Rogue15 Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 they woulda probably had done the same thing to me at basic if i pressed the matter...considering the fact i pissed myself twice. second time was classic, at ftx i couldnt get my LCE strap, Mask Carrying Case, belt, and finally buttons undone before springing a massive leak. my change of clothes was on the other end of the camp, and someone blotted the moon and stars out of the sky, slept in my piss, i just look at it this way: it was mostly water so at least it didnt smell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuuki Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 all stations, all stations.. nothing to report, over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 I always find it strange that Brian May wrote that song. It seems so unlike him, lyrically, though the music is vintage Brian... So...edlib. A few questions, if you don't mind. I want to get a little more serious about home recording. As we discussed previously, my Sound Blaster Audigy is just not cutting it. The latency is killing me. You suggested something by M-Audio might be a good alternative. I was looking at the FireWire 1814 and the FireWire 410. Do you have any experience with these? Secondly...speakers for mixes. My mixes are total crap, and my horrible speakers surely are not helping. I have a nice pair of Sony headphones that are supposed to be decent for mixing, but my understanding is that you always want to mix with a good pair of speakers, not headphones. Any suggestions for a good pair of speakers for this? Lastly, what bit depth and sample rate should I be recording at? Just pick the highest? Or are the very highest sample rates ridiculous and not actually any better? I don't have any personal experience with those particular models... but trade mag reviews and word-of-mouth have been very favorable. We have a 2 channel USB M-Audio interface (I forget specific model...) that hasn't failed us yet. Just plugged it in, quick driver install, and it seemed to work. Speakers... ahhh, that's a can of worms. I would go for all self-powered near-fields... preferably with a sub. Again, the M-Audio stuff has great reviews and word of mouth at the low-mid price range. The Event speakers were always really good. Yamaha's near-fields are pretty standard. I have a pair of un-powered classic NS-10s. At the higher end there's JBLs... Tannoys... Genelecs... all great. It might help to get a sense of what price range we are thinking of. Bit rate has more of an audible effect than sample rate... but both are important. I would run the bit rate as high as it goes,... and the decide what sample rate you want to choose based on how much disk space you are willing to chew up. I wouldn't go below 48K though. 96 seems to be becoming the standard. Higher than that might just be overkill for the amount of disk space you are going to eat up, and if it will even be audible on any equipment you are likely to listen back on. The problem with high bit and sample rates is that most of us are still listening at 44.1/ 16 CD-quality. That means all that extra quality gets downsampled, converted, and dithered to even work. Then that gets compressed even further to work for mp3. It's actually a little disheartening sometimes... But it's always better to start with higher quality. And that way, if the playback standard ever changes, you will already have the higher quality masters ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Speakers... ahhh, that's a can of worms. I would go for all self-powered near-fields... preferably with a sub. Again, the M-Audio stuff has great reviews and word of mouth at the low-mid price range. The Event speakers were always really good. Yamaha's near-fields are pretty standard. I have a pair of un-powered classic NS-10s. At the higher end there's JBLs... Tannoys... Genelecs... all great. It might help to get a sense of what price range we are thinking of. I was thinking maybe five or six hundred. I was looking at: M-Audio BX8a M-Audio BX5a Yamaha HS50M Yamaha MSP5A I like the idea of smaller monitors so they will be more portable, but will a 5 inch speaker really be good enough? I wouldn't go below 48K though. 96 seems to be becoming the standard. Higher than that might just be overkill for the amount of disk space you are going to eat up, and if it will even be audible on any equipment you are likely to listen back on. So recording at 192 kHz would be overkill, do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Depends... a 5" speaker can be just right if paired to the right sub. But for monitoring a recording, and a basic mixdown, even the smaller speakers without the sub will be superior to working on headphones. I used to mix on Auratones all the time.. which were nothing but cheap 5" boom box or TV speakers mounted in a little pine box. They really sounded like ****... but if the mix was solid on them, it would always translate really well to just about everything else. As for the 192? If you feel you have the hard drive space to burn,.. sure. I'm still not sure if the audible trade-off for a home-studio demo level recording on prosumer level gear is going to be noticeable enough to justify it, however. Try recording the same thing twice: once at each sample rate. See if you can hear the difference,.. and even if you can, if the cost in extra gigabytes is going to be worth the quality increase. Maybe for a "naked" recording, perhaps: A solo violin or acoustic guitar or piano piece might justify the higher rates... but an electric keyboard part, crunch distortion rhythm guitar, or bass track that's going to get buried in the mix? Probably not. But that's a personal judgement call you are going to have to make. I personally, at