Quick Tech Tip #1: DIY Guitar Pedalboard for $15

Posted on December 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

This is the first part in a series of quick DIY tips that will show off simple, cheap and easy DIY music and Media projects.  I hope to have a short video to accompany each tech tip.  This project is extremely easy and useful.  Commercial guitar pedalboards can be quite expensive (for what they are), but since all it has to do is hold a few pedals in a static configuration and hide some cables, it is the perfect DIY project.

The main reason this project is so easy, is that IKEA has already done all the work for you.  The base of this is an IKEA GORM shelf that comes in packs of two for about $10.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10213713/

It has the three slat design common in many commercial boards because of the convenience for cable management.  After that, all you need is a 2×4 cut to size (30.25″), 2 wood screws to attach the 2×4 to prop up the board at an angle and velcro to hold down the pedals.

All the parts for two boards came out to be around $30 for me, and since all the quantities seemed perfect for two boards, I suggest completing this project with a friend who also needs a pedalboard.

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Posted in How-To

First Finalized Recording using Ardour

Posted on November 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

I just got my first opportunity to record, mix and “master” (quick finishing eq touches and limiting, not technically a real master) a full song  on my new linux audio setup.  My wife was needing a short beat/orchestral song for the background music of play introductions for the Kentucky Xtreme Arena Football Team (you can see one of the intros below).

The Ardour workflow was pretty simple, I imported some loops for the beats, changed the tempo to match the loops and arranged them to fit the time limit with some simple drops.  I then used my Korg Triton LE to add some simple pads, pianos and orchestral parts in layers.  Tracking was very simple, and the only real issue I had was not being able to figure out how to do pre-roll for recording, so I just left 1 bar of blank space before the loops and removed it at the end.

Mixing was straightforward as well, and the Ubuntu Studio distribution I’m using came with a lot of great plugins pre-installed.  I had a few issues: mainly figuring out the routing for a group reverb aux send and track automation to fade out the master track.  Ardour is more than capable of these things, but in the middle of a recording, I didn’t have the time to look up all the details and went with whatever solution I figure out the fastest.

After I had a mix I was happy with, I decided to try out JAMIN for mastering.  This is where the workflow gets a little trickier.  I used Patchage to disconnect the main Ardour L-R outs from my interface (Presonus Audiobox 22vsl) and run them into the JAMIN inputs.  I was then able to apply some gentle master EQ curves and simple limiting to get the volume up a bit and avoid clipping.  Once I had a sound I was happy with, I recorded the output of JAMIN back into an empty track in Ardour, solo’d the track and then exported.

Overall I’m very happy with how easy most things were to figure out based on my previous experience without bothering with a manual or forum.  I look forward to learning more of the features I missed out and improving the workflow with JAMIN (possibly using the Ardour Plugin to control JAMIN so that parameters can be automated throughout the mix and the bounce down process is smoother).

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Posted in Multimedia on Linux

Linux Only For Audio Production: First Impressions

Posted on November 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

So I finally did it.  I sold my beloved Pro Tools system and moved away from the software I’ve been using for almost a decade and learned audio recording on.  It was a tough decision I struggled with for a while, but I believe it was worth it.

First of all, let me explain my reasons for switching to an open source OS and software:
1. I’m a geek: Being able to download the source code and tinker appeals to my nerdy programmer side, as does being able to discuss the software with it’s developers and users on the very active community sites that often surround open source software.
2. I’m cheap: I got tired of paying hundreds of dollars every two years just to update and gain a bunch of features that I mostly don’t use.

The guitar effects and recording for video sync in this demo were done on linux with open source tools

I took a step back and realized that all the basic audio tasks I  do could be accomplished using freely available software.  Making the jump was hard at first and I want to share a couple of tips that I found along the way.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Multimedia on Linux, Software

Making My Blog More Personal

Posted on November 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

If you’ve ever really looked at my blog, it may seem like a random jumble of nerdy/techy posts, because, well, that’s exactly what I intended (and also the way my brain works).   Lately, however, I’ve really gotten into a couple of great blogs that add a personal touch to their articles that engage the reader while still informing them.  While I’m not much of a writer, I would love to focus more on tying all the aspects of my different interests together in future blog posts to improve the content here.

I mainly talk about my current interests in the hope that some of my searching and trial and error can help people looking for info in random Google searches in the way many other posts have helped me.  In the future, look out for some hopefully more engaging (but probably not) posts on my current interests (Linux Audio, DSLR Video, DIY Guitar FX) or maybe even some new interests (like extreme pogo stick, move over x-games).

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Posted in Site Announcements

Much Hyped Lightworks for Linux is Currently Only Limited Alpha

Posted on October 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

Lightworks is a great NLE that I’ve been using for a while now.  It is unique, very powerful and has a feature set capable of quickly working on both feature films and short videos meant for the web.  However,  most of the current buzz around Lightworks is not about its capabilities as much as their plan to go open source and be the first really usable NLE available for Linux.

Editshare has made some great publicity strides recently with their release of Red Shark News  and the exciting announcement of the release of Lightworks for Linux Alpha for today, October 30th.  However, what all the publicity didn’t tell anyone was that the much hyped alpha release was limited to a small testing group.  As a software developer myself, I understand the issues involved with supporting multiple platforms from a single code base and how time schedules slip and priorities change to meet customer demand, but this move has caused a bit of controversy.

My main point is that the publicity on the alpha has been a bit conflicting. Given that people are still posting “me too’s” to a misunderstood beta post and that the a linux support thread is nearly 100 pages long, the interest in trying out the alpha must be overwhelming. However, tweets like:

EditShare Lightworks ‏@ESLightworks
@AlexModesto73 The alpha release of #Lightworks for Linux is open to registered members of lwks.com/forum Sign up there for details.

and

One week from today, the alpha version of #Lightworks for Linux goes live. Will you be trying it? editshare.posterous.com/at-last-lightworks-for-linux-will-be-availabl …

and this post:
editshare.posterous.com/at-last-lightworks-for-linux-will-be-availabl

imply that one can simply log on, sign up and be off to the races using Lightworks alpha on Linux. Nowhere is it mentioned there or really anywhere but hidden in a thread or two on the forum that the release is currently limited. I completely understand and respect the alpha situation, but clearing up the details will go a long way towards building some good will and long term users, especially with all the excitement of linux users used to grabbing the source, compiling for any platform, and posting bug fixes and reports.

A blog post quoting information from the forum shows the fact that people are genuinely excited about the product, directed there by official company communications and then confused by having to search and dig through threads to find any info, and then be told the opposite of all the corporate communications they have closely followed to this point.

I’m really not wanting to be harsh, just trying to show why some people are understandably confused.  I will continue using Lightworks on Windows (well, my wife is the talented editor, I’m just the geek who spends time obsessing over software) because it is a great editing tool and I look forward to helping it get even better.

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Posted in Multimedia on Linux, Software