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the-insomniac-emporium · 3 years

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Would you write some steamy make out session between fem!reader x a daughter of your choice? Maybe the daughter would sneak out of the castle or sneak reader in the castle into her bedroom. They can go all the way, I'd love a dominant top reader in this, but if you're not comfortable writing about that someone can interrupt them when reader is just about have their hand in the daughter's pants. Thank you in advance!

I picked Bela, cuz I've already got some nsfw with the other two planned. Not gonna lie, this had me, like, screaming in the middle of the night because I'm incredibly easily flustered, and whooooo boy this is what the folks would call "horny". Anyway, I tried, hopefully it's good. If not, please forgive me, I haven't written nsfw in ages (can you believe I used to write this stuff with a straight face?). PS: the reader probably isn't as dominant as you were going for? I just, idk, personally exude bottom energy (even as an ace) and struggle a lil with that sort of thing. If I understand terms correctly (and I do not), the reader might count as a 'service top'. What does that even mean. I'm probably not correct. Just. Just read the thing and see if it's any good, leave me to my awkward flailing.

Under read-more for horny, obvs. Also because this is, like, 1.5k words, which belongs under a read-more. Oh, also not beta read? I could not willingly make someone read this and edit it.

Sweet Talkin' (Alt: the fic that killed j)

“Are you sure we won’t get caught?” You asked, butterflies in your stomach, equal parts nervous and excited. This date had taken weeks of planning. Every last detail was covered, from location to timing to where a certain noble would be, backed up by maidens and begrudging sisters alike. At the end of the day, you really shouldn’t be nervous. But considering just how special this was supposed to be… well, you couldn’t help your anxiety. Evidently your girlfriend feels much the same, as her reassuring smile was hardly as confident as it normally was.

“We’ve gone over this a thousand times, darling, we know it’s going to work out fine,” Bela Dimitrescu replied, before pulling you in for a quick kiss. The two of you stay in each other’s arms for a moment, gently resting your foreheads together. “It will be fine, it has to be. If my mother found out-”

“She won’t,” you interjected, quickly, trying to do for her what she had done for you. “You said it yourself, we’ve double and triple checked. As long as we finish up before dinner, as planned, your sisters will keep her distracted. Admittedly I’m still not sure how you managed to convince them to help.”

“The threat of mutually assured destruction,” Bela replied, as if it was obvious. Something about the way she was always so fast to respond, usually with something clever, made your heart skip a beat. Ooh, and the confidence she radiated? Even better. “Besides, I’ve covered for the two of them a dozen times or more, I think they owe me one. Now, let’s just enjoy this time we have together, alright?” Then she takes both of your hands in her own, giving them a soft squeeze, while looking at you lovingly.

“Is it getting a little warm in here, or is it just me?” You asked, blushing, almost overwhelmed by the heat shared between the two of you. There’s a slight lump in your throat, but you push it down as fast as you can. After all, this was exactly what the two of you had wanted, and you happened to have a little ‘surprise’ in mind. Now seemed like the perfect chance to act. “Maybe we should do something about it, hmm? Don’t want me overheating during our date, now do we?” Well, it wasn’t your smoothest moment, for sure. But you were used to Bela taking the lead in these sorts of situations. This was simply your turn to have some fun, finally show that you didn’t always need to be told what to do (not that you minded, at least not when it was Bela giving you commands).

“Oh? Do elaborate, darling, I’d love to hear what you’re suggesting,” she replied, soft smile betraying her mirth. For a second you see her gaze drift from your eyes to your lips, and you have a feeling you know exactly what she’s thinking about. Seizing the moment, you wrap an arm around her waist, then pull her in for a kiss. Soon enough you two are pressed against each other, eager in your movements, hearts racing in sync. Slowly but surely you move your hand, edging it down her back, then a little further… Bela gasps as you gently grab her ass, not having expected you to be the first to make such a move. A few moments later you have to break for air, chests heaving, but you don’t let go of her entirely.

“Less clothes, for starters. And since your skin isn’t, hmm, quite as warm as mine… I was thinking I could use that to my advantage. If your thighs need a little warming, we could kill two birds with one stone,” you said, practically purring, voice lower than usual. A blush soon rises up Bela’s cheeks as she considers your offer. It doesn’t take her long to smirk, satisfied, one hand going to cup your cheek.

“Right now, there is nothing I would love more,” she murmured. It’s all the encouragement you need to act. Without hesitation you tuck an arm behind her legs, sweeping her up and onto the desk in one smooth motion. It’s a good thing she cleaned up for our date, you think, as you position your body between her thighs. For now you focus your lips on her neck, leaving a trail of kisses along it. Meanwhile your hands find themselves on the fabric of her dress, slowly sliding it upwards, revealing more of her soft skin, ready and waiting for your touch. She lets out a quiet moan as you work, using one hand to hold your head close to her. “You’re rather eager today, dear. Worried we won’t have time for you to get a turn?” Bela asked, in between sharp breaths, teasing as ever.

Instead of replying, you just run your tongue over a particularly sensitive spot on her neck (one you’ve taken advantage of many, many times), unable to stop yourself from smiling when it draws another, louder, moan from her lips. Savoring the feeling, you give her the softest lovebite you can manage. Then you finally get the hem of her dress up to her thighs, allowing you all the access you need, and you pull back to look her in the eyes.

“The only thing I’m worried about is how loud you’re about to be. I wouldn’t want to scar the other maidens,” you said, grinning. Part of you remembers that Daniela and her girlfriend had already handed out plenty of mental scars. The rest of you, however, is content to focus on your girlfriend. So you give her one last quick peck on the lips. Seconds later you’re on your knees, looking up to admire the view. You can’t help but release a low breath at the sight. It takes you a moment to recover, blushing heavily, before you get back to work. Reaching up you take the edge of her underwear in your hands, tugging it away. Bela shifts as you do, trying to make it easier for you, and before long you’ve removed it entirely and tossed the garment over your shoulder. Normally you’d be neater, but when the two of you had all the time in the world… why bother?

