Gear updated (and some whining)

Jude had a few spare moments so he jotted down the highlights of his rig. It’s up on the Weapons page, and I’ll add some photos a little later.

It’s funny, but Jude and I have actually never used the same recording software. Jude’s used GarageBand 2 and 3 on various projects, and while I had access to that, I was more a SoundForge/Vegas guy, until I switched to Pro Tools LE. Now, I have a degree in this stuff — Bachelor of Science, TV/Radio, with an Audio Concentration — but I got that at the very end of analog’s glorious reign. My senior year, the music school (not the communications school) got its first digital audio workstation, and I never had the opportunity to use it. I was busy slicing up 1/4″ tape and learning how to make rock and roll on 1″ Ampex eight-tracks. All the sound theory and stuff about microphone placement still turned out to be very useful, but I taught myself how to use digital effects and whatnot. Even after several years of SoundForge, PT was a disaster for me — highly irritating interface, specialized hardware requirements, and ultimately, my setup wasn’t built specifically for it, so Pro Tools crapped all over it. I finally threw up my hands in disgust and fired up GarageBand, where Jude has been sitting and waiting for me all this time anyway.

None of that really matters, but it might make the next song a little easier to produce. We are hoping for a March release, and as usual, we want to keep it a surprise until a little closer to the time. We have some other plans in the works, too, and I’ll reveal them more when they become real.

Congrats to SamueltehG33k

At last, the contest has concluded, and TalkRadar has announced the winner. It’s a little past the two-hour mark (you read that right) but SamueltehG33k took the top prize by a narrow margin.

Now, I know he didn’t do the whole song, but he did do it in person, and the repeated takeaway shot was so silly it got me laughing. Jude actually liked my other favorite, 1CrazedPenguin1’s LittleBigPlanet entry, slightly more:

So I turned it over to Chris at Radar for the tiebreaker. He said he thought the guy who actually went out to Wal-Mart with a camcorder should get points for bravery. So there you go. Samuel gets the media player and Penguin gets the Sorry! board game. Chris has both prizes and will probably be sending them your way soon.

I know it was a tall order — video is not as easy to create as, say, a poem or even a Photoshop joke — so I appreciate that people even gave it a shot.

(As for the song ideas that the TDar guys pitch…I recommend they use their fine recording equipment and do ’em their damned selves.)

New contest TBA shortly. This one will be a little easier.

Winner to be announced tomorrow

Tune in to TalkRadar — a victor has been chosen, and he or she will receive the spoils. I’ll post more here after TDar makes the big announcement on episode 33. Or 34. I guess it’s all about how you count the holiday special. But the next one, the one that comes out on January 9th? Listen to that.

Meanwhile, over on Dan’s regular podcast, KOXM, he sings this week. It’s not a Palette-Swap Ninja song. It’s a song you’ve never heard him sing. That’s show 148.