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GeekNights 061026 - Halloween

RymRym
edited October 2006 in Everything Else
Tonight on GeekNights, we recall Halloweens of the past. In the news, Guitar Hero II is available early, and Ubuntu Edgy Eft is quite wonderful.

We have the new compressor. It's wonderful and powerful, and it will take me some time to tweak it properly. Help me out with some feedback on the audio if you can!

Comments

  • CorbinCorbin
    so as soon as you said the thing about GH2 i paused the ep and went to both of my local wally worlds but neither of them had it out there :-(
  • RymRym
    We weren't sure how widespread it was, but we figured it was worth a shot. If even one of you out there got your hands on a copy early, we'd be happy. ^_^
  • PilitusPilitus
    edited October 2006
    Either I or my brother have dressed up as Super Mario, with the Cape from Super Mario World.
    Post edited by Pilitus on
  • SymmetrySymmetry
    This year I'm being lazy and going to a halloween party in a set of urban camo I just happened to have lying around.

    Last year the party I went to was sort of themed around a series of D&D runs my friends and I were involved in, and I ended up dressing up as my geomancer character. I got a nice robe, made my characters's holy symbol, got a white wig, and got a friend to make some stripes on my face and I was good.

    The year before I had the best pirate costume every. General piraty clothes, a bandana, a few belts, and a real (but unsharpened) rapier with the scabard on a nice bandolier.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    edited October 2006
    Oh God... why... why... oh why did you have to talk about the law?

    Giving the president an oath prior to a press conference would be meaningless. If he lied it would not be perjury. Perjury requires that the statement be made in a case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered. There has been now law passed authorizing an oath prior to a presidential press conference.

    Oh God... they did it again... they tried to talk about the law... Oh sweet Jesus...
    Post edited by Kilarney on
  • AprecheApreche
    Oh God... why... why... oh why did you have to talk about the law?

    Giving the president an oath prior to a press conference would be meaningless. If he lied it would not be perjury. Perjury requires that the statement be made in a casein which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered.There has been now law passed authorizing an oath prior to a presidential press conference.

    Oh God... they did it again... they tried to talk about the law... Oh sweet Jesus...
    Alright. We'll just have to make it a law then. There should be a law that says the president must take a binding oath prior to press conferences, the state of the union address and certain other public speaking engagements. Heck, I wouldn't mind if it applied to all elected officials.
  • MamathMamath
    edited October 2006
    Halloween doesn't get celebrated so much in Australia... Last year I had a Halloween themed birthday party. I made a demon costume. The horns were good, but I couldn't get them to really work properly. :< Clawed gloves were kind of cool... I ran out of time to make it, really, so it was pretty bad. XD One of my friends dressed as our thermodynamics lecturer (with the slick hair and Hawaiian t-shirt...there's always one, isn't there?).

    Another friend dressed all in white with a big yellow spot made of paper taped to her front.

    ...she was supposed to be an egg. :B
    Post edited by Rym on
  • KieyKiey
    edited October 2006
    The only Halloween costume I can really remember doing as a kid was that one year in elementary school when my friends and I went as FFVI characters. I was Setzer. Setzer is badass.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • phoenix116phoenix116
    I listen to G/N in the car usually on may way into work. Maybe I'm too old to notice the difference in audio quality, but I swear I cannot tell a difference with the compressor-less shows. Being a geek I should probably know the answer to this, but what is the basic function of a compressor?
  • KilarneyKilarney
    edited October 2006
    I agree. The difference is minimal, and not terribly relevant for a talk show. Heck, I'd listen to the show either way.
    Post edited by Kilarney on
  • CramitCramit
    edited October 2006
    I could hear some background noise on the condensor-less shows, but it still sounded better than many other podcasts.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • Hitman HartHitman Hart
    edited October 2006
    Honestly, I couldn't tell a difference either, even with my new ear covering headphones.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • tuttle88tuttle88
    We get a couple of trick or treaters around here but not too many. I do make sure that I buy some lollies just in case (and if the don't come they need to be eaten so I don't waste food).
  • ProfPanglossProfPangloss
    I think that the ToTing starts to wrap up around teenagerdom, and then the parties begin (I used to ToT every single year, but now I'm 13 (14 in one week ^_^) and going to a party with my friends on Halloween.)
    Last year I dressed up as and IRS agent, and the year before that I was a magician (I took a magic class).

    Yeah, I was an imaginative kid.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    edited October 2006
    Ignore.
    Post edited by Kilarney on
  • RymRym
    Being a geek I should probably know the answer to this, but what is the basic function of a compressor?
    A compressor decreases the dynamic range of audio, making the difference between the quietest parts and the loudest parts lower. It does this based on a threshold and a ratio.

    Let's say, for example, I use a compression ratio of 4:1 and a threshold of -10dB. The audio is unchanged below -10dB. Above that, the resulting output rises 1dB for every 4dB increase in the input. It takes 4dB to get 1dB louder.

    The compressor serves two very important purposes for us. First, it decreases the dynamic range and stabilizes the volume. Most pop music uses compression for the same effect. If I talk quieter or louder, or if one of us starts yelling, the compressor keeps the volume in check.

    Second, it allows us to record much hotter (louder), while still using the full input range of my sound card. Computer sound cards can take only a small range of volume in without clipping (recording sound louder than the card can handle). Without a compressor, we have to set the gain (amplification on the input side) low enough so that even if we yell or pop, we won't clip. This puts our actual voices much closer to the noise floor (level of average background noise) and makes for a fairly bad recording source. By compressing the dynamic range of the audio, we can set the gain much higher, so that our average volume is very hot (close to the maximum input volume) without worry of clipping.

    I tried to make that as simple as possibly. Hopefully I explained all of the jargon.
  • trogdor9trogdor9
    Uh. Kilarney. Edit your post now.

    Anyway, I dressed up as Mario in the Mario 64 days.

    /Punk kid
  • tuttle88tuttle88
    Somebody hotlinked.
  • my quaymy quay
    I've been invited to a Halloween Party this weekend and the host insists on costumes. I'm not particularly creative with that sort of thing and the only suggestions my boss - who is very artsy - had were to do that lame vampire bite mark or wear all black and get a Scream or similar mask. Does anyone have any thoughts for a reasonably cheap but cool looking costume that won't require duct tape to my back?

    I've been talking to a few people over the past week about their thoughts on Halloween as non-Americans. I don't really see it as cultural imperialism (or at least not the bad kind). Even though it was not a big thing when I was a kid it has certainly grown in recent years and if I was a child again I'd totally embrace the day. After all sugar! Also, I think the guys mentioned it in the podcast about how it's become for the older set a good excuse for a party, which is great! Lastly, how many horror movies or Simpson's episodes would we fail to appreciate without at least a base understanding of Halloween?
  • phoenix116phoenix116
    Thanks for the info on the compressor. Makes sense. Now that you mention it, I do hear the volume fluctuations you described on some other casts. Compress away!
  • SymmetrySymmetry
    The really stupid thing about the whole Allen pornography flap was that the book really wasn't pornography.

    If you actually read the passage its pretty clear to illustrate the "OMG Vietnahm != Kansas" reaction of the soldiers rather than anything prurient.
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