Fuck you, road "enforcer", unofficial regulators of the road.

What is the deal with these people that think that they are the unofficial regulators of the road ways? I know you have experienced one of these people. The ones that sit, usually in the fast lane, and drive exactly the speed limit, thinking that they are making the roads safer by "regulating" the entire interstate by slowing everyone down to the posted speed limit. Listen here dipshit! They already have people that fulfill this function, they are call the "Highway Patrol"! You might recognize them with the marked cars with said name on the side and also the light bar on top that flash the cherries and blueberries.
When you decide to enforce your rules on other people when it's not your place it not only pisses everyone off, it is also increases the probability of causing a traffic accident. Let me elaborate; First off, no one like to be told what to do or to be controlled in any fashion. When you prevent someone from doing something, even if they don't really care in the first place, there is a immediate desire to do whatever they are told not to do. This is something that is learned and expressed in childhood and is carried over into our adult lives. Case in point, Mr. "enforcer" forces people to go slow and tries everything they can to not let people pass and go faster then they are. Even if you really don't have the desire to drive faster, you do have the desire to have to freedom to do it if you want to.
Mr "road regulator", when you have angry folks about 3 inches from your bumper getting more pissed off by the minute, with angry people 3 inches from their bumper, followed by... you get what I am saying... this can cause a huge pile up if one person makes a bad move. Also, whenever there is a small gap anywhere to get around you, angry people make dangerous maneuvers to just get past you, this also can cause a pileup. And for what, does this make you feel good to control something or someone? Let do everyone a favor and leave the Hwy Patrol to regulate the road ways. Get out of the passing lane, which is illigal in the first place to drive in and not just pass, and let people by. This will create less of a headache for everyone involved and also make the road safer for everyone.

-driveon

Logic 8 Pro - Looped audio bits -builds and fades

Just a quick note on something I seem to do a lot lately when working in Logic.
This is for making drum rolls, for creating small transitions to spice up a boring drum section, or can be used to create FX type sounds by stretching audio loops and running fades or plug-in automation.
I use this alot on percussion items, but can be applied to any audio bit. I will take a something like a high hat, cut it down in size to be maybe 1/2 or 1/4 size of original audio file. I will use the cursor in logic to grab the audio bit and draw out a loop:


When you hover your cursor over the top right of the audio sample, the cursor will change and you click and drag out the length of the loop:


Once you have the length of loop you want, right click and choose -> "convert loops to real copies":



This turn the software loop you have created to a series of small audio files. Use your key commands to select the glue tool; press the ESC key and press the number "6" to change the cursor to the glue tool, click the group of audio files you created in the last step:


This will create a new audio file based on the loop sequence, click "create":



You now have new audio file of the loop;



Press the "w" key to open the sample editor;



I usually fade the new files in -or- out; in this case I faded out to create a small transition at the end of a measure. Goto -> functions -> fade out.

Here is a sample loop that has been processed, faded-in on most of the sample and faded-out at the end;




Here are some audio clips:

Here is the original sample.

Here is the processed sample.

-tipon

Hands free driving? Motorola H780

H780 Link

Ahhhhh the Superbowl.

The Superbowl has arrived in my town and the volume of people is growing. I live about 10 minutes north of the Tampa International Airport, the same area that is the middle of the a huge construction project. The construction project alone adds around 25-45 extra minutes to my commute to and fro work and now I get to sit around and stare at the back of people cars for even longer due to the "extras" that are flying in. I have seen a lot more of expensive cars the past couple days, which is nice. I have seen a Lamborghini, a few Ferrari's, decked out Range Rovers..

In this morning's episode of "slow go"; the woman in front of me, really not paying attention to driving, which is really nothing new for this area, is using her "speaker phone" while she drives. She is holding her cell in her hand, yelling at her phone's microphone then holding the speaking to her ear. If you are using the speaker phone, why are you holding it? And why are you holding it like an 1/2 an inch from your mouth? Why not just hold it up to your ear like a normal phone call, instead of this crazy yelling, and staring at the speaker on the phone like its a person. Better yet, get a bluetooth, they are cheap and great.
I love my bluetooth. My original bluetooth was this huge over the ear kind that was great at one time, about a year ago, but now is bulky with this crappy sound issue where everyone heard themselves speak. It finally broke so I went looking for a replacement. I ended up at bestbuy, I know that the ntrwebs has better deals and such, but I am so a instant satisfaction type of person that I will pay extra because when I do decide that I am going to get something, I want it now!
Ok, where was I, so I picked up a Motorola H780, pretty much based on the fact that it was $60, that was my limit, it was small, and other motorola's models got decent reviews. This thing works great; sound is crystal clear, on both ends. I drive in the car for about 3+ hours a day and everyone I talk to has said that it's great. It has this great feature that it can be synced to two phones at the same time; I carry a AT&T phone for personal use and a Verizon phone for work. The H780 is conntected to both phones at the same time so I can get calls on ether phone and answer with one bluetooth, schweet d00d! Battery life is great, everytime I go to plug it in, the light is green and I use this thing alot. The only downside I have run into the range of use. After traveling around 10 feet or so away from your phone you will have some static, this is not really a problem for me since I use this in my car.

So.. I started with bitching about traffic, that sparked a thought about my bluetooth headset, and ended in a review of stuff I own and use..

-njoy

Logic 8 Pro - Command me with keys!

Key commands rule.

When you don't have to grab the mouse every time you need something, you gain efficiency and reduce frustration. You can execute nearly every Logic Pro function with a key command.

I used to set up lots screen-sets in Logic 8, but have mostly dropped that practice for a single screen set with heavy use of keyboard commands.

Here are a few of the stock key commands in Logic 8 that I use daily;

x - mixer window
p - piano roll window
w - sample editor
b - audio bin
a -automation
v -hide/unhide plugins in current window
s - solo
m - mute

cursor tools: esc+"number"

1 - pointer
2 - pencil
3 - eraser
4 - text tool
5 - scissors
6 - glue
7 - solo
8 - mute
9 - zoom
0 - cross fade

I'm not going type out and regurgitate what these key commands do; my best advise would be to just try the commands listed on a empty project and see what open/closes .

There are many more commands than what I have listed, but these should get you started using key commands, enough to spark your interest to delve deeper and possibly saving your mouse hand a bit of stress while improving your work flow.

-mixon

Beatport version 4.0 launched!

http://www.beatport.com

The 4.0 version of Beatport.com has been released.

The Beatport dot com interface has been updated with lots of new features.
I will not list everything that is new, I will just touch apon a few items I like:


New Player

*Track history whilst browsing session.
*Preview all the tracks in a release or a chart by clicking one button.
*Buy or delete all tracks in your player in one go.

Interface Upgrades

*Docking functionality - both playlist and My Beatport can be docked on either side or on top of each other for easy viewing
*Browser Back and Forward buttons now work, mouse scrolling too
*Keyboard commands for playback and purchasing
*DJ mixes easy to find - search by genre, label or artist.

More powerful My Beatport

*Upgraded My Beatport user tool with features that allow you to manage favorites, have more subscribing power, and tag favorite artists and labels
*All music with new release dots go to the top of My Beatport
*Add as many labels and artists as you’d like
*Go back to up to 8 weeks in the past to check for new releases
*Add favorites from any artist or label page

New hold bin, improved check out and crate system

*Hold bin feature allows you to save ‘maybe’ purchases for later.

Artwork, higher quality previews

*Embedded artwork into mp3s
*96k quality previews

Beatport.com is where I purchase about 70% of the digital music I DJ with. Legal and cheap with high quality downloads in MP3, MP4 and WAV formats.

Eq'ing tips and tricks

First off -this is no means anything close to being a complete write-up of how an equalizer works or really anything really technical, just a good tip on how to give a sound it's own space and make it stand out in the mix.

An instrument's sound is made up of a fundamental frequency, the musical note, and harmonics, what makes up the timbre. It is these harmonics that give the note its unique character.

Below you see a snapshot of an Logic Audio EQ with the analyzer activated, I am feeding a simple square wave into the EQ. I have used this simple sound so you can easily identify the fundamental frequency and the harmonics that make up the timbre of the sound.

The first thing people want to do when "looking" at the sound with the analyzer, is boost the highest peak frequency (fundamental frequency) of the sound, in the case of the example around 50hz. If you use EQ to boost the fundamental frequency, you are simply making the instrument louder, not enriching the timbre. Boosting the harmonic frequencies, on the other hand, boosts the instrument's tonal qualities, and gives it unique space in the mix. Increase at each harmonic band, not just a huge wide boost, small precise boosts of a db or so at each harmonic will yield good results. Remember there's no "magic' settings, every bit of source material is different and as such, each EQ setup will be specific and deliberate for that sound.

When EQing it's best to cut rather than boost frequencies. Boosting can lead to phasing problems. Phasing problems happen when waveforms get slightly out of alignment resulting in loss of clarity. To avoid boosting when EQing I tend to reduce the fundamental frequency by a few DB's with a sharp Q. This will allow the harmonics to be louder, increasing the complexity of the timbre.




Like I mentioned at the beginning, this is no means anything close to being a complete write-up on EQing, just some basic rules I follow to shape sound. The best advice is to use your ears, not your eyes, when trying to eq a sound.

TTM 57SL Mixer for Scratch Live

http://www.rane.com/ttm57sl.html

In the beginning of the digital Dj mixing era with cdplayers, I told myself, and others, that I would never switch over the digital side of dj'ing. I did own a CDJ unit to be able to test and try out my own attempts of music production or to play an out a out of print track that was recorded and burned.
Don't get me wrong, mixing with cd's is not easier that mixing vinyl, IMO, it's harder because you can not see the structure (breaksdowns, etc), or how much of the track is left at a glance. What I didn't like about cd-mixers was losing the tactile feeling of the vinyl, how you release the record, how you bump, push or pull the track to get it aligned for a mix.
What I learned to dislike about vinyl is the weight for one, anyone who has Dj'ed knows how luggin just one crate of vinyl will break your back. I also didn't like the fact that you can scratch and destroy the playability of the track by making a simple mistake, most records have a limited press run and hardly ever get re-pressed. The last downer about vinyl is the cost, when a kick ass track get made and pressed for distribution they usually pair it with a not so hot B side track. You are basically paying $9-$12 for one track, sometimes even more if you have to pay for shipping, especially if it is bought and shipped from over the pond.

When digital tracks got paired with time coded vinyl is when I started seriously changing my feelers about the digital Dj'ing . "You mean I can control an mp3 with a real vinyl record"? At first I was didn't believe that it could be as accurate as needed, like a real vinyl record, to my surprise it was. It released the same, stopped the same, when you push/pulled to correct the record it was perfect, I could even scratch with accuracy.

This is in no means a complete review of this product, just a few features that I liked when deciding if I wanted to purchase:

Features:
The Rane 57SL Mixer integrates Serato Scratch Live with Rane hardware. I can control the Scratch Live software interface from the mixer without touching my laptop. The mixer lets you navigate through your library, load tracks, and control effects. What I really like is the integration with the Itunes library and playlists. I just import and create standard playlists, smart playlists (I create em for genres and also bpm range settings). The library in Scratch Live reflects everthing that is in your Itunes library.
The software that runs in the mixer is upgradable and is updated often with general features improvements and added FX. The faders are top notch and magnetic; the most accurate and longest-lasting. Recording with the 57SL is a breeze, you just click record in the interface and off you go. The mixer supports both analog and digital sources, at the same time, you can mix your old vinyl that you have not ripped to mp3 with your digital files. The mixer can also operate in a standalone mode as a standard analog mixer.
As you can see, I am sold on digital dj'ing using the Rane 57SL. Anyone who had doubts about making the switch, feel assured that making the choice to the 57SL is a good one. The price might seem a bit steep at first, but when you realize that your digtal tracks cost you about $.99-$1.50 each compared to the $12 for a single slab of vinyl, the price doesn't seem so bad.


-mixwell