Archive for the ‘Arts and Crafts’ Category

Easy, Cheap DIY Vocal Booth

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

I just tripped over this pretty cool idea for an easy to make, easy to travel vocal booth while doing my quasi-daily browse of MAKE’s blog:

Easy DIY Portable Vocal Booth

See this article for details.

I’m not sure what’s more frustrating, that I didn’t think of this or have one handy on any of the countless shows I’ve worked on where I’ve had to do on-site VO recordings at the theatre, or that I had two or three of those collapsible containers in my old apartment, and I’m pretty sure I got rid of them when I moved last fall! (He says, contemplating digging through boxes stored under the bed to be sure…)

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Cool DIY MIDI Toy (Not for the Faint of Heart)

Friday, August 3rd, 2007

Hey gang,
In doing some research on something last night (I honestly can’t remember what!), I came across a really cool project for the motivated DIY’ers out there who work with MIDI, or with those who do. It’s Paul Paul Messick and John Battle’s MIDI Viewport, and it’s a really kicking little handheld MIDI analyzer. If you’re familiar with the old Studiomaster MA-36, it’s kinda like that, but on steroids. The MA-36 would just show you what channel was active, and what the type of signal being sent was, with an LED indicator–it couldn’t tell you the actual value of the data.

This is a preview of Cool DIY MIDI Toy (Not for the Faint of Heart). Read the full post (408 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

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One Helluva Com System Headset

Saturday, January 28th, 2006

This week, I’ve got a guest tutorial courtesy of a longtime friend of OFTR, Mat Goebel. Mat’s put in the legwork ironing out how to convert both a Motorola two-way radio earpiece/boom headset and a Plantronics cell headset into two of the most comfortable com headsets either.

Mat will walk you through wiring up the necessary power supply to power the electret mics in both of these headsets, as well as getting it all attached to a 4-pin connector for the com system.

So, check it out, and I’ll be back when I’m back,
Andy

Permanent link to this post (96 words, estimated 23 secs reading time)

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The Wonderful Gaff Triangle

Wednesday, December 14th, 2005

This week, it’s time for a cool trick with gaff tape that I picked up while
hanging out with all the film and video kids during my four years at Emerson
College back in Boston. It shouldn’t be surprising to pick up a new and
useful way to use gaff from film types, of course, since they did originate
the stuff, but it has surprised me that I have never once run into a theatre
or concert type who is familiar with this simple but oh-so-handy bit of gaff
origami. So, as an early holiday gift to you (and, Seth,
I do mean holiday in the generic, insert-your-holiday-of-choice here way!),
here is the small wonder known as the gaff triangle.

This is a preview of The Wonderful Gaff Triangle. Read the full post (609 words, 1 image, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)

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Be a Control Freak: The \"DIY or Buy\" Pocket Pickle!

Friday, September 9th, 2005

Posted from: Edison, NJ

So, here it is, at long last…One From The Road’s first ever DIY or Buy
project, the Control Freak portable motor pickle (aka a "pocket pickle").
It’s perfect for those of you who get tired of having to hunt down one of the
show pickles at a gig, when there are never enough, and as soon as you’re done
with it somebody else is yelling to use it elsewhere. With your own portable
pickle, you’ve always got your own with you, since it’s much more compact than
a standard pickle (and also less prone to cable failures, which suck a lot!)
and can clip right to your belt or pocket. No need to hand off the pickle to
everybody else, you can play "mine!" and, well, be a control freak.

This is a preview of Be a Control Freak: The \"DIY or Buy\" Pocket Pickle!. Read the full post (3745 words, 8 images, estimated 14:59 mins reading time)

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