Vraja Media -

In the media-section of Vraja Journal, I have posted and will be posting varieties of media. Just added another patha on Gauranga-stava-kalpataru.

If you have any problems with any of these files, or have any comments on them, please post them here.

Will there be any audio bhajans or kirtans?

Certainly. I'll also make the Narahari adhivas-kirtan available in audio. However I have to recapture it from the video, I lost it in the hard drive crash.

The audio portion of the adhivas kirtan is quite nice! Good work there! I am not having much luck with the video. (I am assuming that the recapture is what I downloaded.)
It looks like this for me-



I am trying to determine which end the problem is on.

You're having a problem with the codec, obviously. Download the XviD codec given in the media section of VJ, install that. If it still fails, uninstall any existing XviD codecs, and then reinstall that one. There are some problematic versions of XviD out there.

Madhava
How are you capturing the audio? With the camera's built in mic, or do you have a more sophisticated setup?

I do have an external mic, but it often isn't too practical. I should figure out a place to stick it into and keep it from bouncing around, as that obviously doesn't sound too good.

Well, and this is not to be too critical, as you are recording things for us that we would just have no access to whatsoever, but the kartals & mrdangas tend to saturate the sound & render the vocals rather drowned out.. the treble and base dominate the sound & leave little for the middle frequencies...

Again, I was just wondering how you were doing it.. I don't think anyone is expecting you to be walking around with a full recording studio

You wouldn't believe the attention a single digital camera causes, what to speak of a video camera. Then, what to speak of anything beyond that...

Also, regarding vocals, often kirtans are broadcast over these enormous loudspeakers, so chances of real good quality recording are very slim regardless of the equipment. We need a studio...

I'm having a problem downloading them. I downloaed XVid and that got the others to work here, but since you been there I'm having a problem.

Should I reinstall?

namaskar,

bangli

A problem downloading, or watching?

My being here and there shouldn't have an impact on that, whichever the case.

problem is in downloading...?

bangli

This isn't streaming media. Save it first, and then watch it once it's downloaded. If that is the problem, that you're trying to open it straight into your media player. Otherwise, please elaborate on the problem.

It wont allow me to open it..

What won't allow you to open it? What's the error message you get, and when?

I give up...

I had done that with the codecs (forgot to mention it) and also tried a few other versions to no avail.
I also downloaded the file an extra time to make sure it was not corrupted in any way. The mystery still remains...

All right, so I'll just go MPEG1 then. That should be easiest for our audience. I feared problems might arise.

And what's strange, I seem to be getting better quality for the same bitrate with MPEG with the media I'm sharing now. I've now spent several hours playing with various MPEG4-codecs, and all of them produce horrible output with anything under 1000kbps, while MPEG1 with TMPGEnc does a fine job with less.

Your talking above my head now...

hope this works,,

XviD, DivX and so forth are so-called MPEG-4 codecs, that supposedly give much better quality / size ratios than regular MPEG-1. To use them, you need to play around with varieties of codecs. However, Windows has native support for MPEG-1, so it should be pretty idiot proof and work for just about anyone. Also, it is a bit less resource demanding, so it should also work on older PCs. Based on my readings on the topic, I had thought that the hassle was worth it, providing superior quality files, but now I find that there is hardly a difference at all with the content I am uploading, so...

16 minutes of footage from Sri Kunjabihari Das Baba's festival parikrama + 7 minutes of the festival kirtan + some more of the adhivas-kirtan (wow!) coming up tomorrow. Some mp3:s of Prarthana are already uploaded, but not yet visible. All of that, tomorrow. Today I am a bit too tired to write of the festival day, as it'll be another long entry. So, until tomorrow.

And for those of you who just can't wait, grab this kirtan for now.

I was able to watch these with no problems...& it was nectar!
The sound came through on everything else, but no video

That's why I changed to MPEG-1. With the rest, try playing around with the codecs. See the "help" at the video page at Vraja Journal.

http://www.vrajajournal.com/index.php?area=media

Five new audio clips inserted in media.

http://www.vrajajournal.com/index.php?area=media

For all of you hungry for new content, you'll be happy to learn that my computer hasn't been off despite being offline. We have hours and hours of questions and answers with Sri Ananta Das Babaji Maharaja, many festivals more, and many kirtans more!

God knows when I'll be able to upload them though. tonight the connection seems a bit too sluggish for that. Maybe when the new tower next door starts working, it'll be real soon (tries to convince himself).

I'm getting another 160GB hard drive tomorrow. I had hoped my 240GB would have been enough, but alas...

