How to embed a ODEO player in WordPress

I feel like such a fool.

For the longest time, I’ve been struggling with not being able to embed ODEO players into my wordpress blogs. For some reason, the codes just vanish when you paste and save them in WordPress. Tried several ways, taking out lines and inserting between paragraph HTML codes… I’ve always assumed it couldn’t be done.

But there must be a way. Jeremy managed to do it for his Songcraft blog post. I emailed him and Isaak. They didn’t reply yet.

I got impatient (with myself). Especially after creating the SeaStars music album blog (a music album blog with no embedded players… unthinkable!).

So then I got impatient and I went to Google and searched “odeo player wordpress”.

The first result pointed me to this odeo page.

As I said, I feel like such a fool.

But a happy one.

GarageBand: How to create stereo tracks

My friend, Lekowala, texted me: “How do you get the guitar tracks to go stereo?”

I don’t know about other GarageBand users, but here’s how I do it. There are two main ways:

1. Use the “Chorus –> Spread Stereo” effects setting
2. Create a duplicate track, then adjust the Track Pan settings to create a Left and Right track

METHOD #1: CHORUS - SPREAD STEREO (click on the image to see larger sizes)

GarageBand records in Mono (I’m using iLife ‘06). At the Track Info panel, under Input, it says “Channel 1 (Mono)”. It’s still Mono even if you select “Channel 1 & 2 (Stereo)”.

“Chorus” effect. You can instantly hear the difference.

One easy way to get the stereo effect is to select the “Spread Stereo” option from the

If you don’t want to use any effects to distort your original recording, here’s an alternative to using the Chorus Spread Stereo effect.

METHOD #2: Track Pan settings (click on the image to see larger sizes)

After you’ve recorded your track, make a Duplicate Track. Then copy the recording (from your first track) and paste to the duplicate track.

Click on the “Track Volume/ Pan Curve” button (i.e. the little triangle icon). The choose “Track Pan“.

Adjust the tracks to pan to the left and right respectively.

TIP: If you can’t seem to be able to get both tracks to have the same Pan curve number, don’t stress yourself out. Seems there’s always a +1 difference between the left and right pan. In my case, I have the top pan track set to “-34″ and the bottom track to “+35″. You can never get “-34″ and “+34″.

Out of curiosity, I searched if there were other related blog posts/ sites. Here’s a few, although some may not have specific instructions on stereo tracks:

• Homerecording.About.com - An introduction to GarageBand
• Apple.com Mac 101: GarageBand
• Synthtopia.com - Advanced audio effects in Garageband and GarageBand Tips and Tricks
• TidBITS - Tips and Tricks for recording with GarageBand (this one talks about recording two tracks at once, so maybe that’ll help)
• Apple’s Garageband manual - PDF file (it covers the basics of using GarageBand)

Poem: On My Way To Work

First published at the 28th SSEAYP Amateur Poetry Club (I set that up in 2001), Issue #1, Dec 2001.

On My Way To Work
Rainbow ashes built
Upon butterfly dreams.
Silver silhouettes of florescent fishes
Dancing beneath green marble floors.

Bleary eyes stung
By artificial cold.
Echoes of hard knocks
On polished rock, resounding.

Nameless faces rushing
To daytime jobs.
I weave among human traffic
In a race whose prize is to beat the clock.
Ivan Chew, 10 Nov 2001

I wrote this at a time when my office was based in the city. I alighted at City Hall MRT station and had to walk through City Link (an underground shopping area). I the airconditioning was particularly cold and sharp. Stung my eyes. And the sounds of ladies high heels on marble floors. I remember thinking that everyone was so intent on getting to the office. No one spoke. The poem basically describes the scenes from that walk.

This photo (including the title) depicts the scene perfectly.
Zombies
Originally uploaded by Atlantys

Podcast: Love On A Train

[From this post]

The complete song, with lyrics. I couldn’t find a rock singer. So I had to pretend I was one. Heh.

or LISTEN TO THE SONG HERE –> Love On A Train (2.7 MB)
[Details at Archive.org]

thinker - Originally uploaded by blamfoto

A few things can be improved. I can’t do any better with my vocals, so that’s that. I could’ve spent more time engineering the sound, but I told myself to stop being a perfectionist. So, feel free to let me know what you think about the song.

[23 Sept '07: UPDATE]
Here’s the Minus-One version (i.e. without vocals). CLICK HERE. Feel free to record your own vocals (see CC license):


This work by Ivan Chew is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. For permissions beyond the scope of this license , please contact via RamblingLibrarian@gmail.com.

RamblingLibrarian’s Podcasts:

Lyrics: Love on a Train

My attempt at writing a song.

LOVE ON A TRAIN
At least now I know
What it was like to dream
To have fallen in love
I found love on a train

It was like any other day
I was standing at the station (waiting for the train)
Then out of the blue
I saw you walking by

I found myself beside you
I pretended to ignore you
I remember asking myself
What were you thinking of
I wondered what was your name?

It sounded strange to say it’s love
To say it’s love at first sight
What was real was wishful thinking
An idle mind’s Hollywood

It never was ever meant to be
You probably didn’t notice me
But still I thought I did fall in love
If only at a memory

We’re strangers forever
But at least now I know
What it was like to dream
To have fallen in love
I found love on a train
I found love on a train

Ivan Chew, 18 Sept 2007

This came about because Jeremy (who runs Songcraft) sent the group a photo and a suggestion:

We’re gonna try something interesting here, in preparation for the upcoming session next Friday:

It’s just an optional exercise in creativity & interpretation. The aim is to see how we come up with our own music and/or lyrics based on our own interpretation of the same picture. (Don’t ask me why I decided on this one. I just thought it was rather poetic and open to various possibilities & interpretations…after scouring the net for hours for a good picture!)

thinker - Originally uploaded by blamfoto

Take a look at it, see what thoughts you have on it, and come up with whatever you like based on it.

