Some recent listener feedback
Shutters Inc:
Great job with the wedding series guys!
I knew when I asked Shelton about wedding shoots, as I had one coming up, he would deliver the goods.
I had no idea, however, it would result in such a great series of episodes, offering priceless information.
Typical of "the Guru Tigger Muller", the listeners are getting a veritable GOLD MINE of practical tips.
More importantly, I'm confident the listeners (as I am) really appreciate how you are giving us those extra little 'secrects' that we would rarely get from any other pro--I am seriously grateful.
I also wanted to thanks Bruce for his very timely and appropriate questions he often presents to Shelton.
A lot of co-hosts get in the habit of no-substance "filler" questions, just to keep the conversation rolling (beware of dead air!!), but this does not describe you Bruce.
I often feel that you are representing me, the common joe, in your questions.
You, my friend, are definitely an integral part of not only the production of the show, but also its content.
Once again, keep it up, the show started at a high level of quality right from episode one and you have both more than brought your "A game" for every one!
Canada loves Shutters Inc.!
Walt
Sine Language:
Just a quick note to say that Episode 86 of Sine Language where you address Meredeth's questions about the "Loudness War" was absolutely brilliant!
You cleared up a number of questions I've had bouncing around in my head for quite some time in regards to compression and limiting.
Thanks to you, the world is becoming a better sounding place.
Curtis
Dingy Room in a Nowhere Town Podcast
Building the pod:
I've only recently decided to get back into music production after a prolonged absence.
So, when it came to choosing a DAW, it came down to a choice between FL Studio and Audition.
Dollar wise, quite similar although FL Studio does offer more in the way of virtual instruments for this price range.
But I chose Audition for two clear reasons.
1. I really like the look and feel. The layout is just easy on the eye and made sense to me very quickly.
2. I knew I had a great teacher. I discovered Building the Pod through the Adobe web site and soon found Sine Language.
I have to thank you sincerely for your weekly tuition.
It has turned a somewhat severe learning curve into managable bite size pieces.
I simply can't overstate how thankful I am of your weekly podcasts.
Bye for now.
Ross Huntley
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May 11, 2008
Unfortunately, both Sine Language and Shutters Inc missed out this week.
Sine Language was pretty much doomed from the start, but Shutters Inc WAS meant to happen.
Shelton and I were going to record Saturday morning, but he found out lat Friday night that his presence was required a lot earlier than he had realised at the wedding he was shooting on Saturday, so that spoiled that idea.
So, we re-scheduled for Sunday morning, but when we tried to record, his PC was giving him grief and refusing to belive that he actually HAD a soundcard!
Seems the Gods were against us this week.
And you thought it would never happen, right?
At last, BTP is back.
This week, a couple of e-mails to answer.
Jim Weishorn asked about the introduction of quantization errors from too much processing.
And Mike Wills asked about encoding your mp3’s from inside Audition, but using Lame instead of the Fraunhofer codec.
Which led to a discussion of the CoolLame filter, available from Rarewares.
Then, a look at the extended capabilities of the Extract Audio From CD tool in Audition v3 (which now has the ability to retrieve album metadata from an internet database so you can rip and tag your CD’s!).
As you’ll hear though, going forward from here, it’s going to be tough for me to maintain 3 weekly podcasts. Time will tell just what I am able to deliver.
May 4, 2008
IÂ am truly sorry gang, I really am.
I got back into Sydney at 6am last Monday morning, I laid low that day, spent Tuesday with Cath (seeing as how I wasn’t here on Sunday for our wedding anniversary), and then Wednesday, I was back at MIX106.5 where it would appear I will be indefinitely.
Check out the last 3 minutes of this week’s Sine Language (ep 87) for more detail.
I’m back!
The 3 weeks in the States was an absolute head trip (in a good way)!
So, naturally, there’s a bit of discussion about that, particularly about the NAB trade show, which was amazing,
then a couple of e-mails to answer.
One from Mark Hobold at JapanesePod101 about whether or not we should peak limit before noise reduction.
Then one from Steve Fernino at djideasharing about what mics to use when conducting interviews on really noisy trade show floors.
Also, my new work commitments,
possible changes to the regularity of audio2u.com podcasts,
and my latest acquisition…. a Mackie Control Universal.
We’re back!
After a chat about my trip to the States (see the last 3 or 4 posts on audio2u.com if you haven’t already), Shelton talks about 5 Minute Photographer,
how Richard Annable is one of the best photographic assistants he’s ever worked with,
some interesting wedding stories,
5 Minute Photographer (deja vu!),
Slideshowpro,
where YOU should be after you’ve “found the light and put them in it”,
and then some other website about photography…. I think it was called 5 Minute Photographer, or something like that.
April 26, 2008
Well, I shot some pictures on my way up here during the day today, and I shot some sunset shots this evening as well.
And I’ve just had the most amazing dinner at a restaurant called Nepanthe.
If you’re ever here at Big Sur, I highly recommend it.
Not cheap, but the food was stunning, and the atmosphere is awesome.
I was sitting outside in the breeze, but they had a huge log fire burning, as well as those gas powered patio heater thingys, so it was nice and warm.
Anyway, seeing as how I don’t do a restaurant critique podcast, that’ll be enough of that.
Here’s a few pics for ya….
So, here I am in Big Sur, three quarters of the way between LA and San Francisco (closer to SF).
The drive here is gorgeous.
Coastal driving that winds around foothills and cliffs. Lots of parts where you have to beware of rock slides and so on.
I’m in a little fleabag motel (why am I thinking of the Bates Motel?) for the night, but it’s ok.
About to head out and shoot some sunset shots.
Won’t post any images just yet.
I’ll log on later this evening after the sun has gone down and upload whatever I’ve got then.
Wow!
What a manic 3 weeks this has been.
I’ve now finished my recording obligations here in Ventura, and have 2 days to kill before my flight home tomorrow night.
I’m sitting in my hotel room, where I’ve been slowly going crazy for the last week.
I don’t think I’ll ever do a 3 week trip again.
It’s just too long without Cath and Max, and I know they’ve been really feeling it, just like I have.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the States, but there’s only so long you want to be living out of a suitcase, eating at restaurants (or worse, take-out) for every meal, only so much of all that you can take.
I can’t wait to get home.
Not sure what I’m going to do today (Friday)…. certainly don’t want to be hanging around Ventura all day. Seen enough of this place in the 2 weeks I’ve been here!
If I had thought about it early enough yesterday, I’d have booked out of the hotel here and headed up to Big Sur, which sadly, we missed in November. I suppose I could head up there today, and drive back tomorrow.
Mmmmm, maybe.
Anyway, so that’s the state of play here in California.
I’ll be back in Sydney at 6am on Monday morning (local time), I’ll have 2 days to recover, and then on Wednesday, I’ll be back at MIX106.5 as one of their Commercial Producers.
Sunday is our 6th wedding anniversary and I’m going to miss it. I pretty much lose that whole day due to the vagaries of the International Date Line.
So, on Tuesday, I would imagine that Cath and I will go out somewhere nice for lunch.
Oh great, ANOTHER bloody restaurant!
April 20, 2008
Sorry for the delay.
Last night, when I was writing the post-NAB post, I was up against the clock as Starbucks was closing at 10pm, so I didn’t get to publish this post at the same time.
As you’ll see, a bunch of these are shot around a couple of the casinos in Las Vegas.
Then, there’s a bunch of landscape stuff.
Megan (Author Relationship Manager at Lynda) recommended that I take a drive out to the Valley of Fire for some photography. I’m glad I went. It was beautiful. (Quite frankly, I don’t think the images they have on the official website are as good as mine… but that’s just my opinion!)
For those unfamiliar with it, it’s about 50 miles north of Las Vegas, just east of I-15.
April 19, 2008
Well, what can I say about NAB?
What a head trip!!
For those who have never been, allow me to try and describe the scene.
Imagine a hall that is approximately 300 meters long by about 100 meters wide.
That would be the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre.
The Central Hall would be the same size again.
And wait for it… the South Hall would be the same size as well, except it is 2 stories high!!
So, if my math doesn’t fail me… that’s about 30,000 square meters multiplied by 4 halls, plus probably another 7500 square meters of outdoor exhibits, which would equal something around 127,500 square meters.
I don’t know what that is in acres or hectares, but my feet tell me that it’s a lot!
After 4 days, no matter how much fun you’re having… you’re over it.
It was an absolute blast given that I had never been before, but I can imagine how those people who have been going every year for 30 years might get a bit jaded by it all.
As for stuff to look at?
Wow.
If it is in ANY WAY connected with the electronic media, it was there.
From USB jump drives right through to Bell Helicopter (see the pics).
From suppliers of mic cable to suppliers of satellite dishes.
Like I said at the outset… a total head trip.
I had a great time hanging out at the Lynda booth talking with people who came to have a look.
I also got to meet up with Andrew ‘Daryl’ Gungadoo (a long time BTP and SL listener). He’s posted a pic of the 2 of us on his Facebook page for those of you who are on FB and would like to check it out.
I finally got a chance to take the camera out in the last couple of days in Las Vegas, too.
Details on that in the next post.
But first, some pics from NAB 2008…
April 15, 2008
I know… I said I would blog regularly so you’d know what I was up to.
Last week was not the smooth week I anticipated, so let me backtrack a little.
Got into LA on the Sunday. That was ok.
On the Monday morning, I met up with one of my Sine Language listeners on the Amtrak at Fullerton Station in southern LA.
We commuted to his place of work, which is one of the MAJOR film studios, where he is VP of Post Production Services. He has asked me to not to name the studio, as they are very protective of their image/brand, so I shall respect that request. And I can’t name HIM, ’cause he’s an industry heavyweight and is well known in those circles.
Anyway, he gave me a guided tour of the studio’s Post facilities, which was just mind blowing for a guy like me who just loves anything to do with audio technology and hardware.
For those who are like me, how does a fully automated mixing console with 192 physical faders which can handle 580 inputs grab ya??
Wow!
It was awesome.
Or how about a server room (where they store their sound effects) which can store over a PETABYTE of data?
Yep, a petabyte.
That’s 1024 Terabytes, kiddies.
Anyway, I saw so much cool stuff there that I’d love to be able to say more about, but….
Then, that evening, I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
What can you say? They STILL rock, even though most of them are rapidly approaching 60.
2 and a half hours, with only a ONE MINUTE break between the main set and the encores!!
There are some bands half their age who should take a note.
So, after the gig, I hit the road for Ventura and got in there around 1:30am Tuesday morning.
Rolled in to the Lynda studios around 9:30 only to find a few issues which prevented us from recording anything on that day.
In all honesty, even if we hadn’t had those issues, I’m not sure how effective I’d have been anyway, after the previous couple of days!
So, Wednesday, I got recording in earnest. Finished the title on Saturday around lunchtime. Can’t tell you what it is just yet.
Then, that afternoon, Max (my producer at lynda) and I went and checked out a recording studio in Ventura where we’re going to be shooting some live action stuff next week.
Then, yesterday (Sunday), I drove from Ventura out to Las Vegas… about 6 hours of desert. Not as visually spectacular as I had hoped.
I’ve been here 9 days and haven’t pulled my 7D out of the camera bag yet! Shelton would not be impressed.
Today was day one of NAB.
Woah! What a headtrip!
There’s so much great stuff to see, but there’s all these really gorgeous promotional girls everywhere. It’s very distracting! No, really, it is.
Anyway, so now you’re up to date.
I’m off to grab some dinner.
March 25, 2008
Sorry guys, I forgot to put the link to the Antress ModernMeter dll in the show notes for episode 86 of Sine Language.
It’s there now!
Thanks to Tokyo Dan for picking up my deliberate mistake!
That was what they call in the software development world, an “undocumented feature”!
March 23, 2008
I know, I know… I told you all that there would be no podcasts for 7 weeks, right?
Yeah well… I got a great e-mail from Meredith Matthews (otherwise known as Mer from Braindouche, but I hadn’t made that connection at the time I recorded this) who asked about the whole “loudness war” thing.
Which of course led me off on a half hour rant about peak limiting, rms, VU, average loudness… all the usual suspects.
Anyway… THIS will be the last podcast for another 6 weeks, ok?
Enjoy.
The prosoundweb thread I mentioned is here.
And here’s some 1kHz tone to play with, if you’re interested.
And a late starter… the ModernMeter plugin can be downloaded from here (right click and “save as”).
March 16, 2008
Hi guys,
Sorry to say but I’m not going to be able to produce any new podcasts for about the next 7 weeks.
By the time you read this, it will (almost) be Monday here in Sydney and I’m starting (at least) a 2 week stint filling in as Commercial Producer at MIX106.5.
There is a high probability that that will be extended to 3 weeks, which is going to take me right through until the weekend I fly out to California.
And every spare minute I have between now and then is going to be spent on research for my Lynda duties.
And of course, I was always going to be out of the podcasting arena for those 3 weeks in the U.S. anyway.
So, it looks like I won’t be able to produce any shows until the first week of May.
Naturally, I will blog as often as I can to keep you informed of what I’m up to, and will certainly post pics both here and on Flickr of whatever I shoot in the States.
Sorry for the absence.
This week, our last podcast for about 7 weeks!
Shelton is off this week to take a photo tour to Kangaroo Island (for those wanting to see what Kangaroo Island looks like, Shelton recommends the movie, “December Boys” with Daniel Radcliffe),
Bruce is freelancing at a radio station in Sydney for the next 3 weeks, and will then be heading off to the US for the following 3 weeks,
we received some ‘green screen’ photos from Mark Haffner at ENVPIX Photography (see below). This is a topic we may cover in more detail upon our return.
Bruce is now on facebook,
Also, the final episode in our “wedding series”… shooting the wedding reception.
Shelton is going to supply some silhouette shots of the bridal waltz, but we’re still waiting for those. Check back soon.
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