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November 17, 2011 - YouTube Update!
I spoke to a YouTube rep again today to get the status report.
The progress is two-fold. First off - all of the companies that have been claiming my works as theirs were informed that they must actually review the claims if the claim is contested.
That means - you may still receive a notice from YouTube, and you will need to respond with the piece being "misidentified". They will actually review them now (as opposed to just denying the contest) and release the videos ASAP.
The second part is a little more technical. The content matches are done by computer, and some things have been matching when they should now. YouTube is going to tighten the tolerances on the matches so that fewer pieces get misidentified in the first place.
That being said - if you contest a claim and it is rejected, you still need to email me, as it may be a new problem.
YouTube has been doing a great job of contacting the publishers and telling what is going on - and why they need to change their behavior on things like this. The technical changes might take a week or two to implement - so there may still be a straggling improper match out there.
And that's the news!
September 27, 2011 - Does anyone out there know anyone?
I'm having problems with YouTube.
As it turns out - there are some people out there who are taking music from my site, claiming it as their own, and registering it with rights organizations (of some sort).
The music-matching engines on YouTube are now flagging my content as theirs. Can I contact these people and tell them to stop? Not really - when the messages get sent to users, they do not include contact information.
Has this happened to you? Please send me as much information as you can on the entities that have claimed ownership of my music.
It may help me track down the jerks who are pulling this on the "owners' rights" side of things.
To stop this from happening to you; credit, credit, credit. Include the name of the piece you used (in the text description - so it is easy for YouTube employees to find). Include my name, my site, the license used, and the ISRC number of the recording.
Hopefully, this strategy will work for you.
And if you know of someone in the YouTube rights department - please ask them how I can get this to stop. Can I register my music as a preemptive strike? What can I do here?
Update 1: UMPG Publishing is claiming at least one of my pieces... not sure which yet.
update 2: I have applied for the YouTube Content Identification Application.
August 26, 2011 - Full Blown Panic
Ok, Hurricane is coming to New York. I will not be responding to emails for a while as plans are enacted to save everything from flooding and starvation.
If you have a project open with me - it'll be a few more days at least. Watch the news for updates to the city. Once transportation and power are back online, so am I.
June 01, 2011 - Google +1!
I just added the Google "Plus 1" button to my site so you can recommend this site passively to your friends. Emailing can be such a pain.
Pushing a colourful button is fun! Try it at your leisure... I think you need a Google account to make it work.
It is that grey box with a +1 on the upper left hand corner of each page. It turns blue after you "+1" it.
...we need a verb for that action...
Facebook button coming soon.
April 02, 2011 - Attention Canberrites!
I recently recieved one of the few pieces of art I own from Ian Henderson.
The painting is of the back fence to our property (no comments about the state of the fence!) from the lane behind, and with my studio visible on the far side of the fence. Behind are the poplar trees (full of sulphur crested cockatoos this morning). This is country New South Wales, as we know it!
For everyone in the Greater Canberra Area, he is currently having an exhibition:
Please note that my current exhibition 'Mainly Monaro' continues Saturday and Sunday 11.00 am – 4.00 pm at 'Winterdown', 46 Bombala Street, Nimmitabel, NSW 2631 and throughout each weekend to 24 April (and including Mon 25, Tue 26, and finishing 4.00pm Wed 27 April.)
For everyone else - you'll have to just use a website: Ian Henderson.
March 18, 2011 - A new kind of entertainment.
Normally, I don't talk about other people's creative here - but if you want to be on the cutting edge of entertainment, you need to know about this.
I don't have a TV, and I don't own a radio. Entertainment is transcending those media if you know where to look.
Imagine C-SPAN meets Seinfeld meets The Truman Show. A kind of thing you can listen to very casually. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, always real.
There are some people who produce media where you get to know them very well. No punches pulled. You get all of their thoughts... including their self-doubt, their problems, their triumphs, their conspiracy theories. Everything that goes on - in detail - unedited.
