2008 February | byron j. scullin

Archive for February, 2008

Why records DO all sound the same | Word Magazine

Published by boz at February 29, 2008 in blogs, mastering, music, opinion, pro-tools, sound and studios. 0 Comments

Another great article today from Word Magazine on the state of making records and all the issues involved, from sound quality to making hits. This article was written by Tom Whitwell who also maintains the awesome Music Thing blog.

Why records DO all sound the same | Word Magazine

“Why does most music sound the same these days? Because record companies are scared, they don’t want to take risks, and they’re doing the best they can to generate mainstream radio hits. That is their job, after all. And as the skies continue to darken over the poor benighted business of selling music, labels are going to cling to what they know more fiercely than ever.”

(Via Music Thing.)

Picture of Jack Joseph Puig in his studio.

What does a $6 million dollar home theatre look like?

Published by boz at February 19, 2008 in gear, opinion, sound, surround/ambisonics and theatre. 1 Comment

So what happens when you send $6 million on a home cinema?

This happens….

Full article here.
(via Audio Video Interiors)

Things I would expect from this home cinema:

for all men to instantly show me a deep and lasting respect
at least a 3 to 5 inch extension in both length and girth
to have my pick of the women and,
- get instantly rigid
- go the distance
- go repeatedly
to make lightning bolts come out of my finger tips and have a god-like presence where ever I go
to both be able to both see and hear individual sperm in porno cum-shots
to know more about music & cinema than any other living human
to know more about hi-fi, audio and electronics than anyone within 3.5 light-years of the solar system
to hear some “killer, phat” bass
for The Carpenters Greatest Hits to sound pretty good, particularly “Calling Occupants…”
for a constant stream of male audiophiles to be paying me a visit
for a constant stream of male audiophiles to be using my bathroom in an inappropriate manner
for other men to speak of me in hushed tones when they see my stride purposefully round the floor at any hi-fi trade show
to ensure that each individual viewing of “An Inconvenient Truth” burns more CO2 than it took to make the film itself.
to put on a film like Transformers and initially be overwhelmed, then kinda bored and finally depressed at how most of the films I’m watching are really pretty shithouse.
to budget into the room costing an allowance for therapy for reassurance that, what with the state of the world and all, it’s still okay to drop $6 million on a home cinema.
and the ones that are good really don’t need any of this gear.
to find enlightenment watching the death/dream sequence at the end of Kubrick’s 2001

I’m sure there are more things within the reach of this home cinema but, you know, I have a life to get back to. If you want more however - check out the guy with the biggest home subs I’ve ever seen. Considering the subs plus the various shades of brown in this guys room, the word anal has new, um.. resonance? The design of the site itself is enough to tell you that this guys sense of taste up and left when he bought that 1st copy of Neil Sedaka’s Calendar Girl when he was 13.

Free RADIOHEAD remix album

Published by boz at February 14, 2008 in links, music and webage. 0 Comments

Oakland DJ Amplive did a bunch of re-mixes in tribute to Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” album.
He put them up on the net for free.
He received a cease and desist order from Warner Bros. lawyers.
He put a video on YouTube explaining himself and asking to meet the band and play them the re-mixes.
He did.
Amplive’s remix album of In Rainbows is once again available for free download, this time with the band’s blessing. Get the Rainydayz remix album here.

Great work Radiohead - keep it up.

My list of MUST HAVE Macintosh applications.

Published by boz at February 13, 2008 in apple and software. 1 Comment

Having just recently completely reformatted my laptop and upgraded the OS to 10.5 Leopard, I thought I’d share with you my list of must have applications. Generally over the course of time, my operating system fills up with all sorts of crappy little apps that I try but mostly never use. We all have a suite of tools that we go to on a regular basis, and starting from scratch with your OS is a really good way to clarify which applications and tools are the ones that you must have. So, here’s my list in pretty much the order that I downloaded them onto my computer brain.

All the prices listed below are in Australian Dollars priced on 11th February 2008 - prices may very due to the exchange rate at the time you buy, hence the (approx.) after most of the prices. I compiled this list for my bit on RRR FM’s computing and IT show Byte Into It. You will find a player with the show at the bottom of this post!

The Unarchiver - http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html
Cost: FREE

Multi format de-compression utility. Quick, fast and easy. Takes care of standard stuff like ZIP but also stuff rare to Macintosh like RAR.

1Password - http://1password.com/

Cost: $33 (approx.)

Full featured password management application. Automatically keeps track of any password and/or form you enter into your browser. Automatically fills forms based on an identity you enter - and you can have multiple identities. Also will automatically generate a strong password for you and keep track of all the passwords generated.

Little Snitch - http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html
Cost: $28 (approx.)

Little Snitch is an application that works like a dynamic firewall. Basically, if an application tries to connect to something else on your network/internet the Snitch let you know by popping up a notification on the screen and ask you if you want to allow or deny. It also has a handy network monitor to show you which applications are talking to the ineternet, how often and how much. Essential!

Adium - http://www.adiumx.com/
Cost: FREE

Open source multi-messenger application. Supports: AOL IM (inc ICQ & dotMAC), Jabber (Google Talk & LiveJournal), MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, MySpace IM, Gadu-Gadu, Novell Groupwise, QQ, Lotus Sametime. Well supported with help, updates and customizations/add-ons.

Skype - http://www.skype.com/
Cost: FREE

Ubiquitous multi-messenger and internet telephony application.

NetNewsWire - http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/NetNewsWire/
Cost: FREE

King of mac news readers. Once you get RSS/Newsfeeds you realize how much easier it is to collect info from the web. NetNewsWire is a full featured reader, with it’s own browser functionality, can download podcasts/vodcasts and feed them to iTunes, ability to take clippings and also save all your feeds and their read/unread status to the web for remote RSS access via the NewsGator service.

Mars Edit - http://www.red-sweater.com/marsedit/
Cost: $33 (approx.)

Great blogging tools - allows you to write and format blog content off-line and post directly to your feed. Also has facility for posting MP3’s and other content via your blog. Allows you to set categories and keywords. Also pings RSS search engines when you upload a new post. Integrates well with many blog formats such as WordPress, Drupal, Live Journal, Movable Type and so on.

Transmit - http://www.panic.com/transmit/
Cost: $33 (approx.)
This is a great FTP client. Fully featured with a great UI.

VLC - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Cost: FREE
This is a great additional media player for the macintosh (and other OS’s as well). This bad boy will play pretty much most media you throw at it - divx/avi’s, DVD’s, MP3’s, etc. If QuickTime won’t play it, VLC will (except for RealMedia, but no so many use that now anyhow…)

Growl - http://growl.info/
Cost: FREE
This is an on-screen notification application. Handy when an application you’re using is in the background as it makes sexy little windows pop up on screen to let you know when stuff happens - like people sending you a skype message, iTunes tracks at they start playing, when FTP uploads/downloads completed and many more.

Flip4Mac - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx
COST: FREE
This is a set of system extensions that lets QuickTime play Wimdows Meida (WMV) files. Many sites like The Age newspaper and even RRR use Windows Media for streaming services - this way you won’t miss out on the action. Also there is a PRO version available if you want to make Windows Media content on the Macintosh.

Skitch - http://skitch.com/
COST: FREE
Skitch is a very sweet little application that is super-handy for doing fast image editing. A very simple user interface and a great demo movie make this even easier to use. Also has built in services for simply uploading your images to dotMAC, an FTP server of your choice and even Skitch themselves offer a free space for uploading! Also made by a company with local (Australian) talent!

AppZapper - http://appzapper.com/
COST: $15 (approx.)
When the time comes and you need to get rid of an application - AppZapper zaps ‘em. Neat, tidy and simple - this application gets rid of the main application and all associated files on your machine.

SuperDuper - http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
COST: FREE. Extended functionality: $31 (approx.)
This application is a great, simple and effective back-up tool. Lets you back up a BOOTABLE copy of your whole drive. Also lets you do many more tricky back-up scenarios with the extended functionality.

QuickTime Pro - http://www.apple.com/quicktime/pro/
COST: $45
QuickTime has a lot of stuff under the hood and the only way to get to it is to go Pro. Lets you do things like save embedded QuickTime content to your local drive. Also lets you export any QuickTime media to other QuickTime formats. Good for shrinking movies for the internet and other things like taking audio files out of QuickTime movies.

WIDGETS FOR DASHBOARD
Send SMS - http://www.smsmac.com/widget.php

FREE TO DOWNLOAD, BUT IT COSTS PER SMS TO SEND
A great widget for send SMS from your machine. Does cost for the messages, but is easier to set-up & use than free bluetooth alternatives. Also has Address Book integration for you stored contact and group SMS

iStat pro - http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/istatpro.html
COST: FREE
Overview of what your computer is up to right now with things like drive space, network address, CPU temperature and many more.

ISP Usage Widget - http://lemonjar.com/?p=products.widgets
COST: FREE
Find out how many schmegabytes you’re schlepping back from them interwebs using these handy dandy widgets! Most big aussie ISP’s covered - Optus, iiNET, Internode, NetSpace, etc..

Talk about using Ableton Live to create generative music.

Published by boz at February 11, 2008 in ableton live, gear, gigs and software. 0 Comments

This Wednesday (13/2) I’ll be doing a talk at the Beats N Bleeps night at Glitch Bar & Cinema in North Fitzroy. I’ll demonstrating techniques and tools for Ableton Live that are useful for creating sounds in a generative & novel way. I’ll be chatting around 9pm. I believe that entry is FREE !

Before my appearance at Beats N Bleeps, I’ll be on the radio in my regular capacity as Apple commentator on RRR FM’s Byte Into It. This week I’ll be talking about my clean Leopard install and all the apps that I’ve re-loaded without thinking twice - call it my must have’s for your machine. The show starts at 7pm (AEDT) on 102.7 FM in Melbourne, via live stream and also via podcast.