O'Reilly Digital Media Blog - Audio

YANC-ON (Yet Another Controller - Or Not)

2009-04-28T14:46:34Z

I'm dead tired - I just returned from the Expo '74 conference, and was at the CommuniKey festival just prior to that. I was a speaker at both, and met a ton of fun and creative people at each. I love conferences, and take every opportunity to attend that I can. Sometimes, electronic music can be a rather isolated endeavor; it's nice to be social (in a non-Facebook way) on occasion. One of the things I helped "show off" at the Expo conference was a new controller that I ran across. Actually, *I* didn't run across it - my friend Gregory Taylor did, and had one sent to me. It is the Manta controller from Snyderphonics, and it is one of the most interesting units I've used in the last five years. The Manta is a thin, bus-powered USB device that speaks a special variant of the HI protocol; Jeff Snyder (the creator) built a special Max object that makes for a simple interface. Apparently, Jeff spent a fair amount of time with Buchla touch keyboards, and came away with the inspiration for the Manta. It provides a 6x8 hex grid of touch-sensitive pads, two virtual sliders and four buttons. None of this may sound particular ground-breaking, but in reality it is outrageously inspiring. What makes it different from all other controllers is its feel - it is an etched metal plate, resulting in a device that doesn't require an active button press, but provides enough feedback to invoke a visceral sense of "playing" the device. Each of the pads has an LED light behind it, so you can see the notes you are playing. But the roughness of the pads produces the most important feedback, and allows for playing without having to look at the device. When I first tried the Manta, I was immediately reminded of playing an autoharp, and I set out making a Max patch that would emulate that instrument. After a little tweaking (driven by my 8 year-old son, who demands perfection), I came up with a nice, simple patch for autoharping. It provided some of the nicest music I've done in ages - mainly because it provides a different feel from any electronic instrument I've used. At the Expo conference, I met up with Brad Garton, who had also approached the Manta from a guitaristic perspective. He chose to implement a machine-gun metal guitar patch, with requisite feedback and dive-bomb pressure controls. His patch and mine made for a hilarious combination: his Eddie Van Halen to my Melonie. Nevertheless, we turned a lot of people on to this crazy and unique controller. Apparently, Jeff is deep into grad school finals, and won't have time to produce these units in quantity for a while. But if you get a chance to see or play a Manta, run (don't walk) for that opportunity. If you happen to be in Colorado, I'd be happy to show it off. Much fun, and and extraordinary example of instrument/controller design.

Send iPhone/iPod touch Users Directly to iTunes

2009-04-09T22:22:07Z

I have what may be a radical suggestion for the “always control you content” types, you should consider making a change to your show’s site: instead of providing an “iPhone friendly” version of your site, send iPhone and iPod touch browsers right to your iTunes listing. This accomplishes two things: it keeps you from having to find (or make) a good mobile version of your site, and it gives your visitors the ability to add your podcast to their device immediately and start listening right away. For those of you who missed it, the most recent set of new features for the iPhone included the ability to download podcasts directly to your device’s iPod app without connecting to the computer. Essentially, they have provided a pre-formatted list of all of your available episodes — accompanied by “download” buttons that add those files right to the official player app on the iPhone and iPod touch. That’s way more functionality than you can provide in a mobile version, and it’s all set up for you already. As an iPhone user, this is great: it allows me to add a new podcast directly to my phone as soon as I hear about it — not to just start streaming it, but to actually store it for later listening, which duplicates the while “timeshifting” part of podcasting that you used to need the computer for. It also lets me add the latest episodes of a show to my phone without making a trip to my desk. When I’m traveling, this is essential, as my iPhone is synced with the iTunes library on my desktop computer, not my laptop. As a podcast producer, it gets my content exactly where I want it: on the device that a potential listener is carrying with them right now, exactly when they are in the mood to listen to it. It removes the “I’ll listen later” mental excuse that people so often forget about, and it also provides the “media instant gratification” that iPhone users are now used to (for better or for worse). I’ve set up Boston Behind the Scenes to do this, at least partially. I don’t have a browser-detection redirect set up, but I do have an “iPhone” link at the top of the page. I also have a mobile-friendly URL set up: http://bostonbts.com/iphone (on a computer, this link will just take you to the iTunes store — try it on your iPod or iPhone). Both lead directly to the iTunes app when clicked. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, do you like this setup? Would you prefer to have producers do this, make a mobile-specific site, or just leave their sites alone?

