Modd3d

What is mastering?  It’s what happens to your music after you’ve finished recording and mixing it.  This includes:

• Arrange tracks and spaces between into their final order
• Perform any minor edits that may be required
• Remove noise
• Adjust levels
• Sweeten tracks by proper application of equalization and compression
• Adjust ambiance or stereo width as necessary

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.

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.

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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!

Official ITLAPD Site

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.

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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:

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The Micromoog was Moog and friends’ solution to making synthesizers affordable to poor starving musicians. It has a fraction of the features (and 1/3 of the oscillators) that the Minmoog has, but still has quite a few of its own. A multitude of rotary and rocker switches provides flexible routing options without making it difficult to operate. Even though it’s only got 1 oscillator, it has a variable doubling control that divides it down one or two octaves for extra Moogy phatness.

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The secret code hidden in Wii Sports Resort has been cracked!

When you are playing the island flyover in the game, as you fly by the lighthouse (called “The Candle”) you can hear Morse code beeping in the background. There are two different pitched beeps, so it appears to be a conversation between two parties. My code skills are a bit rusty, but I finally managed to translate it. There are several messages that play, and I’ve found 3 different ones so far:

Why does anyone use Morse code anymore?
Good question.

Morse code takes forever.
It sure does.

Does anyone out there know Morse code?
Sorry. Use your radio.

If anyone copies any other messages, let me know. 73′s!

Does everybody remember the Afterburner? That was the frontlight mod for the Game Boy Advance that was produced by Triton Labs in response to the GBA’s noted lack of screen lighting. The Afterburner kits are no longer being manufactured, but just in case you happen to find one behind your couch or at a garage sale, I decided to post the installation manual. Even if it’s no longer useful it’s still a fun trip down memory lane.

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