Category Archives: Music

Choosing the Right PA Sound System - 4 Tips

So you need a PA sound system? We hope this article will help point you in the right direction. Mostly, finding the system best suited to you is by eliminating the types that are not suitable. By this process of elimination, you should be left with a smaller, more focused view of what you should be looking for. This will save you a lot of time or asking a music shop owner a generic question like “What sort of PA’s do you have?”.

Consideration #1 - What is the PA for?

What exactly are you using the PA for? Mixing a band? A DJ? Just for someone to speak through to address an audience? Once you can answer this, you will instantly eliminate a lot of systems. This can also save you money by buying a system that suits what you need without all the extras that might be unnecessary for your need. Once you are clear about the use of the system, be sure to consider how many channels you will need (it’s always best to opt for a couple of spare channels in case you overlooked something or need to add something later).

Consideration #2 - Size of Audience

The larger the audience the more powerful the PA will need to be. Expected room size is also a consideration. If you are using the PA outdoors, you will need more power again as the power tends to disipate in outdoor situations as opposed to a room. A PA in a near empty room will sound much more powerful than when you add people into the room. This is because the denseness of the human body (being mostly comprised of water) actually absorbs the sound.

Consideration #3 - Budget

An obvious consideration is budget, but don’t forget that it really is true - you get what you pay for. If you have the chance to listen to systems, be sure to do so as you might be surprised just how much clearer and how much more a sense of depth a more expensive speaker has. Speakers can range from a couple of hundred dollars to many thousands each. If you plan on making this investment as part of a career, it might pay you to buy the best you can afford.

Consideration #4 - Transporting the System

Last, but not least, don’t forget that if you plan on taking the PA sound system “on the road” you will need to consider any transport issues. Make sure it fits in your vehicle and also assess the weight of the system and if you might need to invest in trolleys to make moving the equipment safer and easier.

Nik Edser has been working as a professional musician and DJ and knows which PA Sound System to use for which job. He has helped many people make the right decision for purchasing the right system as well as helping people who are making a PA system rental to rent the right equipment for the job.

How to Choose the Best MP3 Player For Listening to Audiobooks

There are so many choices of audiobooks out there that you want to have the right device to listen to them. The search for the best Mp3 player can be frustrating especially when there are so many to choose from. Here are some important questions you should ask yourself before you buy one.

How Much Memory Do I Need?

Digital CD-quality audiobooks and music takes about one megabyte (MB) of memory per minute. You can always erase the MP3 player’s contents and add more audio, but more memory is always better. My advice is to buy as much memory as you can afford. Also, check to see if the player’s memory can be expanded later.

Flash Memory, Hard Drive?

The earliest portable MP3 players used built-in flash memory, later supplemented by plug-in memory cards, and 64MB was as large as they came. Now there are portable MP3 players with hundreds of gigs of flash memory. Hard drive MP3 players hold from 4 to 60 gigabytes or more (a gigabyte is 1,000MB). There are MP3 CD players that come with MP3 decoders built in, and they hold 700MB on inexpensive CD disks, but they are becoming dinosaurs. Finally, you can also play MP3′s and audio files on most cell phones and portable tablets.

What Kind of Files Will It Play?

All portable players work with MP3 files, but some will play WMA, OGG and other formats. Not all portable MP3 players support the protected AAC format used by iTunes, so if you buy audiobooks or music from Apple’s famous online store, be sure your player works with it. Some portable MP3 players also double as storage devices, so you can transport pictures, documents and anything else.

Is it Convenient to Use?

Before you buy a player, pick it up and try out the controls. Are they easy to reach, and logically arranged? Is the display clear and easy to read? Some units come with a remote control - a convenient feature for joggers and other active people.

Does it Have the Features You Need?

Some portables can record voice or music through a built-in microphone or line-in jack. Many models also feature an FM radio. The latest gadgets can also store and display pictures and video. If these features are important to you, shop around for the best option.

Even thought there are hundreds of MP3 players to choose from the best one depends on you. Most audiobooks come in the MP3 format so there shouldn’t be a problem finding a good one or any compatibility problems.

John Rivers has been involved with music for over 30 years as a student, performer and teacher. His site The-NetGuide-for-MusicDownloads.com helps individuals to find safe and legal music download sites. Become a Facebook fan.

Sound Canceling Headphones: Widely Advertised Capabilities and Hidden Limitations

The ambient sounds are the common outer world disturbances, which become increasingly excessive in the modern cosmopolitan cities. Certainly, they negatively influence not only our ears, but also nervous systems and thus, cause physical plus mental strains, depressions attention corporals, and even lead to all sorts of accidents.

Some of us try to protect ourselves against the ambient noise of a big city and get at least some relaxation merely by plugging headphones in our ears and enjoying our favorite music or audio books. But some of the ambient sounds can still be heard through them. This forces us to raise the volume increasingly excessively, which in its turn, causes the greatest harm to our already strained ears.

That is why engineers all over the world felt intrigued about reducing or even cancelling the acoustic noise. And finally, they came up with the sound cancelling headphones our team of experts felt eager to test in action.

How Do this Miraculous Headphones Work?

These headphones successfully cope with cancelling the low and medium-frequency portions of noise by merely using the ANC technology. Basically, this know-how uses the signal of one or two built-in near the ear microphones to convert the noise they transmit and generate special destructive interferences, which then, get forwarded back to the headphone.

However, the high-frequency sounds cancellation is still much of a challenge even for the most up-to-date products. On the other hand, these sound waves are barely heard to human ear and thus, cause no major ear disturbances.

What Benefits Can Sound Canceling Headphones Offer?

Even though this unwanted noise reduction technology is commonly used for such routine tasks as ensuring the user’s quite and peaceful relaxation even in the crowded vehicles, it can also be used in an airplane to free the pilot’s announcements from the acoustic noise and thus, make them more clear for passengers.

In addition, these headphones are already used to guarantee the employers’ and college students’ privacy as they perform the concurrent tasks.

What Limitations Do Sound Canceling Headphones Feature?

First of all, engineers can not yet bring these gadgets charge holding power to the level of regular headphones one. Nowadays, it is limited to one or three hours depending on a supplier.

In addition, our in-store tests revealed that some models cause the significant audio sound quality drop. Some products even demonstrated the additional really quite hiss noise as a minor source of an audio sound interruption.

And finally, even the most up-to-date products are somewhat bulkier and considerably heavier than the regular headphones.

Follow the link to learn more the sound cancelling headphones performance objectives.