PayPerNote 1.0 - an advanced note management program

2009-04-01T08:00:00Z

CONTACT Earl Vickers The Sound Guy, Inc. http://www.sfxmachine.com PayPerNote 1.0 Saratoga, CA - April 1, 2009 The Sound Guy, Inc. has announced the release of PayPerNote 1.0, an advanced note management program. PayPerNote analyzes audio or MIDI inputs and allows performers to view exactly how much they're getting paid on a per-note basis. "Musicians are very generous and often get caught up in the moment, not realizing how little they're getting for their music," said Sound Guy CEO Earl Vickers. "Throughout history, recording artists have been taken advantage of by record companies, club owners, and even their own fans. Without some kind of visual cue, it's easy for a performer's mind to wander toward chord progressions or song meanings instead of focusing on the bottom line. "During the Great Depression, musicians made less than a penny a note, and they had to keep a running tally in their head if they wanted to calculate their average return. Unfortunately, many performers still make less than a penny a note; however, with PayPerNote software, they can see at a glance if they're overplaying and need to dial it back." PayPerNote lets artists set measurable goals for each performance. Given information about ticket prices, artist's percentage, attendance and show duration, PayPerNote displays a running estimate of per-note income. At the same time, artificial intelligence software computes the optimal note rate and flashes the screen if the performer plays too rapidly. In a pay-to-play situation, musicians can see exactly how much they're paying for the privilege of helping the club make money. PayPerNote can also track online peer-to-peer networks and estimate how much money would have been made for each note of a given album if customers had actually paid for their music instead of stealing it. PayPerNote's Audience Mode helps give concertgoers a deeper appreciation of the performance. Listeners often take blazing displays of virtuosity for granted and rarely have any idea how many notes were heard for each dollar of ticket price. In these challenging economic times, a band's survival may depend on making sure that customers understand they're getting their money's worth. By directing PayPerNote's display toward the audience, musicians can provide a subtle reminder of how much the fans are receiving - sometimes thousands of notes - for each ticket dollar. PayPerNote works with Macintosh OS X and Windows XP and Vista. The Sound Guy, Inc. is the manufacturer of Backwards Machine, ReSpatializer, and the award-winning SFX Machine family of audio effects plug-ins, including the new SFX Machine Pro for RTAS. For more information, visit http://sfxmachine.com . Previous press releases may be found at http://www.sfxmachine.com/presskit/press_releases/more_press_releases.html . # # #

Nano-Nano BZZZT!

2009-03-19T04:03:20Z

As I threatened in my last blog entry, I purchased the set of Korg Nano controllers and I shall expound upon them now; with three months of use under my belt, my feelings have changed somewhat, and I've shifted love affairs among them several times - leading to a lasting relationship in one case, and a bad break-up in another. Korg NanoKontrol

From what I can tell, the NanoKontrol is the most popular of the Nano series controllers. It is also probably the most intense device of the lot, featuring nine "channels" of slider/knob/button sets, a set of control buttons and a scene-saving system. I first ran across one of these at a seminar where I was teaching; one of the students brought the control up and dared me to use it as a control surface for a Max-based drum machine I was making. I was shocked by the size of the device, but decided to give it a swing. 2 minutes later, I was using it as the surface for the module, and was sold on this as a take-along control surface. I've subsequently used it for Max programs, Ableton Live sessions and even as an emergency remote for a Logic Pro session. I don't take this unit everywhere (because I seldom find myself traveling without a number of controllers), but when I need a lot of controls in a very small area, this is a goto device. NanoKontrol Relationship Level: Good Friend Korg NanoPad

Where the NanoControl might be the best seller, the NanoPad is the device I saw everywhere at the NAMM show in January. Featuring 10 pads, an X-Y pad and some mode switches, I saw it everywhere - used by the drummer in the Victor Wooten NAMM/Jam band, as a front end for all sorts of Groove Machine-y software bits and connected to the laptop of almost everyone else. I love a good drum pad, and this was going to be my Prom Date of the Nano series. Alas, it was not to be. If you've ever met me, you know I'm not really an, um, petite individual. Normally this doesn't mean much when it comes to music gear, but in this case I just couldn't get over the top of it. I felt like a team of Shriners trying to squeeze into the little car before the parade - just too cramped for words. The next time I went to the music store, I asked to try out the Korg PadKontrol - it was just right, and the device I really needed. I guess that, when it comes to percussion pads, I'm a little more picky about having it feel right vs. having it tiny. I bought the PadKontrol and decided to make the NanoPad go away. I put it in the mail for a friend of mine; giving the USPS a chance to bend, fold and mutilate the thing well past its manufacturing tolerances. Luckily, it is cheap enough that I could shrug it off and return to my PadKontrol for an evening's pleasure. It's not like we were married or something... NanoPad Relationship Level: Bad Breakup Due to My Cheating Korg NanoKey

