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The Top Ten Mac Audio Products For 2009

macaudioguy — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:12:19 +0000

It’s that time of year again, so without further ado here’s the Mac Audio Guy Top Ten Mac Audio Products For 2009:

Logic Studio 9 $499 http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/
A truly awesome Pro Digital Audio Software suite for just under 500 smackers. (half the price of the previous version!!!)
Makes Pro Tools look like Poor Tools. This software is the single best software for audio and music production on the Mac (or any other platform)… period.
Zoom H4N $299 http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h4n/
The H4 was great, the H4N is mind blowing! The H4 was plastic and toylike which just didn’t look like a professional audio recorder, all that has changed. The new H4N is a rugged pro piece of gear. the perfect location recorder for digital cinematography or any other form of field recording. 4 Tracks, built in high quality mics, XLR, 1/4″ and Mini inputs, SDHC cards, and it’s an audio interface!

Djay V2.0 $49.95 http://www.djay-software.com/
Beats down Djay software costing Hundreds more. Not only is this the best software dual deck simulator on the Mac, it also interfaces with all the best MIDI controllers if you need to touch the platters. If you don’t have that kinda scratch you can scratch using multi touch on your Macbook. Word!
Shure SRH 440 Pro Headphones $99 http://www.shure.com/
For year Sony MDR-7506s were the Pro Audio standard for headphones. for their clarity, comfort and ruggedness, Now Shure has come out pro headphones with all those qualities and they just plain sound better than the Sonys. Deep punchy bass without taking and sizzle out of the highs. You owe it to yourself to listen to these bad boys.
M-Audio Session Music Producer $89 street http://www.m-audio.com/
I used to love M-Audio products before they were assimilated into the evil Digidesign/Avid/Borg Continuum. Lately most of the M-Audio line has turned to the dark side with a couple exceptions. The Session Music Producer is one of them. The package has the Session PC-only GarageBand knock-off software and a really great USB Condenser Microphone. Throw away the software and buy this just for the mic.
M-Audio Keystudio $99 Street http://www.m-audio.com/
Like the Session music producer above, this 49 key MIDI control keyboard comes with the Session software. Give the software to some poor PC owner and keep the keyboard. Now you wont have to use musical typing in Garageband anymore.
Melodyne Editor $299 http://www.celemony.com/
They say Auto-tune is dead, while it may fade from pop radio as an overused and cliche’ effect, Auto-tuning software belongs in every music producers tool box. Celemony has upped the game with the new Melodyne editor which allows you to go into chords and correct the individual notes. you read that correctly, now you can auto tune bad notes in a chord. Somebody must have made a pact with the devil because this software is black magic.
Levelator free http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator
This is another magical piece of software that corrects levels in recorded voice.
It is designed for getting perfect voice levels for podcasts. If you’re recording narration or podcast or any spocken word material you need to download this. C’mon it’s FREE!
iPod Touch starting at $199 http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/
Want to run all those cool iPhone Apps but don’t want or need the AT&T ball and chain with the iPhone? Then you NEED the iPod touch.
Two words: App Store.
The Apple App Store via iTunes
500+ audio apps. ‘Nuff said.

Radio Groove Is On The Air!

macaudioguy — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:59:32 +0000

Tune-In to the Groove

After many months of effort to set up a legal internet radio station, I’ve finally succeeded! Thanks to finding a way to legally licensing the music I play through LoudCity.com.
I’m proud to announce RadioGroove.org is on the air!

Radio Groove is broadcasting 24/7 completely commercial free. Radio Groove is even available for your land or club in Second Life.

Radio Groove features eclectic Jazz and electronic groove music, including Latin Jazz, Dub, Brazilian, Ambient and Down-tempo, Blues, R ‘n B and even Contemporary Lounge. Hopefully you’ll find some music to love or love by on Radio Groove.

Radio Groove is almost completely listener supported and I depend on your support to meet my monthly expenses. So please give Radio Groove a listen and donate, every cent helps.

Thanks!

Mac Audio Guy is Back

macaudioguy — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:49:54 +0000

The Mac Audio Guy website was attacked by a hacker and due to the the code injection attack The Site was de-listed by Google and the site traffic went essentially to zero. This made me do some soul searching as to whether maintaining this site was really providing a valuable service and if it is worth the effort to maintain. I decided to carry on.
I did a rebuild of the entire site and fortunately was re-listed by Google. I am really busy with several video projects and I am in the process of building my video business and launching the Jay Shaffer Video website, but I am dedicated the getting some more content up here on Mac Audio Guy. and I plan to have a new Monitor Podcast out by tomorrow. Thank you for sticking with the site through this rebuilding process, and I hope to continue to bring valuable information to the Mac audio and music community.

