(03:01:10 PM) popey: Up next is tonytiger (Tony Whitmore) who is going to talk about media production on Ubuntu...
(03:01:16 PM) tonytiger: Hi. That's me.
(03:01:29 PM) tonytiger: Does the topic get updated automatically?
(03:01:31 PM) popey: If anyone has questions as usual, post them in #ubuntu-classroom-chat
(03:01:53 PM) tonytiger: Ah, clever.
(03:02:04 PM) ***tonytiger clears his throat and starts.
(03:02:11 PM) tonytiger: I'm Tony Whitmore and apparently I'm running this session on media production on Ubuntu.
(03:02:22 PM) tonytiger: This is my first Open Week session, so please be gentle.
(03:02:44 PM) tonytiger: My glamourous assistant is popey who will triage questions for me if I get swamped
(03:02:54 PM) tonytiger: The structure of the session will be like this: Video, Photography, Audio, Q&A
(03:02:54 PM) ***popey twirls
(03:02:58 PM) tonytiger: :)
(03:03:11 PM) tonytiger: I'm hoping the Q&A will be quite a large part of this session
(03:03:17 PM) tonytiger: So during the Q&A I'd like your questions about creating, producing and managing media on Ubuntu. I can't promise to answer them all well, but I'll try!
(03:03:34 PM) tonytiger: I should add that all of this is based on my own experience with media production on Ubuntu. I'd be interested to hear if you have other suggestions, particularly from KDE users. I use the GNOME desktop and I think most of the packages I'm going to talk about are GNOME based.
(03:03:49 PM) tonytiger: That said, I can only talk from my own experience, so errors and omissions excepted!
(03:03:55 PM) andre__ left the room.
(03:04:17 PM) tonytiger: Why am I qualified to talk about this? Well, I've been using Ubuntu for media production for years. It started out as a very painful experience but is now much better.
(03:04:28 PM) tonytiger: As part of the Ubuntu UK Podcast team, (http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org) I record, edit, mix and encode the episodes. I have captured, edited and encoded digital video from UDS in Prague (http://www.youtube.com/ubuntudevelopers) as well as talks at LUG Radio Live and local LUG meetings. I use Ubuntu to import, process and manage digital photos from my Canon DSLR.
(03:04:42 PM) tonytiger: The vast majority of the software I'll talk about this evening is packaged in Ubuntu. Installing Ubuntu Studio http://ubuntustudio.org/ is a great way to get all these packages set up and installed.
(03:05:04 PM) tonytiger: So, let's get under way by talking about digital video
(03:05:11 PM) tonytiger: The first part of working with digital video is recording something in the first place! This is beyond the scope of the session, so I'll assume you've got some fantastic footage on a digital video (DV) tape, all reading to be turned into a finished product.
(03:05:22 PM) tonytiger: *ready
(03:05:27 PM) tonytiger: "Capturing" is the process of importing all the DV from the tape onto the PC for editing. This is usually done by playing the tape in the video camera, but you can use a dedicated DV player if you're really serious about it.
(03:05:38 PM) tonytiger: DV takes up a lot of disk space. Having several gigabytes of hard disk space free is a must. I often use external USB hard disks as a cheap way of accessing large amounts of storage space. When I've finished working on one project I can put the disk back on the shelf and get the next one down.
(03:05:49 PM) tonytiger: If you use external hard disks, think carefully about the filesystem. FAT32 is the only option for seemless sharing of data between Windows, Mac and Linux systems, but only supports files up to 4GB.
(03:06:14 PM) tonytiger: That's not a problem unless you are capturing a single shot over 20 minutes in length, but bear in mind that FAT32 isn't a very robust filesystem in general either.
(03:06:21 PM) charlie-tca left the room.
(03:06:22 PM) tonytiger: Capturing DV is well supported on Linux. Digital video cameras have a firewire (IEEE1394) output, and these can be connected to a computer equipped with a firewire port.
(03:06:33 PM) tonytiger: There are two applications I would recommend for capturing your digital video for processing. The first is Kino. It's not a KDE application, despite the "K" at the start. It's a GTK application so fits well with the GNOME desktop.
(03:06:43 PM) tonytiger: The second option is dvgrab, which is a command line utility to do the same thing.
(03:06:50 PM) tonytiger: Both programs have various options to split the capture into separate files automatically, for example when the file reaches 1GB in size. That's about 5 minutes of recording!
(03:07:11 PM) tonytiger: The applications also support capturing a "live" stream from your camera, i.e. without recording, as long as your camera supports sending its output through the firewire port in "record" mode.
(03:07:20 PM) tonytiger: The biggest problem people have with capturing DV from their cameras is permissions on the device node - the special file used to capture the data from the camera.
(03:07:32 PM) tonytiger: This file is /dev/raw1394 and by default isn't configured to give users access to it. This might seem counter-intuitive, but there's a good reason. As the rules file which configures the permissions notes:
(03:07:43 PM) tonytiger: # Please note that raw1394 gives unrestricted, raw access to every single
(03:07:46 PM) tonytiger: # device on the bus and those devices may do anything as root on your system.
(03:07:50 PM) tonytiger: # Yes, I know it also happens to be the only way to rewind your video camera,
(03:07:53 PM) tonytiger: # but it's not going to be group "video", okay?
(03:07:55 PM) tonytiger: KERNEL=="raw1394", GROUP="disk"
(03:08:13 PM) tonytiger: That last line means the /dev/raw1394 device node will have group ownership "disk"
(03:08:27 PM) tonytiger: By default, users on Ubuntu aren't in group "disk"
(03:08:39 PM) tonytiger: and they probably shouldn't be, unless you like trashing your hard disks :)
(03:08:51 PM) tonytiger: Anyway, this situation sucks and it's annoying, but it's done with the best of intentions.
(03:08:57 PM) tonytiger: Now, you could resolve this problem in two different ways. But you should really heed the warning above.
(03:09:02 PM) tonytiger: Seriously, it's there for a reason.
(03:09:10 PM) tonytiger: You could do what I do, and amend the permissions on /dev/raw1394 manually. This will persist until you reboot. I do this because I only tend to capture in batches and rarely reboot whilst in the middle of a big capturing session.
(03:09:20 PM) tonytiger: I tend to use the command line, so I issue a command like "sudo chgrp adm /dev/raw1394"
(03:09:33 PM) tonytiger: My user, like the first user on any ubuntu system, is in the "adm" group
(03:09:50 PM) tonytiger: You could alter the rules file to change the group ownership to a group of which you are a member, say "video" which will persist across reboots. I'll leave that as an exercise for the, erm, reader. :)
(03:09:57 PM) tonytiger: Either way, once you've done that you can capture your DV. Kino will also control the camera (play, stop, rewind etc.) from within the application.
(03:10:07 PM) tonytiger: This isn't really a tutorial on using each of these applications, so I'll summarise by saying that I find Kino great for simple editing and effects. You can trim, split and join clips as well as applying titles and other effects.
(03:10:23 PM) tonytiger: I produced the trailer for LUG Radio Live USA 2008 using Kino. All the video effects were generated in Kino. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD1zatyNSok
(03:10:30 PM) tonytiger: Kino can also export in a number of different formats, which is an easy way to produce a file that is ready for sharing.
(03:10:35 PM) tonytiger: Bear in mind that exporting from DV will take a long time, often multiples of the duration of the edited piece, as converting DV to other formats is very processor intensive.
(03:10:43 PM) tonytiger: Kino also supports jog/shuttle wheels but as with the Firewire device node, there are permissions problems on a default Ubuntu system.
(03:10:54 PM) tonytiger: If your needs are more complex than Kino can manage, then you are entering the joyous world of video editing on Linux. There are a lot of video editing programs out there but none of them brilliant. Some of the options are:
(03:11:06 PM) tonytiger: * Kdenlive. KDE's video editor and the one with the most potential to match iMovie. Simple track-based editing and a fair few features. Main issue is stability but it's a relatively young project.
(03:11:16 PM) tonytiger: * Pitivi. Written in Python / GTK and based on the gstreamer framework, this project has been knocking around for years. It's made slow progress, but may now speed up as a developer has been hired to work on it full time. Also quite like iMovie in remit.
