Here's episode 5!
It's on YouTube and the link is below!
Please comment here if you guys would like any more information!
Monday, May 14, 2012
Mooder's Tech Blog Podcast - Episode 5
Here's episode 5!
It's on YouTube and the link is below!
Please comment here if you guys would like any more information!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Mooder's Tech Blog Podcast - Episode 4
Here's episode 4!
It's on YouTube and the link is below!
Please comment here if you guys would like any more information!
It's on YouTube and the link is below!
Please comment here if you guys would like any more information!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Spec'ing out computers and servers!
So I've been tasked with configuring 3 to 4 computers and a server for a company down in Las Vegas.
It seems easy as I have done it many times now but the issue here is that the system needs to be cost efficient and powerful enough to use in the office. They also will need to have dual monitors as the multitasking rate will be high.
Looked around and found a few systems that caught my eye. Here's a list of what I have looked at:
It seems easy as I have done it many times now but the issue here is that the system needs to be cost efficient and powerful enough to use in the office. They also will need to have dual monitors as the multitasking rate will be high.
Looked around and found a few systems that caught my eye. Here's a list of what I have looked at:
- Dell Optiplex 990 SFF
- HP Z200
- Lenovo Thinkstation C
- BYO - Build your own
Out of all of them I would have went with BYO since it's much cheaper to build with your own parts. But the issue is warranty incase something goes wrong! While I have built the systems I could easily sort it out myself but I wont always be there.
The best option I found was going with Dell's Optiplex series. It's cheap, powerful and comes with 3 years warranty right from the company!
For around $900 you can a really powerful system!
Now moving on to servers it gets a little more complicated. Long story short I also went with Dell due to being able to get a decent system for a decent price. As you customize the server the price goes up and sometimes it'll go way out of your budget.
Thankfully Dell Outlet is another alternative for cheaper and still new computers and servers!
I will most probably write about my experience setting it up as I will be taking tons of pictures :)
Until then!
Mooder
Storage hell
So this past weekend was not really enjoyable due to my computer almost nuking 2 of my Hard drives.
These two, one being the primary and the other being a backup were already configured to be mirroring each other.Computer thought "Oh I will just make them as independant drives!" and it did just that so at this point I had to manualy backup my data!
Fast forward to a few months later the computer decides to NOT show the drives at all. I freaked out. Big time. A call to a friend recommended that I download Ubuntu (Form of Linux) onto a CD and boot off of that instead.
Thankfully Ubuntu saw my data and I got straight to work backing it up!
Took two days but it was well worth it making sure that I have all my data intact!
So always remember folks back up your stuff else where or online!!!!
mooder
These two, one being the primary and the other being a backup were already configured to be mirroring each other.Computer thought "Oh I will just make them as independant drives!" and it did just that so at this point I had to manualy backup my data!
Fast forward to a few months later the computer decides to NOT show the drives at all. I freaked out. Big time. A call to a friend recommended that I download Ubuntu (Form of Linux) onto a CD and boot off of that instead.
Thankfully Ubuntu saw my data and I got straight to work backing it up!
Took two days but it was well worth it making sure that I have all my data intact!
So always remember folks back up your stuff else where or online!!!!
mooder
Monday, April 23, 2012
One month later... Spring break and IT work!
Why hello there peeps!
Yes it's been a while since I have posted and I do regret not coming on once in a while to give you guys an update of some sort.
But on with today's topic!
So over spring break I got to visit a production house down in Santa Monica.
This production house currently has 6 major motion pictures being worked on and it's IT infrastructure is amazing! Render farm workstations you got! Oh and the magic of movies not so magical anymore ;)
Other than that I have gone down to Vegas as well but not to party unfortunately. I kinda went there on business with my dad to help him plan out has company he is setting up there. My role was to help him plan the office's IT needs and plan those needs within a budget. So far I have looked to Dell, HP, Fujitsu and Lenovo and determined that Dell had the best balance of performance, price and service.
There you have it!
Hope you guys enjoyed reading!
As always see you next time!
Link to the audio version:
Mooder's Tech Blog Podcast Episode 2
Yes it's been a while since I have posted and I do regret not coming on once in a while to give you guys an update of some sort.
But on with today's topic!
So over spring break I got to visit a production house down in Santa Monica.
This production house currently has 6 major motion pictures being worked on and it's IT infrastructure is amazing! Render farm workstations you got! Oh and the magic of movies not so magical anymore ;)
Other than that I have gone down to Vegas as well but not to party unfortunately. I kinda went there on business with my dad to help him plan out has company he is setting up there. My role was to help him plan the office's IT needs and plan those needs within a budget. So far I have looked to Dell, HP, Fujitsu and Lenovo and determined that Dell had the best balance of performance, price and service.
There you have it!
Hope you guys enjoyed reading!
