RonVreeland.com

One thing that should be evident to everyone by now is just how bad of a coach Ken Shamrock is compared to how involved Tito Ortiz is with his fighters. It just comes across as Ken not being very interested in anything but hoping his fighters eek out a victory over Tito’s team. While Tito is drilling his fighters, sparring, working with them on the mats, Ken sits around and watches fight tapes with his guys. At one point Ken actually did spar and work with one of his fighters who was going to fight at the end of the episode: Ken looked gassed just standing in the ring and trading blows with Kristian. The fighters themselves have expressed their disdain with Ken’s coaching style and his lack of serious training. Ken insists that he will not “push” his fighters and likes to emphasize the mental aspects of the game. The problem is, mentally the Shamrock team hasn’t really been in this since the beginning.

Tito’s crew has been in control for the last two episodes, being able to pick the fight matchups. The has seriously demoralized the Shamrock team because every time they lost a match they get a locker room lecture from Shamrock about how they can still win, still overcome, etc. Meanwhile, the fighters are training on there own in the backyard of the group home and even at the gym while Shamrock insists that everyone watch past fights and review them.  The Shamrock team does not seem to be a team at all, but rather a collection of guys who each have the “every man for himself” attitude. The truth is, every man is out himself in this competition, but there are too many of them now to really be concerned with that. The Shamrock team really doesn’t feel like they are making progress in their training or their tutelage under Ken Shamrock. Tito’s team in the meantime is working hard, training hard, and mumbling about things other than what Team Shamrock is doing. And of course we all know where this drama is headed: the inevitable clash between coach Shamrock and coach Ortiz. The two have remained away from each other but two agreeable coaches does not a good rating make. We are going to get the juicy drama between the two coaches that we have been clamoring to see. It could happen as early as next episode.

Recently it has been stated by UFC President Dana White that Tito Ortiz has pulled out of the Ken Shamrock fight that the two scheduled for this summer. Rumor has it that Forrest Griffin will be stepping up to fight Ken. I am not sure what has happened here but I am disappointed that Tito is not taking the fight. It will sure be a ratings and PPV draw, just like the last time the two fought.

On a lighter note, one thing that I think is fantastic about the Ultimate Fighter this season is that there are fights every single episode (so far). And the fights have been fantastic. They have not been the long, drawn out ground stalemates that we have seen in the past. Dana White (President of the UFC) has promised a $5,000 cash bonus to a fighter who stops his opponent via submission, KO or TKO. That’s a nice little bonus. These kinds of incentives will ensure that no one is going to let the fight go to a judge’s decision.

Sherdog.com reports that the state of California recently amended and approved the use of a roped enclosure for Mixed Martial Arts events. This is good news for the sport of MMA in its adopted home state. MMA is very popular in California, as evidenced by the surge of crowds attending the recent Frank Shamrock/Cesar Gracie headline Strikeforce event (the first ever sanctioned MMA event in the state) and the recent UFC 59, held in Anaheim. Both events drew over 15,000 fans to their respective arenas.

Needless to say, this is a market that other fight orginizations are taking note of. The approval of a ringed enclosure brings potential for the International Fight League to host events in the state. This is good news for the IFL, as their team-based concept needs to be mobile to attract and solidify a fanbase. I see the IFL as not being a strict PPV company, as the UFC is. They are going to take their sport to the masses and generate a following. I think there is a good potential for them to succeed. The timing is good.

The most interesting development are the rumored talks of PRIDE FC hosting events here in America. While PRIDE FC is not as popular here in the States as it is in its native home of Japan and elsewhere over seas, PRIDE is considered to be the cream of the crop when it comes to MMA events. They have the highest production values, and the highest payrolls. This in turn attracts fighters of the highest caliber. Their events are exciting and their ruleset is original and well paced.

But herein lies the problem for PRIDE FC coming to America. There is little chance that the state of California would ever allow the full rule set that PRIDE uses in Japan. For example, In Japan kicking a downed opponent is allowed in PRIDE. Not only is attacking a downed opponent allowed, it is encouraged! Not to mention that the PRIDE ruleset allows an initial ten minute round and two subsequent five minute rounds. It is doubtful a sanctioning body would allow such a lenghty opening round for official events.

Only time will tell if PRIDE FC has a vested interest in tapping into the American market or not. This week’s news development out of the state of California is good news for MMA in general! I would love to see some of the PRIDE FC fighters come ashore and compete in events here stateside. PRIDE FC’s North American marketing division has not done a good job historically catering to the American audience. Bas Rutten leaving the organization had a lot to say about this. It is going to take a lot of effort in investment for PRIDE FC to make a name for itself in America, despite its resounding popularity overseas.

More than a decade ago, a lanky, 180 pound Brazilian along with his family forever changed the way martial arts was perceived. The family name, Gracie, was long known in Brazil and was notorious in the area of Torrance, California for hosting what they called the “Gracie Challenge”: paying a lofty sum to any opponent who would be able to defeat a Gracie family member in a no-rules fight. People came, people got schooled, and people got videotaped for the whole world to see, thanks now to Google Video. The Gracies decided to take this concept a step further and bring the Gracie challenge to the world stage; thus the UFC was born.

There is no doubt that going back and watching the early UFC events that the entire concept is a bit hokey. Most of the “fighters” were a bit over-inflated, some sporting records of 86-0 in “no holds-barred combat”. Some fighters were tried and true representatives of their particular style, while some were simply bar room brawlers. They all shared one thing in common, however: they all got tapped out by that same lanky, 180 pound Brazilian.

This man, Royce Gracie, is in fact the stuff of legend. As a teenager I remember getting a hold of the early UFC events on video and watching Royce defeat four opponents…in the same night. These were true no-rules fights, not the sanctioned sporting events that modern MMA has become (and the format that I prefer). Royce single handedly brought the UFC and mixed martial arts in general to the spotlight. He went on an impressive winning streak through the first four UFCs, losing only once on a technicality (he entered the octagon after a harrowing fight which he barely won, and was unable to continue to the next round…because he entered the octagon and withdrew it was counted as a loss). Royce created a legend for himself and then withdrew from no-rules combat, letting the legend grow on its own. And grow it did.

It is almost impossible to really state how the Gracie family has impacted the mixed martial arts world: they single handedly sparked a new style of self-defense and competetive fighting. It is impossible for a fighter to survive in mixed martial arts unless he is well versed in the ground game and submissions, the staple of the Gracie Jiu Jitsu format. Royce demonstrated this time and time again in the early years of MMA. But herein lies the problem with the return of Royce Gracie to the UFC, where he is scheduled to face current welterweight champion Matt Hughes: how much has the sport that he helped to launch evolved since he was king?

In the decade or so since Royce was tapping guys out in the Octagon, the sport has changed significantly. Everyone knows a little bit of, well everything. In order to survive in the ranks of MMA, a fighter has to be well versed in standup fighting, the clinch, takedowns, takedown defense and then the ground game. Royce is an expert submission fighter, but does he possess enough skill to best current UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes? Matt currently looks unstoppable, and he is considered to be one of the most well-rounded fighters the sport has ever seen. Most people are expecting Matt Hughes to plow through Royce with little to no difficulty, simply due to the time Royce has been away from competetive fighting. One thing is for sure though: the Royce Gracie legend is as strong as ever. Royce Gracie is practically a household name, and it is a great marketing tactic of the UFC to bring him onboard for a special match. People are excited about this fight, and the UFC is pulling out all the stops to promote it. It is going to be a great match, whoever the winner is.

Some clever folks have stumbled upon the as of yet unlaunched site for UFC 60: http://60.ufc.com. This site has not officially been launched yet but it looks pretty sweet. The UFC is pulling out all the stops in promoting this event. Scoring Royce Gracie is a big deal, and of course it will be interesting to see how he fares against the seemingly unstoppable current UFC welterweight cahmpion, Matt Highes. I am going to do a full preview as we draw closer to the event…but the quality of this UFC 60 website shows that the UFC is banking on moving a lot of PPV sells for this event.

One of the things I am so glad I picked up while working in a semi-pro recording studio is the importance of creating space in your audio tracks so that your audio doesn’t step all over itself in the mix. My home studio is not professional grade per se, but some of the techniques that I like to do really help to make the audio sounds distinct and full in the mix, rather than turning into a muddy mess. What we are going to go over today is a technique that I use very often when mixing vocal parts, guitar parts, or anything that I double-track. We are going to walk through separating the audio tracks in the mix, and adding a few cool touches that really enhance the dynamic of the audio you recorded.

For this example I am going to borrow a snippet of a vocal track from an older song that I recorded for the acoustic project The Acoustic Dream a few years back. This clip is from the song Bead. This vocal track is three separate tracks: the main vocal track, and two harmony tracks adding effect in the upper and lower registers. As you can see here, after originally recording the vocal parts all of the audio is panned dead center. This is how the audio is originally captured when you lay down tracks in Cakewalk and are recording in stereo. Normally, having all of your tracks panned dead center is fine if you only have a few tracks, but once you start adding more and more instruments to your song, things will start to get muddy and step all over each other in the mix. This is because if everything is panned dead center, all of the audio is going to “piped” right through the center of your mix. We want to avoid this by spacing things out along the full spectrum. This helps to create space and makes your mix sound a whole lot better. First, let’s have a listen to what the vocal tracks sound like while panned dead center by default.