Radhe Radhe!

What about more Journal entries. We are all with you in some way but we can;t see everything so well... please give us more journal entries of your time and also your adventures with Jagat.

Rasaraja dasa

I'm hoping to resume the journal in a day or two.

Madhava, ever thought of adding Blogger to your site? Blogger makes it so that people who wish to know of your Vraja updates/blogs will receive your diary entries directly to their email without having to look at the site itself.

Blogger? Nah, I can code that in myself. I thought of it, but never got around to doing it. I'll stick it in one of these days.

Studio recording is nice but then you don't get added delicacies like barking dogs, crying children spontaneously ululating ladies. Also it also becomes so "perfect" that it is no longer perfect. Been there done that , it ended up being a Gurulila to indulge my control freakery, perfectionism and make me 'pop' with the impossibility of it all! The main thing in sound recording is to get the main kirtaniya miked up so that their voice is predominant and hopefully get any kortal players as far away as possible so that they don't blot everything else out, which they will anyway. Also setting the recording levels manually and very low is essential, but by now you know all this Madhava! Regarding videos, the best videos I've seen (of nam jagya kirtan) were where the cameraman actually got on the kirtan mandal with the kirtan musicians but obviously that's not always possible (in this case the kirtan sampraday were friends). He was also very experienced, had a very good camera with a very fast power zoom. There was an idea of matching the video footage together with the seperately recorded DAT sound recordings but that unfortunately didn't happen.

No doubt, but on the flip side I could see a lot of value in 'studio' quality recordings of Vaishnava bhajans and kirtan styles... I've been thinking along the lines of what Peter Gabriel does with his Real World Records. If you listen to U. Srinivas' recording Dawn Raga you can hear the energy despite the studio surrounding.

On that note, I just got the Mandala publication 'Gaudiya Kirtan' with pretty good recordings. Its predominated by Bhaktivinode Thakura's songs, but I thought the recording was done with pretty decent quality, etc...

Aint nothing like the acoustics of Das Gosvami's Samadhi Mandir and nothing like a raw maha mantra kirtan by some fired up Bengali kirtaniyas!

I not disagreeing with you. I took three bengali kirtan musicians into a studio in Glastonbury for a few days and got some fab recordings which keep saying I'll make available for sale. I'm just saying that studio recording was not the panacea for the difficulties of live recordings that I thought it was going to be. When I was arranging the recording (in 1999) I even tried to find some ululating ladies but they're pretty thin on the ground in the west of england!

Definately no disagreement here. It is frustrating that despite the advances in sound recording, field recordings usually sound exactly like that I'm curious if there are any definative recordings made of Gaudiya bhajans tho? I really like the Mandala attempt, but it is geared for the IGM crowd. As 75% of the songs are BVT songs, I'm assuming they are not sung in traditional GV temples. I'd like to see a similar attempt for traditional GV. So all 10 of us could buy it

Dharmacakra-ji, haven't you heard the bhajans at www.raganuga.com?

Those are what I was referring to.........

Of course... personally I found the recording quality rather low.. no offence intended to whomever recorded them...

Dear Madhavaji!

Thank you so much for this new uploads.
I am VERY happy to hear Srila Gurudeva´s voice again, after a long day of playing teacher.

Radhe!

Dear Madhava,
these talks are REALLY nectarean!

Could you maybe do me a great favour (and maybe to many listeners too):

Sometimes Srila Gurudeva´s voice comes over too deep and I had a very hard time to understand him (audio, not philosophically ).

Maybe you could just shortly summarize his answers after he spoke "for the mp3-listening world outside the dhama"? THat would be superfantastic.

Thanks again
Tarunji

It sounds like a lot of work for Madhava to do, but just for the record I would also appreciate it if (written?) summaries of the answers or the answers themselves were provided somehow, as I have a problem hearing audio and thus cannot benefit from the mp3s much.

I will eventually transcribe all of it.

A little birdy told me that Vrindavan Das's latest painting is/will be of Krishna the brahmacari, perhaps reading Radha's palm. Any chance our on the spot reporter can investigate and provide photographic evidence?

I took a photo yesterday.

[attachmentid=1434]

Just back to an earlier topic above - the kirtan mp3's.

It is rather essential at some stage for devotees to learn the long kirtans:

- sri Guru Vandana

(jaya jay sri guru prema kalpataru...)

- sri Radha-Krishna Vandana

- sri Panchatattva Vandana

especially the last two so as to participate in singing before and after patha/class.

