Siempre que he querido convertir/comprimir cualquier fichero de sonido a MP3, he usado el genial LAME a través de la línea de comandos. Pero hace poco descubrí que Garageband puede hacer esta conversión de una forma muy sencilla y muy rápida. En mi caso utilizo la versión Garageband ‘08. Deberemos hacer lo siguiente:

1. Lo primero es crear un proyecto totalmente vacío, sin ninguna pista. Para ello, la forma más fácil y rápida que he encontrado es: Cuando arrancamos Garageband y nos aparece el cuadro de diálogo con las distintas opciones, y proyectos que podemos crear, seleccionamos: “Crear un nuevo episodio de Podcast”
2. Guardamos nuestro proyecto y le damos un nombre
3. El siguiente paso es eliminar todas las pistas que se han añadido por defecto y dejar el proyecto vacío. Garageband ‘08 añade 4 Pistas:  Podcast, Male Voice, Female Voice y Jingles. Las seleccionamos una a una y las vamos eliminando.
4. Arrastramos el fichero de audio que queramos convertir desde Finder al proyecto vacío. Así sin más, Drag&Drop. Y comprobamos que nos ha añadido la pista de música al proyecto con el fichero que habíamos arrastrado.
5. Exportamos nuestro proyecto a MP3. Para ello vamos a: Compartir->”Exportar canción al disco…”
6. Marcamos la casilla de “Comprimir” y seleccionamos “Codificador MP3″. Le damos la calidad que nos interese (generalmente con 192KBps está más que bien) y presionamos “Exportación”.
7. Listo, elegimos donde queremos guardar el fichero MP3 y esperamos un momento a que Garageband haga la exportación

Cualquier duda, sugerencia, mejora, crítica, será bien recibida…

I tricked out my first experiment with FourTrack, an iPhone app that is hooking me right now. On top of the four vocal tracks of yours truly (loaded into GB as WAVE files via FourTrack), I put on one bass track, two GarageBand drum tracks, some GB Lunar Strings, and some guest vox from FBdN son #1.

It’s a close call, but I think this qualifies as music, as in “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity.”

Back in the days of catching the bus to school everyday, I remember the radio constantly blaring. There was a particular segment on one station called secret sound. A sound would be played, then listeners would call in and guess what it was. Some sounds were tricky, and took days, if not weeks to figure out. Other sounds didn’t take long to identify.

Still on a bit of a sound tangent, I thought I’d record my own secret sound and see how long it takes for you to guess!

I recorded this sound in GarageBand using the built-in microphone on my computer. In GarageBand it’s also possible to create podcasts (podcasts are informative/entertaining program files that combine pre-recorded voice, music and images). They are usually freely available and can be downloaded off the internet (the iTunes Store has a good collection of free podcasts to choose from and subscribe to, but you’ll need to download it). I might add that podcasts make a wonderful addition to your MP3 player or iPod if you happen to find yourself in Sydney using public transport.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the sound, if you’d like to guess what it might be, just leave a comment.

Okay, strictly speaking this has nothing to do with designing typefaces. However it does involve playing around with letters, so I consider it worthwhile!

As a Mac user, I’ve had GarageBand for awhile, but never really used it. I thought it was high time for some musical action!

Musical typing in GarageBand

Here are the keystrokes I used to play the basic melody of ‘The Entertainer’ (a ragtime classic from Scott Joplin, c.1902):

sed k d k d k klp; kl; jlk

sed k d k d k hgt hk; lkl

sed k d k d k klp; kl; jlk

kl; kl; klk; kl; klk; kl; jlk

You will probably recognise the tune instantly once you have a listen:

GarageBand is a great way to experiment with sound and music, even if music isn’t your strong point. Unfortunately I only have one and a half songs in my repertoire. Maybe I should start learning piano again. One of the really cool features of GarageBand is the ability to turn your keystrokes into sheet music. You don’t need to know anything about music theory to do this (unless you want to play it again on an actual piano!)

