Locality Switch

It’s the motto of audio and lighting engineers around the world – “Gaff fixes everything”. You won’t (and shouldn’t) see a production which hasn’t been given the gaff treatment at some point. In some productions (my school productions come to mind!), rolls and rolls of the stuff will have been sacrificed to keep everything together.

For those who have not yet been enlightened to the invention of gaff, here’s a definition:

High-quality cloth-backed adhesive tape. Stronger, stickier, more reliable, and generally about 1000x more versatile than duct tape. Also as much as $25/roll. Fixes just about anything…

That’s right. It’s high quality, and way better than duct tape!

Duct tape is what you use if you want to stick down your cables for a little while, but never get the stuff back off the cables. Gaff is what you use if you want your cables secured, but then restored to their original state when you rip off the tape. Never use duct tape on cables!

Never confuse Gaff with Duct Tape while in my presence, or in the presence of another Gaff-lover. It is like giving yourself a death wish.

Gaff is expensive, but well worth the investment. If I were to make a list of things to never leave home without, gaff would be on the top of the list, right up there with a GPO tester, pocket knife, and side cutters. In fact, there have been times when all of these things have even found their way to school with me! It’s useful stuff – even in the most unlikely circumstances; hey, I’ve even fixed a ping pong table at school with some gaff.

Family, take note: if you are ever stuck as to what to give me for a birthday present, a good roll of Gaff will do. (Not the cheap stuff, a good quality roll)

At 2CCR, we need to find someone to fill the position of Station Manager. I suggested that the best way to start was by developing a formal position description, so we know what the ideal candidate should be able to do, what their duties are, etc.

With nothing better to do after dinner one day, I decided I would give it a go. Here’s what I came up with:

Key Role:

• Must ensure the smooth day to day operation of the station

Responsibilities:

• Be the main contact person for all presenters, and emergency situations
• Maintaining regular contact with presenters, and attend to any issues arising
• Ensuring program vacancies are filled with a suitable casual presenter
• Able to troubleshoot basic technical issues, and delegate all other technical issues appropriately
• Have understanding of the policies and procedures of the station as well as codes of practice and legal requirements, and be able to enforce them as appropriate
• Providing regular written reports to the board, and attending board meetings as necessary
• Assessing newly trained presenters to ensure competency before going to air
• Welcoming new volunteers and making them feel comfortable

Requirements:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Competency with the usage of computers to fulfill the job’s requirements
• An understanding of radio broadcasting and how it functions
• Great people skills
• Enthusiasm, commitment and passion for community broadcasting

Availability:

• Should be able to attend the station for a minimum of five hours, during weekdays, each week
• Should be available at other times to visit specific presenters as the need arises
• Should be available for attendance at out of hours meetings
• Must be comfortable being on call all of the time to resolve or delegate responsibility of emergency situations

That’s what I wrote. What is it based on? Nothing, except my own personal opinions. Remember, this is just what I feel our station needs – your station manager could have a whole other set of duties not outlined here. Also, this hasn’t been adopted by our board, so it certainly isn’t final; it’s just my contribution.

Feel free to use it. Adapt it. Change it. Rejig it. It’s open for you to freely use. Enjoy!

With the CBF now accepting applications for the Audio over IP Outside Broadcast grant, I thought I would put together a hypothetical outside broadcast rig. Is it possible to put together a complete rig within the limits of this budget? We’ll soon find out.

This isn’t just the computer and 3G modem – this is my attempt to fit all the essentials into a rig (computer, modem, mixer, as well as PA gear). Let’s see if I can juggle it. All prices are for information only, and will probably change before the end of the week.

Laptop: Compaq Presario CQ60-210TU (Dick Smith Electronics – $748.00)

3G Modem: Huawei E1762 (Exetel – $145.00)

Mixer: Yamaha MG102C ($269.00 RRP)

Amp: Behringer EP2000 ($529.00)

Speakers: 2x Behringer B212XL ($275.00 each)

Microphone: Sennheiser E816 ($129.00)

Total: $2370.00 This leaves $130 to spend on some accessories (e.g. mic cables, stands, etc.)

So, this is pretty much the cheapest rig I could piece together. Remember, you may have some bits and pieces lying around, such as a computer and some better mics. Also, I have assumed that we will be using free software on the PC.

I don’t really like the Mixer, speakers, or microphone in the above rig. We can do much better than that cheap stuff!

