2010

Since I’m really bad about getting Christmas cards and letters out (it has been many, many years), I thought I’d use my blog to publish what would have been my Christmas letter.  I can reach more people this way, anyway.

In many ways 2010 was much the same as the past several years, consumed mostly with my work responsibilities.  As many, but not all, of you may know, in late 2007 I got involved with a new business venture.  A friend of mine, Jared, contacted me to ask if I would be willing to create the cash register component of a Point-of-Sale system for a quick-service pizza restaurant being opened by a friend of his. Despite my hesitation to get involved in such projects in the past, I decided to undertake the challenge.  Soon we began to attract the attention of other franchisees in the chain, and before we knew it we were selling our product to others.  Since that time we officially organized Custom Register Solutions, of which I am part owner.  In 2010 we increased our size from 3 employees to a company with 15 people.  It has been quite a ride.  My brother Brent joined the company in June this year, helping to create the web site portion of our software.

In 2009 we were approached by some executives from the parent company of the same international pizza chain to see if our product could be adopted to some new and very specific needs.  It was pretty evident that we could, so since that time we’ve been working intimately with them.  We’re confident that we will be announced as their preferred POS vendor very soon (the only “iffy” part is when, not if).  Between the preparation for that upcoming announcement, the demand it will place on us when that happens, and our fast-paced development schedule in the company I have been working very long weeks for a little over 3 years now.  It is nice to be getting close to the realization of what was, at the time we started the project, an impossible dream.  We’re doing some very cool and innovative stuff, but I can’t talk about that just yet.

In spite of the many hours I spend working, I have still gotten involved in several other outside projects.  Everyone who knows me is well aware of my interest in audio, video, and photography, and I have always enjoyed working on any project that involved any or all of those three.  This year was no exception.  Early in the year I proposed the idea of a live Internet-streamed concert to an up-and-coming California-based artist named Sonnet who had become known in Utah for the soundtrack she provided for a popular television commercial, and she was gracious enough to accept.  Soon the project blossomed into an honest-to-goodness real music video as well, which my friend Dave would direct, and another friend Paul would shoot.  February through May included a lot of planning for those events, which took place the first through second weeks of June.  It was a very busy schedule, but it was also a lot of fun spending time with old and new friends as part of the crew.  Few of the final results have been posted on the Internet at this point , but I will be sure to let everyone know when they are.

I had the privilege of spending more time with family this year than most.  My youngest sister Christine graduated from BYU in Psychology in April, and my parents and sister Suzanne all flew to Provo to be there for that.  Christine was seriously dating her then-boyfriend Brennen at the time, and a week later they announced their engagement to be married in August.  Through the planning stages my mom came back to Provo to help Christine out for a few days.  The entire family came out for the wedding in August.  It was the first time that all of us had not just been together, but had the opportunity to go to the temple as a family as well.  It was definitely a memorable occasion which we are all grateful for.

After the craziness of the wedding wound down, it was back to work as usual for a couple weeks before I headed to Tucson for two weeks to help with the installation of our software in 13 store locations there.  It was hot and stormy the first week, and the second week it was hot and dry, but the condo we rented had no working air conditioning.  I spent many nights on the couch just trying to get comfortable enough to sleep, while working in the heat during the day.  I was glad to come home.

This year I also got to see one of my favorite musical acts, Celtic Woman, perform not once but twice.  They came to Salt Lake in May, and I took my friend Sarah as my date, and Dave and Paul tagged along as well.  Sarah spent several years in Ireland and enjoys Celtic music, so it was a treat for her to be able to go.  The girls in the group are pretty amazing.  I really enjoyed the concert, so when they went to Los Angeles at the end of August I decided to see them again.  This time I took Sonnet with me, who despite being ill that day had a good time.  It was also nice to see my new friend again and spend a couple days with her in her hometown.  We planned to work together to record a short Christmas album, but due to both of us having busy schedules that didn’t happen this year.  Maybe next year?

Other projects this year included shooting video for a handful of weddings, doing audio for an international dance/music festival in Sandy, UT, my annual trip taking pictures of fall leaves with my friend Dave, recording the commentary for a feature film, and being the regular sound guy for the Mountain Blue southern bluegrass A Cappella gospel group.  Mountain Blue kept me really busy in early December, with quite a number of performances in the first half of the month.  But I love anything involving audio, video, or photography, so any opportunity that comes is more than welcome.

I am spending my Christmas vacation at my parents’ home (as I always do) in Tulsa, OK this year, with nearly all of the rest of my family.  Only my sister Cheryl and her husband Blake and their kids won’t be there. Their family is getting big and it is becoming more difficult for them to all travel.  It’s sad that they won’t be there with the rest of us, but we understand why they can’t and they’ll be with us in spirit.  This year Christine will be bringing her new husband with her, so we’re excited to include a new family member in our festivities.  We’re very lucky that we have been able to have so much of our family together for Christmas for so many years.

Christmas is my favorite time of year, not just because I get to see my family, but also because it is the time of year when many people put their own desires aside and think of others, and because it is the time of year we dedicate to thinking about our Savior, Jesus Christ.  The spirit of the season is unique, and something I look forward to throughout the year.  It never lasts long enough.

First Video of Sonnet

I posted this forever ago on my Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts, but forgot to include it here on the old blog.

This is the first released video of the week with Sonnet.  There are lots more to come… you’ll just have to be patient with me.  I still have a bit of editing to do.  And the videos will be released periodically as Sonnet feels it’s time to do so.

So here’s Sonnet’s “Without You” as performed at her acoustic house concert in June.

This was a lot of fun to work on.  We had quite a few technical problems (don’t get me started), but the good things far outweighed the bad.  Not only did I get to get out my audio and video toys, and play with new video editing software, I got to work with some great people.  Sonnet is so much more than just a gifted singer and talented writer… she’s an amazing person as well, and I’m really glad that I’ve had the opportunity to work with and get to know her.  And I’m really looking forward to the other projects she and I have in the works.  I always enjoy working on projects with Dave and Paul… both are extremely talented filmmakers, and lots of fun to be around.  The music video they’re putting together is going to be fantastic!  And Brad is amazing as well… always so willing to help out with my little projects, and just brilliant when it comes to all things musical and electronic.  He was such a lifesaver helping setup for the house concert, and directing the camera operators.  Thanks so much to everyone!

So there it is… the first public release of anything we did that week.  It was such a whirlwind (I literally got 12 hours of sleep between Monday and Friday), but in a good way.  I’d do it again in a heartbeat… but plan to spread things out over two more days if possible.

How it came to be…

So a few people have asked me how this all came about… a girl I had never met from California getting hooked up with a group of guys from Utah… well…

Let’s backup to early summer 2009.  I’m watching TV late at night and a commercial for Lagoon Park comes on.  And it’s got this cute, quirky, catchy song for its soundtrack.  The sort of song you’d never pick for a theme park, because it’s just this sweet sounding girl with rich but subtle harmony and a piano, to a slow beat—far from the stereotypical loud in-your-face sort of song one might associate with an amusement park.  But extremely intriguing nonetheless.  I really liked it, so I looked up who it was.  It took a little digging, but I finally found out that it was a girl from Los Angeles named Sonnet (yes, that really is her name), that managed to land a contract providing the song for the 2009 Lagoon/Coke ad campaign.  I found her website, saw that she was on Twitter, and followed her (that’s how you “friend” someone).  And she pretty much immediately responded by following me too.  Kewl!

Fast forward a few months.  Over time I had made a few comments to Sonnet on Twitter and she always wrote back, and was always very gracious.  We didn’t have what I’d call frequent communication, but it was steady.  At one point I mentioned to her that I did sound and that if she ever wanted to do a concert in Utah I’d be glad to provide my services, but nothing more came of that (I assumed as much… she really didn’t know me from Adam, and knew nothing about my ability as a sound engineer). At one point she did come to Utah and performed a couple concerts at Lagoon, and despite how hard I tried to get there, I arrived at the park too late and couldn’t get in.  So I missed the one opportunity I had to actually meet her and hear her perform.  That was a sad day.

Anyway, as Christmas approached one day she tweeted (that’s how you say that you posted something on Twitter) that she was looking for an idea for a Christmas present for family and friends.  I mentioned to her (since she was a singer) that she ought to record a song and give that to people.  There wasn’t really time before Christmas to do that, but it started a little bit of a dialog about working together on recording a song together someday.  Completely hypothetical, but it did begin to open up the possibility that someday something could maybe possibly happen if I rubbed my lucky rabbit’s foot during a full moon while the planets aligned just so.  Long shot, but not impossible.

Fast forward another couple months to February… another girl I was following on Twitter had been advertising to her followers that she was going to be doing a live streaming concert.  She started announcing it several weeks beforehand, making it seem like a really big deal.  This other artist was better known than Sonnet, had multiple CDs out, a recording contract with a major label, and had recently landed a nationally-broadcast TV commercial with a huge company in a very public advertising campaign, so for sure this was going to be something big, right?  So I made a point to tune in, only to be very disappointed.  Instead of being something professionally produced (you know, with at least a real microphone), it was her sitting on her bed, playing her guitar, being recorded by just the webcam and microphone in her laptop under really bad lighting.  You could barely hear her sing or play.  My first thought was, “What a waste!  She has lots of fans watching, has spent a lot of effort promoting this event, and this is what we’re getting?”  It was technology heartbreak for me.

At that point I had the idea that her disappointing production was probably due to the fact that she didn’t know the right person to pull off something better.  And I also thought, “I have the equipment, the know-how, and other resources to pull off something much better.”  The problem was, this other artist was too well known to even bother responding to anything on Twitter, so there wasn’t any way that she’d even consider taking the time working with some no-name from Utah.  And frankly, her music wasn’t something that I really got that excited about, so I didn’t even really want to pursue that anyway.

So the next day as I thinking about the disappointment of the previous evening, I thought, “who do I know that is good enough to justify spending the time, has enough of a following for there to be interest, and yet is not so well known that they’d consider working with me to produce a streamed concert?”  Of course Sonnet came to mind, so I sent her a casual message on Twitter asking if coming to Utah and doing a live, streaming Internet performance was something she’d be interested in doing.  She said it was, so we connected via IM and started talking about the possibility.  Nothing definitive, but it got the ball rolling nonetheless.

I don’t really know what she thought of the whole thing at that point--I’ve never asked, but she was game for the idea.  And before long we started making plans.  Eventually we connected via email and on the phone, then started regular video conferences planning things out.  Once we found a location, and a suitable timeframe within her schedule and mine, things finally started coming together.

Sonnet was totally on board with the ideas that I had for what the concert was going to be like.  I wanted to keep it small (for many technical as well as other reasons) but completely professionally produced, with real lighting, multiple cameras, moving cameras, nice piano, high end audio equipment, shot in high definition at a nice location, etc.  The idea of just a small concert in someone’s living room struck a chord with both of us.  I’m really glad that she and I have been on the same page through the entire process… it has made it that much more fun.

Somewhere along the line I asked Dave and Paul if they’d be interested in running cameras for me for the concert.  They’ve always been really good about helping me out with projects when I ask, so they agreed.  But I think at first they just thought it was one of my silly little just-for-fun things that I do when I’m bored of the rest of my life, so there wasn’t a lot of excitement coming from them initially.

After a couple more weeks, I was frankly a little frustrated that they weren’t more excited about the project… I wanted them to be excited about it.  And to see what I saw in Sonnet—a sweet, beautiful, extremely likeable and talented singer with a catchy sound—so I showed them a couple of her YouTube videos.  Fortunately, they got it right away.  They saw the same things I was seeing, and they finally started to show some enthusiasm. 

So as we started talking about plans for the concert, somehow the idea of shooting a music video while Sonnet was going in town came up.  I don’t remember who it was that had the idea, but after asking her if she would be interested, plans for the video started coming together.  A song was picked.  Then a different song picked.  Then back to the first song.  Ideas for the story started to come and be discussed.  Too many ideas, in fact.  Later, two days before Sonnet flew to Utah her image consultant called me and Dave and we had an emergency two hour phone conference to simplify and focus things drastically.  Yes, two days before she got here we were making major changes.  Talk about flying by the seat of your pants.  Anyway, we landed in a place we were all comfortable.  (Okay, Doug, enough with the plane metaphors!)

Anyway, thankfully we had a lot of other people jump in at the last second to help out.  A few days before we started shooting Sae Sae volunteered to help, and she did some amazing recruiting… she found people to help with lighting and moving equipment around (grips), hair, and makeup.  We owe a lot to her making things go as smoothly as they did!

Honestly, I can’t take much credit for the music video.  Dave and Paul really took the idea of the video and ran with it.  I really didn’t have that much to do with putting the video together.  Other than providing some of the equipment, while it was going on my main job was to make sure that Sonnet was where she needed to be when she needed to be there, and that she was being taken care of.  Sure, I’d step in to run a second camera, or move stuff around, but ultimately my biggest role for the video was really making sure that Sonnet was comfortable.

The Internet streamed concert was another story altogether.  Where I took a back seat during filming of the music video, I stepped in and took charge for the concert.  That was really my baby of the whole week.  Multi-camera videos are something that the others do rarely, but something I do with some degree of regularity.  Fortunately I have acquired all of the equipment to do so over the last several years, even designing, building, and writing software for quite a bit of it as well.  And I actually enjoy working with audio more than video, so this was going to be my only chance during the week to do what I enjoy most. 

I’ll save the many stories from the week when we actually shot everything for another post (and maybe some of the other people involved will post something on their own blogs… hint, hint?).  It really was quite an adventure, but in a good way.  So much fun, and definitely an experience I will never forget.  Frankly I can’t believe we pulled off what we did in so little time.  And that we survived the week of no sleep, super late nights, in the heat, on little food, without hating each other by the end (much to the contrary, actually—we’re all better friends), is kind of a miracle in and of itself.

Being Scammed

I don’t get upset very often, but every once in a while something pushes me over the edge.  I have blogged about this before, but it has really gotten under my skin again.

Imagine the following completely hypothetical conversation…

Government Official: “It has come to our attention that you are driving a 2008 Honda Civic.”

Me: “Yeah, that’s right.”

GO: “Well, it’s my duty to inform you that in four months it is going to be illegal to drive your car.  You will have to dispose of it before that time.”

Me: "What?  Is this some kind of a joke?”

GO: “No joke.  This is absolutely real.  If you continue driving your car after June 12, you will be breaking the law, and will be arrested and fined.”

Me: “I don’t get it.  My car is still new. It only has 1000 miles on it.  It’s working perfectly. And it is totally safe.  What gives?”

GO: “Well, the rules of the roads have changed.  Your car is now illegal… to drive on the road you have to get a new car.”

Me: “Why? What kind of car can be driven on the roads?  How is it different than what I have now?”

GO: “You’ll have to talk to the car manufacturers about that.  There are 6 models that comply with the new laws.”

Me: “And what am I supposed to do with my old one?  Nobody will buy it if it isn’t legal to drive it!”

GO: “Whoa, there!  You can’t sell it.  Selling your car is against the law because it doesn’t comply with new laws.  If you try to sell it you’re violating the law and you could be fined or arrested.”

Me: “So what the heck am I supposed to do with it?”

GO: “There are many recycling programs available.”

Me: “Okay… let me get this straight… I’m supposed to recycle a car which works perfectly, only has 1000 miles, which I can’t sell, and buy a new car just because the rules of the roads have changed?”

GO: “Yes, sir.  I believe you’re starting to get it.”

Sound unbelievable?  Well, yeah, it does.  And it should.  But this is exactly what is happening with wireless microphones in a few months. 

Starting June 12, 2010 it will be illegal to use any wireless microphone that operates in the 700 MHz radio band.  Unfortunately, this includes nearly every wireless microphone manufactured before about two years ago.  And still a pretty large number of mics sold in the last two years as well.  And very much unfortunately for me, every wireless microphone I own.

I have just over a dozen wireless mics that I have spent literally years acquiring.  Some I purchased brand new, others I found on eBay.  Some are for live audio events, others to use when shooting video, etc.  It took a really long time to find a few models that are reliable and have good sound, and even after I found the right ones, it took about 6 years to get my hands on enough for my needs.  Sure there have been plenty of cheap models available, but they have all sorts of problems.  And lots of extremely expensive ones that actually do work well.  But VERY few models in between that work well and are affordable.  I managed to find a few models in that “in between” range and bought up every one I could find.

And now they’re all being made illegal, even though they work perfectly, and in many cases only have a few hours of use on them.

Worse yet, it’s illegal for me to try to sell them.  A handful of manufacturers are offering rebate programs, but not for the models that will work for my use.  At least not ones that I could possibly ever afford.  Since I can’t sell them the only legal thing to do is to recycle them.

Wireless mics are kind of a funny thing.  If you walk into a musical equipment store there will be a bunch available for sale.  But not a single one you see in a retail store is actually worth owning.  Between dropouts, noise, poor sound quality, and other problems, there isn’t a wireless mic worth owning for less than about $450.  The “good” ones start at about $2,000 each… and go way up from there.  Those mics you see on American Idol and other TV shows, they easily cost over $4,000 apiece.  Maybe big television networks or bands on tour can afford stuff like that.  I can’t.  And neither can a lot of other people that need them.

I sat down and made myself a spreadsheet to figure out replacement costs.  To replace the wireless equipment I use regularly, it’s going to cost just under $10,000 for “barely adequate.”  I don’t think that “barely adequate” wireless microphones are worth owning.  To get something that operates at least as well as what I already own, that figure jumps just north of $20,000.  I’m sorry, but I don’t have $20,000 to blow on microphones.  Especially when I already own a bunch that work perfectly.  And these numbers are just for the stuff I use consistently, not to replace everything I already have.

Some of the ones I have haven’t been used much at all.  In a few cases, purchase price divided by hours used would approach $75-100 per hour.  And in nearly all cases I used them for charity or public events, or other events where I was providing my audio services at no cost.  (The number of events I do where I ask to be paid is very small.)  Some thanks I get, huh.

At the time I bought the ones that I have now I had the advantage that they had been out for a couple of years, so used ones would come up for sale on eBay from time to time at a significant discount.  But because this transition to new models is so recent (many manufacturers have just started offering compliant models within the last year, and in some cases, just the last few months) no used gear is available.  So not only is the newer equipment not going to function as well, it has to be purchased at a full price (which is higher than it was before).  No deals here.  Not for a long while.  And many of the compliant models are out of stock and can’t even be purchased.

I know the number of people that are affected by this is relatively few.  But it does extend farther than you might think.  It isn’t just audio guys like me that are being forced to replace our gear.  This includes theaters, schools, churches, etc.  And most of these operate on shoestring budgets (or no budget whatsoever).  If any of these groups bought their wireless mics more than two years ago, they almost definitely are going to have to buy new ones.  Less than two years ago and the chance goes down, but that chance doesn’t go away entirely unless a mic has been purchased in the last 27 days.  Yep, infringing equipment was still available for sale (and quite common) less than a month ago.

If you go to the FCC web site and read up on the issue they really emphasize the need to stay out of the new radio bands being reserved for public safety agencies.  Fine.  I have no problem with that.  My mics don’t operate in those frequencies anyway.  If that was the only reason this was happening, I wouldn’t be affected.  (Well, one of my mics is in that band, but I can replace one without too much complaint). 

The less emphasized part of the transition is the spectrum that was purchased by Verizon Wireless.  So we’re being forced to buy new wireless mics to make way for laptop data cards.  (Which, incidentally, are supposed to detect interference and work around it.  I’m just sayin’.)  If all in this world was fair, Verizon would be forced to pay at least a portion of the costs of replacing equipment it was invalidating because they’re invading what was our turf.  But, this world isn’t exactly fair, now, is it. 

The radio band that we are being moved into has to coexist with television broadcasts.  Yes, the same frequencies that all TV stations were forced into a year ago.  A part of the radio spectrum that is becoming very busy.  Yes, mics were in TV frequencies before, but there were a whole lot more of them available, and fewer stations to compete against.  Things are going to get really messy.

Get this… the most expensive piece of wireless audio gear I own is my in-ear-monitor system.  (You’ve seen them… the earpieces musicians wear when performing so they can hear themselves.)  Mine is a “barely adequate” model (I couldn’t afford a “good” one) that cost me $1300.  It is included in the devices that have to be retired, as it is also in the 700 MHz band. 

The manufacturer offers a “trade-in” program.  I can trade in for the exact same model with a few tweaks inside to make it legal.  And the cost?  Full price.  No discount.  Nope!  If I want to keep using it I have to buy a brand new one at full price.  And according to their web site it is “illegal” to retrofit the old ones, so I shouldn’t bother asking. 

Everything about this whole situation stinks.  And it’s all pretty crazy when you think about it.  If this affected a larger group of people the American public would be up in arms about it.  But because our group is relatively small nobody else knows a thing.

You have a degree… really?

I just saw a TV show in which a girl with an audio engineering degree (fairly recent graduate) admit indirectly that she doesn’t know a thing about her major.  She was explaining that she can’t figure out how to make her voice sound good when she is recording because it is always too quiet, and that it is full of pops when she speaks words with “Ps” or “Bs.” 

The answers to both problems are very simple… rudimentary even.  Put a popper stopper on the microphone to prevent the pops (or move it off to one side instead of straight on), and use a compressor to handle volume levels.  These are the sorts of things that are taught in the very first classes on audio… When I had my recording studio class in college (an introductory class aimed at musicians, not budding audio engineers) we were taught both concepts very clearly and very early on.  And we were definitely tested on them over and over again.  If we didn’t understand those concepts we couldn’t have passed the class.

For someone with a degree in audio engineering to not know how to use a popper stopper or a compressor is embarrassing.  It is sort of like an Art major not knowing what a brush is.  Or a Computer Science major not knowing about the Internet.  Or an English major not understanding the difference between a noun and a verb.  Or a Biology major not knowing about DNA.  Begin to get the idea?

These are both ideas that I have taught to everyone who has ever come into my studio to record.  They all understand it on the very first day.  How does someone study for a major for 4 years and not get it?

So it really makes me wonder how she got her degree.  Or, even worse… why is her school giving out degrees to people who don’t understand the fundamental concepts of their major?  Is a college credible if it gives out degrees to people who clearly don’t know anything about their field of study?  It’s kind of scary that it can happen at all. 

Celtic Woman at Red Rocks

So this past Wednesday I flew to Denver to see Celtic Woman perform their Isle of Hope show at Red Rocks Amphitheater. I absolutely loved their Salt Lake show back in May, and wanted to see it again, but a little closer. In Salt Lake, my friend Phyl and I were quite a way back and couldn’t see the performers very well, so I wanted to see it again, but with a better view.

I actually managed to get a ticket for the front row for the Red Rocks show, and pretty close to the middle too. My seat was so close… there was absolutely nobody between me and the girls as they sang; they were literally as close as 15 feet at times, and never more than 25 feet away. What a way to see a concert!!!

My view of the stage. Just the rope and railing between me and them.

I had relatively little difficulty getting out to Denver. I arrived at the Salt Lake airport with plenty of time to make my flight. The flight ended up being delayed by about 20 minutes, but I had planned some extra time into my schedule so I could still make the show on time even if I were delayed somewhere along the way. But we made up some extra time in the air and I was able to get my rental car pretty quickly. I went straight to my hotel to check in, but I didn’t even bother to go up to my room before I headed back out to the car to head up to Morrison where Red Rocks Amphitheater is actually located. The show was scheduled to start at 8:00, with the gates opening at 6:30. I heard that parking at Red Rocks was a real problem, so I arrived at 6:00 to make sure I had a place to park.

Red Rocks is a gorgeous venue. I hadn’t ever been, so it was a pleasant experience taking in the view for the first time. And it is huge! I had no idea. I had seen pictures, but pictures just don’t do its size justice. It has to be at least 100 yards deep, and at its narrowest point 40 yards wide. The rows of seats are spaced about 3.5 feet apart, so even while you are seated there is plenty of room for people to walk in front of or behind you. No crowded knees there.

I had a lot of time to kill, but when I sat down the gentleman in the seat next to me had already arrived. We talked for a bit. He was from southern Colorado and had driven up to see the show. Two years ago he did the same thing but they had canceled the show due to rain, so he missed out on that one, and was looking forward to seeing the girls live for the first time. Since I had already seen it I knew both he and his wife would thoroughly enjoy it.

The show started about 15 minutes late. The girls looked and sounded great. They are amazingly talented. Being on the front row, there were many times that I was able to hear their voices over the PA system, and I can vouch for the fact that the show is live… at least the vast majority of it. There were a few numbers (mostly the large group ensembles) where I still wondered if there were some vocal parts that were prerecorded. But even if they did do that, it certainly wouldn’t be because of a lack of talent… it would have to be for a technical reason, like not being able to have that many microphones turned on at the same time without feedback or something similar. If they did use prerecorded audio for any of the vocals (and I think there were a couple of songs where they might have) it was because they didn’t have a choice.

If you haven’t ever been on the front row of a big concert, there just isn’t any way to adequately describe what the experience is like. Because there is nobody between you and the performers, you forget that the show is for a bazillion other people too… you just don’t see them as the show is going on. From the front row, not only can you very clearly see the performers, but they see you, and they react to you. When you smile or wave, they do the same back to you. I caught each one of the girls looking in at me more than once. That is something you just don’t get when you sit farther back. During one particularly powerful, well-performed, and favorite songs, I teared up a little and the girl singing saw that. The experience is great, and I highly recommend it for any shows that I don’t go to. (I don’t want you taking my seat.)

The other interesting thing about being in the front was something I didn’t think about. Most of the time the first few rows are where the most serious groupies and wealthiest patrons will sit. I wasn’t really prepared to hear people all around me talking about their experiences going to many of the shows along the tour (one guy to my right had been to at least a dozen in this tour alone), and their experiences meeting and socializing with the girls. Another guy to my left had been to so many meet-and-greets with the girls that he had long ago lost count of just how many. He had actually flown to Ireland for the taping of one of their DVDs too. Aside from the very boastful nature of his discussion, it was interesting to hear some of the things that he had learned about the girls as he had interacted with them over the last few years. The sort of things that don’t get posted on any web sites, either official or fan.

I was also among the youngest in the front few rows. Each of the front rows at Red Rocks holds about 80-90 people, and in the first three rows there were probably less than a dozen people my age or younger. In some ways it almost felt like I was in the geriatric section, as the average age was at well above 50.

Of the songs that the girls performed, their classics are definitely among my favorites. While some of their new songs are great (“Fields of Gold” and “Isle of Hope” come to mind), I feel pretty “meh” about some of the others. “True Colors” was okay, while “You’ll Be In My Heart” felt very out of place and… well, just awkward. Their all-new “O, America” song is intended to tug at the heartstrings of any patriotic American, but the song itself has some pretty bland lyrics. The whole song is chocked full of cliché phrases repeated over and over, with just the order of the wording switched around a bit: “America, I’ll be true to thee… True to thee, I will be.” Bleh. I appreciate what they were trying to do, but the writing of the song felt amateurish. Fortunately even on the awkward songs the girls sang them beautifully, so it wasn’t like I was bored.

Of the 27 songs on the set list, my favorites of the evening were “The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun” (their opener), “Fields of Gold,” “Orinoco Flow,” “The Blessing,” “Mo Ghile Mear,” “At the Ceili,” (that one is a lot of fun) “Sing Out,” and “You Raise Me Up.” They did “Spanish Lady” for one of their encores in Salt Lake, and that is a really fun one too, but they didn’t do it in Denver (more on that in a second).

Lisa Kelly is my favorite of the group. She has an amazingly wide range with a beautiful tone to her voice. I definitely really like all of the girls, but Lisa consistently delivers my favorite performances, and this show was no exception. She had solos for her standard songs (“The Blessing,” “The Voice,” to name a couple), plus “Fields of Gold” was added for this tour. Hopefully they’ll add “Send Me a Song” to the set list of a future show. That would make me very happy. I also discovered while researching the tour that her youngest sister Helen is also a part of the ensemble as a choir member, and is just as beautiful and talented (it’s really too much talent for one family). She definitely caught my eye as part of the supporting cast this time.

Seeing the same show twice was an interesting experience. The first time through everything was new, even though I knew most of the songs. But it all kind of ran together in my mind as a result. The second time I knew what to expect, and it made it a lot easier to remember the show overall. If you had asked me after the first time which songs they had done and in what order, I could have only given you a blank stare. But if you were to ask me after the second show, I’d have a pretty good shot at being able to name most of the songs, in the right order, and who sang them. I was also better able to watch for and take in the smaller nuances I missed the first time around. At the same time, it all felt very familiar… the new songs weren’t so strange this time, and felt much more familiar and comfortable. I couldn’t go so far as to say that I think everyone should see every show they can multiple times, but it is a very different experience the second time, even while being familiar at the same time.

I wish I could say the Red Rocks show was without any glitches, but I can’t, because there were a few. I think that the sound engineers, for both the Front-of-House (what the audience hears) and monitors (what the performers hear) must not have been the regulars. (I suspect the regulars are back in Ireland getting ready for the DVD that is being shot later this month.) There were several times during the show that the mics for instruments or performers weren’t turned on when they should have been. On numerous occasions I could hear the instruments directly with no sound coming out of the PA at all, which meant that anyone farther back heard basically nothing for those bits of the show. It seems like the monitor engineer wasn’t quite doing his job quite right either, as there were many times throughout the show that the girls would pull out their earpieces, an almost sure sign that they aren’t hearing what they need to hear.

There were a few issues with the lighting too… One of the projectors projecting video on the rocks behind the set was badly misaimed and inverting the image. It was a little distracting. There were also several missed lighting cues in the show, where the spotlights would come on at the wrong time, or be pointed at the wrong performer. Many of the moving lights were also misaimed, and missed their targets, especially in the first half of the show until they were re-aimed during the intermission. I was really sensing an inexperienced crew. This was the 96th show on this tour, and any technician active for the whole tour wouldn’t be making those kinds of mistakes.

Even with those mistakes, though, all of the performers took it in stride and it didn’t phase them in the least. True professionals.

The weather was mostly cooperative for most of the evening. About two hours into the show we started to get a little rain. Most everybody was prepared for it, though. I brought along a poncho, which I put on after the rain started to really come down. Chloe (one of the vocalists, and the selected spokesperson for the group), joked that they had brought their Irish weather with them. That got a good laugh. Chloe also said (just as she did in Salt Lake) that this show by far had the best audience yet. I’d beg to differ on that, though…

Most everybody was coping with the rain pretty well, but I think it did dampen people’s spirits some (pun intended). The energy of the audience was definitely a lot lower than it was in Salt Lake, especially after, but even before, the rain started. Where at the Salt Lake show there were probably 6-8 standing ovations for various songs throughout the evening, at Red Rocks there were just two… one just before the intermission, and one at the end. And at the conclusion of the normal set list, and the girls thanking everyone for coming, everybody just got up and left. Apparently the audience didn’t want the encores, and we didn’t get them. So we had an extra few songs at Salt Lake that we didn’t get in Denver. That was disappointing, as the songs they had selected for their encores are some of their more fun ones.

I had heard that traffic getting out of Red Rocks is a nightmare, so I was really expecting it to take forever to get back to my hotel. That turned out to not be the case at all. It took about 10 minutes to get from the venue back to the highway, so I was back to my hotel about 35 minutes after the show got out. (Much better than the 90 minutes it took to get home from Stadium of Fire fireworks last night.)

Getting my rental car returned and back to the airport had a few hassles… When I asked my GPS software to find me a gas station near the rental car return it took me to the airport parking lot instead. Which meant that I had to bite the bullet and pay their outrageous $7/gallon rate to make it to the airport on time.

The Denver airport is a bit of a labyrinth. You walk in at ground level, go upstairs to check in, back to ground level to go through security, then downstairs to catch a train to your concourse. And it isn’t very well labeled, so if you’re new to the airport you feel kind of dumb trying to figure out where you’re supposed to go. And then my flight coming back to Utah was actually delayed by about a half hour, which meant that my poor sister Suzanne had to wait for me that much longer after her flight to Salt Lake to meet up to head back to Orem (she had already been there two hours). I’m not a big fan of the hassles of flying.

But as far as the show itself goes, I don’t want any of this to sound like it was bad , because it certainly was not by any stretch of the imagination. It was still amazing. It just wasn’t as amazing as the show I saw in Salt Lake. I’m still very glad that I went… you can’t trade the experience of seeing a concert (especially one by people so talented, and so well produced) in the front row for anything. It’s certain to be one of those things I remember for the rest of my life. The only thing better would be to do it again, and actually be able to meet the girls in person.

Audio Revelations

The evening started out innocently enough… I was just going to check online to see what professional audio reviewers have had to say about a backup set of studio monitors (speakers) that I have had for like 4 years but have only taken out of the box a few times since I got them, only to be surprised that for the most part they have gotten glowing reviews almost universally. I haven’t ever thought incredibly highly of them, mostly because my expectations were low because they were quite inexpensive for monitors, and from a brand that doesn’t have the best reputation among audio professionals. But I haven’t ever spent enough time listening to them to really get a feel for how good or bad they were. So I decided to pull them out, hook them up, and listen to a few songs I know well to see just how good these things actually were. It turns out, just like the reviewers have said, they are excellent.

But, I digress. The most significant part of the whole experience, and my main reason for creating this post, was having some revelations about what a quality set of speakers can do, and how things have changed over time with regard to the way that music has been recorded.

Revelation #1:

I almost feel bad for the vast majority of people who enjoy listening to music, because very few will actually have the opportunity to listen to it on a good set of speakers, and they have absolutely no idea what they are missing. These days iPod headphones are the most common device people use to listen to their tunes, and that is terribly unfortunate because they are, well… atrocious. A good set of speakers (like studio monitors, for example) nearly become totally transparent, and you are almost transported to a place where a performance is taking place. Contrary to popular opinion, this does not mean loud, or anything typical of a rock concert, what it means is that the overall feel is that you are sitting in a small room where it is just you and the musicians… the electronic devices used to reproduce the music almost disappear. With a well recorded selection and well-written and performed song, it becomes an almost religious experience. I wish more people could experience what good audio sounds like, because there aren’t words that accurately convey what it is like to hear music the way it is really meant to be heard.

Revelation #2:

In the process of listening to a wide variety of music from the last three decades I began to notice a trend. Though we have come a really long way in terms of our technical ability to record music, it doesn’t mean that we have done a better job. In fact, it seems like over the last 10-15 years that things have actually degraded. Somewhere in the mid to late eighties seems to be where we peaked as far as the ability to capture popular music in a meaningful and artistic way. Prior to the 1980s the equipment to get a good recording was scarce and expensive. Engineers had to be clever about the way they captured a performance to get a decent version of it electronically. Somewhere during the 1980s the equipment became affordable enough for many professional studios to have access, and at the same time those rascally clever engineers from the previous decades were still around, taking full advantage of the new tech at their disposal. Then in the late eighties things began to change again… radio engineers got involved and decided that louder was better than real dynamics, and all of a sudden every recording became very in-your-face and buried in piles of digital effects. The biggest tradeoff to being loud was the loss of clarity in some of the things going on in the background. Subtle instrument parts that used to exist as an enhancements to the front stage had to become a part of the front stage in order to be heard at all. Mixes became something like a line of people all screaming at you at the same time rather than everybody in a room taking their own turn.

I may be a little biased since I was in Jr. High and High School in the mid-to-late 80s and that’s when I really started to become familiar with popular music, but listening to recordings from back in the day now, compared to newer songs which I otherwise enjoy just as much seems to validate the theory.

Revelation #3:

Another side effect of the “loudening” of recordings was that they have almost become tiresome to listen to. Again, back to the analogy of a line of people in front of you. If they’re all yelling at you at the same time, it’s going to become exhausting trying to focus on any one of them. But if they’re taking their turns, it’s a much more pleasurable experience.

Revelation #4:

Generally artists from decades past had to be more talented and skilled.

A good set of speakers reveals things about a recording that we wouldn’t pick up on otherwise. A LOT of things. For example, on Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” did you know that on a good set of speakers or headphones you can clearly hear the click track coming from her headphones while she was singing her vocal? It’s almost painfully obvious that it’s there. Did you know that most of the lower notes that Britney Spears “sings” are actually synthesized, and that it is unmistakable when heard through the proper equipment. Okay, so you probably knew that already. Artists that use pitch correction too much become totally obvious, like one of the hottest country female artists out there now. You can tell when an artist does their own backup parts vs. having another singer doing it for them. You can often hear when a vocalist’s microphone is turned on and off in the recording, or where various takes are pieced together to make one good one. The list goes on and on. The better the equipment used to listen to music, the more you find out about how good or bad an artist really is.

Revelation #5 (okay, it’s a continuation of #1):

It’s quite the revelation to go back and listen to recordings that I am very familiar with only to discover that there are 1, 2, 3, or sometimes 4 or more additional instruments being played that couldn’t be heard at all before. Vocal harmonies jump out like never before. You can very clearly hear every little nuance of the mechanism of a real piano vs. a synthesized one. You can hear fingers sliding up and down guitar strings. People taking breaths between phrases, or while playing a woodwind instrument. Or the saliva in a singer’s mouth. Or pick out that what you thought was a single guitar was actually two or three. Or that a particular take of a vocal was considered to be good enough to be used in a final recording even though it actually distorts or has other imperfections (this is much more common that you might think).

Revelation #6:

Music recordings are much bigger than most people will ever know. With cheap speakers or headphones, you hear sound coming from two distinct places… the left speaker and the right speaker. You can’t really hear anything coming from anywhere else. With a good set of speakers things open up much more. It’s almost shocking. Instead of just having a range of positions between the two speakers for sound to come from, things get opened up much wider. And higher. And deeper. Just as an example, as part of my auditioning process I put on Madonna’s “The Immaculate Collection.” Several of the songs on that album are engineered particularly well (ignoring what you may or may not think of Madonna). But a few of the songs on that CD really open things up quite a bit. One song has a drum part that not only appeared to come from outside the set of speakers, but WELL outside the speakers… as in, immediately to my right. And several feet above me. Another song had another drum part that appears above the right speaker, while another has another instrument part that appears about 18” to the left of the left speaker, just above the plane of the speakers. Another instrument part comes from about 3 feet between the speakers, and 1 foot above them. But those same songs, played on standard equipment sound flat and lifeless. I have heard numerous songs over the years that have parts that appear to come from BEHIND the listener. Or between me and the speakers (and not from them). Impressive stuff. I wish everyone could experience it.

Revelation #7:

Audio engineers in the 1980s and earlier were much more creative in the way they mixed songs. These days nearly everybody puts the vocalist “up front” in a mix, drums way in the back, and all of the instruments somewhere in between. (Or at least they try to; adding the “loud” factor effectively puts everything in the same place.) I have plenty of examples of songs where the engineer moved things around a bit. I just finished listening to “Kyrie” by Mr. Mister, and hadn’t really ever noticed before that that song is mixed in such a way that the lead vocal is sort of placed in the “middle” of the stage, both left to right, and front-to-back. The instruments are all placed around the vocalist, not just behind him. There are instruments that are in front of as well as in back of the vocal part. Michael Jackson’s (may he RIP) “The Way You Make Me Feel” was recorded with the verses with Michael set way in the back, with the harmonies and choruses off to the sides and in way up front. (And it’s kind of hard to tell on regular equipment that it is him doing the harmonies and counterpoint on that song). Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” has a breakdown that moves things all over the place, front to back, left to right, top to bottom. The guitar solo in Mike+The Mechanics “All I Need is a Miracle” is all around the listener, totally separate from the main soundstage. The drums on The Human League’s “Human” are HUGE, and fill a space much wider than the speakers they’re being played on while being somewhere at the back of the stage at the same time.

Unfortunately I still haven’t really come up with any good examples of any of those sort of techniques being used on any popular music recordings made since 1990. [UPDATE: I found a post-1990 recording with an interesting mix... "Harder to Breathe" by Maroon 5. The mix puts the lead guitar way up front (outside the speakers), and the lead vocal pushed way back. Unusual for such a new recording.]

Revelation #8:

The audio output on the iPod isn’t very good. (I’m shocked! Okay, maybe I’m not, and I already knew that.) Many of the details I’ve talked about here are virtually non-existent on an iPod, but are obvious in the original recordings or when played on other devices.

Revelation #9:

MP3 is a terrible file format. I’ve known that for forever, but it really stands out when heard on quality equipment. We’re really extremely unfortunate that it has become the de facto standard for music. So many of the nuances that music a pleasing experience are lost being converted to MP3. Virtually every other format out there is a lot better. But none, even CD, are without some sort of compromise. CD is as close as most people will ever get to hearing a good quality recording.

Revelation 10:

Most music is best listened to unaltered. That means not adding any effects. In other words, for most people this means turning OFF the equalizer that they have tweaked to give their system more bass and treble. These adjustments are usually made to compensate for the missing sound quality of their speakers or headphones, but what they don’t realize that in doing so they have actually covered up even more of the subtle nuances that were already nearly difficult or impossible to discern. The more you make a speaker work harder to play sounds that you want to accentuate, the more you take away its ability to reproduce the other sounds that are barely there. In most cases turning on the EQ or any other effect just makes a muddier mess of an already dirty listening experience.

Wrap-up

When I say “good speakers” I’m not talking just about the $100,000-each models that are out there, or even the $3000 speakers you can buy locally at some Best Buy stores. I’m talking about speakers that are affordable to anyone willing to invest. The set of speakers I have been listening to tonight were $280 for the pair brand new, and they have their own built-in amplifiers so an iPod, Zune, or other music player can be connected in directly without any other fancy or expensive electronics.

I still feel bad that most people who enjoy music will never really experience the music they like so much. They’re missing out on so much, and an awful lot of that is the emotion that was put into a recording, so in essence we’re missing out on much of the whole experience.

One last note before I wrap up this (now extensive) post. If you are someone who is considering building yourself a home theater or stereo setup, I recommend avoiding consumer speakers altogether. They all not only have their own nuances that color the sound coming through them, but this coloration is DESIGNED into them to make them stand out from other models and manufacturers. This coloration, by definition, is taking away from the original intent of the recording. Why not go with the same type of speaker used by the engineers and artists making the recordings, so you hear exactly what they did when they made them? So I STRONGLY recommend skipping the consumer speakers and going directly to studio monitors. They’re harder to find, and they can be more expensive, but I’ll take a $500 studio monitor over a $3000 consumer speaker any day. They make for a much more pleasing experience. Music becomes an experience, not just a pastime.

New MP3 Players

Within the last week I’ve gotten two new MP3 players.

1st: iPod Touch, 2nd Gen

First I’ll start with my new iPod.  My brother was looking at maybe getting an iPod Touch, and since I’ve been considering upgrading mine to one of the 2nd generation models, I sold him my first gen and used that money toward an upgrade to the newer version of the 16GB player.

The newer version is definitely an improvement on the first gen model.  I’ve been somewhat critical of the iPod Touch (blog posts here and here) because I don’t believe (and still don’t believe) that touch screen interfaces work well for control of music playback.  But one of those complaints has been addressed with the newer version: it has dedicated volume control buttons on the side.  This is a huge plus!  Now we can adjust the volume without waking it up, looking at it, and finding the virtual on-screen controls.  If only Apple would add a play/pause button, and buttons for selecting tracks they’ll have a nearly unbeatable device.  But we already know that Steve Jobs hates buttons, so that isn’t going to happen.  Too bad… they’re close to having something great, but their pride is getting in the way of usability utopia.

Other changes over the first gen are the addition of an internal speaker so you can hear the sounds made by games, listen to music, or watch videos without plugging in headphones (this is a very cool feature that should be included on ALL MP3 players), a curved back like the iPhone 3G (thinner at the edges but thicker in the middle than the 1st gen Touch), and support for an external microphone or headset.  That last feature will allow me to use Skype, or to use it as a simple audio recorder.  Nice touches, all, and definitely steps in the right direction. 

I do have one major complaint with it, and that is its battery life.  If I’m watching a video or playing games on it, the battery is dead in a hair over an hour.  I’ve gone through the charge –> use for an hour cycle about 6 or 7 times now and it’s pretty consistent.  If the screen is on and it’s making noises, the battery is only good for about an hour.  At 45 minutes it pops up a warning that only 20% of the battery charge is left, and 15-20 minutes later it dies. I haven’t tested it for battery life for music playback (again, it’s not that great of a music playback device and I don’t intend to use it that way), but for video and games an hour is not good.  Especially considering how Apple advertises it as a great gaming device by calling it the “funnest iPod ever” [sic].  Fun for an hour, then you’re back to playing tic-tac-toe on a pad of paper, making flipbook drawings, and singing to yourself.  In contrast, my 5-year-old PDA will play games or video on a larger, higher resolution display for 3+ hours on a charge, even with all of the wear I’ve put on the battery over that time.

It still has a shiny metallic back, so it scratches VERY easily.  A protective case is a must.  I can’t figure out why Apple won’t switch to a textured back, or coat the metal with some sort of enamel or varnish layer to protect it?  I guess they like having their devices look bad after they’ve been used a while.  Or maybe it’s enough justification for people to buy new ones and they sell more that way.

Other than that, it’s pretty much the same as the 1st gen model.  The web browser is top notch.  The App Store makes it easy to find fun flashlight and fart noise applications.  The ability to read email is also nice.  Audio quality is fairly good, but still lags a little behind virtually every other line of players on the market.  (Apple hasn’t had any serious competition for the iPod line, so they seem to be okay with their audio quality suffering a bit compared to everyone else.)  The screen is bright and sharp, though this version renders the image with a warmer tint than we have seen before, not that this is bad; just different.  As usual, the included ear bud headphones are terrible, and Apple clearly deserves any amount of criticism heaped upon them for continuing to insult our ears; these are literally the worst headphones I have ever heard in my life; nearly anything else is a significant improvement. 

I’m excited to see what Apple has up its sleeve for the 3.0 firmware coming out this summer.  We do know that Bluetooth support is being added to the 2nd gen Touch, so that will be cool, along with a slew of other features that have been missing since day one.  And there should be more welcome goodies in the works with the forthcoming update.

2nd: Another Zune

I have had my 80GB Zune now for almost 18 months.  And I still really like it.  For music playback it is my device of choice.

But, like any hard-drive based player, it’s a little big and heavy compared to the flash memory models.  And I kind of get tired of lugging it back and forth between my desk and my truck just to synchronize it, so I have played around with the idea of getting a smaller capacity Zune to keep in my truck permanently.  I usually listen to podcasts and just a few of my favorite artists, so a small capacity player would work well for around-town driving.

Brent and I were in Best Buy last week and saw that they were clearing out the 4GB Zunes for $80.  I was going to get one but they didn’t have any left in stock, so I came home and tried to find a similar deal on the Internet.  I was able to find a brand-new 8GB model instead for $99 on eBay, with free shipping.  Awesome deal!  So I bought it, and it arrived today.

The one I got was apparently really old stock because the battery was COMPLETELY dead – it hadn’t been turned on or charged at all since it was manufactured in the fall of 2007.  Which means that it didn’t do anything when I plugged it in; it almost seemed like it was broken.  After plugging it into AC power and letting it charge for a couple hours it finally woke up from its coma and I was able to synchronize it with my computer.  First step was to install new software onto it (thank you, Microsoft, for continually adding new features for free!), and then I began selecting the content to copy onto the device.

I discovered something cool about the Zune software while setting this one up.  It lets you connect and synchronize multiple devices simultaneously.  So while I was setting up my new Zune today, my older one was still connected, and the two didn’t conflict with one another.  The software recognized both by adding a second icon for the second device.  That way I could choose what to synchronize with each one separately without disconnecting either by dragging to the right icon.  I didn’t think anybody would even attempt this, because synchronization is tricky enough without trying to do it with two devices at the same time.  Color me shocked and impressed.

My audio podcasts only take up about 800 MB.  I would have consider synchronizing my video podcasts as well, but it probably isn’t a good idea to watch them while I’m driving, so I elected not to include those in the sync.  I then setup two synchronization rules in the Zune software: one to synchronize any of the music I have marked as a favorite, and another rule to synchronize any music I have added to my collection in the last 90 days.  And since its 8GB of storage space is limited compared to the size of my music collection, I also set it to down-convert any high bit-rate audio files down to 192kbps on sync.  Since a lot of my music falls into that category, much of it had to be converted while it was synchronizing, so it took about 30 minutes to copy everything over.  In the end there was about 6.5GB of content copied over, leaving about 1GB of free space.  Nice fit.

One advantage the Zune has over other players is its ability to sync with a computer wirelessly.  This is why I will be leaving this player in my truck… I don’t have to bring it inside to sync it.  Just pop into the menu, select Settings, Wireless, Sync, and it connects to my wireless network and synchronizes my latest podcasts, any changes in my favorite music, and adds anything I’ve added to my collection since the last sync.  At the same time if I had purchased any music on the Zune (another great feature, BTW) it would sync it back up into my music collection.  Very cool.  And if I were to plug the player into a constant power source (or let it sit for a few minutes after finishing a playlist) it would synchronize automatically without any intervention on my part at all.  But I don’t want to drain my truck’s battery when I’m not driving it so I will be starting the sync manually.

Here’s a shocker… I actually like two of the songs included on the device.  It comes with a handful of songs and videos on it from the factory, and I actually like two of them.  Usually anything included like this is, well, not very good, and most of it wasn’t that good, but two songs and two videos actually were.  Huh.

The sound quality of the flash memory Zunes is very good.  With good headphones this Zune sounds excellent; very clear and totally noise free as far as I could discern.  The headphones included with these models aren’t very good, but they are without question better than the ones included with any iPod.  The Premium versions included with my 80GB Zune were a world better than either of those though.  But even the Premium model pales in comparison to either the Shure E3 earphones or Sony MDR-7506 headphones that I use to listen to music.  If you are at all serious about your music, consider investing in a real set of earphones/headphones.  Music will take on a new life when heard the way it was meant to be heard.

The disappointing thing about this player is that it doesn’t have video output capability.  So I can’t hook it to a TV and watch videos that way.  I have really gotten used to and liked that feature on my 80GB Zune (and I wish I could do it on my iPod Touch without dropping a fortune on a special cable), so it will be missed on my 8GB version.

For Music, Get a Zune; For Apps, Get an iPod Touch

Even after the updates to the iPod Touch line, I still feel like the Zunes are better for music playback.  Between having a more functional and easier to use interface, dedicated buttons for controlling playback, and more attention to the importance of sound quality, the Zune line is better for listening to music than any iPod sold today.  Apple has been putting all of its eggs in the iPod Touch / iPhone basket lately, so the rest of the line has been allowed to wither on the vine.  The iPod Classic still has its classic dated and limited-in-functionality interface.  The Nano is okay, but still is limited in its capabilities.  And don’t get me started on the new Shuffle, which is a joke.  The iPod Touch may be more suited to video playback than the Zunes are because of the huge screen, aside from the need to buy an extremely expensive cable to get video out to your TV and what appears to be battery life that is too short for video playback.  For playing games or doing non-multimedia tasks, though, the iPod Touch is in a league of its own for now despite its need to be kept near a charger. 

Being that these are, first and foremost, music players, my current Zune has gotten a lot more use than my iPod ever has, and I’m sure that trend will continue with my newly acquired models.  Which is fine, considering the Zunes seem to be better suited to that task anyway.

I miss doing audio :(

Most people following my blog probably already know that in addition to writing software, I also enjoy photography, video, and audio.  Unfortunately in the last couple of years the number of opportunities I have had to provide audio for different events has declined.  And I miss it.

About 4 years ago I bought my dream audio mixer.  Not that I had bad equipment prior to that, but I was starting to do events that began to push the limitations of the equipment I had at the time.  So I broke the bank (many people buy decent cars for a lot less) and bought something that would provide for any possible need I might ever have, the Mackie TT24.  And it’s glorious.

As luck would have it, about the same time I bought it was the same time that my connections to different organizations that needed audio support started to decline.  I was excused from my singles ward, which had provided many opportunities (both for the ward directly, and for people I met in and through that ward).  And many of the people I had worked with in the past had left the area.  Fortunately I was asked to be the sound guy for a vocal group that performed about every other Sunday night.  That kept me busy for about a year, and I enjoyed it very much.  But when the director of the group moved on to other things, my connection to the group was severed.

At one point I was asked if I could provide sound for a large benefit concert with several very well known performers in Provo.  But ultimately the job went to someone else, ironically because they decided that my “quote was too low” which to them meant I wouldn’t do a good job.  (I was really just trying to give them the best deal possible.  D’oh.)

Sure, I’ve done audio for other events on a much smaller scale.  Karaoke parties, deejaying, aside from a few church functions here and there.  But none have had a need for audio on a large scale.  Which means that my mega-amazing mixer, speakers, microphones, etc. don’t get used very much.

One of the things in my life that provides sanity is being able to jump around between different hobbies.  Up until recently, doing sound for different events was a big part of that.  So I miss having the opportunity these days. 

So if you are a part of a group that has need for audio on a serious scale… professional quality job with high-end equipment, and you’re in my area, I’d love the opportunity.  And in many cases I’ll do it pro bono if it’s for a charitable group or a cause I believe in, just because I enjoy it.

Inside the Studio: Perfect Vocals?

I just read an article about how two well known R&B artists have just been caught using “Auto Tune” software to correct the pitch of their vocals on their latest CDs. I had to snicker a bit inside, as if this is some sort of major revelation, or something that is an anomaly in the recording industry. Truth is, nearly every vocal recording made these days is run through Auto Tune, at least in part. Some artists, on the other hand, base their whole careers on the ability of the Auto Tune software to correct their pitch, because otherwise they couldn’t sing their way out of a wet paper sack.

The process is called “Auto Tune” after the software that is used to do it, AutoTune by Antares. You have all heard the effect… remember the chorus of “Believe” by Cher in the late 1990s? That’s AutoTune, just cranked up to it maximum correction level. I, too, have this software, and have used pitch correction on virtually every recording I have made in my home studio for more than a decade (though I have moved on to something better since… more on that in a minute). The difference, I believe, in the way I use it vs. many pop artists is that I only use it to fix a handful of notes that are slightly off, not to construct a passable performance from one that wouldn’t be otherwise. There is a real expectation of perfection for anyone attempting to perform vocally by the public, and using pitch correction software is really the only way to achieve perfection. Even with those who have excellent vocal abilities, I still will run through their performance and fix anything that is even slightly off. Recordings are permanent, and nobody wants to be remembered for that one sour note.

Using technology to achieve a better recording is certainly not a new thing. Before AutoTune came around, singers would be asked to perform pieces of their music over and over again until a perfect performance could be put together from the various takes… use a little from Take 1, a little bit from Take 6, pick up a syllable from Take 2, go back to Take 1, and so on. This was typical of recordings made in the 70s and 80s, but the process still continues today, even before Auto Tune is added to the mix. (In fact, it isn’t uncommon for parts of a song that occur multiple times, like a chorus, to be recorded only once, then be copied and pasted elsewhere in the song.)

Like all technologies, pitch correction can really be abused as well. In fact, virtually all of the pop music scene has abused pitch correction technologies for years, but it is worse now than it has ever been. Many very well known performers would have no career if it weren’t for the ability to correct pitch. I dare say that a lot of the most popular artists, no matter their preferred genre, rely on the technology to make their careers viable. I won’t name names, but more artists rely on it than don’t. These days it’s more about how a performer looks rather than their singing ability, because even if someone sings poorly it can be fixed. So if you have a favorite performer who you believe to have an outstanding vocal ability, the odds aren’t in your favor that they actually do. And there isn’t any 100% sure way to know if they can or can’t sing either, unless you see a live performance which is really live (and not taped [taped performances are usually remixed in a studio afterward] or lip synced). But even in those cases Antares and others make processors that can correct pitch in real-time; all they need to know is the chord progression of a song (and some even create the harmony parts automatically too). Cheating, isn’t it??!?

As if this isn’t enough, the newer generations of pitch correction software correct more than just pitch. These days I’m using a product called V-Vocal (screenshot), which in addition to fixing pitch can also correct timing. So if someone doesn’t have a good sense of rhythm, no problem. If they always come in late or end early, it’s easy to correct with a single click and drag of the mouse. Not only that, but it can be setup to match the timing of another instrument or vocalist automatically. And as if that wasn’t enough, but it will also alter the formant of someone’s voice in case they sound too nasal or thick. Anybody want to sing like a chipmunk?

While I believe that software like this does have a place as a single tool in a much larger collection, somehow it has become the real performer, not the vocalist whose pipes are being run through it. It’s sad, too, that so many people who have genuine talent are cast aside because they may not look the part, or aren’t willing to sell their souls to a record company in order to get ahead. I certainly wouldn’t make AutoTune, V-Vocal, and other similar tools go away in a perfect world, but it would be really nice to see them take less of a critical role in the arsenal of tools used by recording engineers. But that’s out of my control, so I guess the best I can do is to use my own best judgment when it’s me at the controls of the mixing board (or computer, as is really the case). And so far, I think I’ve done okay.

It's a Sad, Sad Day

November 4, 2008 will go down in history as a very sad day in American history.  After months of many heated opinions and exchanges of harsh words, it is official.  One voice has silenced another, at the peril of those that aren't as vocal.

I am referring, of course, to a compound mandate from the Federal Communication Commission that effective this next February it will become illegal for nearly all wireless microphones (and wireless in-ear-monitor systems) in existence today to be used.  (Did you think I was talking about something else?)  And then, as the second part of the double whammy, the frequencies they opened up after making the current frequencies illegal are now open for use for wireless Internet access and other wireless digital services. 

So first they are making existing microphones illegal by making it illegal to transmit in the frequencies currently in use.  And then, after they assigned a new radio band for microphones, they decided to allow other services onto that same band, creating interference.   Just think of how hard it is to have a conversation at a rock concert and you begin to understand the implications of this.

The first part is frustrating enough.  Existing microphones shouldn't cause significant interference with any devices on the current radio bands because of their very short range, so there wasn't really a need to make their use illegal.  They have co-existed with UHF television just fine for years.  A grandfather clause would have been perfect.  Then the FCC pushes us into a radio band that hasn't been used in the past, so no equipment is even available for purchase.  And then they are allowing that radio band to be used for other things, creating a huge potential for interference.  The only way to combat this new interference is to invest in new, much more expensive equipment, if you can even find it.

Those of us that currently own wireless equipment have had virtually no warning, and we haven't had any time to prepare to phase out and replace what we already have.  In the past when the FCC has made changes like this it hasn't affected low power equipment, so we haven't had to worry about replacing equipment.  And because it will become illegal to use what we now have, the stuff we have invested thousands and thousands of dollars in is officially now becoming totally worthless -- nobody will buy it because it isn't really legal to use it. 

Since the government is now offering coupons to make the transition to digital TV easier for people with analog televisions, maybe they ought to offer subsidy coupons to wireless microphone owners.  Okay, I'm not really serious about that... I am very much opposed to the "something for nothing" mentality, and I have always felt that it was wrong for the government to use tax revenues to benefit a small group of people.  But it sure would be nice if this were handled differently, because if I were to replace all of the wireless microphones I currently have with models with roughly the same level of performance, it would cost me roughly 12 x $2,500 = $30,000 or more, plus another $1,500 for my wireless in-ear-monitor system.  Ouch.  And I'm not one of the ones hit hardest.  Performing groups with more wireless systems have to use computerized, even higher end equipment to make sure that none of the microphones interfere with one another, so it will cost them a lot more.

D'oh.

Feeling A Little Overwhelmed Today

I'm kind of feeling a little bit overwhelmed with everything I have to get done in the next little while. Here's just a sampling:

• Edit the video I shot at a college graduation a few weeks ago, make several copies of the DVD, and send them off.
• Edit the video I shot for my friend Amber's wedding and make a DVD, and send it off.
• Edit the video I shot of my sister Christine performing at Velour, and post it for my family.
• Copy and send out the recording of Christine playing at Ozz, and send it to my family.
• Edit pictures I shot for Michael & Kiley's wedding, and order prints.
• Edit and mix down recordings I made of Richard and Gabe forever ago.
• Edit family pictures taken at Christmas, make DVDs of the video I shot at Christmas the last three years, and get those sent out.
• Make several significant changes to a tuxedo rental system I just created, and install and train the store owner and employees on how to use it.
• Extract the audio for a golf seminar from a hard drive recorder, burn DVDs, and send them off.
• Order more equipment and install another two antennas in my stake center for an upcoming stake conference.
• Make changes in FileBack PC (my backup software) to make it work better on Windows Vista, and fix a bug preventing encrypted backups from being restored. (Most of those parts are done.) After making changes, build a new release package, a new update package, upload both, notify the sites hosting the program that a new version is available, then send out announcements to my customers of the changes and that a new version is available.
• Move my company web site to a new server.
• Start cleaning the house in preparation for my parents visiting next week, and sister Cheryl and her family the following week.
• Arrange and build a float for the Freedom Festival 4th of July parade.
• Write a synthesizer engine for my GuitarToy software, finish debugging, create a web site and press releases, and post it.
• Do final cleanup on my ActiveClip utility, build a web site for it, and release it.
• Update my stake web site's calendar. I think I'm only 3 months behind right now.
• Build an inventory manager for the point-of-sale software I'm working on. And build the employee scheduling module. Plus a ton of other changes.
• One of these days, shoot and edit a training video for the point-of-sale system.

That's just what comes to mind immediately. Mostly this is my own checklist of things to work on. But it's depressing because I think I'm getting farther and farther behind rather than getting caught up. Anybody know where I can have a clone made?

Busy Weekend

I just finished a busy weekend...

On Friday night my sister Christine played at Ozz in Provo.  And I did sound for her.  But I didn't have all of the equipment I wanted (well, I did, but it's big and I didn't want to haul it all for a small gig like that), so I spent Friday buying, setting up, and testing stuff before her performance that night.  

She did a pretty good job, though her nerves still seem to be getting to her a little bit.  She played two of her own original songs, and three covers.  She was definitely the best performer for the duration of time what we stuck around.   The guy who played right after her didn't even know what he was going to play, and asked for requests... And he didn't know a single song that anyone asked for.  Dumb, dumb, dumb... Performers should never do that. 

Saturday morning I had a job videotaping the graduation for Provo College.  It took place in the Provo Tabernacle.  Brad was more than willing to help with a second camera, and I wanted to give Brent some practice running a camera, so he came too.  We had four cameras running; I was operating the main camera, directing, and running audio, all at the same time.  Brad took camera #2 and made occasional adjustments on camera #3, which was locked down to give a good shot of the graduates as they walked up on stage.  Setup took Brad and I two hours, but that's after the two days I spent getting equipment ready earlier in the week.  In any case, everything under our control went really well.   Taking down took about an hour and a half with all three of us working on it, after which we went to Applebee's for lunch.  I wasn't really hungry though, so I boxed up my chicken sandwich and ate it Saturday evening.

Not much happened Sunday, except that I slept most of the late afternoon and evening.  I guess my body was telling me I had been pushing myself a little too hard the last several days.  But I feel much better now.  :)

Apathy, Ignorance, and Sound Quality

I may not be a purist audiophile, but I do consider myself a mainstream audiophile. What I mean by that is that I enjoy good quality sound, but not to the point where I blow tons of money (defined "tens or hundreds of thousands") on each stereo component getting the best sound possible like some people do. I think I still can understand what the average Joe on the street wants from their electronics, even though what I want may be a little different.

What blows my mind, though, is what content providers ("music companies") and electronics companies are trying to pass off as "high quality" sound these days. Things are being advertised as "CD quality" that aren't anywhere near the quality that we get out of CDs. MP3s are so common place that many consumers think that the sound of MP3s is normal, or even good, while at the same time those of us that have been exposed to good quality sound cringe at the sound of a typical MP3 file. While some attempts have been made to improve upon what is considered good sound (Apple, for example, uses AAC for iTunes/iPods, which is better than MP3, though it is still lacking), for the most part things have gone downhill—and done so very quickly.

I invested in an XM satellite radio several years ago, near the time of the initial public launch of the service, and it was one of these products being touted as "CD quality." And at the time, it was quite good considering the technology they were working with. Not stellar, by any means, but certainly better than the average FM broadcast, and I knew it wasn't going to be stellar, so I was happy with it at the time. It was definitely closer to CD than FM radio in terms of it sound quality.

What has happened since then is nothing short of appalling. As XM has added more and more channels since that time, they have gradually taken bandwidth away from the existing channels, reducing the sound quality of those channels to something that only a half of a notch above pathetic. (I presume that the bean-counters decided they could make more money by appealing to a wider audience by offering more channels, assuming that the average Joe is Ignorant to sound quality issues.) And yet they continue to market it as "CD quality." These days FM radio sounds better. Things got a little better two weeks ago with a new upgrade to the XM encoding systems, but they are still far from spectacular, or even acceptable if you ask me. These days both the low and frequencies are pretty much gone, and what is left is compressed so badly that it all gets merged into one big jumble of wishy washy highs, muddy midrange, and come-and-go lows, leaving everyone guessing what instruments are actually being played and what lyrics are actually coming out of the lead singer's mouth. And they have effectively taken away our stereo image, sending us back into the 1940s with what is, essentially, monaural sound. Yeah, great technological innovation.

If XM was the only company that had fallen into this trap there would be no issue. The problem is that this reflects the attitude of just about everybody.

Because some of this transition has taken place over the course of a period of time, a lot of consumers are just ignorant of it. And then there is another group that is aware of it, but is apathetic. Shame on the penny-pinchers behind it, and shame on those that are apathetic. Those of us in a third segment that actually care about the quality of our audio are suffering. Our voices are not being heard, or are being drowned out by the shouting of the wallets of the poor ignorant and apathetic consumers. We can't even get good quality sound when we try.

Music is all about conveying thoughts and emotion. And a lot of that emotion is missing when the quality of our sound is taken away. Have you ever noticed how much more exciting it is to see a band perform live than it is to listen to a recording? A lot of that has to do with the faithfulness (or lack thereof) of the recording we are listening to. Listening to a good recording on a good quality sound system is an emotional experience. By taking away our high quality recordings and reproduction, the "emotion" half of the music equation is being stripped away from us. It's no wonder that a lot of the music that is coming out today lacks emotion, because if it was ever there in the first place it wouldn't make it to our ears anyway. A hundred years ago we didn't have the option of listening to music in our homes; we had to listen to a live performance, and it was a much more enjoyable experience. That begs the question, has current technology really improved our lives musically?

I don't have any sort of answer to the problem, but it is, indeed, a problem.

Ironically even though products are being marketed as being "CD quality," CD quality isn't that great to start with. Not only because the human ear can detect nuances of sound that CD simply isn't capable of recording (part of the "emotion" of it all), but also because the CD players that most of us own (or with the prevalence of iPods and such these days, the CD players we once owned) don't do a very good job of maximizing what is there. The two formats that have been designed to take care of that problem, SACD and DVD Audio, have pretty much failed at this point. The CD format has now been in consumers hands for 25 years, and it was designed within the limitations of technology at the time. We should expect far more than what CD has to offer, not be comparing other products against it.

The driving factor behind all of this is, of course, money. We, as consumers, want the most out of every dollar that we spend. And those that produce the products that we own want to make as much profit as they possibly can. And that means cutting corners.

I know I'm a little bit fanatical about all of this, but I don't think I'm that far off from someone in the mass population if they were exposed to the high quality stuff that is out there. The problem is that we keep having low quality products and content shoved down our throats, keeping us away from what can truly be a grand experience. A very dangerous precedent has been set.

I'll step down off of my soapbox for now… but next time you have the opportunity to listen to a good piece of music on a good sound system, take the time to actually listen and enjoy it. It just might open your eyes ears to something you might really love. And take a minute to drop an email to a music company, or service, and let them know that you don't appreciate the shortcuts that are being taken. For right now they might still be able to hear you, but if things keep on going downhill like they are now, it might not be long before your words turn into the same total mush that they are already trying to shove down our throats.