How to make a wind recording

conrad_snow_recording.jpgRecording real wind sounds and thunderstorms are some of the most difficult field recordings to capture. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone on wild goose chases in the middle of storms trying to get the ultimate field recording. Big Bear, California was one place I traveled to a half dozen times alone. I always felt very tricked by Mother Nature. As soon as I would finally scout the perfect location, conditions would change and the moment was lost.

THE GEAR
For field recording I use a quality stereo microphone (around $1,000) and portable DAT recorder. I’ve been doing field recordings for a long time now and there might be updated gear like portable CD recorders you can use now. But I’m used to the DAT recorders and like the sound quality. I prefer Shure and Tascam products for my field recording.

THUNDER
By the time you hear the thunder, it’s probably too late to get your recording. Since thunder is usually accompanied by rain, the optimum recording would be as a storm is approaching you. Here you can get the thunder sound without the interfering rain sounds. Getting wet is a major issue. This may not seem like much as you’re sitting in front of your computer reading this, but when you’re out in the middle of the yuck it is most definately a problem.

Wrap your recording gear in plastic, and then cover the plastic with a soft material like a blanket. Yes, your blanket is going to get soaked. The plastic is going to make sound as the rain hits it, so using a soft cloth will lessen the water sounds. I’ve tried recording before through car windows, but there’s too much interference from rain hitting the car. I would suggest recording out the trunk, with a blanket over the trunk for a thunderstorm. It’s not pretty, but I did capture an excellent thunderstorm in Southern California using this technique, until the rain got too heavy.

If you are doing historical archive recording then what you get is what you get. But if you are doing nature sound recordings for multimedia, keep in mind your finished product should be what the listener expects the sound to be. Real wind is not pretty – most people want to hear that sweet whistling sound. Give them what they expect, that’s the challenge.

Alternately you can improvise a “lean-to” for your gear. With thunder recordings one problem is your microphone needs to be up a bit to capture the thunder. This bares the microphone to the elements. Create a lean to with a blanket, your gear covered in plastic and find a natural location that will shield from the wind. You’ll need those low end frequencies for a good thunder recording and won’t be able to roll off those low wind howls later in mastering.

WIND
I never realized how different real wind is to capture for recording until I tried to do it. We are used to hearing wind with our ears feeling the pound of the low rumble. On an audio recording this comes across as distortion, not a pleasant sound like it is to our ears. The trick in wind recording is not to actually record the wind, but to record the wind interacting with another surface.

Good locations for wind recordings can be corners of buildings or cracks in walls. This will give you the whistle and howl timbres that most people associate with the sound of wind. One great place for wind recording is the top of a ski slope next to a utility shack. You’ll get some great howling at that location.

Shield yourself from the actual wind so you can get decent levels for your recording. If you try to actually record directly into the wind, you’ll get such a decibel rush that your low levels won’t have the levels you need in mastering.

Hope that helps. Nobody said field recording would be pretty.

Conrad Askland is an audio producer and field recording engineer.

Audio Player Embed for Ecommerce Product Pages

Here is a code you can use to call up an audio player within your ecommerce audio product pages. Should work with ecommerce pages that accept HTML in description including OSCommerce and X-Cart.

CLICK IT for full resolution.

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Click on image for graphic of code. Used this to embed audio samples into your online products.

*Note: Many sites use this and it looks nice. While running tests today I had many customers run into problems using IE.

Xrumer Link Scam – Black Hat SEO

screen.gifFor SEO specialists and my old Black Hat crew. An SEO high wind advisory.

I admire the creator of this link scam for their ingenuity. Xrumer is an autosubmitter program – it will sign you with up with major forum software platforms like phpbb and even post your first post for you. Not much new with this type of software, but their game plan is brilliant.

They are using their own software in a massive one way link blitz. This dwarfs the old Google bomb by a longshot.

Their first auto-submitted post does not contain a link, it simply says something along the lines of: “I am looking for Xrumer auto-submit software, does anyone know where I can find the official website?” – Because they did not drop a link like most spammers, it goes unnoticed as spam. Now enter the well meaning member (and I have seen many ADMINS fall for this) who googles Xrumer and posts the link for them.

They have just received a bonafied link from a trusted member of that community. Now that is quality spam!

You can google Xrumer yourself to see how many forums are hit with it – it is quite impressive. It has hit so many forums recently that I really do not think there is a way to undo it – They got massive linkage.
Do not be tempted to buy it, Google will figure it out eventually and penalize it. Maybe you could get away with it if you had a mark that was already branded for linkage – take your chances.

A couple things to consider if you are tempted in buying the Xrumer software:

1) The obvious – you are perpetuating Black Hat SEO and spam.

2) Xrumer is a very unique search term, the same ploy would not work on any competitive term – and if you already have branding for your term, you would not want to take a chance with this anyway.

3) If you drop a link on the first post with the program you will be tagged for spam. To drop a link on the first post is the intended use of the software. Xrumer got around this with a unique term and disposable domain for quick cash.

Just guessing, I would bet they rake in an easy $200,000 in one week, or better. Would be interesting to know the real figures.

***************

Forum admins are today being warned of a new wave of spam coming to forums.

It comes after Russian hackers developed a script to auto submit spam posts to a wide range of forum software – and released it onto the open markets.

The script is able to post to forums even when email validation is required – a common anti-spam tactic used by forum admins.

Targeted forum software claimed open to attack includes vbulletin, phpbb, Invision Power Board, PHP-Nuke, yaBB, IconBoard, UltimateBB, exBB, phorum.org, wiki, different types of bulletin boards and even custom-written code.

Forum admins are advised to follow basic anti-spam procedures, and ensure they have common Russian email addresses blocked, such as mail.ru, inbox.ru, cashette.com, and gawab.com.

For those tempted to use high volume forum spamming, it needs emphasising that forum spam rarely lasts more than a few minutes on valuable forums, and the returns are likely miminal.

However, damage to reputation and standing could be considerable, and may additionally subject the user to legal proceedings under the Computer Misuse Act.

Ackbar – Mon Calamari

loveride2006.gifVrchní velitel povstalecké flotily pocházející z planety Mon Calamari. Než se pøipojil k Alianci, byl otrokem velkomoffa Tarkina. Pøi povstaleckém útoku na Tarkinùv raketoplán byl osvobozen a poté se stal jedním z poradcù Mon Mothmy — efektivnì využíval znalost imperiální taktiky, nabytou pøi své službì v Tarkinovì blízkosti, proti Impériu samotnému. Velitel Ackbar vedl vývoj povstalecké “létající pevnosti” B-wingu — stíhaèky, kterou Aliance odpovìdìla na Nebulon-B fregaty, kterými zaèalo Impérium chránit své zásobovací konvoje pøed povstaleckými nájezdy. Záhy byl povýšen do funkce nejvyššího velitele flotily: z velitele Ackbara se stal admirál Ackbar. Právì on velel flotile pøi útoku na druhou Hvìzdu smrti. Osobnì se zúèastnil bitvy na palubì své vlajkové lodi Home One. Poté, co se ukázalo, že bitva je císaøem pøipravená past, souhlasil se zoufalým plánem generála Calrissiana a nechal flotilu pøiblížit se na minimální vzdálenost k císaøským destruktorùm. Povstalci utrpìli tìžké ztráty, ale podaøilo se jim znièit Vaderùv hvìzdný superdestruktor Executor.

Po Endoru se Ackbar stal èlenem prozatimní rady Nové republiky a dál velel novorepublikové flotile. Bìhem tažení admirála Thrawna byl køivì obvinìn ze zrady a doèasnì zbaven funkce, o dva roky pozdìji vinou sabotáže svého rozšíøeného B-wingu havaroval na pøi diplomatické misi planetì Vortex a znièil unikátní architektonické dílo, vorskou Katedrálu vichrù (èi též Vìtrnou katedrálu). Zahanbený Ackbar se vzdal funkce a odešel do dobrovolného vyhnanství domù do calamarských hlubin, kde zùstal, dokud ho odtud nevyvedla Leia Organa Solo. Ackbar organizoval calamarskou obranu proti útoku admirála Daaly a vrátil se na Coruscant. Jeho jméno bylo oèištìno, když byl jako zrádce odhalen jeho osobní mechanik Terpfen.