Even with one hell of a prize right there, you don’t go straight for her cunt. You place a kiss against her inner thigh, then another one, taking your sweet time. It’s driving Bela crazy, and she’s squirming in place. Picking up the pace just a bit, you add in a couple nibbles, slowly climbing up her thighs, hands ensuring they stayed parted. Right as you move in for more, her fingers tangle in your hair, urging you closer, closer. On one hand you want to tease her, payback for a dozen times she’s done this exact thing to you. On the other hand… your lips can’t help themselves. You’re kissing her clit, loving the way she gasps in response, switching to using your tongue, quick licks one after another. Now her fingers are curling in your hair, pulling ever so slightly.

“Babe,” Bela gasped, struggling to keep herself from bucking too hard, free hand clenching the desk as hard as she could. Eager to please her further, you work faster, tongue rolling over her wet folds, then focusing on her clit, cycling the motions, even as she moves herself against you. You swear you can almost hear her heart racing- but it’s just your own beating in your ears, nearly drowned out by the sound of her pleasure. Every sound urges you onward, rewarding every lick or kiss with a surge of pride. You were the reason she was gasping, calling your name, shaking ever the slightest. Soon, well, soon you’ll be the reason why she was cumming. “Oh fuck,” she said, tensing up for a split second, one last lick sending her over the edge. The way she tugs on your hair hurts, but you know it’s more out of reflex than anything else.

“Mmm,” you hummed, pressing a couple soft kisses to Bela’s inner thighs, letting her come down from her high without having to worry about overstimulation (at least not yet). Then you’re rising back to your feet, glad to stretch out a little. “Ready for round two?” You asked, teasing, though a hundred percent ready if she did agree. To your surprise… she nods, eagerly, sending you a familiar smirk. “Well, I’d better get to work, then.” With that said you move closer, grinning just as wide as your girlfriend, beyond glad that you had plenty of time to do whatever you wanted with each other… because the two of you were going to need every minute.

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livingfitnessposts · 3 years

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A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR USERS OF PRIMOBOLAN ORAL AND INJECTABLE (METHENOLONE)

Primobolan is one of the best known and most widely used anabolic steroids in the world, and its notoriety is undoubtedly due to its very beneficial positive effects compared to mild negative side effects.

This is especially true for the large number of athletes and bodybuilders who favor the notoriously smooth and gentle nature of Primobolan, although it is not the smoothest and most gentle available, Masteron, for example, is a more appropriate anabolic steroid in this regard.

Primobolan is also known as the chemical name for Methenolone Enanthate, or Primo. It represents an androgenic anabolic steroid (AAS) that comes in both injectable and oral forms, which is quite rare in the world of anabolic steroids. As said, it is widely used by bodybuilders and athletes who want to implement a product with few side effects, no estrogenic activity at all; it is actually favored by those athletes who are primarily looking to build lean muscle mass rather than just mass.

Primobolan 200 is sometimes seen as a weak compound compared to compounds like Dianabol. This does not come as a totally inconsistent statement, given that it will not give you the ability to drop new weightlifting records or gain a lot of weight. However, it will definitely give you a great opportunity to gain some very noticeable, high-quality mass, if you are a little more patient than most bodybuilders.

It should be remembered that primobolan was a very popular anabolic steroid in the 1970s, a time known as the 'golden age' of bodybuilding, with some even saying that Arnold Schwarzenegger himself considered it his no. 1 anabolic steroid.

Whatever the legends or the facts, it is true that most of all known anabolic steroids were originally developed for medical purposes. It wasn't until later that they became big players in the bodybuilding communities, but this was not the case with Primobolan. It was actually developed in the first place, for the sole purpose of being used by bodybuilders.

However, years later, primobolan saw its huge popularity slowly decline due to the overwhelming number of fake products entering the market. Sadly, it has also been officially banned by many regulatory agencies in the major nations of the world.

Also given the high market price of primobolan, a dose of about 400 mg, good for a total cycle lasting 12 weeks, can actually cost up to $ 500; it's easy to understand why multiple users have given it up or alternatively tried using less than the recommended dosage, only to find that the product was disappointing, and for a very good reason ...

As a result, more and more athletes and bodybuilders have been changing their views on which anabolic steroid to use, turning to other alternative compounds, like trenbolone, for example, which in fact cost less and are also much less. frequent. faked that cousin.

If you only add this to the fact that looking (often without considering the much harsher negative side effects) to gain the most muscle mass in the shortest amount of time has become a widely accepted trend, few users really understand the benefits. from slowness, quality gains. With this in mind, you can easily see why Cousin has had a hard time keeping up with the competition stemming from the cheaper, faster-acting anabolic steroids.

However, there appears to be a strong comeback for this compound in recent years. Perhaps because its users have finally been able to consider the importance of avoiding the often severe side effects of many other steroids, and gaining muscle mass has become an acceptable alternative to raw bulking cycles.

All in all, Primobolan seems to be finally getting due consideration that it's worth it. Especially for those who have already built a strong physical base and remarkable muscle mass after many years of hard and proper training and diet. It is exactly these users who already appreciate primobolan as their icing on the cake. After all, primo really does represent one of the safest anabolic steroids: that is, it does not alter your normal blood pressure, it does not interfere with your wake / sleep cycle, and last but not least it does not encompass La at all. frequent occurrence of serious side effects such as gynecomastia.

Primobolan is also known chemically as a compound derived from dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is an androgen hormone and sex characterizing steroid that is synthesized by a particular enzyme (the 5a-reductase enzyme). Its function is basically to give men their set of masculine characteristics. Primo does not convert to estrogen, therefore its levels can increase in the body without increasing the level of estrogen. Therefore, it is quite easy for those who implement it, to avoid any estrogenic side effects.

The profile and esters of Primobolan

The oral version includes an acetate ester.

The injectable version contains an enanthate ester

Cousin Chemical Formula: C20H30O2

Original Manufacturer: Schering

Average effective oral dose: men = 50 mg to 100 mg per day;

Average effective oral dose: women = 10 mg to 25 mg per day

Average effective injectable dose: men = 350 mg to 600 mg per week;

Average effective injectable dose: women = 100 mg per week

Detection time: from 4 weeks to 5 weeks.

Anabolic / Androgenic Effects Ratio: 88 / 44-57

Oral Primobolan Benefits and Side Effects

Oral implementation of an anabolic steroid as a cousin can be done by means of a tablet, a pill, or a liquid suspension. Administration is usually carried out by a single dose per day, but sometimes by dividing the same dose into two parts. However, whatever your preference, it is widely known that orally administered anabolic steroids are generally more toxic and carry more negative side effects than those administered by injections, and Primobolan is no exception to this rule.

The most common possible side effects of Primobolan when taken orally include, but are not limited to, the following:

Increase in the user's blood pressure.

Headaches

A possible weakening of the osteoarticular structure, which over time can also lead to symptoms of osteoporosis.

A potentially general weakening of the body's strength levels, which may also imply an increased risk of infection, as this product can affect the immune system

A potential suppression of endogenous testosterone production, which can be avoided when proper PCT (post cycle therapy) is implemented

Possible hair loss due to its DHT properties.

The above potential negative side effects are related to normal doses in primobolan administration. In case of overdose or abuse of cousin, that is, at doses higher than one gram (1000 mg) per week, more and more severe side effects could occur (such as organ tension, for example). It's not really a good idea to assume that just because primobolan is considered a mild anabolic steroid, it should be underestimated regarding its potential side effects. Remember, it is still a respectable potent steroid and must be managed properly with a proper cycling plan.

However, a popular opinion about anabolic steroids like primobolan is that if taken orally, they will be more effective than injectables and that their action is more visible and much faster in the body. This is why some athletes and bodybuilders tend to favor the oral form, especially users who just want to see their muscle mass grow in the shortest amount of time possible.

Injectable Primobolan Benefits and Side Effects

Despite the common opinions we often hear, the opinion of most experts is that injectable steroids are by far the best form one can use to get the best results, reduce the length of an average cycle, and reduce the risk of side effects as much as possible.

Injectable primobolan is in fact superior to the oral variant of primo for many reasons and in many ways. Oral primary results can be disappointing as a substantial percentage of its active ingredient will be broken down when it arrives and is processed by the liver. Since primobolan is not 17aa in its oral form, the doses must be implemented at a considerably higher level (and potentially at considerable cost). This is why it is also recommended to use the injectable version of primobolan for the best possible results, and also to save considerable amounts of money in the long run.

If you are looking to get the fastest results, go ahead and take primo in capsules, tablets, or pills. In reality, several bodybuilders implement both forms, oral and injectable, together in the same cycle. They start with oral primobolan to maximize their muscle mass gains in the shortest amount of time, then move on to the injectable variant.

Of course, this is not the worst option, but what we recommend is to consult with your GP or a specialized health center to learn everything you can learn about the side effects of Primo. Especially with reference not only to the more severe negative side effects of the oral variant but also with regard to the prolonged use of this anabolic steroid, although in principle it is mild. Do not forget that it is highly recommended, as your doctor will also tell you, to undergo regular health checks.

What results can you expect from your Primobolan cycle?

Among the several positive effects that can take place when implementing Primobolan in the correct doses and cycles, we will indicate the following, which are however not a complete list:

Primo can help reduce breast cancer.

It does not aromatize, therefore it does not convert to estrogen. So you never really have to worry about the many estrogen-related issues like water retention, acne, and gynecomastia, to name just a few.

Primobolan is a fantastic AAS to combine with other anabolic steroids.

Doctors have found sufficient evidence to say that Primobolan is an activator of the immune system, therefore, very useful in the treatment of those diseases in which the basic reason for the disease itself is a lower activity of the "defensive system" of the body. For example, it has been shown to be beneficial in the treatment of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

It is the main option for many to cut, and in fact, many athletes use it to keep their muscle mass intact while dieting on a low-calorie food intake program. Primo is really useful in this matter because it is able to make the body retain a high level of nitrogen. The higher the nitrogen level, the higher the level of muscle building and muscle mass retention in your body.

When using Primobolan in a pre-contest bodybuilding treatment, such strong maintenance of your nitrogen levels will protect your lean muscle mass and allow your diet to shed body fat deposits instead of muscle mass.

Can women use Primobolan?

There is some debate about the female use of primobolan and, in most specialized opinions, it is believed and recommended that women prefer to play it safe. The opinion is that women should never use any DHT-derived compounds due to the almost guaranteed masculinizing effects (such as the growth of facial hair, for example) that Primo may also imply unless they are very experienced users who have been tested. and approved by a specialized consultant.

Drug detection and half-life of Primobolan

Injectable primobolan has an enanthate ester attached to it, so the half-life of this compound would be approximately 10.5 days. This does not at all mean that the compound will be completely out of your system exactly 10.5 days after your last injection. Rather, it means that after that average period of time, half of the dose you injected will be gone, but half is still circulating in your body, and therefore you can expect Primo to keep working for several weeks after your last injection before actually leaves your system completely.

On the other hand, the half-life of oral Primobolan is around 5 hours.

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starsandmaple · 7 years

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Dances and Drafts, Chapter 3 - Come With Me

Synopsis:

It is 1977 and the Triwizard Tournament has come to Hogwarts. As the school prepares for its first Yule Ball in two-hundred years, Lily Evans finds herself completely put off going thanks to a certain toerag, and Severus Snape too shy to even consider attending. Can a cunning plan change that?

Notes:

I do not own these characters or anything deriving from the Harry Potter universe. All of that comes from the lovely J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Insert obligatory joke about being broke.

Come With Me

The following day, Lily had decided to start trying to brew some of the potions from Slughorn’s book. She had spent the last day researching the recipes and some of the ingredients, and bar a few which required special herbs to be tended for a full moon cycle, she had made a note of a few that could be made using ingredients from Slughorn’s cabinet, which he had told her she could have full reign over for the winter break.

She was awake much earlier than a lot of the students were on their holiday, making it out of the Gryffindor common room at 10am, leaving most of her fellow cohort snoring in their beds. She wandered through the castle without running into anyone at all. Students and faculty alike were obviously making use of their holidays and Lily was glad for the peaceful walk. When she turned the corner just before the potions room, a faint smell hit her nose. Upon further approach towards the classroom, she noticed that the door was ajar.

Someone is already in there.

Lily furrowed her eyebrows. Slughorn had told her that the classroom was for her own use over the break, so no one else should be in there. She gently pushed the door and stepped inside the classroom.

She stopped in the threshold and took a sharp intake of breath.

Severus was there, concentrating very hard on the potion her was brewing; the steam from the cauldron had dampened his long black hair, which he would push back every few seconds as it fell around his face and in front of his eyes. His robes and blazer were hung gracefully over the back of the chair to his right, leaving Severus in his white collared shirt - the sleeves of which he had rolled up to the top of his arms - and a slightly loosened green and silver tie.

