Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Oliver Chesler September 26th, 2010 - You may have noticed that I haven't written in a week. I probably should have posted up a "on vacation" notice...oh well. I just got back from San Francisco/LA and I picked up a Native Instruments Maschine so check back for a review on that soon. I also chose this week to install the Seagate Momentus XT I posted about a while back. I decided to do a clean install of my operating system which ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Sebastien Chorney September 18th, 2010 - The NS10, NS10, NS10; to a beginner it must seem that audio engineers have an infatuation with it. Indeed, the signature white cone on black cabinet is so recognizable, people who aren't audio geeks might think all studio speakers look like that. Earlier this week, I linked a Gizmodo article on the Yammies through Twitter (btw, add me here!). Later I figured that I might go a step further and provide a succinct review of ... Read More

September 15th, 2010 - I am not a professional skateboader, snowboarder, or mountain biker, however living in Vancouver, I come to know and hang out with a few athletes. I have never been in contention for pro-level status but even I can tell when an athlete has good flow. Have you ever watched videos of athletes that seem really smooth and link everything they do into one continuous stream of talent? It's pretty obvious when watching a snowboarder ride powder, but even ... Read More

September 6th, 2010 - I've had my M-Audio Firewire 410 for a long time. I picked it up in 2004 when I needed a mobile recording solution and I still use it. Lately though, I've been having audio drop outs. The software mixer will register audio output, and the card itself will light up its LEDs, but no audio will play. I can unplug and replug the interface back in, and it still won't register. What's especially weird, is that it will be ... Read More

September 5th, 2010 - Sometimes even your favorite songs become lodged into your head and it's difficult to get them out. That's the problem with catchy songs, sometimes they're too successful. Unhearit is a website that uses brute force to dig that earworm out. By cycling through another catchy song in a random playlist, the idea is that another song will take hold, forcing out the song that's been driving you crazy. Whether this new song will be better or not is ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Make Magazine September 2nd, 2010 - Have you ever seen those sweet custom-molded earphones and actually looked up how much it costs to have them molded, on top of the price of earphones themselves? I don't doubt that they're worth the price, but I certainly can't afford them. I do, however, have a pair of old Shure generic in ear monitors (IEM) that are in need of new sleeves. Make Magazine has a tutorial on how to roll your own out ... Read More

September 1st, 2010 - You may not be able to live out your childhood dream of being aboard a spaceship (at least not for a few more years), but you can at least get your music played on a spaceship. It's at least something right? NASA is holding a contest (only available to US citizens I'm afraid), to get your song played during the final missions of the Space Shuttle. Listeners vote up your original music and the top two songs will ... Read More

August 29th, 2010 - Way back when first started this site in 2008, I talked briefly about how video games like Guitar Hero or Rockband, might inspire a whole new generation of musicians. Well I just wanted to share that I met one. Today, I recorded a demo for a young man who is going to give Dave Mustaine (of Megadeth) a CD this Friday. He started playing Guitar Hero, mastered all the songs on Expert Mode, which got him interested in learning ... Read More

August 26th, 2010 - I'm working on a track for my brother's upcoming album, and while I was working with the drum part, I thought of a tip that might help some of you out. In situations where we cannot record live drums (definitely the case for a lot of us home studio guys), it's pretty easy to pull up a great sounding drum plugin. Many producers I know use Addictive, BFD, or Superior drums, and I'm also partial to the Steve Slate ... Read More

Photo courtesy of iamaruntimeerror August 24th, 2010 - Gizmodo has a pretty damning article on the state of cheap earbuds. In the article, it outlines how all the companies making fashion earbuds likely use the same manufacturer and don't even have inhouse designers or engineers. Companies in China offer a-la-carte choices, and all you have to do is order a few thousand to sell, and you can have whatever you want made. I'm sure you all know that this kind of stuff happens with ... Read More