It’s true; there’s going to be a Mini Maker Faire in Seattle on June 2nd and 3rd, 2012! Swing by the Seattle Center to check out all the fun interactive projects and displays that your fellow makers will be showing off. If you want to show off your own project, you can sign up for a booth space on their web site (hurry though- the deadline is April 7.)
I’ve been working on a new site, and I think it’s ready for you to check out. It’s called The Synthesizer Academy. Every Monday, myself or a guest writer will post a new synthesis tutorial, how-to or lesson. Topics are going to include everything from what exactly a synthesizer is to how to put together your very own system. If you like synths, or even think you might, go have a look.
The University of Pennsylvania posted this fun-to-watch video of flying robot quadrotors playing the James Bond theme on a variety of instruments. The slower instrument parts (keyboard, cymbal) are played by having the robot fly up and down. The faster lead part is played on a “couch guitar” they rigged up by running a series of strings tuned to the right series of notes across a couch frame. 3 robots take turns dragging a wire across the strings to play the sequence.
The whole thing is pre-programmed and the robots are acting autonomously. We’re one step closer to Skynet.
What is mastering? It’s what happens to your music after you’ve finished recording and mixing it. This includes:
This is of course an over-simplified list. My good friend Steve Turnidge wrote a book explaining the mastering process in great detail which is about to be released. He’s a very talented guy, so if you really want to make your music and studio recordings shine I highly recommend you check out his desktop mastering book.
Update: Here’s a video of Steve explaining how audio production is like pie. Sweet, delicious pie.
The Lite F/X 1741 fogger was cheap and readily available a few years ago. Many of us have one or more of them that still work great. One down-side to these fog machines is that it’s tough to find fog timer remotes and wireless remotes that actually work with them. I’ll show you how to make common remotes that are readily available work with these foggers.
Ahoy, matey! Today be September 19. It’s time to throw your “proper” English overboard and talk like a pirate, else ye be cursed to spend eternity in Davy Jones’ locker!
Personally, I think any day is a good one to sound piratey, but a couple of scalawags in Oregon decided that this was the best day of all to unleash your inner pirate. Go forth, pillage and plunder my fellow buccaneers!
Most of the time, if I’m shooting with a flash, I’m using it off-camera. Up until now I’ve been using a PC cord, which limits how far you can get from the flash and likes to fall out all the time. For a bit I tried a super-cheap remote flash trigger made by some company with an unpronounceable name, but it only worked about half the time. Finally I quit screwing around and ordered some PocketWizards. I’ve had a chance to play around with them a little bit now, so I’ll give you my first impressions.
You might be wondering where all the articles went. I got tired of having NucleusCMS break stuff all the time so I’m porting everything over to WordPress. Don’t worry, the articles will come back as I get them moved over to WP.
Update: Okay, I’m mostly finished moving everything over. Some articles didn’t make it because half of the content mysteriously disappeared and not all of them were cool enough to dig through SQL backups to recover (shock, I know…). Also, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to transfer comments, so they’re all gone. The good news is that the comment notifications will probably work now and I’ll quit ignoring you!
It’s been bugging me for months. It seemed like every time I go to a site that’s running ads there is a picture of a delicious looking pile of- something? Are they tiny pastel-colored hamburgers? Are they soap? I hope not because they look like I should be eating them. Clicking the ad only takes me to the Groupon sign up page.
The other day I was poking around in Flickr and I saw a picture of some of these mystery items that someone had taken. I clicked on the picture and the caption held the answer; they are French macaroons.
I feel better now that I know what they are (and also that I didn’t have a strong desire to eat soap).
I’ve been giving the new Tron soundtrack by Daft Punk a listen the last couple days and I have to say it is rather awesome. I would describe it as a unique blend of ambient and orchestral; definitely way more on the symphonic side than I was expecting. I think I need to quit playing it though because all it’s doing is making me wish the new Tron movie would hurry up and open.
If you’re looking to get the soundtrack, be warned that the US version is missing a few tracks. It only contains the following:
