I Know Right?

Hello you beautiful and amazing blog reader!

We have finally released our new song! We've been working on it since... March? Maybe even February! Anyway, it's undergone so many changes throughout the past 9 months or so (it's like a baby), and we're actually really satisfied with the result! Scroll all the way down to listen!

We kind of feel like our music has gone through several phases. Let's review!

Phase 1 - Octopus One

We started out with nothing but a piano and our voices. We created fairytale-ish melodies and tried recording them with an old laptop's built in microphone. That ended up sounding like this:

We also started working with electronics. We recorded through midi and tried some stuff out on Garageband. We also started adding drums, which lead to these two:

Phase 2 - Enter Electronics

We wanted to make more complex compositions, and got better at the computer technicalities. Enter arpeggiators, synth soundscapes and space vibes. We switched from Garageband to Logic and did some live shows to get over our initial stage fright.

Phase 3 - Album Time

With the new recording mic and the Maschine we were able to really bump up our sound quality. Also, learning how to work with equalizers, limiters and compressors has really made a huge difference to the way our songs sound! In phase 1, we would write, record and release a song in less than a day. In this phase, however, we really like to take our time with each song. We spend months sending the files back and forth to each other and tweaking little details over and over again. There is still so much we want to learn, but we are definitely making progress and that's what matters! And what matters most to us is that we still have fun with it, and we totally do! We're feeling really ambitious about the upcoming year. We want to make an album and make at least one music video! We have got so many songs that are in the "almost-finished" stage, so you can expect to hear from us in 2017! It's going to be a great year!

Also, don't you just love this picture? Check out the photographers' website HERE! They make such great and original pictures and we look forward to shooting with them again sometime! 

F.A.C.T.S. 2016!

Oh my glob, it's that time of year again!

The blog has been pretty quiet lately, but I just have to upload my F.A.C.T.S. pictures like I do every year! I had a blast, as always. The venue was organised differently this time, so that makes it hard to compare this edition with others, but overall it was great. My boyfriend and I went as a duo from Adventure Time: Finn and Lumpy Space Princess. I made the costumes with Elvi's help, who is a lot better at DIY stuff than I am. Thank you Elvi!! For the Finn costume, my boyfriend already had most of the clothes he needed. He bought a foam sword from Flying Tiger Copenhagen for just 2 euros, and his hat was made out of a second hand ski coat that we bought for 1 euro. If you want to know how to make your own awesome Finn hat, check out THIS very helpful tutorial! My costume was a little more complicated, but still very doable for a beginner. I also used a second hand ski coat (1 euro again, aw yeah) for the base of my costume, and then added tule to it. If you want to see how we made it, check out the whole process HERE! The star is made from cardboard with fabric glued to it, and the rest of the outfit (clothes, shoes, makeup, nail polish) I already had. Tadaa!

When we arrived, we got ourselves a Finn and a Jake plush, which we carried around all day. We saw a lot of cool costumes today! I always love watching other people's cosplays. There were a lot (A LOT) of Harley and Joker cosplays, and as always there were quite some Elsa's as well. It was strange to see how few Daenerys and Lord of the Rings cosplays there were, considering how popular they used to be. The only really cool Lord of the Rings cosplay we saw was a person dressed up as a very impressive Sauron, followed by the Nazgûl. Awesome. Sean Astin was there today, so I had expected to see more hobbits! We were able to see Sean Astin quite well while he was signing autographs, and he looked super nice. He was wearing an adorable hat, which made him look super British! We were also able to see Nicholas Brendon really well. Being a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, I was super excited about this! 

Some best-of moments (not in order, because I can't put these wonderful things in order):

1. Our super cute photo shoot on the (new) Millennium Falcon

Yeah, that's some true love right there.

2. Running into someone dressed as BMO, which I was really hoping for

3. Meeting up with my BFF Nele, dressed as Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire (holding soda for some reason) 

4. Taking a picture with Rey and Kylo Ren (who I was kind of scared of) 

5. R2 BUILDERS!! They are always so cool.

6. Getting my boyfriends foam sword checked at the weapon check #becauseitlooksdangerous

As you can see, we had a great time! We also enjoyed watching a drone race and a robot battle, which we hadn't done before. Last but not least: I bought a bear onesie which I love sooo much! I've wanted a onesie for so many years already, and now I finally have one! I was kind of frozen when we got home, so getting into this amazing fluffy suit and having some pizza was... well, you know how life can be good sometimes. Today it was great. 

Stay geeky my friends!

Jade (LSP)

D.I.Y. Lumpy Space Princess costume

Hi everyone!

It's convention time again here in Belgium, and this year I wanted to go as Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time! Since I always get a lot of help from other people's tutorials when working on a DIY project, I thought I'd share the making-of process here! Like many people, I love cosplay but I'm not a great sewer. Sewer? Ew. Is there another word for this? Sewing person? One that sews? Anyway, most people would go to an auntie of a grandmother for help. Me? I have my fairy godmother: Elvi. 

For the base of the costume, we used a second hand ski coat. I liked how 'lumpy' it already was, and found it for just 1 euro. However, any base will do. A tight dress would be perfect. 

We cut part of it off, because it was kind of long. Just your regular cutting and sewing up again process. 

After seeing some other amazing LSP cosplays and some loofah costume tutorials I decided I wanted to work with tule to make the lumps. I ordered some online, which was the cheapest option. I cut the tule in pieces, which I then folded three times so it was layered. Elvi then tied some thread around the middle of each piece, so you got ribbons. 

Then, once we had our pile of tule ribbons, I started patiently sewing each ribbon on by hand. Elvi pinned them onto the coat while I was wearing it, and tried to spread them out so that the coat would be decently covered. Afterwards, I sewed them on while we ate fries and watched some Jane the Virgin. The tule hangs really flat at first, so you have to lump it up a bit by going through it with your fingers. You can also use safety pins to keep some important pieces in place. Also, I curled some tule around the collar, so my neck would be covered in tule.

And then it was finished! It's not too hard, it's pretty cheap and it looks adorable! I also made a star, which I cut out of a cardboard pizza box. I then used some needle and thread to attach it to a hair tie, and glued some yellow fabric to it (which I got from a second hand top, also 1 euro). I put my hair up in a high bun and simply tied the hair tie around it. I applied purple eye shadow to my eyelids and cheeks and wore purple lipstick. In my ears I wore pink crown earrings, because let's face it, I'm a princess. Add some purple nail polish, purple leggings and pink shoes to that and you're done! 

My boyfriend went as Finn. Clothes-wise this was a pretty simple cosplay because he already had everything he needed. All we had to do was make a Finn hat, which we did using another 1 euro second hand ski coat. We used this tutorial, which worked perfectly! 

Darn did we look cute! If you want to read about our day at F.A.C.T.S. and see more pictures, click HERE! 

Much love,

Jade

Summertime!

Hi lovely creatures!

We just wanted to post a little update on what we've been up to the last couple of months, because we have been kind of quiet on here. Basically, that's because we mostly want to use this blog for sharing new music, and none of our new music is shareable yet. In the good old days (note: 2011), we would just quickly throw something together, marvel at the fantastic song we just wrote, and share it right away. But nowadays (especially these past few months), what we're doing is writing a song, then changing it a bit, then mastering it for weeks (read: months), then deciding we want to do something different and starting over again, ... You get where we're going with this. So we've actually got a lot of great new stuff, but we're not ready to share it just yet, because you see, when we share it, we want it to be real good! We're also re-editing some old songs like Simplify, and the mix is so much better! Can't wait to share!

So what have we been doing this summer? Making music, obviously. Tiny got a Native Instruments Maschine MK2 which has really expanded the possibilities for us. We've been writing new songs, and been practising on how to master a song DIY-style. Aside from music, we've been enjoying the sun, travelling a bit, deciding to be healthier this summer, then binge eating pizza, then deciding to be healthier again.. You know, the usual summer stuff.

So, what have you guys been up to?

Much love, T&t

ps: if you want more regular updates on what we're doing, follow us on instagram @tallandtinytheband

Here comes the wisdom

Hi everyone,

just sharing some Tall and Tiny wisdom today. Simple question, yet it does make you wonder...

Oh, and we might have just booked a super awesome gig! But more on that later.

Much love, Tnt

Tallandtiny wisdom #tallandtiny #tallandtinytheband #girlpower #music #song #lyrics #producing #comingsoon

A video posted by @tallandtinytheband on Mar 24, 2016 at 11:44am PDT

Bitches Be Free

Hi everyone!

Since yesterday was International Women's Day, we decided to write a song dedicated to women around the world. It's called Bitches Be Free (because, why not?)! Check it out right here:



Also, Jade got to do an interview about feminism on Radio Scorpio, and our song was broadcast! It was really nice to see 'Tall and Tiny' appear on the radio station's computer, and it's always great when you get the chance to share your opinion on a matter you care about.