(03:11:21 PM) tonytiger: * Diva. After some promising promotional videos, this project died out.
(03:11:30 PM) tonytiger: * OpenMovie Editor. I had huge stability issues with this.
(03:11:35 PM) tonytiger: * Main Actor. Proprietary software, now withdrawn.
(03:11:45 PM) tonytiger: * Cinelerra. A hugely complex package, aiming to match professional software like Final Cut. I've had huge stability problems with it, and it hasn't been packaged in Ubuntu due to some licencing issues. However the project is addressing these issues and reinvigorating itself.
(03:11:54 PM) tonytiger: * LiVES. Aimed for live video-jockeying, and real-time effects processing, but can be used for editing too.
(03:12:02 PM) tonytiger: * Blender. Apparently this includes a fairly full-featured non-linear video editing toolset. Never tried it myself mind, as Blender scares me.
(03:12:10 PM) tonytiger: * Avidemux. A useful program for processing video files, resizing, cropping and changing various video properties. Only very simple editing features, but a useful part of the toolbox.
(03:12:18 PM) tonytiger: You might tell from the above that I'm not in love with any one video editor on Linux. Sadly, this is true.
(03:12:29 PM) tonytiger: Most of the time Kino does what I need, but when I try to do anything more complex, I have struggled a bit. kdenlive is really promising, if they can address some of the stability issues. I would love to see pitivi develop quickly. Cinelerra should be where it's at, but it's a huge learning curve, and is not the prettiest application.
(03:13:09 PM) tonytiger: My motto with video stuff on Linux is "I'll believe it when I've used it". :) However I believe in eating one's own dog food, so persist in trying!
(03:13:33 PM) tonytiger: So hopefully you've captured and edited your project.
(03:13:48 PM) tonytiger: You can now export it to a single file.
(03:14:02 PM) tonytiger: The final step being to prepare it for distribution.
(03:14:13 PM) tonytiger: If you've exported your file in a format you're happy with, then go for it. E-mail, upload, whatever.
(03:14:18 PM) tonytiger: If you want your file to "just play" on Windows and Linux you will probably need to make at least two versions.
(03:14:24 PM) tonytiger: What I tend to do in this case is produce one high quality output file from my video editor, typically an MPEG2 file.
(03:14:31 PM) tonytiger: I then encode it to a WMV file for Windows users and an OGG Theora / Vorbis file for Linux users.
(03:14:38 PM) tonytiger: I do this using "ffmpeg" and "ffmpeg2theora". These commands are packaged on Ubuntu and have various options which control the quality of the output file.
(03:14:45 PM) tonytiger: You can find the settings I use documented at http://tonywhitmore.co.uk/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?UsefulNotes/LugTalkVideos
(03:15:18 PM) tonytiger: OK, I think we've had some questions on video stuff, so I'll break for them now.
(03:15:24 PM) popey: 20:05:47 #ubuntu-classroom-chat: < jpugh> QUESTION: Brief description of your hardware setup for each of the topics?
(03:15:29 PM) tonytiger: Heh
(03:15:29 PM) tonytiger: OK
(03:16:11 PM) tonytiger: I have a PC and a laptop. The laptop has 2GB RAM, 1.8GHz dual core CPU.
(03:16:16 PM) tonytiger: 80GB disk, I think.
(03:16:24 PM) tonytiger: The desktop has about the same spec, to be honest.
(03:16:29 PM) tonytiger: Just much more disk.
(03:16:43 PM) tonytiger: CPU is the real bottle neck when it comes to working with video.
(03:16:57 PM) jpugh: Firewire is xfer mech of choice?
(03:17:03 PM) tonytiger: And even then the bottleneck is not in playing or capturing the video, it's in applying effects and exporting.
(03:17:30 PM) tonytiger: jpugh: In that it's what every decent DV camera I've seen comes with, yes. :) Although I have seen some that do USB too.
(03:17:52 PM) tonytiger: Firewire is pretty prevalent on main stream motherboards these days, but less so in laptops.
(03:18:16 PM) tonytiger: So in terms of hardware, it's not that new. A couple of years old in both cases, I think,.