This is the device I was least excited about: a two-octave keyboard that initially showed all of the charm of a cheap pencil case. I got a good deal on the whole set, so I picked it up - even though I was sure I'd never use the darned thing. I mean, it rattles when you shake it! That's never a good sign... Alas, it won my heart with a combination of simplicity and portability. It doesn't try to do more than it can: it is two octave of clackity keys (moderately velocity sensitive), quick-access octave-switching buttons, a Mod button set (for Mod wheel emulation) and a CC-mode switch that I never use. There isn't much there, and there shouldn't be. It is simple as sin, but oh so very useful. It's the portability that makes it My True Love. When traveling, I normally take either an M-Audio Axiom 25 or (if I'm cramped for space) an Edirol PCR-1. The Axiom is actually useful as a keyboard, but the PCR really isn't. On the other hand, the Axiom, while short, is still big - hence, not very friendly traveling companion. The PCR is thin, but still big; it is simply too big for my in-flight backpack. So it becomes part of the check-in pack, where it has to compete with audio interfaces, cable stacks and tube socks for room in the suitcase. It also plays pretty terrible, so I'm not all that jazzed by taking it along. Hence, I'm finding myself, more often than not, traveling without a keyboard. The problem is that it leave me plunking out basslines and chords on the laptop keyboard, which is about as musical as a broken arm. No matter what they try, plinking on a QWERTY keyboard does not feel like making music. Hence, the reason why the NanoKey has become my betrothed: because the keyboard you will take with you is the best keyboard to have. Not only can I stick the NanoKey in my backpack for the flight, but I can actually use it during the flight. I get some crazy looks by the Frontier Airlines staff, but I couldn't care less... NanoKey Relationship Level: True Love Conquers All So there, after living with these devices for several months, is my view of the Nano series of Korg devices. A brilliant set of devices, but ones that may ebb and flow in your personal workflow. I don't doubt that there will be people that love the Pad and hate the Key, but these devices are so inexpensive that I can't imagine anyone not giving them a try.

Digital Music Discoveries at NAMM 2009

2009-01-30T11:58:27Z

I've finally sorted through all my discoveries at America's biggest musical instrument trade show — NAMM. Once again, this show was an amazing mix of futuristic technology, fabulous performances, and freaky products. Low-res digicam* in hand, I squeezed past the other 85,798 attendees to capture these favorites.

Because O'Reilly's portable digital recorder reviews have been so popular, I started with that category. Click the product names to visit the manufacturers' sites for more photos and specs.

]]> 24 Bits in the Hand

Both TASCAM and Zoom expanded their range of portable recorders with new models that combine the best features of existing ones, yet add a twist. The TASCAM DR-07 is a smaller version of the DR-1 with a tripod socket and (hooray!) AA battery support. When we reviewed the DR-1's guitar-oriented sibling, the GT-R1, reviewer Mark Nelson concluded, “What keeps me from jumping up and down and telling you to go out and buy one is the proprietary battery and lack of a tripod mount.” Another reason to jump now: the DR-07's street price is just $199.

TASCAM shrunk the R-1 (left) to the pocket-friendly R-07, adding AA battery support and a tripod socket. (Click to enlarge.)

On the other extreme, TASCAM's new DR-100 nods to the high-end Sony PCM D-50 and mic-friendly Zoom H4, with a metal housing and phantom-powered XLR mic jacks. But it offers both cardioid (directional) and omnidirectional stereo mics as well. It appears that only one stereo pair can be active at a time (making it a two-track recorder), but the DR-100 looked and felt serious. Its remote control, analog limiter, and onboard audio editing are attractive bonus features. There's a built-in speaker too. Street price? About $429.

The hefty new DR-100 offers four ways to capture sound in stereo: two omni mics on the face, two cardioids pointing up, two XLR mic inputs on the bottom, and stereo line inputs. Select your favorite with the convenient four-position slider.

I thought the cleverest new TASCAM offering was the BB-1000CD, though. It's a realtime CD recorder with four active mics (two front and two rear), sort of like a Zoom H2 built into a boom box. (You can play back your new recording through the integrated 10W speakers.) The BB-1000CD can record to SD cards as well, and then burn the recordings to CD. It runs on 8 AA batteries or AC. Street price should be around $599.

TASCAM Marketing Manager Jeff Laity explains how the BB-1000CD's quadraphonic mics can be mixed to record a spacious-sounding CD in real time. You can connect external mics via two phantom-powered XLR jacks too.

Zoom with a View

Zoom's new H4n Handy Recorder combines some of the best features of the H2 and H4 while pumping up the quality and ergonomics. I immediately noticed the larger display and rubberized housing, but was especially impressed by the ingenious mic design. Normally, the H4n capsules are oriented 90° apart, in an overlapping pattern that's designed to prevent the hole-in-the-middle effect you can get with outward-facing mics. If you want a wider sound stage, you simply rotate the mics half a turn or so, spreading the capsules 120° apart but preserving the overlap. (Compare this approach with the Sony D-50, whose mics go walleyed in 120° mode.)

Zoom's third-generation H4n Handy Recorder is a handful indeed, with four-channel recording, higher-quality components, and features for days.

Like the H4, the H4n also sports XLR jacks, but these feed better preamps, and you can use them at the same time as the built-in mics to record four-channel sound. Or select the stereo line input instead to capture, say, a stereo feed from a mixing board along with the live sound from the built-in mics. Concert recordists should love that.

In Zoom tradition, the H4n includes dozens of other features as well, such as a built-in speaker, a guitar tuner, the ability to function as a USB audio interface, overdubbing with effects (which you can disable to nearly triple battery life), and many more. The USB connector has been upgraded to USB 2.0 hi-speed spec for fast file transfers. You even get a windscreen and a hard plastic case. Street price is just $349. A wired remote control adds $39.99.

