DAW Standoff, and a couple of FREE TOYS!

Pursuing an electronic music interest?  You'll need a workstation that fits your needs.  This post will list some of the popular Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) available.  Later this week, I'll begin my investigation of each program, their pros and cons, and perhaps find famous musicians who currently rely on a particular DAW.

In no hierarchical order:

Logic 9: http://tinyurl.com/8phfxy

Ableton Live: http://www.ableton.com/

Protools: http://tinyurl.com/265ax6z

Acid Music Studio: http://tinyurl.com/d888bk

Reason 6: http://tinyurl.com/b5x3f

Throughout the next couple of weeks, I will seek out musicians, trying to get their first-hand knowledge about their product of choice.  

Meanwhile, I have noticed that there are some online applications that offer a fun introduction in music creation.

Here are a couple:

For an interactive google homepage:  Moog 78th Birthday Google

Tone Matrix: Play the boxes in any order or fashion.  

Soon, you'll find that anyone can create music:   Tone Matrix

Tony Popovic: Union Starter

Do you work in a non-union job?  Do you feel like you are given more to do than the amount of money your employer is paying you?  Are you afraid that if you complained, you may not have your job the next day?  I looked for a good friend’s knowledge on the matter.

Tony Popovic has worked as a union organizing for over seven years.  After graduating from California State University at Monterey Bay, he hit the ground running, joining Service Employees International Union.  First, he was a recruiter: he would visit potential union employees, then oferred them information on the benefits of starting a union.  Later, he overlooked cases that involved employee reprimands, where Tony studied the severity of each punishment, and determine whether the unionized employee’s reprimand is legally justified. 

  

When asked if he has learned to look at employers’ perspectives, “Many times I can see why workers get the discipline they receive. And I acknowledge the right of an employer to institute discipline as a corrective action. In this sense the legal/justice system law analogy is apt. In a democracy every one gets a fair trial and that is called due process. Union workers get due process right even if their case is bad. Think of it this way, in the America. Justice system everyone gets the chance to prove their innocence or mitigate their sentence. Why shouldn't your workplace be the same?”

Tony is often sought for advice from non-union employees.  He believes it is usually because employers usually get away with exploitation because workers usually don’t think that they have the power to organize themselves.  “Without a collective bargaining agreement your employer can do almost anything they want, even break the law. After all who is going to enforce it?”

Here is an excerpt on some advice to those who would want to organize a union:

For the Full Interview:
http://snd.sc/XhJEk1

Table Created using Google Fusion Tables

Here is the link to the table: http://tinyurl.com/9qrgwcr 

Please click on the link, where you will find a data table.  Click on "Visualize" and click on "Map."

The map was created using Google Fusion Tables, which can be found while exploring "More" options on google.com.

My assignment was to create a diagram using hohli.com.

I thought about creating a Red/Blue State map for the upcoming election.  

After creating a simple pie chart on hohli (i.e. red, blue, swing states), there wasn't much else to do on hohli.  I searched on google to try to find a way to create an interactive map.

I came across this: http://tinyurl.com/8jocqdj

In it, the instructor Kathryn Hurley walks us through creating a world-wide map that highlights world-wide coffee production rates.  After following her tutorial, I could not figure out how create a state-by-state affiliation by color.  I know there's a way, because there are plenty of maps out there.  I'll save that battle for another day, for the steps required veered me off to an entirely different path from Ms. Hurley's tutorial.

Instead, I gathered information online, and found a CSV file offering information on earthquakes the past 7 days.  I took the following steps.

Install Google Drive and have a google account.

1.

           Looked up CSV File for  Worldwide M+1 Earthquakes the past 7 days.
Found data.gov/safety: https://www.data.gov/communities/node/7861/data_tools/58511

2.     Downloaded CSV File.  Because it was a text, I converted it into a CSV file via Excel, by first importing the .txt file then saving it as a .csv file.

3.     Open docs.google.com.  Save your CSV file by clicking “Create” …”More”… “Fusion Table.” Chose your file and upload it into your Google Drive.

Once saved, you are able to click on the table.  There is the option: "Visualize" where your CSV data will integrate itself into a map.  From there, you can customize it, and even merge other data into the very same map, increasing information into whatever information you are trying to come across.

Choosing a Goal

     This class will offer tools for Broadcast Journalism students, as it will introduce some of the latest software used to disseminate information to the public.  I had trouble trying to figure out my goal because I want to make sure that I set off in a direction that will expand my creativity in a practical way while fulfilling the requirements of this class.
     I love the idea of blogging!  Unfortunately, I haven't been exposed to many blogs beyond a handful that cover the Lakers season.  Yes, this has been a guilty pleasure for the past few years.  I do read the news, though!  I frequent LA WEEKLY, and, when it was free, I read Los Angeles Times daily.  Truthfully, I need to be more informed about world affairs, and hopefully with this course I hope I can learn to channel topics relevant to me.  This blog could be used as a journal, I suppose.  The mere act of posting my writings to the public is not something I'm entirely comfortable with just yet, but it's encouraging to know an entire class is taking the same leap along with me.
      I am thinking about covering the electronic music production community.  Although my major is film and television, I'm a novice at producing music.  One of my goals is to create sounds that complement my editing of movie sequences.  The first step would be to explore some of the blogs out there, covering topics such as software, genres, events and lifestyle.  As a matter of fact, there is an event tomorrow night in East Los Angeles.  Two musicians will have their laptops synched, and they'll play dance music while using Ableton Live.  I have a recorder, and plan on writing and taking photos.
     Hopefully, by the end of this week a choice of software will be posted.  Tonight's class will help me out some.  I'd like to know what other students think about doing.  By the way, if there are others who are looking for feedback, I give great feedback.  Exchanging ideas is mutually beneficial.