What happens if we up the budget a bit? Let’s say, $4000. Here’s what I would do:

Laptop: Compaq Presario CQ60-210TU (Dick Smith Electronics – $748.00)

3G Modem: Huawei E1762 (Exetel – $145.00)

Mixer: Yamaha MG124CX ($566.00)

Speakers: 2x Yamaha R112 ($449.00 each)

Amp: Yamaha P2500S ($699.00)

Wireless Mic: Shure PG2/PG58 ($599.00)

Total: $3755.00 Leaving $245.00 for accessories

That’s much nicer. Now we have a proper mixer with faders, rather than cheap pots, as well as a wireless mic and some nicer speakers and amp.

What if we decide we want a full two way audio link, so you can have chats with the people in the studio? We’ll need something like the offering from AudioTX, coming in at a bit below $5000 (based on some rough calculations, only).

Finally, remember that I haven’t included any ongoing costs, such as the 3G connection charges. That will cost extra, but I don’t think you can claim these ongoing charges from the grant.

Can we get a full OB rig for less than $2500? Yes we can! Is the equipment ideal? Not quite, but it will work and will allow you to establish a regular presence in the community. What I suggest is that stations get the core equipment from this grant, and then buy the rest from additional station funds (or perhaps do some fund raising or a sponsorship drive to raise the cash).

(For the record, many of the prices on this page came from Turramurra Music‘s website. I have no hesitations in recommending them as a great place to buy PA gear from.)

Crashing no less than six times in the space of fifteen minutes while trying to write yesterday’s blog post about Kwok. That’s right: Firefox crashed six times! Thank goodness for WordPress’ Auto Save.

Very embarrassing. Well, for Mozilla, at least. It’s just plain annoying for me.

This isn’t the first time I have had Firefox crash repeatedly on my Mac. Last time it happened, I was using Tiger. This time, I am using Snow Leopard.

Was I doing anything unusual when the crash occurred? No. I was basically just writing in WordPress, and occasionally uploading an image (with both the standard uploader and the Flash uploader). There have been reports of Firefox crashing when using WordPress, but that was resolved as an issue with Google Gears; I don’t use Gears, so this doesn’t help me.

I have used this experience as a chance to learn about how Mozilla deals with crash reports.

If you navigate your Firefox browser to about:crashes, you will get a list of GUIDs which reference to your crashes. Click on one of them, and you will be taken to the Mozilla crash reporting website, where you can see the gruesome details about the crash. Core dumps, running threads, modules, kernel details – it’s all there.

Bundle this with Bugzilla, and Mozilla really does have a great platform for dealing with crashes and bugs. It’s a really comprehensive system they have setup to deal with the sheer volume of issues they would have. Great job! Now, can you please fix my Firefox?

If you’ve got more than a couple of computers and a few bits of software, then you need some sort of asset management system. Something which will allow you to keep track of every bit of hardware and software in an organised and easy to use manner.

We’re not talking about a simple spreadsheet, although that may be useful for very small-scale solutions. You need Kwok; Kwok Information Server.

Kwok allows you to keep track of all of you assets, the hardware and the software. Don’t store all of your information in one person’s brain – keep if all stored in a collaborative system.  Here’s what Kwok can do for you:

• Hardware management: register every bit of hardware in the system, and then assign it to users or a specific location. Keep track of who is using what
• Software management: register all of your software licenses, and then link these to specific computers. It’s easy to see how many licensees you have for each piece of software
• Issue tracking: log all issues experienced with your equipment, and then use it to track updates and assign a resolution. No more “oh, I forgot about that problem!”
• Knowledge base: log important pieces of information regarding your systems or policies. Have some computers which require some special attention? Add an article about it before you get hit by a bus

This is a very powerful feature set. Combine it with LDAP Integration (so you can link it to your Active Directory), email updates, vendor contact details, and a whole set of other features, and you have one very powerful system!

What would make this whole system even better for you is investing in asset labels – stickers identifying the owner of the hardware and containing a unique identifier. Whack one on each bit of hardware, and log that number against the asset in Kwok. It’s a simple way to keep track of the correspondence between physical assets and records in Kwok.

Kwok is a web based system which is open source. It requires Apache Tomcat and PostgreSQL to run, but the package includes the whole system. Just plonk it in a folder on your server, and step through the provided instructions.

There’s a few things I find troublesome with Kwok. Firstly, there is a lack of delete button in several sections, such as ‘issues’. Secondly, the interface can be a bit slow to move around if you’re new to it – for example, it took me a while to find the pagination section on the hardware screen.

Overall, this is a great concept for a system, and a reasonable implementation. If you don’t have any sort of asset management, then this could be just what you need to get organised. Don’t wait until you have a specific reason to document everything – do it now!

(By the way, if you are looking for some asset labels to stick on everything, try Avonlea Labels. Our ones look fantastic, and are quite strong)

I did something different yesterday. After school, I walked to the local Next Byte store, and purchased Snow Leopard (the latest Apple operating system – released that very morning). Why is this different for me? I have never purchased an operating system on it’s first day of public availability. Never.

However, something inside me told me that I should go and get this upgrade as soon as possible. After all, I hadn’t upgraded to Leopard, and was still running Tiger. I also thought it would be worth upgrading to a 64 bit operating system.

The installation went well. The whole thing was finished before I could read a few articles in the latest Audio Technology (they have a good review on headphones, by the way). Very smooth, and much more streamline than any Windows installations I have ever performed (and I’ve done that a fair few times!).

The advantages I have received over using Tiger are numerous. I can see the small speed difference between the 64 bit apps and the old 32 bit apps. I love the new dock, the refined finder and better networking. Hey, even the Exchange supports makes me want to setup my own Exchange server!

Sure, many of the features I have benefited from would have been there by just upgrading to Leopard ages ago. However, I never actually used Leopard – while I didn’t see any problem with it, but it was still the OS which I never used. That’s just how it worked.

Do I regret being an early adopter of Snow Leopard? Not yet. And I don’t think I will. It’s been smooth sailing so far, and I expect it to stay that way. After all, Macs are renowned for being no-nonsense, and just getting the job done.

If you have an Intel Mac with Tiger, you should really be thinking about upgrading. In fact, don’t think about it; just do it. The upgrade is painless, and well worth it. If you get the box set, you even get iLife 09 and iWork 09 – it’s a wise investment.

The Community Broadcasting Foundation announced in their July 2009 Email Newsletter that they would soon be offering grants for IP based Outside Broadcast equipment. Well, it’s finally arrived. Here’s the details.

Any long term or temporary community station without any existing IP OB equipment may apply for the grant of up to $2,500. This opportunity is only open this year, so if you miss the 12th October 2009 deadline for submissions, then there is the chance you may never be able to apply for this type of grant.

Taking a look through the application form, you are asked how many OBs you did in 2009, and are asked to list the last five OBs you have performed. While it does say “if applicable” next to this bit, my guess is that stations with a previous history of OBs will be given priority.

The application form has a table with different categories of items, with a place to write in your quoted amount for each of the ones you are applying for. Categories include notebook computers, USB modems, Mixing consoles, Microphones, Audio interfaces and most curiously, Audio Streaming Software.

The Audio Streaming Software category is either badly worded, or implies that they don’t want to fund hardware solutions. It looks like AudioTX and Tieline are out of the question. I suppose this isn’t surprising, as the OB-over-IP Manual released by the CBF didn’t really cover any hardware solutions (or any open source software packages, either!).

What does this grant opportunity mean for the sector? It means that it may now be possible for many stations to move away from POTS codecs and leased lines which have been used for traditional outside broadcasts, and move towards IP equipment over 3G connections. It will allow for much more programming freedom, and will possibly allow for more OBs to occur.

Easier and cheaper OBs will hopefully allow for more community interaction and involvement, and that’s what we’re here for. Right?

Governments have a tendency to make things much harder than they have to be. Take, for example. social media. It’s a simple thing, isn’t it? Even a kid with elementary computer skills can understand how to post something to YouTube, a Blog, or Facebook. Why do our politicians get it so wrong?

Bureaucracy.

Let’s look at the short lived blog of Senator Conroy’s: The short lived Digital Economy blog. It looked and smelt like a government website, and got so many things wrong.

How about the Twitter account of my local Mayor, Councillor Larry Bolitho. The tweets are written in third person, each one starting with “Larry Bolitho”, and proceeding to tell us where he is. There aren’t any personal thoughts in there. Oh, and have you seen the instruction manual and disclaimer which comes with it?

Responses will be at the discretion of the Mayor… Who@HillsShireMayor chooses to follow on Twitter is at the discretion of the Mayor.

It would be great if our politicians could get with it on this whole social media thing. Some of their present attempts are just embarrassing.

However, there is someone who is up to date on this whole social media arena. Barack Obama. Have you seen the Whitehouse website? It’s beautiful, functional, accessable, and also integrates with social media platforms.

Anil Dash wrote a blog post about Government internet startups. He notes that they are now actually doing things right:

Now, .gov websites have historically been backwaters at best, a bunch of awkwardly-designed, poorly defined sites that only met the bare requirements of a web presence. But of course the current administration is comprised in great part of digital natives, and it’s remarkable how quickly they’ve remade the .gov world into not just a number of compelling websites, but into a broad set of platforms that are going to inspire as much technological innovation as Twitter, Facebook or the iPhone did when they unveiled their technology platforms.

It’s great to see what the Government of the United States of America is turning out, in terms of websites and useful web tools. They are being innovative, and are truly leading the way in government web presences. Countries around the world should use this as the benchmark, and strive to meet it.

Let’s hope the rest of the world can see the benefits of social media and the web, and start doing things properly. It can work to their advantage.

Twitter’s Trending Topics is where you can see the most popular topics on Twitter at the moment, and check out the stream of tweets related it it. It all works in real time, which opens it up to a whole heap of spam.

Twitter makes is really easy to get your message in front of a large audience through these trending topics, which spammers are utterly exploiting. To get your message in there, just include the trending key words in your tweet, and you magically appear in the stream for the topic.

It’s not only the spammy messages which are annoying – it’s also those foreign language messages which appear in the streams. I don’t need to see the tweets from those speaking another language – it doesn’t help me one bit.

How can this spam be stopped? Well, it would be fairly easy to remove the foreign language tweets from the stream – just have a set of common words for each language, and if the tweet matches another language’s key words, then Twitter can hide it from my stream.

The issue of real spam would be a bit trickier to fix, but I believe it is a very doable. The first thing to do would be for Twitter to scan each tweet and see if it has a whole heap of trending topic keywords in it. These are the most obvious type of trending topic spam.

Second thing to do would be placing a little link on each Tweet in the stream of Trending Topics which says “spam”. If people click that, it flags it for moderation. Oh, and to avoid abuse of the spam button, it should be only be available to users who have been on the site for a few months.

Finally, I believe that it should take a certain amount of time of someone being a user before they can actually appear in the trending topics stream. It won’t hurt if the new members don’t get in the stream, will it?

These are a few simple ideas which I humbly present to Twitter to help remove the low quality contributions by people who feel it is necessary to spam up my tweet-box.

During work experience, I was able to get very familiar with the Axia Audio-over-IP Studios. From my knowledge, there aren’t any that many stations using Axia studios, and I don’t even remember seeing them at SMPTE09, so their choice to invest in this brand was interesting to me.

However, there was a very valid reason they chose this brand over, say, Logiteck or Klotz. With either of these alternate brands (and others, I believe), the audio is all connect directly into the studio engines via I/O cards.

What happens if you have an audio source which needs to be used in multiple studios? You can access the audio over the network no matter what studio it is connected into, but if the studio with the audio for that feed connected into it needs to be brought offline, or perhaps restarted, you loose access to that source.

How do these companies suggest you get around this issue? Distribution amplifiers – run the audio into each studio’s engine through a DA. Hang on! Isn’t the point of Audio-over-IP equipment to avoid all of that thick multi-pair cable which is so expensive and takes extra time to install?

Let’s take a look at how Axia does it: no audio is actually connected into the studio engine. It all is connected into Audio Nodes, which are basically a 1RU device which hooks into your audio network via a single run of Cat6, and has some analog inputs and outputs on the back. All of that audio is now available on the network, to be accessed wherever you desire.

The end result: if you need to turn off a whole studio, you don’t risk taking any station-wide audio off the network. You also don’t need any multi pair cable into each studio, and DAs.

The problem I think the other manufacturers are facing is old thinking. (Actually, this is what the technical manager at Hope 103.2 described it as – and I agree with him). They are using the old methodology of all audio being connected into the studio, rather than having it connected into anywhere on the network. I can’t blame them for thinking like this – studios have been doing this for years, why change it for digital, right?

Why would you want to stick with this old approach when it’s obvious that this node approach of Axia’s is better thinking? By the way, it’s not as if Axia came up with this approach – computer networks have been doing this for ages.

Let’s move forwards and adapt new ways of thinking. Let’s be agents of change.

(I don’t mean to bag out Logiteck or Klotz. I spoke to both of them at SMPTE09, and they are great people. However, I believe that perhaps they are using the wrong techniques for this digital studio revolution.)