As always see you next time!
Mooder's Tech Blog Podcast Episode 2
Monday, March 26, 2012
Ultra Music Festival and Line array systems!
For some reason I can't seem to stop obsessing over sound and technical stuff.
I suppose that might be a good thing!
So over the past weekend Miami hosted the yearly Ultra Music Festival. The festival is all about DJ's and House/Techno/Electronic music producers coming together and performing to their fans. With so many artists performing at the event, the festival goer has many different stages or tents to choose from.
Unfortunately I was not able to go but I did catch the live stream on Ultra TV's Youtube page. I was impressed with the content and the setup of the overall event but not too impressed over the stream freezing very frequently at times.
With that aside I took to scooping out what Line Array systems they were using for the event.
For those who don't know what a Line Array system is, please read Wikipedia's description. Their definition is accurate and trustworthy in my opinion.
Line Array - Wikipedia
From all the pictures and videos I've seen so far I can say that they made really good choices on their systems. Below is a list of stages and systems that were in use.
Main Stage:
d&b Audio - J Series - db audiotechnik - J Series Line Array
40x of J12 Speaker modules (Yes I counted... Only because they were clearly visible in the picture!)
??x of J-Subs (No clear picture showing them all)
??x of B2 Subs from the d&b Audio C series
Carl Cox and Friends Tent:
DAS Audio - Aero Series 2 -
??x of Aero 50 Speaker Modules
Unknown subwoofers
I could not make exactly how many speakers or what subwoofers they had.
Klipsch Amphitheater:
d&b Audio - J Series - db audiotechnik - J Series Line Array
28x of J12 Speaker modules (Counted again!)
30x of B2 Subs from the d&b Audio C series
Here is a picture of the Klipsch Amphitheater stage being setup:
I suppose that might be a good thing!
So over the past weekend Miami hosted the yearly Ultra Music Festival. The festival is all about DJ's and House/Techno/Electronic music producers coming together and performing to their fans. With so many artists performing at the event, the festival goer has many different stages or tents to choose from.
Unfortunately I was not able to go but I did catch the live stream on Ultra TV's Youtube page. I was impressed with the content and the setup of the overall event but not too impressed over the stream freezing very frequently at times.
With that aside I took to scooping out what Line Array systems they were using for the event.
For those who don't know what a Line Array system is, please read Wikipedia's description. Their definition is accurate and trustworthy in my opinion.
Line Array - Wikipedia
From all the pictures and videos I've seen so far I can say that they made really good choices on their systems. Below is a list of stages and systems that were in use.
Main Stage:
d&b Audio - J Series - db audiotechnik - J Series Line Array
40x of J12 Speaker modules (Yes I counted... Only because they were clearly visible in the picture!)
??x of J-Subs (No clear picture showing them all)
??x of B2 Subs from the d&b Audio C series
Carl Cox and Friends Tent:
DAS Audio - Aero Series 2 -
??x of Aero 50 Speaker Modules
Unknown subwoofers
I could not make exactly how many speakers or what subwoofers they had.
Klipsch Amphitheater:
d&b Audio - J Series - db audiotechnik - J Series Line Array
28x of J12 Speaker modules (Counted again!)
30x of B2 Subs from the d&b Audio C series
Here is a picture of the Klipsch Amphitheater stage being setup:
And last but not least here is a picture of the main stage from the back (The line array system is on the right):
I hope you guys have learnt something new!
As always thanks for reading and hope you guys enjoyed it!
mooder
Club system disaster! Part 2
From my last post I mentioned that I was doing work at this club that had issues with their system.
Here is a before of the equipment rack wiring with no Speakon connectors:
The past week I have managed to go back and fix up 'part' of their mess!
Here is a before of the equipment rack wiring with no Speakon connectors:
Here's an after with the connectors installed:
If you have paid attention the the picture differences you will see that I have switched the wires going to the amps around as the bottom amplifier was way too powerful for the subwoofers.
However I'm still not done yet! I will have to go back and remove the amplifier right above the last amplifier in order to get the next set of subwoofers working!
As always I will be reporting back about this next week!
mooder
Monday, March 19, 2012
Club system disaster! Part 1
So in my previous post I breifly mentioned that I was doing work at a club which had serious issues with their system.
So I have a few pictures to share just to show what I have have to deal with!
First off is the wiring mess. Just shows what clueless people can do when installing a system.
Second, the wiring for the amplifer rack is done really badly since its messy and makes it harder to correct problems.
I should note that the white wire going into the amp is hard wired in. In some cases it's pefectly fine to do so only if its done right.
So to insure that the cabling will be connected properly I went ahead and ordered what they call Speakon Connectors which look like this:
It allows speakers to be hooked into amps properly and also make maintaining the system easier as the connectors are lock and twist so they can be removed easily! I will be going in this week to finish wiring the amps and I will definetley take pictures!