It could be a full song, it could be a poem, it could be prose, or it could be just some instrumental music. The idea is just to see how differently we create Art based on seeing the same thing.

It was a nice picture. And I thought Jeremy had an excellent idea. So I made an attempt at writing a song, with lyrics.

Before I started writing the lyrics, I recorded a rough tune and arrangement on my Mac (based on E/ A/ G#/ A). Playing back the chords repeatedly and mouthing some words, I typed out the lyrics based on the cadence of what I was hearing.

I started with a story about a man thinking back to his childhood. He remembers seeing this girl on the train. And the man (a young boy then) remembered how he fell in love at first sight, with the young girl. And he now wonders where she was, and what might have been.

In the tune, I had a part (the break, which became lines 14 to 21) that sounded quite ‘dark’ and moody. For that, I decided to write how the man lamented about not ever knowing the girl. As I progressed, I decided to drop the part of the young boy remembering the young girl (the flashback parts was too complicated). So it was just down a man who saw a woman (not a girl) on a train. Same premise of him falling in love at first sight.

The initial title was “Girl on a Train”. Then “Love Train” and finally refined to “Love on a Train”.

I’m not ready to publish the tune yet (it’s too messy; too much of a draft). It’ll be interesting to see what the others might come up with. I’m hopeful we could end up with some collaborative music mashup after the discussion.

Wheels Turning

Wheels Turning
I know what you mean
by time flying by
so fast.

It’s kind of humbling, isn’t it?

That our lives
are just a tiny speck
in the grander scheme
of things
in the universe.

That the galaxies
continue to dance,
still turning in their song
of births and rebirths,

long before we’re gone.

Ivan Chew
12 September 2007

[This poem was an excerpt from an email to a friend. She wrote that time seemed to pass by very fast. I agreed. The rest of the words just came forth. And they (the words) looked and sounded complete, at least to my eyes and ears. Decided to post it here. The photo was found in Flickr: Photo credited to zen724. "Polar Ring" Galaxy NGC 4650A: A Disk of Red Stars Ringed By Dust, Gas, and More Stars.]

Keiko Matusi - “Water lily”

Discovered this pianist by chance, while surfing YouTube. This piece sounded very serene. Builds up near the end, and then calms down again. Like the journey of a water lily through a pond, cascading down a waterfall, finding itself in another pond. The lily fades away but lays the seeds for new growth.

Was it just me, or does the tune have flavours of traditional Japanese melodies? It has an oriental sound to it. Interesting…

Podcast: Midnight Runner

This song was meant to be a rock guitar instrumental riff, but I couldn’t find the inspiration to complete it. In the end, I added some techno-beats and drum loops to complete it.

[Listen/ download at ARCHIVE.ORG]

This work by Ivan Chew is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. For permissions beyond the scope of this license , please contact via RamblingLibrarian@gmail.com.

RamblingLibrarian’s Podcasts:

Podcast: Once Upon A Star

or LISTEN TO THE SONG HERE –> Once Upon A Star (1.8MB)
[Details at Archive.org]
UPDATE (24 Sept ‘07): Fretless bass track added to original recording

This song is dedicated to the Tumaini Kids! (details here)

Chords:
C/ G/ F
Am/ F/ C/ G

Notes on How It’s Done:

1) Decide on a Beat-Per-Second. I experimented with settings of 70, 75, 80 and 85. The one that sounded right was 80.

2) Chose a GarageBand drum loop. I didn’t want anything fancy, but not too “Pop” sounding either. Final choice was with a “Thickened Drums” setting (under the Instrument panel: Real Instrument –> Drums –> Thickened Drums)

3) After a few practice runs on my MIDI keyboard, I recorded the first part of the piano track using the GarageBand software track (”Grand Piano” setting). I played with the drum loop to keep in tempo. Later I edited out the drum loop for the first stanza.

4) I made two other attempts but decided that the first version sounded best. Aligned them to 1/16 notes (under the Edit pane). That’s how my notes all sound in beat (thanks to GarageBand!)

5) Added a software track — “Lunar Strings” — and played around with a few accompanying notes. Sounded quite alright, so I left the recording as it was. Then added another software track — “Synth Pads –> Floating Embers” (I liked how this gave a “new age” effect).

6) Came up with the Am/ G/ C/ G chords as I thought about recording the second piano part. The chords sounded OK so I recorded them. Then added another track to play accompanying notes (when layered together, they make me sound like I can play the piano well, but that’s just editing, heh).

7) Decided the second piano part needed a stronger accompaniment. Recorded the “Choral” sounds as a ‘Live’ instrument (keyboard to the Mac). I had to use a high Gate setting, and set the equaliser pre-set to “Reduce S”. Recorded two choral tracks.

8 ) The cymbals at the end of the second piano part was recorded as a software track (Rock Kit).

9) Added some incidental notes using the Floating Ember synth to fade off the second piano part. Then recorded a final closing piano piece (edited out about two-thirds of what I recorded for the piano, as it was too draggy).

10) Sound engineering: I found that MIDI recordings tended to be quite soft. To boost the volumes, I copied and repeated the original piano tracks (that’s why you see 3 identical layers for the first piano part). Also raised the individual levels and the master volume. Fine-tuned the volume by playing and monitoring the red-line. This took quite a bit of time, as always.

RamblingLibrarian’s Podcasts: