Wednesday, October 15, 2014 Help Kids By Getting Cool Stuff For Yourself!

Spirit Blade Productions and Christian Geek Central are both participating in the October 25th Extra-Life charity event to raise money for children in serious need of medical care.

Our small team of five participants is taking on the task of collecting a combined total of $1000 in donations for this cause. As of writing this we are at 22% of our goal with 11 more days to reach $1000! That's a good start, but we need YOUR help to reach the finish line! And you can even get some cool goodies while supporting the cause!

From now until the end of Sunday, October 26th, every penny received from purchases at the Spirit Blade Productions online store will be donated to the Christian Geek Central Team's fundraising efforts for the Extra-Life charity. So go treat yourself or a friend to some cool goodies and know that you're helping kids who really need it in the process!

There are also special bonuses for those who donate to Paeter Frandsen's personal Extra-Life  efforts (which also contributes to the overall CGC Team goal) on or before Thursday, October 23rd:
 

Receive download links for every product in Spirit Blade Productions' digital library! (Donation of $20. Includes Spirit Blade: Special Edition and song bundle, Spirit Blade: Dark Ritual and song bundle, and Pilgrim's Progress: Similitude Of A Dream! $35 value!! Include your e-mail address with donation. Links will be issued by October 31st.)

Paeter will play a game (if available to him) or sing a song (if on i-tunes) of your choice during his 24-hour live stream for Christian Geek Central! (1st 5 donations of $25.)

Co-host an episode of the Spirit Blade Underground Podcast with Paeter! (1st 3 donations of $50. Include your e-mail address with donation. Redemption of this bonus prize expires March 1st 2015.)

Please help us represent Christ well as we aim to look outside of ourselves toward the needs of others. Even a donation of $5 would be a wonderful help to us as we endeavor to tangibly and visibly bear the image of Christ to these kids and their families.

To help us reach our goal:

1. Visit the Spirit Blade Productions store 
or
2. Click on any team member on the Christian Geek Central Extra-Life Page! 

Monday, September 8, 2014 Gamers Helping Kids! Join The CGC "Extra Life" Team!

Hey Everyone!

The Extra-Life marathon gaming charity event is just 7 weeks away! I'm now officially entering "recruitment mode" in hopes of filling the ranks of the Christian Geek Central Team!

There are two chief ways you can be involved in this event:

The first way to be involved is to do your own gaming marathon as a part of the Christian Geek Central team. (Any kind of gaming, including board/card and Pen and Paper RPGs!)The Extra-Life organization is pretty loose with the "rules" of the event. So if you can't do 24 consecutive hours of gaming, you are welcome to split it up over multiple days. In the spirit of teamwork, participants are encouraged to complete their hours sometime on or near October 25th. You can choose to do it alone or involve your friends/family. No one from Extra-Life will be keeping track of when or even if you do your marathon hours. It's all on the honor system and the bottom line is about raising money for children in need of medical care. You can let your donors know that even if you burn out before hitting 24 hours, all of their donation will still go to the charity.

Raising money is actually very simple as well. You are encouraged to contact as many people as possible with the goal of getting at least 10 people to donate $10-$20 to the cause, with your personal goal being to achieve $100-$200 in donations. If you're shy or don't like writing, Extra-Life also provides a nice letter that you can use or modify as you seek donations. You also don't have to collect any money yourself, but simply direct people to a webpage where they can donate online.

As a member of the Christian Geek Central team, you are welcome to choose the Phoenix Children's Hospital as the hospital you wish to support, or choose from hundreds of other hospitals that are also part of the Children's Miracle Network.

For more information, or to sign up to join the Christian Geek Central Team and do a marathon, go to:

http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&teamID=15081

As you can imagine, doing something like this takes some advance planning to make room for it in your schedule, which is why I'm recruiting so early. I hope to have most of the Christian Geek Central team signed up by October 1st. Late-comers will of course be welcome to join, but they will have less time to raise funds for the event.

So if this option interests you, please take a good look at your schedule, talk to those in your life it will effect, and then visit the link above to get started!


The second option is, of course, to donate! if you'd like to donate in partnership with my efforts, you can do so here:

http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=92024

However feel free to wait and support another team member if you'd like. I'm making this option available now but will not beginactively seeking donations until the beginning of October.

I hope you'll be able to partner with me in both a celebration of the gift of games and an effort to be the hands of Jesus in the lives of hurting children.

Thanks!

