Wednesday 29 October 2008

elastic~ external for maxmsp



elastic~ is an external that can be used to independently control time and pitch within maxmsp. It is designed to work with the standard buffer~ object, making it easy to integrate into projects.

Unfortunately you have to pay for this external (£20), but it does show that there are some money making opportunities in producing new objects for maxmsp.

edit:
There is now a free alternative to elastic~ that you can download from here

Audio Analysis Creates Landscape

flight404 have a very nice example of what can be done in real-time within Processing in terms of audio analysis and graphcial creation.
The audio signal is analysed and the resulting FFT data is manipulated to make it a bit more manageable and then used to create graphics that resemble a landscape scene - all done in real-time.

Audio-generated landscape from flight404 on Vimeo.

Tuesday 28 October 2008

electronics tutorials for circuit benders


If you're thinking of getting into circuit bending but have little or no experience with a soldering iron then these video tutrials are probably a good place to start.

Using MaxMSP to control your face!



Daito Manabe is using MaxMSP to trigger pulses of electricity to sequence muscle movements in his face.

Ardour - free DAW


If you're running a Mac (or Linux) and are after a free DAW then Ardour may be well a good choice.
"Ardour is a digital audio workstation. You can use it to record, edit and mix multi-track audio. You can produce your own CDs, mix video soundtracks, or just experiment with new ideas about music and sound.

Ardour capabilities include: multichannel recording, non-destructive editing with unlimited undo/redo, full automation support, a powerful mixer, unlimited tracks/busses/plugins, timecode synchronization, and hardware control from surfaces like the Mackie Control Universal. If you've been looking for a tool similar to ProTools, Nuendo, Pyramix, or Sequoia, you might have found it.

Above all, Ardour strives to meet the needs of professional users. This means implementing all the "hard stuff" that other DAWs ( even some leading commercial apps ) handle incorrectly or not at all. Ardour has a completely flexible "anything to anywhere" routing system, and will allow as many physical I/O ports as your system allows. Ardour supports a wide range of audio-for-video features such as video-synced playback and pullup/pulldown sample rates. You will also find powerful features such as "persistent undo", multi-language support, and destructive track punching modes that aren't available on other platforms."

AudioTouch


Over at Make Magazine there is a video of a demo of the AudioTouch system. This is a multi-touch musical interface.

This system is being produced by Seth Sandler as part of his final degree project.
At the moment it is still a work in progress, and there appear to be one or two little buggy things still in the system, but some of applications he has created using the multi-touch system look pretty cool - think tenori-on and Elecktroplankton.

Sunday 26 October 2008

dead space music


music4games has an interview with Jason Graves the composer working on the new release, Dead Space.
In the interview he briefly discusses his background and how he got into scoring music for games.
In terms of the game he talks about the decision to use 4 different layers of intensity within the score to allow for an adaptive score. The audio engine of the game allowed all 4 of the layers to be played simultaneously, with the gameplay itself determining the volume of each of the 4 different levels. This means that the transition between levels of intensity can be done very easily.
He also talks about some the "experimental" techniques he used when scoring for traditional orchestral instruments in order to achieve the 'scary' feel for the score.

Thursday 23 October 2008

Tour round Toerag Studios

Sonic State has a video interview (one in a series of many, apparently) with Liam Watson, the owner of Toerag Studios.
Toerag Studios is a fully analogue (using mostly vintage gear) recording studio based in London, his only concession to the 'modern age' is a couple of CD recorders so that he can create mixdowns that people can listen to "in the real world".



edit:
part two of this series is now available. Liam Watson talks about some more of his equipment (desk, speakers, etc..) and also a bit about the recording of the WHite Stripes album...

Wednesday 22 October 2008

Film & Game Composers Forum


filmandgamecomposers forum is a new(ish) forum for people interested in composition for film, games, animation and TV. Contains posts of techniques, software, hardward, etc...

Team Working


There's an article on gamastura discussing how to build a functioning and effective team.
Whilst the article is aimed primarily at games companies, it does have some useful tips for groups working in any field.
"A team is made up of individuals who perform unique tasks, and when combined, produce a finished product that is greater than the sum of its parts. You want team members to do their best and be ready to help others, so you need to promote a sense of cohesion; the team will only succeed if everyone works together. Your team should be able to generate their own tasks, tackle problems, agree on solutions and implement their decisions with confidence."

Some of the key points are:
- Set appropriate goals: These will need to be monitored and adjusted if necessary.
- Identify appropriate measurements: This should be done both individuallu and as a team. Team members should document their progress through these measurements.
- Conduct regular team reviews: Both as a whole team and with sub-groups/individual members. Check performance against objectives. All team members should be aware of their responsibilities.

A couple of quotes:
"Milestones are vital to the team's process (and to getting paid!) They ensure that a product is delivered to specification (and customer satisfaction), that team members adhere to schedules and budgets, and quality standards are met. They also tend to be the basis for individual and team rewards over and above normal compensation."

"Set realistic deadlines (remember to multiply all estimates by 1.5 to allow for unforeseen obstacles and a tendency on anyone's part, including yours, to think you can get the work done faster.) Don't promise the sky unless the team (a) agrees and (b) can reasonably deliver on the promise."

Monday 20 October 2008

interesting sound


progsounds has posted a pretty cool sound that was created by recording the sound produced by a pan of simmering pasta sauce, pitch shifting it down and then processing it using reverb, EQ, compression and granular effects.
check it out! would make a pretty good ambience sound.

wii-mote controlled guitar fx

via synthtopia
This guitarist has produced a patch in maxmsp that takes his guitar signal and processes it in various ways. He uses the accelerometer and button press data from the wii-mote to control the parameters of his fx processes.
Sounds quite good, and adds a performative element to the whole process.

6 tips on academic success

At the new enrollment of Berklee College of Music Derek Sivers gave a speech which outlines his "6 things I wish I knew the day I started Berklee". Whilst this is obviously aimed at Berklee students he actually gives some very good pointers that can be applied to all students generally.
1. Focus. Disconnect. Do not be distracted
2. Do not accept their speed limit
3. Nobody will teach you anything. You have to teach yourslef
4. Learn from your heroes. Not only theirs
5. Don't get stuck in the past
6. When done, be valuable

The full transcript can be found here - http://sivers.org/berklee
There's also a youtube vid...


via gearfire.net

Friday 17 October 2008

music for film - career?


via the music of sound

If you're thinking that you might fancy a career composing music for film and/or TV then you will probably want to check out the following articles which appeared in Sound on Sound in 2005.

Part One: Getting a break

Part Two: Creating your showreel

Part Three: Essential gear

Part Four: How to make a pitch

Part Five: You got the pitch - Now what?

Part Six: Completed orchestration

Part Seven: How to cope with revisions

Part Eight: Being creative under pressure

Part Nine: Roll credits

RJDJ - music app for iphone


Got an iphone? Get RJDJ!
RJDJ is an app for the iphone that generates original interactive music/sounds based on sensory input from the microphone, camera and accelerometers of the iphone.
The software for RJDJ is written in pd, the open-source alternative to MaxMSP.
"Instead of just evolving and allowing inputs, it makes use of the iPhone microphone and sensors to respond to your environment. Not only does the music change, but it changes because of where you are and what you’re doing. The creators describe the effect:

The world around you will sound different or suddenly become part of a song. Some scenes sound best in certain situations like walking through the city, being alone, or making music with your friends. You can also record your mind twisting hearing sensations and listen to them later just like a normal music title.

RjDj affects the perception of your reality. It is the soundtrack to your life."

via create digital music

Some video demos of RJDJ in action:




The "single' version of RJDJ is free, but only comes with one "scene" (a scene is essentially a patch that produces sound in a particular style), while the "album" version which comes with multiple scenes is $2.99 (at the time of writing).
As the app uses pd as its audio engine it is possible to create your own "scenes" and load them into RJDJ in order to create your own unique auditory experience.

Touchless


Touchless is an open-source application framework that enables you to use your webcam as a multi-touch interface.

via lifehacker:
"Right now the Touchless Demo lets you play with four proof-of-concept ideas: Draw, Image, Snake, and Defend. The first is a free-form drawing application, while Image is an image manipulation utility that allows you to zoom in or out and move around on a map with marker gestures. The other two are games (Snake is exactly like the classic, and Defend is up to four-person Pong). To set up a marker that Touchless tracks, just grab something colorful, click Add A New Marker, then draw a circle around the object. From there on out, Touchless will monitor that marker wherever it is in the shot. Right now the application is a little clunky, but as a proof-of-concept it's not bad (and it's fun to play with)."

Interview with Matthew Wood


Matthew Wood is a supervising sound editor at Skywalker Sound.
HDFilmTools has a 3 part (currently only parts 1 & 2 are available) video interview with Matthew discussing a variety of things.

He talks about the role of supervising sound editor in realising the director's vision for the use of sound within a film and how he approaches the start of a film through spotting for effects, etc.
He also talks about how he started at Skywalker Sound when he was 17 and the roles he's had within the company since then and who he has worked with.

He briefly discusses the software that he uses on a daily basis - namely ProTools and the Waves plugins.

Part 2 ends with a discussion of his work on Wall-E and how the process of working on an animation is different to a "normal" film.

Thursday 16 October 2008

Avant Garde Project


The Avant Garde Project is
"a series of recordings of 20th-century classical-experimental-electroacoustic music digitized from LPs whose music has in most cases never been released on CD, and so is effectively inaccessible to the vast majority of music listeners today."

They release regular 'installments' in their series via bittorrents which can be accessed through Pirate Bay or Mininova. The torrents themselves are announced on the I Hate Music forum.
Earlier installments, of which there are currently 117!) can be found at the AGP Archive.

This is a very useful resource for anyone interested in the early history and development of electro-acoustic music.

Fish make music


Submersed Songs is an installation by Vivian Caccuri that uses 4 live fish in a tank to control audio manipulations and processing.
The piece uses MaxMSP/Jitter to track the individual position of 4 fish in a tank, the resulting data is used to control spatialisation parameters, distortion and some other effects.
The idea is that visitors to the installation select 2 tracks from a library of .mp3 files. These are then subjected to various manipulations in order to create a new piece of audio.
"This sound-installation, winner of the Rumos Arte Cibernetica Prize (Itau Cultural Institute - Sao Paulo), promotes an interference of four carp fish in a glass tank, over the sound output of mp3 players (iPod's and others) of the visitors. The animals' movements and the proximity among them work as a parameter for modifying and juxtaposing the audience's music tracks in real time. With this idea, new sound landscapes are created, not only from the interaction among the fish, but also from unveiling the intimate music archives, which are "submersed" underneath the mp3 player devices.

The visitor can connect his audio device to the interface, and chose a song of his preference. It is also possible for the user to record the track in the system in order to let the song be modified during the next visitor's interactions. The visitor will as well listen to the previous visitors' songs, as the system juxtaposes the previous visitors' tracks with the current visitor's song. Accordingly, the piece will be always meshing up two different songs.

The two tracks are submitted to different modification processes, both building a real time continuity between the swimming of the carp fish and the levels of distortion, which can vary from an intense reverberation to a simulation of the hearing underwater."



Submersed Songs | Canções Submersas from ∆LEX on Vimeo

Creating multi-sample EXS instruments


following on from this post...
audiotuts has a tutorial on creating a multi-sample instrument within Logic's EXS Sampler. The tutorial focusses on using glass bottles as the sound source, but obviously the same principles apply regardless of the source.
It's quite a brief article but it does cover some tips on how to edit your samples in preparation for loading into the sampler.
In order to take advantage of the "automap" function within the EXS you need to name your samples with their pitch at the end of the file name, eg. sample C3.wav
The automap function will read your file names for a pitch value and automatically map your samples to the correct pitch, saving you loads of time and effort.

Free Samples


via waveformless
"Cybernetik Mayhem Samplepack - by Cybernetika
- October 2008 -
Compressed Size: 480 MB
Uncompressed Size: 844 MB
Sample format: 44.100-48.000khz / 16 bit .WAV

download link (right click, save as)

These are the best samples I used in my released or unreleased tracks. This Sample Pack is focused on Dark & Cybernetic Sounds for Psytrance, Techno, Drum'n'Bass, Dark Ambient & IDM.

Feel free to use them in your tracks, these samples are 100% free to use however you like to use them. Please give me some credit if you use them and like them.

The samples are organized in 5 categories:

Basses:
Dark Neurofunk Basses and Reeces, and some trance bass sounds.

Pads & Atmos:
Nightmare pads & post-apocalyptic ambient soundscapes.

FX:
Robotic Future FX, mostly one shot samples.

Psy Riffs & Sequences:
Mind-bending leads, FM assaults, acid sequences

Percussion Loops:
Digital Drumloops, from technoid to glitchy. "

Mind Maps


gearfire has a nice little article on using mind maps to take notes with.
I find taking notes using simple bullet points and lists is not the most effective way of taking notes as I struggle to remember how certain points inter-connect.

I've been looking into mind maps and have found that they are a useful tool in the note-taking arsenal (depending on the situation).

The article at gearfire discusses the strengths of mind maps and offers some online mapping apps that you can use. To be honest I quite like pen and paper, but occasionally it is useful to be able to include a mind map in a presentation or report.

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Creature Sounds - a tutorial


audiotuts has a short little tutorial on creating creature sounds - particularly vocalisations.
The tutorial takes you from starting with sounds created using the human voice, pitch shifting these down, applying amplitude modulation and then using some convolution techniques to combine the human sounds with some "normal" animal sounds.
The results are pretty good and with a bit of tweaking you could produce some very nice results.

Soshiku


Soshiku is a free (but requires you to register) little app that you can use to keep your coursework organised.
It will keep track of your assignments and the progress of your work, you can keep track of your average mark by entering your grades. It also supports file sharing for when you're working in groups.

Tuesday 14 October 2008

Synth Drone


Another good sound from audio cookbook. This one was created by programming a single note in a DAW assigning that to a VSTi synth and then setting up some of the parameters to be controlled by MIDI cc in realtime.
The output of the synth was processed using compression, delay and chorus.

The result is a pretty ominous drone sound with some nice sweeping textural changes that could be used as either a piece of atmospheric sound design or the basis of an electronic music track.

synth drone sound

Creaky Wooden Floor


audio cookbook a site that aims to post one "interesting" sound file every day has posted a recording of a creaky wooden floor that has been pitched down 2 full octaves.

The results sound very cool; you can hear lots of the timbral and textural changes taking place within the sound and the whole thing sounds like some massive creaking construction as opposed to a small piece of flooring.

This technique of extreme pitch shifting to reveal the hidden intricacies of a sound can be very useful when designing original sound effects.
"To make this 4:15 minutes long recording I found a creaky spot on the wooden floors of my house, rocked back and forth in place and pointed a stereo mic at my feet. I remember doing this years ago, but thought I’d give it another go using a faster sampling rate and bit depth so the quality is not reduced as much when pitched down. Before making the recording I set the sampling rate and bit depth to 96kHz and 24 bit. I pitched it down two octaves and then normalized the results before rendering the final output.

