This site, powered by Gracenotes (the company that provides lookups for CDs via computers), shows a map and a list of what people are listening to. Though, you have to take it with a grain of salt. It is a stats map of CDs people put into programs such as iTunes, and then iTunes looks up the CD on the internet and provides track names. Doesn’t track anything else. I didn’t see any Jazz artists on there at all………
Category: Articles
Won Stuff From SOS and M-Audio
You know, you think you never will win these contests that you enter online. Well….NA NA NA NA! I seem to have won one.
I subscribe to the great SOS magazine which has all kinds of invaluable tips and insights on……tons of stuff like recording, using programs like Logic or Digital Performer or Protools, micing techniques, how to make your mixes sound better, etc. I decided to get a subscription last year when I came across their site while researching some audio products. I have saved many, MANY of the articles for future reference.
Anyhow, they have these contests you can enter. And I try to enter them, but you know you never expect to win. Ha! Woohoo. Not quite sure exactly what I’ve won yet, but I’ll keep you all posted…….(I think it is like $4K worth of stuff, like an M-Audio keyboard, monitors, etc…..maybe a Project Mix I/O? I hope???)
*Dances* Funny thing is that I was getting ready to purchase a new Firewire interface…..but now……not sure I’m going to need to 😉
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Favorite Brecker EWI Video
Pretty much anything Michael Brecker did was awe inspiring. I remember back in the day seeing the Michael Brecker band when I was in High School. I had no clue who he was. I was a newbie, or noob at the whole saxophone thing. I basically went to the concert to see Spyro Gyra. Anyhow, Michael Brecker blew me away when he played saxophone, then he did something like this:
Years of the therapy has not helped so far…..and it still is amazing what he could do.
Oboe Mouthpiece?!?!?
I almost won this item on ebay. A Chedeville Oboe Mouthpiece.
Wow. It got to pricey for me. Plus I just had to shell out a lot of money to the IRS. 🙁 Interesting discussion about it here. Seems it isn’t so great. Looks kind of cool though. Probably would help out some poor doubler out there than wanted to add oboe to his weaponry.
Here are some pictures taken off the auction
- Oboe Mouthpiece Picture 1
- Oboe Mouthpiece Picture 2
- Oboe Mouthpiece Picture 3
- Oboe Mouthpiece Picture 4
- Oboe Mouthpiece Picture 5
- Oboe Mouthpiece Picture 6
- Oboe Mouthpiece Picture 7
- Oboe Mouthpiece Picture 9
- Oboe Mouthpiece Picture 10
Tuning Nightmare
This is from Create Digital Music. A tuning nightmare for Van Halen. Seems that they had backgrounds recorded at 44.1Khz, and then played them back at 48Khz. Ouch. Heed this performance when using digital equipment and make sure you know what the heck you are doing.
Shurenotes
I mentioned before that I get this email letter thing from Shure every now and then. Well, the latest issue is out, and it gives some stereo micing techniques tips.
There is also an archive of all the previous ones. Great, free information.
Rowan Atkinson – Invisible Drum Kit
Pure genius!
Finale Users Defecting To Sibelius
There has been a LOT of discussion on the Finale List (which is NOT managed by the company) about the disappointment with Finale 2008. I decided to pass on 2008. To stir things up, Sibelius is offering a 50% off trade-up program.
It is sad to see so many veterans of Finale, people who have contributed tips, insights, short cuts, and what nots, finally get fed up with MakeMusic’s total lack of attention to detail. Their main complaints are the bugs that are never fixed from previous versions, and the company’s failure to finish new features, namely the Parts feature from Finale 2007. Nothing got fixed, or changed.
Two things keep me from switching to Sibelius. One, is the ability to easily convert the thousands of Finale files into Sibelius. I want to be able to just open them in Sibelius, not MusicXML crap. Just open, and it’s in Sibelius. The second thing, is being able to use Bill Duncan’s elegant engraver articulations. Honestly, the Sibelius jazz font thing just looks silly. Real silly. I absolutely love the professional look that I get using Bill’s fonts.
