Mixing The Stream: On The Trail Of The Grail
If there is one thing I hate doing, it's watching the $100/hr. clock tick in a recording studio, particularly since half what they're using is software I should be able to rent online. Hasn't anybody in the record biz heard of an ASP?

Mostly they haven't, because the concept of an application service provider (ASP) where you rent software streaming over the Net is relatively new, particularly in the record biz. However, readers of my recent "Virtual Recording Studio" or users of mH2O will know that help is on the way. With mH2O you can use Sound Forge software to lay down tracks in a graphical interface that get you a fun, creative, and easy entry into the recording studio world, and on the cheap.

Well, if you want to move up a notch and actually use this evolving technology to create and even perform for $$, a visit to Mixman.com is a must, and an investment of less than ninety bucks in their Studio Pro will set you into amazingly simple multi-track recording. And on top of that, thanks to their recent association with Beatnik.com, you can take the whole thing and stream it from your site with 64 channels of discrete sound.

Let's start with the Mixman itself.
You can download a demo from the site, which gives you the feeling of the thing (editor's note: since the site is framed we won't be able to give you links to specific internal pages.) It's very simple, a couple of tape-reel-like graphics with sixteen buttons to press, each giving you a sample sound or rhythm which you can turn on and off, change speed and volume, and the like. You can make up your own from scratch or you can access raw 16-track versions of popular bands which you can make your own mix from, save it, and even enter into online competitions, some of which will get your mix published by the artists themselves.

This already is endless fun and games, similar to but more complex than mH2O, but still not a recording studio. Invest in their StudioPro and you're much further along the road. You can plug in your microphone and over-dub your own tracks from scratch, but only one at a time. For making demos this is a gas, as you don't have to keep perfect time, it does it for you. For half the price, you've got much more than, for instance, a TEAC cassette four-track, and you've got a library of sounds to go with it. All in lock-step. Which is one of the limitations. Not much use for lingering ballads. As Mixman's originator Josh Gabriel, Chief Product Officer, Beatnik.com explains: