Audio Zenith

AIS - Audio Information Service

2007-04-30T13:46:00.000Z

Our service is designed to be an empowering edition to your SecondLife experience for both you and your clients.

Our service is very simple.

You provide us with a note card of text, which we process into a high-quality audio file, using a crystal clear computerised voice. This audio file will then be given to you, or hosted by us for you, at a minimal monthly flat rate, which means you can stream and use the audio without limitations or bandwidth problems.

If you take advantage of our hosting plan we also provide you with a copy and transfer permission switching AIS Cube Radio, which allows you and your clients to shuffle through your audio files, on yours or their land. You will be given a new AIS Radio Cube with each additional note card file you wish us to process to audio.

Uses might include the following

Have your specific business information audio files play on your land so your customers can completely engage in the experience. Imagine each customer taking a copy, you could have your audio all over SecondLife!

Give away your radios for free so your clients take away a radio containing your information in an audio format.

Want to try the service out?

Please take a copy of the AIS Radio Cube back to your own land, rez it and click it. Group land requires you DEED the Cube to the land’s group.

You can switch between channels.

Ok I want to get started

Getting started is simple

1. Pay the vendor, 1 payment will give you one token. (do not loose this token you will need to give it in exchange for your audio file.) Pay again for each note card you wish to be processed.

2. Drop your note card onto the deposit box, you must press CTRL+Left Mouse when doing so.

3. IF you want your audio files hosted go right ahead and pay the hosting vendor. This is for one month, we contact you directly for repeat hosting.

4. Expect to be contacted within 3 to 5 days when we have your audio file converted.

That’s it, good luck with spreading your information!

Find us on the sim of AUDIO in SecondLife

ACHUB Recording Studio

2007-03-09T16:35:00.000Z

This is a mock-up of a large professional recording studio, designed to RL specifications. It is an accurate replica of what you might find in a real recording studio used to record top chart hits. You will see pieces of equipment that are often used by your favourite artists when recording their songs.

The primary concern with any recording studio is acoustics. The "Live Room" (The large room where the musicians play) and the "Control Room" (The room containing the Mixing console where the recording engineer sits) must sound as good as possible. Firstly notice how none of the walls are parrallel, neither is the ceiling and floor. this is to prevent sound waves from bouncing around inside the room and causing nasty effects on the recording.

You may also have noticed a range of different materials used on the floor, walls and ceilings. This is to ensure that the room absorbs an even amount of sound over the different range of frequencies and in the case of the Live Room, it will give the engineer an option as to the surface they record on, giving many possibilities as to how the sound will turn out.

Take a moment while in the Live Room to look up at the ceiling, it is made up of a series of arches to help scatter the sound that hits the ceiling so the room will have a much more natural sound. The walls are also lined with acoustic tile to bring down the reverb time (aka The Echo) in the room. The control room has also been treated in a similar way with acoustic tiles and an angled ceiling.

If you head upstairs to the control room, the first thing you will see is the central "Mixing Console" which is used to shape the sources from the individual microphones and combine them into stereo like you listen to on your hi-fi. The console is often the most important and most expensive piece of equipment in the recording studio. as an example, the RL Mixer that this is based on, would set you back $2 Million+ USD. There are 2 computer screens attached to the back of the desk. The one on the left shows the industry standard software "Digidesign ProTools™" and the right shows the internal software of the mixing console. You will also see a television screen mounted on the wall above, this is used for producing music to moving picture, or will be connected to a camera in the live room, mainly used for the engineer to see the Conductor in the event of recording an orchestra.

The walls are lined with processing units, collectively known as outboard. These units are used for changing the sound of each instrument or microphone in many different ways, ranging from simply making them louder, to complicated pitch correction (for fixing a questionable vocal/instrumental performance)

Finally we have the key part of the studio, the Monitoring Loudspeakers. these are top quality speakers that aim to produce the most accurate sound possible. Studios will pay well in excess of $100,000 USD for a good pair.

To your right is the lounge and kitchen area for the performers and staff to chill out and relax between sessions. On the left is the "Machine Room" which contains the large and often noisy equipment used to keep the studio ticking. It is isolated from the other rooms to keep noise to a minimum. note the large tape recorder alongside digital multitrack recorders. this room is also used to house computers, power supplies, data storage, tape reels and any other junk that doesnt have a home. Below this is the self explanatory instrument and microphone store, with large doors opening out onto the live room.

Opposite this underneath the lounge/kitchen we have 2 isolation booths. These are smaller live rooms used for recording vocalists, guitars, drum kits etc. that it would be un-economical to record in the huge main Live Room. These rooms will also give a closer more personal sound due to their smaller size.

Design by NoiseBoy Racer
Building/Texturing by Audio Zenith & NoiseBoy Racer

See our Recording Studio here

Amy Winehouse Is My New Obsession

2007-02-20T23:39:00.000Z

What do you guys think about Amy Winehouse?

Though I can draw parallels from yester-year, and some of the delightful divas of the Motown age Alla Aretha Franklin, this Amy really is doing it for me.

Her vocal range is delightful and her attitude too, a true artist we are hungry for and so need in this hideously over glossy pop culture crap.

Definately one of my new obsessions!

What is Mesothelioma?

2007-02-20T00:20:00.000Z

What is mesothelioma - well the fist time I heard of this I was in-world and this guy was walking around shouting it out!

Apparently it is some form of cancer related to industrial injury, I check wikipedia and that seemed to confirm it.

These types words interest me for some reason, particularly when they become buzzwords.

ACHUB Promo - Machinima Test

2007-02-19T22:53:00.000Z

This is the first test promo I have worked on with Max, I'm hoping to get more involved with these machinima clips.

I was impressed with most of this, though it needs some tweaking in places, my initial idea of the second song doesn't come across too well, The Living End - Long Live The Weekend, the first choice, max's choice, really does though!

Lou is getting into marketing

2007-02-18T00:23:00.000Z

Object-Name: ACHUB HUD Lou's 1.2 - limited edition
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (159, 211, 31)

Testing this from the HUB, for Lou's benefit. He is getting into Marketing.

audio Zenith

Get Together

2007-02-10T23:22:00.000Z

Object-Name: ACHUB HUD Alpha 1.1 - limited edition
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (155, 67, 31)

There are some issues with blogging notes currently. I'm seeking a way to find out what though. Perhaps some characters are funky.

audio Zenith

Get Together

2007-02-10T23:20:00.000Z

Object-Name: ACHUB HUD Alpha 1.1 - limited edition
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (155, 67, 31)

Get Together

2007-02-10T23:19:00.000Z

Object-Name: ACHUB HUD Alpha 1.1 - limited edition
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (155, 67, 31)

Get Together

2007-02-10T23:18:00.000Z

Object-Name: ACHUB HUD Alpha 1.1 - limited edition
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (155, 67, 31)