Untill next time!
mooder
So I have a few pictures to share just to show what I have have to deal with!
First off is the wiring mess. Just shows what clueless people can do when installing a system.
Second, the wiring for the amplifer rack is done really badly since its messy and makes it harder to correct problems.
I should note that the white wire going into the amp is hard wired in. In some cases it's pefectly fine to do so only if its done right.
So to insure that the cabling will be connected properly I went ahead and ordered what they call Speakon Connectors which look like this:
It allows speakers to be hooked into amps properly and also make maintaining the system easier as the connectors are lock and twist so they can be removed easily! I will be going in this week to finish wiring the amps and I will definetley take pictures!
Untill next time!
mooder
Sound work!
So over the past month or so I've been going to a local club around the area and been helping them out sort out their sound system!
I've always been doing sound work back home in Dubai so it was nice for a change to do some work here!
Also this club introduced me to another club which had serious issues with their system which I will talk about in the next post!
mooder
I've always been doing sound work back home in Dubai so it was nice for a change to do some work here!
Also this club introduced me to another club which had serious issues with their system which I will talk about in the next post!
mooder
Monday, March 12, 2012
Ableton and Synth madness!
This week I decided to take the oppertunity to play with Ableton, software that is mostly used in making music along with multiple synth programs.
For those who don't know what a synth is, refer to this page:
Synthesizer - Wikipedia
So far I have made small progress with figuring out how to link various things in the software as well as find a way to record sounds that come out of the software I use.
I still have a lot to learn and play with but I'm really hoping I can get somewhere with this!
Here is a sample of what I made:
Chilly Pathway - Soundcloud
As always, Thanks for reading!
mooder
For those who don't know what a synth is, refer to this page:
Synthesizer - Wikipedia
So far I have made small progress with figuring out how to link various things in the software as well as find a way to record sounds that come out of the software I use.
I still have a lot to learn and play with but I'm really hoping I can get somewhere with this!
Here is a sample of what I made:
Chilly Pathway - Soundcloud
As always, Thanks for reading!
mooder
Genelec's are here! Pure sound goodness!
Hello there!
So its been a while since I posted... Yeah yeah blah blah I know I should post more but I'm just really lazy as some of you reading know!
So last week the Genelec's I have ordered arrived. Same exact ones a few posts back but I had a problem with them.
For starters, they just didn't sound right. I don't know why but the ones I have back in Dubai sound just more than perfect and just to add the right side speaker was defective!
Decided to send them back and got myself the bigger versions the Genelec 8040A.
Here they are just arrived (Excuse me for the blurry image! >.<):
And here is the left side fully setup:
One word to describe them: Expensive! Actually, more like Amazing is the right word here!
They are well worth the amount I've paid but they really do bring out some parts of the stuff I listen to and hopefuly they will be used a lot once I get my self into the world of Electronic Music Production!
Stay tuned for my next post!
mooder
So its been a while since I posted... Yeah yeah blah blah I know I should post more but I'm just really lazy as some of you reading know!
So last week the Genelec's I have ordered arrived. Same exact ones a few posts back but I had a problem with them.
For starters, they just didn't sound right. I don't know why but the ones I have back in Dubai sound just more than perfect and just to add the right side speaker was defective!
Decided to send them back and got myself the bigger versions the Genelec 8040A.
Here they are just arrived (Excuse me for the blurry image! >.<):
And here is the left side fully setup:
One word to describe them: Expensive! Actually, more like Amazing is the right word here!
They are well worth the amount I've paid but they really do bring out some parts of the stuff I listen to and hopefuly they will be used a lot once I get my self into the world of Electronic Music Production!
Stay tuned for my next post!
mooder
Monday, February 27, 2012
'HD' Video test...
So one of our assignment's in class was to post a 'High Definition' video that we have found or made.
Now the reason I am using quotations is that that one of the requirements was to downsize the video to a mere resolution of 320x180.
The goal is to see if people are able to view the video with no issues!
So here it is:
mooder
Now the reason I am using quotations is that that one of the requirements was to downsize the video to a mere resolution of 320x180.
The goal is to see if people are able to view the video with no issues!
So here it is:
mooder
Monday, February 20, 2012
DNS Servers and VPNs!
So over the last week I've been trying to optimize my internet connection via finding a 'smart' DNS routing system.
Now with this 'smart' DNS routing system, the company that does it has placed servers in several countries that either cache the site (Storing a recent version of the site so that it can be retrieved faster) or route the user through the most efficient ways on the internet without any back log.
I use a service called Open DNS. They are coincidentally based right here in San Francisco!
OpenDNS
And so far I have noticed a very small difference in speed but none to make me say "Hey I'll pay for it" well it's free anyway!
Moving on to VPN's....