Tall and tiny on the radio! #tallandtiny #tallandtinytheband #music #girlband #girlpower #womensday #feminism #bitchesbefree #radio #band #debut #song #interview

A photo posted by @tallandtinytheband on Mar 8, 2016 at 10:04am PST

To be honest though, we felt kind of weird about this. We've been working a lot on our music lately. And that doesn't mean what it used to mean to us. In the earlier days of Tall and Tiny, we would write and record songs in less than 30 minutes, and put them out there right away. Lately, however, we've been trying to figure out the producing aspect of making music. We're learning about compression, panning, different types of reverb, equalizers, and all kinds of kicks, snares, toms etc. This is taking up a lot of time, and since it's still a learning process, we don't have any finished material to publish yet. The reason we felt weird about this being our, well... 'radio debut' is that this is actually a very 'roughly put together' kind of song, which doesn't represent the sound that we are currently working on. So, we are reeeally excited to share our new stuff with you! And when we have something to share, we promise we'll be on the radio again!

Work in progress. Prepare for the #tallandtiny #reboot 🎵🌵🐦💜🎀 #tallandtinytheband #band #music #songwriting #logicpro #producing #workinprogress #vocals #beat #keyboard #girlpower

A photo posted by @tallandtinytheband on Mar 4, 2016 at 11:37am PST

between trying to balance work, school and music (chaos!), we also get together to chill out sometimes, which is so darn fun! We shot some pictures the other day, have a look:

Tall and tiny #tnt #theband #music #girlband #tallandtiny #tallandtinytheband #havingfun #bff #selfie #wesofly

A photo posted by @tallandtinytheband on Feb 12, 2016 at 1:14pm PST

What better way to spend the day than to goof out with your best friend in the kitchen whilst wearing expensive dresses and no shoes #tallandtiny #tallandtinytheband

A photo posted by @tallandtinytheband on Feb 14, 2016 at 1:25pm PST

Antwerp streets #tallandtinytheband #tallandtiny #tntexploringtheworld #antwerp #citylife #streetstyle #urban #city #maltese #dogs #dogwalking #bffs #girlband #hangingout #fun

A photo posted by @tallandtinytheband on Feb 23, 2016 at 1:04pm PST

Have a lovely day, and stay tuned!
Love, TnT

Elder Scrolls Online

Hiya all!

I finished my exams (yay!) and as a reward, I got myself the Elder Scrolls Online for the Xbox One. It has been lying around for weeks, but I told myself I couldn't play it until the exams were over, because otherwise.. Well, let's just say I wouldn't have been studying very much. So, without further ado, let me totally convince you about the awesomeness of this game.

1. It's not that different from other games in the Elder Scrolls series

When they announced ESO, I was not excited and even kind of angry. The last couple of years, so many game developers have jumped on the cool-wagon, and forgot about the real fans who want games to stay true to themselves. An example of this is Fable, that has been trying out new things with Fable: The Journey and the upcoming Fable Legends, when really, players just want Fable 4. I love Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim so much, and reading about ESO really upset me. I didn't want to play it (and also, I couldn't, because I didn't have the proper console/PC). Grump Grump. 

Almost two years after it's release, I got the game. When I turned it on, I felt a little anxious. I've played an MMO before (Star Wars: The Old Republic), but it felt sort of weird to play a combination of an MMO and the world of Tamriel which I've come to know and love in single-player mode. But once I got past the tutorial and entered the world, I was just stunned. I was on a beach, looking at a sunset, with a huge world to explore ahead of me. And that is the Elder Scrolls experience. Every now and then you see another player running around, but so far (and I've played a lot already) I haven't had to group up with anyone yet, and it has just been a single-player experience. Of course, if you enjoy teaming up, you totally can!

2. The world is huge.

And by huge, I mean HUGE. You cannot explore the entire continent of Tamriel, but you can explore many different areas. The story of the game contains a war between three factions: The Aldmeri Dominion, The Ebonheart Pact and The Daggerfall Covenant. At the beginning of the game, you have to choose which faction you will join, which will determine where your game begins. Races are faction-bound, unless you have the Explorer Pack DLC. If you choose the Aldmeri Dominion (playing as a Khajiit, Bosmer of Altmer), you will begin on an island of the Summerset Isles, and later explore an island off the coast of Elsweyr as well as large parts of Valenwood. If you join the Ebonheart pact (as a Dunmer, Nord or Argonian) you start out in the southern part of Morrowind and will get to explore the south-east of Skyrim as well as a part of the Black Marsh. When joining the Daggerfall Covenant (as a Redguard, Orc or Breton) you will start out in High Rock and then continue to explore Hammerfell. Lastly, Cyrodiil is still 'up for grabs' as all three factions try to claim it. Cyrodiil is a PVP (player-vs-player) area, mostly for high level characters (level 50+). For people who don't know how an MMO works, this means that other players can't attack you unless you are in Cyrodiil. Others are only there to help you out, not to stab you in the back and loot your stuff. 

This is how the provinces are divided:

And these are the playable areas:

A little side note: you cannot just start running around and exploring everything. If you choose the Aldmeri Dominion and start out in Auridon, you can't just take the boat to Stros M'kai or run all the way up to Shadowfen. As you leave your starting zone (and get closer to Cyrodiil), enemies will get stronger and stronger. If you try to speed up the exploring process, you will end up dead in an instant. In order to unlock the other faction's areas (which for players of that faction are easy, but you will be placed in an 'alternate' world in which the enemies are really tough), you have to be around level 46+, so you will need to be patient. But in a way, it just adds to my excitement. There is enough to explore in your own zone, and the reward of someday being able to travel everywhere just works as a great motivation for me.

3. The landscapes are so diverse

So far we've seen the awesome landscapes of Morrowind, the romantic medieval landscape of Cyrodiil and the cold and harsh world of Skyrim. (Sorry for not counting the older games, I've never played them!) I love how ESO lets you explore entirely different areas. I joined the Aldmeri dominion, because I was so curious to see the tropical south. It's really amazing! The nature, culture and architecture in this game are so versatile! 

 

4. Exploration of the world is very detailed

If you see a log, cut it for wood and craft it into a bow. If you see a pretty flower, pluck it and make a potion out of it. If you see stirring in the water, fish for food. If you find a barrel full of jasmine, take it with you and brew some tea. Exploring has been raised to another level! Even though previous games also had such possibilities, they seem to have been expanded for ESO. Almost everything you encounter can be interacted with. There are over 61 million items in this game. There are 40.656.000 different weapon variations. It includes 10.202 NPC's. There are 2235 unique books, which would take about 32 hours to read. I mean, come on!! That's awesome, right? Add the DLC stuff to that and you've got an endless amount of fun ahead of you. There are also so many animals (like monkeys, birds, snakes...) who aren't aggressive at all, which feels so much more realistic. You can also unlock dyes to change the colour of your armor, which I adore (pink armor for the win!), and aside from mounts (like horses), you can get a pet which follows you around all the time (and can't die), yay! Armor also contains belts and shoulder pads, which I have really missed since playing Morrowind! 

5. The graphics are great

As you've seen in the above screenshots: the graphics are pretty sweet. Compared to the rough look Skyrim had, ESO is more colourful and therefore slightly less 'serious' looking. Personally, I really like this. But that depends on your own personal taste I suppose. Just to convince you, here are some more awesome landscapes:

6. The character creation and development are better than I though they would be

I though character creation would be kind of limited, but it isn't! You can make your character look like a fearsome warrior full of scars, or a smooth pretty person with a tiara, it's up to you! As for class and skills, you can choose from four classes: the Dragonknight who is a strong fighter who deals lots of fire damage, the Nightblade with stealthy goodness (guess which one I chose...), the Sorcerer who creates thunderrr and lightniiing and the Templar who uses the power of the sun to burn enemies and who is also good at defense and healing. Every class can wield any weapon, but they will have distinctive skills and abilities. If you want to know more about the classes, please google them. I'm such a stealth geek that I haven't really looked into the other classes yet, so I can't help you out there! 

7. It's never over

The game keeps expanding and improving all the time. It came out in April 2014, and about two weeks from today they will release another DLC (downloadable content) with the Thieves Guild, yay!! New players keep popping up every day, so the game is still very much alive and kicking. 

8. It's The Elder Scrolls

The music, the races, the guilds, the lore... It is: 

Okay you're convinced! Go get it! If you're playing on an Xbox One, let me know your Gamertag and we can explore the world together. Unless you're not with the Dominion. FOR THE QUEEN!

Love,

Jade