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.

Hearing Infection...

Yes I am still around. I have just been busy doing that whole performing thing.

I was watching a magic video on a random webpage and decided to delve into the comments (never has their been a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than internet video comments). One sentance caught my eye. It also struck a chord with me because this was said by a non-magician.

"How is it that magicians/illusionists always have the worst taste in music... ?"

Well? What's your excuses magicians? I have a few theories.

The major one is that magic is a decade behind most art forms because that is where our influences tend to come from. Most humans tend to stick with what they know and aren't terribly open to new things like modern music, technology, etc. throw the stubbornness of magic into the mix and well... you know.

Odd are the real reason is that most of you just have really shitty taste in music.

Audio Addendum

A while back I posted my guide to running your own audio (seen Here). With the new types of interfaces the idevices adopted (the "lightning" charger) you might be wondering if my advice still applies. It does but be aware of this - Much like in magic, do no buy cheap knockoffs.

They make a lightning to 30 pin adapter but due to cheap unauthorized versions coming out of (just guess where. I bet you can get it in one) you need to be aware that a genuine apple made adapter, at this point, is the only one the ijet will work with.

Always ask for the real deal.

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.