IsildursBane

Cool. Well I can't wait to make a trip to some music stores to check out some nice speakers! Unfortunately it's a good 2 hour drive to any place that stocks this stuff That's what the internet is for. You'll have to pay for shipping for the things you return, but you'll get a wider selection and a greater length of time to check them out. -Dan.

If he can't even make edits w/o pops & clicks, chances are most of his other edits are lousy, too. Get the original audio project/OMF and do it right. Drawing a new fade takes 2 seconds. Trying to find a click can be a PITA. -Dan.

At the risk of offending, that is such a frustrating cop out of an answer. :/ A good ear (with good monitoring) should be able to hear which differences exist due to performance, and which exist due to sound quality differences. For example, if a low pass filter were applied to one clip at 5 kHz, the lack of top end in just one clip would obviously not be caused by the fact that one is a different performance. That's because you can't play it in such a manner as to sound like it's got a 5kHz LPF. You can play it differently enough to achieve the difference in tones you've gotten. Are those differences going to make one clip's overall spectral balance and clarity noticeably different than the other? Hell no. Don't kid yourself. Actually listen to these things, the way they differ could never come down to performance... I disagree completely. Hitting the cymbal in a slightly different place could account for those differences. The guitar player shifting in his seat a bit or playing a little harder or differently could definitely account for that difference. I don't disagree with your overall assessment that the second clips sounded more dull, and there may actually be something to this. But in all honesty, I don't think the clips were played or recorded well enough to begin with to say one way or another that recording at 44.1 makes this dull and muddy. -Dan.

no, you don't need them matched. -Dan.

This is essentially like arguing about whether or not I can take a good photographs. Just like anybody else, I can take my wife's $1500 Nikon, put it on a tripod, set it to auto, aim it at a mountain/flower/supermodel, and push the button. What will come out is probably a reasonably accurate representation of what I saw. If what I saw was attractive, then the picture will be as well. But that doesn't mean I'm a good photographer. It means I knew how to push a button and not f' things up in the process. I don't know a thing about lighting, color theory, composition, exposure times, depth of field, focal length, aperture settings, filters, etc. If I happen to take a pretty shot, that doesn't mean that photography is easy; it means that I got lucky. -Dan.

If you want orchestral samples, you're better off buying an orchestral sample library than a keyboard. If you already have a good Mac, I wouldn't switch to a PC just to do music. Plenty of good software is available for the Mac (lots of composers like Logic), and you could put that money towards something else. Here in Boston, there's a pretty vibrant game development community w/ a lot of students and indie guys doing projects on their own - all of which may need music. However, there are also a ton of entry-level composers looking for the same thing. Berklee's got a pretty active video game music club that, AFAIK, opens up their meetings to the public. I know they've had some big-name composers come through to give lectures. That may be a place to start. -Dan.

BellyAcres Productions. Named for my parents farm. -Dan.

You can't hear up that high, so your focus on 50K vs 40K vs 20K is a bit misguided. The main "benefit" of having such an extended frequency response is that it generally means that the response of top-end that you can hear is fairly smooth/flat. Frequency responses are generally listed having a range of something like +-3dB. If a piece of gear is described as having a response extending all the way out to 50KHz (which is only an octave above 25KHz), then you can be fairly certain that it's response through 20KHz is smooth. Whereas a piece that is only listed as going up to 20KHz may have a rather precipitous drop above 18KHz. Of course, all of this assumes that the figures and charts are accurate and that the marketing dept. hasn't massaged things... -Dan.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no - it depends on the context and how egregious the error is. Trying to polish poorly-played turds has actually helped me appreciate good music and good playing, regardless of the audio quality. The more I do this, the more powerless I feel, because I am continually reminded that regardless of how amazing I may (or really, may not) be, I am but a cog in a machine. If I screw up, I can hose the project, but even if I'm completely on the ball, there are still a million things outside of my control that can tank the whole thing. That said, I'm now a lot more inclined to notice sibilance on a bad VO track or feedback during a show. -Dan.

No - thankfully! I'm not a big fan of figured bass because it's not relevant today. Sort of like learning Latin. IMO, it's a usefull tool for forcing you to recognize the way that different chord inversions work together. -Dan.

I decided to put my scanner where my mouth is, so to speak. Here is the Back Chorale I mentioned earlier (175 KB GIF file) : Bach Chorale #8 Analyzing this piece was one of the most productive homework assignments I ever had in music school. The task is to identify every chord, understanding that the chords change at each quarter note. There are passing tones on many of the eight note beats, but they don't count for this assignment. So anyone who wants to learn harmony - and I mean really learn harmony - should download and print this out, then write the chord names (in pencil!) over each quarter note chord cluster. I wonder if I should start a new thread inviting folks to write the chords they hear at each beat, and upload their version for critique and further discussion? --Ethan Did you have to write out the figured bass notation, too? I was good through about 3.5 semesters of theory; It got kind of ridiculous when we started charting out 12-tone 20th century pieces on a grid. -Dan.

Originally posted by blue2blue but where it REALLY shines is in documentation and responsiveness to the developer community -- two places where Microsoft is UTTERLY ABYSMAL. (NO other company I've dealt with on an ongoing basis has such INCREDIBLY BAD DOCUMENTATION as Microsoft. It is an UTTER DISGRACE.) Really? I always thought the MSDN library stuff was pretty good, albeit a bit tough to navigate at times. -Dan.

Originally posted by loner22 Okay. That's it. I am giving up. I can't make my amp sound the way I want it to. What amp do you have? What guitar do you have? What do you want them to sound like? -Dan.