Ingredients were scattered across the table and a single book lay open in front of him. By the looks of things he had been there for hours.

Lily shook herself slightly, not realizing that she had been staring for a while. She was glad to note that Severus hadn’t appeared to have spotted her either because of how focused he was on the potion he was brewing.

He didn’t even notice me come in, Lily smiled to herself.

“Good morning Sev,” Lily smiled and walked further into the room.

Severus jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, his eyes widened in surprise.

“Lily! What are you doing here? I-I mean good morning, but…” he trailed off and started to relax a little after the initial shock of her sudden greeting. Lily walked towards him and stepped behind the bench he was working at.

“Slughorn gave me a project to work on over the break, I was researching some of the potions yesterday and figured I’d have a go at some of the recipes this morning,” she brought the book out of her bag and held it in her arm.

Severus paused for a second and narrowed his eyes.

“Mind if I take a look?” he eyed the book and extended an arm. Lily complied, gracefully handing the book over to him.

Severus flipped the old book over, it didn’t take him more than a second to let out a barely audible groan as he closed his eyes tightly and handed the book back to Lily, who cocked her head to the side quizzically. Severus sighed.

That sneaky little-

“Everything okay Sev?” Lily looked a little concerned.

“Y-yes,” he said, picking up his own potions book and handing it to Lily for her to examine.

“Oh!” she said, slightly surprised, “It’s the same…” Lily was now holding two identical copies of Gregory the Smarmy’s potions book which she held up side by side for comparison.

“Slughorn must have found two copies of the same extremely rare book,” Severus said flatly.

Though, more likely he made a very convincing copy himself, Severus thought to himself and he began to turn a little bit red.

Lily smiled.

“Well in any case, this is great!” she said cheerfully, Severus looked at her slightly taken a back, “We can work through the book together now,” she smiled widely at him and he couldn’t help return it.

Lily took the space next to him and removed the blue cardigan she was wearing, placed it on top of Severus’s uniform and rolled up the sleeves of her white t-shirt. As Lily regarded Severus’s discarded uniform she frowned slightly, and thought to herself.

Of course he would rather wear this than his own clothes, even on holiday.

Shaking the thought and what it implied out of her head she sat down on the high chair and looked at what Severus was working on.

“I already worked through the first two potions from the book, the third is impossible to complete at present because we need stewed lacewing flies so I have moved on to the fourth,” he paused for a second “though I am having some trouble making out what this says,” Severus pointed to a line in his book which had faded, “here it looks like it says 2 cups but it could just as easily be ½ a cup and that is too big a difference to just guess.”

Lily opened her own book to the fourth recipe and dragged her finger along to page to the line Severus was reading from.

“Definitely half a cup, my copy is much clearer, see?” she leant over to Severus, indicating to the line in question.

She suddenly felt Severus breathe in sharply and she noticed how close they were; leaning over to him and brought their shoulders together, and the way that Lily’s head was positioned brought her face close to his own. Her heart jumped a little at the sound of his gasp and she felt hot, though she figured the sudden rise in temperature was simply due to the heat from the bubbling cauldron next to her.

“Ummm, yes so half a cup of basilisk venom poured in quickly and stirred…”

Severus and Lily followed the recipe until its conclusion, then moving on to the next one and the one after that until they had lost track of time. Lily’s rumbling stomach finally alerted them to the fact that they had long missed lunch.

“Oh wow, it’s already 3:30!” Lily gasped as she caught sight of the time on the old clock by Slughorn’s desk at the end of the room, “we’ve missed lunch,” Lily smiled, her hair was now also slightly dampened from the steam of the cauldron, her cheeks pink from the heat.

She looks breath-taking, Severus thought.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, Lily’s stomach rumbled again in response and they both laughed a little.

“I should probably go and see if there’s anything left in the great hall from lunch,” she said, though they both knew how unlikely that was.

“Why don’t we call it a day, we’ve made a lot of great progress,” Severus admired their handy work; four bottles of completed potion now sat on the table behind their cauldron. Lily gave him a look of pride in what they had accomplished.

“All right, we better clear this up then,” Lily waved her wand and the various ingredients levitated back into their rightful places inside Slughorn’s cabinet, the cauldron’s flame went out and the smoke was cleared from the room.

Lily went to put her personal belongings back in her bag before reaching for her cardigan, which was no longer on the back of the chair where she had left it. Puzzled, she looked up.

“Have you seen my –“

To her surprise, Severus was already holding out her cardigan for her, open and waiting for her to step into it. His gaze was averted and his cheeks slightly pink, something which easily could have resulted from the hours of brewing they had just done, or something else.

Lily parted her lips slightly and then smiled at him softly.

“Oh, thanks Sev,” she placed her bag on the chair and turned her back to him, holding out her arms as he pulled the cardigan over them and onto her shoulders. It wasn’t the smoothest motion, the cardigan got stuck on the bunched up fabric of Lily’s t-shirt for a brief moment and Severus had to quickly smooth it before pulling the cardigan up the rest of the way. He stepped in close and let his hands linger on her shoulders for a second longer, his heart racing and his breath quickening as he did so.

He had missed his chance to help her yesterday, he wasn’t going to hesitate a second time.

Severus was very aware that they had less than a year left together like this before school finished for good. Internally, he was battling with this thought and the fact that he lacked the courage to ever do anything to make his feelings known. He was scared of what he could lose, the ability to be with Lily like this, as friends. He had just about convinced himself that that was all he could possibly hope for.

But he knew he would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn’t try. And if that idiot Potter had the guts to ask Lily out every single day then Severus knew he couldn’t let Potter best him.

Severus stepped back and Lily turned towards him.

They were still close, though not as close as they had been before.

“L-Lily, I’ve been thinking…” for once he found himself unable to look into those beautiful green eyes, he was shifting his weight from foot to foot anxiously.

“What’s that Sev, are you okay?” Lily looked concerned.

“Y-yes I’m fine!” Sev reassured her. He took a breath and wrapped his arms around himself.

“I was just wondering…” he paused.

“Yea?”

“I-if you might want to…” he was struggling to form words, Lily was still looking at him, a look of bewilderment on her face.

“Ummm…” Severus took another, deeper breath, sighing as he exhaled.