least at the demo recording stage, would favor towards having more disk space. When you are in a full pro studio environment... then definitely don't scrimp. Bit rate differences are easy to hear. Sample rate differences... even for "golden-eared" old-timer professionals listening back on all top-of-the-line audiophile-quality equipment, can be notoriously difficult to hear. OK... the day (so far) in review: The weather this morning was actually good, so I decided to walk to the local station. When I arrived in Boston I checked outside, and it was still good, so I walked from Park St. to work. Did a bunch of maintainin'. Checked monitor wedges and cables. Tested a few of out old 8-channel sub-snake boxes. Determined where the problems were. Put the good ones into service, and the broken parts in the repair bin. Cleaned up a lot of cable runs along one of the walls that were getting way out of hand. Sweet... When I left work, the weather was still holding off, so I walked from work back to Park. Then from the T-stop back home too. Took the longest way 'round I could come up with too. It rained on me, lightly, a couple of times in the last leg of my journey... but since this was an unexpected break in what was predicted to be a solid day of rain, I simply had to take advantage of it where and when I could. Doesn't look like I'm going to get a whole lot done in my basement tonight, either. Damn. Oh well... Friday morning and afternoon before the guys come over I guess... I have a few other things I need to get done that morning too... a haircut, and a trip to the DMV to renew my licence before my next birthday. I've already done it online once... apparently I just can't go an do that twice. Suck. I guess I need a new picture taken (hence the haircut first...) as well as take the ye olde eye exam. Bleh. There jus' ain't nuthin' quite as soul-crushing as watching precious moments of your life slip away while waiting in line at the DMV... R.T.: (Another favorite film quote this time...) "It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have." "Yeah,.. well,.. I guess he had it coming!" "We all got it coming, kid..." R.T. #2: I don't know exactly why... but this story made me LOL! Yeah... I already know... I'm a sick, twisted individual... yadda yadda... whateva... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Try recording the same thing twice: once at each sample rate. See if you can hear the difference,.. and even if you can, if the cost in extra gigabytes is going to be worth the quality increase. Honestly...I can't tell the difference between CD quality and a really crappy mp3 made from it. I can't tell great speakers from crappy speakers. It all sounds the same to me. I also can't tell HD from standard on TV. All of these quality differences are just beyond me. Does it sound like a song or look like a TV show? Then it's great. I really try to tell the difference, but I just can't. All I know is that when I mix with headphones or with my normal computers speakers, the final recording can sound really unbalanced when I play it in my car or in a stereo or someplace else. Anyway, thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue15 Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 i can't tell the difference unless it's turned way up. hd though i can kinda tell the difference, if only they would hook the game systems up to them.. i would REALLY be able to tell the difference then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Honestly...I can't tell the difference between CD quality and a really crappy mp3 made from it. I can't tell great speakers from crappy speakers. It all sounds the same to me. I also can't tell HD from standard on TV. All of these quality differences are just beyond me. Does it sound like a song or look like a TV show? Then it's great. I really try to tell the difference, but I just can't. All I know is that when I mix with headphones or with my normal computers speakers, the final recording can sound really unbalanced when I play it in my car or in a stereo or someplace else. Hearing the differences is subtle, and like anything, takes time, and a lot of listening to different units. But ultimately, the end result is all that matters: If you can get something that sounds really good to you and most of the people who listen to it... then it really doesn't matter if it's super Hi-Def, or what kind of funky gear it took to get there. If most people are happy with it, then it's good. Simple as that. The big problem with mixing on headphones is that it's an unnatural acoustical environment... plus headphone speakers are EQ'ed to give you a sense of all the frequencies that are there... even though even the best headphone speakers are way, way too small to reproduce those frequencies accurately. So you end up with stuff panned in places you never would on a set of speakers, and the whole thing sounds mushy, because the headphones were giving you a false sense of what was really happening EQ-wise. Computer speakers (and any consumer HI-FI speaker for that matter...) are designed to sound good. So they tend to boost the bass and the highs in unnatural ways, to sound more pleasing to the ear at lower volumes. If you mix on them the lows can end up sounding weak and the highs kind of dull when you listen back in other places. A set of studio nearfield monitors, (even the cheaper ones,) are designed to reproduce flat. Which means they may not sound great to just listen back to music, movies, or games on... but when you are recording or mixing you will have a sense of what is really on tape. And that's what you want to know. They will also typically be more rugged: be able to handle more power for longer periods of time. But it's not impossible to mix