Sheet music sample from 'The Entertainer'

…it is incredibly frustrating. While finishing up with my podcast on GarageBand, I had saved my project and when I went back to open it up, the pictures were gone. This happened with a number of other students in our class as well. Although this is not the only time that technology has “failed” on me, it is just as disappointing as any other time. I was able to save the podcast eventually with pictures, but the time spent fixing it was time lost that could have been spent making it better or working on something else. Technology can be used in meaningful ways, we just have to be willing to spend the extra time to make it work.

We’ve had George Pringle – Salon Des refusés for a while now and we played it non stop when we first got it as we worked away this was proceeded with an obsession with Beck but now it’s back on! I first came across George Pringle in 2006 by accident through her myspace page, It was the sarcasm and wit of the lyrics that first caught my attention, ever since I’ve been checking back now and again to listen to new songs as they’ve been posted up, Salon Des refusés brings together the best of those songs.

In a world where we seem to have music forced into our ears from major label backed “artists” and I do use that term loosely, our souls are screaming out to hear something with some originality to it. George Pringle is fresh, the music and witty lyrics seem to be treated as a piece of art, in the same way as The Kills seem to do, rather that something bashed out in 8 months to keep the money coming in for a fat greedy record label.

George Pringle may never have mass appeal, but in a world where Radio plays the same songs over and over for two months until they’re bled of all life and then forgets they ever existed, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s refreshing and inspiring to see that there are still artists (in the true sense of the word) who do still treat music and lyrics as an art form, the world needs to open it’s eyes to what music is and not who has the most radio play and advertisement, we need a revolution!

Sorry about the rant, what we’re trying to say is check out George Pringle and buy the album – Salon Des refusés!

George’s myspace

RRB xo

Record with Garageband for the first time

I’ve just used GarageBand for the first time to record seminar yesterday. Though it’s easy, I don’t like it that much. It’s not that flexible when it comes to editing. Or, maybe I’d need more time to get familiar with it.

Min dotter har nu börjat sova i ett par timmar i sträck på förmiddagen och efter lunch, så nu har jag lite tid att pilla med hemstudion.

Jag har skrivit ett gäng låtutkast och tänkte börja spela in dem med väldigt få arrangemang och försöka få till bra grundljud, men det är plågsamt tydligt att man inte har öra för hur man ställer in ljud. Arrangemang är en sak, ljudinställningar någonting helt annat

Hur som helst, en sak jag gärna skulle få till, men som jag inte vet hur man gör, är att kunna spela till GarageBands inbyggda metronom utan att behöva spela in. Dvs, starta metronomen utan att behöva starta inspelning.

Någon som vet hur man gör detta

Has video.  It shows you step by step how to accomplish this goal.  Click here to watch.

Ich habe des Öfteren das Gefühl, ich bin eine faule Sau mit zuviel Spielzeug… Da habe ich lauter tolle Instrumente und mehrere verschiedene Aufnahmesysteme – trotzdem nehme ich nicht jeden Tag auf, nicht mal jeden zweiten!    

Die Musik ist nicht so das Problem, es ist eher so, dass ich mit (kröhöm) zunehmendem Alter immer wählerischer mit meinen Texten werde. “Juh lahf mie ent ei lahf juh nau ewribaddie schuh-bie-du ” besorgt’s mir nicht mehr so richtig   

Gut, dass Frank mir dafür immer mal wieder mit richtigen Knüllern auf die Sprünge hilft!

Vor ein paar Tagen trudelte unverhofft ein neuer Text in der eMail bei mir ein. Ich brauchte den nur ein paar Mal durchlesen, und schon lief bei mir im Kopf ein bestimmtes Rhythmuspattern los. Heute im Bus auf dem Weg heim war dann plötzlich im Großen und Ganzen die gesamte Struktur mitsamt der Melodie da.

Nichts wie im Laufschritt nach Hause, rein in mein Kabäuschen ein paar Spuren als Grundgerüst in Garageband gelegt, ein Vokal-Take im ProTools, dann noch einer zum Flicken einiger doofer Phrasierungen – und schon erblickt ein neues Lied das Licht meines unaufgeräumten Heimstudios.

Danke, Frank – was würde ich ohne dich machen?

Dieser Moment – ultra rough demo

Die Aufnahme hat noch einige ehrliche Ecken und Kanten, aber das ist vielleicht auch mal ganz erfrischend im Zeitalter der Publikumsverarsche mit Auto-Tune etc.         

I have to say that I’m really encouraged by the teacher that I’m observing regarding technology use in the classroom. I’ve mentioned before how they have a Smartboard and a laptop cart, and the kids go on the computers every day. But yesterday I saw written on the board in the day’s plan something about blogging. She is going to have her 7th grade ESOL students start their own blog! I was so excited to see it, because I think it’s a great idea, and they have the necessary tools. I also saw her log onto delicious to look for something. I was wondering how a teacher of 10 years is so current with the latest technology. I think it’s awesome.

I saw that their Macs have Garageband on them, too. I’m wondering if she’ll do a project with that? These students would love it. They are a chatty group in general and I think they would love hearing their own voices, adding music, editing it, uploading photos. I will have to ask her about it the next time I’m there.

Dr. Ransom was right when he said that no one goes up to a teacher and tells them he remembers a great question at the end of a chapter. It really is projects that motivates our students to pursue their own learning. I know I’d much rather do a project than a paper, even though I like writing. It’s a chance to be more creative.

In effort to keep the tradition of foreign languages in Language Academy, my morning mixed group of 6th-8th graders  created a Food Podcast of their favorite foods. The project required them to find an audio translator on the Internet of their foreign language of choice. Some students used Babylon and others used Forvo for language translation. Then they created slides on PowerPoint of their favorite foods. Using GarageBand, they put together the slides and created a podcast translating the food into their foreign language. It was a multitasking lesson that required students to use various software to produce a foreign language project. Students choose languages ranging from Tagalog, to Swahili, to Arabic.

Closed books at 8 tonight and opened up garageband. Layered a few tracks, set the bass to 10, mids to 6 and treble to 4-5, reverb to 8 with a clean country twang sound and recorded the song. I had to create  3 tracks, the track 1 and 2 playing a signature riff throughout the song (1:42) and the third playing the actual melody. It sounds pretty good.

Didn’t know we had a little indian bread shop, Hotbreads in my neighborhood. Hotbreads is an indian chain store local to new jersey and sells all kinds of indian food. It also sells a very nice masala chai. If you are the type that ordered the chai at starbucks and didn’t like it, you’ll probably love this.

I got 4 exams before the thanksgiving break and they trully make me feel horrible every  morning when I think how prepared I actually am. On top of this, I want to go watch 2012 this weekend and I am already making plans for the thanksgiving weekend. The reason why I stopped playing the guitar after that song was because of this “so-fucked” feeling.

So I give this garden cleaning company a call for cleaning up the fall-leaves-fall. I would do it myself but these are a lot of leaves because we have three grown trees which are not even halfway through their leaf shedding this fall but the garden has turned orange lately. Anyway, so I ask this guy for a quote for cleaning that and he says it’d be about 80 bucks. “Well, let me think about it” -That’s what I say when I don’t want to think about it. I think I’ll clean it myself tomorrow.

A few years ago, I came across some tunes by Danish band UTAH on Garageband. I loved the sound and has to listen to some more more of their music. UTAH has an earthy rock sound with great lyrics that capture the imagination as these guys weave their stories. I hope that you enjoy the following song, Alien Battle by UTAH:

Honestly, I had only heard of GarageBand through a few of my classmates that had taken EDTS523 in the spring semester this year. I really didn’t know what to expect, and was surprised at how easy and fun it is to use. I think this is a great tool for the classroom to use with students. Incorporating GarageBand into a school project is a fantastic way to make learning more fun. The end products, I’m sure, are bound to be exceptional and will essentially make kids excited and proud of the work they’ve done, while learning the content they were intended to. It has much more of a “professional” feel than the typical “old school” VCR/DVD recordings. I wonder how this could be incorporated into a math classroom though…

As a part of the exciting team up with my new partner, Trinity — the gorgeous MacBook Pro — I had a three days recording session last Eed ul-Fitr (Lebaran) holiday. Messing around in the GarageBand equipped with countless packs of cigarettes and cups of coffee was quite addictive yet challenging. Now I know the meaning of “mood” to musicians and why they have such an “abnormal” working time (wtf is “normal” anyway!)