“Uh, go ahead without me, t-there’s something I wanted to check out,”

He couldn’t do it.

“Oh, er…” Lily paused and smiled at him “Yea sure, I’ll see you later?”

“Yea, see you tomorrow,” Severus watched Lily leave the room and waited until he was sure she was gone before he let out a large, frustrated sigh and slumped onto the chair, pressing his forehead into the table in front of him.

“Hey Lily,” he said to himself in a mocking voice.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go to the ball with me.”

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letithappeneverafter · 7 years

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Go behind the scenes at Laneway Festival to find out how Tame Impala reproduces their records live.

It hadn’t been the smoothest day on the Laneway Festival tour, and the sweltering heat at Sydney’s College of the Arts wasn’t helping. Out back of the main Park and Garden stages, production manager Haydn Johnston and the local Gigpiglet and JPJ crew were sweating it out waiting for the last wave of trucks to rock up. On those trucks, which had been delayed on their way out of Melbourne, was Tame Impala’s entire production.

When we found out the Laneway Festival stint would be Tame Impala’s last tour dates for the Currents album cycle — other than an appearance at Panorama Festival in New York — we thought it would be fascinating to see how Tame Impala translates their records to the stage. As it turns out, the answer is they try to mimic the record’s sound as closely as possible — just bigger and amplified — which requires more than your average rock band’s backline.

I’d arranged to meet up with Tame’s FOH engineer Adam Round before the show. When I spy Adam, he’s looking remarkably calm despite his gear still not having arrived at 5pm, and the band due to kick off at nine. Having interviewed frontman Kevin Parker twice before, I know how focused he is on getting sounds exactly ‘just so’. He even won both the ARIA Producer and Engineer of the Year Awards for Tame Impala’s last album Currents in 2015.

As the time ticks towards 6pm, I’m getting a little worried for Adam. After all, this is a tour that’s included festivals like Coachella, a string of Lollapalooza dates, Pukkelpop, Bestival, Electric Picnic, Lowlands, Rock in Roma, Bonnaroo, as well as iconic landmarks like Radio City Music Hall and Rocks. In other words, it’s bound to be an impressive show with an equally elaborate setup that’s surely going to require more than a couple of hours to hook up.

