PULP NON-FICTION

What do you do when you’re at work and you wanna kick some Scritti Politti but forgot to load it on your iPod? This is an easy one.

Pulptunes http://www.pulptunes.com/ has a solution that will allow you to listen to all of the music in your iTunes from any location via the web. All you do is download an app and follow a few simple instructions – opening firewall ports and such. What’s great is that there is nothing to install on the remote computers. The player opens in your browser and is very user friendly. Mac and Windows supported

Socko http://sockso.pu-gh.com/ is similar to Pulptunes in that it streams over the internet but this one works with any music collection, not just iTunes. The setup is very simple and the interface is very easy to use. Also Mac and Windows supported.

RIPPED IS WILDLY CREATIVE

You need wild ideas that are ready for air and that's what we do. Here's an example of a killer creative piece available on Ripped that keeps people tuned in more than that Nickelback song you're about to play.

ONLINE RADIO RECORDING

Wouldn't it be great to have a TIVO for web radio to keep up on what's happening? Yes, it would and here's a look at some software that puts web radio at your mercy.

One slick piece of software is Radioshift, made by the folks at Rogue Amoeba.
http://www.rogueamoeba.com/radioshift/
It allows you to easily search through their very comprehensive radio guide (100,000+ listings) for the stations you want to record. You can then bookmark your favorites, and then via “subscribing” to a station you can schedule a recording. These recordings are done in the background without interrupting your own audio production work flow.

A key feature is that Radioshift supports recording multiple streams simultaneously. We have tested it extensively, recording several stations over several weeks, while recording various day parts. At the end of the month using our preferred audio editing app, we can then quickly scan through the recordings looking and listening, for the imaging vs the music vs commercial breaks.

Another feature highlight that we cannot forget to mention is that Radioshift can wake your computer from sleep or power it on when a recording is scheduled while you are away from your studio and everything is shut down. You can disable this feature if you want.

The latest update adds support for “thousands of new streams” as well as improved handling of stream errors. Go take a test drive with the demo, and we dare you to convince us that it isn’t worth the meager 32 bucks. Radioshift has us firmly hooked, but some of the following alternatives may suit your needs better.

Radio Gaga (MAC)
http://www.gagafactory.com/radiogaga/index.html

We liked the look and feel of Radio Gaga, but with only 10,000+ streams in their directory (radioshift has over 100,000), we had a heck of a time finding any of the radio stations that we wanted to record. Finding even major market stations was tough. Weird.

Snowtape (MAC)
http://www.snowtape.com/

Snowtape is a really great looking app, with some very cool features, especially for casual music listeners. Instant record button. Automatic split recordings at track boundaries (if the stream info is accurate). Auto removal of commercials. Integrated track editor.

Total Recorder (PC)
http://www.totalrecorder.com/productfr_trPRO.htm

The Pro Edition is the one to have if you want to record streams in the background, as well as do scheduled recordings. Very feature rich for the money.

TUNE UP

Always trying to sound as good as you can? The place to start is to see if you are in tune. Western music has a tonal standard of Concert A, A440 Hz. If you do not know this you need to get on board quickly!!! So, if you play any of these popular instruments, and there are more, you need to be in tune with your buddy A440.

12 String
7 String
6 String
5 String
8 String Mandolin
Accordion
Acoustic Guitar
Autoharp
Brass
Calliope
Concertina
Bag Pipes
Banjo
Bells
Bouzouki
Dobro
Electric Violin
Hammered Dulcimer
Harp
Luke
Mallet Instruments
Piano/Keyboard
Organ
Sitar
Tympani
Ukulele
Woodwinds
Zither

There are many devices out on the market that can help you stay in tune. Tuneing Forks, Pitch Pipes, Electronic Tones, Pocket Tunes etc...... and if you or lucky enough to possess perfect pitch you can tune your self.

Let us turn you on to a company that has all the bases covered. The fine folks at Peterson have been in the tuning biz a long time and do it very well. For the DAW centric producer Peterson makes a couple products of interest. StroboSoft™ 2.0 VST/AU Software-Based Strobe Tuner. Strobosoft takes your tuning needs to the professional level, and we are all professionals right? And if you need to completely geek out, snag iStroboSoft™ Application for the iPhone™ and iPod touch®.

If you want the very best in tuning for your DAW and pro work flow look no further. This is the shizz!