There is one monologist that I really enjoy - and I think he does 'real' better than anyone; Frank Nora.
Right now - Frank is dealing with marketing issues, lunch problems in Midtown Manhattan, the commute (including the infamous "corridor of losers"), persistent con-trails, the problems with sirens, new game inventions... literally hundreds of things.
You don't need to engage in everything - or anything. It is the sort of thing that you put on and listen to... usually an hour a day or more. How many times can you listen to the same pop music? Why not reconnect with humanity while you live your life?
The Frank Nora Show. Available on iTunes for free every day.
February 27, 2011 -
Adam Bentley's (director of Luke's Kitchen) crowdfunding campaign for his next project, Call of the City (of which I will be writing the score) is down to its final week. His team has raised $3000 so far - the goal is in sight!
You can help out here: http://www.indiegogo.com/callofthecity.
February 23, 2011 - A great leap for interspecies technology.
I think it is well known that Bonobos don't like to tell time to the exact minute, instead opting to divide the hour into 12 parts. Some humans also share this affinity.
This iPhone / iPod app helps to bridge the gap between humanity and bonobonity. Each species can easily read and understand the clock in their own species-specific way, and still share the experience.
November 24, 2010 - Happy Thanksgiving
Some turkey action from Jimmy McMillan and Charlie Dane (turkey goodness starts at 3:08).
From a live fundraiser at the Delancey (New York).
"Dreamland" performed by Charlie Dane at the same event. You never know exactly what you're going to see going out on any given night in New York. I think these performances made it a successful evening. And you get to enjoy them, too!
Charlie Dane's Site
Rent it Too Damn High
Girls Educational and Mentoring Services
October 23, 2010 - What do I listen to?
A lot of people ask me what I listen to. It usually isn't music. I have about 30-some odd podcasts in my iTunes list. Some are the big, very commons ones like "This Week in Tech" and "Radiolab".
But I'd like to share some lesser-known ones.
Frank Nora Show: iTunes RSS Feed
This is a difficult one to explain. It is an almost daily monolog. Most days, Frank will commute from Jersey to Manhattan and talk about interesting things. It could be philosophy, aliens, that new pasta place, what's going on in Times Square today... Put it on in the background, and be prepared to go anywhere.
No Agenda: iTunes RSS Feed
Adam "Crackpot" Curry, and John C. "Buzzkill" Dvorak - both long time media hosts head up this twice-weekly session of economics, conspiracy theories, governmental rights, and popular media. Yes, I understand it sounds lame like that, but it is enormously entertaining. The memes have been building up for a long time now - so this one takes 2-3 episodes.
September 09, 2010 - Pat gives an update on Black Peter
A quick update on how this year's musical production is coming!
July 17, 2010 - Executive Producers
Who makes all of this possible? People like you!
Here are the Executive Producers for the new strings software!
Executive Producers - July 2010
June 04, 2010 - Mr. Jon Roberts
Brilliant!
May 29, 2010 - On Holiday
Well, I hoped to get all of my new music posted - but sadly, I didn't get to everything. I'll be off the net until about Wednesday - hopefully, I'll get some new things posted then. I did did 19 new pieces up this week - so, I don't feel too bad.
More to come! I've got some 8-bit, some waltzes, some medieval, more film music... and that isn't counting anything that I do over the weekend. Cheers, all!
March 17, 2010 - Wanted: Creative Writer
Thanks to everyone who submitted works for being the Creative Writer.
I've narrowed it down to the last three, and it has been a lot of work picking from people... as it is plainly obvious that most people are better writers than me.
December 20, 2009 - Black Peter!
If you heard my interview at current.com, here's the link to the awesome music Black Peter!.
Be a cool kid, and read up on the awesome true myth. Seriously. Cool. Stuff.
