I’ve been in the self-publishing game for a few years now and can honestly say it’s come a long way, with the biggest advantage being that you can now get your book(s) on Amazon without the need for an ISBN.

The two major players for those who want to self-publish are Lulu and CreateSpace. Both of them are fairly straightforward in the way they work.

Bear in mind that both these services do much more than just book publishing. You can also publish DVDs, pay-for-file downloads (such as selling a PDF), audio CDs, audio downloads and more.

There are a few things you have to consider when either either of these:

You will be required to give personal information

When I say personal information, I mean full name, mailing address and social security number in addition to your email. Why all this info? It’s because all profits are reported to the IRS. If you do not operate a business, your tax ID is your social security number.

You may be required to give banking information

Both services allow payment by paper check (Lulu also has a PayPal option), but if you decide to go direct-deposit, you will have to provide banking information in order to receive money from any profits made.

You will have to have a better-than-average knowledge of word processing, DVD creating, etc.

Both services adhere to strict formats in order to ensure that books, DVDs and other media are published properly. Since you’re not going to physically see the product before it goes out, following the instructions is very important.

Fortunately, both services has excellent how-to documentation on how to format your stuff properly. Lulu, for example has ready-made downloadable templates for Word and OpenOffice concerning books in multiple formats (standard letter, A5, etc.)

Have you published your book, audio or video yet?

You should. Now that you can get this stuff on Amazon easily and have two great choices to choose from (or use both), there’s really no excuse.

The Amazon availability is the big deal here. Amazon is a huge site, successfully survived the dot-com crash years ago and has proven to be a stable marketplace for books and other types of media.

It’s out there waiting for you. Go make some money!

An interesting little program I came across which allows you to view just about any information on your media files is MediaInfo. From their description:

MediaInfo supplies technical and tag information about a video or audio file.

Simply put, that is what it does. You can extract just about any information you can think of from vitually any audio or video file format. Additionally, you can export this information to a text file format and the available command line interface gives you the ability to create a batch file to quickly gather information on your entire media library.

While I personally cannot think of any true practical applications for this program, if you can please drop a comment.

I do operate a personal YouTube channel where I periodically post videos of me playing guitar or synthesizer.

Each music style attracts distinctly different audiences. The guitar folk are expecting a certain type of music while the synth folk are expecting something totally different.

Here are some example personal videos of mine (I need to show by example so I can explain the sound afterwards).

Guitar:

Synth:

(For those wondering, yes I am listed as one of the demonstration artists for the Alesis Fusion 6HD, seen above – hit the "Audio" section on that link.)

On the tech side, synth folk are very aware of how to record direct whereas many guitar players are not.

Synth players usually don’t record any other way but direct. In fact, a standard item in most home studio setups for a synth player is a dedicated laptop just for that task. Guitar players on the other hand prefer to use external amplifiers and speakers in a cabinet.

I personally record everything direct both for guitar and the synth.

Recording direct means direct-to-board. If you’re recording personal videos for the internet where you’re playing a musical instrument, you will achieve a much better sound overall if you "go direct" – assuming the instrument allows it (which electric guitars and synthesizers obviously do).

Two examples:

Example 1 – Guitar is plugged into an amplifier that powers a speaker. The speaker has a microphone placed in front of it to record the sound. This microphone is connected to a mixing board. This is not direct because the sound is not being directly fed to the mixing board from its primary source (that’s why you have a microphone to get the sound to begin with).

Example 2 – Guitar is plugged into a signal effects processor, then to the mixing board, then to the computer. This is direct. The sound is directly coming from its source (the effects processor) without the need for an external microphone.

Said even simpler, if it has to be "miked", that’s not direct.

You can set up a small home studio easily to do everything direct; all you need are the right components to do so.

If you are a synthesizer/keyboard player, the only thing you need is a small mixing board.

If you are a guitar player, you need a small mixing board also. Then you can direct-out (usually labeled as "line out") from the back of your amplifier to the board. Alternatively you can use a signal effects processor, which is what I use.

