My First Sound Clip!

I have spent today learning how to use my new digital recording equipment. It's fairly simple as gadget learning curves go. I haven't done much of anything as far as tweaking microphone levels, etc. but I did set it for "loud music" as the attacks on loud piano chords in our living room were a tad distorted on my first try. (They still are, but less so.)

Oh, those Sony people are devious! I didn't know that you can't use the included Sony Soundstage software to burn an uploaded digital MiniDisc recording to a CD until after I bought it. That sucks, I thought, since that's one of the prime reasons I bought it in the first place. It also doesn't record in .mp3 format, only giant .wav files that take up roughly 10 MB/minute (a little big for uploading or emailing).

I found an easy way around both of these problems. All I have to do is open the files with something else, such as Windows Media Player, and I can burn them onto CDs with no problem. I googled "mp3 conversion software" and found an easy little converter for 20 bucks that will convert my stuff into .mp3s in just a couple of mouse clicks.

I will eventually learn how to set up a podcast, but until I do, I found this nifty little site where I can upload media files up to 25 MB for free.

So without further ado, behold--my first sound clip ever. This is a tarantella I composed in 2002 (based on a traditional tarantella melody) for the Cleveland School of Dance. I got to play it again for the recent performance a couple of weeks ago. I thought I'd start with this because it's short, and it took me a few takes to work out technical difficulties. Enjoy! Galion clip coming soon.