And yet, Zoom's next recorder, shown on a revolving pedestal under glass, breaks even more barriers. It promises to combine the simplicity of the hugely popular Flip video camera with Zoom's quality stereo recording. Sound on camcorders, especially flash-based ones, has traditionally been miserable, so the Q3 could be a mighty force in music video. Specs have not yet been confirmed, but a representative told me he hopes the Q3 will have HD video. It should be shipping by the end of this year.

The Zoom Q3 promises to bring quality stereo recording to the Flip video crowd. This mockup was encased in glass and unveiled late in the show.

That's all I have time to upload today; check back soon for many more of my NAMM gear favorites.

__________________

*Musicians often compare NAMM to a candy store, but I think the next goodie I grab may be a compact camera with image stabilization and cleaner video. Let me know what you recommend; I'm eyeballing the CanonSX10IS, Kodak Z980, and Panasonic FZ28 — zoom is important as well. (Back to top.)

Music on Computers, Circa 2013

2009-01-22T05:27:05Z

Every October for the past 13 years, I've traveled to Texas to join the “premier interactive audio think tank,” Project Bar-B-Q. Over a long weekend, 50 musicians, engineers, professors, tech executives, and sales guys plot the future of music on computers, aiming five years out. We come from a variety of companies: Dolby Labs, Karma Labs, Open Labs, Microsoft, Intel, DTS, Beatnik, Dell, HP, IDT, and more.

Unlike normal tech conferences, Project Bar-B-Q is held on a rustic lake resort. This was the view from my cabin deck.

We meet on a ranch, far from soul-sucking convention centers. Host George “the Fat Man” Sanger and his crew set up piles of musical instruments (and spicy food) to grease the mental wheels, and we break into workgroups, brainstorm, argue, jam, and finally collaborate on a series of written reports.

After months of polishing, those reports finally hit the web this week, and you can read them here. Workgroup topics include:

Creating a middleware marketplace for digital entertainment platforms (this was my group, codenamed “Run DSP”)
Developing easy-to-use music-creation tools
So you want to work in game audio? (Includes a detailed list of college programs)
Creating a new form of acoustic monitoring for the PC that can improve user experience (“Smart Ambient Sound Sensor”)
Understanding the new ways to make music (“New Creators and New Creative Tools”)
Working as a creative professional in a corporate environment (an oral history conducted by O’Reilly blogger Peter Drescher, who's now doing just that at Microsoft)
Game consoles as musical instruments

As I said, I've been attending this conference for 13 years, and this edition was definitely one of the best. Where would you like digital music to be in five years? Please leave a comment below, and I'll present it to the BBQ Brain.

Apple removes DRM on iTunes & adds variable pricing

2009-01-21T06:51:05Z

At the recent MacWorld expo, Apple made some key announcements around iTunes that many of us have been anticipating for awhile. Namely, they are removing anticopying restrictions from iTunes, which will allow consumers to freely move the songs around between their PCs, mobile phones, and other digital devices. This is not a big surprise in that consumers have voiced anti-DRM sentiments for several years now. And Amazon's music service (closest rival to iTunes market share) launched its services as DRM-free over a year ago. In my view, enforcement of DRM with digital music services has been a key factor in slowing growth in the space -- and it's refreshing to see that after years of resistance to their detriment, the labels are finally allowing iTunes as the market leader to operate without those restrictions. Another key announcement Apple made at MacWorld was that it will cooperate with the labels in offering pricing tiers for different songs on iTunes as follows: the majority of songs will drop to 69 cents starting in April, while the biggest hits and newest songs will retail for $1.29. Others that are somewhat popular will remain at 99 cents. I'm assuming the labels will dictate which songs fall into which categories, but the result should be an uptick in sales on iTunes as music lovers are further incented to dive deeper into the purchase of back catalog favorites. This move was long overdue, and is very welcome. Ironically this was something that the labels have requested of Apple for years (tiered pricing in CD sales is common practice at traditional retail), but Apple had resisted it. Looks like Apple and the labels met halfway to achieve these two key wins for consumers. Both should benefit from increased sales and consumer satisfaction.

Audio Gear Highlights at Macworld Expo

2009-01-15T19:00:00Z

Just like in previous years, those interested in making music would find lots of getting-started information at the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus and the Macworld Music Studio at Moscone. But there were also a few exhibitors who presented new products at Macworld Expo 2009 that were targeted at musicians and audiophiles. From what I saw at Moscone last week, these are my favorites. ### "Learn to Play" classes in GarageBand '09 Thanks to digital audio, music has become completely pervasive in recent years: you can listen to music anytime and anywhere, and, thanks to file-based distribution, you can even acquire it anytime and anywhere. As a result, it appears that many listeners do not value music as much as was the case when an exchange of something physical, like a vinyl record or CD, was part of the process and it took generally more effort go get your hands no music. In essence, music has become a commodity for many, regardless of how much effort and talent went into creating the tunes that we enjoy. Playing a musical instrument, however, does wonders to our appreciation of music, as well as our willingness to explore music at a deeper level versus perceiving it as just a pleasurable soundtrack to our lives that blares away in the background. That is why I love the new "Learn to Play" feature in GarageBand '09. Its MIDI and audio recording capabilities notwithstanding, the first versions of GarageBand more or less focused on loop-based "music construction kit" features as did, and still do, competing products. But, despite their more-than-decent production values, dragging around those loops is just not the same as playing a "real" instrument. And "[Learn to Play][]" aspires to teach users of GarageBand just that. [Learn to Play]: http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/#learn The "Learn to Play" window is divided into a video at the top, in which a teacher explains playing technique and shows how to play the tune, which is displayed below the video as a musical score or as finger positions on the fretboard or keyboard in real time. Below that is a simplified timeline of the class, and at the bottom you'll find some controls, including one to slow down the tune. Computer-based classes like this one will not be able to replace a human teacher, because what you need as a musician, especially when you just start out with learning how to play an instrument, is someone who can provide you with competent feedback on both your technique as well as musical style. That is something a software application simply cannot do. However, the classes inside GarageBand may be just what a (young?) music fan will need to get started and take the first steps towards mastering an instrument. Apple wouldn't be Apple if they didn't add a fresh perspective to the idea of computer-based music learning, and that is [Artist Lessons][]: (more or less) famous performers including such greats as Sting or John Fogerty present a lesson on one of their signature tracks, teach you how to play it (in a simplified version), and -- and this is the _really_ interesting part -- provide background insight, e.g. about what inspired the track, what went on during the recording sessions, etc. At $4.99 per lesson, that's a lot of inspiration per buck for your repertoire. [Artist Lessons]: http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/#lessons GarageBand '09 comes with basic intro classes for Guitar and Piano, and to buy more classes or an Artist Lesson, the software as a built-in store. It would be nice if Apple eventually added more instruments -- how about at least bass guitar and drums? -- and introduced Artist Lessons for advanced musicians. E.g., I'd gladly be willing to pay a premium to learn Jim Beard's solo on "Fever" or get a run-down of "Ra" by Jordan Rudess himself. ### Keyboards and keyboard skins for A/V applications Professional A/V applications like Apple Logic Pro or Steinberg Nuendo have such vast numbers of keyboard shortcuts that even experienced users often have a hard time remembering them all. Keyboards and keyboard skins that have the common shortcuts printed on the keys make it much easier to use these applications efficiently. Such keyboards have existed for years, with the first ones I remember being for Avid video editing software back in the eighties, or so. But the range of applications that are now covered, as well as the number of manufacturers have increased in recent years, so it makes sense to put these products back into focus. At this year's Macworld Expo, there were no less than three companies -- [KB Keyboards][], [LogicKeyboard][], and [XSKN][] -- that offer complete keyboards with customized key caps or rubber keyboard skins that you put on top of your existing keyboard, and which also work great for laptops, too. [KB Keyboards]: http://www.kbkeyboards.com [LogicKeyboard]: http://www.logickeyboard.com [XSKN]: http://www.xskn.eu

Note the color-coded modifier keys on this keyboard for Apple Logic Pro. The yellow tool icons linked to the Escape key are especially neat.

One product I find especially appealing is a keyboard (also available as a skin) that has colored modifier keys -- Command, Option, Control, and Shift -- and similarly color-coded commands printed on the keys for easy association between the two. In a future post, I'll have a closer look at keyboard skins for Logic Pro, including this color-coded one. ### BIAS iProRecorder Talking of pro-oriented products, BIAS, the makers of the Mac-only Peak audio editor, have introduced [iProRecorder][], an audio recording application for the iPhone that has some unusual features. [iProRecorder]: http://iprorecorder.com/ iProRecorder records from the iPhone's built-in microphone or any third-party mic and it offers three recording qualities at 44kHz, 22kHz, and 11kHz sampling rate, or "CD-quality", "radio-quality", or "dictation-quality" in Bias parlance. When using the software to record via the built-in microphone, you can turn the iPhone on its head to make the mic point towards the person who's speaking (you, an interview partner, etc.), and, courtesy of the iPhone's acceleration sensors and the BIAS developers' coding skills, the UI will turn 180°, too, so you can read it more easily.

iProRecorders polished main UI.

When you're done recording, you can navigate through the audio file with a jog shuttle, append it with additional audio, and there's a handy volume boost so you can listen to the recording at reasonable volumes even via the iPhone's built-in speaker. iProRecorder also supports a useful set of metadata for each recording, including the location via geotagging, or adding a photo of the person you talked to with the built-in camera. There are three ways to get the recordings off the iPhone: send them via email; transfer them to a Mac running BIAS Peak via (W)LAN; or via a web browser, as iProRecorder has a built-in web server for listening to, and downloading, any recordings stored on the phone. We will test iProRecorder soon to gauge just how accessible and reliable these features are. ### Focal XS speakers There are countless aftermarket speakers available for use with your computer or portable music player, but only few of those target the higher end of market in terms of both price tag and output quality. At Expo, French manufacturer Focal presented their take on high-end computer speakers, called Focal XS. The Focal XS is a 2.1 system with two 30W satellites and a 70W subwoofer that connects to the computer via USB. The base of the right satellite provides three buttons for power and volume control as well as an iPod dock, which not only allows using the iPod as the input source for the speakers, but also supports synchronizing the iPod with your computer. To control the iPod, as well as the speaker volume, a small remote with basic commands is included in the package. The remote has a magnet built in so you can attach it to the mounting arms of one of the satellite speakers for storage. The people from Focal brought along some music files in 1.4kbps AIFF format to show off the system's capabilities: the imaging of this speaker set, but also the "distribution" of low, mid, and high frequencies between the speakers and the subwoofer seemed much more natural than when listening to other "personal speaker systems." And it did not even take a direct comparison, as for example the airiness of the output and the precision of the bass were easily detectable.

Focal's demo station for the Focal XS speakers. Igloo sold separately.

I may be biased because I use a pair of Focal speakers with my home stereo. And still I have to say that, simply put, the Focal XS are the best computer speakers I have ever listened to. At $599, they are hardly a steal, but I do consider them excellent value, not least because the great sound quality is equalled by the impeccable mechanical finish and build quality of the speakers. To learn more about the Focal XS, visit the [company's web page][] and navigate to "Home Audio" > "Focal XS." [company's web page]: http://focal-fr.com ### Ge Wang, computer musician Some people seem to have an endless supply of inspiration and creativity. Like Ge Wang, who was one of the guests on David Pogue's Macworld LIVE! talkshow. Ge is an assistant professor for computer music at Stanford University and has come up with some unusual ways to create and perform music on computers.

Ge Wang during Macworld LIVE!

One of his more well-known creations is the virtual [Ocarina][] for the iPhone, which he demonstrated during the Macworld LIVE! session. Another of Ge's activities revolves around the [Stanford Laptop Orchestra][], which you have to see to believe. [Ocarina]: http://ocarina.smule.com/ [Stanford Laptop Orchestra]: http://slork.stanford.edu/ If you're a performing musician and a bit short on creative ideas right now, do visit [Ge Wang's website][] for a few starting points for your own musical endeavors. [Ge Wang's website]: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~ge/ ### What did _you_ find? Even a comparatively small trade show like Macworld Expo has too many interesting products and events for one person to discover. So, what have _you_ seen at Moscone last week that you would like fellow-musicians and audio-geeks to know about?

Networked Printers and Speakers with AirPort WiFi

2009-01-14T22:16:37Z

Home networks continue to become easier to set up and more powerful once running. Last spring I wrote about using a Drobo Robotic Disk Array and AirPort Extreme for archiving files over a WiFi network. I've also documented my network printing setup in my studio. Since then, I've relocated my photography studio to a two-story townhouse, and basically had to start all over again. But that's OK, because in this latest installment of WiFi wonderfulness, I've incorporated audio into the equation.

The Goal: To Have Printing and Music Throughout the Premises

I have one work area downstairs, and a recording studio upstairs. I get lots of exercise jogging up and down the steps between the two work areas. I wanted printing capability and access to my iTunes library in both spaces. Plus, since my printers are so big (all print up to 13"x19"), I needed to spread them around the studio so I didn't end up with a wall of printers in one room.

I was also tired of having one type of music system in one room, and another in the next. I have my entire iTunes library on an external hard drive connected to my main computer. So why not just pipe the tunes where I need them?

Required Equipment

My equipment list looks fairly extensive, but remember, I rarely get rid of something that still works. Instead, I just find a way to incorporate it into my workflow. Much of this older equipment is now serving me in this network configuration.

HP B8350 document printer downstairs networked via and AirPort Extreme 802.11g access point. I use this for plain paper printing and color layout comps. (Sunleaf2)
Epson R2400 photo printer upstairs networked via an AirPort Express 802.11n access point. I also have a compact Sony SRS-T77 4 watt speaker system plugged into the Express for piped in music. (Sunleaf 3)
HP Photosmart A626 compact printer plugged into my main WiFi access point, an AirPort Extreme 802.11n. The cable modem is plugged into this AirPort. (Sunleaf1)
HP B8850 Fine Art printer plugged directly into the main computer via USB 2.0
Various hard drives and a Drobo connected to MacBook Pro 17" with 4 GBs Ram and a Cinema Display.

When I open up my AirPort Utility, I see this (the top illustration).

Sunleaf1 is connected to the cable modem and creates the WiFi network. Sunleaf2 and Sunleaf 3 are set in "Join a wireless network" mode and serve as printing and music nodes. The network is encrypted with WPA/WPA2 Personal security. I administer the network (including initial set up) with the AirPort Utility included with Mac OS X 10.5.6.

Setting Up the Printers

Once the network was up and running, I added the printers by plugging them into the USB port on each of the AirPort access points, turning them on, then configuring via the Print & Fax pane in System Preferences. Each printer was added by clicking on the "+" button and choosing it from the list of Bonjour devices. Keep in mind that you have to have the printer driver software loaded on your computer for proper configuration. I also like to create a descriptive title, such as "HP A620 WiFi" so I can tell the networked printers from those plugged directly into a USB port on the computer.

Once all the printers are connected and configured, I can send a print job to any one of them from any computer that has access to the network.

