Ordered my new studio sound card today! An ESI WamiRack 192L. Pretty sweet little piece of equipment. I was planning on eventually upgrading to something like this, but with a new recording project coming into the studio I needed to do it now. So that worked out good.
Tomorrow is my first official gig with Vocal Witness. We’re singing at the Haiti Benefit Auction Friday night at 7 (I think) in Shipshewana. Any ITF constituents there make sure you say hi.
This morning I was listening to the local news radio station. The dude was talking about the number of executions in Hoosierville this year and he said something to the effect of “Already this year three inmates have met their Maker.”
It just sounded funny hearing a formal announcer talk like that during a serious newscast. It came across pretty flippant-sounding.
ITF ranks second and third on Google for “poetic masterpiece,” and we’re number 1 on Yay-hoo. That makes me laugh.
10 Responses
May 27th, 2005 at 7:15 am
Wow Tom,
To come up that high on google is quite an accomplishment. I stand in awe. Just don’t let all this popularity go to your head! We sure wouldn’t want “swelling of the head syndrome” to be the demise of ITF.
A concerned ITF constituent.
PS> I love the term “constituent” :)
May 27th, 2005 at 8:32 am
I’m impressed, Tom. :)
Karen
May 27th, 2005 at 9:23 am
Maybe the OTA can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Tom’s fantastic readers deserve some of the credit for Google returning “Ode to the Egg” at the top of their list. The more time we spend on his site, clicking on his links, checking his posts, the higher it moves up in Google’s ranking. I think I’m right.
Of course, had Tom never written the impressive poetry, we wouldn’t have felt so compelled to visit his site, so Tom, you’re still de man!!
Maybe you should borrow the code from Hans that he uses to track referrals to his site. It might be just the thing to bring him out of hiding and prove to him that you still think he’s worth something to you, especially after your last tantrum.
May 27th, 2005 at 9:29 am
So is Vocal Witness your next recording project? And if you don’t mind me asking, what did you pay for your Wami?
May 27th, 2005 at 11:56 am
Don’t mean to be a wet blanket, Dave, but:
[lecture start]
The Google ranking algorithms are a complex and secret process. Much has been about how the algorithm operates has been inferred from seeing it in action. Several of the things that affect ranking:
1. When a site links to ITF’s poem using the word “poetic masterpiece” in the hyperlink text, it increases the ranking of ITF’s poem in the search results for “poetic masterpiece.”
2. When someone searches for “poetic masterpiece” and clicks on the ITF link, it raises the ranking of ITF’s poem.
Google has no way to know when somebody clicks on any links that are internal to ITF. They don’t have access to any of those traffic logs. Only when you click on something on Google’s website, do they know about it. (This paragraph is not true if you have GWA installed. GWA knows exactly where you go and what you click on.)
[lecture end]
As for a referral/stats proggy, I would check out Analog. The two programs that I use are #1 built-in to b2evo. #2 provided by my webhost.
May 27th, 2005 at 12:09 pm
Actually, it really isn’t that big of a deal. It’s not hard to rank high for unusual or bizarre terms. For instance, if I wanted to I could probably rule the rankings for “flatfoot garbanzo” pretty easily.
Now something like “search engine optimization” or “home mortgage,” that would be nigh impossible!
Thanks Hans.
Dave – WamiRack. And no, I have a custom recording/producing project coming up with a different group.
May 27th, 2005 at 12:27 pm
Wet blanket accepted. :) Hey, I’m smarter now, no use holding on to ignorance, is there? Thanks Hans.
I was thinking that the GWA-type tracking was also taking place during normal searching/surfing via Google-placed cookies. Oh well, it was worth a try.
May 27th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
Cookies are often made out to be scary monsterous things but they only do one of two things:
Permanent cookies – they store a unique number on your computer. When you go back to that site, that unique number is handed back to the site. (the site that gave you the cookie is the only one that can access that cookie) That site looks up the number in its database and then gets your username and password and lets you in.
Session cookies – These last only as long as you are at a site *for that visit* They are also just a number stored on your computer that is handed back to the site whenever you visit a new page on that site.
Now cookies can be used by advertisers to track your surfing habits (and if they see that you click on one type of ad, but not another type, they will serve you ads they think you will click on), but for that to happen, you need to surf a site with those ads. AFAIK, Google AdSense/Words doesn’t use tracking cookies. DoubleClick is the most notorious of the advertisers that use tracking cookies.
May 28th, 2005 at 2:43 pm
Tom,
Is that Wamirack a standard PCI type card that will fit into any standard PCI slot? Have you had any experience with the USB sound boards? I am looking to get something for my PC to allow up to 4 mics and maybe a couple inputs for guitars or keyboard. I was hoping to play around with some audio recording on my PC. Any advice would be appreciated.
Rob
May 28th, 2005 at 4:50 pm
Yep, PCI. Never really looked at a USB board.
Wanna buy my C-Port? It has tons of 1/4″ ins, but only 2 XLR. That’s why I’m getting the Wami, I need 4 XLR.