ACHUB HUD

2007-02-10T20:30:00.000Z

Object-Name: AC Blog Machine
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (57, 123, 31)

~~~ ACHUB HUD ~~~

Navigation system for Audiocourses.com in SL.

This vendor just gave you an object called "ACHUB HUD".

You will find this in your inventory, you can "wear" it and it will place a menu system onto your screen so you can easily visit the ACHUB related spots both in SL and on the internet.

We hope you enjoy your stay.

Why not join our group, search groups for www.audiocourses.com and click join, it is free!

------

Please check our wiki for resources needed, we have openings for you.
http://audiocourses.pbwiki.com/

Video Switching

2007-02-10T20:25:00.000Z

Object-Name: AC Blog Machine
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (57, 123, 31)

Video Switching

2007-02-10T20:24:00.001Z

Object-Name: AC Blog Machine
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (57, 123, 31)

Video Switching

2007-02-10T20:24:00.000Z

Object-Name: AC Blog Machine
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (57, 123, 31)

Magnatune Music Stream urls

2007-02-03T23:58:00.000Z

Object-Name: Zenith Blog Machine
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (38, 119, 30)

Magnatune are in SL and here are some of their urls.

http://sl.magnatune.com/Alternative%20Rock"
http://sl.magnatune.com/Ambient"
http://sl.magnatune.com/Baroque
http://sl.magnatune.com/Blues
http://sl.magnatune.com/Chamber%20Music
http://sl.magnatune.com/Children"
http://sl.magnatune.com/Choral
http://sl.magnatune.com/Christian
http://sl.magnatune.com/Classical
http://sl.magnatune.com/Classical%20After%201800
http://sl.magnatune.com/Darkwave"
http://sl.magnatune.com/Downtempo"
http://sl.magnatune.com/Electronica
http://sl.magnatune.com/Euro-Techno
http://sl.magnatune.com/Experimental
http://sl.magnatune.com/Flute
http://sl.magnatune.com/Folk
http://sl.magnatune.com/Folk-Rock
http://sl.magnatune.com/Funk
http://sl.magnatune.com/Hard%20Rock
http://sl.magnatune.com/Indian
http://sl.magnatune.com/Industrial
http://sl.magnatune.com/Jazz
http://sl.magnatune.com/Latin
http://sl.magnatune.com/Medieval
http://sl.magnatune.com/Metal
http://sl.magnatune.com/Middle-Eastern
http://sl.magnatune.com/New%20Age
http://sl.magnatune.com/Opera
http://sl.magnatune.com/Orchestral
http://sl.magnatune.com/Piano
http://sl.magnatune.com/Pop
http://sl.magnatune.com/Progressive
http://sl.magnatune.com/Punk
http://sl.magnatune.com/Rock
http://sl.magnatune.com/Techno
http://sl.magnatune.com/Thrash%20Metal
http://sl.magnatune.com/Vocal
http://sl.magnatune.com/World

ACHUB News #1

2007-02-03T23:53:00.000Z

Object-Name: blog shaped blogger v0.3
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (42, 118, 30)

~~ ACHUB News ~~

Hello all, I am now looking at running a reasonably regular news posting to the group, to bring all the latest goings on and events etc in the ACHUB.

The big news is that we now have a wicki dedicated to just the ACHUB and all of you involved. I'd like to encourage you all to take part in that and once you have created an account you can in fact edit the wiki.

Pop along here and have a look.
http://audiocourses.pbwiki.com/

That will be the place where we all post information about the ACHUB. - you might already see on the resources page that we are seeking more help and have opportunities for people with specific skills, please read that rather than ask me. :)

You will also note that we have a Google Group for the activities, this is an e-mail news lists which will help keep us up to date and chat about topics etc when away from SL.

http://groups.google.com/group/achub
Join that and send a message!

-----------------------
Episode #47 AC PODCAST was up from 2/2/07
http://www.audiocourses.com/podcasts
------------------

Welcome back to Julieana after her mini-break.

All news and ideas please do use the Google Group.

Also an ACHUD is coming soon, wear as an attachment which links to all these items I've mentioned.

Cheers

Audio Zenith

Test Blog

2007-02-03T23:50:00.000Z

Object-Name: blog shaped blogger v0.3
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (42, 118, 30)

~~~ ACHUB HUD ~~~

Navigation system for Audiocourses.com in SL.

This vendor just gave you an object called "ACHUB HUD".

You will find this in your inventory, you can "wear" it and it will place a menu system onto your screen so you can easily visit the ACHUB related spots both in SL and on the internet.

We hope you enjoy your stay.

Why not join our group, search groups for www.audiocourses.com and click join, it is free!

