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08-27-2010, 04:40 PM
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#2
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Scribe
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Van Diemen's Land
Posts: 12,166
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Thanks Mario, downloading now ...
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08-27-2010, 09:06 PM
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#3
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: JAMAICA
Posts: 492
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Muchos Gracias Senor.
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08-28-2010, 04:03 AM
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#4
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Smokie Bay.
Posts: 796
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Thank you.
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08-28-2010, 11:22 AM
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#5
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Harrisburg, PA USA
Posts: 1,481
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Oh no! I just finished reading the PDF version of Why Do Your Recordings Sound Like Ass and now I have something else to read. A quick scan of this reveals that it's worth a closer look, though. The more perspectives I can get on this stuff the more confident I'm getting in my abilities to actually make my stuff sound good.
Thanks for sharing this great resource. Now all I need is more time in my life...
__________________
We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
--Charles Kingsley... or maybe Albert Einstein... definitely somebody wiser than myself--
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08-28-2010, 12:01 PM
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#6
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Sweden
Posts: 7,416
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Kudos.
__________________
// MVHMF
I never always did the right thing, but all I did wasn't wrong...
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08-28-2010, 12:04 PM
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#7
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 4,630
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Just d/led, Mabian. Thanks. That's awesome. Quick little reads on highly relevant topics.
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08-28-2010, 12:20 PM
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#8
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Putnam County, NY, USA
Posts: 3,950
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mabian
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Just downloaded, looking forward to it. Thanks, Mario!
-Susan
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09-02-2010, 10:52 AM
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#9
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Italy
Posts: 4,326
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Wow, seeing the number of downloads you guys are enjoying it
I will update this post as new blog articles are added to the document.
Cheers!
- Mario
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09-02-2010, 07:48 PM
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#10
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 390
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Ciò osserva molto buona.
Smusso l'attesa per leggerlo.
Grazie molto.
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09-02-2010, 08:36 PM
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#11
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NY
Posts: 1
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Thanks Bro!
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09-06-2010, 03:49 PM
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#12
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Italy
Posts: 4,326
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File updated!
- Includes latest articles up to 2010 Sept 6.
- All paragraphs are now justified - should be less "fatiguing" to read
- Many layout refinements - consistency and so
Download links are the same.
Thanks,
Mario
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09-06-2010, 04:16 PM
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#13
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 4,630
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Perfect. Thanks. There's gold in that there text.
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09-14-2010, 05:50 PM
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#14
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Montreal, Qc, Canada
Posts: 6
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Wow, very nice!
Took a lot of effort to get it organized this way I guess!
Thanks!
Antoine in Montreal/qc/ca
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10-05-2010, 02:59 PM
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#15
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Italy
Posts: 4,326
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Quote:
Originally Posted by flukester
Wow, very nice!
Took a lot of effort to get it organized this way I guess!
Thanks!
Antoine in Montreal/qc/ca
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Actually it ended faster than I thought - 3/4 hours to do the most - mainly thanks to OpenOffice style handling.
The document has been updated again today, same download link:
Lots of typos fixed, content up to date to today.
Enjoy,
Mario
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10-05-2010, 05:45 PM
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#16
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,301
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Wow... just wow.... there's GOLD in that doc.
That's going on my 'EVERYONE must read' list!
__________________
iMac i5quad/12gbRAM/1Tb Glyph drive/1Tb samples drive > Motu828mkII ---- Still run my GatewayM520 2.8ghz XP laptop. Video editing, 3D work and audio with zero problems.
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10-05-2010, 05:50 PM
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#17
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 29,260
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Reminds me of Yep's threads minus the bitching and moaning.
__________________
Music is what feelings sound like.
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10-05-2010, 07:37 PM
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#18
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 4,630
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Once again, Mabian, thank you very much for your efforts to offer this information. It's very useful.
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10-05-2010, 10:41 PM
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#19
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Right Hear
Posts: 15,618
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a BIG THANKS from me also... very good of you to do this!