(03:18:30 PM) tonytiger: Disk space is the biggest resource, hence me using lots of USB HDDs :)
(03:18:37 PM) tonytiger: OK, was there another question about video?
(03:18:46 PM) popey: < DoruHush> QUESTION: What application can be used to edit ogg video files? thanks
(03:19:34 PM) tonytiger: Hmm, that's a good question.
(03:19:41 PM) tonytiger: Pitivi can.
(03:20:07 PM) tonytiger: Other programs like avidemux (and kino, I think) can export to OGG Theora files, but can't open them.
(03:20:29 PM) tonytiger: If pitivi doesn't meet your needs yet, you will probably have to convert your OGG file to a different format for editing.
(03:20:41 PM) tonytiger: Possibly to DV or to MPEG2 would be your best bets
(03:20:48 PM) tonytiger: I would use ffmpeg to do this.
(03:21:08 PM) popey: There are two more questions, want them now, or want to move on?
(03:21:15 PM) tonytiger: Are they about video?
(03:21:22 PM) popey: yes, kinda
(03:21:28 PM) tonytiger: ok
(03:21:32 PM) tonytiger: Go for it :)
(03:21:40 PM) popey: <@popey> QUESTION: Does using the realtime kernel (as used in ubuntu studio make any real difference?
(03:21:54 PM) tonytiger: Heh
(03:22:01 PM) tonytiger: Promoting your own questions. :)
(03:22:28 PM) tonytiger: I was going to touch on this in the audio segment, because it's not really any use for video processing, as far as I know.
(03:22:29 PM) popey: it was next in the queue
(03:22:31 PM) tonytiger: :)
(03:22:36 PM) popey: ok, one more..
(03:22:43 PM) ***tonytiger nods
(03:22:47 PM) popey: < gourgi> QUESTION:i have some screencasts using recordmydesktop and i want to add annotations._comments_comment-clouds (not sure how they called :)) , what software does what i want
(03:22:50 PM) popey: :D
(03:23:00 PM) tonytiger: heh
(03:23:14 PM) tonytiger: I might have to delegate to Mr. Screencasts, popey.
(03:23:30 PM) popey: There is no product I know of, but I'd love to talk to someone about writing one.
(03:23:49 PM) tonytiger: Heh, that's a "no" then. :)
(03:24:14 PM) tonytiger: I might add that you could use cinelerra or kino or kdenlive to add captions manually to your video.
(03:24:32 PM) tonytiger: It might get a bit tiring and would be a pain in the backside if you spotted a typo after you'd done it all. :)
(03:24:44 PM) tonytiger: OK, let's press on to photography.
(03:24:50 PM) tonytiger: In some ways this is the simplest of the three areas I'm talking about tonight. Most digital cameras appear as USB mass storage when connected to a computer running Ubuntu. This means that the camera's memory card will be automatically mounted and the application for managing photographs will be started.
(03:25:02 PM) tonytiger: Some cameras, notably older Canon ones, don't appear as a mass storage device because they use a different protocol. You can use a USB card reader or a program like gtkam to copy the files off these cameras.
(03:25:16 PM) tonytiger: Ubuntu comes with F-spot as the default photo management application. It's what I use. I didn't really see the need for photo management software until I'd had my digital camera for a couple of years. Before long I'd built up gigabytes of photographs and was spending ages manually sorting them into folders.
(03:25:28 PM) tonytiger: One of my favourite things about F-spot is that it sorts imported photographs into a nice, neat, date-based directory structure. A perfect way of finding your photos, even if you don't want to fire up F-spot at that time.
(03:25:39 PM) tonytiger: F-spot allows you to tag photos. This is a pain the backside to do initially, especially if you have hundreds or thousands of photos in your initial import.
(03:25:54 PM) tonytiger: However, once you've processed your backlog (or perhaps you just elect not to do so) it's easy to keep on top of, just tagging new photos as you import them.
(03:26:06 PM) tonytiger: So, why bother? Tagging is a good way to locate photos. Really. You can also search for photos based on multiple criteria, for example you could search for photos tagged "Wales" and "Buster" but not "Frank".
