More audio fun!

For those of you who might remember, I did a post about how to run your own sound. It seemed to help people out and I am always looking to update the community on new stuff that might help them.

Today I share with you two new tools to help you make your music making experience easier. The first one was shown to me by Naathan Phan (the magic asian man). It's a bluetooth media button that doesn't go to sleep on you after 30 seconds and has a decent range. The weird thing is, if you search for blutetooth remote, it won't pop up because it's a "media button". Regardless, it's small and easy to use.

Little, yellow, different... (except for the yellow part)

The other audio toy comes to us from Ryan Stock. He runs his music from on-stage when he can. To do this you usually need a direct box to get a balanced signal which can be a pain to deal with if you have the wrong cables or there is no DI box handy. Well that's a thing of the past now!

A company with a weird long name (rapcohorizon) has produced the LTIBlox. It's part of their line of Blox named audio stuff. This one in particular is intended for use with a laptop or other audio device that takes a headphone input. It also has a volume knob built right in so you can adjust on the fly. This lets you have your ipod/ipad/media star/etc right there on stage with you so if something goes wrong, you can adjust it tout suite. Just make sure you have an XLR cable handy because you never know what you are up against in a new venue.

That's a sexy knob right there...

So make a new year's resolution to pick up some new equipment to make your life easier.

Sound Philes

Riding on the coat tails of yesterday's post about grumpy know-it-alls, let's talk about people who think there is only one path and that will be good enough to get them through life FOREVER.

I got into a... let's call it a discussion... on one of the FB magic groups about what's best to run your sound with and how. Some of you might recall my guide on running your own music for your shows. Well it seems some people would rather not have music at all if they don't have a sound man. This baffled me and I had to jump into the fray to understand where they were coming from.

There is a camp of people who (claim) to always work with a soundman and will pay for them to travel with them and run their music and say that is the ONLY way to go. These people have clearly not tried to make a living in the last decade or so as that is not always an option. What you pay out for a sound person could be almost the entire fee for a gig in some circumstances.

Obviously it's great if you work a venue that has someone else run your music for you. (Someone who is competent that is. You'd be surprised how many people don't understand the concept of "play" and "pause".) Sometimes it's just not feasible to have someone travel with you be it for lack of space or money.

What I told these "experts", who turned their nose up at the mere thought of running their own music from their pocket, was that they should learn to do it BOTH ways. If your sound guy/girl dies, gets sick, or just gets tired of your bullshit and quits, you are then left high and dry. If you have a solo system you have learned as a back-up you will never be in that position. It's similar to those who prefer to work only with a headset mic and get lost when forced to use a hand held. When you don't learn at least a little bit about the options you have to help run a smooth show, you will suffer and so will your audience.

So heed my advice people! Learn to run your own music but have a cue sheet in your bags for that lovely rare time you can bring along a sound person or the venue happens to have one that doesn't seem like they are from a work release mental patient program.

Like Scar said, "Be prepared!"

Running with the devil... music.

A couple years ago I posted my treatise on running your own music for shows.

All of that info is still valid. (Except maybe the price of Go Button has gone up a bit but still cheaper and better than many other options on the market) I have decided to add one new toy in the mix.

Sometimes something might just go wrong and if you don't have a sound person who knows how your set-up works you might a bit boned. The way to get around this is to have your music player with you on stage but you might not always have a direct box to plug into and then you have wires running all akimbo.

If only someone made wireless audio cables.... oh wait.... They Do!

These items are made for guitars BUT work with any other audio devices... including ipods. You will need to nab some adapters because they use 1/4" plugs but most sound boards support that. I picked some up from Ebay for around 70$. They are Bluetooth which means you don't have to worry about weird interference. The best part is they have a low-latency which means there is no delay (that I have seen) between the time you press play and it goes. They also charge via usb so you don't have to keep buying batteries for them.

The only downside I have found thus far is they are a bit clunky in size. If you get an adapter I suggest one with a wire so your ipod is not some giant long contraption taking up space.

Now there are other bluetooth receivers for car audio auxiliary ports but they don't have a long range on them. These are made for distance while others are made for the confines of a car. These aren't the only devices made for this purpose, but they are a more affordable alternative than more high end models out there.

Feel free to do your own research but if you trust my judgement like Danny Weiser does, you might just like these.

Bizzaro.'s Guide to Running Your Own Music

I have been sitting on this for a while mainly because I was waiting for the newest version of an app I was helping Beta Test come out. That's right. I was helping to make something better and I was doing it FOR YOU! (and myself as well)

Let me tell you how nice and liberating it is to be able to run your own music without having to deal with inept techies who can't seem to understand the complexities of "pause" and "un-pause".

There are a myriad of options for running music from your pocket. They range into the thousands of dollars area to the low hundreds. A very popular one is the Show Cues App. However if you are broke (or cheap) then 90$ for an app seems like quite a bit. 

If you think that's not pricey enough, you can go the Media Star route. (The most modern version of the much coveted MP3 tech) This one is pretty swank as it can control your lighting and whatnot as well. 

However, if you are like me and just need some fades, pauses, and other random sundry features let me tell you what I have got goin' on in my pants.

Remote Broadcast

If you JUST need to start and stop music your first stop is the iJet remote control. (well that and an ipod type device.) Now before we go any further, let me set a few things about the iJet straight. You will see or hear some people bitchin' about how it doesn't work right. The fault is actually on both sides. 

The iJet buttons don't work if you just quickly press them. This is by design so it can't accidentally go off in your pocket. You have to hold the button down for about half a second. The problem is that I have found this information nowhere in the documentation. You just kind of have to "discover" that for yourself. So it's a mix of operator error and manufacturer omission. Once you are armed with this information, it makes the whole set-up work fine.

One of the cool things about the iJet for me is the fact you can tether up to 7 remotes to one device. If you are a weird anal retentive artist type like me and want to activate your music while holding a prop and not have to go to your pocket this is a great thing.

Speaking of remotes in your pocket, let me tell you about an old tried and true trick. If you glue some tiny fake costume jewels to the play button (and any other button you plan to use a lot) you can easily activate it from the outside of your pockets.

Go Go Gadget Go Button app!

If you need something a little more stout than just the default ipod playlists then I highly recommend an app called Go Button. It's much cheaper than the aforementioned options and has recently been updated with a much better functionality than it's first iteration. It's also the program I have been helping to beta test. Many of the features it was missing in version 1 have been suggested and implemented making it a much more complete show cue interface. One of my favorite features is the ability to customize your remote button's functions.

It also let's you loop, fade, and edit songs. Like any show cue program you can layer music tracks and other various helpful commands. For self-run music it's quite handy especially now.

(For those of you who just want to have your own sound person running your music you can use this for that too or use free programs like This One to run your music and sound effects.)

In Contusion...

You have many options to help run your music yourself. If you need it, drop the hammer on the expensive ones. If you are like me and have 40-50$ laying around to commit to such a project you can't go terribly wrong with iJet and Go Button. There will always be naysayers to every solution. It's up to you to decide for yourself by being a smart consumer. Listen to your heart...

and me.