I’ve suggested this technique on several occasions to students and sound designers to manufacture a realistic simulation of a creaking ship. It’s sounds as if I added reverb, but it’s just the natural sound of the room itself. I was not particularly careful about recording in a quiet environment. I heard a car go by outdoors at one point, but it’s not too noticeable after the down pitching."

creaky wooden floor sample

Monday 13 October 2008

Kosmix - alternative search engine


Kosmix is a relatively new search engine that works slightly differently to google.
"Kosmix scours the Web to automatically generate home pages for any topic. We strive to connect you to the information that makes a difference in your life. Spend less time searching and more time exploring, discovering and learning."

"Kosmix does standard searches, but it delivers your results by assembling complex “topic pages” on the fly so that you can investigate your search topic from many angles. Kosmix is partnered with many services, so some of the results come from partners, and others are gathered from applying your search string to video libraries and other sources."
via webworkerdaily.com

This is probably a good alternative to google when you are conducting preliminary research into a topic and are looking for a wide variety of info as opposed to a specific 'answer'

Rough Rider - free compressor plugin


Audio Damage (makers of very nice-looking and nice-sounding plugins) have made their Rough Rider compressor plugin freely available.

Its not an amazingly complicated piece of kit, but it's functional and should sound pretty good.
"Rough Rider is a modern compressor with a bit of "vintage" style bite and a uniquely warm sound. Perfect for adding compression effects to your drum buss, it also sounds great with synth bass, clean guitar, and backing vocals. Definitely not an all-purpose compressor, Rough Rider is at its best when used to add pump to rhythmic tracks. Of course, you can use it however you'd like. The Compressor Police aren't gonna come to your house and give you a citation. Slap it on a track and crank some knobs.

The front panel layout is done the same as many hardware compressors, so it will be immediately obvious how to use it. A brief overview of the controls:

Ratio: The ratio knob is logarithmic in operation. Completely anti-clockwise is 1:1, and completely clockwise is 1:1000. The 12 o'clock position is 1:10, so everything to the left of center is single digits, and everything to the right is "atom bomb squish," essentially.

Attack and Release: We left off the actual time values, so you're gonna have to use your ears, like the he-men did it in times of myth.

Meter: That honking big dial in the middle of the UI is the gain reduction meter. It basically shows how much compression is occurring.

Sensitivity: usually called "threshold" now, but we think "sensitivity" always made more sense. Turn to the right, you get more compression, essentially. Turn it all the way to the right, and you've got a distortion box, the sound of which is tuned by Ratio, Attack, and Release.

Makeup: 30 dB of gain to compensate for the attenuation caused by the compressor.

Active: From the front panel, this is simply an off/on switch, but if you automate it, strange things happen...

MIDI Learn: Like all of our products, the VST version has MIDI Learn. Download any manual from the current product line for an explanation of how this works, as it is common among all our VST products.

Rough Rider is available as a VST effect for Windows, and an AU or VST for OSX. The OSX versions are Universal Binaries, and require OSX
10.4.0 or later.
"

Basic FMOD tutorial


audiotuts has a basic intro tutorial to FMOD. FMOD is an audio middleware application that allows you to design and create interactive audio environments and audio engines for particular events within a game (such as gunshots).
The tutorial takes you through creating a simple system that places one of three specified sounds for a gunshot. It covers all of the basic settings (and their meanings) that you need to worry about to setup a simple system like this one.

Dynamic FX Busses


audiotuts has a nice, short little tutorial on using side-chaining compressors across FX busses in order to automate the volumes. This has the effect of lowering the effect level whilst your audio track is playing and then raising it back up again when the dry track is silent.
This works well on vocal tracks and help to prevent your vocals getting swamped with effects.
The tutorial was produced using Logic, but the same prinicples will transfer to any DAW.

Friday 10 October 2008

Microphone Database


Microphone Data is a website that collates technical information for over 1700 mics from 124 manufacturers. You have to register to be able to access the site, but it is free to register.
For each mic you can access pretty detailed specs relating to frequency response, polar patterns, etc...