-Paeter Frandsen

Tuesday, August 26, 2014 T-Shirts 15% Off!!

From now until September 2nd you can get our T-Shirt at 15% off the regular price! A variety of colors, sizes and fits are available, so don't miss this chance to express your Christ-honoring geekery and support the efforts of Spirit Blade Productions at the same time!

To take advantage of this sale, use the promo code SHIRTS15 when you checkout from our spreadshirt store!

Don't wait! This sale will come and go before you know it!

Thursday, August 21, 2014 Voyages Of The USS Sasquatch: First Flight

The Spirit Blade Underground Alliance is pleased to present their newest audio drama:

Voyages Of The USS Sasquatch: First Flight

A young graduate prepares for her first space-faring assignment aboard an unusual ship with an unorthodox crew. But danger doesn't wait for preparations, and soon the crew of the USS Sasquatch holds the fate of many in their hands.

Monday, July 7, 2014 Christian Geek Central Temporarily Down

Just a heads up that christiangeekcentral.com is temporarily down. We were recently the victim of credit card fraud. Our compromised credit card has been deactivated and I didn't realize that CGC was due to auto-renew (using the now deactivated card) on 7/6/14. Great timing, huh?

The good folks at GoDaddy tell me that the site should be back up in 30-60 minutes, or up to 24 hours on the extreme long side of things.

So sorry for this oversight on my part. Thank you so much for your patience!

-Paeter

Thursday, June 26, 2014 Too Many Good Choices!

This week I finished work on Scene 9 for Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows, putting me over 1/4th of the way complete in mixing the entire project. (Well, much more than that if you factor in the work on the songs I've completed so far.) That may not sound like much, but to me it's halfway to halfway!

Scene 10 is a short but fairly heavy scene between Saolos and Merikk. Sean Anthony Roberts, who provides the voice for Saolos in both "Dark Ritual" and "A World Of Shadows", brought his A game to this scene, which makes it a great pleasure to work on, but also a real challenge to edit.

Sean is such a fantastic performer that he usually requires very little direction. He also tends to give me multiple, fantastic versions that are different yet equally appropriate to the moment in the script. As I sat editing scene 10 today I thought, "I want people to hear ALL of these takes!"

In the end I choose, as best I can, and then resolve to let the other takes be heard sometime later in a behind the scenes feature.

Already it looks as if I'll be able to finish Scene 10 before the week is over, which would be very gratifying. At the same time, I've begun praying that Yahweh will allow me to have peace and contentment regarding my pace and productivity, resting in his sovereign control over events and ultimate wisdom regarding what should happen when.

Either way, I hope to keep taking a break now and then to keep you updated. Stay tuned!

-Paeter Frandsen

Saturday, June 7, 2014 Podcast Delay

Just a quick heads up. We're having an internet outage that looks like it will last at least until late Sunday afternoon, so the podcast may not be up until Monday or later.

Using my smart phone hotspot, I managed to upload my video review of "Edge Of Tomorrow", which you can see right now at christiangeekcentral.com. But for some reason, my upload client doesn't like it when I try to use my phone to upload the podcast.

I will get the episode up as soon as I possibly can. In the meantime thank you so much for your patience.

-Paeter Frandsen 

Monday, June 2, 2014 Summer Days And Productivity

It's a miracle!

The summer has begun at the Frandsen household, which means both of our boys are home and full of energy. For a guy who tries to do much of his work at home throughout the day, the thought of this season is something I have dreaded. "Prepare to watch your productivity plummet, Paeter. Just assume that you won't make much progress on AWOS ("Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows") until August."

What I wasn't prepared for was the social dynamic between my boys, and how it's actually helping me to get MORE mixing time into my schedule than I had during the school year with only our youngest at home most days.

Our youngest boy is the extrovert of the family. This means that unless he is interacting with someone, he's not happy for long. Which makes being alone with him all day very challenging if I hope to get any work done.

By contrast, our older boy is more like me. Highly imaginative and content to play by himself much of the time. When I only have him to worry about, keeping up with my work day isn't too difficult.

With our oldest now home from school, the little guy has someone else he can suck the life from *Ahem!* I mean- PLAY with. And when our oldest prefers to play alone, The Destroyer (as we often call our youngest) is often content with his new favorite hobby... playing in water!

So the water bill from our sprinkler may be on the rise, but so is my productivity on AWOS, to which I've so far been able to dedicate at least 1 MORE hour per day than what is normal during the school year. And often even more than that!