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11-15-2010, 02:45 PM
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#20
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Italy
Posts: 4,326
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New update available!
Download link on first post.
Content up to date to today, a few minor layout adjustments.
Enjoy,
Mario
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11-16-2010, 01:46 AM
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#21
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Civitavecchia (Italy)
Posts: 574
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bravo Mario, bel lavoro
grazie
__________________
"You know what a miracle is. Not what Bakunin said. But another world's intrusion into this one".
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
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11-16-2010, 01:29 PM
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#22
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 4,630
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Yes, thanks to your looking out for quality content. I read the new stuff right away. Short, sweet and insightful.
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01-01-2011, 10:01 AM
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#23
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Italy
Posts: 4,326
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Bump! Updated again with content up to end of 2010.
Happy New Year to all the music makers around!
- Mario
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01-01-2011, 10:20 AM
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#24
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 22,567
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this is awesome!
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01-03-2011, 01:06 PM
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#25
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Seattle WA
Posts: 100
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Wow this is great. A handy reference with all the common (and some uncommon) questions that you may or may not have even known to ask. Thanks!
__________________
"Insert amusing little quip"
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01-06-2011, 02:19 PM
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#26
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Toronto, Ontario Canada
Posts: 825
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re
There's something I don't understand that Kim says to do when mastering.
He says:
"Select two or three other songs that you think represent a similar genre to your music. The more similar (in genre, instrumentation, and overall sound), the better. The more well-known, the better. This is your reference.
You should find a way to be able to switch quickly between the references and your mixdown. Personally, I do this by starting a new project in my DAW and loading my mixdown and my references each on their own track. By working with SOLO mode on, I can switch between tracks as fast as I can press the up or down keys to switch to the current track.
Resist the temptation to immediately slap a limiter or mastering toolbox on your mixdown and turn it up to match the references. Instead, turn the references down to match your mixdown. Don’t use meters – use your ears. Make a note of how much you turn them down.
Let’s pretend for now that you have two reference tracks, and you turned them down by the same amount: 18dB.
Now you have your mixdown playing at the same overall loudness as the reference tracks. First listen to the dynamic range of your mixdown compared to the references. Are the quiet sections too quiet? Are there any loud bursts (not transients – but whole notes or sections) that are too loud? If so, you might find a compressor useful. Use it to subtly reduce the dynamic range of your mixdown. Don’t use it for “colour”, or to adjust transients. Typically I’ll start with a fast attack, medium-long release, low ratio and medium-deep threshold. If your compressor has an RMS (or similar) sensing mode, use it. It might take quite a bit of fiddling to get this right. Remember to bypass te compressor regularly to make sure you’re doing no harm. Also remember to keep the overall level of the mixdown the same. Resist the temptation to push it all louder at this stage. Typically you won’t have to do much to adjust the dynamic range of your mixdown.
Once you’ve got the dynamic range right, it’s time to look at overall level – the distance below 0dBfs. Right now your mixdown is the same loudness as your references. However, the peaks on your references are at -18dB (that’s how much you turned them down), and your mixdown might be peaking around -9dB or higher. This is where the limiter comes in. What you need to do is bring the peak level of your mixdown to -18dBfs without changing the loudness as you hear it.
Adjusting the peak/average level ratio this way will make it easier for you to hear when you are doing damage to your audio. The typical method of “pushing up” the level of the mix makes it difficult because you’re changing two things at once – the peak/average ratio and the overall level as you hear it. Not only does this complicate the hearing process, but it also makes it easy to ignore audio damage because the more damage you do, the louder it gets (and as you know, humans tend to perceive louder music as “better”).
Unfortunately, most limiter plugins are configured for the above behaviour, sporting an easy-to-abuse “input level” control. To get around this, you should insert two gain plugins, so your chain looks a little like this:
gain1->limiter->gain2
Set the limiter to limit at 0dBfs. When you switch it on, you should hear no effect. Then slowly increase the level of the first gain and simultaneously reduce the level of the second gain by the same amount[1]. Do this 1dB at a time, and listen carefully to what you’re doing to your sound.
