Can't say I've seen any film versions of The Time Machine, but I read the book this summer. To be honest, I was disappointed. However, I might check out that movie now, to see if it's more enjoyable.

Cheers for reading such a classic! Take the film with a grain of salt - remember that it was 1960. Accept that they took some liberties with straying from the original novel. But in the end, it really was a sci-fi cinema classic.

And oh yes - it's shot in METROCOLOR!!!!

How would you go about learning how to make a minimalistic home studio (just like the basics), and what cost would I be looking at?

I'd give your show a listen for sure. I've found some great stuff browsing the links in your sig btw - most recently Skalpel's self titled.

Thanks! Glad you're digging the list. If you enjoy Skalpel's s/t I'd also recommend the following future jazz staples:

Amon Tobin - Bricolage
Amon Tobin - Supermodified
Cinematic Orchestra - Motion
Funki Porcini - Fast Asleep (conk out tunes)
Hidden Orchestra - Night Walks
Kruder & Dorfmeister - The K&D Sessions (an undisputed downtempo classic)
Mr. Scruff - Trouser Jazz (having a bit of fun with it)
Royksopp - Melody A.M.
St. Germain - Tourist (classy downtempo jazz)
St. Germain - St. Germain (more energetic with a smart dose of world music)

or for darkjazz -

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - From the Stairwell
The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation - Anthropomorphic

And if any other members are enjoying recordings from my lists, by all means shoot me the titles you enjoy and I'll fire off a list of related essentials.

An excellent question. I already have a dedicated sound room with an audio workstation so I was halfway there. The room has no electronics with moving components, a near-zero noise floor, and plenty of dampening elements so echo is a non-issue.

Since my PC soundcard does not feature multitrack inputs the first thing I'm picking up is a basic mixer. I needed one with two 1/4" auxiliary inputs, a few component inputs, and a USB out. An engineer friend who mixes sound for film recommended the Alesis Multimix 4 USB FX 4-Channel Mixer with Effects & USB Audio Interface which is $94.99. And if you need more inputs there is an 8-channel unit for $149.

I've got a decent Shure XLR mic from my music recording days so I'll just need one more mic, but I'll need tripod boom stands so that I have my hands free for the shows. These AmazonBasics Tripod Boom Microphone Stands are only $17 each.

I'd considered picking up desktop mic stands but my engineer buddy advised against it as resting my and my cohost's arms on the desk would generate unwanted noise if we used desktop stands.

The next essential is to pick up pop/plosive filters for each mic. (These eliminates the terrible clipping you hear on amateur podcasts when the speaker uses harsh consonants like the words beginning with the letter "P".) Plosive filters are really inexpensive but make you sound far more professional. Pick up a windscreen like this one for $11.99.

I'm a Linux user so for software I'll be using the multitrack recorder in Audacity to record the channels coming out of the mixer. Audacity is free and available for Windows users if that's your poison. I used to produce using Syntrillium's CoolEdit2000 way back before Adobe purchased it and redubbed it as Adobe Audition. If you've already got Audition or ProTools, you're all set with software, but Audacity will do the job just fine for free.

I should definitely note that eHomeRecordingStudio.com published a wonderful feature walking user who are new to home recording through all the basics. It even includes purchase links with a variety of options for all the necessities. They've broken the guide up into four sections - users starting fresh in their bedrooms, users who've got a dedicated and acoustically-treated sound room in their home, semi-pro studios, and a final section for professionals.

Check it out here!

Hey Trollheart... add these last two features to my Guru List. :afro:

I actually bookmarked that page yesterday! Thanks for detailing your purchases!

I must ask though, what would be the benefit of mixing a track outside of Audacity with the Alesis, as opposed to doing it in program? I'm still quite a newbie to all this.

^
Awesome. I'm pretty familiar with Amon Tobin and St Germain, will definitely have to check out those others.

No prob - it's a matter of technological limitation. The integrated sound card on the motherboard of PCs is ****e. That's why people buy external DACs and such. And that limitation is terrible for recording, as most onboard soundcards can only handle a single stereo input at a time. So I could only record one mic line, or external sound source in real time. Useless for two gents chatting into dedicated mics with a third stereo channel of line level audio.

That's where the mixing board comes in. It handles input from multiple dedicated stereo channels simultaneously, with controls for input levels, effects, etc, and transmits that audio data via USB to the PC. This preserves each independent audio channel and assigns each automatically to a separate channel in Audacity, granting me the flexibility to adjusting the individual recordings separately in post production.

Does that help?

Of course! Very informative all of this, thanks again!

My superpower - I can spot an ambient record from 350 feet.
 

Just moments ago, I came across a user in a music community who posted this photo as his current spin -

http://i.imgur.com/mBFdq9dl.jpg

The cover stopped my scroll wheel action in its tracks, as my brain latched on to an unfamiliar specimen of a well-established established trope. We've got a sparse aerial shot of wintry mountains. We've got two words set in sans serif lowercase type. Ladies and gentlemen... this is a minimalist ambient drone record.

Sure enough, the artist name - loscil is taken from the "looping oscillator" function of the same name in Csound. Loscil is the electronic/ambient music project of Scott Morgan, from Vancouver, British Columbia, whose self-released debut, A New Demonstration of Thermodynamic Tendencies caught the attention of Kranky Records who promptly signed him up for a record deal.



And yet somehow, in all my years of ambient travel (3,950 ambient albums to date), loscil had evaded my radar. I'm remedying that immediately and really enjoying the cold, isolated sound of this album.

Now I just need a superhero name based on my power.