Basically it was only drag-and-drop the tunes provided by the awesome app, and filled my voice in the compositions. But I believe it would give you hard times if you don’t have this f**kin musical sense and a bit wild imaginations. I picked 7 of my childhood songs, that’s why the album title is bocah, and remade the melody based on my interpretation.

I put them in another site because inserting audio to this post would cost some bucks for space upgrade.  And unfortunately they couldn’t be embedded here (haiyyaa!!).  WP said its for security reason, gosh!  So, just click the song title if you want to check it out and you’ll be linked to the site.

And here they are..

burung kakak tua

accoustic guitar, the cranberries-y (ha-ha!)

The cockatoo and the granny became a significant part of my life since I rent a room in the old peaceful housing valley in the heart of Buitenzorg, January 2005. The landlady is a 92 years old warm-hearted adventurous woman who speaks Dutch, Mandarin, and of course English so well. I’ll write about her next time I got the chance (hmm!). She got the cockatoo as a gift from her in-law, a quite famous General in early Soeharto era, so don’t bother talking about legal permit nor wildlife conservation here..

burung kakak tua the cockatoo
hinggap di jendela drop by at the window
nenek sudah tua granny is old
giginya tinggal dua her teeth (only) left two

delman

electric guitar, rock, modified lyric

Delman is a horse-drawn carriage which designs and names are differed from one to another area in Indonesia. Just to mention some of them are andong, dokar, sado, and cidomo. And I think riding on delman is an every Indonesian children obsession, especially Java Island, me included! Now you can only find it in the tourist areas because people are adjusting to the fast-spinning-world, not to mention the smell of horse-shit.

pada hari minggu ku turut ayah ke kota on sunday i travel with daddy down town
naik delman istimewa ku duduk di muka ride on special delman i sit in front
ku duduk samping pak kusir yang sedang bekerja beside mister driver who is working
mengendali kuda supaya baik jalannya to keep the horse going the right way

di hari minggu ku turut bunda ke kota on sunday i follow mommy down town
naik delman istimewa ku duduk di muka ride on special delman i sit in front
ku duduk samping pak kusir yang sedang bekerja beside mister driver who is working
mengendali kuda supaya baik jalannya to keep the horse going the right way

photo: flickr, Kang Bas

kupu-kupu

piano, strings, orchestra

Imagine the sunny-windy-easy sunday morning,
breathing fresh air,
a cup of coffee,
writing poems,
hmm..

kupu-kupu yang lucu cute butterflies
kemana(kah) engkau terbang where are you flying to
hilir mudik mencari back and forth looking for
bunga-bunga yang kembang blooming flowers

berayun-ayun swaying
pada tangkai yang lemah on the weak stem
tidakkah sayapmu don’t your wings
merasa lelah feel tired

balonku

acoustic bass, rock

I learned the kasidah version from a uni-mate backed from Banten for fieldwork. He got it from the children studying in TPA –islamic after-school learning center– in the village. And I often sang this version as an ice-breaker in workshops and meetings, which was sooo hilarious!! But I made my own version a bit darker and angrier. Well, what are you expecting?! I lost my green balloon!

balonku ada lima i have five balloons
rupa-rupa warnanya with various colours
hijau, kuning, kelabu green, yellow, grey
merah muda dan biru pink and blue

meletus balon hijau the green one bursting
hatiku sangat kacau my heart is puzzling
balonku tinggal empat i have four ones left
kupegang erat-erat i hold them tight

photo: flickr, javajive

percussion, electric guitar, funk

Becak is a man-pedaled carriage which have been blamed for causing traffic jam and banned from most parts of Jakarta, and Bogor too! But there was a quite big serial strikes against it in Jakarta led by the Urban Poor Consortium. Now you can only find becak in housing complex or tourist areas.