(03:26:21 PM) tonytiger: F-spot also allows you to browse and view your photo collection, as well as exporting it to a number of different online galleries. (The export functionality for some of these is provided by plugins, and these aren't always compatible with the latest release of F-spot though, so watch out.)
(03:26:34 PM) tonytiger: You can also retouch photos in F-spot and each new release seems to add more features in this area. You can crop, re-colour and touch up photos all from within F-Spot.
(03:26:47 PM) tonytiger: But F-spot can also open photos in other graphics packages for editing. It will create a separate revision of the photo each time it is opened, allowing you to keep the original and any other versions you produce and switch between them easily.
(03:27:17 PM) tonytiger: So, what external application are you likely to want to open photos in? The obvious candidate is the Gnu Image Manipulation Program, or GIMP for short.
(03:27:22 PM) tonytiger: GIMP is the closest that the Free Software world has to Photoshop. That isn't to say that a Photoshop user can just sit down and use the GIMP, the two have different interfaces.
(03:27:32 PM) tonytiger: The KDE world has Krita http://www.koffice.org/krita/ which seems to be quite popular.
(03:27:40 PM) tonytiger: The GIMP provides a similar range of effects, features and filters to Photoshop. It supports layers, masks, blending, cloning, filters and batch scripting.
(03:27:52 PM) tonytiger: It also supports graphics tablets, which are a more intuitive interface for artistic work. I have a Wacom tablet and it works really well with that, allowing multiple "tools", like eraser and brush and pressure sensitivity.
(03:28:21 PM) tonytiger: One of the common complaints about GIMP is that it only uses 8-bit of data per "channel" internally. This is less than Photoshop, so often leads to accusations that the GIMP isn't a "professional" level tool. Fortunately the new 2.6 release has revised internals which, whilst not "on" by default, address these concerns.
(03:28:31 PM) tonytiger: Like any complex application there's a bit of a learning curve whilst you get used to the tools and techniques which the GIMP provides.
(03:29:08 PM) tonytiger: But it is rewarding to be able to process and improve your photographs, especially without paying a fortune for expensive software to do so!
(03:29:12 PM) tonytiger: There is a book from Rocky Nook which is well worth looking at if you're interested in using the GIMP for photographic work.
(03:29:18 PM) tonytiger: http://www.amazon.co.uk/GIMP-Photographers-Editing-Source-Software/dp/1933952032/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225817533&sr=1-2
(03:29:34 PM) tonytiger: It's also worth mentioning RAW photos. Most digital SLR cameras allow you to take photos in RAW mode. RAW photos are unprocessed and uncompressed data from the sensor in the camera. They can produce better quality results than shooting in standard JPEG mode, but require processing to do so.
(03:29:42 PM) tonytiger: Unlike the JPEG format, different manufacturers have different RAW formats. Fortunately you can still work with and process RAW photos on Linux.
(03:29:50 PM) tonytiger: Applications like dcraw http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/ ufraw http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/ and rawstudio http://rawstudio.org/ allow manipulation of RAW images.
(03:30:00 PM) tonytiger: F-spot, as already discussed, can import RAW photos directly and by default will open a RAW photo for editing in UFRaw before importing to the GIMP.
(03:30:19 PM) tonytiger: If you are really geeky about these things, you can get into colour management and monitor calibration to ensure better colour matching between what you see on screen and what you get when printed. The software for measuring your monitor and producing a profile is still quite new but seems to work.
(03:30:35 PM) tonytiger: Many people will be happy viewing pictures on a monitor or digital photo frame, but if you want to produce high quality photo prints under Linux, please make sure you read reviews of printers before you purchase. CUPS can provide more and more advanced features, but if you are really counting on high print quality it pays to make sure your printer will produce the results you need under Linux.
(03:31:18 PM) tonytiger: OK, are there any questions about digital photography?
(03:31:27 PM) popey: you've answered them :)
(03:31:45 PM) tonytiger: excellent, what a well though through session :)
(03:32:05 PM) tonytiger: I'll give people a minute to think of anything else photography related before moving on to audio stuff
(03:33:25 PM) popey: 20:33:12 < jerichokb> QUESTION: how well do the apps you've mentioned cope with a dual-monitor set-up?
