Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Joi February 8th, 2010 - As I struggle to finish material for my RPM Challenge album, I find myself frustrated that I can't get what I hear in my head, out into the real world. Perhaps I'm rusty, perhaps I'm overthinking it, probably both. I've written about the problem with too many options, and I know that the RPM Challenge is supposed to force you into a timeline, which theoretically simplifies your mental process. Unfortunately, I'm finding it easier said ... Read More

February 7th, 2010 - Andrea Pettinao is the sound designer behind Pettinhouse, a site where you can buy guitar, bass, and percussion sample kits for NI's Kontakt. He has a pretty big section of free Kontakt downloads. Most of the kits have a preview link so you can listen to what they sound like before you download them. There's some pretty good stuff on there. Of course, if you like what you've downloaded, you can always donate and support his libraries. Download page Read More

February 6th, 2010 - Gakken makes some of the coolest DIY kits out there. I have the SX-150 pocket synthesizer and a music box kit. They now have a DIY vinyl gramophone kit that allows you to actually cut your own record, and then play it back. It's powered by a hand-crank (ie. your own muscle power) and it can playback 33/45/78 rpm records. I'd imagine that it's up to you to crank at the correct speed though. If you want your own, ... Read More

February 5th, 2010 - If you're like me and have been procrastinating about writing music for the RPM Challenge by reading music blogs, then you'll like what I'm about to post. MusicRadar has 10,000 free samples for your downloading pleasure. Now you can download samples and sift through them instead of writing your album! Well maybe that'll just be what I'm doing. In all seriousness though, I've downloaded a couple of their packs so far, and they have some good stuff in ... Read More

February 4th, 2010 - First the 27 inch iMacs and their yellow screen problems, now comes word that the Nehalem Mac Pros have overheating problems, specifically when handling audio processing. Gizmodo reports that the processors use up to 20% of their capacity handling the audio, as well as get 15-20% hotter than normal. This happens even if you use a separate sound card. The new i7 Mac Pros are coming soon, so if you've been thinking of putting down the cash for a ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Rode February 3rd, 2010 - Darren sent me an email asking for condenser microphone recommendations he could use for recording vocals; he wants to spend between $100 to $200. As I was writing a response, it occurred to me that others might be looking at buying microphones as well. So thanks to Darren for the question, and I hope it's alright that I posted it up! Since you're looking at recording vocals, you'll want to look at condensers with large diaphragms. ... Read More

Photo courtesy of One Small Clue February 2nd, 2010 - I was looking for MPC-style plugins, when I stumbled across Poise. Poise is a Windows-only MPC-style VST that is super-intuitive. You drag sounds you want onto the drum pads, and you're good to go. You can layer multiple samples onto each pad, and adjust parameters of each layer. No muss, no fuss. There's also a very simple MIDI learn feature for mapping to your MIDI controllers. What I like about it is that it ... Read More

Photo courtesy of LackRack.org February 1st, 2010 - The fellows over at eth-O have hacked an Ikea Lack table into a rack mount for their network gear. Why bring up network rack mounts? Because audio gear is normally at the same standard width of 19 inches. Cheap audio rack anyone? Lack tables can be had for $8 USD, which makes these racks about as inexpensive as you could make on your own from raw materials. They are available in a multitude of colours to ... Read More

Play me off studio cat! January 31st, 2010 - Usually on the weekend, I post about a DIY project. Well this isn't so much about a DIY project you can do, but a DIY that I just undertook. One of the benefits of people knowing that I make music, is that when they have an old instrument they don't want, they give it to me. Well the brother of one of my friends is moving, and didn't want an old electric organ that a ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Pro Audio DSP January 30th, 2010 - The Dynamic Spectrum Mapper is one of the most powerful compressors I've ever seen. Unlike a multi-band compressor which only has a few bands, the Dynamic Spectrum Mapper is able to sample a full frequency spectrum map and apply compression whenever anyspecific part of the frequency spectrum goes over that established threshold. If it sounds complicated, it is, however the fact that the DSM does this all for you, behind the scenes, makes ... Read More