Audacity

Audacity is the most popular free, open source audio editor/ recorder avalible. Audacity works with all platforms, including Windows, Mac, GNU, Linux and more. However, this podcast software is more intended for editing and recording than publishing. So many people use this program to create their podcasts but use other programs or services to publish them.

Audacity works with a variety of audio formats, including open source formats like ogg but is not compatible with proprietary formats like wma or aac. The recorder can record from almost anything, including from a microphone, line in or anything playing through the sound card.

Recording/ Importing:

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With Audacity, you can record just about anything. And since you can record through a line in, you can digitize recordings from tapes, records or from a midi device. It can also record from a microphone and anything playing on the sound card, so any sound your computer will play can be recorded.
You can import wav, aiff, au, ogg and mpeg 2 & 3. It can export wav, aiff, au and ogg and can create CD quality wav and aiff. As mentioned above, it does not support proprietary formats like wma or aac, which are owned by Microsoft and Apple. However, mp3s are pretty much playable anywhere.

Editing:

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Audacity offers a good collection of editing tools including mixing, cropping, cross fading, noise reduction and much more. It also has effects like echo, fade, modulation, normalization, reverse and tempo. This program has a waveform display, volume sliders and a mouse zoom for easy and quick edits. Although this is an adequate program, it does not include as many editing tools and effects as Propaganda.

Publishing:

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This software does not include publishing tools; you have to go through another service like PodBlaze to publish your podcast.

Ease of Use:

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Audacity is easy to use, although it would be nice if it had a drag & drop tool and right click edits like Propaganda.

Comics vs Manga

“What are the primary differences between Japanese Manga (Comics) and American Comics?

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Typical Comic Style

Typical Manga Style

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There is a big difference in art styles between Manga, which is more stylized (exaggerated) and American comics, which tend to be more “realistic”. There are also quite a few serious differences between the two types of comics. Some of the differences, just to mention a few of them are the cost, creation, diverse audience and genres, presentation and even size.

The creation of Manga as well as its presentation is quite different than American Comics. Manga is printed in black-and-white format while American comics are the majority of the time in full color. Also, when you look at a graphic novel or Manga you will notice a difference in the size. Manga is frequently smaller than traditional American comic books, usually digest-size and roughly half to one-third the size of American comics. But where the American comics are generally thin like a small magazine, running about 32 pages, Manga comic books are thick and can be hundreds of pages in length!

In page count, Manga is quite similar to graphic novels, which are often just collections of the ongoing American comics. But unlike American graphic novels, which are usually just a collection of monthly comics in a single unified story or story arc, Manga books are often apart of an even bigger story and a complete Manga storyline can run thousands of pages.

Another difference between traditional American comics is that mainstream American comics are often created in a sort of assembly-line fashion. They have a writer (story), a penciler (initial sketch), inker (uses a pen to ink over the sketch), letterer (adds dialog) and a colorist (colors the inked sketch). Most Manga books are done by a single creator, who combines all those chores (except coloring).

Also Manga story lines usually move at a much quicker pace. Due to the high page count, one reads a Manga book at an accelerated pace. Manga books almost always have fewer panels and less dialogue (rambling) per page than American comic books. The price for Manga is also more than the average comic book and a bit more than a standard paperback novel, the small size of Manga and black-and-white printing rather than full color keeps the cost down. The lack color is made up when you consider the story development that it’ll have with the amount of pages it has.

In Japan, Manga is not viewed as just for kids unlike the American stereotype. There pretty much is a Manga for everyone. With that being stated there are three main genres in Japanese Manga: Shonen Manga (boy’s comics), Shojo Manga (girl’s comics) and Hentai (adult comics).

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Shonen Example:

Balanced Example:

Shojo Example:

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Shonen Manga is pretty much comics that are primarily action and/or adventure geared. If you’d like to view some examples of that genre, I’d recommend “Bleach” and/or “Full Metal Alchemist”. Shojo Manga is for the opposite sex; they are often about relationships and/or love interests. Please note that even though a particular genre is geared towards a certain audience it’s not limited to just that audience (unless otherwise stated). Finally Hentai Manga, I won’t delve much into this since it is primarily for adults and NOT suitable for children (just to be safe in case a child is reading this). Anyways, Hentai Manga is sometimes sexually explicit and/or adult-themed. In other words, do not purchase this for your child.”