September 02, 2009 - Former Incompetech Intern runs for City Council
For Immediate Release:
Former Incompetech intern Waleed Ovase is running for Rockville City Council, Maryland, USA.
If you're among the 200-ish people from Rockville who visit my site, consider lending your support and voting for him this upcoming election!
Waleed's campaign for Rockville City Council.
If you can't vote for him, you can still donate to him from anywhere!
He's also available on the Facebooks and the Twitters.
If I can't have him working for me, might as well get him working for the people. :-)
August 18, 2009 - Browse By Collection!
I've been working on this for a long time, and the web site side is close enough to play with.
It is a new (for incompetech) way of seeing related pieces of music, similar to albums.
The downloads will soon all have album art to match the ones seen here.
I'd love to hear some feedback on this while it is still in the works! :-)
Cheers all, enjoy!
April 21, 2009 - Do you have a pile of my music?
I received a request from Mark in Ireland who would like a DVD of my music. Somehow there is a monthly limit there that is insanely low for bandwidth.
For tax reasons impossible for me to understand - I can not ship a physical product (without incurring a pile more paperwork).
But you can! Let me know if you have a collection of music from my site that you're willing to ship to Ireland.
--------
Update! Paul from Scotland has everything, and says he'll send it out!
In less than 5 hours - hooked it up. Awesome everyone! Especially awesome to Paul.
Cheers.
February 27, 2009 - Political Weasel
My friend Ivan found this one for me.
Nancy Pelosi used my track "scheming weasel" in a production of "Capitol Cat Cam", which is actually a leader to a rickroll.
I realize that piece is now a parody of itself, but seriously, Pelosi - how about a credit?
On the plus side, the video with my music in it is the most viewed video that Pelosi posted by a long shot. So, points to me for that one!
February 17, 2009 - Email Issues?
For some reason, I've not been getting all of my emails for the last month or so - the bad part is I just learned about it today.
If you've sent me email and have not gotten a response on something, feel free to call me at 920.680.1125.
If the email was from the last 2 days, I probably have it, and will reply sometime later today.
February 03, 2009 - Tears of Joyent!
Holy man. Incompetech has a new server - and it is good. Like, very very good.
I actually have a hard time believing it is so good.
The thing is lightning fast, has well enough bandwidth, and runs the awesome Solaris.
I'm almost crying it is so nice. Thank you Joyent!
For having the first web hosting service that just Worked, and doesn't seem to have any capacity issues, I'm going to recommend these guys 98%* for all of your highish-end web hosting needs.
* check back in a month for the other 2%.
December 30, 2008 - Hosting Upgraded! (again!)
Ok, for the last week or so, I've been on Verio - starting with their BSD plans... which have a process limit of about 30 (meaning: you may need to wait a long time for your downloads to start).
So, a few days ago - I upgraded to the Linux plans, which limit processes to about 70, and it did 'ok' over the holidays. Now I'm bumping the process limit - but more importantly, the TCP Send Buffer limit. (meaning: your download will start - BUT it may take a bit to start getting your mp3)
Today, I upgraded to a higher plan that will let more people download music at the same time - and hopefully all will be well for a time.
To those of you out there who are using robots to download everything on my site, I would like to say that I hate you, and I hate your poorly behaved robots. You do not need 26 copies of every mp3 you can find.
To everyone else: Download as you like! :-)
December 23, 2008 - New Host Issues
I got a new host for my traffic - which in theory provides enough bandwidth. However, the number of processes is limited, so I'm attempting to get an upgraded plan.
The traffic is being serviced right now, just at a reduced rate.
If you know of a good hosting service that can provide good bandwidth at a reasonable price, please let me know. Hint: 1and1, BlueHost, GoDaddy, and Verio are insufficient.
December 17, 2008 - MUSIC IS BACK
Okay, long story short - BlueHost does not have unlimited bandwidth, they merely will not tell you what the upper limit is, because the number is squishy.
I can tell you that 60Gb per day is above the limit, but that's all I know.
