DV for Teachers

Old Versions at OldApps.com

A trove of older applications. It's a trip down memory lane and possibly a way to breathe life into an older computer

The fine community at Macintouch points to the Mac-specific area on Old Version Downloads – OldApps.com. Find old versions of lots of software, for Mac and PC: older email programs, audio editors, picture editors, FTP programs, and more. They even have older versions of Apple’s QuickTime. Looks like a great resource, especially if you’re spiffing up an older machine to save money.

And teachers always want to save money.

November 17, 2009 at 2:49 pm Comments (0)

Hivelogic’s Podcasting Equipment Guide 2009

Fledgling Podcaster Dan Benjamin, to whom thanks for the image

John Gruber pointed to this comprehensive guide to podcasting equipment. Dan Benjamin, a veteran podcaster, offers recommendations at four levels:

1. Beginner
2. Entry level
3. Mid-Range
4. Prosumer

Go read, and get to podcasting. (I’ll join you as soon as I’m done editing this video…)

, , , , , ,
October 21, 2009 at 3:15 pm Comments (0)

Free Music Archive: Good, and Really Free

The Free Music Archive offers really free music, and it was picked by people! Via Paul Lamere’s Music Machinery blog, which I found via Teresa Nielsen Hayden’s Particles.

The Free Music Archive

The Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads. The Free Music Archive is being directed by WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America. Radio has always offered the public free access to new music. The Free Music Archive is a continuation of that purpose, designed for the age of the internet.

Every mp3 you discover on The Free Music Archive is pre-cleared for certain types of uses that would otherwise be prohibited by outdated copyright law. Are you a podcaster looking for pod-safe audio? A radio or video producer searching for instrumental bed music that won’t put your audience to sleep? A remix artist looking for pre-cleared samples? Or are you simply looking for some new sounds to add to your next playlist? The Free Music Archive is a resource for all that and more, and unlike other websites, all of the audio has been hand-picked by established audio curators.

I’ve listened to some samples – good stuff! Some of this will find its way into our podcasts, I’m thinking.

April 21, 2009 at 8:00 am Comments (0)

69 really useful OS X timesavers | News | TechRadar UK

Good ideas and tips for using the Mac OS

There are alternatives to some of the paid apps they link to in this nice list of quick tips. Regrettably I don’t have time at the moment to link to them.Those aside, this is a good list for the Mac newbie, from TechRadar UK: 69 really useful OS X timesavers | News | TechRadar UK.

February 17, 2009 at 10:53 am Comments (0)

Get audio into your Mac | Macworld

Audio is fun to work with
Macworld’s Chris Breen offers a series of tips and product recommendations for recording and editing good audio.
Particularly valuable is his tip for reducing static when using USB mics.

February 4, 2009 at 2:58 pm Comments (0)

Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder

Audacity, the terrific free audio editor and recorder

Thanks to Macintouch for pointing this morning to the update of Audacity, the terrific free audio editor and recorder. Podcasters, video producers, journalists, and independent musicians all over the world use it every day. It’s a great tool that keeps getting better. Put on your school’s computers for your students to play with. It’s free, useful, and fun.

, , , ,
January 30, 2009 at 10:19 am Comments (0)

Mark Pilgrim’s GIVE: A Gentle Intro to Video Encoding

media encoding involves acronym alphabet soup but think about how expert you'll sound in the teachers' lounge or the ball game

This introduction is “gentle” only in technical terms; Mark Pilgrim’s language can get quite salty, so if your school’s filters block four-letter words, you’ll need to read this at home. Nonetheless, the four part A Gentle Introduction to Video Encoding (part one, part two, part three, part four) is an excellent introduction to concepts, terminology, patent status, and limitations of the formats. It does not provide any instruction or tutorials, but those are widely available through the Google.

, , , , , , , , , , , ,
January 8, 2009 at 1:20 pm Comments (0)

Am I Rendering And Viewing At The Best Quality With FCP?

Manage your renders in Final Cut Pro
Andrew Balis answers his own question, at great length, and to the benefit of us all, in Am I Rendering And Viewing At The Best Quality With FCP?

October 20, 2008 at 1:31 pm Comments (0)

QuickTime Soundtrack Hacks

QuickTime Pro's capabilities are versatile, but really obscure

On his O’Reilly Digital Media Blog, David Battino offers a story about a video for his kids that’s a whirlwind tour of several editing tips and tricks in QuickTime Pro.

My housebound sons and a 12-year-old friend borrowed my digicam, set it to video mode, and improvised a spy movie. Not realizing they’d shot upwards of 25 clips, I offered to stitch the scenes together in QuickTime Pro (QTP), which I thought would be simpler and faster than iMovie.

Note that these are video clips from a digital still camera – not DV clips from a camcorder. iMovie won’t edit anything but DV or HD, and Windows Movie Maker won’t play with many flavors of video from digicams either. QuickTime, especially with options like Flip4Mac and Perian, let you edit almost any type of (non-Flash) video. What David demonstrates here with his soundtrack tricks shows how QT Pro may be the most underappreciated video and audio editor out there. Unfortunately, that’s due to its underdocumentation – and I appreciate David’s efforts here to document what he discovered while working on this.

, , ,
July 18, 2008 at 8:00 am Comments (0)

A Newbie Looks at Podcasting Tools

Podcasting - get in on the action

At O’Reilly’s Digital Media blog, Todd Ogasawara offers A Newbie Looks at Podcasting Tools: Garageband, Audacity, and Levelator. It’s a good overview of mostly Mac-based tools, and includeds a link to and description of the (apparently invaluable) Levelator. I haven’t tested it yet, but many many podcasters are singing – or blogging – its praises.

Todd publishes periodic posts on the O’Reilly blog about FFOSS – Freeware/Free and Open Source Software. Put that link in your RSS reader – worth it!

July 11, 2008 at 9:00 am Comments (0)

« Older Posts