StroboSoft VST/AU Features:

Basic Chromatic Tuning / Cents/Hertz/MIDI Note Number Output / Noise Filter / Selectable Sampling Rate Up To 96kHz / 12 Temperaments (Equal, 1/4 Comma Meantone, 1/6th Comma Meantone, Rameau, Zarlino, Just Major, Kellner, Kirnberger III, Pythagorean, Valloti, Werckmeister III, Young) / Manual Note Select / Capo and Drop Tune Settings / Target Tune Function / Global Cents Offset / Selectable Concert A Reference (340Hz - 540Hz) / Calibration Feature For External Reference / Support for Multi-Channel Input Devices / +24dB Input Boost / Illuminated Sharp and Flat Indicators / Compact Interface Mode


StroboSoft for iPod Features:

- Exclusive strobe display allows you to achieve an unmatched level of accuracy.
- Note/Octave window displays the correct note and octave for the note being tuned.
- Cents display allows you to see how far out of tune your note is in cent values.
- Glowing flat/sharp indicators assist when tuning a note very far from the target position and it is difficult to gauge which direction the strobe is moving.
- Noise filter: Use the noise filter when utilizing an external mic or clip-on tuning device to help reduce the effect of extraneous environmental noise during tuning.
- Input boost: The input boost will raise all input frequencies by +24dB.
- Calibration mode: iStroboSoft can be calibrated to an external source guaranteeing 1/10th cent accuracy.
- Drop/Capo mode: iStroboSoft will auto-transpose notes up or down to one full octave.
- Full screen mode permits the strobe display to be maximized on screen to allow better viewing from a distance.
- Adjustable Concert A: Change the Concert A reference of the tuner to accommodate tuning to a fixed instrument, such as a piano, or tune instruments that do not utilize the typical Western A440 reference.

PIMP YOUR MIC

You can find some ok sounding mics for between two hundred and three hundred dollars. If you want those mics to sound like much more expensive models, pimp 'em out with a good preamp. A high quality pre can make your bargain mic shine, however, the good ones are not cheap. When $$ is a concern, it's hard to go all out on both mic and pre. To stretch your buck, save on the mic, spend on the pre.

The right pre will give your mic a presence you never thought possible. Some are designed with channel strip capability to give you some eq and/or compression which can give you a sound not possible with your plugs.

Take your time and learn about preamps before buying. Y0u don't have to buy an Avalon to get good sound but, you will need stay out of the bargain basement.

HE HEARD IT ON THE RADIO

You've probably heard the rumors flying around about Jay Leno and the possible fates of his 10pm show. In a recent monologue, he mentioned that his first exposure to the news was on the radio. Jay was listening to a local LA radio station, as he normally does, and got his first whiff of NBCs plans for his future. It wasn't part of the joke, he really heard it on the radio. He reinforced that fact during an interview on a news station.

If celebrities are turning to radio and finding interesting info that affects their lives, it's fair to assume others are as well. Maybe Drudge had the story earlier but, that's not the point. The point is that radio is still an integral part of daily life for a variety of people, not just folks trapped in long, horrifying commutes. Radio works! Here's a link to a clip from Jay's monologue mentioned earlier. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/01/08/jay-leno-nbc-stands-never-believe-your-contract

YOU DOWN WITH FTP?

Chances are you’ve got some files to share from time to time. There are many different technologies out there that can accomplish the task of file sharing (some of which we’ve talked about here). But today we want to focus on the basics, File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

In short, FTP is a network tool that allows you to transfer, exchange, store and manipulate files via the internet. Many people/companies have file servers these days and they use those servers to store large amounts of files. Back in the day, in order to have access to these files, that company would have to burn the files onto a CD and FedEx it to you. With an FTP client, you can arrange to share these files with yourself or other people in your building almost as if they were on your own computer. It’s difficult to get your head around the technology at first but once you get into to it, you’ll be hooked. Here at the Bag, we use ftp daily and found these four apps to be the best for our purposes.

1. Cyberduck (Mac OS X) - http://cyberduck.ch/ - It’s free, open source and easy to use. Many of the Mac’s core system functions like Spolight, Bonjour and Growl are supported.
2. Transmit – (Mac OS X) - http://www.panic.com/transmit/ - Transmit costs 30 bucks but it’s way loaded with awesome features including server to server transfers and droplets for quick drag and drop functionality.
3. Filezilla – (All Platforms) - http://filezilla-project.org/ - Filezilla is great if you have Macs and PC’s in the building. They have a great support via extensive forums and they constantly update and improve the software. The best part is it’s free. If your just learning about FTP and want to get into the game, this is a great one to start with.
4. Smart FTP (Windows XP and up) - http://www.smartftp.com/ - Though not really for beginners this FTP software will do all the heavy lifting. With Smart FTP you can schedule downloads and perform a lot of automatic tasks. It’s good for managing web material and can also easily manage your stored files. When your ready for the big leagues, this is the client you wan to get. It’s free for 30 days then it’ll cost you 39 bucks

Give FTP a chance. It’s a huge time, money and resource saver. For more on FTP clients go to http://compnetworking.about.com/od/ftpfiletransfer/tp/aatp_winftpserv.htm. For more information on FTP technology and how it works check out Wikipedia’s entry on the subject. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ftp