I'm sure the schedule will require tweaking as the summer moves forward, but this is a VERY encouraging and exciting development!

For those curious, I'm currently mixing scene 9 out of 38 (not 39, as I thought last time), which means that when I'm done with the current scene I'll be 1/4th of the way through the project! That might seem like a small slice, but for me it means I'm about halfway to halfway! Woohoo!

Here's hoping this momentum will continue!

-Paeter Frandsen

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 Scene 7 (of 39)

Well, that certainly isn't exciting to type. I'd much rather be on scene 38 of 39! But as I've been reminded lately, slow and steady wins the race.

Yesterday and today were a couple of mixing days with little excitement in them. I'm not working on a terribly complex scene. So it doesn't have a load of complicated sound cues. But neither does it have the creative excitement of some of the "bigger scenes" in the project. On the other hand, it's also not just a scene with two people talking. Those kind aren't flashy, but at least they can be put together quickly.

No, Scene 7 is in the middle ground. It's mostly people talking, but it has numerous sound effects cues that have to be carefully and thoughtfully timed in order to tell the story well. They are also sound cues that, if I do my job right, the listener will not pay direct attention to, but that are still vital to the scene.

The chief challenge is Raan Galvaanik. If I were talking about making a movie, I might say that Raan is an "expensive" character, much like Green Lantern was expensive to put on screen, since even when he was just sitting around he wore a costume entirely made of digital effects. Likewise, Raan is a cyborg, and so always has some minor servo sounds whirring and clicking around him as he talks and does even simple tasks in a scene.

Although things seem to be moving slowly with this scene, I know there are others that are shorter, or that will not take as long. I'm currently aiming for a pace of one scene per week. You're welcome to do the math and estimate a release date, but be sure to add on a month or two to polish up the songs and another month or two for the score and final polishing of the whole project. (While you're at it, go ahead and add six months for the weird stupid crap I won't see coming until it hits me in the face. Lol!)

Finishing scene 10 will put me 1/4 of the way done, which will be exciting. And as more of the project is finished I will likely gain more momentum and greater willingness to push myself. Right now, though, I'm still in those early grindy stages that I can't wait to break out of. Hopefully that will be pretty soon!

-Paeter Frandsen 

Thursday, April 17, 2014 The Infamous "Scene 4"!

That's what I have come to call the scene I am currently working on for "Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows". I'm certain it is the single most complex sequence I have ever conceived or produced for audio drama.



It involves a one-man-assault on a room full of bad guys with an electronic-industrial re-mix of Mozart's "Dies Irae" blasting in the background as underscore.

To start with, rather than using purchased underscore for this scene, as I usually do, I created this version of the music from the ground up: Had friends help me record the choral vocals, designed and produced the instrumentation, adapted a similarly themed song from church liturgy to serve as my "verse" structure, so that in addition to being underscore the music would function as a song on its own.

After creating the "radio version" of the song, I then had to re-cut it and add entirely new material in some places so that the intensity of the music matches what is happening in the scene. This results in two very different versions of the same song: one "underscore" version and one "radio" version.

Having completed that I was finally ready to add in the sound effects for the scene. And there are a TON of them! The action is fast and brutal, with hard hits, flesh rips and blood squirts, intermixed with defensive gunfire and the sounds of someone supernaturally whipping back and forth around the room as he takes out a handful of bad guys in just a few seconds.

The final primary stage of mixing is to adjust fade-outs, stereo panning and volume levels for each of these numerous effects, so that the right effects and musical moments can be heard when I want you to hear them. It's similar to the way written dynamics of a choral piece will instruct altos, sopranos and basses to sing softly for a phrase while the tenors momentarily carry the melody before handing it off to the altos. In this scene, prominence in the mix needs to be quickly and purposefully handed around to multiple sounds, giving each a quick chance to shine before falling into the background again.

The end result, I hope, will be an almost dizzying auditory experience that listeners will be taken off-guard by, and that begs for repeated listening.

Of course, with a scene this complex, even this close to completion, there is still plenty of work to do. So I better get back to it!

But if you'd like to hear how it turns out, consider supporting Spirit Blade Productions by becoming a Spirit Blade Insider! The next bundle of goodies I send out will include the "state of the mix" on The Infamous Scene 4 and I think it will be a fun treat!

-Paeter Frandsen

AnonymousApril 19, 2014 at 3:23 PM

Too poor to be an insider, but will definitely be getting the album when it comes out.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014 Staying Focused

The idea of "focus" has been on my mind a lot lately. Maybe it's the first whiff of mid-life crisis, but I'm becoming increasingly mindful of the fact that I have a very limited number of years in this life to apply myself to serving Yahweh. So with that in mind I'm looking at multiple aspects of my life in an effort to put myself to the most effective use possible.

I'm re-evaluating which relationships I prioritize, what projects I take on and what goals I set for myself. My vision for Spirit Blade Productions has always been far greater than my abilities. And I'm not assuming now that some of the big dreams I have will never happen. But I am resolving to put myself to work more in the areas I'm equipped for, and less in the areas I'm not.

I've toyed with the ideas of designing and producing games, both tabletop and video games. I took a Spirit Blade themed card game well past what I think the halfway point is in its design, but had to set it aside to continue progress on the Spirit Blade audio drama trilogy. I may pick up that project again in the future, but if I do I'm convinced it will only be with one or more allies.

I've imagined more than once creating a Youtube channel updated weekly with original video content that I create. But I figured out very quickly that doing so would likely require me to learn video editing skills that would eat up a large amount of time even after I conquer the immense learning curve. This still isn't out of the question, but I'm very hesitant, knowing that pursuing something like this will mean sacrificing something else very significant.

As you may already know, I've also concluded that after Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows, I will no longer produce music to be included as a storytelling element in future audio dramas. While I'm happy with the "out of the box" nature of that original creative decision, I also recognize that a number of listeners aren't interested in journeying that far outside the box with me. And the process of song creation and production takes an enormous amount of time and creative energy to yield such questionable results.

In some ways, I mourn the creative endeavors I simply don't have enough years to see through. Sometimes I wish I had a knack for writing novels, penciling comics, designing games or making movies. Instead I seem best suited for audio drama, an art form that is far from mainstream (but that I hope will grow in familiarity as digital audio media continues to gain recognition). Even so, if podcasting, community building and audio drama are what I'm best equipped for, than I have to resolve to be the best podcaster, community builder and audio fiction creator I can be, and rest in knowing that an eternity of wide-ranging creative endeavors await me when the frustrations of life and my own weakness and limitations are finally left behind.

(1 Corinthians 15:40-43, ESV) There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

-Paeter Frandsen

Thursday, March 6, 2014 "Spirit Blade: Live" 10th Anniversary!

10 years ago the pastors and elders of Red Mountain Community Church in Mesa, AZ took a chance and not only allowed but encouraged and supported the production of a live, "action/sci-fi/musical/audio drama".


I originally wrote the story of "Spirit Blade" as a novella (of which the free audiobook version may be found here), then adapted the novella into an audio drama script which also included songs in the techno/industrial genre, performed by the characters in the story.

Directed by Michael E. Bryce (The voice of Isaiah Daniels), the live show was performed in much the same way classic oratorio is delivered, with readers standing in a line at the front of the stage, stepping forward to read their dialogue or sing. Custom artwork created for the project was occasionally placed on a large projection screen to further set the tone or provide images of what the scenes and characters looked like. Lighting and fog effects further enhanced the atmosphere, but the booming sound effects, cued live in rapid succession by a sound person, were undoubtedly the driving artistic effect of the experience.

"Spirit Blade" had surprisingly great attendance both nights it was featured. Surprising given the violent, bizarre nature of the project and the fact that it was performed at a church. The response from those who attended was enthusiastic and the leadership of the church encouraged me to do more projects like this one.

As happy as I was at the time with the live version of "Spirit Blade", I knew that the storytelling potential had barely been touched, and that far more could be done if told through an audio recorded format rather than a live format. So just a few months after the live event, I began scheduling actors from the live show to come to my home and record their performances, in many cases reproducing what they had done in the live performance and in some cases taking their performances in significantly different directions.

Over the next two years, while also leading the worship ministry of Red Mountain Community Church, I directed, mixed and produced the original recording of "Spirit Blade" in my spare time, with a few small adjustments to the script to pave the way for at least one sequel, and likely a trilogy.

In 2006 I stepped down from my position as the worship pastor of our church, and launched Spirit Blade Productions, LLC with the release of the original production of "Spirit Blade" (which has since been re-mixed from the ground up as "Spirit Blade: Special Edition"). Now, almost 8 years after the launch of Spirit Blade Productions and exactly 10 years after the premiere of the live version of "Spirit Blade", I am hard at work on post-production for "Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows", considering myself extremely blessed to have the chance to finish this trilogy and tell the end of this tale.

