Of Halloween, All Saints Day, And Jam-a-Sutra

Did you know that Halloween literally means “The Eve of All Hallows”? And since “Hallows” means “Saints”, Halloween also signifies the eve of “All Saints Day” – a celebration by the Catholics worldwide to commemorate the sanctified ones who are in Heaven. And the next day, Nov 2, is the “All Souls’ Day” that commemorates the faithful departed. I have got this new age approach to religion and this morning when I woke up, I have this urge to attend a Mass celebration during lunch hours.

To be honest, the last time I stepped into a church was back in Christmas. I know, this new age approach of mine perhaps is not getting me anywhere near Heaven. But hey, I am a new age kind of dude! Anyway, during the Mass, I have met up with an ex-colleague of mine whom I have not met for ages. Then I have received an internal email from another ex-colleague of mine (yes, small world it is and we are now working for the same organization) that she saw me during the Mass! She said I was too engrossed with the divinity that I did not notice her. Perhaps she is right. I vaguely remember the beginning of the sermon: they are all up there, why can’t we?!

Another reason why I chose to attend the Mass during lunch hours was that I have a jamming session arranged in the evening. It didn’t even came across my mind that today is “All Saints Day”. How “new age” I am, eh?

The mosaic you see above (feel free to click onto it) was taken from two different sessions in the same studio at Bukit Timah. Perhaps some captions for the new readers of my site. From up and down, left and right – (1) me the vocalist and rhythm guitarist, (2) Cynthia the bassist, (3) you really don’t get to see Jason our guitarist to play drum often, (4) Chip our drummer, (5) our all powerful [and handsome] guitarist Jason, (6) Cynthia and her bottle of water, (7) me.

Last week Chip our drummer could not make it so Jason has to step up and play the drummer role. Let me tell you, it is not as simple as it seems. It is as though the air-hostess has decided to be the pilot because the pilot has gone MIA (okay, bad example). And I was suppose to step up as the lead guitarist since he was playing drums. No way! Not even humanly possible!

Jason mentioned that since my website has reviews for movies, music, and books – all inspired by different persons by the way – why not write reviews on jamming / rehearsal studios in Singapore? I am not sure if I shall start a new category on “Jamasutra” (as each category does take up a lot of time!). However here is my take on the three studios I have visited so far.

Four Tones Music Rehearsal Studio (read my blog)

General Impression : Spacious studio with decent amplifiers. Vocal tracks are on stereo monitor speakers and the guitar amplifiers are huge. Hard to hear the bass drum and also, due to the way the room is set up, most likely you can only hear your own instrument (and very hard to hear the vocal). Positive experience it was though.

Sound quality
Space
Overall setup
Cleanliness

TIET Studio at Kreta Ayer Rd (read my blog)

General Impression : The studio is very small with a bucket of water underneath the air-con. The good thing though is that everyone can hear what others are playing. Toilet is not working and you have to visit the loo down the street. I am told that they are moving to a new location nearby. I will have to see what the new location is going to be like.

Sound quality
Space
Overall setup
Cleanliness

Alvron Music Studio (see this blog!)

General Impression : Friendly operator and the studio is of a decent size. It is a comfortable studio with much to improve on sound quality. The amplifiers are just not good. The room is set up such a way that all the amplifiers are lined up with one another. The drum-set is placed at the end of the line.

Sound quality
Space
Overall setup
Cleanliness