Posts Tagged ‘audio’

Colleges That Provide Audio Production Training

January 14th, 2012

Music production can be a lot of fun, but learning the ropes is also fairly complicated. Even if you just want to set up a small music studio in your own home, it might be a good idea to take a couple of classes. Consider enrolling in one or more of the following courses.

One easy way to go is to consider enrolling in a music program at a local community college. Not only can this be cost effective, you can interact with other students interested in production, and with a community college, you often receive better individualized instruction than at a four-year university. Some community colleges, even offer short, online classes that will at least give you a basic understanding of music production.

One example of a great community college program is at Cedar Valley College. Located in Lancaster, Texas, this community college offers two-year associates degrees in recording technology, as well as a shorter one-year certificate program. With either option, not only will you be prepared to produce your own music, but you also will be trained if you would like a career in recording or prefer to transfer to a university for a bachelor’s degree.

For those who would like to earn a bachelor’s degree, there are plenty of schools out there with great music production degree opportunities. The Mediatech Recording Institute, for instance, has a comprehensive program that includes a wide variety of classes. You will learn about audio engineering for film, video, radio, television and music production, as well as for live performances and field recording.

These days you don’t have to opt for the traditional approach to college, you can head online and earn a certificate or degree. At the Online Audio School, there are quick, 8-week classes in music production, with course titles such as ProTools 101 and ProTools 102. You will still be able to interact with an instructor, and the course includes plenty of lab work and tutorials. Another option for those who are hoping to earn a degree is to check out Full Sail University, which offers a bachelor’s degree in music production, and you can learn it all online.

A good first step before enrolling in any classes is to head down to your professional audio equipment dealer and ask for a consult. You can spend some time talking about classes and training, as well as learning about the equipment you will need to start your own home studio. A good salesperson, such as those at AudioDawg.com, can be a huge asset, helping you stay on budget, as well as ensuring that you have everything you need to get started recording.

Lance Bratten loves writing and talking about audio issues. For more information about Avid Pro Tools HD or to discover a Pro Tools HD Native supplier, please check out the AudioDAWg website today.

Music History 101: The Best Producers Of All Time

January 6th, 2012

For those considering a career in music production, it is a great idea to follow the career of other successful music producers. The following producers are well known for their expertise, style and innovative production, thus creating some of the world’s top music.

While the Beatles boasted some of the greatest compositions of all time, they were also blessed with one of the best producers of all time – George Martin. He was responsible for adding his expert musical touches to everything from “Yesterday,” to “Eleanor Rigby” to “In My Life.” After the Beatles, he worked with everyone from Ultravox to Jeff Beck.

His criminal record aside, Phil Spector is still one of history’s top producers. He produced for acts such as The Righteous Brothers, The Ramones, Leonard Cohen, The Crystals and many more. His signature “Wall of Sound” technique influences many musicians include Brian Wilson, who used the production technique on hits such as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”

Brian Eno is another producer whose expertise has been felt throughout the music business. During his early days, he was part of the influential band Roxy Music, and after leaving the band, he began to work with artists and bands such as Genesis, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Paul Simon and Coldplay. Most notably, perhaps, he produced seven albums for U2, including “The Joshua Tree.”

If you love hip hop, Rick Rubin is definitely one of the reasons why. He founded Def Jam Records in the 1980s and with the help of promoter and manager Russell Simmons, the two helped hip hop evolve into a billion-dollar industry. In addition to many hip hop artists, such as Run-D.M.C., Rubin has produced albums for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Sabbath, Weezer, Linkin Park, AC/DC and even artists such as Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks and Adele.

While this may be a fairly mainstream list of top producers, the influence of these men has been felt throughout the music industry. There are many other notable producers to consider studying, including Dr. Dre, T-Bone Burnett, Mutt Lange, Timbaland, Jay Z and the great Motown trio of Holland, Dozier and Holland. Whatever style of music you enjoy, take a note or two from the best producers in that genre. No doubt it will help improve your own production value.

Lance Bratten loves blogging and talking about audio problems. For more info about Waves Mercury or to find a Pro Tools 10 supplier, please visit the AudioDAWg site now.

Connecting A Soundbar

December 17th, 2011

Plenty of folks are baffled with the different methods of hooking up a Soundbar, and this is unsurprising – every make appears to have different choices and methods for getting this done! In this post we set down the principal methods. Clearly we cannot be really specific since the options differ a great deal, however we will give you a basic overview of the main approaches and strategys.

The most elementary of Soundbars take a easy 3.5mm stereo connector input. You simply link the headset output out of your Television to the input for the Soundbar; perhaps alter a few volume/tone configurations on the Soundbar and you’re done. All of your devices (Wii, Xbox and so forth) connect to the TV like standard. The benefit using this is definitely the ease and the fact that usually you don’t require an additional remote control – you continue using your Television remote control normally. You will not get the very best audio from this type of system however it will still be outstanding when compared to TV by itself!

Shifting up the Soundbar level of quality hierarchy the next big connection option which you are likely to come across is optical. With this situation you usually connect all of your devices to the Television and next the optical out from the Television to the Soundbar. An optical cable can transport much more data and may offer superior audio when compared to a 3.5mm type connector. You might also need optical to reinforce a non HDMI ARC link. (see later paragraph!)

Some Soundbars in the Mid-Range will come with an HDMI input and possibly an HDMI ARC output. This means you can connect HDMI devices(Such as a BluRay player) directly to the Soundbar. Video signal will then be passed through to the TV. If the HDMI on the Soundbar and the TV is ARC compliant then you won’t need any more cabling between the Soundbar and the TV as the single HDMI cable will not only pass video signal to the TV but sound from the TV back to the Soundbar also. If it’s a non ARC HDMI connection then you will need to add an optical cable to the mix.

The best Soundbar often has all of the connection choices from the midrange and a pile of new ones on as well! There are also likely to be many more of them! Some models may have RCA, Optical, coaxial, wireless iPod connection as well as multiple HDMI inputs! With one of these top of the line models it’s frequently possible to attach all of your gadgets to the Soundbar and then pass through any video signal (BluRay disk for example) to the Television.

Remember that Soundbars and other electronic devices vary greatly. This article is only an outline of the sort of approaches that may be possible. It’s essential that you read the manual for your specific machines before connecting everything together!

If you found the information in this article helpful and would like more information about about soundbars and picking the best soundbar for you then you should definitely checkout the soundbarinfo website.

Top 5 Mid-Range Car Speaker Brands On A Budget

October 30th, 2011

This review is intended to hit a number of of the finest mid-cost car audio speakers out there.

Every one of these manufacturers are installed inside a large number of vehicles throughout the world. All of them compete with each other with regards to providing the greatest audio quality for a decent cost.

You have possibly come across them all, or possibly just one or two. This has been composed to assist you to go for effective speakers from a trusted brand.

Boss Audio Stepping up in a significant manner is Boss Audio. Not purely do they provide decks, subs, amplifiers along with a diversity of in-vehicle video equipment, in addition they produce speakers that carry a punch.

Offered series: ONYX NX, OUTCAST OHC, OUTCAST Loudspeakers, PHANTOM, PHANTOM SKULL, CHAOS Special Edition and CHAOS EXXTREME.

Boss Audio is providing a large variety of speakers in all unique mid-price points as well as power handling.

Power Acoustik Undoubtedly acknowledged more with regards to their massive amps and subwoofers, and also some extremely amazing car DVD players, Power Acoustik will certainly make your music system yell with mids and highs.

Offered series: XP, KP and component speakers.

Pyle Audio You are not going to miss a beat with Pyle Audio’s full-line of car speakers – Subs, amplifiers, CD receivers, DVD players, video monitors and more also available.

Offered series: Gear, Chopper, Dryver, Red Label, Blue Label, components and more.

Pioneer Great quality, mid-priced car speakers. Most likely the best value for your money, if you don’t want competition grade. Seek out their D-series, they’re made to execute lovely music – top quality components deliver wonderful sound.

Offered series: D, A and G.

Clarion By using a brand like Clarion, the sale price is probably greater, but it’s far from high enough to place it over mid-range level. You could put them toe-to-toe with Pioneer pertaining to components chosen in addition to quality. Everything is actually a matter of which brand you favor.

