Month: October 2007

I Wish I Was Wild At Heart

I cannot say enough praise about the Knowledge Network’s show called “Wild At Heart“. It is exposing all sorts of trips in BC that, frankly, I want to do. Not only do they present a TV show, they also provide recipes, trip planners, and entire episodes for free on their website.

If you’re curious about wilderness exploration within BC, check out this great showcase.

Now – next summer we can start easy with the Kettle Valley bike trip, but that Garibaldi trip looks fantastic. Maybe a Howe Sound Crest Trail trip first? Who’s in?

gstreamer Pipelines and VBR

Just to prove that I am still a tech geek (a badge I wear proudly in the right company), I’ve had to comb through the Intraweb for some specific MP3 encoding parameters I want to try using instead of the stock stuff. I wanted to document the pipeline here so I don’t have to write it down for future reference.

VBR (V=4) encoding pipeline

audio/x-raw-int,rate=44100,channels=2 ! lame name=enc mode=1 vbr=4 vbr-quality=4 ! xingmux ! id3v2mux

CBR (128 Kbps) encoding pipeline

audio/x-raw-int,rate=44100,channels=2 ! lame name=enc vbr=0 bitrate=128 ! id3v2mux

Run gst-inspect lame to see the parameters being used here. For example:

mode=1 – sets the lame encoding to use joint stereo
vbr=4 – sets lame to use the “new” VBR encoding algorithm, rather than the old
vbr-quality=4 – sets the encoding bitrate to approximately 165 Kbps, as per the lame settings.
xingmux – pads the MP3 and is only used for VBR settings
id3v2mux – adds the ID3v2 tags to the MP3 (I haven’t figured out a way to add both V1 and V2 tags other than by subsequently using Easytag on the files to add the V1).

Today’s Music Just Sounds Louder – Doesn’t It?

I know, I know. Call me an old codger – but don’t you agree? Whatever happened to those albums that you needed world-cancelling earphones on to properly enjoy? The ones that had suble nuances and sounds that only in total silence could you properly enjoy the album? Today’s music all just seems too … maxxed out.

I’m not making this up, really. The digital production of albums today allows producers to really tweak how an album sounds before being pressed on to CDs. They’re able to adjust any and all aspects of the songs – and they do. Some claim they are mastering the CDs louder so that the songs stick out on the radio when played. Trouble is – everyone is doing it. Think I’m making this up? Check out this example analysis of the most recent Depeche Mode album. And I agree with the author – that album does sound overwhelming loud, losing any ability to convey suble sounds and to use volume to help support song structure or tempo.

Makes me want to go buy a record player and switch to vinyl.

Radiohead Tries Something New

Whether or not you’re a Radiohead fan or not, you have to give them credit for pusingh boundaries.

They’ve just released their new album “In Rainbows” and you can surf over to their website and download a digital copy whenever you want.  Yes they’ll be putting it on a CD and distributing it that way, but for now you can download it from their site.  The cost?  Well, their answer is “?”.  What’s the mean?  Well, it means you pay as much as you like.

That’s right, they’re asking you to specify the price when you try to check out of the store.  Want to pay $0.00 because you want to try it before you buy it?  Fair enough.  Feel like going back and paying once you’ve listened to it a few times?  Go for it.

Such a large name in the recording industry is trying something new – I think it bodes well.  I’m not really a very strong Radiohead fan, but I like this album on a quite a few levels.

I don’t beleive the MP3s you download have any DRM on them at all (yea!) but they are also only 160kbps.  Better than iTunes, but certainly not lossless.  “That’s what CD’s are for.” said little Johnny of the band.

Indeed they are Johnny, but they’re not the only way to get lossless versions of the songs.  I refer you again to Zunior.com.

An interesting step though into digital distribution by a large name in the industry.

Take His Tech – Please!

Ah, the spirit of simplification.  This website is set up to allow some person to give away the tech stuff he doesn’t want anymore.  Simple rules:  Leave a comment on any item you’re interested in.  Once there are 100 comments one of the commenters is randomly chosen to receive the hardware.

Simple.

Plus the guy probably makes money with all the ads he’s running on the site … but someone has to pay his bills.

I’ve signed up for that wireless network antenna – I’m looking for one and free is just about the right price.