Video Games As Art?

I was thinking the other day, how come entertainment such as cinema, literature, music and comics count as a form of art among official critics while video games are still looked down upon by them as mere children’s toys. I think these people are pretty closed-minded to video games to have this kind of mind set.

Let’s analyze video games so that you can understand how I see video games as an art medium from my perspective view on this subject. The way I see modern video games are made from many different combinations of art mediums. Most modern video games have a storyline just as most literature does too. Also a lot of design goes into the graphics of video games. Most of the time traditional drawings such as concept art and landscape layouts are done before they are recreated as 3D game objects and are sometimes added to the game itself as extra bonus content that you can unlock in the game itself.

Even music in video games has come a long way. From the simple 8 bit melodies to full blown orchestrated master pieces. I’ll even give you a great example of how far the music has come. Here are two soundtracks, one from a very early Mario game and one from a the most current to date.

Just listen to the Super Mario Bros vs Bowser Soundtrack in the video below.

Now Listen to Super Mario Galaxy 2 vs Bowser Soundtrack in the video below.

Did you see how much of a jump that was?

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Games even have cinema elements in them. They have cut scenes which are small in game movies which can help tell the story. Games today also have voice actors as well. I good example of a game with a lot of cinema elements in it would be Heavy Rain.
This is why I think Video games deserve to be labeled as an art medium.

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Yet these closed-mind critics are so ignorant, they are willing to ignore the fact that video games have all these different elements of art built into them just because the word “game” is in it. Comic books had this same problem. Comics were often called cartoons back then and mostly targeted to children. Comics did not get the respect they deserved until the industry began to call them graphic novels. That is what we gamers need to do with video games; we should start calling video games interactive cinema or something to that ring. This might just help them become recognized as an art.

After reading this I hope you walk away with a better understanding of why video games are underrated as art. Have a nice day.

Sony Vegas

Sony Creative Software’s Vegas Pro 9 is an innovative, Windows-only non-linear edit system (NLE) that has really exploded in recent years on the market. Fully featured, the system also includes excellent built-in tools for audio editing, graphics and titling, DVD and Blu-ray authoring, and more.

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Features:

Included with the latest version of Vegas Pro 9 is 4K resolution (RED) compatibility and enhanced native XDCAM EX support. Editors can work with unlimited video tracks for multitrack editing, and the program includes a great multi-camera workflow. It also ships with over 190 customizable video filters and effects.

Video Editing:

Native format support includes most types of standard definition (SD), DV, and high definition (HD), in addition to RED’s 4K resolution (high definition, UHD). Vegas Pro 9 also supports 32- and 64-bit Windows operating systems, including Windows 7 and Vista, one of the first to do so. In fact, Vegas Pro is usually ahead of the curve on important new features over competing NLEs, including being the first to add native 24p support. They’ve also added Bezier curves for keyframe automation in a software update.

Production Assistant:

This is a new plug-in developed by Sony Creative Software in partnership with VASST that streamlines the editing process by automating many tasks common to broadcast, industrial or event videography. There are also a number of project templates. Easily and quickly add transitions, filters, perform color correction and much more, plus export to any number of formats at once through intuitive batch processing.

Exporting/Authoring:

Easily export to a wide variety of formats for video, web, and optical media (DVD and Blu-ray). DVD Architect 5, part of Vegas Pro 9, contains a set of tools to create great looking and professional DVDs and Blu-ray discs. The program is fairly easy to use, which is a plus for an editor with any level of experience on leading non-linear edit systems and DVD/Blu-ray authoring apps.

Audio Editing:

You may notice the lack of a true stand-alone audio editing and mixing application in this package. This is because Vegas Pro has perhaps the best built-in audio editing and mixing tools of any non-linear editor on the market. Vegas Pro started its life as an audio-only software application, but became a full-functioning NLE by version 2.0, which gives it a distinct advantage when it comes to audio editing, mixing and mastering over competing apps, without having to switch to a separate audio editing and mixing program.

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I recommend this product to anyone and I think I’ll be getting the full version after the semester is over.