Podcast 44: dB Jeebies, Understanding Decibels

macaudioguy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:07:24 +0000

In this episode of Monitor, as part of series of audio basics, I explain decibels and their importance in recording digital audio. Decibels play an important role in measuring sound levels for motion pictures, broadcast and musical recording.

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The Amazing $1000 Mac Audio Guy Studio

macaudioguy — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:36:17 +0000

I recently received an e-mail from Mike Hohmann and he wants to set-up a home studio using his new iMac and GarageBand, but he was confused with what mics, audio interface and reference monitors he should get, in short, he asked “I know this is a lot of info to cover but I am doing as much research as I can before I spend my hard earned money and simply put I need professional advice from anyone who really knows this stuff inside out and can ask the right questions and say okay here is what you need to get and you should be good to go for awhile. I would like to spend around 1000 dollars for this stuff give or take a little…”

This got me to thinking. What gear I would buy, in order to put together a flexible Mac based home audio recording studio?
Okay, here it is; The amazing $1000 Mac Audio Guy home studio gear list.

First you will need some microphones, whether you’re a guitarist who needs to mic your amp or your acoustic guitar or if you’re a singer, or even if you’re a drummer, you’ll need some good mics. The most versatile, most rugged and the one mic I’d take to a desert island is the Shure SM 58. Note that the SM-57 and the SM-58 are nearly identical mics . The SM-58 has a spherical windscreen whereas the SM-57 does not. The windscreen makes the SM-58 a little better to sing into because it takes care of a lot of vocal pops. Shop around and you can find a SM-58 for $99. Next I would recommend getting a pair of matched condenser microphones. Condenser mics are generally more precise mics and are great at capturing the nuances of a performance, however they are fragile and require a phantom power source, so condensers are more likely to be used in the studio, rather than onstage. To stay under the $1000 dollar budget I chose the Audio Teknika AT2020 as a good condenser for about a $100 and I put two on our list and I actually was able to get some headphones thrown in as a package deal. The reason you want two matched condenser mics is so that you can do stereo recording, for a drum kit, for example. There are some other good condensers in this price range, the AKG Perception 1000, the M-audio Nova, a couple from Blue Microphones, and from MXL, you can shop these microphones and see if you like the sound of one over another, but for the purposes of simplicity and a value I’ll go with the AT2020 for my list.
So i’ve spent a third of the budget on three Mics. Now, if you are a keyboardist/composer, you may want to substitute a MIDI Keyboard controller like the M-Audio Keystation 61 for one of the mics, but for the purposes of this article I’ll consider your instruments as separate from the studio budget.

Next we need an audio interface to get the audio from the mics into your Mac. There are a bunch of two channel interfaces out there ranging from $150-$500, but I’m going to go with an audio interface that is also an analog mixer. The Alesis Multimix 8 FW or the Multimix USB2.0 mixer/interfaces are a great bargain. For $300 you get an eight channel mixer with four pro-quality mic pre-amps and it acts as an ten channel in and two channel out audio interface, either over Firewire or USB 2.0. I would choose the USB 2.0 model simply because I have more USB inputs than Firewire inputs on my Mac. So I killed two birds with one stone by adding the Alesis Multimix 8 USB 2.0 to my list at $299.99. But wait there’s more! The Alesis Multimix ships with Cubase LE music software that you can use in addition to GarageBand on your project. But wait there’s ever MORE!! By shopping around, I found I could get the Mulimix, an AKG Perception Mic and a table mic stand and cable package from BSW http://bswusa.com/ for the same $299.99 price! So now I’ve got four Mics and a interface/mixer for just under $600. Yeah Baby!

If you’re going to be recording you’ll need some headphones and some reference monitors (speakers) Reference monitors is just a fancy name for speakers that are supposed to be more accurate than home speakers. First off, I’l add Sony MDR-7506 headphones to our list. These are very accurate professional headphones and at $99 they are a bargain. And so that only leaves us $200 to buy speakers. If I want to stay under my budget, I have to to go with a Bargain. The Alesis M1 ACTIVE 520s are a 75W bi-amped active speaker for $199 a Pair. And that just squeaks me under my budget at $993.99, enough for a six pack left over. .

(Note on my shopping cart figure they didn’t total up the two AT2020s so that’s why it’s a hundred dollars too low.)

Okay, so I was able to put together a studio for under a thousand, but to be honest I would have spent about another $200. I would have spent an extra $100 over budget and purchased the KRK RP5 monitors for $300 a pair. And then add another $100 for Mic stands and cables and we’re really at $1200. However, with some clever comparison shopping online you may be able to get everything for a little less or get cables thrown in as a package deal.
So there you have it, the amazing Mac Audio Guy $1000 dollar studio (give or take a little.)