I find that the mp3's on raganuga.com, while very clear being solo performances, are also for that reason more difficult than the simple melodies in which these kirtans are usually sung by large groups. Embellished with melodic and rhythmic decoration they are more difficult to learn than they should be.

I propose, when time permits, a recording of the usual whole group singing before and after patha, to replace the above for learning purposes if possible, and similar for sri Guru Vandana and other common kirtanas.

Radhe!

The wonderful paintings of Mr. Vrindavan das should be available as posters, worldwide.

How to do that?

That would be awesome.

We are working on it...

However this one isn't going to be printed as a poster, it was custom made for a customer who will be printing a limited edition out of it.

Here's something from Vasanta Panchami. Radha-kunda parikrama with kirtan, about 50 MB. Download

After reading these words I felt very bad and actually I’m surprised to read such an ungrateful expression made by a devotee towards another devotee.

Whoever did that definitely undertook troubles to collect and edit those nice songs; not to say about money, dedication and time.

How is it possible for you Dharmacakra-ji to criticize a wonderful work that has been genuinely done for the benefit of others?

Really, no offence intended, but do you really feel comfortable by been silent when your unnecessary words, which minimized a devotee’s devotional service to the Vaishnava community, remain intact?

Those bhajans and lectures at raganuga.com has been a great relief for me and I’m sure for many others, too.

Thanks so much for those involved in the process of recording and uploading such transcendental vibrations!

Nitai-Goura
Hari Bol!

There's really no need for a diatribe like this, Hari Saran. The recording quality is low, and we should work on producing recordings with a higher quality sound-wise. That does not minimize the effort taken in recording them at all, I'm sure they've been recorded with the best of intents and with the best equipment available for the recorder. Or, do you mean to say that the critique has been unjust, and actually there is no hiss and so forth there, and that all sounds are crystal clear?

If criticizing the quality of the recordings is an offence, then I must be the greatest offender, since I worked on cleaning up each and every one of those kirtans in an endeavor to improve the quality as far as possible.

Does that sound tribalism? I’m sorry, I’m maybe too sensitive about it. From the last few days I have been downloading some of those songs and every time I listen to I do feel happy; Therefore, my repugnance towards any form of criticism.

Anyhow, thanks for the endeavors!

Hari Saran-ji
I feel bad that my words had this kind of impression on you. I was speaking to the technical merits of the recordings, not the devotional content. The context of the conversation was the production of 'studio level' bhajans that represent the 'stock' TGV songs. I too have listened to these recordings, and enjoy them, but you must admit that an mp3 encoded to 32kbs (which is a passable level for speech only recordings) simply is too 'lossy' to be called a good recording. Even 96kbs is not sufficient. 128kbs, the 'standard' encoding quality is not even considered 'cd' quality.
I have a really, really big mouth. Again, just so no one is confused, I am talking about the technical merits of the recordings. No doubt I am a constant fault-finder, especially in technical matters. Actually, quite comfortable. I don't see how I have minimized anyone, as again, I was speaking to the technical merits of the recording. There are a variety of reasons as to why the recordings may have been encoded with such low quality.. to reduce download bandwidth, source recordings were damaged, etc. As Madhava stated, he did quite a bit of work to improve the recordings, but what can be said? They are not great recordings. If I have a scratchy LP of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, and I say its has a poor quality sound, am I criticising Beethoven, or my damaged LP?

No offense taken.

I think I've answered this the best I can such that every one can get my initial intent. Hari Saran-ji, if you have additional issues, please, let's take this up in PMs.

Dear Dharmachakra,

I really have a good time when listening to those recordings, especially Pandita-ji’s lectures translated by Advaita Das. Therefore, please forgive my erroneous mood in relation to your technical approaches on sound-quality. It is clear that you had the best intentions.

Since no offense
was intended
or taken by anyone;
Radhe-Radhe!

Radhe!

Is it just my PC who is fancy-foolish or can someone else download the brandnew audio-files from Babaji Mahasaya?

When I click on the link I am referred to the front page.



Tarunji

Should be fixed now.

To you I bow down...
Dying in separation from Srila Gurudeva...

Do you have a nice recent picture that I could print out?

Longing greedily....

Tarunji says: GRACIAS!

Radhe!

Pranams.

The Vraja Jounal is a great Webside. Thank you very much for this nectar.

... However ...
Avoiding aparadha (0.45 MB) The importance of avoiding aparadha, the importance of studying Madhurya-kadambini. (1.20.2005)

Seems to be down. I downloaded the index.php. But of course I could be wrong and my PC doesn't work properly.

Jagannath

Fixed now, thanks for reporting!