THE HORROR OF CREATIVITY

Being creative often means going against the grain and taking a risk that what you're doing may not be popular or accepted. In a promo, that can blow up in your face but, with a Halloween costume, the only risk is possible public embarrassment.

The woman pictured right resisted the temptation to dress as Obama or Miley Cyrus and clearly went outside the box. We feel this works on many levels. Hazaaaaaah!

FLASH GRABBER

The flickering behemoth in the living room is being replaced by much smaller flickering boxes that now command our obedience. More people each day prefer to get their vid fix online.
Sites like Youtube, Metacafe, Google Videos , AOL, and even TMZ are fast becoming a central source of entertainment and an integral part of our national psyche. As far as radio content is concerned, grabbing audio from these sites has become as important and topical (if not, more so) than TV and film. But getting the audio from the web has been a time consuming and resource hogging process until recently.
Typically, you'd have to tie up your daw interface to get the job done and you'd be doing it in real time. This really messes with your A.D.D. tendencies since you can't multi-task as much. No worries because now there's a more efficient and time saving way to grab the audio. As most of the video streaming online these days is flash based, there is no better way to go than a good flash video grabber. With a flash downloader grabber in your pocket, you can go to the site you want, start downloading the videos you need and continue working on other audio projects. Then, when all your video is downloaded, you can cull, collate and edit your audio efficiently and when time permits without the hassle of buffering and slow internet speeds. There's more great news. Most of the good apps are free!
As with most freeware, there is a lot to chose from. We’ve narrowed it down some of the better apps here.
For Windows –
• Orbits Getit - This downloader works great and integrates well with your browser (works on both Explorer and Firefox). You can right click the video and download that way or use the clickable “Get It” that pops up over the video you are watching and save the vid to a folder of your choice. This one can download in large batches, allowing you to jump from one vid to the next like a locust. Yes, it’s free.
• FlashCatch - A simple to use app, this one puts a drop down in your browser. When you go to a video, simply chose the vid from the drop down and the video starts to download. The only drawback is you have to have a separate player to play the vid. VLC , is a good muliti format player app for this and one that you should probably have anyway. Both FlashCatch and VLC are free aps.
• Flash Video Downloader Youtube - This is one has a nice interface and supports MOV, MP4 and AVI formats. The download process is fast and easyFlash Video Downloader YouTube offers a convenient and comfortable interface for downloading videos from the Internet. Despite its name, the program supports a number of formats, including MOV, MP4, and AVI. This app costs $4.95 after 15 days of trial
For Mac –
• Flash Video Downloader - This free Mac downloader is simple, super easy and allows for batch downloads. Simply copy and paste the url of the vids you want and the app does the rest. SWF, FLV Player and Quicktime are all capable of playing back the downloaded vid.

• YouTube Downloader http://download.cnet.com/Free-YouTube-Downloader/3000-2194_4-192611.html - It’s free, allows for multiple (batch) downloading and even let’s you extract the file names from the sites. Works with Mac and Windows

COMPRESSOR CHARACTER

You hear the word character kicked around in compressor discussions but, what does it really mean? It probably varies from person to person. For this post, we'd like to zero in on one important aspect of character which is the eq slant that many compressors possess.

Most compressor choices you make are accompanied by a default eq choice of which you may not be aware. The info we're talking about is generally not found in gear and plug-in manuals. It's the stuff of pub chatter. While word of mouth is useful, you have to use your own ears before making final decisions. It's worth your time to take something you know well, like your own voice, and run it through various compressors, taking note of differences. Using a variety of program material is important too.

As usual, there are no absolutes. Not every comp delivers magic and with some, the effect is subtle. Of course, there are also occaisons where you don't want extra color and some products do well with that. In the hardware world, the LA 3A from Universal Audio is known for it's transparency so, for level control without much added character, that may be a good choice. Many people say similar things about the Waves Renaissance compressor plug.

Getting back to those with some extra voodoo. You won't hear people say that a particular comp adds a specific amount of eq at a certain frequency. It's a feel. It's more likely you'll hear someone say that a certain unit adds something nice on the top end or is smoother on midrange freqs. Some producers reserve certain comps for specific applications because of their character. This one is for drums, this one is great on vocals etc.

So, choose wisely when building your stable of compressors. Unless you're loaded with cash and drunk on absinthe.

THE PROOF IS IN THE PROMO

Brown Bag makes imaging sound great. Although we've been doing it for
years, we're never above earning our reputation. With that in mind we make the following offer. If you're eligible to use Brown Bag and have a trial membership to any service,
we'll produce a sample radio promo with your voice over. Let us show you how great your station can sound with Brown Bag Imaging.

EVIL INSPIRATION

It’s that spooky time of year, and you need some popular music for Halloween production. We thought about making our own list of Halloween favorites for you, then realized that we are either:

1) Not good at making lists
2) Afraid of making scary lists
3) Not fond of other lists and end up cherry picking from them anyway.
4) Lazy
5) Aware that we are actually quite good at making lists. Please note above items.

Anyway, back to the point. Instead of giving you our own personal Halloween music preferences, maybe we can save you from some search engine typing cramps. Check out the quick links below, and maybe it will speed along your production with some song inspiration. If this just ends up distracting you from your current imaging deadline, you only have yourself to blame. I’m mean, what are you doing here reading our blog anyway? Get back to work. Oh, wait…was I just talking to myself there. I think I was. I better get back to work. Thank you, me.

TOP HALLOWEEN SONG LINKS:

http://www.ez-tracks.com/top-40-Halloween-songs.html

http://www.popculturemadness.com/Music/Halloween-Music.html

http://scrapbooksalive.com/top-100-halloween-song-suggestions/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/406101/ten_best_halloween_party_songs_from.html?cat=7

http://www.aolradioblog.com/2009/09/16/10-best-halloween-songs/

http://thetikioasis.com/2007/10/09/20-best-halloween-songs/

http://top40.about.com/od/top10lists/tp/halloweensongs.htm

http://classicrock.about.com/od/recommendationsandreviews/tp/somewhat_scary.htm

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/390636/top_10_creepy_pop_and_rock_songs_for.html?cat=33

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/424094/the_best_halloween_rock_music_pop_songs.html?cat=33

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/ten-halloween-songs-that-arent-as/

http://hardrockhideout.com/2007/10/29/top-ten-metal-songs-for-halloween/

http://rayvanhornjr.blogspot.com/2007/10/halloween-hoardesfest-ten-metal-songs.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2213089/top_10_halloween_songs_metal_and_industrial.html?cat=33

WATERWORLD

That coffe colored liquid crawling through the hallway is water from a busted sprinkler main. Since it almost never rains in southern California, we don't often think about flooding as a hazard. Only one of our studios had some minor water damage so, we're calling ourselves lucky.

Is your studio ready for an unexpected flood? Is all your gear up off the floor? What about power strips? Mounting power strips on your work desk is a great idea to keep 'em high and dry.