RACKED & READY When Adam unpacks his rig I start to understand his calm. He rolls two identical rack cases up to the FOH tent, sets them side by side and lifts the lids. Inside are two perfectly racked DiGiCo SD11i consoles, a Lake LM44 processor, two Waves Server One DSP units, a UPS and drawers for days. Out of the drawers he pulls out an octopus array of arms and screen attachments and begins to assemble the extremities. A redundant set of stage rack inputs plug into the back, a pair of outputs go to the system, he pulls out neatly-bound red and blue XLR cables, plugs in two Shure SM58s as his shout and talkback mics and he’s all set to go. As a final touch, he adjusts the colour of his rack LEDs to a warmish purple and checks to see how things are coming along onstage. It took all of a few minutes, leaving me plenty of time to marvel at how well-engineered this front of house setup is. I check the side of the case, and it’s not some external rental house-devised piece, the stencil says AP Engineering, Adam’s own Perth-based company. As it turns out, Adam is a stickler for efficiency. Ever since joining the Tame Impala crew three years ago, he’s helped reinvent their entire backline rig. His philosophy is that you can do a gig with less personnel if they’re the right people and you supply them with the most efficient package. Similar to Adam’s FOH rig, the onstage rigs have been rationalised into a handful of rack cases. “It started off modular, with everything in its own little case,” said Adam, who estimates they used to freight 70 Pelican cases from stage to stage. “You’d set up on an empty road case or table and it would take a few hours to plug it all in and run it all up.” These days, Adam said that “out of the full set of inputs, 75-80% of it is already plugged in. All we need to do is plug two multi-pins into each side of the stage with a PowerCon.” The benefits weren’t just in drastically reducing setup time, continued Adam, “It also improved the consistency and reliability show to show. It’s easier to load in and out, and saved the band a lot of money on freight. We don’t have to charter our own planes to make some of the crazy routing we have; it can just get on the next available plane.” CONSOLE RIG BREAKDOWN When Adam started mixing Tame Impala, he quickly moved to a single DiGiCo SD11i after crashing multiple Avid Profiles with the amount of plug-ins they were attempting to use. He chose the SD11i, not only for its Waves integration, but also because it would fit in a case that was reasonably flyable while providing the channel count required. The DiGiCo also enabled Adam to lay out the show however he wanted with custom fader bank layouts. He moved to the current setup when the plug-in demand increased again. “There were different things the band wanted to do on the bigger shows, and I wanted to be able to change multiple Waves parameters at the same time,” said Adam. “Having a separate console really helps. I can have Waves and control groups open on one console and channel banks and faders on the other.” It’s also a fully redundant system. Both consoles are mirrored, so if one goes down, he can still operate the show. It’s one step safer than a dual engine arrangement, as it also covers any worksurface damage. Plus, it’s a much smaller footprint with the two 19-inch rackable consoles alongside each other. He also has a Waves Server One rack connected to each. “In the unlikely event that one system fails, it auto switches on the Lake to the second pair of AES inputs.” He uses the Lake to do system processing via the supplied tablet, and runs a MacBook Pro with Reaper for recording and virtual soundcheck. As for the colour-changing LEDs, Adam explained: “If you get bored at the back of a festival for a day, you might decide to add cool bits of fruit like put a light in your rack case. It’s actually very handy at the end of the night when they turn off FOH power, because there’s always a light running off the UPS. It also means I can see in the back of the rack if something goes wrong. It’s not as stupid as it looks.” FIX THE PA, FIX THE MIX The Tame show is a well-oiled machine thoroughly arranged and stress-tested in pre-production. The snapshot list for the Currents show is multiple pages long, with the snapshots for Let It Happen stretching over two pages alone. “We set it up on a pair of studio monitors so it sounds like the same show whether it’s live or broadcast,” explained Adam. “If it doesn’t sound good coming out of the PA, we fix the PA, rather than changing the mix so much. It’s an approach that works really well for this band.” If Adam’s doing a standard tour date, he’ll run a virtual soundcheck and tune the PA before the band hops on stage. There’s no such luxury on a festival, after line check all he had time for was to run up his kick and vocal mics for a second to make sure audio was passing through the system. Because the show is so carefully mapped out, he spends the first 30 seconds of any festival exclusively manipulating the PA response on the Lake before laying a finger on a fader. Tame Impala were headlining the Park Stage at Sydney’s Laneway stop. The stage fired up a hill, but it was also on an angle so the FOH tent position sat left of the centre line. It wasn’t ideal for two reasons: one, the engineer is getting more of the left array than the right; and two, the ground stacked subs didn’t project very well up the hill, falling off dramatically a few metres in front of the FOH tent. If you’ve mixed any festival within the city limits, these sorts of tradeoffs are commonplace to meet the stringent noise limits. In the case of Laneway, it was a paltry 90dBA at FOH, and within 100dBC. “Because it was way off axis up the hill, there was a lot of honky midrange stuff and a bit of the top area had to come out. Not what you would normally do on an L-Acoustics K2 system,” said Adam. Adam carries over his Lake settings from the night before, but deactivates them before the show. It gives him a clean slate to work with, with some familiar EQ starting points if he needs to shape things in a hurry. “There are certain things I like to do to change the voicing of the PA a little,” said Adam. “A lot of the bandwidth of the mix sits in a similar register in the mid range, so I take a little bit out in that area to smooth things out at high volume. Then, depending on the system, a couple of small notches up high to darken it a bit. Today I’ve got a 90dB A limit, so a lot of that may stay in to make it appear louder.” The Mesa curve on the Lake allows him to sculpt any system as required. All of this changes night to night, with Adam instantiating each cut and adjusting the symmetry and bandwidth of the curves to suit. “The bottom filter is often at the crossover point where the top boxes meet the subs,” explained Adam. “Sometimes it also has a lump at 55Hz and I have to pull a couple of dB out to even it up. We’ve measured this system in many different environments and when the same thing repeats itself, you can pick it out. It’ll always be a little bit different, but it’s there for the most part.” LIVE & ON RECORD The first time I interviewed Kevin Parker about Lonerism he constantly dismissed his engineering as amateurish, but I got the sense he always knew exactly what he was trying to achieve. Like when he talked about agonising over drum sounds for months and defying studio miking conventions. “Our sound guy always says, ‘It’s not a very good mic to use,” Parker said at the time about his choice of a Shure SM57 to record kick drum. “Are you sure you don’t want to try something else that’s meant for a kick drum?’ But I just love that ‘bop bop’ sound of the kick. I hate the kick drum sound that’s way too clicky.” In Adam, Parker has found an ally. “If you did big click rock drums for Tame Impala, it would sound like a completely different band,” said Adam. “As much as it would be ‘better’ for signal-to-noise and bleed to not use as many compressors and distortion on drums, that is the sound of the band. We need to reproduce that as close as possible; it’s very important.” That’s not to say it’s as easy as copying plug-in settings and hitting snapshot buttons, Adam has to employ his translation skills. “In a live scenario, putting four mics on a drum kit and trying to reach 102dB in a tiny club with that much compression and distortion is never going to work. We have to find ways to take that sonic palette he’s created and emulate it in a workable way for the live world.”Adam’s pair of Digico SD11i consoles are mirrored so if one falls over, the show doesn’t stop. CLEANLINESS BEFORE DISTORTION It all starts with the drums, which has its own processing rack in itself. While Parker has been generous over our last two interviews [Currents featured in Issue 110], there are still some secrets he likes to keep close to his chest. There are a few things going on in the racks that Adam wasn’t privy to pass on, but the gist of the drum rack is that a Sennheiser MD441 overhead kit mic hits a Metric Halo interface, for mic pres and DSP processing, and multiple stages of compression — a dbx 160 and TC Finaliser Plus. As well as a combined compressed feed of all the mics, there’s a version of the kit mic side-chained by the kick and snare, and Kevin can also manipulate delay loops of the kit feed from his pedal board. At FOH, Adam also works with the close mics on the kit to reproduce that heavily compressed sound with a bit more control. Counterintuitively, Adam starts by getting the mic feeds as clean as possible: “I begin with the Waves SSL E-Channel strip plug-in for general shaping. The compressor is before the gate, so you can get it to track really nicely without it sounding too fake, especially if you don’t close the gate all the way. Getting those mics really clean — with less stage sound bleeding into them — lets me use more distortion by engaging the preamp on the Scheps 73, EMI TG12345, or J37 tape plug-ins, depending on what kind of distortion I want.” Adam blends the sound he achieves using the close mics with the smashed wet mix of the mono overhead and close mics coming from the stage to create the entire drum sound. “I don’t really use the stereo overheads, they’re more for the band’s in-ear monitors,” he said. The kit mics are all Sennheiser, except for the snare: E902 in the kick, E904s on the toms, a Shure SM57 on snare top and a right-angled 57 on snare side, which is “more like that old-school mic up, where you’ve got the one mic between the rack, snare and hats placed about half a foot away,” explains Adam. “Rather than it being all buzzy like the bottom snare, it’s more rattly and lo-fi. It’s a pretty common technique for indie producers in the studio, but if you can get it clean enough, you can use it live as well.” With all that compression and distortion, Adam says the sound is running pretty close to the edge. “You can get it to about 108dBA before it starts to fall apart. It’s fairly uncomfortable at those volumes anyway, so we try not to get that loud.” It’s why he ran up just Kevin’s vocal and the kick drum during sound check. “If you can get those two things to stay solid, it won’t take off.” MONITOR MASH Tame Impala’s crew hail from all over the globe: Adam’s an Aussie, lighting guys from Missouri and Austin, stage manager and tech from the UK, manager from Canada, and Rafi Lazaro, a Dominican monitor engineer based in New York. Rafi mixed monitors for the John Butler Trio for eight years before moving to the Tame crew four years ago. Rather than touring a package like Adam, Rafi rents a DiGiCo SD10 console on each continent. While Kevin exclusively gets fed his processed drum sounds direct from the rack, the rest of the band prefer a drum mix that’s less ambient. Rafi uses only the onboard processing on the SD10 to build a similar sound by parallel processing and squashing the close mics, and blending it with the direct sound. “It’s more impactful so they can play a bit tighter,” he explained. The entire band are on JH Audio JH16s for in-ears connected to Sennheiser IEM wireless systems. “I put them all on individual smart keys on the SD10, which brings up all the instruments they play,” said Rafi. “Dom plays keyboards and guitars, so if anyone asks me for something that Dom plays, I can just pull up all his instruments at once. I use VCAs a lot. If someone wants something up, it generally means that it needs to go up for everyone. It might just be that the guitar is a little quiet today, so I’ll bring that up and it fixes everyone, that’s why I use VCAs.” STAGED DELAY CONTROL As well as controlling his guitar tone and drum loops from his pedal board, Kevin also manipulates his own vocal slap delay and longer tap delays onstage with a Boss DD-20 Giga Delay. “There’s quite a complex vocal chain to get enough signal from the Telefunken M80 mic into the Giga Delay,” said Adam. “There is a line booster and impedance transformer, after a mic preamp and split, to give the pedal the right impedance and level without it being noisy. At FOH, the chain starts with a channel strip high passing it at a higher frequency than usual. Kevin likes it at about 250-400Hz so it’s very high-passed. “I do a general shaping EQ after that, then it goes into a Waves CLA-2A for a bit of general compression, then a multi-band compressor that’s carving out a few little notches, shaping the bottom end, and acting as a de-esser all in one. Then I also treat it with a plate reverb.” The vocal mic was originally either a Sennheiser 441 or 421, said Adam, but they moved to the Telefunken M80 because he “could never get the mix loud enough with the amount of processing they want to do. After trialling a lot of different microphones, it worked the best for his vocal with huge gain before feedback.” CLEARING ROOM The entire band is on in-ears, but Adam has also been taking steps to bring the stage level down in other ways. For starters, there’s no bass amp onstage. “The bass is DI’d and the signal is duplicated,” he explained. “We use Waves GTR3 amp simulator on one, and I keep the second line clean and open. We use the open line for fizzy distortions and bass synths, while having the amp simulator helps keep the stage volume as quiet as possible. It’s processed with the Waves J37 tape emulator and C6 multi-band compressor plug-ins as well as GTR3. The amp simulator helps keep the bass out of the drum mics on stage so we can process the drums as close to the record’s sound as possible without the snare drum buzzing through the overhead. As soon as you put that much distortion on something, vibrations get in the way, which is why we also generally use cardioid sub configurations.” Adam has also been inching Parker’s Vox AC30 guitar amp further away from the drums for similar reasons. “I’d like it to be offstage,” said Adam. “We’ll get there.” The amp is miked up with a Sennheiser e906, and a clean DI signal goes straight into the rack which gives “the sort of fizz you get when you plug a fuzz pedal straight into a console,” explained Adam. “They’re used separately, never together, for different parts of the songs.” MASTERING THE NOISE LIMIT Once Adam has the PA sounding the way he wants, and discovers how much mid range is lost or gained in the venue, he’ll balance the guitar and keyboard levels accordingly. After that, he does the final balancing of the band on the control groups and uses a lot of snapshots. Far from being inactive, the pages of snapshots for Let It Happen require Adam to get his movements synced with the band down to the second. For example, he has to filter the acoustic drums out of a section as it transitions to a filtered Roland SPD patch. It happens over a bar, and he has to hit the next snapshot every quarter note to bring the filter point down in time. After compression, distortion and filtering, modulation is the other huge part of Tame Impala’s sound. It’s such a major factor that Adam even has a Waves Metaflanger on his master bus that’s used on most songs. “It’s always on, and I use the touch and turn control on the DiGiCo to wind it in the mix,” he explained. “It’s high passed so the flanger doesn’t go below 1kHz, to keep the bottom end nice and tight.” He also activates Waves Mondomod on his master as the noise closes out the set. “I use it to pan around all the noise and speed up the rate of that movement,” he explained. He also uses the Waves Vitamin sonic enhancer to “tickle the overall mix and make it more exciting,” said Adam. “It’s got a little width on the upper mids and highs.” There are a lot of different stages of compression, and every group in the mix has a C6 multi-band compressor strapped across it. However, last in his master chain is the Waves L3 Limiter. “It’s generally working most of the time, with a maximum of 5dB gain reduction,” said Adam. “By removing the heaviest transients in the louder bits, off the drums especially, it allows you to stay at the festival sound limit, rather than the transient putting you way over. So you can be the loudest guy at the festival, without breaking the rules… until they start doing loudness readings, that is!” The show was duly impressive, despite the noise restrictions. It’s fascinating to hear a FOH engineer put such a sonic imprint on the show, yet have it represent the interests of the artist so specifically. Sure, so much of it is worked out in pre-production and processed in the racks Adam built, but that’s all part of his job; to keep Tame Impala sounding the way Kevin Parker envisions, regardless of where you hear them… and that includes flanging the entire mix. Story: Mark Davie Intro Photo: Daniel Boud

#tame impala #kevin parker #audiotechnology #currents

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mtbspace · 4 years

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The 2019 Cannondale Trail 6 Mountain Bike: The Full Review

Well-built with an accessible price point, the Trail 6 is the newest mid-range mountain bike from Cannondale. Cannondale’s known for having a balance of price, smart components, and quality of build in their bikes. This makes them great for beginners or intermediate bikers.

The new Cannondale Trail 6 is a hardtail with a 100 mm SR Suntour fork in the front and Shimano hydraulic disc brakes in the rear. What do these parts mean? Well, it’s going to be a great choice as someone’s first entry into the real world of mountain biking. If you’re one to frequent gravel bike paths or smooth single tracks, this is a good choice as well.

We’re going to do a deep dive into this bike’s features, components, and our personal opinion in this full Cannondale Trail 6 review. But first, let’s break down the quick specs:

Cannondale Six Mountain Bike: Specs

Wheel Size: 27.5 or 29 inches Bike Frame: Alloy C2 Suspension: 100 mm front (great for cross-country riding) Gears: 2×9 Weight: 30 lbs Brakes: Disc brakes Derailleur Gears: Shimano Acera and MicroShift Fork: Suntour XCM-RL Current Price: Under $1000 (check the listed price now!)

Benefits Overview:

This bike has a high-quality aluminum frame with modern geometry. It delivers a solid performance on a variety of trails, making it truly versatile for mountain biking and hill climbs. It’s good during both descents and ascents. This is a great option for new riders.