Adding Music to the Environment

iTunes makes this next step very easy. My entire music library is on an external drive connected to the main computer. I have speakers connected to Sunleaf 3 upstairs (the Sony SRS-T77), and directly to the Mac downstairs (Logitech Z-10). I open iTunes, choose Multiple Speakers from the speakers popup menu, and hit the play button. Music is streamed to every connected set of speakers.

If I'm upstairs working and I want to adjust the volume or change the track, I use the free "Remote" application for my iPhone. Plus, the iPhone displays the album cover and metadata for the song in case I forget who the artist is or the album it's from. The iPhone Remote was really the missing piece of the equation. Without it, I did have music streaming throughout the studio, but no way to control it unless I went back to the main computer.

Final Thoughts

Once the WiFi network is set up, you can do just about anything you want with it. If I want to play music from another Mac or the Apple TV, I can do so with just a few menu changes. By the same token, I can easily add or remove printers from any of the networked nodes.

I had kept my AirPort Extreme base station 802.11g when I upgraded to the more powerful 802.11n version. I was happy to have it stashed neatly in a box in the closet when it came time to set up this network. It works great for the document printer node that mainly handles text documents.

Beatles Tech Online

2009-01-14T06:27:18Z

Electronic Musician and Mix magazines just launched a wonderful little site compiling a bunch of their articles about the Beatles and their use of music technology. The Fab Four probably aren't the first musicians who come to mind when you think of technology, but as Mix's Paul Lehrman writes in one article, "What the Beatles were doing between 1966 and 1969 was so brilliant, so revolutionary, so liberating, so mind-blowing, so fall-on-the-floor-froth-at-the-mouth amazing, that almost everything else, then or since, pales in comparison. And all of the toys and techniques that we use in the recording studio today, in fact, all of our careers, are a direct result of those projects." Besides articles, the Beatle Tech site also features a growing collection of videos and other goodies, such as this tour of a tape box from the Sgt. Pepper sessions. I also enjoyed "Brush With a Beatle," a page where audio engineers share their Beatle sightings and how they changed their lives.

Now Do As You've Been Told!

2009-01-08T06:04:34Z

This article was supposed to be about my new collection of Korg Nano devices, how cool they were and how it was great to have MIDI controllers that cost about the same as a toothbrush. In fact, I wrote that article. But on Christmas Eve, just before I started assembling the 14-foot tall Bob The Builder Backhoe for my 4 year-old, my laptop’s hard drive crashed. It didn’t actually crash. Not in a cool, Fatman-link sort of way. Rather, it just stopped working in a very sad and silent way. This forced me to consider my backup strategy. I don’t really have one. Once in a while, I’ll boot the desktop into Firewire mode and dump some portion of my laptop into one of the big drives, but this only happens “when I have spare time”. Spare time. What a joke. About as easy to find as the spare tire on a ’73 Ford F-100 pickup truck. So I ended up losing a butt-load of my recent writing. Luckily for me, my code is all backed up to an SVN repository (wisely located at least one continental divide away from me), and my recording sessions are on a redundant pile of hard drives, but the stuff that existed solely on my laptop has been vaporized. Gone forever. Ever since I was an Young IT Professional In The Great Tradition Of IBM Mainframes, the idea of a backup plan has been pounded into my head. I’m older now, which means that I’m much more capable of rationalizing stupid behavior. Not having a laptop backup since September 24th could clearly be called stupid behavior. Reading this, I’m sure you are clucking your tongue at me - while, at the same time, you are probably hooking your Firewire drive to the laptop for a quickie backup. While that is going on, why don’t you also take a look at my latest weapon against dummy-hood: http://www.getdropbox.com. It’s a cool way to keep your work in The Great Cloud - and gives you some semblance of on-the-fly backup. My main writing folder is now a Dropbox folder, and all my work automagically gets pushed to the Great Stash In The Sky. If only I’d done this before December 24th, you might be reading about my Personal Nano Love instead of this bit of self-immolation. It's easy to get complacent about doing backups. Let me urge you to fight that complacency. This article might not seem like it's about audio, software or even digital media - but all of this become pointless once the bits leave the building. So let me be your cautionary tale, and try to find a comfortable way to fit hard drive backup into your personal workflow. Now do as you've been told and get to that backup!

Bat Utility Belt #1: Save Your Ears for $20

2009-01-02T20:00:01Z

Ya gotta love gadgets. As a tech reviewer, I get to check out quite a few, but in this new blog series, I'll highlight some of the gear I've bought — with my own money — that's performed especially well. Following a utility-belt theme, I'll focus on gadgets under $100. The first item in my list, though perhaps too big to hang off a belt, is a set of sound-deadening ear muffs. I bought the Bilsom T3 Thunder series, currently about $20 at Amazon. I wore a similar pair of Bilsoms when I used to mow lawns as a teenager, and I think that's a big reason my hearing is still sharp. These days I have an electric mower, which is much quieter, but there are still plenty of potentially injurious noises around the house. I now wear the T3s when vacuuming or running the blender. They're even useful for short naps, if you don't roll over: they're bulky, but the quiet is worth it. I sometimes use the ear muffs in combination with earbud headphones so I can listen to music while blocking out the world. You can also buy models with speakers installed — excellent for trade-show demos.