Click here to listen to the vocal track panned dead center.

Not bad, right? Well it sounds pretty good, buy I can already tell that all three of those vocal parts are coming at you dead center in the stereo mix. Once we start adding other instruments or accent parts to this, it is going to sound muddy and dull. Let’s take these three vocal tracks and spread them out a bit. In the track information panel you will see all of the basic controls for the track data. From here we can change the track volume, volume trim (for fine control) and there is a handy sound meter to see how the volume of the tracks peaks. What we are most interested in is the control in the middle of the panel, the pan control. As of now all three of these vocal tracks are set dead center. We are now going to change this. You always want your “primary” tracks to be piped down the middle: for example your main vocal track and your bass guitar tracks should always be heard in the middle of the stereo field. So we are going to leave the first track panned dead center. The harmony parts however…they are going to be panned hard left and hard right. In your track control panel swing both pan controls for each track to 100% Left and 100% Right, respectively. What we have now done is moved the haromny parts out of the center have a listen to the changes we have made.

Click here to listen to the vocal track spread across the stereo spectrum.

Can you hear the difference? If you can’t, go back and listen to both tracks again. It may be a subtle change if you don’t know what to listen for; but believe me the change is significant. We have taken a dull, dead center vocal track and just made it sound wide and large. Now let’s take it a step further and add one more trick to widen our sound. We are going to create an ad-hoc stereo chorus effect which will take our already widened vocal track and spread it out even farther. You can mess with some of the onboard effects that will give you a chorus, but we are going to add a home-made and simple chorus without adding such an obvious change to the audio data. In fact the audio data itself is not going to be modified (which is what will happen if you use a plugin effect on the vocal tracks) rather the track itself will only be relocated in its time slot. To access the track properties menu, right click on the track data itself. Select “Properties” and our menu will come up showing us basic track information. What we are trying to accomplish is changing the start time of the harmony tracks (In this case, track 2 and track 3) to give them a bit of artificial delay. This delay is going to be almost insignificant: let’s add a 5 millisecond “delay” time on the track by changing the numbers in the track time field. This tells Cakewalk to start playing the track at whatever number you set it to. Remember, we want to change the millisecond field, not anything else! By adding a 5 millisecond delay to both harmony tracks, they start ever so slightly after the main track, which causes a very slight chorus effect on the tracks. Now let’s listen to our final product:

Click here to listen to the vocal track with stereo panning and slight chorus effect.

 Can you hear the difference between our newly setup track and the very first? Now, when we start adding other audio tracks such as guitar parts, keyboards or even more vocals, the main vocal and harmony parts we have done will still sound distinct and stand out in the mix since we have sat them in different parts of the spectrum.

Now the track is finished and I can go on to other parts of editing the audio data. I use this scheme for most of the vocal tracks I record, and other parts, especially if I double-track some audio. I hope you find this information useful and let me know if you try this out in Cakewalk.

Be sure to check out Bead, the song where this vocal audio track is pulled from to hear the finished product as it really sits in the mix with other instruments.

According to an interview with Sherdog.com’s Beatdown Radio  Bas Rutten is once again finished working as the color commentator for PRIDE FC. I see this as a positive move for Bas, and a strategically bad move for PRIDE FC. To put things in perspective, I would order a PRIDE PPV just because Bas is commentating…hs is that entertaining. I have even paid for the lightweight Bushido PPVs when Bas commentated because I think he adds so much to the broadcast. But by not “playing nice” with Bas through their representative North American division they have just ensured that unless Fedor, Wandy, Nog or Cro Cop are fighting on the card, I am not buying the PPV.

Bas leaving PRIDE is a good move in the sense that it gives the IFL all the more credibility. In reality, the IFL is starting to look better and better as the days come closer to its inaugural event.

Let’s go over a quick inventory of who the IFL has picked up in the last several months. Bas Rutten, fan favorite? Check. Stephen Quadros, “The Fight Professor” and beloved commentator? Check. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, hilarious and respected color commentator? Check. Shannon Knapp (Bas’s Lil Sis)? Check.

Now, what about the coaches besides Bas? Renzo Freakin’ Gracie? Check. Mo’ Smith, a legend in his own right? Check. Pat Miletich, arguably the most successful coach in all of MMA? Check. Even Bas’s long time training partner Amir is fighting in the IFL. Bas is throwing a lot of momentum to the IFL by his fanbase alone. I for one was onboard as soon as he was announced as a coach.