------

Please check our wiki for resources needed, we have openings for you.
http://audiocourses.pbwiki.com/

Test Blog

2007-02-03T00:30:00.001Z

Object-Name: blog shaped blogger v0.3
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (48, 127, 30)

Are you ok?

audio Zenith

Test Blog

2007-02-03T00:30:00.000Z

Object-Name: blog shaped blogger v0.3
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (48, 127, 30)

Testing my blogging tool form audio sim

audio Zenith

New Wiki for ACHUB

2007-02-01T22:48:00.000Z

Today I created a new wiki for ACHUB which went reasonable well and was kind of pain free. The wiki is pretty neat in that it now provides a central location for storing the type of information that can't be held too well in SL itself.

The wiki means it is also very easy for a group of people to be able to add and edit the wiki contents easily, which I hope is you, if you are indeed involved in some way with The ACHUB.

Already I have created a Resources page which lists out who the team members are and what their responsibility is.

Pop along and have a look.

http://audiocourses.pbwiki.com/

SecondLife Class 5 Server IP Range

2007-02-01T00:15:00.000Z

Seems I have cracked an issue which was down right annoying me for a long time, which was trying to discover what IP range Linden Labs use for their Secondlife Class 5 servers.

I posted the initial concern on an educators mailing as I figure I was probably not alone in this issue. It does seem there have been other people with a similar issue as mine, so this may well help you too.

The original post is here: IP BLOCKS.

So I dug around and have now managed to establish that my sim AUDIO is actually on the IP of 64.129.41.209 which is Time Warner Telcom owned, quite why that IP is in a black list on peer guardian I have I no idea, maybe you do?

Seem that the complete range of those IP are as below.

-----------------------------------
OrgName: Time Warner Telecom, Inc.
OrgID: TWTC
Address: 10475 Park Meadows Drive
City: Littleton
StateProv: CO
PostalCode: 80124
Country: US

ReferralServer: rwhois://rwhois.twtelecom.net:4321

NetRange: 64.128.0.0 - 64.129.255.255
CIDR: 64.128.0.0/15
NetName: TWTC-NETBLK-11
NetHandle: NET-64-128-0-0-1
Parent: NET-64-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS1.MILW.TWTELECOM.NET
NameServer: NS1.IPLT.TWTELECOM.NET
NameServer: NS1.ORNG.TWTELECOM.NET
Comment:
RegDate: 2004-04-26
Updated: 2006-03-09

RTechHandle: ZT87-ARIN
RTechName: Time Warner Telecom
RTechPhone: +1-800-898-6473
RTechEmail: ipmanager@twtelecom.net
------------------------------------------------

So I have no opened peer guardian and have added the entire IP range of 64.128.0.0 - 64.129.255.255, to an include list.

I'm now able to run both peer guardian and connect to my sim in Secondlife.

Blog test from notecard

2006-12-03T16:01:00.000Z

Object-Name: Object
Region: Audio (273920, 280832)
Local-Position: (228, 149, 30)

http://www.audiocourses.com
http://www.audiocourses.com/forums
http://www.audiocourses.com/podcasts

----------
Message Converted from notecard with Notecard2EmailTechSupport version 0.1 alpha

Sim Delivery

2006-11-27T21:04:00.000Z

I decided it was time to at least attempt to get slightly up to date with a blog post here, it's truely amazing how time has flown. I am now writing this short little blog post exactly one week after having being delivered a shiny new class 5 sim.

Oh yes a shiny new sim, class 5 no less, you know the ones that Linden Labs are now rolling out. I had to wait longer than the 2-3 weeks mind you, but hey LL are busy and we'll I'm happy now.

So the new sim ownership started off as a big royal pain in the ass to be frank, I just couldn't get access, so friends were landing on my new land and, well, frankly laughing out loud! - Turns out that LL are using a new set of IP blocks for these new class 5 beasties and my peer guardian software has those very IPs blocked! Hmmm why would they be blocked one must ask? - maybe you can comment back with the answer?

