Ok so everyone is now waiting for my post about the topic.
As the trend goes, multiply has joined the ranks of imeem, myspace, pandora, radioblog, esnips and other sites that stream media via flash player. The reason that multiply wanted to ease the members from opening other programs and playing the music on the browser itself is crap. They should have retained the playlist link if that was the idea. It is pretty obvious they wanted to get rid of the downloading multiply users do which puts multiply on the hot seat of copyright issues. I have nothing against multiply. I respect them for that. As a webmaster I understand the pressure these legal things put on to site owners especially when it comes to music and movies. We wouldnt want them to shut down the whole site, would we?
Having said all those rants, lets all go to the juicy part. How to download music.
Its the old fashion way. Use orbitdownloader's Grab ++ on Firefox, or use Free Music Zilla.
Orbit Downloader
Play the music on the flashplayer then click on the grab button (a little down arrow above the flash image if orbitdownloader is installed). Then download the song.
Free Music Zilla
Open Free Music Zilla then play the music on the flashplayer. The download link will automatically appear on the free music zilla window for which you can download.
Make sure you play the music or else your downloader will not be able to find any media stream.
There are other internet downloader out there that would probably work but these are two softwares I have been using and works fine with me. No adwares or spywares.
Cons: You have to give effort on this one and download the music one by one. Unlike before when you can download the whole playlist with a single click. But that even dont give you 100% since there is an anti-leech installed on multiply. This means time out will occur after a few minutes and your link will be invalid unless you refresh the page.
Pros: You can use this trick on other sites such as myspace, imeem, radioblog, pandora, etc.
Good thing multiply has not installed the flv function thus the music you download is its actual file. No need to convert flv to mp3 or get an flv player.
This trick also works on videos on youtube, and other video sites.
My suggestion to multiply, since they are currently exerting efforts to sell premium accounts, why not put the download links on members who have premium accounts. I wouold understand if the free users dont have a download link since this would be a good marketing move. The only difference between premium and free users are the ads and the file storage limitation and duration of unshared videos and pictures. I am sure they are silent when it comes to music because that issue is still debatable among themselves (multiply staff). Put a claw in marketing by giving download links (the old original download links on each song and not just the playlist) to premium users.
Disclaimer: I do not support copyright infringement and do not have any intention of encouraging people to violating the law. I do not support intend to destroy multiply or any other sites with suggestions of downloading music which they are obviously trying hard to remove without actually admitting. The downloader softwares are not my own and I am not responsible if anything goes wrong to your PC or yourself in relation to using it.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Only For Geeks (Studio Technicalities)
This blog entry is exclusively for geeks. It contains mostly technical stuffs that I am sure non-geeks will find boring. So, if you are not a geek... shooo shoo shoo!
So now I got my recording studio in full swing. I recently bought a pretty good Samson condenser large diapragm mic along with a pop filter and a shockmount.I dont have an isolation room yet, but my living room was built as a studio before, which means basic features are still in place. Shut the doors and its dead silent. Although the acoustic is bad since I already ripped off the cushions from the walls and cieling. That is the reason why I bought a cardoid type mic instead of the more expensive multipattern ones. A cardoid will only pick up sound which is in front of it. It will disregard the sound from the side or at the back. Omni directional and figure 8 mics do these respectively. The only negative thing with a cardoid mic is that I cannot pick up the natural reverb of the room. Thanks to technology, I can use any good software for this - a mic modeller and reverb. Recording purists dont frown! Im on a budget here and just making the most of what's available (and affordable). I cannot sacrifice my living room (as I did before), since I have a family that uses it for TV, entertaining guests, taking afternoon naps, bonding with the kid, doing kinder homeworks, eating street food bought from .. were else, the street, inuman sessions and all the other things a living room should be. Unlike before as I was living alone, I can always convert what is of my house into whatever I want. (I even made an LRT in my own backyard). I am considering building an isolation room and a monitoring room .. aka a full fledge studio ambiance, probably early next year as budget permits.
