Craig Crane

First day post DNEG and here I am all day, in the office… working for DNEG! Ah-A!!!!

Anyway, Ollie the office cat has not budged all day, other than to eat and…well…. you know.

Awesome last day….

packed out the basement at Nando’s, so many people came. Im sure the peri peri was the biggest draw factor

But it was a great day and I cant wait to get back into soho. But for now, I have to knuckle down and get my Mocap head on, cos thats what I am doing for the next two years…

Fortunately for all concerned, I wont be “doing” the mocap…. mine is a technical role. So you are all spared the horror of me doing my best (or worst) Andy Serkis impression.

The walkman. Icon of the 80’s. Father to the CD, Grandfather to the minidisc, great Grandfather to the mp3!

It comes from a time where gadgets still had moving parts. A time where this stuff was designed and engineered by, well…. engineers. Every moving part had an impact on the next, in order to make certain that the mediums journey across the playback heads was rock solid and stable.

Done correctly, you would end up with a timeless classic. Done really well, and that timeless classic should still be able to deliver the goods today.

Get a good blank cassette, in a good recording machine and record a track you know well.

At the same time, convert that CD into an mp3 or aac at 192kbps and then see which you prefer. The lossless analogue recording or the “well it sounds fine, but sounds like there is no life in it” compressed file.

Add to that, this copy cut and paste world we live in is just too dam easy. The actual activity of making a good solid mix tape, either for yourself or someone else (which is still quite a romantic gesture) takes time. But that time invested is equally rewarded.

Anyone can drag a few files into a folder, create a playlist and then zipp them up and pass it on….

So, the walkmans price these days reflects not only their quality or rarity, but also their nostalgic significance to a generation that who’s lifes soundtrack was probably first experienced through the privacy of their Personal Stereo

So, when asked why I do it, I show them how the WM DD or the DC6 sounds with a great fresh and pristine recording and any doubters are soon silenced, with that dumbstruck “I always though tape sounded sh*t, but this rocks” look on their face.

So what if its bulkier?
So what if you only get 90 mins of playback?
So what if its all old hat by today’s standards?

I’d rather have a kick ass C90 as opposed to 30 gig of mediocrity!

A little late, but I just found this, taken in our little previz domain late last summer!

Every now and again these kind of things turn up on the bay….. not when Im looking though….

… what am I gonna do?

This is Vincent. As cute as he and his mate are, he has to go….. but I cant kill him. So, I need to find a humane trap.

Something tells me though this is going to be a battle of the wills… I hear that the mice are not as thick as they look and can smell a trap a mile off.

My first CD Player.

I still have this, and it still works. It saw me all through DBC College in Sidcup.
I think Mum really struggled to get this for me at Christmas in 85. And it wasnt cheap. Back then Allders were selling this for £119.00. Dam expensive.

I have a spare, just in case, and as a nice touch, the spare came in the original box. Very 80’s cool.

As for the sound? Well, back then it was awesome. Now, well, I think it sounds a little harsh, but still way beter than an Ipod Video

And last but by no means least…

We had loads of these back in the day. Yellow, Green, Blue. Agfa and BASF issued them in all sorts of colors. My favourite one was green because I remember dubbing the Muppet Show Vol 1 onto it, due to the fact that Kermit was the same colour.

Throughout all my interweb trawlings as I look from site to site for nostalgic wonderment to nourish the man child I often come across this great blog.

I think this guy and I must have been cut from the same cloth. Either that, or kids from the 70’s are all conforming to the same template that kids these days just dont have the advantage of experiencing… you know… these kids first saw Star Wars on TV or worst, as a download….. The same kids who these days cant go out all day on their bikes pretending to be the Red Hand Gang.

Anyway, if you stumble upon my blog looking for retro, check out the Stallion as well… its just chock full of so many cool retro things, and then some!

http://plaidstallions.blogspot.com