Tag Archives: Music

Listen to The Entire Red Dead Redemption Soundtrack

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RSG_RDR_Screenshot_204_l

John Marston is the man.

I recently completed all the main missions in Red Dead Redemption and still continue to play it. Since the day I purchased this game at my local Best Buy, I have not been able to put it down. Everything in the game is sublime and the soundtrack is by far one of the best I’ve ever heard on a video game. If you own an Xbox 360 or a Sony PS3 and have yet to play this, do yourself the favor and pick it up. Rockstar has managed to craft perfection into a game. The characters are some of the most memorable I’ve ever encountered in any title, the storyline is compelling and the overall presentation is stunning.

Now onto the whole point of my post. Recently a fellow Redditor posted a link (please upvote!) to listen to the entire Red Dead Redemption soundtrack on YouTube. Needless to say, I was pretty happy about this. “Deadman’s Gun” is one of my favorite songs right now and the entire soundtrack follows suit. It gets better. You can also purchase the OST on iTunes for a mere $9.99. I highly recommend this one.

Sidenote: If you haven’t beaten the game yet or you’re thinking of purchasing it, please refrain from reading the comments on each of the tracks on YouTube. A lot of people post spoilers regarding events in the game.

The NewReview In Town

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The NewReview - thenewreview.net

The NewReview - thenewreview.net

For the past couple weeks I’ve been frequenting a new music review website. The NewReview is a site that caters to those who are into a wide array of rock music, ranging from black metal, post-hardcore, punk and an various other sub-genres. Every review is informative, straight-forward and offers a personal edge. I’m normally not one to read a lot of music reviews or frequent any specific website when I am looking for them, but The NewReview has kept me coming back. These guys know their shit. They will tell you if a song sucks and if it’s good, I’m sure Lee will tell you it will shake the dentures out of your grandma’s mouth and make your grandpa fill his Depends.

I first heard about the website via Twitter. I follow Lee on Twitter and saw that the site was up and running. So I gave it a chance and have been reading reviews since it’s launch in September. Each reviewer adds their own spin to every review that they craft. I’ve bought 3 albums thus far-with more on the way-from reading their reviews alone. I’m appreciative of the fact that I feel like each reviewer is on a more personal level with their readers, so it’s as if you had a conversation with a coworker or a friend. I have faith in their opinions and my purchases based on them have proven successful (thanks, guys!).

I often feel like some reviews you read in magazines and on sponsored websites are manufactured and can be fluffed with creative writing and vague opinions. The NewReview team doesn’t beat around the bush. Their reviews will slap you in the face like a ton of cinder blocks or cradle you like a baby, all in the same paragraph. I think I speak for everyone out there when I say that I want the whole meal, not just the wafting aroma when it comes to getting the information I seek (okay, maybe some of you might have put it a little different but you get my drift, I hope).

Who Runs The Joint?

The NewReview consists of 4 guys that all have varying tastes in the spectrum that is rock music:

  • Lee Rochester – Writer and Founder
  • Ben Westerman – Writer
  • Ryan Tallman – Writer
  • Eric Burnet – Writer

Who Designed It?

Being a web developer myself, I was really appreciative of the craftsmanship when it came to the usability and overall appearance of the website. The NewReview was designed by the talented wife of Lee Rochester and owner of the small web design company redheaddesign, Jennifer Rochester. Aside from the website offering an awesome amount of helpful features and immediately presenting the user with a list of recent reviews, the website is aesthetically pleasing and easy on the eyes when it comes to sitting down and reading a bunch of reviews at once (like myself). I often have trouble reading at length on websites but the dark interface, font faces and font size choices help this immensely. Heck, it even tames my ADD and that’s a rarity.

The NewReview has some tools that assist the user in purchasing and sampling the music being reviewed. Every tool is helpful in the decision making process of album purchases and ventures into the minds and music of new artists. There are Flash players that offer sample songs from each album, track listings, cover art, band photos, Amazon and iTunes Store links and other ways to get more information about the band being reviewed. Easily accessible and helpful.

This Concludes Our Broadcast…

The bottom line is that The NewReview is a great website if you’re looking to get some insight on your future rock album purchases. I’m helping promote this website out of personal experience and the success I’ve had with my album purchases based on the reviews I’ve read. When you have a few minutes, check it out! – TheNewReview.net

Reviewing The Kramer Mod – Improve Those Cheap Headphones

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Per the request of my friend JasonN I’m going to review a headphone mod that has been around for quite a while now: the Kramer mod. Because I’ve found it to be impossible to find one definitive source for clear steps and a written tutorial from the mod author themselves, I’ve resorted to a forum post that gives a brief explanation – Head-Fi.org.

Let’s get started

The materials list is short and sweet and the steps are as well. Don’t worry, your margin of error is pretty slim.

Materials:

  1. Foam – soft foam similar to what you find on headphone covers or a microphone cover. For this I used a piece of foam cut from the cover on your standard Xbox 360 headset.
  2. Scissors – Your everyday household pair will do. You’ll only be using these to cut the foam, which is soft.
  3. JVC Marshmallow In-Ear Headphones – You can pick these up for about $19.99 but they’ve been around a while so I’m sure you can find them cheaper now. Don’t worry. They’re available in more colors than just pink. That just happens to be the sample I’m using for this post.
  4. Tweezers – You’ll be using these to get the rubber sheaths off of the earphone tubes.
  5. A Needle – You’ll need a needle to get the paper screen off the top of each earphone tube. You could probably use tweezers for this instead if you don’t have access to a needle.

Instructions:

  1. Slide off the memory foam covers around the tube of each earphone so that the rubber sheath around the earphone tube is exposed.
  2. Grab your tweezers and pull the rubber sheath upwards so that it comes off. You might have to give these a small tug because they are initially stuck on. Be careful not to rip the sheaths.
  3. Once you’ve got the rubber sheaths pulled off, you should see a thin paper disc over the top of each earphone’s tube. These paper discs have a small hole in the center of them. Grab your needle and put it in the center of the disc so that you can pry these discs off. Don’t worry if you damage these. You will not be using them again.
  4. Take the foam you’ve acquired and cut a small cube for each earphone. The purpose of this foam is to act as a damper inside of the tube in each earphone. The depth of the foam cube inside of each earphone tube will affect the sound, so you may have to mess with this part to get it to your liking. Depending on your preference (whether you prefer your highs more crisp or your lows deeper), you might have to cut a couple different sizes to get it right. Fortunately for me, the first try was the perfect balance for my ears.
  5. Once you’ve got your cubes cut and ready to go, insert them into each earphone tube. I wasn’t exactly sure how deep down they should be pushed but I don’t think it makes a great deal of difference. I pressed them in so that they are slightly exposed past the edge of each earphone tube. Don’t worry about using glue to secure these pieces of foam in or adhering them in any other way. They should remain where they need to be.
  6. Once you’ve got (1) piece of foam pushed down into each earphone tube, take the rubber sheaths we removed on step 2 and slide them back down over the earphone tube. Make sure they’re snug in place.
  7. Take the memory foam earphone tube covers that we removed on step 1 and slide them back down over the earphones tubes as they were before. Now it’s time to try them out.

Before you give them a try, make sure to roll the memory foam earpieces in between your fingers. This loosens the foam up a little and makes it more flexible to seat nicely within your ear canal. If the sound is not what you are looking for, then repeat the steps and try playing with the size of each foam piece you put into the earphone tube.

The end result should be a day and night difference between the default paper screens that come with the headphones, and the foam cubes we replace them with. This mod made me love these headphones 100x more and this mod was actually my entire reason for even purchasing these headphones.

Update: I forgot to mention that this mod has been used for various headphone models and not just the Marshmallows. If you find a set of in-ear headphones that have a similar setup, you can perform this mod.

Feed The Animals

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If you haven’t heard Girl Talk’s Feed The Animals album yet, you’re missing out. They are following the same model as Radiohead and allowing the listener to name their price. Yes, you can put $0.00 in but you should really at least put a dollar or something in there (I paid $10.00 myself). Check it out => Girl Talk – Feed The Animals