O Christmas Tree jazz trio – Geoff Peters and family 2011

a video of myself, my dad, and my brother performing O Christmas Tree (1800s German “O Tannenbaum” tr. “O Fir Tree”) in a jazzy style.

Recorded on December 25th 2011 in Delta, BC, Canada.

Neil Peters – tenor saxophone
B. Peters – drums
Geoff Peters – piano

The piano we used is a Steinway Grand that was made in the 1960’s. We are so lucky to have this amazing instrument in our family! It is an honor to be able to share it with you. :)

Please check out some of our other vids on our channel, please subscribe, and remember to support live music in your own community too!!

Find me on iTunes:

or on CDBaby:
www.cdbaby.com/cd/geoffpeterstrio

and more free jazz music from me is on my band’s website at:
gpeters.com

Technical notes:
Audio Recorded on a Sony ICD-SX712 in uncompressed 44.1khz 16 bit WAV, using the built-in microphones on the unit. Audio was processed “mastered?” using Audacity (free program).

Video recorded with a Sony Cybershot DSC-HX7V in full HD 1080i 60i 24MB/s, daylight white balance.

Video was synced with audio using Pluraleyes by Singular Software, and edited using Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 (both fully licensed / legal copy). Computer used was a Windows 7 Dell PC (Intel i7 and USB 3.0 for a faster workflow). No color correction was done to this video.

Thanks for watching!! See you next time :)

This has been a Birds in the House Production.
Please visit them at: birdsinthehouse.com

(c) 2011 Geoff Peters

Christmas Piano Podcast 2011 by Geoff Peters

Join Geoff Peters ( gpeters.com ) for some “tinkling of the ivories” on Christmas Day 2011. Geoff improvises and doodles on the Christmas Song while his family enjoys the festivities at their home on Christmas morning, in British Columbia, Canada.

The piano is a beautiful Steinway grand that was purchased by my grandfather in the 1960’s (made in New York). I am so lucky to have this piano in our family.

Merry Holidays and Ho Ho Ho Happy New Year to everyone!!!

Love and kisses,
Geoff

Recorded on a Sony ICD-SX712 using the built-in microphones, and audio was processed (mastered?) in Audacity on a Windows Dell PC.

Sony icd-sx712 review – a good, smaller alternative to Zoom H4n for filmmaking / live music audio

Geoff from geoffmobile.com reviews the Sony ICD-SX712 recorder device, which is an amazing, tiny audio recorder that is ideal for recording live music, concerts, location audio / ambient sounds for films, dialog for film, lectures, meetings, making podcasts and personal voice notes.

It has two built in mics that can fold out to a wide stereo pattern (for great stereo imaging for a live band, for example) or fold in for a single direction (for recording an interview for example). It also has an external mic jack (stereo miniplug, powered) that can accommodate a mono lapel mic or a stereo mic. It has MP3 recording mode good for lectures or meetings. Also, for recording music or film work it has excellent uncompressed linear 44.1khz 16 bit wav recording mode, as well as manual recording gain, level monitoring, and headphone jack for monitoring a live recording or playback. Mastering these WAV files has given me excellent results!

Like other Sony devices, the sx712 has a “hold” lock switch that prevents the buttons from being activated while the unit is in your pocket. This is a really handy feature, and guarantees that once you start the unit recording and activate the lock, you won’t accidentally stop the recording by hitting a button.

The device can record on to its internal memory, or a micro SD card (slot on the side). i currently have an 8GB micro SD card on my unit, and this is more than enough for pretty much anyone! :)

My only issue with the unit (which is not that serious) is that the headphone gain does not go extremely loud at its maximum volume, which is fine for listening to mastered audio (as it also functions as an MP3 player), but for monitoring a live recording in manual gain mode, this makes it a bit harder to notice problems in the audio. Possibly this problem could be worked around with a headphone gain booster device.

Technical notes:
The audio of my voice for this video was recorded using the Sony ICD-SX712 using an external lapel mic. The audio was compressed (dynamic compression, not size compression) using a 2:1 compression ratio in Audacity and synced with the video using Pluraleyes from Singular Software. The camera used is a Canon EOS T2i (550d) using the kit lens 18-55 IS, manual white balance, Magic Lantern, Technicolor Cinestyle picture style. For this vlog, the EOS Utility was used to show the live view on my computer monitor from the camera so I could get focus. Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 (legally licensed version, actually 5.5.2). In Premiere I applied RGB Curves to add contrast, and Three-way Color Corrector to add some blue tones to the shadows.

Thanks for watching!
See you next time,
Geoff
geoffmobile.com

Synth jam and practice – Dec 23rd 2011 – by geoffmobile

Geoff from geoffmobile.com does a 30 minute improv / practice / performance on his Korg MS-2000B synthesizer.

Geoff (me) is still a beginner at synthesizer but I think that I discovered some pretty cool sounds, textures, melodies, and harmonies. My musical background is originally from Classical Piano, and then I studied jazz piano for several years. Exploring the possibilities of the synthesizer is really amazing for me – I am discovering so many amazing sounds and new ways to express my musical ideas through this fantastic instrument.

For other music from me, check out the following playlist with my other synth jams:

or my jazz CD on iTunes:

I also have another channel dedicated to my jazz music:
www.youtube.com/geoffpeterstrio

At the end of this synth jam video, watch me learn the song “What Child is This” from memory (by ear) – showing the learning process for me, including how I deal with the mistakes and train my mind to learn the song in a matter of a few minutes. Maybe I’ll make another video with just this song for the New Year! (Check back soon :D)

Technical notes:
Both cameras are Canon EOS Rebel T2i (550D), both using the kit lens 18-55mm IS (with IS disabled, as the tripods are being used). Technicolor Cinestyle Picture style, Magic Lantern Unified. Edited with Adobe Premiere CS5.5 on a Windows 7 Dell PC (Intel i7, 16gb ram, and USB 3.0 for a faster workflow). The total rendering time for this video was around 6.5 hours due to the length of the material, and the color correction rendering (RGB Curves in Premiere) applied to both videos.

Audio was recorded in stereo from the synth into a Motu 8-pre (Firewire) hooked up to an old White Macbook running Logic. No mastering, EQ, or compression was done to the audio (it is right off the synth!). I hope my old macbook keeps running for a while since I am not sure if the great Motu interface will work with a PC (it requires a specific Texas Instruments Firewire chip on the computer which is hard to find nowadays).
www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/8pre

Thanks and see you next time!

Cheers,
Geoff
geoffmobile.com

A Birds in the House Production.
birdsinthehouse.com

Tossed Restaurant Vancouver – food highlights and staff interview

Geoff from geoffmobile.com and his friend KL visit the new location of Tossed restaurant in Vancouver BC Canada.

Located right across from the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) on Hornby Street, Tossed is a great place to try their custom-made salads, crepe wraps, and more.

Tossed Vancouver
769 Hornby St., Vancouver, BC, Canada
restaurant phone: 604-646-2440

restaurant’s web site:

Home

For online ordering (pick up or delivery):
www.tossed.com/locations/vancouver

Find them on facebook:
www.facebook.com/TossedVancouver

Thanks a lot to Tossed and we’ll definitely be back to enjoy more of your delicious food. The salad is a great sized portion, really delicious and satisfying while being healthy at the same time, and the Crepe Wraps are a fantastic idea. I really love crepes, and turning them into a wrap really appeals to me, especially as the crepe is not the focus of the flavor or texture, but rather compliments nicely the tasty ingredients (as shown in the video!).

Produced by Geoff from Geoffmobile.com in cooperation with Birds in the House Productions. (c) 2011.

Please visit them at:
birdsinthehouse.com

Technical notes:
Filmed with a Canon EOS Rebel T2i, using an 18-200mm IS lens. Technicolor Cinestyle picture style, Magic Lantern, Sony ECM-MS907 condenser microphone and on-camera mic. Edited using Adobe Premiere CS5.5 on a Dell PC running Windows 7 (Intel i7 and USB 3.0 for a faster workflow).

Disclosure:
Please note that the restaurant kindly provided us with the food and opportunity to interview the staff for the purposes of creating this video.

View some of my photos from Tossed on Flickr or via the gallery below:

Tossed on Urbanspoon