ConradAskland.com

Shy Boy and Friend WOW Audience with The Prayer

askland — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:25:51 +0000

I got a little shiver and the start of a tear when I watched this. Another lesson for us that we can find inspiration in places we might not expect. Each of us has a special voice. Part of the beauty of life is to find that voice and express it the best we can to help lift others up.

Check out what Simon says at 5:20 and the response at 5:34. Beautiful. From a musical standpoint I think the male singer will have to be very careful not to blow his voice by bringing so much weight to the voice (no reference to his physical size) in trying to simulate an older singer’s voice. (Male singers usually do not fully mature to full voice until late twenties). But I love the story. It’s inescapable. Bravo!

YouTube Description:

Simon, along with the other judges, and the entire audience laughed as this boy and his friend came on stage. But then those laughs quickly turned to tears and applause while Jonathan and Charlotte began to sing. WOW! Simply Amazing!.

Rob Reid: The $8 billion iPod

askland — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:09:29 +0000

http://www.ted.com Comic author Rob Reid unveils Copyright Math (TM), a remarkable new field of study based on actual numbers from entertainment industry lawyers and lobbyists.

Derek Paravicini – Savant Pianist

askland — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:51:22 +0000

Lesley Stahl profiles British musical savant Derek Paravicini, whose computer-like memory for music is matched by his creative abilities to play it in any style.

This is so inspiring I wanted to share it with you. It’s partly about music and overcoming obstacles, but also about human connections and communication through music.

Jeff Zaslow and Reaching for the Best

askland — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:54:17 +0000

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/04/opinion/greene-zaslow/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

Great article by Bob Greene about Jeff Zaslow, the author who helped Randy Pausch write “The Last Lecture”. If you haven’t read the Last Lecure, I highly recommend it.

Bob Greene’s article talks about doing your best at all times. He says it’s not often that it pays off, but it’s an admirable endeavor.

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.” – Ghandi

165 Million Year Old Cricket Song

askland — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:11:10 +0000

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2012/8210.html

Excerpt:

The love song of an extinct cricket that lived 165 million years ago has been brought back to life by scientists at the University of Bristol. The song – possibly the most ancient known musical song documented to date – was reconstructed from microscopic wing features on a fossil discovered in North East China. It allows us to listen to one of the sounds that would have been heard by dinosaurs and other creatures roaming Jurassic forests at night.

CDS Zaia closing Feb 19, 2012

askland — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:13:58 +0000

Macau, China – Just announced to the cast and crew of the Cirque Du Soleil show Zaia that it is closing in Macau and last performance date will be Feb 19, 2012. Official announcements are currently being made by Cirque publicly. Zaia opened as a resident show at the Venetian Macau resort and casino in September 2008.

http://nomoreofeverything.blogspot.com/2012/02/zai-jian-zaia-end-of-era.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204369404577208891919881180.html

http://www.macaubusiness.com/news/zaia%E2%80%99s-last-show-next-week/13935/#.TzFEzyk1-Es.facebook

Q&A: How to play AAC audio files on website?

askland — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:24:35 +0000

Email question received:

no problem getting my site to play mp3 files, but what do you do if you’ve got an AAC file that you want people to hear.

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

Response:

Hey there, great question! What I found is that Adobe Flash supports AAC, so you could use a flashplayer to stream your AAC music files. From what I read it appears there are some other players also but they only support internet explorer. I’m assuming that you want your solution to be cross platform. It also looks like Orbis may have some players but you have to purchase them.

This is not a definitive answer; just what I could find for you searching online. If another reader has info on this please let us know!

For readers that don’t know about the AAC format, it’s the format for Itunes audio downloads as of May 2007. In general it has a better sound than MP3 due to a lot of reasons that I understand, and many that are just frankly over my head (For example, I didn’t know what was a “Kaiser-Bessel derived window to eliminate spectral leakage”).