So how do things work on the current nolit's studio? Following the idea of making the most out of what's available and affordable, I had no choice but to go digital. The main equiptment would be a PC. I have two PCs in my studio. The primary one is an AMD Quadcore with 1gb memory (I am planning to upgrade to 2gb soon). This one has an EMU Digital interface installed in it - 1010 PCI card, synch daughter board and an 1820m audiodock with 8 ins and 8 outs plus 4 monitor outs. The other PC is an AMD sempron with 512mb memory which I am using as a multimedia home setup as it is linked to the TV with lotsa games (for the kid who is currently hooked on Dogz). This one has a toneport digital interface installed in it. Looks cool recording guitar in front of the TV. Both PCs (along with my other PC in my bedroom) are networked and online. They are equipted with Sonar, Cubase, Reason, Acid and tons of other audio softwares.
Recording drums is tricky. When I dont want to worry about getting a good element from a live acoustic drum take, I would often use a drum machine. But my Dr Rhythm Drum machine is long gone, so I am using Redrum from Reason to create drum sequences. I can also sequence directly on sonar with my daughter's yamaha psr keyboard as midi controller and the choice of sounds are enourmous with EmulatorX and Proteus which I got along with my EMU 1820m. But I am pleased with what Redrum can deliver. A good set of soundbanks and I am off to creating cool drum patterns. Usually its the standard drum kit.
When I feel strong and energetic, I would set up the drum set which I borrowed for my kid from our drummer since he has 3 sets sitting at home taking up dust. I still have the mics I used from my old studio - a small condenser mid for the snare & hihat, a stereo condenser mic I use for overhead and a cheap mic for the bass drum. All four mics are driven to my old fostex multitracker which I only use the mixer part. Preamped to line level, the signal from the mics are routed to stereo mains and two aux sends - equals four unique signals. Then they are feed to the Audiodock and tracked to sonar on 4 tracks. Ideally a drumset takes 8 tracks (snare, bass, tom1, tom2, floortom, hihat, crash and ride). But I dont have that number of mikes yet - plus an 8-bus mixer or a mic preamp that can feed 8 line levels to the audiodock. In the near future, this will be the next upgrade. Again, I dont have the priviledge of a well acoustic room, so I have to use reverbs and room modeller softwares.
I am not too satisfied with the drum sound from an acoustic kit with this set up. Although I have learned to master the best sound I could get through experience after numerous recordings from the old studio using analog 4track cassettes. I am looking into building triggers - attaching piezo on the kit and purchasing a good midi converter for the triggers. Driving them to audiodock midi in and assigning them to a good drum soundbank. This would definitely be cleaner. I can either tac the piezo to the acoustic drum or custom built an electronic drum kit out of practice pads so that the neighboors wont complain from the heavy drumming on an acoustic set. All these are projects to make me busy in the next few months.
Keyboard tracking is simply straightforward. I am using my daughter's yamaha psr as a midi controller driven to the midi in of the audiodock and using tons of sound banks from EmulatorX or any other software synth. Reason has tons of sounds you can choose from plus you can edit the sound in any way you want making it more unique. You can even create your own sound into something very unique making your audience puzzled as to what instrument is playing.... the synth thing of the 80s!
Bass guitar is plugged directly to the audiodock front input.Since my bass has quality EMG pickups, I dont need anything else to boost the signal. But with other bass guitars, I have an active direct box waiting to do its thing. Same thing goes with recording guitars which is pretty easy. I normally record 3 tracks from a guitar - a dry direct to pc signal, and a stereo signal from the guitarist effects. This splitting happens through a Behringer DI120 direct box/splitter.
Recording acoustic guitar and any other acoustic instruments would be similar to the way I record vocals - using a large diaphragm condenser mic. I learned a great deal of knowledge in recording acoustic guitar from my experience with leo of leowai. He was my guinea pig as I was experimenting on positioning mics and equalizations from his folk song demos. Still I prefer acoustic guitars with built in pickups. They are much easier to manage in recording. I still have my fostex dynamic mic which I can use to record blowings.
