants to find out in which videos at which time a particular song of an alionmind music projects is played can do this soon in a very convenient way. Useless? Well, that may be your opinion ;) .

So, that's it again. Yes, very little news, but I can promise with some certainty that there will be very extensive news in about a month. Here at the alionmind labs incredibly much is happening currently .

alionmind News January 19. 2014

Again this time, due to the ongoing work on the alionsonny album "Continuity", there's not too much to report. For the projects Willma Poppen and Cimelium unfortunately there is nothing new currently. But there are two new AlionLive videos.

Album "Continuity"
At the time of the last alionmind news, the alionsonny blog reported, that just for 3 of the 13 titles a release version had been completed . Meanwhile another 6 songs were completed. So there are still 4 songs in pre-release state, and these are from the period between August 2013 to now. This means,  that there is probably not much to do. But we know the drill: Sometimes things turn out differently than you think ;). But already during the work on the, now finished, release version of "Flight Of The Butterfly" it showed that everything is almost fine with the recent works. But we 'll see. It is well possible that the album release takes place before the next alionmind news.

AlionLive Return 2 Madeira - Day 11
As with some previous episodes, it was also a good idea for day 11, to split the video material because it simply fits thematically. There is indeed the well-known problem that only a very limited part of the audience appreciates my special shaky cam technique. And since on day 11 I was once again in the mood to film the way back to the hotel after staying in Camara de Lobos, it was logical to upload the part before the walk separately.

Part 1 - Camara de Lobos
In this part, the picturesque fishing village "Camara de Lobos" is featured. There is only one short part of "me talking into the camera", everything is just nice views of a sunny sunday in Camara de Lobos. The soundtrack consists of songs from the "Continuity" album. Here you can hear some preliminary release versions for the first time.

Part 2 - From Camara de Lobos to the Lido
This video is only recommended for diehard fans of the shaky cam technique. Well, I have done my best, with little success to keep the camera still while walking. Nevertheless, there are also nice moments and views of the promenade in this video. Oh, and the claustrophobic folks better skip the part with the long dark tunnel ;). The soundtrack consists almost entirely of release versions for the album "Continuity".

Yes, and that's it already again. Finally, I want to ask the fans of the projects Willma Poppen and Cimelium to be patient. The time without new music for you is soon over and I promise that, right  after the release of the alionsonny album, I will work on new titles for the other projects. There is already some work in progress and I can promise you that you will be surprised positively, when you get to hear on what I was working in the background ;). And we need just 4 more songs for the Willma Poppen album.