Welcome

Here at the Guerrilla Guide to Music Technology I want to make a safe haven for those of us who want to know about the fascinating devices and techniques that make up this diverse area, without making people feel small or stupid for not knowing something. I used to not know stuff until somebody taught me, now I aim to make everything clear without patronising anyone. Nobody knows everything, including me so if you find something wrong or something that you think that everyone could benefit from knowing then please do tell me in the comments.

Monday 25 March 2013

Why I encourage LINUX for audio

Anyone coming here might well question why all the tutorials (list on the right) revolve around LINUX use for audio. Well as this is the guerilla guide to music tech it is important (in my opinion) to not be tied up by software agreements and licenses. As a musician I want to be able to use whatever is available to me in whatever way I see fit. I want to be able to make changes and improvements to the software by myself easily, if I have the skill and the desire. Aside from all that idealistic crap there is another solid reason for getting to grips with LINUX that is rather compelling. The fact of the matter is that as everything becomes "smart" it is creeping onto almost every electronic device in that category. Android devices use LINUX, and open source developers are taking advantage of this so now you can for instance, control Ardour (an open source DAW) with an android tablet using an app. Well that's enough from me, this video will hopfully enlighten you a bit. I also hope it is encouraging enough for you to take the plunge.

Sunday 24 March 2013

Here is something that might become useful someday. Computer Music Magazine has started a new A to Z of computer music, I suppose they aim to build a definitive index of jargon. So far they have done the letter A, But there is no harm in giving it a bookmark because there is a lot of good useful stuff in here. As this project carries on I am sure that it will become an invaluable resource to anyone who wants to sound like they know what they're talking about. In all seriousness I think this might be worth keeping an eye on.

Saturday 23 March 2013

JACK for iOS

I talk about JACK increasingly it seems in the LINUX recording tutorials (available from the list on the right), and now users of Apple's iOS get to use it on a mobile device. Users of the iPhone or iPad can download JACK Audio Connection Kit which, is a free app from the Apple App Store released by Christian Schoenebeck. There are currently only two apps that are compatible with JACK on iOS at this time, but I expect that this list will grow relatively quickly. Audiobus is a more established app that performs the same role on iOS that jack promises, and has a larger number of apps that work with it. JACK will have to work hard to achieve similar compatibility on iOS. With JACK already solidly in use in MY studio at least, I hope this app evolves to be usable over networks similar to how it is already on more traditional desktop environments. I can see definite advantages to using an iPhone as a microphone and speaker/headphone source for a talkback or monitoring channel in a studio using JACK.

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Shure Microphone Testing Lab

I had not been to Shure's site in a long while but I went there recently and they have the niftiest tool on their site that allows you to test their microphones. What happens is that you choose a microphone you are interested in and you are able to play a recording that has been made with it so that you can hear the quality of mic that you will get if you buy a microphone from them. click here to check it out. I used it to compare my PG48 with the SM58. The PG48 stood up quite well to the scrutiny, lacking a little in the higher frequencies but as a bass player and male singer I can live with that.