The coaches, staff and commentating team that the IFL has hired is a venerable Who’s Who in the MMA world. The IFL is in fact committed to making this work, I really don’t believe the organization will simply be a flash in the pan. From all the evidence it looks like the IFL is going to make it or die trying.

And this is the just the start. The IFL has already secured a broadcast TV deal with Fox Sports Network, and have recently unveiled their business plan of sorts: a dynamic and intriguing rules format. They plan on actually taking care of their fighters by offering salaries versus fight purses, as well as comprehensive medical coverage to the fighters even when they aren’t fighting. In short, they are treating the fighters like the professional athletes they are. And of course I can’t wait until the IFL actually goes international and attracts some talent from overseas….I am telling you here first, the IFL is starting to look better and better and don’t be shocked if they are a force to reckon within a year or so. They have some serious capital backing them up and have already lined up some serious talent. It won’t be long until they are on PPV and my $30 a month goes to them instead of PRIDE.

Either way, best of luck to Bas. He is going to be great no matter where he lends his expertise.

The IFL recently released their set of official competition rules, which can be found on their official website. The rules are similarly patterned after the UFC, with a few exceptions. The IFL is not going to have much issue having their events sanctioned in other states (besides the inaugural state of New Jersey) because their rules are structured with fighter safety in mind and patterened after other sanctioned combat sports such as boxing and kickboxing. The rules are very similar to the UFC ruleset with the exception of round length. The UFC currently has a system of three five-minute rounds for non-championship matched and five five-minute rounds for fights where the belt is on the line. The IFL’s ruleset reports that all non-championship matches will have three four-minute rounds. Herein lies one of the great and early controversies of the IFL.

Originally it was released that the IFl was going to have three minute rounds, much like boxing. This resulted in a huge outcry from the mixed martial arts community. I am of the popular opinion that three minute rounds just are not long enough in mixed martial arts. The reason for this is the complexity and open-endedness of many MMA fights. Sometimes it will take a fighter two to three minutes just to position himself on the ground and work for submissions. Couple this with the stand up portion of the fight and you can see that three minutes may result in fights ending earlier than they should. To put things in perspective, the UFC has a system of five minute rounds, while the Japanese super organization PRIDE FC uses an initial ten minute round followed by two five-minute rounds. Needless to say, fights in PRIDE are given plenty of time to accomodate the ground fighting component. To ensure that fights are not boring, referees can issue yellow cards immediately deducting money from that particular fighter’s purse. This serves as a good motivator!

Back to the IFL. The organization initially said three minute rounds, and there was in deed an outcry. The fear would be too much of an emphasis on the stand-up component of MMA, and a lot of fights ending up in the hands of the judges because they have not had time to resolve themselves. The IFL reconsidered and settled on four minutes rounds. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I for one don’t like seeing fights go to the judges. Let’s hope the rest of the rules and the organization itself can motivate fighters to finish the matches.

On the surface, the IFL has what it takes to be a competitive organization to the big two (UFC in America, PRIDE FC overseas). They have an interesting and marketable concept, one where the team as a whole is rewarded for winning fights as well as the individual fighters themselves. And they have already attracted some big names in the MMA world. Their selection of coaches is a venerable “who’s who” of the mixed martial arts world: legends like Bas Rutten, Renzo Gracie, Pat Miletich and Maurice Smith are sure to attract a crowd. Their broadcast team is a great combination of seasoned commentators Stephen “The Fight Professor” Quadros (formerly with PRIDE FC) and Shannon Knapp (aka Bas’s Lil Sis) and newly added color commentator Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. The IFL has really thrown the green around to attract such big names in the MMA world. I am excited about its debut and the team concept as a whole. Just wait until this catches on internationally, where we can see teams from Japan, Russia and Brazil battling it out with each other.

The newly formed mixed martial arts organization The International Fight League announced the other day that it has added Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to its fight broadcast team. This is good news for Rampage as he will be making some extra dough doing what he is good at, being himself. He still needs a fight contract though and the strongest rumors have him going to the WEC, a smaller American fighting promotion.

The funny thing about the IFL’s selection for their broadcast team is that each selection has in one way or another been directly involved with Bas Rutten. First we have the “Fight Professor” Stephen Quadros, who many remember as the original commentating voice of PRIDE FC, alongside Bas Rutten. Next we have Shannon Knapp, close associate of Bas Rutten, also known as BLS (Bas’s Little Sister) around the MMA forum community. And finally we have the addition of Rampage, who has trained with Bas in the past and has even done guest commentating for PRIDE FC, alongside Bas Rutten.