My first experience riding on becak was with my mother when I was 8. I was very much looking forward to it so I couldn’t sleep the night before. It was really fun and I did crossing my feet and smiled brightly all the way. Hmm, sounds like another children-obsession-on-transportation..

saya mau tamasya berkeliling-keliling kota i will sightsee around down town
hendak melihat-lihat keramaian yang ada want to see the crowd
saya panggilkan becak kereta tak berkuda i call becak, the no horse-wagon
becak, becak, coba bawa saya becak, becak, take me away

saya duduk sendiri sambil mengangkat kaki i sit alone crossing my feet
melihat dengan asyik ke kanan dan ke kiri enjoyably seeing right and left
lihat becakku lari bagai tak kan berhenti look my becak run fast as if never stop
becak, becak, jalan hati-hati becak, becak, watch your way

photobucket, sangaku

hujan

a cappella of the original version, acoustic guitar

Rain is always be my favorite nature phenomena all the time. Tell me about it! I’ve been living in the Rain City for 15 years now. I wrote a serial poems about it when I was in uni, started with cursing ended up with embracing and praising the mighty grey curtain (damn, I forget where I stored them!). And, one of my fave books is Hujan Bulan Juni, Sapardi Djoko Damono, the poet.

tik-tik-tik bunyi hujan di atas genting tik-tik-tik the sounds of rain above the roof
airnya turun tidak terkira the water come down so much
cobalah tengok dahan dan ranting see the stems and branches
pohon dan kebun basah semua trees and garden are all wet

kasih ibu

acoustic guitar, piano, classic rock

The song which inspired me to define my personal relationship.
And the question remains..
are you strong enough to be my man?

kasih ibu kepada beta mother’s love for me
tak terhingga sepanjang masa is unlimited all the time
hanya memberi tak harap kembali only giving never expecting back
bagai sang surya menyinari dunia just like the sun shining the world

Devon Stewart rocks the Shaefer studios while working on his self-titled solo project

Lil Wayne. Kanye West. Maroon 5. Rascal Flatts. Music purists loathe them for at least one reason — Auto-Tune, a downloadable audio processor that corrects vocal and instrumental blunders in order to attain perfect pitch. By using this program, a producer can fill in a recorded performance’s holes, smooth its edges and polish its smudges.  Everyone must use this to attain musical nirvana, right? Negatory. In fact, musicians that admire large holes, adore peculiar edges, and worship pesky smudges are alive, well and plentiful. They are lo-fi artists.

Lo-fi is a shortened form of “low-fidelity,” fidelity meaning the extent to which an electronic device such as a radio or television can accurately reproduce a sound or an image. Taken literally, lo-fi can be defined as low-quality sound.

Performers like Beck, The Black Keys, Dinosaur Jr., Modest Mouse and Ween have all retreated from that glossy, synthetic, superficial world into a barebones, bare-necessities cosmos, recording sound in only its purest, most genuine state. But it’s not just a hit with more mainstream acts either, and has slowly found its way into Syracuse University’s own music scene over the past few years.

MUSIC WITH A HUMAN FACE

Ulf Oesterle, an Assistant Professor in the Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries at S.U. and owner of local label Aux Records, managed a band between 1997 and 1998 that recorded an EP on South Campus over their Spring Break.

“People that are recording in lo-fi, they want to create something,” he said. “They don’t always have the means to create a product that is polished, but there is a certain beauty in these really cheap recordings.”

The band converted their apartment into a makeshift studio by flipping mattresses up against the wall for soundproofing, plopping the drums in the middle of the living room, and building a vocal booth out of three other mattresses. Some current students have been following a similar path.

Devon James Stewart, a junior film major in SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts and guitarist for local ska/experimental outfit Native Informant, also started his own electronic project using some lo-fi techniques. He sees the genre as a response to today’s financial climate.

“I think with the economy and the way the world is, people think that it’s harder to get your music heard, or its harder to make some money playing music,” he said. “So more people, more bands that are trying to do things are thinking of innovative ways to just try new things.”

Stewart uses Logic Pro Studio, Apple’s music production suite, to create his art. Stewart, who’s also a DJ, has used it to record songs outside, in a hallway, or on a flight of stairs to capture different room sounds.  He said lo-fi is a positive force because the musical process becomes solely concerned with the individual, not a huge record company.

“It takes it out of the hands of the industry and out of the commercial world. It gives it more of a human face,” he said.

