The Addicts, Addict, listens to "Press #3"

Once again I have missed a live broadcast of The Sonic Society. But thanks to modern technology I was able to grab Tuesdays show. And it was good. It started out with one of those tales that end at the beginning. It was called "Press #3" from Crazy Dog Audio Theatre. Granted, I think these people may be a little touched. This one got weird, funny, eclectic, and political. But not quite in that order. But as the lady says. "not again".

Third Coast Live brought in some sketches. Like in the old days when you could sneak up stairs with the radio under the pillow. I did that all the time, but audio theatre was a very dead thing back then. But for me, just something to listen to, for a natural nocturnal person.

These sketches included "Dick, Private Eye" one memorable line, of course I like the gumshoe stuff, was, "Do you like my arms like this?", "Do you like my lips like this?", "Do you.........you shot me!", to which he states, "I wasn't going to wait for how the knife felt in my back". There were some other sketches mixed in there. But that was the best.

Another story was quite intriguing, about a man, Will, who lived in a place he felt out of touch in. He wanted to get a job but didn't really see the point as everyone had one, but the days were never changing. A police officer would put tickets on cars everyday that would never be driven. But didn't ask who kept taking the tickets. And another man who worked on the same piece of wood for a house never to be built. Will was however offered a job, child care, so to speak. Babysitting for a little girl who has never grown. From what I could hear, this was the only real job in this whole place.

I would give it away to give more, but I enjoyed this outing of The Sonic Society, and as always, I did have the best seat in the house.

I have seen a television ad for The Sonic Society, but alas it is in my head. There is a man tinkering with something, the narration begins.........

Inward voice, "I'll never get this thing done" what is the thing? "I'll never get this motor done" Pops on screen now, a motor for the man to work on. Partially in view may be a garage, until, his wife walks in the door. "Have you got it finished yet?", "Hey I am in the kitchen". Garage scene evaporates, now a full kitchen. Audio depicts a woman soft footsteps onto the way into the kitchen, where in she stubs her tow in the living room, and steps on a cat. We built in our imagination the scene.

Audio drama is like a book, scenes are suggested in noises and such. But they build in the imagination. I could see a television ad for The Sonic Society like that. Blank white backdrops being filled in as the thirty second story unfolds. Just like imagination.

These Tuesday nights are fun when I get them off, and can enjoy it live with the addict. Next week would be worth me putting in a request for Tuesdays off, screw the boat for which I do not want to rock, but "Yankee Clipper"? These people are awesome. If you caught "A Christmas Carol", you'll love "Yankee Clipper". I have been excited about this.

Until next time, this is the Addicts, Addict

Addicted to more than just audio

Though I think my internal clock is still off. It's after 11, everyone has gone to bed, and it still feels early. Like, two hours earlier. So here I sit trying to figure out this silly Mac machine my sister has.... and I came across this little holiday audio gem:


MP3 of "It's a Wonderful Life"
A 1947 Lux Radio Broadcast of It's a Wonderful Life with original cast (Jimmy Stewart et. al). MP3 Link, hour-long, 10meg file.

Reader comment: Greg Tulonen says,

Thanks for the It's a Wonderful Life link. Lux Radio Theatre was a curious and wonderful show wherein the stars of major motion pictures recreated their roles for a live radio version (with no retakes!) It ran for over twenty years, from 1934-1955. I can't imagine the movie stars of today agreeing to a similar arrangement with television.

The great otrcat.com offers mp3 CDs of every Lux Radio Theatre episode ever broadcast, as well as hundreds of other radio shows: Link

OK, that's it for now.. I'm off to listen to some of the many podcasts that I can now actually listen to since my iPod has come back from the dead. :-)

~Dani

Standing in for a "Vacationing" Addict

I always get a little excited when these radio programs start. The hair stands up a bit. And the colonial theatre of course out do themselves. The audio quality is astounding. And to do, A Christmas Carol in such a way. Well I have to tell you, hair on end. Surely I have seen the story, but still my imagination doesn't reference much of that.

"The chance in hope" Jacob says. Scrooge is the defiant one isn't he?

A Christmas Carol has lessons we could all learn. And not just at the holiday season. Like the first spirit who brings Ebenezer to his past. Long lost childhood memories that we so soon forget.

"May you be happy in the life you have chosen". Those are the words of whom Ebenezer could have called, wife. I could easily get political about this. But he chose a path early on in his years of greed. You wonder where Mr. Scrooge went wrong. The man he worked for loved Christmas, reveled in the holiday.

Oh I hear a station break. Fizz Gizit, well I do not know how to spell the name, so there you go. And I have recently had a short chat with Jack ( Orson Wells reincarnate ) about upcoming Colonial Radio Theatres "Yankee Clipper", and more airings of it. Big smile there. Also, Biff Stryker is coming up in the future. That's exciting stuff, heady material for Biff, but then again he's a clod of a space cadet, and that is the fun. Fizz is from "Robots of the Company" a personal favorite of the addict. The station break featured o'le Fizz chatting up "The Sonic Society". It is so coming together from what it once was.

When I was young I remember searching through the AM band late at night and happening across a radio play. Great entertainment. One recollection was traveling late at night and happening across a cassette with radio plays on it. Guess I have been an addict too.

Back to the program.......

The second guest, a jolly giant. The ghost of Christmas present. "God bless us, everyone". Tiny Tim had said that he wanted those in church to see him. To remember who helped those to walk, and those to see. It is Christmas at the Cratchets, "God bless Mr. Scrooge", I run a few emotions in that. I guess I could raise a glass to an employer. They do pay me, so I can make a Christmas feast. The Jolly giant has more for Scrooge to see, as time is fleeting for this spirit. As once fat he his now frail, and protruding from his robe a sight, and at his legs, as he shows Scrooge a metaphor or two, two children they are. Scrooge asks, "have they no resources, have they no recourse?" "Are there no prisons, are there no work houses!" the spirit exclaims. Charles Dickens himself is saying something to his people of the day. Or to those of the present.

Death comes calling. Or ghost of the future. This spirit shows Scrooge as you know, the Christmas future, of a pawn broker buying trinkets "he feared us in life, but profited us in his death". Of a household without a child. And the about face that all this brought about onto Scrooge. It is a great story. One that could be told in any time of year really. And hats off to The Colonial Radio Theatre, true to it, right down to the accents.

And now the the seasons final performance of "Robots of the Company". A holiday episode no less with a Santacon. These robots usually include the audience into the story. By usually asking at times if we are getting it. Or not. Very funny stuff. Of course some characters were done by our friends at "The Sonic Society".

And next time from "Crazy Dog Theatre" "Press Number Three". Crazy Dog presented "Gerry, in the dark passage". So "Press Number Three" should be good as well. And as Jack says "Join us, won't you?"

This has been -=topper=-

Have a great santacon day

RIP iPod

See that list down there in the last entry? The one I spent WAY too much time on?

Welll- PFFFFT. Perhaps the universe is trying to tell me to keep my ears open during my vacation, cause my silly iPod DIED. Made it three quarters of the way through the flight, and then NADA.

So, though this is not a big deal while here, I do dread the flight home... dammit.

I did get one small moment of joy however. I had downloaded the season finale of Robotz of the Company from Dream Realm's website- and listened to it before my mp3 world came crashing down around me. OMG- it was so funny!!! This time I could recognize both Jack and Andrew's voices.... teeheee....

So, I hope everyone will be listening tonight! I'll be thinking of you...

-Dani

PS- GEEZ it's flipping COLD here. People actually function in this weather????

Addict Playlist In Case Of Withdrawl Symptoms

Forget packing clothes- do I have enough loaded on the iPod??? Well I've just spent an hour downloading and transferring all the things I could possibly listen to. I was so impressed with my list I captured it:

It's only 2/3 of my list- my iTunes screen stopped at 32! Then there are all the old Shadowlands shows that I have that aren't in this particular playlist... but I bet this will be MORE than sufficient for when I get the shakes and the sweats from not hearing Sonic Society for THREE EPISODES! I was so bummed- I thought it was only two, but then I realized we fly home on a Tuesday... damn.

So, I hope you all enjoy the shows, especially the Christmas Show that is coming up this Tuesday- I hear it's an excellent rendition of A Christmas Carol.

I will catch up with all you addicts in a few weeks!
Happy Chrismahanukwanzaakahidays!!!

~Dani

A Super Present from a SuperPal

A fellow addict gave me the heads up on this link- I've got it downloaded and all ready on the playlist for my pending travels! The website this came from is pretty cool too- check it out!
Thanks Brad!
~Dani

From our friends at Great Northern Audio Theatre!:

Dear Friends and Listeners:

The rogue comet, Skippy, is headed right for Big City. Who are you going to call? Ok, you called them and they weren't home--who else are you going to call? That's right SuperPal. "SuperPal: The Saving of the World" is the story of the plucking of Big City from total disaster told through press conferences and in-depth interviews with the people who say they knew SuperPal best: His agent, his girlfriend, and some other people.

SuperPal was recorded in July, 2005 live at CONVergence 2005 Science Fiction Convention in Bloomington, MN. We didn't even know we were making fun of FEMA in this 28-minute audio satire, but sometimes you get lucky and get ahead of the curve.

At the last Great Northern Audio Theatre Board of Directors meeting Brian said, "We couldn't even give away this show, if we tried."

"Sure we could," said Jerry. "We'll just let them download it."

"For free?"

"What the hay," reflected Jerry.

"You're killing me here, Jerry, you're killing me," said Brian.

So, for a limited time only (from now until Christmas) Click here and download our SuperPal MP3 files and enjoy. Be sure to download the credits PDF, so you'll know who did what.

Prove Brian wrong.
Prove Jerry right (he usually is).
And download SuperPal: The Saving of the World" today.

A very Merry Christmas.
For Free.

Thanks,
Great Northern Audio Theatre

LINK

iPods for Anarchists

(Now here is a true Addict! ~Dani)

02:00 AM Sep. 27, 2005 PT

"Must-have" devices seem to instantly lose their charm for me when they're adopted en masse -- even when it comes to the iPod.

So, being a huge music nosher but not wanting to become a black silhouette plugged into the matrix via white wires in my ears, I decided to build my own.

How hard could it be? DIY modders around the world are designing and sharing rogue alternatives to brand name electronics. For those with curiosity, diligence and a rebel's spirit, it's quite possible to get your hands on a unique MP3 player and avoid selling your soul to tech conformity.

After searching around a bit, I came across an MP3 player kit named EchoMp3, designed by Belgian electrician Michel Bavin. I could buy it online for around $100 (not including a memory card), have it shipped to me and assemble it myself by following the instructions posted on his website. Not only was it sans logo, but it just looked cool. Nothing gives the finger to mass production like duct tape.

I had built a guitar amp a couple summers ago and figured I could handle a slightly smaller project. I just had no idea how small. When I giddily opened the letter-bomb-looking box and dumped out all the components, I had a gut check moment: The box of chips and bags of resistors contained, as far as I could tell, small, square ants.

Bavin's TechDesign website led me to a few instructional pages on soldering tiny components, but my clumsy first attempts at attaching the MP3 decoder chip onto the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) left an entire side of pins covered in solder.

It was time to call for help. Luckily I knew Raphael Abrams, an electrician recently moved from New York, who I had found through the Tech Design website. Abrams' portable MP3 player design actually inspired Bavin's EchoMP3. A few of Abrams' other designs had been used as animal callers for hunters and as a bus stop announcer for a public transit system in France. Without his expertise I would have been lost.

Using tweezers, a magnifying glass, a de-soldering wick and a lot of problem solving Abrams was able to guide me through some assembly techniques and send me on my way after a couple of hours' work. After an additional four hours of soldering on my own, I popped in the battery to the board, plugged in some headphones, turned it on and ... nothing.

I sulked back over to Abrams' apartment where he was also baffled, at least initially. After a few hours of trial and error, poking and prodding and going over all the solder joints again, we were able to get a consistent boot and triumphant playback of some Adam Ant MP3s we had thrown on my $50, 512-MB MMC (MultiMedia Card) to test it. "Goody Two Shoes" never sounded so good.

I then drilled, scraped and dremeled some holes in the project box that it came with (not a perfect fit by any means), and attached it all together with some store-bought screws. I personalized it by engraving "kPod" (KeithPod) on the back.

The player sounds great, looks cool and, thanks to my clumsiness with power tools, it's quite unique looking. The memory card can hold about 120 songs (comparable to an iPod Shuffle) but can only play linearly and has no file system.

This is truly only a labor of love and makes no sense for any other reason than to have made it yourself. You can buy other brand name players with included memory cards for cheaper, and you can even buy this particular kit already assembled for fifteen more dollars. On the other hand, you can't put a price on taking back a little piece of knowledge from the largely unknowable world of technology. I spent far more than 15 dollars in time and trips to the hardware store, but I wouldn't trade it for all the iPods in the world. Well, maybe a Nano.

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68959,00.html
(great pictures at link)

Audiophiles Unite

A Music File by Any Other Name

By Michael Calore

Editor's note: This article previously appeared in Wired News' sister publication, Webmonkey.

Finding music on the internet is getting easier by the week as legit and less-than-legit file-trading services show up by the dozens. Given all of the options, the number and variety of file formats can be ultimately confusing for the uninitiated.

Today we'll study the most popular audio formats and the players that support them. We'll look strictly at audio-file formats that utilize lossy compression, because the small file size and ultimate portability of compressed audio files has afforded them huge popularity, not to mention near ubiquity, on the web. We'll also be looking exclusively at downloadable, and not streaming, file types.

Let's start with the basics of audio compression. I'll do my best to give you a simple explanation. If you already know this stuff, or if you just want to know the difference between MP3 and all the other audio formats, feel free to jump ahead to the next page.

The term "lossy compression" is used often when referring to digital audio file formats. Basically, it means that some audio data is thrown out during the process of creating the compressed file. Most compression formats on the internet -- MP3, OGG, AAC and the like -- utilize lossy compression.

Most audio encoders will start the compression process by excising frequencies and sounds outside the range of human hearing. You technically can't hear those sounds, so your ears won't miss them. Next, the data used to shape the audio you actually can hear is reduced. Bits and pieces are taken out of the audio, but the omissions are made intelligently by algorithms that know which small pieces to take out without causing too much damage to the sound quality. The result is a file that still sounds very much like the original uncompressed parent, but is only a fraction of the size. An MP3 encoded at near-CD quality is roughly one-tenth the size of the original audio file.

The amount of compression (and data loss) applied to a file can be determined by its bitrate. In audio compression, the bitrate is a measurement of the amount of data that is sampled per second. Files with higher bitrates are larger in size and generally sound better than files with a lower bitrate. Most music stores selling audio files on the internet sell files with bitrates of 128 Kbps or 160 Kbps. This range is generally regarded as being comparable to CD-quality audio. Some audiophiles or digital music enthusiasts will encode files at bitrates of 256 Kbps or higher. These bitrates result in slightly larger file sizes, but the audio quality is greatly improved, and, in many cases, indistinguishable from the original CD source.

There are several lossless compression formats as well, such as SHN, FLAC, APE and Apple Lossless format. We'll cover those in a future article.

(the rest of the article may be redundant to you addicts, but if you'd like to read more, click the link. ~Dani)

LINK

Isolated Heroes in Space

As I am about to travel across the country to spend Christmas with my family in Massachusetts and New York, Tuesday's Sonic Society has us traveling through space again with the next chapter of The Arbiter Chronicles, by Prometheus Radio Theatre.




I was browsing through their website- hey did you all know they have had George Takei- flipping Mr. Sulu- as a guest voice? Now color me impressed! :-)

We're going to hear a little bit from Crazy Dog Theatre about writing radio drama, and there is still more Robotz of the Company! For some reason I thought it was finished... considering I helped put the schedule together that is a little embarrassing. The addict is not paying attention! :-S



So, this is it for me for this year I'm afraid. I've batted my eyes at Dave just enough to get him to update the blog for the next couple of shows... because I can't just let it all DIE for the two weeks I'm gone! Though knowing me, you will probably catch me lurking here and there.. I am an addict after all, and staying away is next to impossible. :-P

Keep your ears in tune to the sounds around you,
~Dani

The Word Of The Year Is..

December 7, 2005 2:04 PM PST

Podcasting, the word of the year

Just a year ago, the term "podcast" was considered for inclusion in the New Oxford American Dictionary of English, but rejected because not enough people were using it, according to a BBC story. Now, however, illustrating the technology's rapid growth in popularity, the term is not only being added, it's been declared the dictionary's Word of the Year, the story says.

The New Oxford American is following the lead of the Oxford Dictionary of English, which added the podcast and other tech terms last summer. We're still waiting for Merriam-Webster to catch up.

No one is out there arguing that there shouldn't be an official word for "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player," as podcast is defined in both dictionaries.

But some bloggers take issue with the "pod" in podcast, derived from Apple's iPod music player. They, like some in Redmond, Wash., argue that the term is a misnomer--podcasts can be listened to on any digital music player.

Blog community response:

"Great that it has entered the dictionary, but I do not necessarily agree with the definition. What about RSS? To me, that is what sets podcasting apart from other downloadable audio files online. Also, I don't like the radio reference...I think it is pigeonholing the genre."
--The Sum of My Parts

"The Philoneist says: Radio on demand applications are rightfully hailed as easily produced, distributed, and promoted, giving rise to the Internet as a grassroots medium with limitless avenues for content. Thankfully, Apple has paved the way for this environment with the iPod. The Misoneist says: But do they deserve all the credit (and free advertising) associated with this word? To the victor goes the spoils."
--Philoneist

"Interestingly, the BBC also says the term was first coined by journalist Ben Hammersley. And ever since, podcasters have been explaining, "No, even though the name is PODcast, you don't need an iPod!" Now we know who to blame.:-)"
--Trafcom News

Posted by Michelle Meyers

LINK

The second... Blogging! :-)
~Dani

There are dragons in Texas?

A new member of Sonic Society debuts tomorrow evening- the Texas Radio Theatre Company!

They are airing a recording of a live performance, so that will be neat to hear. After there is an interview with Rich Frohlich, founder of Texas Radio Theatre, then the continuation of the Bot War in this week's Robotz of the Company.

Get the show notes HERE. And listen in tomorrow! If you can't listen live, you can always grab the podcast as well. I'll put up a more direct link when the show is uploaded. :-)

Ahh! Two more weeks left before the addict is on vacation! Maybe I can coerce Dave into keeping the blog up-to-date while I'm away.... gotta go work on my cyber-puppy dog eyes...

~Dani

Special Shadowlands Podcasts

Why I am up at 1:45 am, I have no clue. Having sick kids home for three days has my system all out of whack I imagine.

BUT as I was wandering around in internetland, I noticed that there are special Sonic Society podcasts uploaded, featuring two Shadowlands plays.


Check them out yourself HERE and HERE.

I'm happy I get to add Phillipa Graves to my collection! I just remembered the last time I heard it (well bits of it) was when I was in Halifax two summers ago and they had a fill-in show. I even squeaked a few words out on the airwaves myself. ;-)

And on that nostalgic note- I had better get to sleep! The kids may be under the weather, but it doesn't stop them from getting up EARLY.....
~Dani

The interviewer gets interviewed

Well what do you know- Jack on the receiving end of a well-montaged interview with Rabble Radio!

From the show notes:

(1:43 - 5:47) Homebrew - When it’s snowing outside, what’s better than a radio drama? Curl up with a hot toddy as Homebrew introduces the Sonic Society. The Sonic Society is open to new members. If you’re a radio drama enthusiast or a producer, check out www.sonicsociety.org. Hear the Sonic Society every Tuesday evening from 9-10:30pm on CKDU 97.5 FM in Halifax or download the shows from their digital archives at www.ckdu.ca.

Download the interview HERE! It's awesome, they make Jack sound cool! *ducks and covers*

Giggle-giggle,
~Dani