Monitoring is still an area I need to develop in terms of equiptment. I havent got a headphone amplifier yet and I think this is a necessity especially since I dont have an isolation room. Tracking vocals would require a silent room as the vocalist and myself monitors thru headphone.
Although I am used to making the most out of a headphone monitoring, I still would want to get a good reference speaker. My ears are punished from long hours on the headphones. Unlike before on my old analog multitracker where I master a mix to match a normal cassette player, with projects of production quality, I would definitely broaden my mastering to match all types of audio players - car stereos, ipods, hifis, radio, etc. With this I would need a variety of monitoring. I am thinking of actually setting up these equiptments inside the studio to get the real reference.
The main point is to create and deliver quality music. Mine is a project studio so I would only upgrade to the equiptment I would need. Unless I want to run a commercial recording studio again which requires me to acquire all the high end technology could offer, I would maintain on getting the most out of what is available (and affordable). And I feel this is how nolit's studio should be.
You know the drill: We talk about your music. Discuss how we can make things happen. Create what we can do. Then with a finished product, pass it on to better hands and see where it would take us further.
I hope I didnt bore you with this blog. In my experience, whenever someone approach me for a project, we would be discussing all those I have mentioned above. So this article helps me save all the trouble.
That's all for now! Enjoy!
So now I got my recording studio in full swing. I recently bought a pretty good Samson condenser large diapragm mic along with a pop filter and a shockmount.I dont have an isolation room yet, but my living room was built as a studio before, which means basic features are still in place. Shut the doors and its dead silent. Although the acoustic is bad since I already ripped off the cushions from the walls and cieling. That is the reason why I bought a cardoid type mic instead of the more expensive multipattern ones. A cardoid will only pick up sound which is in front of it. It will disregard the sound from the side or at the back. Omni directional and figure 8 mics do these respectively. The only negative thing with a cardoid mic is that I cannot pick up the natural reverb of the room. Thanks to technology, I can use any good software for this - a mic modeller and reverb. Recording purists dont frown! Im on a budget here and just making the most of what's available (and affordable). I cannot sacrifice my living room (as I did before), since I have a family that uses it for TV, entertaining guests, taking afternoon naps, bonding with the kid, doing kinder homeworks, eating street food bought from .. were else, the street, inuman sessions and all the other things a living room should be. Unlike before as I was living alone, I can always convert what is of my house into whatever I want. (I even made an LRT in my own backyard). I am considering building an isolation room and a monitoring room .. aka a full fledge studio ambiance, probably early next year as budget permits.
So how do things work on the current nolit's studio? Following the idea of making the most out of what's available and affordable, I had no choice but to go digital. The main equiptment would be a PC. I have two PCs in my studio. The primary one is an AMD Quadcore with 1gb memory (I am planning to upgrade to 2gb soon). This one has an EMU Digital interface installed in it - 1010 PCI card, synch daughter board and an 1820m audiodock with 8 ins and 8 outs plus 4 monitor outs. The other PC is an AMD sempron with 512mb memory which I am using as a multimedia home setup as it is linked to the TV with lotsa games (for the kid who is currently hooked on Dogz). This one has a toneport digital interface installed in it. Looks cool recording guitar in front of the TV. Both PCs (along with my other PC in my bedroom) are networked and online. They are equipted with Sonar, Cubase, Reason, Acid and tons of other audio softwares.
Recording drums is tricky. When I dont want to worry about getting a good element from a live acoustic drum take, I would often use a drum machine. But my Dr Rhythm Drum machine is long gone, so I am using Redrum from Reason to create drum sequences. I can also sequence directly on sonar with my daughter's yamaha psr keyboard as midi controller and the choice of sounds are enourmous with EmulatorX and Proteus which I got along with my EMU 1820m. But I am pleased with what Redrum can deliver. A good set of soundbanks and I am off to creating cool drum patterns. Usually its the standard drum kit.
When I feel strong and energetic, I would set up the drum set which I borrowed for my kid from our drummer since he has 3 sets sitting at home taking up dust. I still have the mics I used from my old studio - a small condenser mid for the snare & hihat, a stereo condenser mic I use for overhead and a cheap mic for the bass drum. All four mics are driven to my old fostex multitracker which I only use the mixer part. Preamped to line level, the signal from the mics are routed to stereo mains and two aux sends - equals four unique signals. Then they are feed to the Audiodock and tracked to sonar on 4 tracks. Ideally a drumset takes 8 tracks (snare, bass, tom1, tom2, floortom, hihat, crash and ride). But I dont have that number of mikes yet - plus an 8-bus mixer or a mic preamp that can feed 8 line levels to the audiodock. In the near future, this will be the next upgrade. Again, I dont have the priviledge of a well acoustic room, so I have to use reverbs and room modeller softwares.
I am not too satisfied with the drum sound from an acoustic kit with this set up. Although I have learned to master the best sound I could get through experience after numerous recordings from the old studio using analog 4track cassettes. I am looking into building triggers - attaching piezo on the kit and purchasing a good midi converter for the triggers. Driving them to audiodock midi in and assigning them to a good drum soundbank. This would definitely be cleaner. I can either tac the piezo to the acoustic drum or custom built an electronic drum kit out of practice pads so that the neighboors wont complain from the heavy drumming on an acoustic set. All these are projects to make me busy in the next few months.
Keyboard tracking is simply straightforward. I am using my daughter's yamaha psr as a midi controller driven to the midi in of the audiodock and using tons of sound banks from EmulatorX or any other software synth. Reason has tons of sounds you can choose from plus you can edit the sound in any way you want making it more unique. You can even create your own sound into something very unique making your audience puzzled as to what instrument is playing.... the synth thing of the 80s!
Bass guitar is plugged directly to the audiodock front input.Since my bass has quality EMG pickups, I dont need anything else to boost the signal. But with other bass guitars, I have an active direct box waiting to do its thing. Same thing goes with recording guitars which is pretty easy. I normally record 3 tracks from a guitar - a dry direct to pc signal, and a stereo signal from the guitarist effects. This splitting happens through a Behringer DI120 direct box/splitter.
Recording acoustic guitar and any other acoustic instruments would be similar to the way I record vocals - using a large diaphragm condenser mic. I learned a great deal of knowledge in recording acoustic guitar from my experience with leo of leowai. He was my guinea pig as I was experimenting on positioning mics and equalizations from his folk song demos. Still I prefer acoustic guitars with built in pickups. They are much easier to manage in recording. I still have my fostex dynamic mic which I can use to record blowings.
Monitoring is still an area I need to develop in terms of equiptment. I havent got a headphone amplifier yet and I think this is a necessity especially since I dont have an isolation room. Tracking vocals would require a silent room as the vocalist and myself monitors thru headphone.
Although I am used to making the most out of a headphone monitoring, I still would want to get a good reference speaker. My ears are punished from long hours on the headphones. Unlike before on my old analog multitracker where I master a mix to match a normal cassette player, with projects of production quality, I would definitely broaden my mastering to match all types of audio players - car stereos, ipods, hifis, radio, etc. With this I would need a variety of monitoring. I am thinking of actually setting up these equiptments inside the studio to get the real reference.
The main point is to create and deliver quality music. Mine is a project studio so I would only upgrade to the equiptment I would need. Unless I want to run a commercial recording studio again which requires me to acquire all the high end technology could offer, I would maintain on getting the most out of what is available (and affordable). And I feel this is how nolit's studio should be.
You know the drill: We talk about your music. Discuss how we can make things happen. Create what we can do. Then with a finished product, pass it on to better hands and see where it would take us further.
I hope I didnt bore you with this blog. In my experience, whenever someone approach me for a project, we would be discussing all those I have mentioned above. So this article helps me save all the trouble.
That's all for now! Enjoy!
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