Midimonkey Webcam

  • Thread starter Thread starter frederic
  • Start date Start date
I'll have to check out ICECAST...

I've got a cable modem at home right now too... so my quality would be limited, but oh well :)

Velvet Elvis
 
Velvet Elvis said:
I'll have to check out ICECAST...

I've got a cable modem at home right now too... so my quality would be limited, but oh well :)

Velvet Elvis
Click to expand...

I've done some experimenting with icecast, its very easy to run as a linux daemon.

The trick is to lower the quality of the mp3, and make it mono. This way, you have half the bits to pump through the internet. And to be honest, mono or stereo, on the crappy speakers that are included with home computers and laptops, it sounds "just fine".

In fact, I've recently made a second image of my MP3 collection downgrading them to stereo, 56K bps, 33Kish sample rate, etc. Now the mp3's are absolutely tiny, and perfect for listening to in my truck. Same quality as the radio, and they take less space.

After all, with all the rattling in the truck as well as the crummy factory speakers, its "good enough". But its kinda neat fitting 400 or so MP3's on a single CD.

At least until my new sony HDD-based mp3 head unit comes. It has a 10gig hard drive inside, and rips directly from CD's I shove in, including data CD's with mp3's on them. Copy them in, drive, and not hear the same song twice for about 4 months LOL

Anyway, back in the studio, got my washers, back to work!
 
Glad none of you were watching the webcam, I just washed my floor with about a liter of pepsi :(

Anyway, the framing of the rack faces are done, minus the 45 degree angle on the left side. Now, I have to tack up the cross-back pieces, frame that out, then acquire and attach the top!

I'm trying to decide what I want to do for a top. The measurements (at the top) are such that the racks will have a 3 degree leanback, which gives me enough room on the bottom for ridiculously deep equipment, yet at the top the space is only an inch or so less deep, and it will fit under a "standard" home depot counter top if I want to do the counter top thing. They have two tops that I particularly like, a dark green marble type finish, which is slick and shiny, but then I'd have to forgo the burgandy colors I wanted to do the doorframes, moulding, and railings. Might be worth the changeover. They have a deep red top, except its not as glass-like in the finish they overlay on top of the particle board. A friend who took a look-see last night fairly late suggested I consider using the birch pergo I have and make the top of the racks using that over 1/4" thick plywood so its stable, strong, etc.

It would match the floor, and its not like I have a shortage of pergo planks.

Hmmmmmm.
 
and yet he is STILL pouring glasses of Pepsi...

all the while taunting us with the bottle sitting RIGHT in front of the camera.... tsk tsk

Velvet
 
This is really quite amusing... I'm doing my normal work, but have a little 'frederic window' up just for kicks.

Velvet Elvis
 
glad you're enjoying. Though right now I'm stuck on a re-org conference call with HR, with about 70 or so other managers who are dealing with unhappy individual contributors. It will be more fun in about 40 minutes when I'm off this call, and stop feeding my face with chocolate and pepsi, while falling asleep on the call.

heh-heh
 
Do you have a computer right over there by the phone or something?
 
Do you have a computer right over there by the phone or something?
Click to expand...

Phone on left side wall in the cove, and the laptop is right next to the camera, also on the left side. I did a quick rotate so you could see, hopefully you caught it. The camera is under the slanted ceiling, looking out from where the console table will be, facing the vocal booth and racks.

What do you think of the racks? Not too shabby I think. BTW, of all the rack rails I looked at, nothing beats MAP rails, and I'll tell you why.

They are 1/8" steel, very strong, yet not too heavy, threaded for the standard rack screws. Also, the width of the rails on the face (where the gear screws to) is very narrow, thus taking up less width overall. Depth however, is 1.5" thus one per side on the pine studs I cut out, prevents them from warping. Straight is good for racks :) I used 1/4" machine bolts and aircraft nuts (four per rail) to avoid the rails from loosening up over time as gear is swapped around.
 
Nope... didn't catch the "move"... closed the window for a minute.

Yeah, the racks look nice... I assume that is the vocal booth window right above them?

What are "MAP" rails? Never heard of them :)

Velvet
 
Saw ya that time...

You looked so thrilled to be on the phone with the HR Trolls.

Velvet
 
MAP rails:

Rack rails: http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--MIDRR21

Yes, thats the vocal booth window right behind the framework of the rack rails. Its a double pane, argon filled safetyglass window, and I have a friend making an angled subframe to go inside, inside the 2" of space behind the actual double pane, which will give me 1/4" angled safety glass in an almost matching frame.

Early xmas present :D

I did a quick rotate of the camera again, did you see it? LOL
 
Velvet Elvis said:
Saw ya that time...

You looked so thrilled to be on the phone with the HR Trolls.

Velvet
Click to expand...

heh-heh. Not really, these people are monkeys. We're having an hour call which essentially tells us managers/directors to tell our staff "to bad, deal with it, or be replaced".

Of course they said it nicely, in corporate speak, but we don't need an hour long call for that information. And some of my peers across the country are demonstrating their ineptness by asking incredibly stupid questions, like:

"What is the tone we should use to deliver this message?"

Duh!
 
I hear ya... same kind of talk around here.

thanks for the railing link...

Velvet
 
thanks for the railing link...
Click to expand...

No problem, they have different sizes of course. I noticed two of the local sam-ash stores stocked the 4U and 6U rails, but had to order the longer rails. I chose 21U because they will fit underneath the vocal booth window, without a counter top interfering with the window's edge. Notching countertops never works right.

I may frame out another set of 16U rails above the 21U rails on the two leftmost rack columns, just because that space is useless anyway, and I have enough gear to fill an entire wall.

Less gear to struggle with as to whether to keep it, or sell it.
 
You have wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much gear my friend :)

Just thing what that cable routing mess is going to look like behind the rack :)

Velvet
 
Velvet Elvis said:
You have wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much gear my friend :)

Just thing what that cable routing mess is going to look like behind the rack :)

Velvet
Click to expand...

Oh, the cabling will be "pretty". I have boxes of wall mounted cabling hooks that are 2" high and extend about 6" off the wall. Several rows of them of course, so that power is routed along the base of the vocal booth wall on the outside, then above that will be midi, rs422, usb and lightpipe, then the next row of cable hooks will be balanced audio. I have another box of ortronics velcro wire ties, so trust me, it will be extremely neat when completed.

Way to much gear? Is there such a thing? No, can't be!
 
Ok... so if you have soooo much stuff in the racks, how will you get behind it all to wire it nice and pretty?
 
Velvet Elvis said:
Ok... so if you have soooo much stuff in the racks, how will you get behind it all to wire it nice and pretty?
Click to expand...

The way I've always done it... one rack at a time :) Since the wiring will be going left as in the view of the webcam to the side wall, I'll be loading the right rack first, then the next rack, etc, until they are all done.

There will be punch blocks for all but lightpipe and power, so midi and audio are easily changed, added, removed, etc as things change.

The top will be hinged, if that helps explain it better. This way minor changes won't require unloading everything to add one piece of gear "out of order".

I had it this way in my old pro studio, and it wasn't too bad. Once I put the gear in, generally it stays there for a long time unless it fries, or something wicked new comes along to replace it. Which isn't that often.
 
fair enough...


I'm having my rack double as a producer's table, so the whole back side will actually open up... make it really easy :)

Now I just have to figure out how to keep the wiring clean at the patchbay and board... since you'll be able to see it/walk around it.

Velvet
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top