on the phones or consumer speakers.... you just have to be aware and conscious of exactly what they are doing to the audio, and make mental adjustments accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zargon Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Honestly...I can't tell the difference between CD quality and a really crappy mp3 made from it. I can't tell great speakers from crappy speakers. It all sounds the same to me. I also can't tell HD from standard on TV. All of these quality differences are just beyond me. I'm with you on alot of audio stuff. I had some issues with HD till the world cup came around, switch from ABC to ABC HD on a HD TV was eyeopening for the difference, way more vibrant colors and crispness. you could SEE the grass, instead of seeing a blanket of green stuff we knew was grass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zargon Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 I once described it to someone as "feeling like you had to take a huge **** RIGHT NOW." yes, exactly, of course you can't, because a doctor has half his hand up your ass R15: um thats not good, you shouldnt wait that long to pee if you are wearing that much gear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 I'm with you on alot of audio stuff. I had some issues with HD till the world cup came around, switch from ABC to ABC HD on a HD TV was eyeopening for the difference, way more vibrant colors and crispness. you could SEE the grass, instead of seeing a blanket of green stuff we knew was grass Every time I watch boxing on HBO or Showtime, I do that - I flip back and forth between the HD and the standard broadcasts, and they look exactly the same to me (except for the aspect ratio). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 I guess it all depends if the event is being filmed in HD. A lot of HD channels are often broadcasting standard-def on certain events, just scaled up and with the aspect ratio set to match HD... but there aren't really any additional pixels being photographed. So you wouldn't see any noticeable difference. True HD seen on a HD TV is, like Zarg said, a revelation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 It's definately shot in HD. Everyone watching with me claims to see a huge difference. Beats me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Hmmm... OK. Joan Armatrading last night. Pretty simple. Nothing much to report. Most of her crew were cool, and they all had a clue... except for one guy, who was a miserable enough bastard to make up for all the rest. A long day of sitting around today listening to Boston Public School bands rehearse ahead of me today. But it's a long day of sitting around on the clock for extra money,.. WITH overtime. So that does make it somewhat easier to take. Busy day tomorrow... A lot to cram into one day off. I hope I can get everything done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Most of her crew were cool, and they all had a clue... except for one guy, who was a miserable enough bastard to make up for all the rest. There's always one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmdr. Cracken Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Goin' to visit the maternal parental unit, then going to fix the car today. Otherwise, juts another boring day with not much to do. Did my laundry yesterday. That was fun. *sigh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 There's always one How very, very true. I've just gotten used to it usually being me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zargon Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I've just gotten used to it usually being me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Oh... wise guy, eh? Don't make me have to commit a war crime on your ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuuki Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 dont make me force you into submission with tomahawks because of your war crimes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zargon Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 don't make me read another post that starts with don't make me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Oh yeah?.. Make me! My work computer imploded this morning. That's always fun. Seems like the hard drive ground to a halt, never to spin up again. Not good. A very stylish Apple paperweight. Or is it a doorstop? The rest of the day has been equally painful, as well. Glad it's going to pay so well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 Ugh, my computer stopped working last night. It won't show anything but a bunch of weird colored boxes when I turn in it on. And just when I've purchased a new recording interface! I brought it into work today to see if I can figure out what's wrong. Probably the video card. Blah... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue15 Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 selling all my good hard-earned loot on galaxies so i can afford to buy the good stuff to make some brutal combat pets. hopefully i won't regret not having the loot reverse-engineered and placed onto armor.....some of it was damn good...but i'll be making over 26 million credits off it and be able to buy all the stuff for my biolab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 Damn... what the hell is going on with computers? K...Yours is like the 5th or 6th one that I've heard of going down in the last couple of weeks. And last night mine shut itself off for no reason and with no warning. It came back right away... but that doesn't inspire confidence. Sun spots? Solar flares? Something... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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