A similar website, although not quite as extensive is recording hacks, this consists of a blog about recording related things and a mic database which has some technical data but also reviews of the mics listed.

Both of these resources should be useful when selecting mics for varying jobs.

GBridge - File sharing app


gbridge is a free windows app that allows you to remotely share files between computers as well as providing back-up facilities.
All you need is a google account to get it working.

Could be very useful for sharing files between group members when working on projects.

Behind the scenes of Dr Who's audio

Sonic State has an exclusive behind the scenes documentary from Bang, the post-production house in Wales responsible for the sound for the Dr Who series.
This first video is an introduction to the facility and their equipment/resources.
There is a short intro to the world of foley.



Following episdoes promise a more in depth look at sound design and foley - so should be good.

edit:
The second episode is now available. The majority of this post discusses their new Dolby licenced 5.1 studio. There are also a few comments from Russel T Davies (the main producer of ther series)

Thursday 9 October 2008

Interview with Ben Burtt


unidentified sound object posts a video interview with Ben Burtt discussing the Wall-E film.
This is a little different from the usual interviews in that they didn't focus entirely on the cute little robot sounds. Instead Burtt discusses the advantages of working on the project from the very start and how he was able to create little sound experiments of how he thought the character might sound. He would pass these recordings to the animators who would create short sequences to using his soundtracks. The cross-collaboration between the 2 departments really helped to develop and refine the character of Wall-E.

He touches on the amount of sound effects that needed to be produced on this film (over 2,600!) due to the fact that it is an animation and so everything in the film needed to have a sound created for it.
He goes onto explain how he finds himself recording "interesting" sounds from every day life as he walks around (he calls it "collecting"), even whilst he's on holiday. He recalls taking his daughter shopping so he could get away with recording the sound of shopping trolleys crashing into things.

He finishes up reminiscing about some of his favourite characters from the films he's worked on. Obviously he mentions R2-D2 and the difficulties he had in fabricating a personality for the little robot through the use of sound. He suggests that sound designers really enjoy working on some of the minor characters in films as it allows them "invent" personalities and show off a little bit with sound.

Creating custom EXS instrument


audiotuts has a nice little tutorial on creating your own cutsom instrument in Logic's EXS sampler.
It's only basic in that it covers loading a single sample, mapping it across the entire key range and adjusting it's loop points, but it's a good starting point if you want to start making your own instruments.

Tuesday 7 October 2008

Wiggio - Collaborative Tool


Wiggio is a free online app that aims to help you work collaboratively.

It has a pretty simple interface with 6 main tools:
1. Calendar — A fairly simple shared calendar that allows you to manage group events. There’s no easy way to add this calendar to whatever time management system you use, but you can set up an automatic email whenever a change is made to the calendar (or any other part of your group). Gmail seems to be able translate those emails into Google Calendar events without an issue.
2. Folder — You can upload most file types to your Wiggio groups. Wiggio can even handle version-tracking automatically. A group member can download the file, change it and re-upload it. He doesn’t need to change the file name or anything for Wiggio to recognize it as a new version. Old versions are still available.
3. Meeting — Wiggio offers two types of meetings for users: a chatroom and a conference call. For conference calls, Wiggio uses Rondee, a free conference call service. Wiggio will also host chats for your group.
4. Poll — Not all collaboration applications offer any tools to help with decision making, but with Wiggio’s Poll system, you can matters to a vote in your group. You don’t even need to track responses to get an answer.
5. Messages — Through Wiggio, you can send messages to group members in three different ways: text message, email and voice note. You can also post notes on your group’s home page, but no guarantee that group members will log in and see them. I was a little concerned at first that the text message and voice mail options meant that the entire group would have access to my phone number, but all of that is handled internally.
6. Links — The link tool is simply a place to paste in links so that your group has a shared set of bookmarks.

"There is definintely an assumption for Wiggio that group members aren’t going to be sitting at their desks all day, every day. If you’ve had problems keeping touch with those members of your group that seem to prioritize their social lives over group meetings, being able to send them text message reminders may prove invaluable."


I think this tool could prove very useful - especially as it allows you to file share and send text reminders to group members mobiles - no excuses now!!

via lifehack

Tips on Critiquing


lifehack have put together a nice little piece with tips on how to better constructive feedback/criticism.
This would a useful thing to read if you have to take part in any critique of another person's work - as either part of group work or as part of an in-class discussion.

The main points are:
1. Comment on what's right
2. Ask why they've done something
3. Focus on the general
4. Brainstorm fixes
5. Offer an honest opinion
6. Leave it to their judgement
"Critiquing is a skill, just as much as any other aspect of communication. Considering how often we’re asked for our opinions on something, it seems worthwhile to develop the skill to give an opinion without getting everyone in an uproar. While I’d love it if some people would just identify a little less with their work, the truth is that many people take critiques very personally and it takes a deft touch to help them improve a project without everything ending in tears. Whether you’re participating in critique sessions for your company’s next big marketing campaign or you’re headed off to the local writers group, think about how you can give a great critique. How can you really help the person asking for your feedback improve their project?"

Comping in Logic

something/anything have posted a video on their blog highlighting how to easily create composite tracks from multiple takes.
This method would prove extremely useful when recording dialogue within films, amongst other things.

Subtractive Synthesis Video

HowAudio.com have made one of their video tutorials on subtractive synthesis freely available on youtube.
The video deals with oscillators and waveforms, it explains the differences between each of the main waveshapes and their sound.

Friday 3 October 2008

Fusion - Educational Discount


If you're a Mac user and are wanting to run any Windows only app (there are some that are worth it!) then you may want to look at Fusion by VMware.
Fusion is a virtualisation application which lets you run Windows (you may have to install a Boot Camp partition) directly from your Mac OS without having reboot into a Windows install.

VMware offer educational discounts for all their software and the price for Fusion works out at $40 which is equivalent to £22.50 (at the time or writing).

link

Check it out.

Join up with Celtx and Against Malaria in the fight against malaria.


Celtx the "integrated media Pre-Production" company have launched a competition that encourages students to creata some of media that can be used to increase awareness of malaria.

See below for details

We're challenging high school, university, and film school students across the planet to create media that educates the public about malaria and inspires others to donate $5 to buy a life-saving malaria bednet.

From October 1st to December 31, 2008 use Celtx to create a video, film, ad, comic book, stage play, podcast, video game, music video, machinima - anything that you think will draw attention to malaria bednets and encourage others to make a donation.

On January 15th, 2009, Against Malaria will select 3 projects whose creators will receive the honor of determining the countries of distribution for 5,000 malaria bednets. 10 projects will also be selected at random and their creators will receive a Celtx swag pack (jacket and USB stick). Plus, one or more of the projects will be linked to and promoted on the Against Malaria site.

Sound Design Competition


Post Magazine have announced a sound design competition in conjunction with "Sonopedia".
Create a 30sec piece of sound design narrative using only a set of provided samples.
Rules and Info for the SONOPEDIA Sound Design Competition

• A Sound Design Narrative can consist of a sound narrative (telling a story with sound), a sonic landscape, abstract sound art, the choice is yours.

• Judging Criteria: The judges will evaluate entries based on creative use of sound effects, and structure and flow from beginning to end.

• The Winner must be prepared to describe how they created their sound narrative, such as what kinds of effects and editing techniques they used, software used, etc.

• Audio format for entries: 16-bit 44.1 kHz stereo .wav file.

• Submit entries to submissions@postmagazine.com by November 14, 2008.

• Entries over 30 seconds long not accepted. You are only allowed to use sounds included in the download package. You are not allowed to use sounds from any other source. You are allowed and encouraged to manipulate and process the sounds.