Mac Audio Guy

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. Continue reading »

written by macaudioguy

I did a lot of upgrades in the last month. I got a new iMac with iLife ’08 and then I did the Leopard upgrade.
With the “upgrade” to iLife’08. I noticed I lost all of my third party AU instruments and most third party effects. With the GB 4.1 update I was expecting those to be restored. To be fair, I do now have Crystal and Automat back, but Remedy and Turntabelist are listed but don’t work and a whole bunch like Sampletank2, Linnplug don’t even show up. Same with a bunch of AU effects( I Need my Monsta Chorus)
WTF? I surprised that this isn’t a major headline. I’ve got tons of old songs that use specific AU instruments. They won’t play anymore, which is really bad, if I need to go back and do a remix on a song. And I can’t compose new music using instruments that I’ve purchased to work with GB?
Please someone tell me there’s a work around, until Apple and the third parties get on the same Audio Unit page.
Oh and don’t try to load a GB4 project into Logic Express 7. You’ll get an error. And Logic also is having a hard time finding apple loops.

My Radium 49 keyboard ceased to be recognized with the Leopard Upgrade. But M-audio IS owned by Digi now So I expect there to be a six month lag in drivers. I hope I’m wrong ’cause having no Midi keyboard is a serious dent in any music making.
So on many fronts the GB4 and Leopard migration is a mess. I was also hoping to upgrade to Logic studio 8. Hmm I think I’ll wait a little bit

written by macaudioguy

I’ve installed Leopard on my work machine ( a G5 dual core ) and a Mac Mini at home. While I haven’t come across any audio specific features that are greatly improved. I will report as I exploire Apples latest OS. I do want to apologize for the fractured nature of the MacAudioGuy website upgrade. I’m still working on getting the forum to work and to get all the old pages pointing to the new site and content. I beg your patience.

written by macaudioguy

Check out the Belkin Tune Talk Stereo for 5G iPods. I’ve been waiting forever for this device, finally I can record podcasts or do field recording with my iPod. The Tune Talk has two built-in condenser mics as well as a Mic/Line input and it even has an autogain switch and a USB charging cable, all for under $75. Anyone want to buy a used portable DAT machine?

written by macaudioguy

I’ve become quite infatuated with Second Life. If you are in Second Life, feel free to IM my avitar VJ Shojo for a free Mac Audio Guy t-shirt.

written by macaudioguy

In my last Podcast I talked a bit about headphones and monitoring. I did want to mention one follow-up item. Another downside to using headphones exclusively for monitoring beside the dangers to your hearing is that headphone can cause your ears to produce more ear wax, can lead to ear canal blockage which essentially makes you deaf until you get you ears cleaned. There was a period in my career where I would have to go to the doctor twice a year for this. Now I try to avoid headphones and I regularly clean my ears before the wax builds up.
Okay on to loud speakers. Typically professional speakers are called monitors, and manufacturers design these speakers to be accurate rather than hyping certain frequencies to sound louder or more pleasing as some “hi-fi” and computer speakers do. Professional monitors are divided into Studio monitors, which are usually large speakers with woofers in the, 12″ to 18″ range that are soffited into the control room walls and near-field monitors, which are usually smaller, with woofers in the 4.5″ to 8″, range and are freestanding. Near-fields are what most of us use in the home studio environment. Both these types of monitors come in passive and powered versions. Passive monitors need to be driven by an external amplifier, whereas powered monitors have an amp mounted within the speaker enclosure and have line level inputs. One of the pros of a passive monitor is that you can choose an amplifier that suits you budget and taste. The downside is that passive monitors generally have passive crossovers and matching the amp’s characteristics to the monitors can be problematic. Active monitors often use a separate built-in amp fro each driver as well as using more sophisticated active crossovers between drivers. Some may argue that the built in amps are inferior to a separate external amp but personally I think this is academic. The other argument against active monitors is that; “they eat while you sleep” in other words there are always consuming power. Again, remember that you just need to remember to turn them off just as you would an external amp.
The preferred method for choosing monitors is to take a CD that you know well and is representative to the music that you record and listen to the CD through several brands of monitors at a store. Monitors are in my opinion the most important piece of gear in a small or home studio. You need to listen before you buy.
That said, I’m going to mention a few low budget pro-level monitors that you may want to consider. Here’s a list of active monitors that run from about $400-$500 a pair with 5 to 6″ Low frequency drivers:
Alesis MI active 620
Event tuned reference 6
KRK RP6
And M-Audio BX5s
I’m sure I’ve missed some other good monitors in this range, but these four should give you a good place to start for comparison listening.
I could literally write a rather thick book on speakers and studio monitoring, The most important thing to remember is that you want to by speakers that are as accurate as possible and sound good with your type of music within your budget. And remember that speakers are about the most important investment that you can make in your home studio set-up.

written by macaudioguy

Okay let’s talk monitoring, which is a fancy word for actually listening to what you are recording or have already recorded. There are basically two ways to monitor, via loudspeakers and via headphones. I’m hoping to address using loudspeakers in the next episode and I’ll concentrate on headphones for this episode.
If you are going to do any serious recording on your Mac you need both a good set of speakers (and I don’t mean the cheapy computer type) and a decent set of closed back headphones (not the “walkman” type.) The main reason for this is that if you’re recording with a microphone and monitoring the recording with speakers or open type headphones you are almost sure to create a feedback loop. And feedback is both damaging to your hearing and your psyche.
Although you may be tempted to buy a cheap set of headphones, don’t. There are some excellent headphones out there for under a hundred dollars and they are worth every penny.
I’ll take a quick look at three brands that you can get for under a C-note. Specifically Sony MDR-7506s, AKG 240s and Sennheiser HD-260s. A listener recently e-mailed me about my choice of the Sony MDR-7506 headphones in my “best toys for under a hundred bucks” article. He had tried out the Sony, AKG240 and Sennnheiser HD-280 headphones. His contention was that the Sennheisers where acoustically superior and wondered why anyone would consider the two other models because of their “colored” sound.
I wrote back that besides acoustic accuracy, there are other factors to consider when choosing headphones. To quote my reply:
Truth in monitoring is probably the most subjective and complex area in all of pro-audio. It’s like when gawd awful Yamaha NS-10s used to be the near field “standard” speaker in studios (yuk!). In essence almost all audio playback is “colored” unless you are in the exact same room with the same speakers that the mastering engineer used for a particular album. Headphone serve other purposes than just accurate monitoring, in fact I would argue that for true critical listening you need great speakers in a great room, something you’re not going to get for under a $100. Now, what headphones are good for is hearing yourself sing or play when recording, listening to playback in less than ideal environments and as a portablPersonally I like the 7506′s for several reasons. First they are more portable and louder (efficient) than the 240s or the HD280s. I’ve used AKG240s in the studio for years and yes they are excellent cans although the don’t isolate you from external noise as well as the other two. The Sennheisers are very neutral and my only real gripe is that they break. The “fork” that mounts the ear cup has broken on several pairs that I’ve seen. I’m always throwing my Sonys in my bag and haven’t broken a pair yet. As far as how they sound, I’m used to the Sony’s and as my hearing deteriorates having something that you are familiar with becomes more important.
But the real bottom line is that you can’t go wrong with any of these three models and buy whichever of them best suits you and your needs and taste.
Now let’s take a look at how to use headphones while recording. The simplest set up is where you plug your headphones into the built-in Audio output of your Mac or audio interface hooked up to your Mac. This works sometimes but more often not the sound in your headphones is slightly delayed from what you are recording with the microphone. This is called latency, and is caused by the time that it takes for the computer to process the audio from analog from your mic to digital and back to analog for you headphones again. There are a couple of work-arounds for this situation. The first is reducing the audio buffer size. Most audio recording programs have some sort of buffer setting in their recording preferences menu. In the Case of GarageBand it’s under Audio MIDI in the preferences menu. Set the radio button to “Minimum delay when playing instruments live.” The second thing you can do is turn off monitoring for the track that you are recording. This allows you to hear the playback of your previously recorded tracks just not the track that you are recording. Since you can hear yourself acoustically this method can work. However a lot of vocalist and players like to hear effects on their voice and instruments as they record. If this is the case you are stuck with monitoring the record track and any resulting delay. This even applies to the next method that I’m going to talk about. Many higher end audio interfaces have a feature called “direct monitoring.” This takes the takes the signal directly from your mic and mixes it with the sound of your previously recorded tracks from the computer. This method allows you to hear yourself without latency, however, like I mentioned before, it doesn’t allow you to hear effects on your voice or instrument. Latency is less of a problem on really fast computers using dedicated internal sound cards but usually theses out of the budget range of the average recordist. You can also try to lighten the load on your computer’s processor by “freezing” or locking previously recorded tracks.
One final note is that with headphones it’s especially important to protect your hearing at all times. If you want to continue to enjoy your music later in life keep your monitoring levels low. Everybody’s hearing deteriorates over time, but reasonable monitoring levels will help you keep your golden ears until your golden years.

written by macaudioguy

January means one thing to Mac people and that’s the Mac World Expo and Steve’s Keynote. It’s also the time of year when Mac people, like yours truly, start speculating on what new products will be announced at the Expo.
With iPods making Apple more money than Macs are, it will be no surprise that this years Expo will be more about iPods than computers. The first and most credible rumor is that the 1Gig iPod Shuffle will be replaced. The evidence is that Apple retail stores are just selling remaining stock. Apple’s online store, has been saying “Currently Unavailable” for the 1GB iPod shuffle, since mid-December. And this iPod model is not available at major retailers, including amazon.com. We hope that 512 Meg. Shuffle will still be under the $100 price point, and that the 2GB Nano goes down to $150. Certainly there will be some kind of shuffle in the iPod line-up.
If you got a new 5G iPod this year, it’s probably painfully obvious to you that a lot of 4th gen. IPod accessories don’t work with the new form factor. Most notable, to me at least
Other iPod rumors include an Apple Boom Box for iPods. (Probable,) HBO programming (Very Likely,) Bluetooth or 802.11x wireless capability for new iPods (not expected this year) and an iPod camera. (ehhh, Maybe?)
The main thing is that hopefully the Expo will see a landslide of accessories to enhance the 5g iPods capabilities.
Enough about iPods what about the new Intel Macs? According to MacSecret.com “Apple appears on track to deliver an Intel-based iBook early next year, sources report, and in doing so will replace its long-standing 14.1-inch model with a widescreen 13.3-inch display.” I think we’ll definitely see an Intel Mac before the end of 2006, probably both iBooks and Mac Minis, but I would be extremely surprised to see them launched at the Expo simply because the 10.4.4 OS that will support Intel Macs isn’t expected until mid-year. I’ll go out on a limb and guess that there won’t be any significantly new Macs launched at the Expo. So what about software? New versions of iLife always seem to appear at the Expo, so iLife ’06 will probably be announced. The ’06 version will almost certainly include a version of Front Row that will allow remote control of your iLife Apps. Midi export and 48Khz recording are on my wish list for GarageBand 3, but I would be surprised if that happened. The most obvious addition to iWork ’06 would be a spreadsheet app that would finally make the suite competitive with MS Office. The Lack of a spreadsheet in Iwork is the only thing keeping many users shackled to a Microsoft product. At last a Microsoft free Mac, Yippee!
Finally there is one piece of Apple hardware that has been rumored for a long time. I’m talking about a 24bit 96Khz stereo Audio interface box from Apple. I would think that it’d be USB 2 rather than Firewire ala the iPod and although it probably won’t happen. It would be a dream machine in my book if you could record directly to the new iPod.

written by macaudioguy

It’s that time of year when you start thinking of Musical gifts for the holidays. Whether it’s for a friend or loved one or yourself or just for the tax deduction, now’s the time to get that special something that you’ve been wanting all year.
As if you can’t think of a bunch of things that you simply must have, I’ll throw a few more Mac audio must haves your way. Topping my list is the number 1 Mac Audio must have, if you have a G4 or better Mac you need iLife 05. Because if you don’t already have GarageBand, you need it. So jump on the Bandwagon for the best piece of music software you can get for under a hundred smackers. Oh, and also for your $79 you get iPhoto, iMovieHD and iDVD. iLife05 is available from the Apple Store.
Got GarageBand and think you’re ready to move onto a more sophisticated program? Check out Steinberg’s Cubase SE. Cubase SE is the starter program in the Cubase line. It is simple enough to keep the your home studio making music instead of scratching you head. And it has enough features to just about everything you need to do including 48 audio tracks, an unlimited number of MIDI tracks, sequencing and hard disk recording features as well as professional 24-bit/96kHz resolution. Cubase SE is on sale at Audiomdi.com for $99.
If you’re tired of using GarageBand’s on screen keyboard or Musical typing feature, you need a MIDI Keyboard controller. M-Audio’s Keystation 49e is a solid choice. It packs 49 keys and a bunch of features into a keyboard that limbos under the $100 bar at $99. The 49e is available from the Apple Store or Audiomidi.com among others.
Midi keyboards are fine but what if you want to record your Guitar? GuitarPlug is a device that plugs directly into your guitar and has a USB cable output to allow you to plug directly into your Mac even if it’s an iBook and doesn’t have built-in audio inputs. If you record using a Dynamic Mc there’s also the MicPlug that plugs into you dynamic or self-powered condenser Mic and has a USB output. Handy. Both are available from Mac-Pro.com for $40 bucks apiece.
Another cool USB Mic solution is Samson’s C01U Large capsule condenser mic with a built-in USB interface. You just can’t beat the simplicity a studio quality mic that plugs directly to your Mac. The C01U is available from AudioMidi.com and others for $79. One last USB thingy is the iMic 2 from Griffen Technologies. It’s still the best and cheapest way to get audio into your Mac if it doesn’t have a built-in audio input. The iMic is available from griffintechnology.com and other retailers for a modest $39.
If you’re in the market for microphones, here are a couple that you need to check out. First is the venerable Shure SM-57. More specifically the SM57LC (LC for low cost presumably.) The SM-57 is arguably the most popular dynamic recording mic in the world. I don’t know how many thousand times I’ve used this Mic for everything from micing guitar amps to xylophones. You need to have this mic in your collection. The SM-57LC is on sale for $89 from Audiomidi com. The next Mic is a new kid on the block and sounds like mics costing hundreds more. The M-Audio Nova is quickly becoming the weapon of choice for small studios when you need a large capsule condenser Mic for recording vocals and acoustic instruments. The Nova is available from most music retailers for $99.
The Next two items are must haves for monitoring. You know actually listening to what you’re recording. As far as headphones go, the pro studio standard is the Sony MDR-7506. Whether it’s checking a mix or monitor for vocals the Sony’s don’t lie. No serious recordist should be without a pair. The MDR- 7506s are available from most music retailers for between $89 and $99. This next item is something that you don’t think you need but once you use it you’ll never know how you got along without it. The Samson C-Control is a control room-monitoring Matrix. What hell is that? You ask. The C-Control gives you total control of monitoring; just like a big time studio consol. Need to set up a headphone mix-minus for your performers the C-control makes it easy. It also includes features like a built-in talkback mic, Audio slating and Studio monitor switching. This device is the Swiss army knife of studio monitoring. The C-control is available from audiomidi.com and others for $99.
The last item on my list of 12 must-haves is IcedAudio’s Audiofinder. Audiofinder is a software package that allows you to manage the hundreds (if not thousands) of sounds that you have hanging around in your Mac. Whether its soundfonts, appleloops, Wavs of Aiff files Audiofinder allows you to find, audition and organize your sound collection. This program has more features than Brad Piit has fans. It does everything from extracting samples from sample CDs to outputting spreadsheet files of your collection. Simply put, this is the first piece of software you should get after your main sequencer. AudioFinder is available form IcedAudio.com for $69.95
That wraps up my list of twelve, believe me, there where a few more contenders, but you gotta draw the line somewhere. Happy Holidays!