I come from Dubai, UAE and back home the Internet is censored and at times is slow depending on where the website is hosted.
Here is the speed I get from my apartment here in San Francisco to a server in the city:
And here's the speed I get from San Francisco to Dubai:
So yes there's a HUGE advantage to living in the USA due to almost everything being hosted here but also there are many disadvantages as well (Hint hint government domain seizures...)
With that being said, there is a service called OpenVPN - OpenVPN
The website looks like one of those sketchy types but I have been told its legit. The idea here is that I want to form a VPN network between my apartment in the US and my house in Dubai and with that my parents are guaranteed uncensored internet and maybe a speed increase (Hopefully!!)
However I still need to mess with trying to configure the VPN and see what I can do about linking my apartment and my house back in Dubai. Luckily though I do have an existing VPN via Hamachi but that is only limited me accessing my systems back home via VNC Viewer so they still do not get uncensored internet. Yet.
So until then I will try to find time this week to play around and once I get it running I hope to post on the results!
Peace out! :)
mooder
Now with this 'smart' DNS routing system, the company that does it has placed servers in several countries that either cache the site (Storing a recent version of the site so that it can be retrieved faster) or route the user through the most efficient ways on the internet without any back log.
I use a service called Open DNS. They are coincidentally based right here in San Francisco!
OpenDNS
And so far I have noticed a very small difference in speed but none to make me say "Hey I'll pay for it" well it's free anyway!
Moving on to VPN's....
I come from Dubai, UAE and back home the Internet is censored and at times is slow depending on where the website is hosted.
Here is the speed I get from my apartment here in San Francisco to a server in the city:
So yes there's a HUGE advantage to living in the USA due to almost everything being hosted here but also there are many disadvantages as well (Hint hint government domain seizures...)
With that being said, there is a service called OpenVPN - OpenVPN
The website looks like one of those sketchy types but I have been told its legit. The idea here is that I want to form a VPN network between my apartment in the US and my house in Dubai and with that my parents are guaranteed uncensored internet and maybe a speed increase (Hopefully!!)
However I still need to mess with trying to configure the VPN and see what I can do about linking my apartment and my house back in Dubai. Luckily though I do have an existing VPN via Hamachi but that is only limited me accessing my systems back home via VNC Viewer so they still do not get uncensored internet. Yet.
So until then I will try to find time this week to play around and once I get it running I hope to post on the results!
Peace out! :)
mooder
And a week later!
Hey there!
So a few things going on this week.
Managed to get myself a pair of Genelec 8030A studio monitors!
Weren't cheap but hey you get what you pay for and I am looking to play around with music production as well!
Will post pictures when I get them but for now here's a teaser:
Also got myself a Rode NT1A microphone to due some shows for the university's radio station!
Here's a snap of it from online:
I do plan on getting more audio products but kinda need to slow down and recoup some of the cash I spent!
mooder
So a few things going on this week.
Managed to get myself a pair of Genelec 8030A studio monitors!
Weren't cheap but hey you get what you pay for and I am looking to play around with music production as well!
Will post pictures when I get them but for now here's a teaser:
Also got myself a Rode NT1A microphone to due some shows for the university's radio station!
Here's a snap of it from online:
I do plan on getting more audio products but kinda need to slow down and recoup some of the cash I spent!
mooder
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Live sound!
I'm pretty sure most of you have heard of a person called Deadmau5
(pronounced Deadmouse) or most probably heard of his music such as:
Ghosts n Stuff, Raise your weapon, and Professional Griefers.
Surely enough I know some people might be curious on what kind of hardware he uses during his live sets and the photo below should explain it all or well part of it!
The picture clearly shows that Deadmau5 goes through great lengths to put on a good show and it shows with the help of all the hardware he is using!
Presonus 24 channel digital sound board, 2 Mac Pro Workstations, Moog Keyboard, Virus TI Polar Synth and not to mention Ableton Live.
Stay tuned for more interesting material until then peace out! ;)
Mooder
Surely enough I know some people might be curious on what kind of hardware he uses during his live sets and the photo below should explain it all or well part of it!
The picture clearly shows that Deadmau5 goes through great lengths to put on a good show and it shows with the help of all the hardware he is using!
Presonus 24 channel digital sound board, 2 Mac Pro Workstations, Moog Keyboard, Virus TI Polar Synth and not to mention Ableton Live.
Stay tuned for more interesting material until then peace out! ;)
Mooder
First post! :)
Hey there!
Welcome to my tech blog.
I hope to share weekly tidbits about the tech world and all that it has to offer!
So try to check out the site as I start putting more content for all you guys to read!
Best regards!
Mooder
Welcome to my tech blog.
I hope to share weekly tidbits about the tech world and all that it has to offer!
So try to check out the site as I start putting more content for all you guys to read!
Best regards!
Mooder
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