now at nunuboogie.com

ooooh I now have my own domain so this blog has now moved to www.nunuboogie.com

migrating blog

I am in the process of migrating my blog to http://nunuboogie.wordpress.com/ goodbye blogger thanks for the good times!

colourscrape logo

Working on a logo for Sam, this is the first attempt.

A Brief History of Mac System Sounds - Eep!

A Brief History of Mac System Sounds - Eep!

Apple’s computers weren’t always auditory delights. The very first Mac, the 128K released in January 1984, started up with a somewhat maddening beep reminiscent of the backing-up warning sound made by some big trucks. It took a few years for Apple to add interesting noises to their machines; the Mac SE/30, released in January 1989, booted with a cheery three note sound and included a wonderfully creepy noise -- The Chimes Of Death -- which the machine would emit when it was very upset. Accompanied by a black screen emblazoned with a picture of seriously sick looking Mac, it definitely was an attention-getter. The Chimes of Death got even more gothic in later versions, perfectly expressing the angst of a major technical problem. Over the years Apple’s other warning sounds included the Performa’s squealing-brakes-breaking-glass crescendo and the Quadra AV’s peculiar little bongo drum riff.

The Mac startup sound changed to a more impressive sustained C Major chord (the sound heard in the movie Jurassic Park when all the park’s computers were rebooted) on the 1991 Quadra 700, compliments of Jim Reekes, the engineer on Apple Sound Manager for System 7. In a May 2005 interview with MusicThing Reekes talked about how he created the sound on his home studio on a Korg Wavestation. “(It’s) played with both hands stretched out as wide as possible (with 3rd at the top, if I recall). This just sounded right to me. I wanted something really fat, heavy bass, high notes, and a sharp attack. The chiffy sound was from pan pipes and something like a stick hit (I'm testing my memory here). I wanted lots of evolving timbres, stereo phasing, and reverb for further richness."

Reekes also created “Sosumi,” a one-note alert sound that sounds like a piano plunk to some people and a xylophone to others. The story behind the name is way more interesting than the actual sound. Due to a trademark agreement with Apple Corps (owned by the Beatles), Apple Computers wasn’t allowed to enter the music business in any way, shape or form. Apple Corps was less than thrilled by System 7’s Sound Manager application, and concessions had to be made which included changing some of the included sounds’ names to less-musical monikers. Among the sounds slated for change was the Beep that became Sosumi. Reekes had wanted to name it “Chimes,” which was apparently too musical for legal comfort, so in a fit of pique brought on by long hours and too many last minute changes he suggested it be called “Let It Beep.” When that suggestion was taken seriously he responded “So sue me!” He then had an aha moment, changed the spelling to “Sosumi,” and it’s been a happy little inside (albeit widely known) joke for decades.

Some of Apple’s other earliest alert sounds also have cool background dossiers. “Moof,” for example, is the sound made by Clarus the Dogcow, a creation of Susan Kare who also designed many the Mac’s early user interface elements. Dogcow was originally a dingbat for the Cairo font, later the image was used as an icon in the printer page setup dialog box. Clarus the Dogcow became wildly popular among geeks (back in the day there were t-shirts, and buttons, and bumper stickers and even a Microsoft ad featuring the Dogcow image). And according to the infamous “Tech Note 31” Clarus even has two sidekicks; "Moofo, The Psychic Dogcow” and  'Lackey, The Obnoxious Talisman Dogcow.” The “Moof” sound made by these rare beasts was included in System 7.

Another legendry beast sound, the “Wild Eep,” was contributed by Apple developer group head C.K. Haun and was a sound made by his then-wife Lora Ray Medina, according to an entry in WikiMac. Haun commented for the WikiMac piece that “for years I was pestered by hearing her going "Eep!" at me from hundreds of computers on the Apple campus.”

If all of this has gotten you into an emo mood of longing for the sounds of Macs long gone, you can download a free collection of Apple’s greatest hits, all nicely formatted for OS X -- yes, your new Mac can quack, clink-clank, uh-oh, squeak, chainsaw and cheep just as happily as it did a decade ago. And if you want to hear every single one of the Mac startup and death chime sounds ever, download the obsessively wonderful MacTracker program, which offers detailed information on every Apple Macintosh computer ever made, including clips of their start up and death chime sounds.

If you miss the old System Sounds or you feel like rolling your own, check out our tutorial on adding new alerts to your OS X Leopard System. 

Mud Runner

Stumbled across this site after fellow twitter mentioned he was taking part this weekend

http://www.mudrunner.co.uk/the-classic---17th-october-2010---event-details.html

Mud Runner "THE CLASSIC" - Sunday 17th October 2010

Run the gauntlet on the very tracks that have been used to develop and test the worlds best all terrain vehicles for 40 years.

Land Rover's uncompromising tracks at Eastnor Castle have been the proving ground for these ultimate vehicles for a generation - MUD RUNNER CLASSIC, opens these tracks to intrepid athletes with the passion for a challenge.

MUD RUNNER

arguably the toughest off road run in Britain

17th October 2010

Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire

Mac Start up chime

A snippet of conversation in the office got me thinking about the chime you hear everytime you start up a mac, so much so I wanted to find out a bit more:



OMT in San Francisco #3: 'Let it beep' from One More Thing on Vimeo.


http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2005/05/tiny-music-makers-pt-4-mac-startup.html


The Mac startup sound wasn't a $$$ marketing exercise. It was a hack that was quietly dropped into the machine by an engineer with a home studio… 
This [mp3] famous Mac startup sound (still installed in every new Mac) was recorded Jim Reekes, and first used on the Quadra 700, which launched in 1991 costing $7,000.
Jim's most famous pop-culture moment was the scene in Jurassic Park where the park's computers are all rebooted with his sound. But it's most awesome musical use is as the bassline in Transformer di Roboter's ace cover of 'Stranger in Moscow' - here [mp3] 

"The startup sound was done in my home studio on a Korg Wavestation. It's a C Major chord, played with both hands stretched out as wide as possible (with 3rd at the top, if I recall). This just sounded right to me. I wanted something really fat, heavy bass, high notes, and a sharp attack. The chiffy sound was from pan pipes and something like a stick hit (I'm testing my memory here). I wanted lots of evolving timbres, stereo phasing, and reverb for further richness." 
"Mac people are very familiar with the sound, after restarting their machines too often. In fact, that was one of the issues I was conscious of when designing the sound. Turning the Mac on is one thing, but being forced to reboot from a crash is a totally different experience. I wanted to avoid a sound that would be associated with the crash. I wanted it to sound more like a "palette cleanser".
"After I changed the startup sound (which required much persuasion and working around the system) the ROM engineers continued changing it with each new machine. Some of them were weak, such as the Stanley Jordon guitar strum used on the first PowerMacs. I objected to it, because that sound had no "power". The engineer wasn't a recording engineer, and not familiar enough with audio. The sound was hallow and without depth. When Steve Jobs returned in 1997, I heard he wanted only one sound for all Macs. He wanted the "good one" which was the one I created. At least that's how I heard the story, and I was still working there at the time."

 If you're concerned that you don't know enough about vintage Mac Startup sounds, I can recommend Mactracker, which runs on Mac or PC.

Summer Holiday 2011

Plan to take full advantage of the van next year with a summer biking trip to the alps, fed up with British weather, and views like this are just too tempting!

Not sure really where to go? The above shot is of Morzine, which seems a popular choice. Have quite a bit of research to do. Do we need a guide? Would prefer some following singletrack and not mad descents.

morzine and portes du soleil for mountain biking

Calm like a Riot graphic

Some time ago I designed a new graphic for the band Calm Like a Riot, but didn't really push the design or follow it up. While watching the band last night I noticed how tired their current drum skin looked and thought it was about time it was updated, Mick the drummer agreed.
Watch this space....