(03:33:35 PM) tonytiger: Ooh, good question. :)
(03:33:42 PM) tonytiger: I use a dual monitor set up on my desktop.
(03:33:52 PM) tonytiger: I probably should have mentioned that in my hardware spec. :)
(03:34:06 PM) tonytiger: And yes, I have a dual-head nVidia card.
(03:34:12 PM) tonytiger: And yes, I use the evil binary driver.
(03:34:15 PM) tonytiger: I'd love not to.
(03:34:40 PM) tonytiger: F-spot is a single window application, so you can either stretch it across two heads, or just keep it on one.
(03:35:13 PM) tonytiger: GIMP scales to two heads somewhat better though, as is has multiple windows in addition to the main image window
(03:35:39 PM) tonytiger: So you could have the tools on one head, a smaller image perhaps on the same head, and a large image on the second head.
(03:36:06 PM) tonytiger: Or, if you're launching GIMP from F-spot, F-spot on one head, GIMP toolbars etc. on the same head and the image on the second head.
(03:36:28 PM) tonytiger: It's worth noting that the graphics tablet doesn't fit quite so well with dual head.
(03:36:50 PM) tonytiger: Mine at least is in the correct aspect ratio for a 4:3 monitor.
(03:37:45 PM) tonytiger: This means that the cursor moves twice as far on screen for a given move of the stylus left to right than it does up-down.
(03:37:50 PM) tonytiger: Which is a bit of a pain.
(03:37:55 PM) tonytiger: However, I adapted.
(03:38:16 PM) tonytiger: Not sure that any other OS would cope any better mind, I think it's a limitation of the tablets.
(03:38:37 PM) tonytiger: OK, if that's all for photography for now, I'll move onto audio.
(03:39:21 PM) tonytiger: Linux is pretty well catered for in terms of digital audio. USB sound cards work well and are a great way of improving the performance of audio applications. You might not be able to hear a difference straight away, but on-board sound cards are not really suitable for anything more than the random beeps and bleeps that your system makes.
(03:39:29 PM) tonytiger: Onboard sound cards respond slower to requests from applications to play noises, for a start. :)
(03:39:47 PM) tonytiger: I have personally used devices which appear to the operating system as USB sounds cards, including a Centrance Mic Port Pro http://www.frontendaudio.com/Centrance_MicPort_Pro_p/9999-01463.htm and a USB interface with my mixer.
(03:40:03 PM) tonytiger: If you want use more than a handful of channels then you'll need to look at Firewire interfaces. Some mixers have Firewire interfaces built in, or you can use an external unit like the Presonus FP10 http://www.studiospares.com/Audio-Interfaces/Presonus-FP10/invt/328110
(03:40:05 PM) brobostigon: so a seperare soundcard is always the most ideal?
(03:40:13 PM) tonytiger: These present each channel as a separate input to your audio application, so you can control the volume level, apply different filters and processes to each.
(03:40:21 PM) tonytiger: These /should/ Just Work with Linux as it's a standardised interface, but it's worth using your favourite search engine to find out if other people have had positive experiences with that hardware under Linux.
(03:40:59 PM) popey: brobostigon: questions in #ubuntu-classroom-chat please
(03:41:09 PM) brobostigon: sorry
(03:41:12 PM) tonytiger: brobostigon: In terms of performance, yes. There's a definite delay in playing in, for example, audacity, when using the onboard sound card than with an external one.
(03:41:47 PM) brobostigon: thank you tonytiger, sorry for interrupting
(03:41:49 PM) tonytiger: It doesn't have to be external, there are great PCI sound cards for internal use.
(03:41:56 PM) tonytiger: No problem, popey is my bouncher.
(03:41:59 PM) tonytiger: *bouncer
(03:42:18 PM) tonytiger: The most basic GUI audio application available on Ubuntu is Sound Recorder, like the Sound Recorder application on Windows.
(03:42:26 PM) tonytiger: You can record, stop, play and save. That's about it! Useful for very basic operations, you'll quickly outgrow it if you have any more creative ideas.
(03:43:01 PM) tonytiger: There are command line applications that will do the same too, asound being one. This might be useful if you wanted a script to record something.