IMPORTANT NOTE for guitar players: DO NOT use the same output for the speaker to feed into your mixing board. That would be bad. Use the "non-powered" Line Out from your amplifier head. If it doesn’t exist on the head, then don’t do it.

For you premium members out there, yes I will be writing a more detailed version of this, including recommendations for what type of mixer boards work best, tips on purchasing a signal effects processor (for guitar or voice) and more – so stay tuned for that.

The free advice I can give on audio is this:

• The microphone on your webcam is terrible – but you already knew that.
• The microphone on your camcorder will never be as good as one bought specifically to do a better job (such as a Blue Snowball).
• The reason you go direct to begin with is for control. Direct-input allows far superior control over your sound compared "miking" an external sound source.
• Going direct also permits you more ability to play where loud noise is otherwise forbidden (something many of us have to deal with).
• It is better if you go with a USB-connected mixer instead of one plugged into the "line in" of your sound card. It will sound better and dramatically decrease what’s called "white noise" (i.e. hissing sound).
• No matter what you do or how you record, the end result when posting audio or video to the internet is a digital file. The internet is obviously digital. So if you were expecting perfect sounding superior vinyl record quality, that simply cannot exist on the internet, period. You’re just going to have to deal with that.

And by the way, just as an aside, for those that doubt the superior quality of vinyl, watch this (he explains it far better than I could):

The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

The "transmitted" sound is the human voice that sounds as if it were being broadcasted on an old radio. To this day, Hollywood still uses this trick in movies for phone conversations and anything else where the voice is supposed to sound "old", "old tech" or "distant" (like in war movies).

If you’re into making your own movies/skits/etc., this is a good trick to know during post production editing.

This effect is best heard by example. Here’s an audio excerpt from a recent video I did:

Original (MP3)

Modified (MP3)

This effect can be done in just about any audio editor (including Audacity) and is achieved by doing the following:

1. Increase db by 20 (Amplify).

This will purposely distort the audio and sound – by design – as if it’s being transmitted "too hot". Most broadcasts of old were really hot on the microphone which is why you do this.

Original audio looks like this:

Amplified audio looks like this:

And yes it’s very hot and distorted – on purpose.

2. Compress audio.

The compressor will keep the audio "hot" sounding, but bring the real db back down to a level where it won’t blow out your speakers (or anyone else’s).

Compressed audio looks like this (when run after amplification shown above):

Note how the "hot" audio is maintained but the true volume is leveled down so it doesn’t clip.

3. Convert down to 8kHz 8-bit, then back to 44.1kHz 16-bit.

The original recorded audio was in 44.1kHz 16-bit (CD quality). It was downsampled down to 8kHz 8-bit to chop off all treble for that older raspy sound, then upsampled back to 44.1kHz 16-bit.

In Adobe Audition 1.5 (my audio editor of choice), the downsample is done like this:

After I apply that, the upsample looks like this:

The end result is what you heard above from the examples.

To note, the modified version is supposed to purposely sound distorted and overdriven because that’s what old-tech radio/phone transmissions sound like for the most part.

Final tips:

You may only need to perform step 3 and skip 1 and 2. If it sounds good to your ear, go with it.

Purposely using a distortion filter usually doesn’t work. What you’ll get is the all the "hot" you want but it won’t sound natural.

Chopping off the high bands via EQ usually doesn’t work either. You won’t get that old-tech sound but rather just "mud" (i.e. sounds as if being spoken behind a wall).

To those who have ever used Skype, Yahoo! Messenger voice chat, Ventrilo, TeamSpeak or any other over-the-internet method of peer-to-peer voice communication, you’ve noticed the quality of sound is far superior to land-line and wireless/cell phones.

Why is this?

There are actually a few good reasons.

First, some explanation.

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You may have a disc, be it music or data, that is scratched and will not read in your optical disc drive no matter what you do to it. Can it be saved?

Possibly. There are a few things you can try to save that disc.