John Adams Interviewed on KQED

2008-12-23T05:05:56Z

Michael Krasny gabs with John Adams on KQED's Forum about his music, book and life. A must listen. And don't forget to enjoy his opera "Doctor Atomic" about Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb. Playing now on your local PBS station.

Pump Up Your Podcasting Voice

2008-12-18T22:25:52Z

Surprisingly, one of the most popular segments at my recent presentation, The $5 Self-Publishing Workshop, was about podcasting. To demonstrate some of my production techniques, I played this excerpt from the Digital Media Insider podcast:

DMI 13 Excerpt (1MB MP3)

That prompted questions like:

What microphone did you use?
I have a Mac. Can I do podcasting with, say, GarageBand?
How long should a podcast be?

My short answers:

Mic: “For that episode, I used a Rode Podcaster mic, but for Skype interviews, I've had good results with a Logitech USB headset. But I also process the recording afterwards with signal-enhancing software.” [In retrospect, I'd add that enthusiasm and mic technique are at least as important.]
Mac: “Yes. GarageBand on the Mac has many features designed for podcasting, including voice-enhancement effects. There's also a free voice enhancer program for Mac and Windows called Levelator.”
Length: “One of the things I enjoy about podcasting is that the length can be flexible. Just respect your audience; I edit tightly to maximize the good stuff.” [“The Art of Podcasting,” my cover story for Electronic Musician magazine, goes into much more detail on the aesthetics of structuring a show.]

Levelator (free) couldn't be simpler: You drop a WAV or AIFF on it, stand back, and out pops a bigger-sounding version.

Speaking of Levelator, I was curious how it compared with simply normalizing the signal (boosting the level until the highest peak is at the maximum value) and enhancing the signal with a more sophisticated tool like Izotope Ozone, which is what I usually use. Levelator has quite a following among podcasters, but it's rarely delivered exactly the result I've wanted.

Here are some tests I made on a National Public Radio clip. Of course, this clip has already been processed — and then crunched down to a low-res streaming format on the NPR site, where I grabbed it — but you can still hear the differences. All examples are 16-bit, 44.1kHz, mono WAV files. I embedded them with the Yahoo Media Player.

Original NPR Clip
Normalized to –0.5dB (i.e., just under the maximum)
Levelator-ized
Ozone-ized (Here I used EQ, multiband compression, loudness maximizer, and exciter.)
RMS Normalized to –10dB (an effect in BIAS Peak that boosts the signal while squashing the peaks, creating a super-loud version)

Which do you prefer, and why?

The Right Toot for the Job

2008-12-09T19:43:03Z

Rick Sammon’s blog today about photographing thousands of snow geese blasting off reminded me of an e-mail I got a while back from a world-champion duck caller. Jim James of Carlson Championship Calls wrote,

I make and sell waterfowl calls. In the past, I often would produce a short, personalized audio tape for customers when they asked, or when they purchased some of my better calls. I advise them about calling and demonstrate their call for them. These are very informal tapes and done sort of as a favor. As you can imagine, the use of audio tapes has seen its day! I used my last one about a week ago and don’t think it would be wise to order another case of blank tapes since we are now so entrenched in the digital age.

I’d like to be able to get a digital recorder that I could use to record these short “tapes” and then in one swift motion dump it onto a CD (that would play in a standard vehicle or home CD player) so I could send it along with their call. I have tried using a MP3 recorder but the time involved to download and convert the file and then burn it to a CD is way more than I want to invest in these short complementary “tapes.”

Is there anything out there that would allow for me to turn on the recorder, record a short file, and then dump and burn to a CD?

I suggested that the easiest approach for him could be a standalone CD recorder such as the Roland CD-2e ($650). But I also noted that burning MP3 recordings to CD shouldn’t take too much time with the right software, because most CD-burning programs handle MP3 conversion in the background. You can also speed up the transfer of files from recorder to computer dramatically by using a USB 2.0 “hi-speed” card reader. (Many MP3 recorders use the much slower USB 2.0 “full speed” format.)

So I asked Jim what system he had been using. He replied,

The iRiver [recorder] I use records in a format that needs to be converted to MP3 first upon downloading the file to my computer. Download time is not really a problem because these are short files. Then I open the MP3 file in Audacity, cut and paste to take it from mono to stereo...and then export as a .wav file. From there I burn it to the CD using [a very old program from] Roxio — which sometimes fails and I end up using a shareware program I found on the WWW.

Like I said, these are supposed to be just quick informal “tapes,” but what I do now makes me not want to do the little added service. Before, it was so simple to just pop a tape in the recorder on the shop bench, hit Record, make a 15–20 minute personalized tape, rewind, throw it in the box with the call, and ship it off.

Jim’s point about workflow is excellent. Digital tools aren’t always faster, and yet he’d come to a point where the analog way wasn’t working either. In checking out his site today, I noticed he now offers both streaming MP3 examples of his bird calls and paid digital downloads. I imagine for many of his customers, though, getting a CD in the mail would be the ideal way to learn about the art of attracting birds with sound.

For more on digital audio recorders, see our forum.