(03:43:09 PM) tonytiger: Perhaps triggered from a cronjob? Erm, the mind boggles.
(03:43:22 PM) tonytiger: Audacity is a fantastic application to use for recording and editing audio. The best thing about it is that you can get started with it really quickly and keep uncovering new features for ages.
(03:43:34 PM) tonytiger: Audacity is great for recording a stereo or mono tracks, editing bits out and applying some effects.
(03:43:39 PM) tonytiger: One of the nice things about Audacity is that it supports LADSPA plugins. There are a lot of plugins packaged for Ubuntu which can be used on a number of different packages, including Audacity.
(03:43:48 PM) tonytiger: Audacity can also be used for multi-track editing and mixing. You can build up quite complex mixes with lots of tracks with Audacity.
(03:43:57 PM) tonytiger: The main problem with Audacity is that applying effects and edits is a destructive process. For example you can't change the settings of a particular filter without using the "undo" function to reverse the filter, alter the settings and re-apply it.
(03:44:06 PM) tonytiger: This is OK if you are only applying a single filter but with complex sequences of filters it becomes impractical quite quickly.
(03:44:15 PM) tonytiger: That said, I use Audacity for editing the podcast as it is quick and has handy keyboard shortcuts which allow for rapid use - handy when you've got hours of waffle to go through!
(03:44:27 PM) tonytiger: The next step up is Ardour. This is the Linux equivalent of Logic ProTools and is a sophisticated "digital audio workstation". http://ardour.org/
(03:44:36 PM) tonytiger: It can manage dozens of tracks and apply effects non-destructively. It's ardour that you want to use if you're thinking about multi-channel USB or firewire interfaces. It supports LADSPA plugins, but applies them non-destructively and allows you to alter and automate changes to the plugin settings through the course of your project.
(03:44:49 PM) tonytiger: It even supports processing audio for video tracks, allowing you to make changes to the audio track and preview the audio along with the video.
(03:44:57 PM) Daviey: *cough*
(03:44:57 PM) tonytiger: Ardour uses the JACK audio engine, which is basically a process responsible for making other applications talk to each other. http://jackaudio.org
(03:45:14 PM) tonytiger: Ladies and gentlemen, the cause of most of the waffle, Daviey. :)
(03:45:21 PM) tonytiger: The clever thing about JACK is that it can connect different audio applications together, so you can use different applications to work on different parts of your project.
(03:45:32 PM) tonytiger: There are lots of applications which support JACK. Not all of them are as dependent on JACK to run as Ardour though. http://jackaudio.org/applications
(03:45:49 PM) tonytiger: If you're making a multi-track music piece, recording one instrument whilst listening to the ones you've already recording, you'll probably want to use a low latency kernel. This is packaged in Ubuntu as "linux-rt".
(03:46:00 PM) tonytiger: By installing this kernel then rebooting and selecting it on boot, you can configure JACK to run in "real time" or low latency mode. This means there is a greatly reduced delay between playing a sound and hearing it coming back out of the sound card again.
(03:46:16 PM) tonytiger: This is turn means you can keep in time with the pre-recorded music tracks.
(03:46:34 PM) tonytiger: (In my notes I had substituted "tracks" with "interviews". How bizarre.)
(03:46:42 PM) tonytiger: If you're not doing multi-tracked music projects then I wouldn't worry about setting up the low latency kernel unless you're super keen.
(03:46:50 PM) tonytiger: There is a great tutorial on episode 92 of Linux Reality which will get you up and running with ardour in 40 minutes or so. http://www.linuxreality.com/podcast/episode-92-ardour/
(03:46:58 PM) tonytiger: I also made some screencasts on how I use Ardour to mix the Ubuntu UK podcast which you can get from http://screencasts.ubuntu.com/
(03:47:00 PM) WastePotato_ is now known as WastePotato
(03:47:13 PM) tonytiger: (Additional ones about editing in Audacity will appear at some point, if they're not already up.)
(03:47:18 PM) popey: (they are)
(03:47:27 PM) tonytiger: Cool, thanks popey
(03:48:08 PM) tonytiger: There are other options too, like Traverso http://traverso-daw.org/ and ReZound http://rezound.sourceforge.net/
(03:48:12 PM) tonytiger: Traverso is quite interesting as it uses a "cut list" approach, only applying cuts when the project is exported.
