Musicians & Podcasters:

Are your podcasts marred by the hum of your computer fan? Do you have to stop in mid sentence because the neighbours can be heard through the walls? Would you like to filter out the sounds of those annoying birds outside your window? Would you like to be able to record your guitar solos in the convenience of your busy house?

PodcastUser Magazine and Sonic-Distribution are giving you a chance to be able to filter out those problems with the first competition at Podcast User Magazine! This is a $425 (£229) piece of kit that will provide you with acoustic insulation for the microphone in your podcasting or recording studio.

So, what on earth IS a Reflexion Filter?
The Reflexion Filter is a portable device that reduces ambient sound in a room when you record live sound sources. It is a wall, made from an advanced composite material, that can be positioned behind any microphone by means of an adjustable and included clamp. The main function of the filter is to help obtain a ‘dry’ vocal or instrument recording. The Reflexion Filter can be especially useful in studios that do not have proper acoustic treatment, but it can also be used for recording within the control room, to muffle the sounds of the switches and buttons on various devices, and in a rehearsal studio, to reduce ambient noise.

Download Podcast User Magazine Issue 7 ** free **, check out pages 7 & 8 and enter by August 31, 2006. You can’t win if you don’t enter!

Three From Leith will be 1 year old on the 8th of September and I’d like everyone to join in the party. I’m planning on recording a special birthday show looking back over the past year and also hopefully hearing from everyone out there.

If you’d like to say “hello”, “hiya”, “howdy” or generally anything within the bounds of public decency then drop an audio comment to me by email (the address is in the sidebar). Format is unimportant as I should be able to convert almost anything into the filetype required for the show.

If you don’t have the recording facility but do have a microphone you can plug into your PC, then you can use the free Three From Leith MyChingo service to leave a comment. Just click on the icon below and follow the instructions.

Get the party hats ready and the champagne on ice…. 😉

Gabor left a comment on show 47, which confused me a bit until I paid his site a visit. He has a little campaign going to nominate me for something.

I’m really touched – thanks Gabor ! Drop by the Electrical Language podcast site and see what I’m on about. Whilst you’re there, have a listen and/or subscribe to his podcast for a weekly dose of well-chosen, fantastic podsafe music. It certainly perks up my Monday journey to work.

Podcast User Magazine now has a promo podcast which previews the forthcoming issue of the magazine each month. It includes snippets of audio from the Editorial Manager and some from that month’s contributors. You can subscribe to it here and listen to it here.

Issue 6 of the magazine is also out now – download it by clicking on the front cover image below. Be sure to enter the amazing competition to win a $400 piece of serious podcasting hardware and check out my article on where to find music for your podcast.

Roger’s obviously much more of a draw than Three From Leith Show 42…. Since I put the Roger review clip up in the dying minutes of last night it has almost been downloaded as many times in less than 24hrs as TFL42 has managed in total over 4 days. Go figure.

Now – if I could get Roger to guest-host each week I’d be laughing (literally as well as numbers-wise) !!

If you’re visiting to download Roger, please consider doing me and the bands / musicians who make the show possible the courtesy of downloading TFL42 in return and having a listen too. You never know, you may be pleasantly surprised 🙂

It’s not bagpipes, fiddles or accordians, honest !

I’m extremely chuffed and priviledged to have been reviewed on BBC Radio 1 by the one and only blogging and podcast legend Mr Roger Smalls. Go and check it out here at around 13 minutes in !

If you’re listening in after the 14th June, the link will have gone but you can listen to Roger’s unedited review here.

Roger, you’re a star !

Free, fantastic and fun ! Click the image to download, or subscribe to receive it automatically in your aggregator / feed-reader or podcastcher of choice.

I don’t normally do this, but given that it’s a Scottish podcast directory site, I’d like to ask you to drop by my ScotCast listing and rate (and review if you’re feeling REALLY generous !) the show.

Of course, this isn’t obligatory and you need only do so if you want to. But it would be nice nonetheless !! 😉

The latest issue of this incredible, free PDF-based magazine is now available, featuring my article on the TFL showcase gig. Download it now by clicking on the image.

Just a quick post to let everyone know that the gig went down a storm and a great night was had by all, which then carried on to drinks in the pub followed by an “Opal Dog” excursion for a 2am drink’n’dance session…. at which point I had to bow out and head home to bed (sad old wimp that I am). I’m sure I’ll hear the gory details from those involved soon and I’ll share them all with you 😉

Seriously though, my HUGE thanks and gratitude to the bands for making the night possible and for everyone who turned out to show their support and have a damned good time. I’ve had a number of enquiries about ‘the next one’ and bands have already been asking if they could take part, so watch this space….

I’ll be posting up the pics very soon.