Ve funkci zùstal bìhem krize Èerné flotily i corellianského povstání, úspìšnì vedl flotilu proti Pellaeonovì Impériu, které zatlaèoval stále dál do Vnìjšího okraje. Když se pøibližnì 20 let po Endoru stal jeho vìèný politické oponent Borsk Fey’lya prezidentem, úchylil se do ústraní, opìt domù na Mon Calamari. V té dobì vÅ¡ak do galaxie vtrhla nová hrozba Yuuzhan Vongù a stáøím sužovaný Ackbar zaèal znovu, v izolaci a v tichosti vymýšlet plán, kterým by pøispìl k záchranì Republiky.

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General Ackbar Pictures – Funny Photoshop

Photoshopped photos using General Ackbar from Star Wars. And yes, I know it’s actually “Admiral” Ackbar, but most people search it by General.
Abbey Road – Beatles Ackbar

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Ackbar – WWII

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Ackbar Love Ride 2006

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The Graduate – Dustin Ackbar

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Sistine Chapel – Ackbar Creation

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Little Orphan Ackbar

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Ackbar in Red

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Minstrel Ackbar

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Last Supper Painting – Leonardo d’Ackbar

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Mona Ackbar

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President Ackbar

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OJ Ackbar

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Email Q&A – Christianity and Homosexuality

Email from forum member:

I’m checking out. Advertisements for homosexuals doesn’t belong on this website. I don’t want to be associated with filth.

*screen name omitted*

******************

This member is referring to my bible discussion website at www.Bible-Discussion.com – With few exceptions, my public forums are open to public discussion from a wide variety of viewpoints. The forums are a blank canvas for members to discuss and debate related issues. On my forums I have contextual ads running, which means that ads are displayed according to the content of the pages. If you are on my motorcycle forum, you will see ads for motorcycles. This member was posting in the “Homosexuality and the Bible” section of my Bible Discussion website. The website contains around 50 some discussion topics on bible related issues. Because they chose to discuss in the “Homosexuality and the Bible” forum of that website, the ads displayed were from related groups – a mixture of gay Christian organizations, mainstream non-profit Christian groups and retailers of Christian related products. The “filth” he refers to is not porn or adult related. It is from gay Christian groups running ads, and occassionally also anti-gay Christian groups trying to reach gay Christians.

This member also posts: “I’m a born-again Believer, frustrated over all the confusion “out there” among Christians, resulting in so many denominations (and a few cults masquerading as Christian). The discussion groups I have been a part of reflect that confusion. How can we Christians counter the onslaught of Islam if we don’t understand our own faith? Perhaps THIS discussion group will offer something that the others haven’t ~~ so far.”

So my answer to this member, who lasted 3 days with a total of 13 posts (on a free public forum) is this: It seems you have a history of condemning those that do not believe as you do, I see no inclination for that pattern to be changing anytime soon.

You see it fit to condemn gays and Muslims – I do not. Of course, you are free to disagree with me on my own discussion forum; the forum that I pay and upkeep so people like yourself can disagree and debate, for free.

And when finally no Muslims or homosexuals are left (having all been “fixed”), then we can attack the Buddhists and Hindus. Once they are gone we still have left the Wiccans, B’ahai and other weirdos. Then onto Mormons – let’s not forget atheists and Unitarians – they are nasty breeds. Finally we will have weeded them all out from the “true” faith, and it will be you and I alone on an island. In time we will find that one of us does not have the truth, perhaps an askew interpretation of the Trinity or some other theological device. And then only one of us will be left, and the world will finally be as it should be.

Let me share a story with you, one that I doubt you will enjoy. When I was younger there were many people who mistook me for being gay. It’s not something I encounter so much as an adult, but as a youth engrossed in the arts and with a fair complexion. I attended Pacific Lutheran University, a good Christian school in my opinion. In my Freshman year I returned to my dorm room to see someone had spray painted “FAG” on my dorm room door. No doubt this act was fueld by a misplaced religious conviction. I was the brunt of several homophobic attacks at that University and also later in the workplace. It still boggles my mind that these actions took place at a Lutheran University. Is this the testament of our Christian faith, to spend our time pointing fingers and condemning? As close a parallel I can draw is what the author of “Black Like Me” must have experienced when he was mistook as an African American in the South. In that very small way I have known the pain of the gay community. And I knew from that experience at PLU that I would never condemn a gay person the way others were condeming me.

I do not get a message of condemnation from NT scripture, I receive one of compassion and understanding.

I see no reason to condemn either homosexuals or Muslims, and I do not view either as “filth”. The closest thing I can label as “filth” is fundamentalism, of any religion. It is mankind’s cursed creation.

“Jesus paid much too high a price for us to pick and choose who should come.” – Casting Crowns

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IF WE ARE THE BODY – Lyrics
By Casting Crowns

It’s crowded in worship today
As she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls’ teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

CHORUS
But if we are the Body
Why aren’t His arms reaching
Why aren’t His hands healing
Why aren’t His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren’t His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances tells him that his chances
Are better out on the road

CHORUS
But if we are the Body
Why aren’t His arms reaching
Why aren’t His hands healing
Why aren’t His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren’t His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the Body of Christ

Chorus (2x)
If we are the body
Why aren’t His arms reaching
Why aren’t His hands healing
Why aren’t His words teaching
And if we are the body
Why aren’t His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus is the way

The First Thanksgiving Propoganda

pilgrim1.JPGI hesitate to write about political and religious topics on my blog because there will always be someone offended; but I cannot resist.

When I was in grade school around Thanksgiving time we would wear black and white pilgrim hats we made from construction paper. We wore them proudly as we sang in concert “This land is your land, this land is my land….” – And we had images of Indians sitting with the pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving enjoying each other’s company. The Indians helped the pilgrims to survive, which was a good thing since the European settlers were much more advanced in their culture. We know those settlers started colonies that would later overtake the primitive Indian culture, but that was the way it had to be since the Europeans had a more advanced culture and theology. The Pilgrims were able to save many of the Indians, which was a good thing since most of the Indians were doomed to hell for not being Christian. The Indians had spent thousands of years in America, but had done nothing with it. They had their time and squandered it. We made America into something the primitive Indians could not acheive, saved their souls and gave the tribes land to continue their culture if they wished – which would be a mistake, but if they want to continue being backward, then that’s their choice. We can’t help it they didn’t advance. Still to this day Indians cry in their beer over it. Oh well, maybe you should have advanced rather than building wigwams and shooting deer for two thousand years.

And THAT was my childhood understanding of the roots of American culture. How twisted and offensive is that?

The reason this all comes back to me is from a CNN article last week, where some teachers are teaching Thanksgiving to children in a different fashion. They are walking up to children’s desks and taking a pencil off it, then a book, then a child’s shoe, then a coat – when the children complain the teacher responds “But I discovered it.” The children cry, then the teacher explains early American history from a Native American perspective. This has drawn complaints from many, as well as praise. For my vote, I praise it.

History has shown us that when a more advance culture comes in contact with one that is less advanced; the more advanced culture will over-run the other culture. This might be a comment on the dark side of human nature. If you want to extrapolate that fact out, let’s hope that if an alien culture comes in contact with Earth at some point in the future they do not share this human characteristic.

The modern Native American nation as far as I can see is not bent on revenge, but they are finally in a position to stand up and claim their cultural homestead. The stereotype of Native Americans living on the dole while drunk on the reservation is giving way to organized groups of Native American attorneys and professionals guiding the funds of the “Indian Casinos” to reinstating their culture, what is left of it, for future generations.

Why didn’t they do this before? My understanding is that the Indian Nation was given sovreign rights under the Reagan administration, which allowed the building of casinos. This idea took a while to catch on – but the financial success of these spread like wildfire. I would be as you’re reading this, you know of an Indian Casino in your vicinity that has been build within the last 10 years. Yes? Ka-ching.