To "Mickey" and the rest of the original cast of "Spirit Blade", thank you so much for taking a chance on being involved with this strange project. To the leadership of Red Mountain Community Church and all of my supporters there, thank you for partnering with and encouraging me. To my wife, who also lends her voice to Ebony Ravenloft, thank you for your commitment to me and the vision of Spirit Blade Productions. Thank you for the countless hours you invest in work you have no passion for, so that I can pursue the passion I've been given for this ministry. And my greatest thanks to "Yeisou Kreeshtaya", "The Only"... Yahweh God. You frighten and fulfill me. You instruct and inspire. Please help my vision always conform to yours. And equip me for whatever you bring about in the next 10 years.

-Paeter Frandsen

Thursday, February 13, 2014 No Podcast This Week

I've had to cancel this week's episode of The Spirit Blade Underground Podcast due to some computer repairs I'm having done (on my laptop, not my audio production PC). The repairs themselves are nothing serious, but the need for them appeared suddenly and can't be ignored or put off.

I apologize for the break in schedule and look forward to having a brand new episode for you next week if that is part of Yahweh's agenda. Until then, you're invited to check out some of the great, free audio content you may have missed or forgotten about at spiritblade.net/freestuff! There are also a number of videos you can check out at spiritblade.net/videos! Finally, don't forget about the other great podcast in the Christian Geek Central Network!

Thank you,

-Paeter Frandsen

Tuesday, February 11, 2014 "AWOS" Progress Report

Still in the thick of mixing "Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows". After some annoying computer problems last month I've made some great progress mixing the first few scenes. I've also returned to "Day Of Wrath", the song that will accompany Vincent Craft as he... let's just say as he does some serious damage to Atlantis Incorporated.



The mixing process continues to be possibly the most enjoyable part of production. Especially mixing scenes. When I'm writing I can sometimes do little more than stare at the floor thinking for long stretches of time, and progress seems slow. But while mixing a scene there is almost always something I can do to move things forward, even if I'm not feeling creatively inspired. And since I have a clear vision for what scenes will sound like when I'm finished, I can begin to "hear" the finished product even early in the process, and as each element is added to a scene the story comes more and more alive.

Despite scenes being so enjoyable to mix, I've enjoyed returning to "Day Of Wrath", a song which uses a combination of Mozart's "Dies Irae" and an old liturgical setting of the same Latin poem. With the help of some wonderful singers from my college days, I've been able to construct a full choir for Mozart's material, contrasted with a grungy electronic voice singing the dark, minor key, liturgical music. The result is becoming the kind of music I've always wanted to hear from other artists but never quite have, which makes the process very musically fulfilling for me.

That said, it's still early on, and my pride keeps me very selective regarding who I allow to hear the current mix of the song. Even allowing The Spirit Blade Insiders to take a listen will be difficult. But for now I'm still very excited about where things are going!

-Paeter Frandsen

Tuesday, January 28, 2014 Free Shipping On T-Shirts!

Pair up with that special someone and grab a shirt for each of you in a variety of colors, sizes and fits!

Spreadshirt is running a free shipping promo! On the purchase of two or more T-Shirts, your shipping total is zero if you use the promo code: LOVELY14 from January 28-February 14th in our spreadshirt store!

Monday, January 13, 2014 Off Grid Progress and Office Tour Video!

Finally back to my normal schedule after almost a month away from it! Two weeks I took for vacation and the other two were spent doing undistracted "off-grid" work on Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows.

At long last I am thrilled to say that I have begun mixing scenes! I've spent the last 6 months working on the songs for the project, which are now all at the point where they are either 80% complete or as far as I can take them for now. (For a couple I'm waiting on instrumentalists to record.) For all songs, however, the bulk of the uphill creative work is done, which is a huge relief. This means its time to take a break and work on scenes for a few months before I come back and finish off the songs with fresh ears.

As I continue making progress, I plan to make some videos of my work sessions from time to time that I will share with you on the Spirit Blade Productions Youtube channel. I also plan to present some behind the scenes videos of recording sessions with Michael Tully, Randy Hesson, myself, and even Holly Frandsen, the voice of Ebony Ravenloft (and also my wife), who has successfully dodged interviews and video cameras... until now. ;-)

In the meantime, I've posted a new video on our channel, featuring Michael Tully (Raan Galvaanik) who helps me present a video tour of my work space.

Enjoy!

-Paeter Frandsen