Bas was one of the original rumored coaches for The International Fight League. Just how involved is he in the entire process? The more involved he is, the better. Bas is a charismatic and respected figure in the MMA world, and only good things can come from his involvement in the IFL. Between this emerging (and financially backed) MMA organization and the ever-rising popularity of the UFC, I am optimistic that a unified-rules MMA structure will be mainstream in a few years. I would love to turn on ESPN and see news and highlights covering the mixed martial arts world.

 Besides, they show highlights for the WNBA, and nobody bothers to watch that…how can they not be interested in the UFC or IFL?

Well this past Saturday saw the debut of sanctioned mixed nartial arts in the state of California. Overall, the PPV of UFC 59 was a mixture of lackluster buildup and surprising moments.

 To be honest, most of the undercard fights were quite boring. The advantage that Japan’s fighting organization, PRIDE FC, has over America is that the mixed martial artists are themselves the best of the best. Because of the rules and the fighters themselves, there aren’t too many boring fights in PRIDE FC. It seems to me that a lot of the undercard fighters in the UFC work into a stalemate in a lot of matches. The fighters display a decent knowledge of the standup game andthe ground game, but it just seems that there aren’t many fighters in the up and coming ranks that excel in any particular area. As proof of this, witness the most recent Ultimate Fight Night and even the latest PPV, where a good majority of the matcheds went to a judge’s decision. This is what makes superior UFC fighters like Matt Hughes really stand out and makes his matches exciting to watch.

 I had similar hopes waiting for the return of Tito Ortiz. Tito squared up with popular UFC fighter Forrest Griffin this Saturday, and he eeked out the decision win. In the first round it looked as if Tito hadn’t skipped a beat, despite being out of action for a little over a year due to a contract dispute. Tito controlled the fight in every way, bringing Forrest to the ground and pounding out some serious damage. However, the second round belonged to Forrest as he was able to stop Tito’s takedowns and land some good shots during the standup exchanges. It seemed that Tito started to run out of gas. The third round was anybody’s fight. Forrest came out strong but Tito landed a good take down and dished out a bit more strikes in the standup exchanges. Overall it was a great fight, with Tito deserving the win. Let’s hope Tito polishes up his game a bit more so he can climb his way back up the ladder and recapture the light heavyweight belt.

And then the much awaited main event: the heavyweight fight between current champion Andrei Arlovski and challenger (and former champion) Tim Sylvia. What a fight! Andrei dropped Tim early int he fight with a solid shot to the chin, exactly like their same fight they had some time back in which Andrei won by a submission. This time however, Tim wasn’t giving in so easy. He kept Anrei at a distance while working his way back up to his feet. Shortly after that he did what many thought was just not possible: he dropped Andrei with a solid right, and the fight was called shortly after that. Tim Sylvia has reclaimed his heavyweight title!

One of the strong rumors around the MMA community is that the UFC may have signed Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Rampage is one of my favorite fighters. He has trained with Bas Rutten and was a PRIDE fighter until his contract ran out this April. He chose not to go back to Japan (so we are led to believe) because he wants to make a name for himself in America. Rampage was tearing through the ranks in PRIDE and was on track to winning the Middleweight championship in PRIDE, but he lost twice the one of the best fighters on the planet, Wanderlei Silva. Since that time he has expressed his displeasure with the way he is matched and marketed in Japan.

Now, the big question…has he in fact signed with the UFC? The rumors starting flying about a month back when Rampage showed up on a video clip on his website wearing a UFC belt. Up until today both Rampage and UFC President Dana White have been pretty quiet on the subject, both denying that they have talked to each other. Now just a few days ago, Rampage’s website has been completely redesigned, and the picture on his main page shows him knocking out current light heavyweight UFC champion Chuck Liddell from their PRIDE fight in 2003. Is he trying to make a statement? Rampage has stated on his website that he has in fact signed with an organization and will make an announcement on April 15.

UFC 59 takes place….tomorrow night. April 15.

One more thing…we know that Rampage and Tito Ortiz are training partners. It is very likely that Quinton will be in Anaheim for UFC 59 tomorrow night anyway as he will be cornering Tito most likely. Could this be the big announcement?

I really hope that Rampage comes to the UFC….he would bring a new face into the light heavyweight division as well as being one of the most marketable characters to ever come to the UFC. Just watch, Rampage will most assuredly make a name for himself, just as he did in Japan. My guess is that he will either sign with the UFC or the newly formed International Fight League. For marketing purposes, the UFC is the big league in America at the moment, so let’s hope we see Rampage step in the Octagon for the first time tomorrow night.