So what changed my perspective? I think I am just in the wave with everyone else, a slow change in social consciousness, a paradigm shift. What was once our pride and joy of an expanding nation, some of us now look on as the decimation of an entire culture. And yes, a culture that had a great deal to teach us about many things, but our forefathers were not in a place to listen.

Sometimes I think years of performing in bars and casinos impeded my sense of the world. But I DID get a chance to spend a lot of time on reservations. While playing in country bands I was in Flagstaff for several weeks and that was my first conversations directly with Native Americans. They gave me “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” to read – a horrific account of the destruction of the Native Americans, very different from How The West Was Won. I would suggest this book to anyone to read; if you are white I think it will break your heart, as it did mine. It might be the only book I’ve read that actually made me cry.

Then almost ten years playing with Freddy Fender we spent quite a bit of time playing in Indian casinos. Because Freddy was a name act, we were often treated to behind the scenes tours of the reservations and got the inside scoop from a Native American perspective. There was a comraderie I think because Freddy was Hispanic, and we weren’t vied as a “white” group.

I recount this just to let you know the deep, deep pain present in the Native American communities. Maybe I’m stating the obvious, but as a child I had the understanding these things were from a different age; all taken care of and done in the 1800’s – and we lived in a different world. No, we live in the same world, and the repercussions from those actions are still very present – albeit seemingly dormant.

So I’ve wandered from Pilgrims to the late 1800’s. What’s my point? My point is to be aware that our history is strewn with propoganda, and what we think may be true, may be quite a spin. I like very much the new attitude toward the teaching of history – I do not see the heavy propoganda with current school children like I experienced as a child. Thank God for the History Channel and the internet, which have both provided us with more information than the black and white History class films of our youth.

I don’t have any answers to what could have been done differently – for that I fall short. And I admit I like my Thanksgiving celebrations with family, and I like American culture, grassroots Christianity and our way of life. But I keep a thought at all times in the back of my mind – to realize that the world around me may not be how I see it, and that the glasses I wear give a different view than someone elses. I could very well be wearing the wrong glasses at any time.

And my note to missionaries, which I don’t pretend will be received with warmth: I think a world of good would be realized to immerse yourself in a foreign culture to understand and absorb that culture, without the predetermination that you are their to change and enlighten it.

I hope that’s a thought for all of us to consider.

MORE READING
Pilgrim Hall Museum

Wikipedia on Thanksgiving

History Channel – First Thanksgiving
This is a great documentary if you can watch it
IMPACT OF BOOK – BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE

It is difficult to overstate the impact of the book. Prior to its publication in 1970, the dominant images of the period were of noble settlers threatened by savage Indians and defended by the 7th Cavalry. The book brought to the public’s attention the other side of the story: that the original owners of the land were systematically massacred, betrayed and forced onto only those scraps of land that the more numerous and technologically superior conquerors disdained.

One strength of the book is its strong documentation to original sources. Its message may not have been a welcome one, but it came loaded with facts. The other strength is that each chapter forms a story, compelling as any fiction and far more interesting than academic treatises.

THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT
Signed by Pilgrim Leaders

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are under-written, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the eleventh of November [New Style, November 21], in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Dom. 1620.

Sarah Simmons in Anything Goes by Cole Porter

sarah-simmons.jpgRedmond, WA – Sarah Simmons is currently in Anything Goes by Cole Porter, Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse presented by Second Story Repertory Theater in Redmond, WA. She says we should all go see it so it must be a good show. We have a group going up to see her show this Friday if anyone is interested.

I’ve worked with Sarah in Annie Get Your Gun and saw her performance in OLIVER. In both she was a real standout. A true master of character development.

PLOT:

Billy Crocker is a busy guy. He’s gotta take care of his boss, convince his long lost love not to marry another man and hide from the FBI while singing his way stateside in this timeless Cole Porter musical set on an Atlantic ocean liner.

Performances:
Fridays and Saturdays at 8:15 pm: November 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25, December 1,2

Sunday Matinees at 2:15 pm: November 19, 26 at 2:15

Saturday 2 for 1 Performance*: November 4
Thursday Performance at 8:15 pm: November 30

Special Fundraising Performance on November 12 at 5:30.