This is a blog of Linh Microwave, where you could find anything that I wanna share. From daily life thoughts to band tours, from photos to audio production, etc. Enjoy ;)
Thursday, December 31, 2009
An End and A New Beginning
Monday, December 28, 2009
- The K Project - Please spread out these infos to your friends dudes :)
- The K Project -
Recruiting members to form a new rock band in HCMC. Facebook Page
Specification:
- Main language: English.
- Style: Compose band own songs, and can cover some others.
- Genre: Alternative/ Rock/ Pop-rock/ Punk. (References: Paramore, Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift, Daughtry, David Cook, Third Eye Blind, 3 Doors Down to name a few)
- Outlook: Contemporary, Clean and Professional.
General Requirements to all members:
- Located in Saigon.
- Love to create something new.
- Love to express yourself, your own feelings.
- Can arrange your own time to jam with the band, mostly on weekend.
- Has ability to play at least 01 instrument, no need to play very well, just can play for another to sing.
- Has experience in playing in a band, if you're new, it's still OK.
In details:
* Vocalist:
- Male or Female.
- Can cover some English songs that you can do your best. (This is required in audition)
- Wiliing to develope singing skill. (You'll receive DVDs and books on vocal training and be tested every weekend)
- MOST IMPORTANT: Can express your own ideas or opinions or feelings as texts.
* Drummer:
- Male only.
- Can cover some English songs that you can do your best no matter what genre they are. (This is required in audition)
- Willing to focus exercising on techniques and consistency.
- Has your own drums or drum pads to practice at home.
* Bassist:
- Male or Female.
- Can cover some English songs that you can do your best no matter what genre they are. (This is required in audition)
- Willing to focus exercising on techniques and consistency.
- Has your own bass guitar with/without FXs.
* Guitarist:
- Male only.
- Can cover WELL some English songs that you can do your best especially alternative and rock. (This is required in audition)
- Has basic knowledge on guitar sounds and FXs according to each genre.
- Has your own playing / sound taste. This will affect strongly to the band's voice and genre.
- Has your own guitar and FX.
- MOST IMPORTANT: Can express your own ideas or opinions or feelings as texts.
* Keyboard or 2nd guitarist:
- Male or Female.
- Can cover some English songs that you can do your best. (This is required in audition)
- Has your own instrument.
Send your demos or link to mp3 demos or spread out these infos to your friends to start a new chance.
Thank you.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Recovering
This time I still get some little good news upon the rest, that I've just lost the OS and some games, some "movies" :"> . All the projects' data are still safe in the other external HD, including the new Microwave Time album.
The previous time was not as lucky. Everything related to Microwave debut album "Escape" was totally destroyed. I still keep that harddisk, hope that someday somebody would rescue it, and I definitely do some remix and remaster things.
2 big shows coming this weekend. Haaa, so busy!
Friday, October 9, 2009
A Walk On The Clouds
Another video of mine. On a flight back to life by a chopper. Enjoy :)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Another Microwave Lockscreen for your iPhone!!!!

Instructions: (Your iPhone must have Winterboard app. installed from Cydia first)
1. Download the new theme files to your computer. Here the links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/276736191/MW_Slider.theme.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/281220994/MW_Poster_Lockscreen.theme.zip
2. Use DiskAid or PhoneView application to access your iPhone disk.
3. Copy these 2 theme files into this folder:
/private/var/stash/Themes.XXXXX/
(note: XXXXX is your phone folder characters, this maybe different from mine so I made it XXXXX)
4. Open Winterboard, uncheck any lockscreen and slider themes, then check MW Poster Lockscreen and MW Slider themes.
5. Exit to Home and wait for the phone to respring then enjoy !
Voila !!!!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Why mp3s sound bad, and how to hear it
I hate mp3, and this post will tell you why.
DO NOT read this post if you have a large collection of mp3s, enjoy listening to them and can’t hear any problems with them, because it’ll ruin them for you !
There’s been plenty written on how mp3 works, and why lossy compression sounds worse than uncompressed audio in general. My aim here is to demonstrate how mp3 sounds bad, for all the people who keep telling me there’s no difference.
I’m going to give you clear guidelines and examples on what to listen for and the negative effects of mp3, but there’s no going back - once you can hear the problems, you’ll never stop hearing them.
This isn’t limited to audiophiles, or “golden ears”, by the way - in my opinion anyone can hear this stuff, with a few pointers.
So seriously, unless you’re prepared to start using FLAC or AAC (which means buying an iPod) - stop reading now !
Still here ? Good.
First, I need to make this clear - I have nothing against lossy audio or data compression in itself - I do most of my casual listening on an iPod, using 128kbps AAC files - they sound fine. Not as good as the original CDs, obviously, but OK. And yes, I’m well aware that AAC is just a more advanced version of mp3. But the fact is that mp3 has fundamental limitations - even at higher bitrates.
Next - I’m also a pragmatist. mp3 is a temporary phenomenon, just like AM radio, cassettes and CDs. In the long run, none of those have killed music, and neither will mp3, or lossy compression in general. So, why the rant ?
Because people keep saying mp3 sounds great, or “indistinguishable from CD” and it’s just not true.
mp3 isn’t good enough
It doesn’t matter what encoder you use, it doesn’t matter what settings you use or what pre-processing you apply - mp3 just doesn’t cut it. AAC and later, more sophisticated encoders use more advanced encoding methods, and sound better to varying degrees, but mp3 just FAILs.
How does it fail ? That depends a little on the encoder being used, but some of my own pet hates include:
mp3 sizzle - the artificial, unnatural swirling metallic noises that sound like someone’s added chime bars to everything, or there’s a mosquito buzzing in your ear. Some people actually say we prefer these noises in mp3s - I say bullshizzle !
Added distortion - Yet another side effect of the so-called Loudness Wars. mp3 encoders rarely include any headroom for the encoding process itself, so the added processing pushes the music even further over the limits, generating inter-sample peaks and adding even more distortion in the process
Flat, two-dimensional sound mp3 works by throwing away musical information that we supposedly can’t hear - up to 90% of the original information, at 128kbps. That means all the subtle, delicate stuff, like ambience, space and realism. So a lush, three-dimension original is reduced to a flat, cardboard replica of itself
Mushiness All but the very best mp3 encodes just sound fuzzy, muddled and - well, mushy !
Hear for yourself
Don’t take my word for it - here are some examples. First, a truly nasty 128kbps mp3 example, from a Deep Purple live album I mixed a while back:
(Before anyone jumps on me, I’ve heard even a 256 kbps mp3s sounding like this - I’ve just used a low quality version to make the point.)
If that doesn’t sound too bad to you at first, try this - I’ve filtered the file to highlight the high frequencies. You can hear the problems most clearly when the vocals start:
Some people describe this effect as “sizzle”, or “swirlies”. It’s not just that I’ve removed all the bass, what I’m pointing out is the unatural bubbling, twinkling “chime-bar” type sound, or as my friend and fellow mastering engineer Nick Watson once called it, the “flocks of tweeting ultrasonic birdies”. It also reminds me of someone crinkling up tin foil !
Once you’ve picked it out, listen the first version again. Doesn’t sound so nice now, does it ? Can you ignore the swirlies, now you know they are there ?
Now download and listen to the original file:
‘Talk About Love - Excerpt’ - 5 MB WAV file
Listen to the clarity, punch, and bite of the WAV, compared to the swirly, soggy mess of an mp3. Which one do you prefer ?
The loss of depth, richness and three-dimensionality is more subtle side-effect, but just as unfortunate. Here’s a snippet of a recording I did for the brilliant Hans Koller, featuring Christine Tobin on vocals:
(This is a much better mp3 encode, with far fewer heinous swirlies. But still…)
Here’s the WAV version:
‘The Great Bear And The Small - Excerpt’ - 11 MB WAV File
Don’t expect the difference here to leap out at you straight away, it’s more a case of feeling it - listen to the swirls of the harp from 30 seconds in, listen to the piano and Christine’s voice - on the wav file, there’s a warmth, and a depth, and a sparkle that in the mp3 has just gone.
Listen to the wav several times over, then switch to the mp3. Do you honestly feel it sounds as good ? The mp3 is OK, but it’s just… meh. I’m not drawn in, my attention wanders, it doesn’t move me.
Something essential has been lost, and you can’t get it back. And once you’ve heard that loss, even cranking the data-rate up doesn’t help. The only solution is a more advanced format, or lossless files.
Try listening to the mp3s in your music collection. Go back and compare them to the CDs you ripped them from.
…Sorry.
Monday, September 7, 2009
How to add Microwave theme into your iPhone :D

Instructions: (Your iPhone must have Winterboard app. installed from Cydia first)
1. Download 2 theme files to your computer. Here the links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/276736191/MW_Slider.theme.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/276735971/MW_Lockscreen.theme.zip
2. Use DiskAid or PhoneView application to access your iPhone disk.
3. Copy these 2 theme files into this folder:
/private/var/stash/Themes.XXXXX/
(note: XXXXX is your phone folder characters, this maybe different from mine so I made it XXXXX)
4. Open Winterboard, uncheck any lockscreen and slider themes, then check MW Lockscreen and MW Slider themes.
5. Exit to Home and wait for the phone to respring then enjoy !
Voila !!!!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
09.09.09 MICROWAVE PHÁT HÀNH CHÍNH THỨC ALBUM "THỜI GIAN"

Album thứ 2 của ban nhạc Microwave mang tên "Thời gian" dự kiến ra mắt vào ngày 09.09.09. Tracklist, poster và hình ảnh promo chính thức của ban nhạc năm 2009 đã được công bố.



Theo Ngọc Lĩnh guitarist của Microwave thì : "Sự thành công của album Vol.1 "Lối Thoát" đã và luôn là sự khích lệ ủng hộ lớn đối với Microwave. Chúng tôi vô cùng sung sướng và hạnh phúc khi nhận được sự cổ vũ cuồng nhiệt của khán giả khi lưu diễn ở khắp các tỉnh thành từ Bắc vào Nam qua trọn hai tour Rock Storm quy mô và hoành tráng. Tất cả đã góp phần giúp chúng tôi quyết tâm thực hiện thật tốt album thứ hai này."
Các bạn có thể vào website chính thức của ban nhạc để xem thêm những thông tin về tiểu sử các thành viên, quá trình thực hiện album mới tại địa chỉ http://microwave.vn
FINALLY ! HERE IT COMES !