Available series: SRQ and SRG.

Learn about car CD players.

Interested In Car Speakers?

October 29th, 2011

Car speakers perform a leading position in your sound system. The large majority of car stereo speakers that are included with your automobile are in reality 1-way speakers. This means that there is absolutely no tweeter or just a mid-range. Simply the woofer is generally producing many frequencies. This could possibly shut out the sound.

The vehicle’s speakers furthermore will probably not cope with a good deal of watts. If you will want combine an amplifier and a bass speaker, the lows might kill the audio speakers.

It’s awesome to truly upgrade to nicer car audio speakers when you really need the perfect quality sound. Something that handles forty watts RMS and up will give very loud, precise sound. A number of audio speakers which can manage a great deal of watts will frequently require an external car amplifier for them to execute at their finest level.

There are people who select to swap out their front speakers plus buy a 2-channel amplifier to connect with them, letting the back ones to perform from the manufacturer radio. That is ordinarily okay if you do not continually have several backseat family riding along with you. Should it be you do carry a number of backseat travelers, it’s probably best to provide them with something perfect to hear too.

Continually, the model of car / truck you’ve got varies according to the kind of audio speakers you have to buy. It is impossible to get the inappropriate size speakers purely because the moment you go to install them, they clearly will not fit. Many motor vehicles may demand regular sizes, except if you buy a unique car.

Understanding which size speakers happen to be right with regard to the brand of car or truck you have got is fairly rather simple. All you really have to do is look Online for the brand of new car you drive and you should learn an answer pretty quickly.

Shop for car speakers.

Article About Car Audio Speakers

October 29th, 2011

Speakers engage in a critical duty in your car audio system. A lot of car speakers that are included in your car or truck actually are one-way audio speakers. Because of this there is no tweeter or simply a mid-range. Simply the woofer is almost certainly composing virtually all frequencies. This could mud out the sound.

Your vehicle’s speaker systems additionally does not take on loads of watts. Should you decide to combine an amplifier and maybe a sub, the lows will likely kill your car stereo speakers.

It’s a brilliant decision to generally upgrade to nicer car audio speakers whenever you need the most beneficial quality sounds. Everything that handles forty five watts RMS or more provides excessive, clear sound. The vast majority of speaker systems which can take on a huge amount of wattage will demand an additional amplifier just for them to be able to run at their prime level.

A number of individuals prefer to switch their front car audio speakers and also buy a 2-channel amplifier to supply them with power, letting the rear car stereo speakers to run off the car radio. This really is ordinarily alright if you fail to ordinarily have plenty of rear voyagers riding together with you. In case you actually do have got plenty of backseat travelers, it’s undoubtedly wise to offer something great to hear too.

Constantly, the style of vehicle you have relies upon the kind of car stereo speakers that you need to buy. You won’t enjoy the incorrect size car speakers simply because the moment you try to put them to use, they simply will not work. The majority of new or used vehicles will will need general sizes, except for when you purchase a unique used car.

Identifying which size speakers will be optimum relating to the kind of automobile you own is fairly not difficult. The only thing you need to do is going to be to search Online for the kind of new car you drive and you’ll view an answer very swiftly.

Locate car speakers.

Is Hi Fi Audio Now Better Than Real Life

October 9th, 2011

The term Hi-Fi has been around for a very long time – long enough that it feels like it should be old fashioned. But the necessity for real Hi-Fi sound remains really recent; it’s now generally pertinent to stereo audio, mobile iPods and home-based theatre systems – but don't forget the term is short for “high fidelity”.

Words develop and lose connection with their original meanings. Hence Hi-Fi came to mean a collection of devices – a disc player, an amplifier, some speakers – for playing music. This now reaches to a larger variety of option: more speaker types like subwoofers, tweeters and headphones, more technologies like MP3, CDs DVDs, surround sound, dolby, blue ray. And let’s face it, even the most modest iPods, modern disk player or radio produces “high fidelity” compared with those available 50 years back.