So, now I'm over at Verio! They have a 12Tb/month plan - so they can probably handle my files. Being quite the optimist, I am optimistic. :-)
Cheers everyone, and thanks for riding out the December Incompetech Crisis.
- Kevin
December 17, 2008 - MUSIC IS DOWN
Ok, everyone, time to be a little calm...
My new host "Bluehost" has suspended my 'unlimited transter' account for... using too much bandwidth. That's not a joke. It is possible to use too much bandwidth on an "unlimited transfer" account.
So, I'm moving to yet another provider. Vereo. Let us hope and pray 12 terabytes a month will be enough.
If I could fix it faster, I would. Believe me.
December 11, 2008 - Server Cut-over
In theory... everything in the music section should be working.
Let me know if you find something that is not working - but be cool about it, I probably won't reply if there are lots of issues.
Thanks.
- Kevin
December 10, 2008 - Don't Panic!
Somehow, I've managed to overuse the bandwidth on 1and1.com's top plan, and I need to find a new hosting provider to keep the music coming.
Currently, we're switching to BlueHost - which should have the capacity. So, if you have a downloading issue, just chill for a few hours and try back in a bit!
Thanks to everyone for their interest in my musics!
December 08, 2008 - No more Amazon Donations
Amazon has discontinued their Honor-System donation program. You can still donate through PayPal, or check... if you're okay with my leisurely pace of getting to a bank.
Oh! If you're in Canada - please don't send me a mail-order. There is something odd about them that I can't find a bank that accepts them. And by the time I remember - I've already discarded the letter that it was attached to.
Cheers, all! Much more music is coming soon - and some new goodness is in the works for the PDF section as well. And there's one more unannounced thing... or maybe 2. :-)
October 29, 2008 - Facebook
Ok, I get it. Facebook is cool. I'm there.
June 27, 2008 - Up Very Late
I did something incredibly lame; and I admit that. Let me talk you through the process.
I was up very late last night listening to the LifeZero show.
One of the hosts, Ben Durbin, I recognized from the "MacBreak Tech" show mentioned he was on Twitter.
I looked at what he had to say, and found this:
I'm calling it: "Yak-Sized Piece of Grit That Flew Into My Eye, Causing 15 Seconds of Painful Disorientation" for oboe and pianoforte. 02:02 PM May 01, 2008
"Huh", I thought. "That should exist."
And now it does.
April 11, 2008 - Woefully Behind
Sorry everyone that is just getting email replies today. I was woefully behind, I'm afraid. (Still am, a little bit). Oh, and if you're "David" your email failed... so I'm posting my reply here:
> Hello,My name is David,I am from USA,I saw your introduction on internet
> would you like to meet?i am free this weekend-saturday and sunday
> i have light green eyes, brown hair,look like Brad pitt
> i work at city bank in shinjuku
> my hobbies is sport, music, baseball, i am studying judo as well
> recently i bought digital camera and like taking photos
> please call me and lets meet
> 090-6540-3296
> David
Hey, yo. Good to hear from you, David.
I'm not going to ask what the hell you're doing in Shinjuku... I am having a party for my new furniture this weekend. So if you're in town - stop on by! (Directions to my house are in my "internet introduction")
- Kevin
March 25, 2008 - Boxes
Today, I tried to search on Amazon.com's box codes and sizes. I started a page:
A Catalog of Amazon.com Box Sizes
It needs help, though. If you have a box (with the Amazon logo on it) - please take a photo of it. Ideally, it should show the box designation (e.g. "B12") and also the dimensions (e.g. 12x10x8). Make it as many megapixels as you reasonably can. I will update the page as much as I can until all the letters and numbers are filled.
You can include a URL that you'd like linked in your credit. Only the first person who sends me a good photo of a box that I do not have will be listed.
DO NOT send me photos of boxes that are already listed.
Thank you everyone!
March 10, 2008 - Basic Rant
I know what you're thinking... "I've been on the intercom all day and have not read a useless rant about something inane... like furniture delivery."
Well, friends - look no further!
I do not expect reasonable furniture delivery to come from this... but it is good therapy.
January 08, 2008 - Vacation
I'm officially on vacation for the next week.
Cheers!
January 01, 2008 - On Audio Compression
Ok, my synth MIDI controller is down, and now my piano MIDI controller is gone. So it looks like a few days of just talking.
Audio compression! Hoo, boy! This is going to be fun. Audio compression has nothing to do with mp3 or wav or file formats at all. It has to do with how the music is produced.
16-bit audio files (like a CD) have about 96 decibels of range from most quiet to loudest. It is sort of measured backwards -0db being the loudest possible; -6db is pretty loud; -40db is very quiet, and -80db is largely inaudible (I'm generalizing here... it is wrong but mostly not).
When I produce a track, there is generally exactly one "frame" of audio (like a single frame of a movie) that reaches up to the 0db mark. The process is called "normalization" and it ensures the greatest possible dynamic range for the music.
This sounds like a perfectly reasonable way to produce music. In general - music is not done this way... at least not in 2008, it isn't.
There's a few ways that people "cheat" the loudness into an audio track. If one turns up the gain, so it goes beyond the 0db mark - it can stay there for more than a frame. 2 frames in a row, and there won't be any distortion of the sound. But more and more, people are running 8 frames or more at 0db. That causes distortion. But it does make it louder.
The other way to make something louder is compression. Audio compression is something like turning up the contrast on a photo. It makes the blacks more black, the whites more white, and you lose the subtlety of the things in between.
There are a lot of very good and reasonable reasons to use compression in audio. (I do use at least some compression in nearly everything I do.) But somewhere, things got carried away... and tons of music productions are now loud and blatant.
I have good speakers, if I want it louder, I'll just turn it up.
Maybe it is FM radio, or Satellite radio, or bad TV speakers, or iPods with bad headphones, or $12.95 PC desktop speakers... I don't know. But the master copy - the one you get on a CD should be dynamic and not distorted. Maybe there could be a button to convert quality audio to "louder" audio somewhere.
Please say "No" to excessive compression and zero-lining. Thank you.
December 31, 2007 - Mp3 vs AIF Battle!
Well, there's some new music on my site - but I've not posted about it. They are "Almost in F", "Fluidscape", "Klockworx", and "Wish Background" if you want to go hunting for them.
I'm running into some tech difficulties right now, as my main MIDI controller (an M-Audio Axiom 61) is broken. I woke up, and 41 of the 61 keys did nothing. I have another one coming in the mail, so I should be back up soon.
In the meanwhile, I'm going to talk a little bit about my use of the mp3 file format.
I get a fair number of requests for "uncompressed" music (wave or aiff format) - just something that is straight PCM, with no file compression.
I don't do this for a couple of reasons. First off the files are huge. I did a couple this week that weigh in at more than 450 meg each. Sorry, but bandwidth is not yet unlimited - and it isn't free. I know many of you have no problem downloading such a giant file, but I'm dishing out hundreds of thousands of mp3s a month... and I just can't afford the server space and bandwidth for straight PCM.
So does the music suffer from being compressed? In theory; yes. In practice; no.
Here are some files you can test for yourself.
http://kmdownload.com/temp/Colossus.aif (68 meg)
http://kmdownload.com/temp/Colossus.mp3 (10 meg)
(please note that they're in a temp directory... so I'm not going to guarantee their continued availability)
I picked this one, because of the highs and lows that mp3 has a harder time with.
If you can hear a difference - any difference at all, please let me know... because I can't.
Why, then, does so much music in mp3 format suck? Bitrate. It is the measure of how much data is lost, or how small the files can be.
Here's a quick chart (in kilobits per second):
48 kbps: Useful for voice-only podcasts.