Hardware method: It could be just the drive you’re using

If the disc won’t read in your optical drive, try another one that’s close by. If you don’t have one to spare, try a friend’s computer.

Interesting side note: Older optical drives with slower read speeds have a much higher chance of reading a maybe/maybe-not bad disc than newer drives do because they don’t spin up as fast. Being that laptop optical drives are typically slower, if you have a laptop with a CD/DVD drive, try that. You might be successful.

Software method: Using Nero Burning ROM to attempt a super-slow-read copy

Nero Burning ROM (paid application) has been around a long time and is arguably one of the best disc copying software utilities ever made – if not the best.

If the disc you have will spin up but will not read, Nero might be able to save it or at least at a good chunk of it.

When you copy a disc using Nero Burning ROM (part of the Nero 9 suite), it will first try to copy at the maximum speed possible. When it runs into a part of the disc it can’t read properly, Nero will purposely slow down the drive (all the way to 1x if necessary) and try every single possible way to read the data. If it can’t read the data, it will skip that part and go to the next readable portion and move on.

The disc copy make take a really long time – but you might be able to save whatever was on the disc or at least a good portion of it. If it’s just a portion, better to have something than nothing, right?

I have saved discs with Nero Burning ROM that no other app was able to copy, so I can attest that yes, it does work when all others fail. And if Nero fails.. well.. try washing the disc first (see below).

Physically doing something to the disc: Washing it first

CDs and DVDs are made of two things, aluminum and plastic. The outside shell is plastic, the shiny part is the aluminum. The part that is scratched is the plastic.

Plastic can be washed with just about anything, but the goal is to not scratch it any further.

Paper towels and non-scented ammonia-free glass cleaner (like Windex) do work. Why paper towels and not tissue paper? Because tissue paper is an abrasive and will scratch the plastic surface even worse.

Tip on cleaner used: Do not use anything labeled as a degreaser (like Formula 409). "Straight" glass cleaner is what you want.

Tip on paper towels used: Unscented, plain, no patterns such as Bounty or Brawn.

(Incidentally this is the same reason you never clean eyeglasses with tissue paper because it will scratch those up over time as well.)

Can you read a disc that is physically cracked?

Example: You leave a disc on the couch and forget about it. Later on you go to sit on the couch and watch TV, then…

CRACK!

Uh-oh. You sat on the disc. Very cracked but still together.

Is the disc still readable? Believe it or not, yes – or at least with CDs. A CD which has an "outside in" straight crack in it (from the outer edge to inner edge but not to the center) can be read as long as it’s even with the rest of the disc. However there is the possibility the disc might shatter when in the optical drive. Chances are this probably won’t happen – but it might.

DVDs when cracked usually cannot be read at all. If this happens to you, toss the disc out because there’s not anything you can do about that.

Tip to avoid this scenario: Don’t sit or step on discs (duh).

[Cracked CD photo by hermanturnip]

For our readers that are audiophiles, you’re probably already aware that arguably the best radio (as in AM/FM with CD player) is the Bose Wave Music System, formerly known as the Wave Radio. Yes, it’s wickedly expensive however there is absolutely nothing that sounds better in such a small package. Those who have heard it know exactly what I’m talking about.

But maybe the Bose’s modern styling isn’t your thing and you’d like something "vintagey" that still has superior quality to it.

In this case you want table radios made by Tivoli. This is undoubtedly the best example I’ve ever seen of retro styling with modern "guts". And yeah you’ll pay a pretty penny for it. Pictured right is a clock radio called the Model Three.

Tivoli makes several different types of radios including ones that do satellite. All of them perform just as good as they look. You can check out all the stuff they make here. Retro never looked so good and functioned so well.

But is the audio quality better than that of a Bose Wave system? Unknown. But at the prices Tivoli is selling radios for, it’d better match it or be darn close.

The sound card on your desktop computer has 1/8th-inch ports on the rear to accept other types of audio input (blue for line in, pink for mic in). If you have a custom-build computer you may have these ports also routed to the front as well.

If you record audio at all with these ports, be it via a microphone built-in to a headset or having a mixing board fed a signal thru line in, you’re going to get what’s called white noise. This is a hissing sound that occurs due to fact you’re using an analog means of feeding audio to the sound card. There is no way to avoid it and you are forced to process your sound afterwards thru a digital filter for noise reduction. In other words, it never sounds good unprocessed.

My recommendation for anyone that records audio is to completely ditch using analog ports. They’re really old and sound really crappy.

If you record audio via USB instead you will be amazed at how much better everything sounds when recorded.

Method 1: Use a USB headset with mic attached

I use the Logitech Clearchat Comfort USB and people who listen to me speak over this microphone are astounded at how good it sounds. There are no tricks to using this. The difference is digital and that’s why it’s so clear.

If you game at all, having a USB-based headset with mic is a must-have especially if you use it for in-game voice chat. Not only will the audio sound clearer but your spoken voice will also be understood better.

Method 2: Use a standalone USB-based microphone

I’ve mentioned this product before but it bears repeating – the Blue Snowball is one of the best USB microphones ever made. It will record anything and I mean anything. Great for voice, great for instruments and also great as an "ambient" mic. It has a sensitivity high enough where you could place it clear across the other side of the room, speak softly from far away and it would still "hear" you. I have nothing but good things to say about this mic.

Method 3: USB mixer

USB mixers are nothing new to people who record audio, but it’s still true that most people aren’t aware they exist. The mixer shown here is an Alesis Multimix 8 USB. If you do any semi-pro (or even pro) recording at all this is a really handy mixer to have. It will accept XLR microphone input, 1/4th-inch input and feed out thru USB. If you’ve got stuff to record but can’t go digital with them, you should take a look at this.

To note: These mixers are almost never in computer retailer shops but rather music shops like Guitar Center and Sam Ash. If you need to see one "in the flesh" you’ll need to go there.

Additional note: If you’ve got the cash, yes there are mixers with more than 8 channels, rack mount flaps and those with FireWire connectivity. But bear in mind if you’re just recording yourself, the Multimix 8 will do the job just fine.

The great debate: Software or Hardware based mixing board?

Something that has been a subject of debate since the advent of software based mixers is whether or not you need a standalone hardware based mixer at all.

My response to this is if you record, yes you do. My reason for stating this is that it is far easier to control and manage your sound using tactile knobs and sliders instead of scrolling sliders on-screen. Professional studios has proven this to be true because they have never given up their standalone mixing boards. The only difference now is that the boards can be digitally controlled – but they haven’t been replaced.

Fear not adding in audio hardware when you need to. "Virtual" mixing boards, while nice, can be annoying.

The best way to record live audio (for those of us without huge budgets) on a computer is via USB. It’s a much "cleaner" sound compared to using the "Mic" or "Line in" on your sound card. Bear in mind when referring to USB on computers you don’t have to worry about data transfer, so even if a device is only 1.1 compliant it’s still a superior sound.

The Blue Snowball is a USB microphone and I can say from personal experience that it’s an excellent product – especially for the cost-conscious. It connects up via USB (obviously) and has excellent performance. The unit can be mounted via a short stand (for the desk), long traditional stand or swingarm.

In addition to great audio quality this is also a multi-pattern microphone. You can configure it easily to be omnidirectional (receive sound from all directions) or "shotgun" style where you have to be directly in front of it to "hear" you.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, I suggest purchasing from a traditional instrument retailer such as Sam Ash or Guitar Center. Why? Because they usually have them in stock and both companies have better-than-average return policies.

You can learn more about the Snowball at www.BlueMic.com.

With the now mainstream use of broadband, it is no longer a novelty to stream audio and video over the Internet. It is now par for the course. If the data is coming to your computer as it is, it is safe to assume you can record it for later use, right?

Yes, you can. With the right software, it is very easy to accomplish.

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