DJay Deal! Half Price Today Only.

macaudioguy — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:58:00 +0000

Okay, I usually don’t blatantly promote software. Nor would I usually steer you to another Mac site. But this is too good of a deal to pass up, if you are at all interested in DJ software.
There are several good DJ mixingÂ applications out there, the big three are Tracktor DJ Studio, Ultramixer and DJay. Of the three, Tracktor is the big-boy Pro app but at $280US list price, it’s definitely beyond the budget of the casual DJ. UltraMixer Pro has most of the features of TracktorÂ and goes for $230US and while I like UltraMixer’s interface better than Tracktor’s in most aspects, UltraMixer is obviously a cross platform port, There is nothing Mac-like about it’s interface or menus. Finally there is the little engine that could. If you like spinning with two turntables and a microphone DJay is the app for you! It has a cool two deckÂ interface and all the controls are Mac-like and intuitive, and atÂ $50 USÂ its a bargain.
So here’s the deal For today only (February 20, 2008) Djay is available as promo deal on MacUdate.com for $24.99.
Even if don’t catch today’s deal if you have any interest in DJ software you should check out the trial download of DJay at the DJay website.

Free Stuff for the Holidays

macaudioguy — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 19:13:41 +0000

Here are a bunch of free stocking stuffers from Goldbaby (thanks !)
Including some HipHop Apple Loops and the 606 Tape sample library.

Free Stuff form Goldbaby

Hating the Waiting

macaudioguy — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:42:26 +0000

Alright It’s been over two months since Apple released OS 10.5 Leopard and I’m still waiting on a stupid Driver for my M-Audio Radium 49 keyboard. Two months of being unable to use a product because someones to lazy to write two hours worth of code. I am Fuming!

I HATE Avid/Digidesign and always hated that it takes them on average 6 months to start writing drivers after any major OS change. I was hoping that when M-Audio was aquired by Digi that they would remain the cool little company that they used to be. I remember specifically how quick and often they used to update drivers. But unfortunately it appears that the guy that used to write the drivers for M-Audio has been swallowed into the huge slow gluttonous mass that is Digidesign calls support.

Shame on you Digidesign, you suck. My next keyboard will be an Edirol.

Next Rant: On October 5th I submitted my latest EP to TuneCore to be released on iTunes . TuneCore said that it would be available in the iTunes Music store and on Emusic around November 30th. Okay if that’s the process, I was willing to accept that. So although I recieve no notification from TuneCore, I thought I better check their site to see If my music was available yet. Acording to TuneCore My Album is Live in theÂ ITunes Music store both in the US and UK and at Emusic and at Amazon.

The reality is that it’s only available on Amazon as of now. WTF???Â I wentÂ aheadÂ and put the link to iTunes on the site in hopes that the Link will go hot before X-mas.Â In the meantimeÂ you can buy the Album at Amazon.

Podcast 36, How To Start Your Own Internet Radio Station

macaudioguy — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 21:22:17 +0000

In this episode of Monitor, I explain how to use your Mac to launch your own Shoutcast internet radio station and how to broadcast into Second Life.

You can be an internet DJ and stream your music or voice over the internet using Your Mac, iTunes, a program called Nicecast from Rogue Amoeba and a Shoutcast DNAS or Icecast server. I also talk briefly about the legalities of Internet radio and ask you to check out SaveNetRadio.org

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There Is No Away: Recycling Your Old Macs

macaudioguy — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:51:25 +0000

As cool as Macs are, eventually they become obsolete or give up the the ghost. They also tend to acquire peripherals and accessories that also cease to function and/or become obsolete. This is an environmental concern because a landfill is no place for consumer electronics of any kind. Unless you prefer your drinking water with heavy metals.
Apple is very responsible in that if you buy a new computer you can check a box on the order form and they will send you a shipping label, and they will pay for shipping back and recycling your old Mac. Just one of those things that makes Mac ownership special.
Over the years, my garage has become filled with old Macs, monitors and accessories. And I do mean filled. So over the last couple weeks I’ve been deaccessioning. First I brought some old Macs (some still functioning) in to be used as props on the MacMost podcast set. Next, I cleaned off my G4 Tower, installed OS 10.3.4 and iLife on it and gave it to my niece and nephew to make music on. Cross them off my Christmas list.
Still I had five monitors, two boxes of old SCSI accessories,ADB tablets, mice, and keyboards, a couple old PC CPUs. I called a local electronics recycling center and found that they wanted over a hundred dollars to take my stuff away. So what to do? Freecycle.org to the rescue! Freecycle is an online service set up in many cities where you can go to a Yahoo group and post stuff you need to get rid of for free, and If somebody can use your stuff they email you, claim it, and pick it up. Woo-hoo!
So I posted a list of what I had left and found someone, who likes hacking together old computers and reselling them for cheap. My stuff is gone, I can see parts of my garage floor, and hopefully most of that stuff wont get thrown away, because there is no away.