Music sounds awful at this rate, but it is okay for hearing someone talk.
128 kbps: The former "standard" that music was encoded at... when hard drives were small
and bandwidth was limited by your modem. Music still sounds very bad at this rate.
196 kbps: This is 'ok' for music being listened to in a loud or crappy environment, like in
your car, or on bad "PC" speakers. I can't personally deal with it very well.
256 kbps: Most music will sound good at this rate. The files are twice as large as
the old "standard" of 128, but the quality is usually very good.
320 kbps: This is what I use (and very few others). It retains the very high frequencies
well, and offers no audio "artifacts"... those wonky-sounding chirps and phasing
effects you get with lower rates.
So, what's the bitrate of AIF? It depends on your sample rates and resolution. Most of what I work with between 2116 and 2822.
Argh! What is all this technical stuff!!!??
Download the files I linked. If you can't hear a difference (feel free to use meters!) then just know that everything on my site is good.... not "good enough", but "good".
I understand why people request AIF. It is because you're guaranteed that it will sound perfect - and most mp3s are terrible.
The other reason to use mp3, is compatibility. Every editing suite in the world (that I know of) can open mp3 files.
September 06, 2007 - Requests?
Kevin is out of ideas for music. Do you have any? Email them to me! The more odd or specific the request, the better the chance I'll pick it to produce it. If you request "more rock music"... I'm probably not going to pick that up. If you want something like "low-production-value 1980's techno fused with easy-listening soprano sax"... much more likely... but I'm not doing that.
Come up with something new, exciting, fun, or bizarre!
Email me at kevin@incompetech.com, Subject "I have an idea". Let's see how this goes!
June 16, 2007 - Fantastic Four
New movie review now online!
May 27, 2007 - On the Trail of the iPhone
If you don't already know what the iPhone is, you won't be excited about this... but it has browsed my site... so someone out there is already using one!
Read more about the iPhone Visit!
March 11, 2007 - Updates all-around!
I've not been posting much music - but I have been making some. There's about 12 pieces in the works right now. Also, working on updating the back-end database.
I'm in the middle of making the switch from Sony's Acid to Apple's Logic as my main music compositing framework, so I'm spending a lot of time learning that beast of an application. As a friend of mine said "[Logic] is really intuitive after you've used it for a few months... and... by... that... I mean... I guess it isn't intuitive at all.". Yup.
So in the meanwhile, there is an awesome review of "300" you can read.
January 27, 2007 - Hokey Ker-Smokers!
Well... there's been a pile of upgrades going on here. Here's the tour!
The NameDB just got a major data infusion - adding 24% more names! (that's a lot of names).
The Graph Paper landing page was out-of-hand, so I did a horizontal redesign to make it less visually tiring, also shorter. It may get further compressed... we'll see how it works.
Incompetech's 404 error message was also out-of-date, so that's better now.
Royalty-Free Music's little search box now collapses out of the way. There is a lot of data on those pages, and keeping them clean is problematic.
The music FAQ has been updated, as well as some other music page links.
Here's the BIG ONE! Just this week, I climbed to #2 on a Google search for Royalty-Free Music, so the emails have been pouring in. I now have a new section where people can build their own licenses for my music!
This application is seriously so cool, you should generate a license just for fun. It is full of 'web 2.0' goodness, while retaining the incompetech spartan feel. Woot!
November 29, 2006 - Super Reorganization
The entire royalty-free music section of my site is revamped. I've been working on setting this up for a couple of weeks. It isn't complete, but it is better than what I had - so I switched it.
It is now database-driven, and has a simple search engine. So if you're looking for a Calming and Eerie piece of music, you can take your pick from six I currently have online!
Eventually, you'll be able to search and sort on tempo, instrumentation, and keyword (as well as genre and feel).
I think I got everything right. If you find a problem, please let me know!
November 16, 2006 - Ringtone?
Ok. I made a ringtone. Were this a normal ringtone, I'd hate myself. But this isn't. It makes other people not want to answer your phone. Also - it isn't annoying in a theater. Who would suspect? Get it (right-click "save link as" to download it.)
Please don't email me asking for support. This is an mp3. If your phone takes something else - this won't work. No, I don't know how to get it on your phone. I just transfer with bluetooth, so that's all I know... but I'm not even going to support that.
October 05, 2006 - New Host
I have a brand new hosting company for my music files, and it seems to be working like a champ! Thanks to all of you for your recommendations. I made charts with the features of each host, and the pricing and the wierd things with all of them. Finding a provider is a nightmare.
Luckily - many of the providers' websites were unavailable or slow at one point or another - so they got trimmed out quickly. :-)
I went with 1&1 Internet. Setup was easy, and the rates for 2 terabytes of monthly transfer are almost too good to be true.
I hope the new provider works for all of you! Thank you for your patience... now maybe I can get back to writing music.
- Kevin
September 25, 2006 - Help me out...
I am in the process of finding a new Web Host provider for my audio files. One might think this is an easy process... one would be wrong. I need 5 Gig of storage and 500 Gig of transfer per month. If you know of someone who has a plan like that - please let me know.
In the meanwhile, I apologize to all the people who are having a hard time downloading music from me. I've quantified and cataloged the problem, but my hosting provider's support staff refuses to believe it is a problem.
I am working to find a new host as soon as possible.
June 29, 2006 - Googled
Recently, my site has been upgraded in the Google rankings. I'm now number 8 for "Royalty free music". I've been getting a super duper big pile of requests recently. I'm trying to keep up with everything, but it is taking some time, and I probably need to change the site to make the FAQs more prominent.
As a general rule, if you really need me to respond to something - KEEP BUGGING ME. It is perfectly acceptable. Also, donating money will get my attention. Seeing how many files are being downloaded, I should ask for money more.
So, please send money. I write music for a living; and I'd like to continue doing that.
- Kevin
May 24, 2006 - That doesn't sound like me...
You know how it is when you record yourself talking, and then play it back - and it no longer sounds like you. Everyone else thinks it sounds like you. But not you...
Well, I was doing some voice recording today, and it sounded like me. B'Wha? Oh! I have new studio monitors! I can't believe it makes that much difference. But it does. That whole garbage I've been told about your head resonating. Wrong!
I'm guessing it has to do with one being so familiar with ones own voice that you can immediately pick out that it sounds 'off' if it isn't reproduced exactly. Get yourself a passable mic and some good speakers, and you can finally hear that you do indeed sound like you think you sound when you talk.
Amazing!
May 07, 2006 - An Open Apology
To all the people who listened to my music over the last few months and years... I'm sorry everyone. I'm really very very very sorry. You see - I just had no idea.
Today I bought some studio monitors, and I listened to my music. And it isn't pretty. Oh, the mixes are fine - the problem lies in how I distribute them. I used to think (WAY back in the day) 128 kbps mp3 was fine. It was what all the cool kids were using. I eventually upped my recordings to 160, then 192 and 256. I switched to 256 AAC encoding a few months ago beliving it was "indistinguishable" from the raw form.
Holy cow was I wrong.
While listening to some of my pieces now, I occationally say "What the heck happened to the high end in this piece??". Without fail - I'm listening to a compressed version that was destined for the web site.
Oh - the high end is still there... it is just... bad?
In any event - I'm going to have to change my format again. Possibly to 48kHz Apple Lossless (inside mp4). It is noticably better then CD quallity. Well - you can notice it if you have good speakers.
March 30, 2006 - RSS Now Available
I couldn't run from the future forever - so I finally implemented RSS feeds for incompetech. I will not be making all previous entried backward-compatible... But hopefully everything from here on out will be happily syndicated.
This document is part of Incompetech.com.
Most Everything ©1998-2012 Kevin MacLeod