Studio Production Pics

Some random pics from a recent video production shoot:

Lighting
"Looks good in the monitor"

Extra lights

Portable Apps + Mini CD-R

So you need to check your email, but the computer at the office/library is locked down, so you can't install your thumb drive loaded with Portable Thunderbird and Portable Firefox. What to do? If all else fails. It is possible to burn a "Portable Power" cdrom, with all your portable apps set up and ready to go. But who wants to toss around a full size CD-R, why not go all out and make a "Portable Power" pocket disk. Pocket disks are about half the size of a regular CD-R, and have a storage capacity of about 210 MB. This makes them the perfect size for installing plenty of portable apps, giving you back the power to take your life on the road [Lifehacker: Carry your life on a thumb drive]

Phillips Scope Repair (Done)

Like the title says, I've been able to successfully repair my PM3217, with a lot of help from a friend. Turns out there was a broken strand of wire that was part of an induction coil in the vertical amplifier, after a quick re-solder the C.R.T is fully functioning. The next step was to recalibrate the beast. I managed to find a service manual, which included the much needed instructions and schematics for the process. Several nights of tedious measuring and adjusting and everything is back in order. The finished product is pictured bellow, not a bad deal for $60 odd bucks on ebay after all.

Is Auto Tune evil?

Ran across this interesting article in The New Yorker today, which addresses the possible over use of Auto Tune in music.

Of course the article also made it onto the Tape Op message boards

Happy Reading

Phillips Scope Repair

I finally decided it was time to buy an oscilloscope. I ran across a Phillips PM3217 on ebay for what seemed to be a good price, the seller couldn't test the thing because "he didn't have any probes", so it was offered as is. The two traces were confirmed to at least display and move about, "what could possibly be wrong with the thing", I thought. So I get it in the mail and the first bad sign is a notable rustle of what sounds like something broken. I open the shipping box and the front cover, which is supposed to protect the front panel controls, has been shattered into many plastic pieces. Also, the distinct smell of burnt electrolyte fills the air.

Long story shortened, There was a blown capacitor on the power supply and the trace could only be displayed in the bottom third of the CRT screen. *sigh* Lessons hard learned: Taking risks on eBay is rarely worth it.

Linux Cluster = Awesome Power

I ran across this little article while perusing the Hack A Day feed, in which Janne of Svensk Film Effekt built a networked Linux cluster of ub3r proportions. Using a modified Ikea Helmer cabinet and six maxed out motherboards, running at a combined 57.6 (six quad core Intel cpus) GHz and utilizing a combined 48 gigabytes (six motherboards holding 8 gigs each). Needless to say, animation renders previously taking hours would take only several minutes using this beast.

Remix your favorite tunes

Ever wanted to remix Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody? Or maybe you have some killer guitar you want to add to some of Nine Inch Nails' songs? With a little creative googleing that is very possible. Collections of raw takes from The Beatles to Marvin Gaye are available for your remixing pleasure. There is even a website dedicated to Nine Inch Nail remixes [NINRemixes.com]. I've included some screenshots of my Killer Queen remixing below. If you've got some free time, and some multi track software, you can be a producer for Queen.