Hypercompendia

Well I bought a guitar, tuned it myself using this online tuner, plinked a few strings, tried to hold a chord, and once again came face to face with my own inadequacies.

So while I learned much about introducing audio into hypertext via Audacity and Garage Band, and, I learned how to transfer hypertext onto removable drives and installation on PC or Mac hard drives, this project is going back on the shelf again.

Still searching for a better instrument than the harmonica. Went antiquing yesterday and found three guitars, two autoharps, and a dulcimer. The dulcimer looked like something I could handle but it only had three strings out of five. One of the autoharps looked really promising but it was $95. Of the three guitars, the cheapest really didn’t have a great sound and when something’s marked “as is” and I don’t know what’s wrong with it, I’ll back off. Strummed a bit, but had to face facts that I really don’t know how to play a guitar and would likely be more disappointed with the plinking and strumming I’d be capable of doing in comparison to the original professional piece than with my harmonica-playing.

What new media does teach is that it is rare for one artist to be able to handle all three elements–words, images, and audio–well. New media, to be at its best, is unfortunately, a team effort. With my poem Recycling it was difficult to do the voiceover since my voice sounds like a munchkin when recorded. With the visuals, I ended up drawing each image that I couldn’t photograph (i.e., the earth, Mars, Poe, and Jesus Christ) and none is at its best.

And so my harmonica playing, well, it leaves much to be desired and am depending heavily on sound effects (like echo, which is how I “masked” my Recycling voice).

Tough to keep things original and strive for non-hokey.

Well, never heard back from the composer/guitarist as far as permission on the piece I originally nabbed off a music site so I’m taking the snippets off the pages though I will post a link to the piece on his site once I find something else I’m happy enough with. It’s certainly going to be hard to measure up to this piece, but being a writer, I understand copyright and artist control so there’s no way I’ll use it without express permission, nor come up with another original piece based on it.

And a friend who I did ask because I know he’s a musician and is a brilliant computer expert is unable timewise to help me out on this.

So it’s back to the harmonica for now.

Will burn the CD with the Windows C:\Program Files\abobWin\ and made another one with D:\abobWinD\ and will burn that one as well and see how they work on my PC.

Tried the CD with both versions on my PC with Windows XP an they both work with Internet Explorer. Not with Opera.

I suppose that means I’ve succeeded in my goal of putting working hypertext pieces on a CD for playing on Mac or PC, without the necessity of actually putting them into Program files (Windows) or the Application folder (Mac), as well as being able to do that, and run from a thumbdrive too.

However, there is much cleaning up to do on tidying up the paths, coming up with a more simple and universal path (may not need the double folder nor the “Program Files” or “Application” in the path, nor the drive designation). Also, need a method of opening the hypertext without all the other files there as a distraction, or an icon that’s obvious as the opening page–maybe the first page outside the folder, linked to the next page which is in a folder along with all the other pages and necessary images, jQuery files and folders, css sheet, etc.

Got a working CD made of A Bottle of Beer hypertext, but it won’t work yet in Windows, only Mac. PC needs a drive letter…or, I can burn the Windows version using the C:\path to try to fool it. Right now, it will open any of the pages, but using a browser, and calling it “D:/abob/etc.”

The other thing I have to figure out (besides how to make a harmonica sound like a soulful guitar) is a way to make an icon of some sort rather than all the files to start the program.

And, while I have the audio on hold for a couple days, I happened to notice the work I did on jQuery animation and may pick up on that again. I’m pretty sure I had the banner of flowers on one of the pages moving at one point. Tough when you haven’t worked with something for a while to try to get back into it. Particularly when the concept wasn’t perfected. As I recall, I couldn’t get the “banner” to remain behind the text box and move. That’s likely a case of setting up the css sheet.

I’ve been on a Mac for about 5 years now and have never used Garage Band. It’s coming in handy now.

Will eventually delete all files using the professional piece that I’ve worked with so far, because obviously, without permission, I will not be able to use it anyway. It has taught me much in adding audio to text and visuals in html which should make it easier to incorporate a new original audio background. My harmonica playing will have to do for now and I’m about to record a longer playing session so that I can cut it up into tracks that suit the pages.

Also, after playing with the tune for a week, I need to get the original song out of my head so that I inadvertently don’t “lift” parts of it because it’s become embedded in my head!

Still not sure if I’ll post a link to the artist’s site and the piece I’ve been playing with; it’s beautiful and I’d like to share it for your enjoyment but then it might be harder to accept my harmonica as a replacement if I can’t get an original guitar audio. Sent out a request today and I’m crossing fingers it can be done.

Well, my harmonica-playing has suffered through a few years of neglect.

Before I go around begging other nice folk to make up a musical selection for me on a guitar, I’ve learned to record (in Garage Band) a string of nothingness as played by me on a harmonica. Can’t hold a candle to the piece I wanted to use, in fact, is an embarrassment, but at least it’s original.

What it has done, at least, is force me to learn Garage Band (record in), learn how to manipulate the sound a bit (effects), and export as an mp3 (Share–Export to disc–save on Desktop or to file then pickup up with Audacity) so that with Audacity, I can manipulate it a bit further (toning down, changing speed), to at least have something to play with. Sort of disheartening, compared to guitar, but at least I happen to have a harmonica.

Honest to God, I almost bought a guitar today.

Just happened to see two available at an antiques store and plunked a string or two. Both sounded really good. I had to cut myself off from thinking that I could do something myself for background music.

Can’t justify the purchase, not that it was expensive, but rather that I know that even though I’ve bought a guitar in the past, I didn’t use it, never learned to really play it, and don’t even remember who I gave it to. It belongs in the hands of someone who can make it sing.

In searching for Public Domain Spanish guitar, I find that while songs in the U.S. produced before 1922 are fine, and other restrictions apply on international tunes, all this applies ONLY to the lyrics and score; NOT a recording thereof (as if I could find a 1921 recording of Spanish guitar anyway) and no recording made from a public domain piece (like somebody’s recording of Happy Birthday).

So that’s that.

Still wondering how Google has the right to scoop up images off my website, use a disclaimer that they “may be copyrighted” and find my canned peaches on somebody else’s weblog. Hmmph.
Bottom line: Have to find someone to sit and play something original (doesn’t need to be a plotted out tune) and record it.

Or give up the concept of using audio in my hypertexts. Yet, I’ve heard it in almost all new media pieces; how do they do it? Have to check that out.

Played in Garage Band a little, along with a couple online audio programs. I am not and never will be even a virtual musician.

Don’t know why I even thought of being able to make anything even reasonable useable to use for this project. Don’t think that even with a real guitar I could make enough snippets and strums and plinks to put together a decent sounding background.

That said, and while I’m not giving up on Garage Band just to be able to learn the program, I’ve gone ahead with what I’ve got and will keep this audio-enhanced copy for my listening pleasure alone while seeking out something that at least is professionally played in the public domain, or someone willing to sit with a guitar and strum and plink something original for me.

Did export all the .wav files through Audacity into mp3 files, and finished assigning segments to the pages of the entire piece though I haven’t edited them.