Drawbacks Overview:

Some components on this bike are entry-level. While that’s not the worst thing, dedicated riders might prefer upgrades. This is a more technical singletrack bike, so higher quality components could improve its overall performance.

Cannondale Trail 6 Features Overview

In our Cannondale Trail 6 review, we found that what makes this bike so exceptional is how all the components work together for a smooth and exhilarating ride. This bike is the sum of its parts. If you’re already pumped, you can buy the bike now! Otherwise, stick around and check out what benefits each component offers below:

Frame

The frame of the Cannondale Trail Six consists of C2 Alloy that was specially reinforced for trail riding. The technology used in the material helps to absorb a high level of vibration from the road. The frame keeps you balanced, smooth, and steady as you ride.

The frame is durable and double-welded yet still light. You’ll even notice that the weight is evenly distributed throughout the entire body. This frame is the same one that is fitted for much more expensive models. Consider that as part of the major value you’re getting from this bike.

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Steering/Fork

The Trail 6 comes complete with a Suntour XCT 100mm fork with coil springs. Its pre-load option means it won’t compress unless it sustains a pretty big hit. The remote-handling lockout feature will minimize energy loss.

You’ll notice a switch fitted on to the handlebar. This allows for engaged or disengaged suspension whenever you want. It’s responsive and will work well on easy to mid-level rides.

The Cannondale Trail 6 mountain bike doesn’t have overly aggressive ergonomics. This makes it great for an entry-level bike.

Derailleurs and Drivetrain

The Trail 6 from Cannondale boasts a 2×9 drivetrain from Shimano. Shimano is a giant in the cycling industry, and they are known for producing a large selection of top-notch gear. Put simply, with a Shimano drivetrain, you can rest assured of its quality. It’s nice and light, which entails great speed ability and nimbleness. The drivetrain is powered by a KMC X9 chain, which is a standard 9-speed for this price range. It can last a long time as long as you clean and regularly lube it.

While we were excited by the drivetrain on this bike, we were a tad disappointed by the derailleurs. We’ve got the powerful Shimano Acera Shadow shifting in the rear, but the front side has Microshift.

Microshift isn’t the worst set up. However, there are better options out there. With Microshift, you might notice some shifting if you’re doing a lot of uphill trail work. The derailleurs shouldn’t give out, but they don’t do well in maintaining tension in the long run.

Brakes and Tires

Depending on the size of the frame you choose, your bike will either come with 27.5” tires or 29” tires. The Cannondale Trail 6 29er is just a slightly larger model with a larger frame. Regardless of the tire, all of them will be WTB Ranger Comp 2.25”.

These tires use a micro-square tread to give a lot of traction on even the smoothest of rides. The knobs aren’t too big and won’t slow you down on paved roads. The only time the small knobs could present an issue is in wet or muddy conditions when they might not grip as well.

A mountain bike like this one has lots of stopping power with its Shimano MT200 hydraulic disc brakes. With 160mm rotors fitted on the front and rear wheels, you’ll have equally distributed force when stopping. If you press the braking levers with your hands, you’ll feel the serious kind of control it promises.

Ready for a ride that gives you full control? Check out the Cannondale Six Mountain Bike today!

Pedals and Saddle

There’s so much that stands out about this bike. Unfortunately, the saddle and pedals aren’t part of that. These are pretty standard features across all of the Cannondale bikes within the same price range.

Standard components aren’t a bad thing. And it says something that Cannondale’s pedals and saddle have not received a ton of negative reviews or complaints. Sure, there might be a more comfortable saddle, but it’s also not the worst one out there.

The flat pedals are the Cannondale Platform option. These aren’t clipless, but if that’s what you prefer, it’s easy to fit them to this model.

What It’s Like to Ride

While the components and specifications of a bike are important to know before buying, they’re not the most important.

If you’re a cyclist, the most important thing to you is the ride. You want to know how it will feel on the trail when it’s just you and the bike. That’s why we took the Trail 6 for a test drive to clue you in on just how it feels to ride.

Most bikes will either stand out in their climbing or descending power. What’s so distinct about this model, besides the affordable Cannondale trail 6 price, is that it’s great all around.

It’s versatile enough for an easy ride with friends and family but also shines with speed and precision on a fast singletrack. It’s a true generalist in that sense. It performs satisfactorily in several different circumstances. From hill climbing to cross-country trekking, you can do anything with the Trail 6.

When descending, the solid traction will help you feel secure and balanced. There might be a slight loss of grip in muddy, greasy, or wet conditions, but that’s a risk for any bike and tread. There’s very little rolling resistance, which makes for great transitions from trails to sidewalks and beyond.

For hill climbs, the Trail 6 can also motor its way up steep hills. The upright geometry of the bike will make extended climbs pretty comfortable. Also, the front suspension’s remote can lock out the fork to create a more efficient uphill ride. While super bumpy and rocky terrain might be too much, a gentle uphill slope is just right.

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Benefits

High-quality components from Shimano ensures extended years of worry-free performance

Frame built with tough yet lightweight aluminum C2 Alloy; a great foundation for future upgrades

Versatile handling for both bike paths and singletrack trails thanks to grippy and fast-rolling tires.

For smaller riders, smaller frame size option with 27.5-inch wheels available for improved fit and performance

Rack mounts on the bike make it easy to tote along for commutes

A great option for a first “real” mountain bike

Durable brakes perform even under heavy stress

Remote lockout option is a big plus for steep uphill climbs

Lifetime warranty included

Drawbacks

Derailleurs could be better; you might want to invest in upgrades

Small tire knobs may present issues in wet or muddy conditions

The SR Suntour suspension fork doesn’t perform well on singletrack trails that require technical riding; should not be a problem for beginner riders

No dropper seat makes steep descents difficult; to fix this, simply dismount and re-adjust the seat

Quick-release axles may be dated and less efficient; components can be upgraded with thru-axles

Final Review

This is a solid choice for a bike if you’re new to the mountain biking scene. It will serve you well on a variety of terrains. You’ll find ease in both trekking uphill and flying downhill, thanks to components like a remote lockout, Shimano drivetrain, and pre-load option. If you’re new to the trail life and you see a Cannondale Trail 6 for sale, don’t miss your chance.

BUY IT NOW AT A REDUCED PRICE AND GEAR UP TO HIT THE TRAILS from MTB Space https://mtbspace.com/cannondale-trail-6-review/

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