If you get down to -18dB (or whatever your references are at) without reducing the overall level of your mixdown as you hear it and without doing too much audible damage to your sound, then WELL DONE! YOU WIN THE GAME! Turn your speakers down, remove the second gain plugin, and render it!
If you couldn’t get down to the level of your references, you need to adjust the settings on your limiter, or use different tools. Unfortunately I can’t give much advice here, as it depends entirely on the kind of damage the limiter is doing to your sound, and what kind of damage you’re willing to tolerate. Sometimes you might need to reduce the bass with EQ (why it’s important to match the spectral/EQ response to your references before you try to match the dynamics). Sometimes you need to add some more aggressive clipping to retain the overall level as your reduce the peaks (particularly if your reference are as loud as commercial pop). Sometimes you might need to use a compressor beforehand to bring a “spiking” element into line (such as the kick drum in my track Horse Head). I’ve heard of some people using a series of several compressors or limiters, each reducing a small amount (personally I haven’t needed to try it, it sounds far too complicated to control effectively).
If you’ve done well, you should have your mixdown at the same overall level as your references (as it has always been), but also with the peaks at the same level as well (-18dB in this example). When you’re happy turn your speakers down, remove the second gain plugin (which will pop your mixdown up to 0dBfs), and render it!
-Kim.[1]Unnecessary technical note: What this effectively does is move the 0dB point inside the limiter plugin! This is a cool trick to do with any other dynamically-sensitive plugin, such as compressors or distortion! Blue Cat’s free gain plugins can be linked in reverse, allowing this kind of two-way gain adjustment to be done quite easily."
If you have two gain plugins on a track and you raise one and lower the second, aren't you effectively doing nothing?
What's the difference between adding a gain plugin and just increasing the fader on the track?
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01-06-2011, 02:22 PM
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#27
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Italy
Posts: 4,326
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gain is generally before all other plugins, so can alter behaviour of compressors and so on. fader is post fx.
- Mario
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01-06-2011, 09:07 PM
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#28
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: JAMAICA
Posts: 492
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Thank You, Mario.
Thank Kim too!
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01-06-2011, 09:39 PM
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#29
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 22,567
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Quote:
Originally Posted by karbomusic
Reminds me of Yep's threads minus the bitching and moaning.
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yeah, i kinda felt like this was a "better" version of the yep threads
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01-07-2011, 04:27 AM
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#30
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: South Coast, England
Posts: 708
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great post, thanks very much for the heads up!
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01-08-2011, 09:19 AM
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#31
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 206
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thanks here as well.....so nice of you to take the time.....downloaded the PDF and subscribed to the RSS. Can never get enough info!
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02-27-2011, 03:33 PM
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#32
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Italy
Posts: 4,326
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New update ready including all posts up to today.
- Mario
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02-27-2011, 04:15 PM
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#33
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Canada
Posts: 238
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Hey mabian, thanks for taking the time to do this. Amazing stuff!
Cheers mate!
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02-28-2011, 08:38 AM
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#34
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 27
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Shiny! Thanks!
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02-28-2011, 04:32 PM
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#35
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Posts: 1,095
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Great blog! Been reading it for a while! Thanks!
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03-01-2011, 03:40 AM
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#36
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: in hope
Posts: 320
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Cheers Mario!
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03-01-2011, 03:48 AM
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#37
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posts: 1,965
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Ciao Mario,
Grazie per il blog dump.
Lots of useful stuff in there --- many thanks also to the author for being so generous.
Cheers
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05-01-2011, 02:19 PM
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#38
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Italy
Posts: 4,326
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Just updated again
Enjoy!
- Mario
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05-02-2011, 04:16 AM
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#39
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Turkey/Istanbul
Posts: 1,820
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Thank you so much
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05-09-2011, 01:08 PM
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#40
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 28
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Awesome. Thanks.
Mark
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