Archive for April 2010
Online Radio Channels That Will Provide you With a Vast Resource of Music
Listening to music can be very soothing after a hard day’s work. There are many ways that you can relax with music. Listening to the radio, your iPod, watching music videos and even playing music on your computer is just a few of the ways that this can be accomplished. As for playing music on your computers there are also the internet airwaves that you can go online to. The online radio channels will provide you with a vast resource of music to hear.
The music that you can access will be dependent on the channels that use. These will be from different countries and in different languages. Online radio is a great way to find new music groups that have just launched their careers off. By listening to these groups on the internet you can decide if you want to buy any CDs of these groups. You can also choose the different online radio channels that will provide you with the best features for music listening.
The choice to listen to online radio will therefore fall into the category that you choose. With these choices you will find that you can listen to a wide range of subject matter and music. The content of these internet radio stations will differ only by what is set by that online radio provider.
As technology advances you will find that you have many choices to listen to with online radio. At present the better known online radio stations are ones that we are all familiar with. These are ones like AOL Radio, MSN Radio, Yahoo Radio, XM Radio and many others. Most of the time when you listen to radio online stations you can tune into radio stations from other places too.
So while most of us prefer to listen to radio online stations which provide only local area news, entertainment and sports there are many who like to explore other venues of listening pleasure. For these people the internet and their computer’s music settings will provide the necessary link.
In a time when technology is always advancing people still look for the simple pleasures in life. And listening to online radio programs is one such way. While you will need to go on the internet to get the music, you can still lots of great entertainment programs to be found. So why don’t you turn on the computer and hunt for your favorite online radio station and let the sound of music fill your home.
Music For Your Wedding
Music sets the tone for any event. It has the power to move us emotionally, bring back memories, and set our spirits soaring. The music that you choose for your wedding will have a major impact on the overall mood of your ceremony and reception.
You will need to plan music for several different parts of the wedding. They include: the prelude while the guests are being seated, the processional (when the bride walks down the aisle), the recessional (when the joyous newlyweds go back up the aisle), the cocktail hour, dinner, dancing, and possibly for a late night party. That is a lot of music to organize! Chances are that you will hire more than one music professional for the course of the evening. A cautionary tale for brides: I knew one bride who delegated hiring musicians for the ceremony to her fiance, and guess what – he forgot! They walked down the aisle in silence. If others are helping to coordinate the details of your wedding, be sure to check over the arrangements they have made!
Ceremony music tends to be the most traditional and sentimental. Classics like “Here Comes the Bride” (officially named Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin) and Pachelbel’s Canon in D will never go out of style. For a church wedding, an organist can play traditional songs like these (church organists are very affordable, by the way), and you could hire a string quartet to play for an outdoor ceremony. If your ceremony site does not have any restrictions (some churches do), you could also choose your music from modern classics, like Unforgettable or What a Wonderful World. One of the loveliest weddings that I ever attended featured the groom’s teenage daughter singing At Last, which brought tears to the eyes of all of the guests. If you have a talented singer in your family, by all means recruit her!
Generally, the music during the cocktail hour should be pleasant background music. Something soft and easy to talk over like a piano or other instrumental music is appropriate. The music playing during dinner should also be at a low volume to allow for relaxed conversation (there is nothing worse than trying to shout over a band). Whenever possible, seat elderly guests away from speakers, as they are more likely to have a hard time hearing over the music.
The music that is the most fun to pick is the dance music. Options include a quartet, a d.j., or even a full orchestra if space and budget allow. Some couples prefer to program the musical selections themselves in their MP3 players, and broadcast the tunes over their venue’s sound system. If done well, this can be a great idea; if done by someone who does not really know what they are doing, it can sound awful (especially if every song is at a different volume).
The after dinner dancing is certainly the most fun part of the wedding. It is a time for everyone to kick up their heels and let loose. One of my favorite memories from my own wedding was our adorable flower girl having a great time on the dance floor, with her little flower girl jewelry swinging as she twirled (I gave her a silver heart locket as flower girl jewelry,and she loved wearing it). The flower girl always seems to be a tireless dancer at any wedding.
Reception music can also include any songs that are important in your culture. Celtic songs would be great for an Irish couple, and no Jewish wedding would be complete without the whole group dancing the hora. These old favorites are the type of music that bring every guest to the dance floor, from Grandma on down. They are a great nod to your heritage, and are always a high point of the evening.
The final type of music you might want to consider is something for late night. After the older generation had called it a night, many couples are hiring d.j.s to spin tunes into the early hours of the morning. Often the bride will change into a sassy dress and really let loose. If you are planning a really late night, you can even serve a light breakfast around midnight. Sometimes the party is just too fun to end!
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What’s Happening With 5.1 Surround Sound Music?
A few years ago 5.1 surround sound DVD video players looked likely to become standard kit in every living room in the technology friendly world.
So now a few years on, what has happened to the original promise of surround sound music? Well the answer to that is ‘lots, but not nearly enough.’
For those that don’t know already, 5.1 surround sound is basically five speakers and a sub-woofer placed around your room allowing you to listen to music or a movie soundtrack literally surrounded by speakers. The film industry pioneered it for theatres and it then became available as a DVD player add-on for home entertainment systems.
Now at least 100,000,000 people world-wide own systems, which can and should be used for all manner of surround sound music DVDs.
I hear you say, ‘but surround sound music on DVD hasn’t really caught on. All that wire in my living room’.
Even though the consumer can buy a DVD player and surround speaker system cheaply enough, surround sound music hasn’t really caught fire yet. Why?
There are reasons why we should all remain confident that surround sound music will become more popular, but at the moment it’s still an infant child.
The amount of different DVD and surround sound formats is confusing and can be offputting.
The consumer desperately wants an end to the confusing compatibility war between different surround sound formats.
Many music artists would start producing DVDs if it wasn’t so complex, just as there are many consumers that would purchase a surround sound DVD system for the same reason. They should be able to buy a DVD player and play any product claiming to play DVDs.
Consumer surround sound formats currently include sound on video DVDs encoded as Dolby 5.1 surround sound or DTS; the competing DVD-Audio (DVD-A) and Super Audio CD (SACD) formats and MP3 Surround.
There are 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 systems, four speaker systems, even one speaker systems and ‘simulated surround sound systems.’ Phew! See what I mean?
They all have their uses, but the I feel the music business would be wise to embrace one format. Every time the consumer buys a surround sound music product they have to research whether it will be compatible to their particular system.
The good news here is that slowly, but surely things are improving. As long as there is no ‘new’ new format to rock the boat, the problem of incompatibility could become a thing of the past.
There are many great web sites to visit which do explain (in as much detail as you could possibly imagine) all the different formats and help you decide what to buy.
How about all that wire in my living room though?
There are wireless speaker systems available, but the cheaper ones are for mainly rear-channel wireless amplification. This doesn’t quite get rid of all the wires and limits people who have odd shaped rooms. But they are better than nothing.
It would be great for a ‘let’s make it fun revolution’ to occur with surround sound, like the iPod. Small wireless speakers one could place anywhere. The recommended configuration would still be in a circle, but you’d have a license to have fun by placing them in different locations.
Certain types of music would not really benefit from this unconventional approach, but other types mixed specially for surround sound might not suffer that much and it would release the consumer from the pressure to set their systems up in a way that would please an audio engineer or DVD manufacturer.
Not enough of an improvement on CDs and overall lack of interesting music DVD products.
The amount of compression used for music on DVD video is far greater than CDs. So stereo music on CD is generally of a higher quality than stereo music on DVD. However, add the extra speakers and a properly mixed 5.1 surround sound piece of music and all of a sudden the playback bit ratio seems much less important.
‘What is’ you ask, ‘a properly mixed 5.1 piece of music?’
Recreating real space is what seems to interest some surround sound pioneers. The chance to paint a more precise musical picture by placing you the listener deeper inside a musical ensemble or concert venue.
This approach has got its merits, but it’s reliant on people having their speakers in precise locations, and that they will sit dead centre amongst them. Pluses can turn to minuses at this point. If you don’t have a perfectly set up system it might just sound weird, especially if you are used to the stereo CD mix from the same artist.
Apart from all the technical considerations, I consider a great 5.1mix a strong alternative to the stereo mix. Let’s say the artist already has their stereo mix. Why not make the surround mix something that really explores that extra space and is different from the stereo mix.
Give the consumer a choice of two distinctly different sounding mixes. This might inspire more people to make the effort to set up those surround speakers which are still sitting unused in the attic.
Currently it is almost mandatory to include some type of visual content on a DVD.
In a way, it’s a shame that ‘audio only’ DVDs haven’t caught on…yet.
Depending on the level of production the artist is looking to reach, it can be both very expensive and time consuming producing enough visual material to accompany all the music for a competitive DVD release.
Most musicians have a hard enough time producing their music let alone having to produce hour’s worth of videos as well. So you could say that the need for visual content (as exciting as it can be) is holding back the growth surround sound music.
Live concerts are the most successful type of music DVDs, mainly because they are relatively cheap to produce.
For ‘audio only’ DVDs to catch on, consumer expectation will have to be ‘re-trained’ to expect what they might consider as less. I feel that the days of distributing film or music products on any type of disk is going to disappear fast.
What does the future looks like for surround sound?
The real turning point will come when the Internet becomes surround sound friendly. A new MP3 surround streaming module has just been announced that allows manufacturers to build web radios featuring true 5.1 surround sound.
Many people surf the Internet sitting at their desk, listening to music for hours at a time. Soon they will be able to surf and listen in surround sound. Small near-field computer monitors would work perfectly.(especially wireless ones).
It’s inevitable that 5.1 radio and TV broadcasts will soon become the norm. Even without the music business, embracing surround sound as anything more than a small niche, the amount of people with a 5.1 system is steadily increasing.
At this point, surround sound music becomes a viable ‘audio only’ product. If the surround sound community can simplify the production process even more allowing the average project studio to easily create surround sound content, we should all benefit.
I predict there will be a tipping point where all of a sudden the ‘need’ for surround sound music will exceed the amount of available products.
Live surround sound music can be amazing. I went to Berlin and mixed a gig by the experimental Electronic band ‘Warren Suicide’. Instruments and vocals flying around the room in surround sound mayhem. It was great, and opened my eyes to what I hope is ‘the future’ for certain styles of music.
Dance music is an area I really hope starts to explore surround sound. The drum/synth based repetition is perfect fodder to trigger a quantum leap in 5.1 music production. All the technology is now available to present surround sound mixes in smaller clubs or ‘surround rooms’ in larger clubs.
I have to quickly point out that the 1 in 5.1 stands for sub-woofer (a dedicated speaker designed to carry just low frequencies). This on its own is a major step forward for dance music fans.
DJ producers in particular can take control of the ‘low end’ of their tracks and shake the furniture more than ever before. Because one doesn’t have to squeeze all that low end into the same speakers as everything else it allows for a more overall dynamic mix.
Music mixed in 5.1 surround sound gives us the opportunity to produce and listen to music in a completely new way.
Both as a composer and as a engineer, I personally feel liberated, set free from the confines of stereo. In this case more really is better. The extra speakers/channels give you more ‘room’ to put your music.
My hope is for ‘audio only’ surround sound music to take off. Music is, after all, the world of the invisible – it seems a shame to connect it at the hip to pictures. Your mind processes visual images first, then sound. So pictures can distract people who might listen more carefully without them.
There is room for both music videos and surround sound music without the videos.
‘What kind of gear do you need to start mixing in surround sound?’:
a) A reasonably fast computer
b) Music software package that supports 5.1 mixing (Logic Audio, Pro-Tools etc.)
c) Minimum 8 channel audio interface (Motu, Digidesign )
d) Five matched self powered speakers, and a sub-woofer
Mixing In Surround Sound:
When I first started mixing something in surround sound, I went out and purchased three sets of Sony Mega Bass self powered computer speakers. After connecting them directly to my audio interface outputs, I then assigned the surround sound out-puts in Logic Audio. I opened a song I was working on and spread the instruments out around the channels and hit play… Wow! The five mini speakers sounded great. Mixing in a tiny bit of subs from my Genelec sub-woofer, it sounded even better.
I know… I can hear engineers crying out.. ‘But what about…?’ Well, it’s unconventional but as a starting point this system does work. Now I own a full set of Genelecs, but I still use this approach.
The normal way to mix in surround sound is to have a matched system where the sub-woofer is driven from the speakers. A roll-off decides that everything below a certain frequency is sent on to the sub-woofer. I favour rooting the signal directly to the sub-woofer from a send on either my main out-put fadder’s or occasionally individual instrument fadder’s. This way I can choose which instruments to place in the sub-woofer and which not to.
I say to music mixers; ‘Approach the surround mix with a fresh concept, understanding that it can reflect a different side of the song/composition.’
I don’t recommend the approach of mixing both the stereo and surround mixes at the same time. It seems that one or the other will be compromised. You’re still ‘thinking in stereo’.
The effects needed and levels will be different in a surround mix. I find I use less processing overall especially compression, again it comes down to having more space to place the instruments.
So start fresh without any of your stereo effects haunting you. It’s one of those things that will save you time in the end, plus you will probably mix more creatively.
After a little guess work and experimentation I managed to figure out the right level to print my mixes. Again the sub-woofer channel was tricky, but after burning a few trial DVDs trying different levels I got the hang of it.
I played some mixes I had done in my studio at Real World and Metropolis Studios and they sounded right. It shows you can produce your own surround sound music at a reasonable cost, even in a project studio.
There are hours worth of surround sound production tutorials available from all the major music software companies. Just visit your software makers web site to get started.
Of course the absolutely best way to mix music in surround sound is to go to a top recording studio. If you’re just starting out with surround sound, mix a track with the guidance of a highly trained professional engineer, who has experience with surround sound mixing.
There are great audio engineers who would (for a smallish fee) come to your project studio and ‘consult’ with you on the technical elements of your mix.
If you are producing a DVD for commercial release, it’s still best to get your project professionally mastered. Any decent music mastering facility can (to a point) rebalance your surround mix, so if you are a little heavy or light on the subs they can deal with it then.
Tips on ways to create your own visual content:
The quality you want to achieve is normally connected to the expectations of your audience.
With enough time and energy you can make videos using a consumer DV camera and Final Cut Pro (or PC equivalent). DV cameras are generally just not quite good enough for any ‘serious filming’, but if used creatively for certain situations it’s possible to pull it off. HD camera’s are much higher quality but still do cost a lot more to buy.
Live concerts and gigs can work well though. If you are doing a gig, ask around all the people you know and see how many DV cameras you could borrow. If you have four cameras set up around the club, one camera to roam around and some decent lighting on stage, you’re in business. Make sure the people operating the fixed cameras don’t mess around during the filming. No zooming and out or trying to track the movements on stage. Perfectly still videos are much better to edit. Then in your film editing software, you can cut between different angles and add zooms, even simulate camera movement.
There’s no guarantee, but if the actual performance is strong enough, some of the production values will be overlooked.
Done well enough, you can produce a DVD using still images, like a slide show – again a good film editing program allows you to animate still photos way beyond what one might think is possible.
There are some fantastic animation programs like Bryce 3D, and Cinema 4D that are worth looking into. Start producing convincing 3D text an logos.
Warren Suicide are a great ad-sample of a band who are embracing the audio – visual age. Their DVD was produced by them, and although they worked really hard on it, the finished DVD was not expensive to make, but is just as imaginative and entertaining as any big budget music DVD I’ve seen.
How do I get my mix on to a DVD?:
There are, as you can imagine, quite a few ways available.
The huge majority of DVD players in circulation use the DVD video format. So I recommend choosing Dolby 5.1 or DTS encoding, don’t worry too much about all the others. DTS sounds just as good to me, but I found more options were available with Dolby 5.1.
All you really need is Final Cut Pro and DVD studio Pro or the PC equivalents. DVD Studio Pro comes with a audio compression program called Apac. Apac allows you to compress your six channel mix into a single 5.1 file, ready to place on a DVD.
These programs are not cheap, but they are worth every penny if you’re considering commercially releasing your DVD. Between them you can edit and effect your video footage/audio content, add text, export the outcome in a format which is ready to be authored and finally burned on to a DVD. WOW! All in you back room – not bad.
guns n roses song download this song by copying this sites url and then going to mediaconverter.org it tells you wat to do
Video Rating: 4 / 5
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Computer Rental Firms Among Many Attracted by PAL Trade Show
If you need production and presentation technologies in your work, there is a trade show coming up in Toronto that is perfect for you. The Pro Audio Lighting and Video (PAL) trade show is sure to attract leaders in the technology business, as well as those who need to keep up with technology, including: sound and lighting engineers, consultants, venue managers, musicians, educators, AV and computer rental firms, studios, technical service repair people and even architects.
The PAL show is held at the same time as the Music Industries Association Canada (MIAC) show, which showcases music products, including instruments, music publications, computer hardware and software, and sheet music.
About the PAL Trade Show
The next PAL trade show is scheduled for the International Centre near Pearson Airport in August, 2009. According to the PAL website, there are solutions for your presentations and productions that you won’t find elsewhere, including:
” audio equipment and accessories
” AV/computer rental and staging services
” electrical distribution and related equipment
” lighting equipment and accessories
” production equipment and accessories
” truss and rigging
” video display/production equipment
” cases
” cinematography equipment
” communication systems
” control systems and networking
The PAL show represents a great opportunity for you to learn about future technology from market leaders. Despite the slowing economy, the 2008 show (discussed below) was a great success and organizers are confident that this year’s show will be just as great.
The 2008 Show
The 2008 PAL trade show had high attendance and a wide selection of exhibitors. In fact, nearly 2,600 people visited the show over two days last August. Together, PAL and MIAC attracted 180 exhibitors. On the PAL side of the show, exhibitors included many top companies, like:
” AKAI Professional
” Audio Distributors International, distributors of leading brands like Avalon Design, Olympus, Rode microphones and Ultrasone headphones.
” Behringer Canada
” Bosch
” Erikson Pro, exclusive Canadian distributor of Denon DJ products
” Roland System Group
” Sennheiser Canada
” Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems
The show is not just limited to the convention hall. It includes outside demonstration areas and product training sessions. Social events connected to the trade show included a charity golf tournament, Casino Royale welcome party and a gala dinner.
The 2009 PAL Show
Similar events are planned for the 2009 show, which opens on Saturday, August 22.
Whether you work as a DJ, a sound engineer or music teacher, or are employed in the AV/computer rental or service industries, you may want to mark the weekend of August 22 on your calendar and plan to attend one of the most dynamic trade shows around. Attending this show will give you the opportunity of networking as well as seeing the new technology offered at the trade show.
Be sure to discuss with each trade show booth what their technology could offer you and how it would benefit you and your company. Discussing these points will give way for great product purchasing. Networking with others and getting to know what their business is about and how your businesses could potentially partner in the future is also a great reason for why businesses attend trade shows. This gives your company some exposure and potential business for the future. The people you meet at trade shows can also turn out to be great referrals for other people that you meet in the future. The more people you know the better for both you and your business. Every event you attend is a potential networking opportunity.
Take advantages of the great booths and networking opportunities at trade shows.
12 Months Free Line Rental Phones – Feel the Difference
The 12 months free line rental phones are often part of some very lucrative as well as innovative contracts deals and offers. Under such deals, one gets to enjoy hassle free mobile services as well as a range of great benefits. adobe ebook As the name suggests, the 12 months free line rental is a contract between the users and network providers, wherein the users get the mobile services with absolutely free monthly line rentals for the specified period of time. Usually, the handsets under these deals are empowered with some high-end features – a fact that goes in its favour.
The 12 months free line rental phones are the preferred choice for many people in the UK. As a matter of fact, one can save the monthly rentals for a complete one year. This is because a contract is signed between a user and a network provider. After signing a contract for 12 months, the users can enjoy several benefits such as cash back offers, free text messages, free minutes, free phone insurance, free talktime, free roaming and many more. All that the users have to do is to select the tariff plan from the network provider of his choice as well as the handset that suits him the best. Such a deal can be signed with various leading network providers such as T-mobile, O2, 3 and many more.
The users can avail vast range of choices on the latest handsets having some of the most vibrant features from the leading mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and Motorola. The handsets with 12 months free line rentals are considered as an interesting blend of style and utility. The mobile gadgets under this profile comes with great multimedia capabilities that help the users to shoot the happiest moments of life or capture the priceless impressions with the built-in camera. Moreover, the integrated music player or FM radio can be used for great music with the most efficient music features. Apart from the multimedia capabilities, one can also experience the high-speed internet access thanks to the integrated connectivity options.
To conclude, it can be said that the 12 months free line rental phones are the cost effective way to reduce the monthly bills of people using their phones a lot.
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