Useful links

Some tabs I’m hoarding right now. Can’t close anything until I make a note of them somewhere. It’s a manic affliction.

http://www.htaccesstools.com/htpasswd-generator/ – the .htpasswd generator I used to get back into this site

http://www.miraclesalad.com/webtools/md5.php – the hasher that I used to get back into this site

http://gmaps-samples.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/gdirections/directions.html – adding directions to embedded Google maps – might be useful for road trips round customers

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23354358/how-do-i-load-google-maps-external-javascript-after-page-loads – loading Google maps asynchronously is harder than I expected

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/spatial-function-reference.html – I really need to get my head round spatial functions in MySQL, then we can go on awesome road trips

https://developers.google.com/maps/articles/phpsqlajax_v3 – Quickstart guide to embedding Google maps and adding markers

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/885062-REG/kopul_lmt_100_lo_to_hi_impedance.html – Not sure whether or not I need a low to high impedance matching transformer, but it sounds cool

https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/9386276/can-i-split-a-backlog-my-product-owner – Something I’m going to write about later in the company blog

http://market.yandex.ru/compare.xml?hid=90559&CAT_ID=106323&CMD=-CMP=11861509,7334347,10506368,6354231 – A comparison of Tascams, I’m going to need one soon

http://812photo.ru/katalog/dlya-vsekh-brendov/mikrofony/zoom-h2n-detail – A Zoom H2N for 12000

http://www.dj-store.ru/oborudovanie/studiya_zvukozapisi/rekordery-portostudii/rekordery-portostudii/15520_zoom-h4n-sp.html – A Zoom H42 for 15900

https://www.fotosklad.ru/catalog/rekorder-tascam-dr-40.html – A Tascam DR-40 for 15810

http://kotofoto.ru/shop/uid_39844_sotovyii_telefon_acer_liquid_e700_temno_krasnyii.html – An Acer Liquid E700 for 9880

http://media.io/ – Used this for converting audio files, works very well

A DIY shotgun microphone that sounds very good indeed

A Google Image search for Monument Valley at sunset, just because.

Audio stuff

I very often need background music for videos. At work I’m provided with a collection of royalty-free tracks which are great for short videos, intros and outros, but they’re of specific lengths and it isn’t always easy to edit them to make them longer or shorter to suit the project.

Sometimes I just need some quiet, unobtrusive background sound to disguise a bad recording or to set an ambience for the scene. Something that can be faded in and out and stretched to any length.

I can’t make music myself (I’ve tried) but I had a feeling there should be ambient music generators out there somewhere. It transpires that, there are loads of them. Here are some that I’ve found fun or useful:

http://www.earslap.com/page/otomata.html – an astonishingly tuneful Flash-based generator that lets you record its output. I hope to use it together with some of the other generators to create a more upbeat composition.

http://www.earslap.com/page/circuli.html – by the same author as the above generator, this is also Flash-based (both have iPhone app alternatives) and creates a slightly eerie ambience.

http://perfectporridge.com/2013/04/29/new-software-turns-your-computer-into-an-original-ambient-music-generator/ – spooky ambience for horror films.

http://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music – free music from YouTube for adding to videos

http://www.shockwave-sound.com/Articles/010_Copyrights_in_Public_Domain_music.html – things to consider when using music in YouTube videos

http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/royalty-free-music/38475 – a collection of links to royalty-free music sites, haven’t used any of them though

http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/pir/free_music_loops.shtml – free loops, possibly liked to from the above site

http://ccmixter.org/people/BillRayDrums/sample – Creative Commons audio samples and mixes, could also be useful

http://en.savefrom.net/ – for downloading videos from YouTube, in case you need to

http://youtubecreator.blogspot.ru/2015/03/make-your-videos-even-more-interactive.html – something I need to try out

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=79278 – a de-esser for Audacity that I’m trying out right now

Recording

Sound effects

http://www.freesfx.co.uk/ – loads of free sound effects, some pretty good

Video technique

Brilliant compilation of techniques.

Chroma key

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/solving_tough_keying_problems_in_vegas_software – I didn’t realise that Sony Movie Studio (Vegas) chromakey was so versatile – this colour replacement technique makes it pretty fantastic.