(03:48:22 PM) tonytiger: I must confess that I'm not a creative musical type when it comes to audio, but there are sequencers and notation packages like Rosegarden http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/ and Swami http://swami.resonance.org/trac and drum generators like Hydrogen http://www.hydrogen-music.org/
(03:48:46 PM) tonytiger: The list of JACK applications is quite impressive, it has mastering software and DJ / radio station stuff too.
(03:49:02 PM) tonytiger: OK, let's go with any audio questions
(03:49:13 PM) popey: 20:42:54 < DoruHush> QUESTION: What audio server it is (or will be) used and how the cofig. process works? thanks
(03:49:21 PM) popey: 20:46:07 <@popey> DoruHush: so you want to know what configuration changes tony makes to his setup with respect to pulse?
(03:49:27 PM) popey: 20:47:00 < DoruHush> yes, or what options should be set to configure the sound cards, (5.1 etc.)
(03:49:56 PM) tonytiger: JACK is its own audio server.
(03:50:01 PM) tonytiger: Effectively.
(03:50:15 PM) tonytiger: I've never had to change pulse to use JACK.
(03:50:46 PM) tonytiger: I think pulse only starts one instance on login, so if I connect by USB sound device, there's no pulse instance trying to address it.
(03:50:50 PM) tonytiger: That makes it a null-issue.
(03:51:13 PM) tonytiger: But I've never had to fiddle with pulse to use JACK when using an internal sound card either, I don't think.
(03:52:04 PM) tonytiger: I terms of 5.1 sound, I've never created 5.1 channel sound!
(03:52:24 PM) tonytiger: In terms of playing back 5.1 channel sound from a DVD or similar, Xine has an option for it.
(03:52:47 PM) tonytiger: Sorry, I can't be of more help in that respect. :)
(03:52:52 PM) tonytiger: Any more questions?
(03:52:58 PM) popey: 20:49:12 < yusuf_> Question: what is the best way to do live audio streaming?
(03:53:00 PM) DoruHush: thanks
(03:53:30 PM) tonytiger: yusuf_: I'd suggest looking at Icecast
(03:53:37 PM) tonytiger: http://www.icecast.org/
(03:54:06 PM) tonytiger: There are other options which may be more appropriate if you're on limited bandwidth or have other restrictions
(03:54:25 PM) popey: 20:54:17 < yusuf_> Question: most of the listners will be windows listners
(03:54:49 PM) tonytiger: Icecast is based on the MP3 format, so this will be fine for Windows listeners.
(03:55:10 PM) tonytiger: I think it is also possible to use gstreamer to create a streaming server of some kind.
(03:55:26 PM) tonytiger: This would support OGG streams as well as the less-Free formats.
(03:55:47 PM) tonytiger: Any more questions?
(03:55:52 PM) popey: nope
(03:56:20 PM) tonytiger: Any more questions on anything discussed here tonight?
(03:56:36 PM) tonytiger: I'll wrap up then.
(03:56:48 PM) tonytiger: Thanks for having me here this evening, it's been fun!
(03:56:53 PM) tonytiger: I hope it's been a useful session.
(03:56:53 PM) popey: Thanks tonytiger !
(03:57:19 PM) tonytiger: Listen to the Ubuntu Podcast from the UK LoCo Tean
(03:57:21 PM) tonytiger: *Team
(03:57:22 PM) tonytiger: http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/
(03:57:23 PM) tonytiger: :)
(03:57:33 PM) tonytiger: Thanks to my glamourous assistant popey
(03:57:40 PM) ***popey twirls again
(03:57:42 PM) tonytiger: You don't want to see his sequinned outfit, trust me.
(03:58:45 PM) Daviey: Question: Does the Ubuntu UK Podcast rock?
(03:58:52 PM) tonytiger: Daviey: It does.
(03:58:54 PM) popey: Why yes, yes it does.
(03:59:25 PM) tonytiger: :)
MeetingLogs/openweekintrepid/MediaProduction (last edited 2008-11-04 21:52:36 by pool-70-16-60-167)