Back then, “high fidelity” indicated products capable of delivering a sound quality reproduction superior to that other products, which were, well, lower fidelity. Fidelity – speaking the truth, being trustworthy to the original. The famous old HMV logo of the dog sitting next to the phonograph graphically sent the message – that what he, the dog, heard was a faithful reproduction of the real deal.

Perhaps nearly all real Hi-Fi sound systems available via online or sold these days are indeed high fidelity, but some are much higher than others. The search for ever-higher fidelity goes on and each year sees further advancements with systems which are now unusually good. But then, anyone who has put on a fine quality set of headphones to listen to a musical performance recorded under modern high fidelity conditions can attest to something which is a bit of a Hi-Fi conundrum: specifically, the recording sounds better than any original – so it’s actually not giving you high fidelity. Far from it in fact.

How can this be so? Well, it reduces down to the incontrovertible fact that life, real life, is never going to be perfect, while, the wizardry of sound creation and reproduction gets better, in the general direction of its own definition of perfection.

You sit in a concert music hall, an exhibition hall, and listen to a performance. The sound relationships between, say, the first violins and the trumpets varies from position to position in the music hall, with only one ‘perfect ‘ spot. But then it isn't ideal for the balance between the violins and the tympani. Then there ambient noise – call it rumble or interference.

This real life musical experience is not necessarily something we wish to reproduce with great fidelity – it’s not quite good enough. We're not after a steadfast fax of real life, but some higher ideal.

Hence relax and enjoy: put on the headphones or the surround sound speakers and turn on the CD, iPod or MP3. Hi-fi kit and all the associated technology can deliver to you, and quite cheaply, an audio experience which can actually be called divine since it overreaches what you can experience in ‘real ‘ life.

Discover real Hi-Fi soundsystems in your local town or regional city using the net business catalog dLook.

Things To Keep In Mind When Shopping For The Perfect T-Amp Amplifier

August 29th, 2011

Audio amplifiers are available in a flood of different technologies and models. Choosing the perfect model for a particular application seems to be a daunting task. I will explain some basic amplifier terms and help you pick the best model no matter what your particular application might be.

Some audio sources such as surround-sound receivers already come with a built-in audio amplifier. Using a separate amplifier, however, offers some advantages. One advantage is having more flexibility and being able to pick an amplifier that is best suited to drive a particular speaker. Some of today’s mini amplifier models can be hidden virtually anywhere due to their small size.

Output wattage is one of the factors that most people will consider first when selecting an amplifier since driving low-sensitivity speakers or driving speakers in large rooms or outdoors requires fairly high wattage. However, be careful not to overdrive your speakers. This can damage your speakers beyond repair.

However, a 20 to 50 Watt amplifier will give you more than enough power in most situations so don’t be overly concerned about the rated amplifier wattage.

Amplifier wattage is given either as rms or continuous power which shows how much power the amplifier can deliver continuously or as maximum or peak power which shows how much power the amp can output for short periods of time. You should choose an amplifier that has sufficient rms power, although 10 to 30 Watts should be plenty for most applications but has enough headroom for peaks that occur in music signals.

However, audio quality is just as important as having enough audio power. Therefore be sure to also look at factors related to the quality of the amplifier. One of these parameters is called total harmonic distortion or THD. No amplifier is absolutely perfect and the amplified signal will include some error components which will distort the signal to some degree. THD is either expressed in percent or dB. The amount of distortion varies between amplifier models. A smaller distortion means higher audio quality. Audiophile-grade amps will have distortion figures of at most 0.05% while consumer-grade amps have distortion of up to 10%.

Signal-to-noise ratio is another amplifier characteristic. This number describes the amount of noise which the amplified will add to the audio. The figure is expressed in dB. Audiophile-grade amps will have an SNR of 100 dB or higher. Consumer-grade amps will have at least 80 dB signal-to-noise ratio.

The majority of today’s amplifiers are based on a technology called Class-D which offers higher power efficiency than amplifiers based an Class-A or Class-AB technologies. High efficiency means that little power is wasted as heat which can make the amplifier fairly small. Some of today’s mini amplifiers are no larger than a deck of cards. However, when picking a Class-D (digital) amplifier, be sure that the amplifier has low distortion and a high signal-to-noise ratio.

Gunter Fellbaum has been designing audio and electronic products for over a decade. You can get additional information about t-amp models and power amplifier products from Amphony’s website.

Making Proper Rap Beats With Dub Turbo Beat Making Software

April 10th, 2011

Easily Make Your Own Beats With Dub Turbo Package

Looking For A Quality Beat Maker Tool? Check Out Dub Turbo.

It doesn’t matter whether you just want to make your own beats for fun, or you are into professional music production business, because unless you have the right audio recording tools, you won’t go anywhere far. It’s very important to produce quality tunes nowadays, because otherwise no one will pay any attention to you.

Getting ideas on how to make beats can be quite hard, because you can’t simply copy someone else’s tunes. You need to come up with unique and special beats, meaning you’ll have to get proper creative and try to squeeze something that hasn’t been done before. Of course, it will be a hit and miss game, but you’ll get there eventually.

Glaringly, before you can make your own beats, you are going to need a studio with all the music recording equipment or a beat making software. Many people do not have the funds for a correct beat maker studio, so sometimes what people do is just go to Google and download a beat making software to their computers.

It’s also crucial to choose ONE brand for your beats, because you want to target a selected audience, which would be interest in rap music or techno style, as an example. You can’t satisfy everybody, so make rap beats, if you want to stun the bunch who listens to Snoop Dog or 50 Cent. Otherwise begin to make something else for Scooter fans, and the like.

I must confess it’s hard to hit the top music charts with your beats, because you want to be famous and well known to get the notice of listeners. But I think YouTube is a great spot to start. First you want a beat maker programme, then come up with some decent tunes, and upload them to record sharing web sites.

If you are not sure which beat making software to use, then I would definitely recommend you to check out Dub Turbo. I use it myself to make beats online, or you can download it to your PC and use it as an application. It has everything you’ll ever need to make your own beats with banging effects. You get drum kits, track sequencer, octave keyboard and much more.

Stop wasting your time on useless beat making software. If you want to properly make your own beats, then you should check out Dub Turbo.

Producing Free Podcasts

October 11th, 2010

One thing is for sure, that is if you want good and free podcasts to use for fun, entertainment or business, then the best is one that you will produce yourself. There are many techniques to produce your own podcasts and you should actually spend very little or no money at all on the podcasts. All you require is a computer and a microphone, and your voice of course.

Why do you need your podcast? Whatever your objective is, you are going to find it easy to do and cheap. The overall result will be pleasing and in case you want it for business then you are going to be way ahead of the competition as long as you list yourself in a podcast directory. You now have enough space and reasons to get your ideas to the masses at little or no cost at all. You do not have to be a famous producer or musician for the people to listen, and you can as well give them a published version of your ideas and your thoughts and be sure to be in their faces through a podcast directory.

One may wonder how free the free podcasts are. They can be absolutely free, if you produce from home, have it hosted for free and also have a site that will bring the listeners to you. You will really know that it is indeed free if you try to follow the normal procedure of recording and publishing your voice in a studio. Hefty regulations and fees will drag you down and the solution is the free podcast. The best thing with podcasts is that the listener chooses to listen to yours mostly if it appeals to them by perusing through a podcast directory. It is not like radio where the listener listens to what the presenter wants them to hear.

The first thing that you should bear in mind is that you should pass your information to the people and then let them buy the product that you are promoting and you can make this possible through podcast directory listing. If you are doing it as a hobby, then you are also going to find it easy going because a voice does really appeal more to the people than a mere copy or brief. A voice has life and if the listeners like you, the next thing they will do is buy your products or services.

You do not have to be an expert to use podcasting to work for you, but you only require a basic knowledge of your computer. Start with the simple equipment and then as you go along, you can buy more sophisticated equipment to up your podcasting game. After you are ready, seek out how you can have your free podcasts posted on a podcast directory.

Do you like podcasting? Check out our large array of free podcasts. And don’t miss fluctu8.com – download and listen to podcasts on line. Check out fluctu8 for the best podcast directory website online.

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