I suppose the third thing is SmartMusic. I couldn’t make Smartmusic exercises. That would be a problem as well.
Ok, THREE things. If they can get TWO of those working, I’ll switch.
UPDATE: 10/13/07 After some thought, the $100 price was too tempting. I ordered a copy. We’ll see if I actually use it.
Managing The Paper Clutter
I don’t know about most people, but I have stacks of paper all over the place. Articles out of magazines I thought were interesting, old manuscript paper, etc, etc. For receipts, I have been in the practice of scanning those for a while, for taxes and stuff. But the paper stacks, I try to scan them, but it just takes too long (there are a LOT of stacks, and they are fairly thick). My Epson CX6600 is good, but scanning takes a lot of time. And then, there is the “what now” problem.
A sheet feed scanner sounds like a great solution. Fujitsu makes this ScanSnap product that can, supposedly, do up to 18 double sided pages a minute. It’s a good chunk of change though, nearly $500 (they have some rebates going at the moment). It does come bundled with Adobe Acrobat 8 though. Plus, it has some OCR stuff which will allow the scanned things to be searchable.
I had, years ago, a Visoneer Paperport that was great, but it died.
Getting rid of paper is a definite goal, but is it really worth the $$? Having all
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MP3 Compression Explained
Found a very interesting article about how MP3 compression came about. It is, at times, rather techie, but very interesting none the less.
But what is MP3? The usual explanations usually take one of two forms. The long version, available in technical papers, is written in jargon and filled with math. The short version, often used by newspapers and nontechnical periodicals, simply states that the process eliminates parts of sound not normally heard by the human ear. But this one-sentence description raises more questions than it answers for any reasonably tech-savvy reader: how does it find those unheard sounds, and how does it get rid of them? What’s the difference between the different bit rates and quality levels? If you’re anything like me, you’ve often wanted to know the mechanics of MP3, but not to the point of writing your own encoder.
Nintendo + Logic =……..?
Create Digital Music has an interesting article about using your old Nintendo NES with Apple’s Logic Studio. Not sure exactly why you’d want it, other than maybe to get your geek on and add some Mario sounds to your next album.
If you want some more nutty things, check out Musicthing. They have things like making a mellotron out of 4 walkmen, and other strange things.
Herbie Hancock Talks Math, Music and Mastering the Tech Toolbox
Wired magazine has a very interesting interview with Herbie Hancock out. Way too short of an interview. But some interesting insights from the piano master.
Gibson Launches Self Tuning Guitars
Engadget is reporting that Gibson has launched a line of self tuning guitars.
Gibson’s Powertune system has been in the works for quite awhile, and although there are other axes out there that claim to tune themselves, only a Gibson will do for some. Reportedly, the firm is readying a “new line of instruments” that are equipped with the system, which includes “an additional set of pickups mounted underneath the strings that are used specifically for the tuning process.”
Whoa. That is pretty neat stuff. Wonder if Steinway will do something like that with pianos….
Keyless Saxophones
When I was in college, I heard the story of Siguard Rascher having a keyless saxophone. Basically, a conical tube in the shape of a sax. Mr. Rascher was reported to be able to play anything on it.
Well, looks like you can actually get one and try to be a virtuoso like Siguard Rascher. Hollywood Winds sells an alto and a tenor version for $495 and $695 respectively.
I wonder if it would be cheaper to get an old C-Melody off of Ebay and just plug the holes….
Apple Logic Studio
Today, Apple announced it’s Logic Studio. Not only did they pack a ton of features into an already feature rich product, they dropped the price to $499. Amazing. There are new features such as mainstage, five Apple Jam Packs, more software instruments, and thousands of other sounds. Plus, you get Soundtrack 2, which is an excellent sound editor (at least that is what I hear from my Final Cut nerd friends).
I think I might have found where that $100 Apple Store credit is going now….Wonder what the next version of Digital Performer is going to do to match this….
UPDATE: 09/12/07 by E: A couple of other sites have some first impressions about Logic Studio.
- Music Thing
- Create Digital Music has this article and this one as well.
Will post more links as I find them.