Originally posted by littledog 100+ hour per week? Wow! How do you do it? That's 17 hours per day, six days a week! Try doing live sound during a busy summer festival season. 17 hrs a day; standing up; in the sun/rain; lifting heavy {censored}; running around like crazy; coated in sweat, dirt, grease, and beer sludge; being blasted by 105+dB sound levels. m/:evil:m/ -Dan.

Originally posted by jonmatifa I log 0, I'm hoping to increase that by 10% this month. That would still be 0. -Dan.

and the half diminish is B diminish (B minor flat5). You can't have a half-diminished triad. A minor chord w/ a b5 is considered diminished. The term "half-diminished" only applies to 7 chords and describes a 7 chord with a diminished triad and a b7 (e.g. C, Eb, Gb, Bb). Whereas, a fully diminished 7 chord has a diminished triad and a diminished 7 (e.g. C, Eb, Gb, Bbb) In fact, the big no-no of common practice voice-leading, parallel fifths, is the basis of just about every rock song. The reason for avoiding parallel fifths is to prevent the different voices from blending to the point of being indistinguishable from each other. If this is an effect that the composer either desires or is just not concerned with, then it's not an issue. again a bunch of crap. kinda hard to play any 7th type chords with 3 notes, or any jazz chords for that matter. Really? I guess my jazz teachers were wrong. They were always telling me to leave out notes. Originally posted by Stereoface For the record... Music theory is usuless to recording engineers Bull{censored}. I've spent my last couple sessions trying to chop up and autotune some horn parts that could have been played better. Being able to read a chart, transpose keys, and understand harmony and chord theory was invaluable. -Dan.

About me: I'm a 24 yr old software engineer-turned-audio guy. I don't own any gear aside from a 57, some headphones, and an RNC, but I work for a regional provider. The Gear: A-RIG: Vertec 4889s Yorkville LS1004 subs Crown MacroTech amps Driverack 480 Midas XL-200 (FOH) Midas XL-250 (Mon) K-T graphic EQ ART & DBX comps Drawmer gates Lexicon PCM 81 & 91 TC Electronics 2290 some other fx, I forget B-Rig: A-rig speakers, amps, & processing Midas Verona (FOH) Midas Sienna (Mon) K-T graphic EQ DBX comps Behringer gates Lexicon PCM 91 TC M-One & D-2 Monitors: Yorkville TX2M w/ QSC power Ashly Graphic EQ's Sidefills: Yorkville TX8's w/ Yorkville power Racks: New stuff is all R&R - great racks & caddies that truck pack nicely and are practically indestructible. Old stuff is a mish-mash. Cables: Whirlwind snakes, miscellanious cables - we've pretty much sworn off custom-built stuff from CBI. Too many incorrect & poorly-built shipments. Bar rig: JBL 4732 tops Yorkville LS1004 subs Yorkville amps (4040 & 6040) Behringer comps & gates TC M-One & D-2 Alto graphic EQs Mackie 24-4 or 24ch Yamaha M3000 JBL XR-100 or Mackie SRM-450 monitors Other stuff: A&H ML-5000 Yamaha M-3000A Yamaha M-2000 Opinions: It's hard to complain about the expensive stuff. It sounds good and it works. I doubt that a line array is the best solution for all of the shows in which we employ them, but we don't have anything in between 4732's and Vertecs, and having only one system that's scalable makes it easier to keep things straight in the shop. The Verona & Sienna are both brand new, so I haven't had any trigger time w/ them. The Verona seems to have a few quirks - all channels look the same, but some are stereo and some are mono. Regarding the bar stuff... The boss doesn't spend much money on outboard gear - his attitude is that if he can get it to sound good with a certain rig, then that rig should be enough for anybody else. I can't say that I disagree with him, but it would be nice to have some better eq's. Those alto units are shit. Wishes: Most of my wishes deal with the organizational side of the business. I realize that rock-n-roll has an inherent amount of flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, but I think we take that a bit beyond what's necessary. For gear, I'd like a digital console to replace the 24 ch M3000, which is used with only one band. There's 10 of them and 8 have IEM's, so we need something with enough auxes. Originally posted by Axisplayer ABOUT ME: I am a 53 year old computer geek for NASA. Houston, Florida, or elsewhere? My brother works for USA in Houston. -Dan.

Originally posted by Paul J. Edwards I have Abelton Live and I thing it sucks!! I wish I could find something as easy as my Tascam 4 track casette recorder. I can bounce tracks so easy and there is no latency. In Abelton I lat down a drum track and the try to put a rhythem track over it and it is way out of sync. I am using an M-Audio Black Box and monitor it from the BB so ther should be no latency. One day it works great and the next it sucks. I hate this {censored}!!! If you're just interested in straight up multitrack recording, I wouldn't go with Ableton Live. I know some people use it, but I found it very confusing. It seemed more suited for on-the-fly loop construction and sound manipulation. For regular recording, try any one of the dozen or so popular recording apps, e.g. Sonar, PT, Digital Performer, Logic, Cubase/Nuendo, Traktion, Audacity, etc. -Dan.

Originally posted by Picker Thanks ZK 2. Alot of stuff seems to be geared for Intel (software and HW)... AMD works but... Such as? -Dan.

Originally posted by Warhead Proven track records of mother boards etc mean a lot also in pro audio, and while I am no expert myself in such matters my partner and a pro PC builder are in the middle of putting together what we hope will be an affordable program for PC seekers with recording needs. The guy who is putting together the lineup stresses reliability over "latest and greatest" not only for financial reasons but for reasons of he knows what works as it has been proven over time. That's how the military does it. -Dan.

Originally posted by MrKnobs I think I might actually be older than Mixerman, if that's even possible. Have you read any of Aardvark's "Depths of My Stupidity" saga? It makes Mixerman's Diaries look like something you'd get from a freshman composition major. They're in Mixerman's forums, but the first ones might not be up anymore. -Dan.