So anyway after disabling, or rather added the new IPs blocks as "safe" I could happily gain access, I must thank Ben Linden and also Amber Linden for helping me work through the no-access problem, though I gotta say it was Louis Ringgold who said "just re-boot" - lol, this did give me access, though due to Peer Guardian being deactivated on a reboot, so Lou, you helped anyway.

Moving on and back up to date, the sim has undergone a tranformation in just 6 days, lots of hours mind you, and support from many of you, I know I get crabby, but hey, I'm expressing man.

I had intended to blog lots of pictures of the planning stage, which I incorporated before the sim delivery so I'll map a few of those out here now. The following pic is a test build for the main multi-purpose venue in the center of the building. As you can see I have opted for a tiered circular approach not disimilar to an amphi-theatre.

The tool of choice for the building of this is known as THX1 by Cadroe Murphy. This tool is almost the best one I have found to date in SL, it will create theatre style seating based on some simple maths you feed it. The maths I fed for the required seats were: THX1AC whispers: Sides 16: Rows 10: AisleW 2.000: Radius 15.000: Thickness 0.600: Width 1.000: Z Offset 6.000: Arc Sides 16: Base Price L$0. I'll explain a little more about the Base Price L$0 in a later post.

Celtic Footprint

2006-11-16T13:37:00.000Z

For those that know me well it is no secret that I am proud of my Cornish heritage, I was born and raised in Cornwall and still maintain very close links with my family and network of friends. This attachment inevitably conjures a strong sense of Celtic identity for me, growing up in a Cornish family, we had Celtic history books everywhere, folk music played in the pubs and among family and friends, and in the back garden was a huge granite Celtic cross.

The Celtic cross is centuries old, some possibilities of the history found here: What is the history of the Celtic cross?

Now for me when this Celtic cross is viewed from a "bird's eye" perspective the cross provides a perfect "footprint" for the various space needs of our new sim.

The list of needs (highlighted in a previous blog) indicate that a large multi-purpose venue is required, this then is naturally fitting to be the central circle of the cross, essentially the "heart" of the spaces and a focus for the sim activities.

I have taken a Celtic cross image and laid a grid map over the top to indicate how the 10x10 grid would map out in terms of meters.

The equivalent length and width of a sim is 256x256 and as can be seen by my grid, the cross will extend to be around 200m at its height. This will leave 25m space each end for other plans.

The numbers on the grid are related to my previous blog: Defining The Spaces.

Certainly this design presents many challenges for the build, if you look at the multi-purpose venue you can see that the diameter is set to be around 30m, a large circle, in fact many circles will need to be build of such a large diameter. I will be indicating how I propose to tackle this in future posts.

Defining The Spaces

2006-11-12T15:37:00.000Z

Julieana Cannoli, (Consigliere) has agreed to work with me on the sim project planning, her roles are numerous and will involve, or evolve, as the various phases are completed. The first phase will see Julie providing valuable networking skills to source appropriate technology needs and scripting requirements.

The preliminary phase is indeed the build planning, in order to accommodate the various spaces required.

The spaces that we are looking to develop are as follows:

1. Multi-purpose event venue - this will be a large space which can be booked for a variety of events which will contain various technologies for audio/video delivery along with appropriate tiered seating to enable clear lines of sight. The space, or radius, will be larger than the 20m chat range, so the furthest seating allocation will require a shout action. This large space is essential for the concepts we hope to achieve here.

2. Welcoming area - displaying posters of the various work which was carried out or commissioned for the project along with the services provided.

3. Workshop/instructional zone - again full audio/video suite for running a variety of educational courses and projects.

4. Store - to provide a very real commercial environment for outputting student projects and for various real-world/in-world training.

5. Club - to provide a social environment for conducting social research along with club management and event management training projects.

6. Surrounding water - the ability to carry out nautical activity, including but no limited to boat building/construction

7. Connecting walkways, to provide exhibition zones and a sense of spacious decadence surrounding the heart of the build, which is the multi-purpose venue.

Each of the above spaces will be described in detail in following posts as we discover exactly what requirements are needed and how to implement them.