You can read about the AAC audio format here:
http://ipod.about.com/od/glossary/g/what_is_aac.htm

And you can read about the AAC vs Mp3 encoding differences here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding

Here is a highlight of the differences between AAC audio and Mp3 audio:

More sample frequencies (from 8 to 96 kHz) than MP3 (16 to 48 kHz)
Up to 48 channels (MP3 supports up to two channels in MPEG-1 mode and up to 5.1 channels in MPEG-2 mode)
Arbitrary bit-rates and variable frame length. Standardized constant bit rate with bit reservoir.
Higher efficiency and simpler filterbank (rather than MP3′s hybrid coding, AAC uses a pure MDCT)
Higher coding efficiency for stationary signals (AAC uses a blocksize of 1024 or 960 samples, allowing more efficient coding than MP3′s 576 sample blocks)
Higher coding accuracy for transient signals (AAC uses a blocksize of 128 or 120 samples, allowing more accurate coding than MP3′s 192 sample blocks)
Can use Kaiser-Bessel derived window function to eliminate spectral leakage at the expense of widening the main lobe
Much better handling of audio frequencies above 16 kHz
More flexible joint stereo (different methods can be used in different frequency ranges)
Adds additional modules (tools) to increase compression efficiency: TNS, Backwards Prediction, PNS etc… These modules can be combined to constitute different encoding profiles.

Synergy Brass Quintet – Mozart Horn Concerto

askland — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:14:33 +0000

This is the third movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Horn Concerto Number 2, originally written for a natural horn (without valves) and a small orchestra. Jon Hurrell of Synergy Brass Quintet performs the piece in Haydn Hall in the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria.

I have to admit I’ve watched this five times today. It’s a great balance between musical artistry and showmanship. Now I did see another live performance of this group where Jon Hurrell went a little over the top with schmaltz to please the audience and the performance was more effected. But this performance is a bullseye to me. And in the end, we all have to sell tickets.

Having played French Horn (I guess in contemporary times it’s changed to just “horn”) for 7 years when I was younger, I have great appreciation for how difficult it is to do the smallest stage moves and still maintain embouchure and tone.

One of the great embarrassments of my life was playing French Horn in my Sophomore year of High School for the county judges and not receiving the high score. I was mortified. And it was the Mozart Horn Concerto in Bb that I played.

So Mr. Jon Hurrell, my hat is off to you for your presentation. And also a very fine group of players in the rest of the group -- the trumpet player is very impressive in his delicate approach.

Acoustic Treatment for Audio Mixing Room

askland — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:17:15 +0000

As part of my Critical Listening class with Berklee Music Online I’ve been spending a lot of time tweaking my audio mixing room. The point is to level out the environment at the listening position for an audio response that minimizes comb filtering and nodes that cancel out frequencies. If the problem is not minimized, at least knowing the frequency problem areas can give you crucial information so you don’t over adjust in the final mixes.

Here’s the short run down for others that want to do acoustic treatment for the audio mixing position:

Play sine tones all set to the same level through your speakers. Measure those with an SPL to see which frequencies are playing softer. These may be frequencies where some cancellation is happening. Be sure to check your speakers frequency response; frequency changes below 500Hz and above 8Khz may be due to speaker specs.
Tones below 500Hz are the most difficult to treat because of the length of the waves. For example a 40Hz signal wave is in the ballpark of 20 feet. For this reason, most absorption materials are only going to effect the higher frequencies that can impact shorter waves. For example 10k is around three inches. wavelength = (propagation speed) / frequency
Main Treatment Areas -- As a starter, main treatment areas are wall behind speakers, side wall reflections (use mirror on wall to see reflection point) and back wall diffusion and/or absorption. Take care not to overdo absorption. Overall, opt for a reflective floor and diffusive/absorptive ceiling rather than vice versa. Beyond that, bass traps can be used in corners and back wall where lower bass frequencies tend to gather. Diffusion is most commonly used on ceiling and back wall but will probably only affect mid and higher frequencies.
Homemade Treatments -- If you have the patience, skill and time it’s possible to make your own diffusors and absorbers. There are many examples online using rock wool and other materials. For premade solutions check out RPG and Auralex.
Speaker Positioning -- Speakers should form an equilateral triangle to listening position, away from wall to minimize bass frequency reflection, preferably on their own stands behind desk or console to minimize reflection from mixing surface area, tweeters at ear level, rotated symmetrically inward 30 degrees toward listening position.

* Photo at beginning of post is not MY audio mixing room -- just an example of applied panels.

Kung Hei Fat Choy 2012

askland — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:57:15 +0000

The entire company of Zaia wishes you a Happy Chinese New Year. Kung Hei Fat Choy!

I had my noodles at the local Chinese restaurant and let off bottle rockets into the water of Macau. Happy to report no rockets hit me this year.