written by macaudioguy

Last week I introduced you to the DLSMusicDevice which allows you to compose General MIDI songs within GarageBand. In part two of this series I’ll show you how to export your General MIDI compositions from GarageBand.
GarageBand is a powerful program but one of its most glaring faults is that it only allows you to export your music to iTunes. If you want to export a tune that you’ve composed using software instruments or the DLSMusicDevise you options are limited. The first and easiest method is to buy Logic Express and import your GarageBand composition into Logic express and then export a MIDI file from Logic Express. Of course if you have Logic Express it raises the question as to why you would compose in GarageBand instead of its big brother. For me, it’s a matter of simplicity. I like to sketch out my ideas using GarageBand as a “quick and dirty” tool then export the tune for polishing in a more sophisticated program. But I digress.
The second, and somewhat harder method of exporting MIDI from GarageBand involves the use of an Audio Unit plug-in called MidiO. MidiO is a freeware utility from RetroWare and can be downloaded from: http://home.comcast.net/~retroware/. Don’t worry I’ll post the link in the Noise section of MacAudioGuy.com. This plug-in will allow you to export a garageBand Software Instrument track as a MIDI stream. What this means is that you can only export one track at a time and you will have to a have some form of MIDI sequencer in order to record the MIDI stream. Kludgy? Sure, but you get what you pay for. So in order to use MidiO, you have to have some sort of MIDI Sequencer program. I like a cool shareware program called EasyBeat. Which is available from: http://www.macility.com/ . The next step is to set the generator of the track that you wish to export from GarageBand to MidiO.. Also set the MIDI output to MDI Virtual source in the edit window. Make sure that no tracks in GarageBand are set to record ready, because you’re likely to create a MIDI feedback loop. It’s far too easy to create a MIDI feedback loop with MidiO so be very careful. Next set EasyBeat or your MIDI Sequencer to use the MidiO as a MIDI Source and then set the sequencer to record. Once the MIDI sequencer is recording then hit play in GarageBand. If you’re lucky and did every thing right you should now be recording MIDI from GarageBand. Once you’ve recorded the stream, you’ll have to repeat the process for each track you want export and then you will have to offset the tracks so that they all start at measure one in your MIDI Sequencer. This process sounds more difficult than it is, but after a couple of tries, you’ll find it becomes at least tolerable.
Okay so now you’ve exported your software instrument tracks from GarageBand and have them as MIDI tracks in your sequencer. How do we turn them into a General MIDI file? The good news is that most sequencers make this fairly simple. In the case of Easy Beat, all you have to do is set the tracks instrument to an appropriate General MIDI instrument, and then after you have set all the instruments, export a MIDI file. And again if you’re lucky you will have a General MIDI file of your song.
Exporting MIDI from GarageBand is much more difficult than it should be, but now you know that it is possible, if your willing to jump through a few hoops.
New and Cool!
If you want to get audio into an iBook or just needed an inexpensive USB audio interface Griffin technology’s $39 iMic is a lifesaver. Guess what? Griffin has just released the new improved iMic 2 and it’s still only $39! What’s new and improved? Mostly the improvements are in appearance. The rather obscure icons are replaced by plain English labels for the inputs and outputs also the new iMic is iPod white instead of the old clear and silver. It also still comes with Final Vinyl software for transferring your vinyl to digital. The iMic 2 is available from Griffintechnology.com or most Mac retailers.
Another easy do product is MXL Microphone’s MXL Desktop recording kit. The all-in-one kit includes a condenser mic a preamp and all the cables you need to get audio into your Mac’s built in audio port. This is a great no-brainer starter kit for only $149. The Desktop recording kit is available from MXLmics.com.

written by macaudioguy