THE DEMO AESTHETIC

Bob Dylan’s 1975 record The Basement Tapes was the first landmark lo-fi pop album. The disc distinguished itself by holding on to its flaws, playing off mistakes, and recording live. Thus, Dylan invented lo-fi’s calling card — authenticity.

“What does a song sound like in its unfinished state?” asked Theo Cateforis, an Assistant Professor of Music History and Cultures in the Department of Art & Music Histories at SU. “I think the idea of intimacy is important to lo-fi, that if you can imagine, ‘Wow, this sounds like it was recorded in someone’s bedroom,’ it’s a lot easier to imagine yourself in that space than it is to imagine yourself in Metallica’s studio.”

Lo-fi is about that demo aesthetic, he said. That gritty, dirty, distorted sound comes from the equipment.

Artists like Buddy Holly, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd all recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorders. More modern musicians have used four-track recorders, namely the Tascam Portastudio, the first of its kind. With these, the artist records four separate instruments on four separate tracks and then blends them all together at the end.

Although it has become the norm to produce demos, Bruce Springsteen recorded Nebraska on the Portastudio, and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ axeman John Frusciante used it to create Niandra Lades & Usually Just a T-Shirt as well as Smile from the Streets You Hold. Newer models of this recorder have six and eight tracks, with some digital types going as high as twenty-four. People can find this kind of equipment on the street, Oesterle said.

“Some people are finding second-hand equipment and you’ve got a sense of trying to fix up this old gear, maybe analog gear that’s been discarded by most of the modern studios,” he said. “Some people, if they’re lucky enough to have GarageBand on it or some sort of rudimentary audio recording program, you can put together your music in that.”

FLOODING THE MARKET

But what about the critics who say lo-fi groups are flooding the market? It’s no fun if anyone can create some semblance of a studio in their own home, record some songs in low quality, and throw it on their MySpace page. Oesterle disagrees.

“From a perspective of music consumption, I think it’s great because people can put music together, offer it to fans or potential fans on any one of the social networks, and people can consume music, they can hear it, they can interact with it, download it, or stream it,” he said.

Kevin Hegedus, a sophomore music composition major also known as Mouf, began a lo-fi project called Mouth’s Cradle in the summer of 2008, making music based primarily on vocal loops. Using only his laptop, its internal microphone, GarageBand and a few outside instruments, Mouth’s Cradle recorded two EPs: Body Pop in 2008 and Beach Tales in 2009. He did it all for free.

“[Lo-fi] sounds very do-it-yourself-ish, but at the same time it has this really grainy rock quality, which, to me, is just so attractive and makes the music more real for me,” he said. “I think aesthetically, the raw sound is really beautiful.”

Another upside to marketing lo-fi is the live show. A fan may pick up a band’s album, like the music, and wonder about the quality, but still want to go see them live.

“I think if you have this really polished CD and then you go to the live show and the live show doesn’t hit the mark, doesn’t reach the level that the CD was, I think you’re disappointed a little bit,” Oesterle said.

“If you have a recording that is less than stellar but you go to the live show where they’re playing through a PA system that’s state of the art, which many of the venues have great PA systems, even small venues, the concert experience is more pleasurable at that point.”

GARAGEBAND NATION

Matt Gasda, a junior in The College of Arts & Sciences, sings and plays guitar and keyboards in the ambient act Bears in America, who are planning to record this winter.  He said some members of the group want to record in a more lo-fi way, with no mixing or overdubs, but he would prefer the expensive equipment.

“It’s a real choice — sometimes limiting gadgets in the studio results in a more spontaneous sound,” he said. “I think there is something worth investigating in that approach. Some bands, particularly pretty ones, could never do it. Pretty music requires delicacy.”

The lo-fi approach has become synonymous with old-time authenticity, a certain back-to-basics process designed to tickle our remember-when glands. People still buy and listen to vinyl records, not only so they can impress other people with their collection of trendy second hand knick-knacks, but also because the music can provide a sort of homely nostalgia.

Gasda had a somewhat humorous, ironic outlook on lo-fi and its future.

“It has certainly flooded the internet with atrocious, aesthetically empty music. But the radio is and was already flooded by bad music,” he said. “We used to have bad music controlled by major labels, now it’s controlled by young people with GarageBand.”

– Bill McMillan