Fundamentals of Digital Audio Podcast

We've Moved!

2007-05-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

The Podcaster's and Musician's Guide to Buying Used Pro Audio Gear on eBay

2007-03-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

My Guide to buying used audio equioment on eBay for podcasters.

I bought 4 mics, a voice processor, a fire wire audio interface, a mic preamp, several cables, and a minidisc recorder for $470. Retail pricing on these items would have been $1,176

View Savings Details

The Tips

Before you begin bidding, decide on a specific product or a small range of products to narrow your search efforts. There is a lot of stuff available on eBay, you can waste a lot of time if you are just browsing around. In some cases I searched for a specific item like a MXL 990 condenser microphone. I other cases, I search for broader terms, like audio interfaces, because I new there were 3, 4 or more audio interfaces that would fit the bill.
After you find some items that look like they may be worth bidding on, add them to your watched items. Watched items let you track muliple items that interest you showing the current bid price, shipping, info, seller info, and time left at a glance. Before you even begin bidding, watch serveral items until the bidding ends to get an idea of how much they are selling for.
To aid you in this process use the advance search parameters available on eBay searches. In particular use the max price parameter and the end date/time parameter. These are very useful, the end date/time parameter help a lot because most of the bidding occurs toward the end of the auction in most cases. Also, the max price parameter lets you set the upper spending limit for an item (at that poin in time). If you a looking for a used Shure SM57 and are only willing to pay $50.00 , search results for items above $50 are no good to you. Also, you can save searches that get sent to you by email or RSS. I have an ongoing search looking for a good deal on a Shure SM7B broadcast mic. I'm waiting for a good deal to appear and this way eBay will tell me if and when it does.
Now that you have an idea of the going rate of the items you want to purchase, you need to decide how much you are willing to spend on that item. In most cases used gear seems to sell for about %50-%60 percent of the retail value. If it start costing you more then %60 - I'd let it go and wait for the next one to show up for sale. If you are paying 60% of retail - you're almost better off buing new. There are execptions, sometime thing are sold new in the box or unused. In other cases, the item may not be avaiable new any longer. You may need to pay a little more in these cases. I bought a Presonus Inspire firewire interface new in box. It cost me right around 60% of retail value.
Make sure the seller has a high feedback rating of at least 98% positive.
Make sure the shipping cost aren't outrageous
Make sure the seller take Paypal - you get insurance if they do.
OK, you have one or more items in mind, you have an ide of what you are willing to pay, you are tracking serveral items in your watched items. My advice here is: don't bid yet. Wait until there is less than one minute left in the auction. If you bid earlier than that, you are just giving other time to counterbid. This drives the price up further. Wait until one minute or less is left, then bid the maximum amount you are willing to pay for the item. You will win many auctions this way - not all but many.
Be rationale, its easy to get hooked on eBay bidding. Its a real rush sometimes when that auction is ending. Be willing to walk away if the bid is too high.

Item	Price I Paid	New or Equivalent Price	Savings
MXL 990 and 991 mic set	$58.00	$99.00	$41.00
Presonus Inspire I394	$119.99	$199.99	$80.00
2 Shure Beta 58A Microphones	$173.50	$318.00	$144.50
Presonus TubPre Microphone PreAmp	$50.00	$100.00	$50.00
Behringer Autocom MDX 1400 Dynamics Processor plus 6 xlr and insert cables	$42.70	$160.00	$118.30
Sony MZ R30 Minidisc Recorder	$26.00	$300.00	$274.00
Totals	$470.19	$1176.99	$707.80

$707.80 in savings!

Mic Preamps, Audio Interfaces and Beyond

2007-03-12T17:19:00.000-07:00

Direct link to the mp3.

Rick Pepper joins us to talk about the gear you'll need (beyond a microphone) to record your voice.

Products mentioned:

M-Audio usb and firewire interfaces

ART Tube MP USB - 153

Presonus Inspire I394

Tapco Link Usb

Presonus Firepod and Firestudio and a Gear Media Tech review

Alesis Multimixer Firewire mixer

DBX 286A Microphone Processor

Russ Stark

2007-03-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

Russ Stark is the candidate I am supporting for St. Paul City Council. I'll be a delegate next week. I even made his Website.

Portable Recording on the Cheap

2007-03-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

Direct link to the mp3

After a hectic February, we're back with listener questions on gear and workflow as well as buying gear on ebay, and portable recording on the cheap with a used minidisc recorder and a Shure Beta 58A dynamic microphone

Microphones for first time buyers

2007-01-29T17:03:00.000-08:00

Direct link to the mp3

Dynamics vs. Condensers

Omnidirectional vs Cardiod

A non-comprehensive list of microphones we have experience with or know to be well regarded:

Usb mics:
Plantronics usb headset approx. $35 US

Samson Q1U $49
Samson Co3U $129
Samson CO1U $80
Blue Snowball $99
MXL Usb 006 $130
Rode Podcaster $200

Usb mic shoot out at podsqod: hear 3 usb mics compared

Usb - no way to add voice processor, preamp, noise gate - a bit of a dead end but good way to get started on a low budget

Mics under $100
MXL 990 $59 at musiciansfriend.com
Shure SM58, SM57
Sennheiser MD 42
$130
Kel Audio HM-1 mic

$150
Shure 55sh
Shure Beta 57

$200
Rode NT1A
AKG C 1000 S
Rode Podcaster (usb)
Studio Projects C1

$300 plus
Heil PR40
Electrovoice RE20 ($400)
Shure SMb ($350)

Blue Snowball on sale on eBay

2007-01-20T14:16:00.000-08:00

I am putting my Blue Snowball usb condenser mic for sale on eBay:

It still works great, I just decided to upgrade to a different mic.

Big Al Wagner

2007-01-17T08:05:00.000-08:00

Direct link to the mp3

Big Al Wagner of the Project Studio Network Podcast joins us to talk about gear and recording tips.

Productions mentioned:

Presonus TubePre microphone preamp
Mbox Mini
Yousendit.com
Studio Projects microphones
MXL Microphones
Rode Microphones

Recording Skype Calls and Double Enders with Audio Hijack Pro

2007-01-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

Direct link to the quicktime movie.
Peet Sneekes has created an excellent tutorial on how to record Skype calls and double-enders with Audio Hijack Pro. Check out his site and podcast at Sneaker.fm. Enjoy!

Recording Live Events

2006-12-31T13:16:00.000-08:00

Direct link to the mp3

Notes
Another sign podcasting is mainstream: found 2 books on podcasting at my local library. Podcasting Hacks and Tricks of the Podcasting Masters. Really liked Podcasting Hacks from O'Reilly Press - lots of great tips but a little geeky. Enjoyed tips such what blogging platforms to use, free and paid podcasting services, equipment suggestions and software apps.

Frequency for OSX. Spectrum visual display and lets you paint on certain frequencies to augment or diminish them a la Adobe Audition on the PC - Version tracker link: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19112&vid=97578.
Runs a little slow on my 3 year old mac, but worth a look - free

FreeG level metering and gain control plugin vst/au mac/windows - free http://www.sonalksis.com/index.php?section_id=99

Amadeus Pro contest. Send mp3 comment to digiaudio.podcast@gmail.com. So far very few people have entered - be sure to enter by Jan 10th, 2007 to win a free copy

Levelator version 1.1 from Gigavox media free - new UI, better processing. I you don't have time to do post production or don't care to learn how, the Levelator http://www.gigavox.com/levelator will improve speech recordings. Also free even for commercial use

Corporate podcasting services in 2007 from FDA stayed tuned - contact us at digiaudio.podcast@gmail.com if you need help with podcasting in your business - getting started, recording, post production

Recording Live Events - my experiences
Why bother?

A live event only happens once and viewed by a limited number of people. Where I work we have a fair number of very interesting guest lectures speaking on hot topics of the day. Sometimes only 25 - 50 - people attend. Via our podcast we get 10 times that number of downloads within a week. It offers an opportunity to allow those who have scheduling conflifts to participate and those too far away to listen. If it's worth having the event, its usually worth recording. So many possibilities, podcast, CD set, conferences, preview clips.

1. Be prepared
- know the venue - a classroom, lecture hall, gym
- Will you need to provide all the equipment, or just recoriding equipment
- Get to know or at least contact the people on location. They will likely have someone setting up sound.
- Get there early to test everything. Have a backup plan

My experience at the university
- How many people do you need to record - one or several
- one person means you just need one mic - could be a very portable setup
- several means you will likely need muliple mics and a mixer unless people are going to pass the mic back and forth

- Locations
- Classrooms - usually one speaker/one mic. One place has podium mics that can be recorded using a stereo VCR which can give very goood results although the equipment is complicated to operate
- Conference room or theatre - can be one ore multiple speakers. In many cases these have sound systems and mixing boards you can plug into
- Hotel and other conference rooms

- Setups
Started using an iBook with a Digidesign mBox (original model) and Senheizer lavalier mics - which works great when you need to record one or two people. When recording more than 2 I would route the output of the mixer to the mBox (1 mono channel)
More recently I have started using a minidisc recorder not because the mBox setup didn't work but because I sometimes need to leave the rig unattenend for short periods of time. The minidisc recorder is easier to stash in a drawer or tuck away somewhere out of sight. Its also much more portable.
Other equipment options - Peet on field recording

- Redundancy - make two recordings if you can because often one does not work. There are a lot of variables. In the classroom where we have podium mics and a vcr to record, I've had trouble with the VCR - some of the settings have to be switched and I was at first not aware of this. I got a blank recording - nothing. The next time I recorded here We were getting at cable TV signal through the VCR playing over the PA system. We had to shut it off. This time I had the speaker miked with a minidisc recorder and a clip tie lavalier mic.

- Audience questions:
- try to get a wireless mic to go to the person asking the question
- portable recorder with mic to go to the person asking question - add them in post production - a lot of work
- Ask the speaker to repeat the question (they usually forget)
- Boost questions in post - more work and often unintelligible - try an eq boost at 3khz
- Skip the questions or cut them out of the recording

Link to Conversations in Law Podcast : http://www.hamline.edu/law/conversations where you here some of these recordings

Doug Kaye's presentation on recording live events: http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail834.html

FDA 25 Amadeus Pro, Post Processing

2006-12-17T14:14:00.000-08:00

Direct link to the mp3.

We announce our first contest. Listen to the show to learn how to win a copy of Amadeus Pro.

We interview Martin Hairer, developer of Amadeus Pro.

Peet shows us how to filter ambient noise in field recordings.

Geoff shows how to use two steps to greatly improve vocal recordings

Basic Recording with Audacity

2006-12-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

If you are just getting started recording digital audio Audacity is a free program that will let you get up and running quickly. The following is a quick guide for getting started. I've actually had better luck with the newer beta version than the "stable" version. You can download Audacity here.

1. Plug in your microphone via usb, the mic in on your sound card, or a usb or firewire audio interface.

2. Set your audio input to your microphone source under preferences. In this case I am using a Blue Snowball usb microphone. Click the image below for a larger view.

3. In the preferences under Quality (on the left), make sure sample rate is set to at least 44,100 hz and bit rate is set to at least 16 bit. 16 bit, 44,100 hz is CD quality audio and in most cases works great for speech. You should be able to leave the rest of the settings as they are.

Click the image below for a larger view.

4. Close the preferences and make your recoding. You can basically push the vcr-style record button and start talking. On the image below, label number one is the level meter. Make sure this stays below zero all times. If you don't, you will get digital distortion which sounds terrible. If you are not staying below zero on the level meter, lower your input levels by dragging the input level slider to the left (label number two in the image below). Also, confirm you are recording at 16 bit, 44,100 hz mono (label 3 in the image below). If you are not, go back to the preferences and fix this.

5. After recording save the files and make a backup to CD, DVD or another hard disk. If you want to use the recording in another application choose File -> Export as wav (or aiff). To send it over the Internet to someone else for post-processing, choose File-> Export as mp2 (yes that's mp2 not mp3). Mp2 files compress to about 25% of the size of the original with almost no quality loss.

Have fun!

FDA #23 - Speech Processing and Field Recording

2006-11-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

Direct Link to the mp3.

I. Welcome. Peet Sneakes is back as our co-host.
Compression - sound loud (but not harsh) and soft at the same time
II. News and Notes
A. Amadeus Pro - great inexpensive audio editor on the Mac.
B. Applescript for radio-style programming on the iPod or iTunes
C. Free spectral analysis au and VST pulgins
1. Roger Nichols Inspector (AU)
2. Spectrafier (VST)
III. Field Recording

So welcome on metrostation overamstel
So lets start with why I started with field recording ... Story about Simon, he's a Camera man for various dutch projects

He took me outside and recorded something
It sounded immerse.

Let's just review what options you have to do some outdoor recording, and why.
Recorders:

Cheap: memo-recorders (10 dollars)
iRiver MP3 recorders 799 series. (around 50-100 dollars)
iPod (video 4th and 4th gen with a Universal microphone adapter )
Less Cheap and digital: sony MD recorders (100 to 200 dollars) ... especially when you're using Windows

Make sure you get a recorder with an amplified microphone jack.

Semi professional (around 350 dollars) (I don't have any experience with any of them but the M-Audio):

M-Audio Microtrack (slow, build in batteries, but everything else is fine!)

Zoom H4 (Samson Technologies) (quite big, includes a fixed bulky microphone setup, interchangeable batteries, many applications)
Edirol R9 (Roland, Edirol)

Professional (500 dollars and above):

Marantz PMD660 (bulky, but sturdy)

Microphones (applications)

If you want quality, don't be cheap, you'll regret it
Lavier microphones (sony, Sennheiser, Rode)
noisy, windy, reporter application:

Sennheiser MD 42 (omnidirectional, sturdy, no handling noises, mono, mash) (cardioid pickup = MD 46 )

Ambient or stereo recordings:

Soundman OKM Binaural
Audio Technica Pro 24

Car or passing recordings: headsets

Plop screens (reduce sounds)
Headphones: closed system

I'm a Sennheiser freak, so I use only small Closed Sennheisers, just try them on and check if you can bare to wear them for a while.

Post production: filtering of wind noise.
Microphone handling (use the headphones).

IV. Rick Pepper on speech processing (part II)
A. Rick Pepper's audio tutorial for speech processing
B. See last week's screen shots for au and vst plugins settings Rick used to process his voice.
He suggests uses them in this order (graphic eq (or hi pass filter, multiband compressor, mda bandisto plugin (exciter), and au dynamics processor (compressor and gate)
c. MDA VST multiband compressor (and otehr au and vst plugins)

You too can make the perfect itunes playlist

2006-11-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

On last week's MacBreak Weekly, Alex Lindsey mentioned he wanted a way to make a new playlist in iTunes from a random selection of songs in other playlists. So say you have playlists called "Gold" - your favorite songs, "Indie" - independent artists, "Jazz", and "Blues". You want to make a new playlist with song from each of the 4 playlists mentioned above. Furthermore, you want to weight some playlists heavier than others so there are more song from that source playlist, for example "Indie" in the example above might contribute more songs that the other playlists. The script lets you decide how many items to add from each source playlist so you can weight them to your liking. This gives you a great mix of songs between your favorites and other great tunes you love but seldom listen to.

So I whipped up an applescript to do the trick. 3 caveats:
1. Its a bit slow. Randomizing the playlists takes a bit of time
2. It borrows heavily from the randomize script at Doug's Applescript for iTunes site
3. It will randomize the order of tracks in your playlists

Other than that it works great for me but, YMMV. This script has not been heavily tested.

Here is the link to download (do control-click save as or save link as). Save the file to [your home directory]/Library/iTunes/scripts. Then you can run from the script menu in iTunes.

Enjoy! Feel free to modify or embellish the script. I hope to make this an Applescript Studio application someday.

Bug report #1:
If you try to add say 12 songs to your new perfect playlist, and the source playlist has only 10 items, for example. You will get an error (obviously). The script should detect this though and warn you.

FDA 22 Lessons Learned

2006-11-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

Direct link to the mp3

Lessons Learned

Notes

Special thanks to Peet Sneakes of the Sneaker.fm podcast for being a guest host of this episode of FDA

FDA Now part of the Home Recording Network: http://www.homerecordingnetwork.com/

Adobe Soundbooth

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/soundbooth/

Try Adobe® Soundbooth. Soundbooth is a brand new application built in the spirit of Sound Edit 16 and Cool Edit that provides the tools video editors, designers, and others who do not specialize in audio need to accomplish their everyday work such as: Editing audio quickly, Cleaning up noisy audio, Visually identifying and removing unwanted sounds, Recording and polishing voiceovers. Adding effects and filters, Easily creating customized musicwithout musical expertise.

Free during beta

O'reilly Digital Media article on editing audio - specifically dealing with plosives in your recording. Basically the tip is the run a high - pass filter at about 1100hz to reduce the bite of the plosive. Samples to listen before and after as well as the full article is at http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2006/10/26/quickstart-digital-audio-editing.html

Lessons Learned

Avoiding and reducing noise in your recording

Sit in the room where are you plan to record and listen. Do you hear:

Your kids
your washing machine
Your spouse watching TV
your refridgerator?
your PC's fan
your other PC or Mac?
Your external hard drive?

What to do?

Some are easy - record when everyone else is gone or sleeping
PC - my emac is loud. I put it in sleep mode and use the powerbook
my story - started with garageband but kept getting a lot of background noise. Started recording in GarageBand but the GB3 upgrade really made my cpu work hard and kicked in the fan all the time. So I started using Audio Hijack Pro to record and that was better but still had some noise. Then I realized my firewire drive is audible in the recordings so I disconnected it and recorded to the internal drive and this was much better. Most of the backround noise was gone
If you still have noise - run a noise gate. Record a minute of ambient noise and then run a noise gate. Turn the volume up in your headphones and play with the threshold, attack, release and ratio until you are satisfied
Current Workflow -> record AHP, edit Fission, Mix GB3

Peet - on the road to the ultimate sound
Geoff - minimizing noise in your recording
Apple's online podcast seminar
Inteview with Rick Pepper on voice processing with a punch
Rick's setings for the au graphic eq and the au multiband compressor

AU Graphic EQ

AU MulitBand Compressor

AU Dynamics Processor

MDA Bandisto (vst plugin)

FDA now part of the Home Recording Network

2006-10-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

The Fundamentals of Digital Audio is now part of the Home Recording Network.
Special thanks to Derrick K. Miller of the Inside Home Recording podcast for setting us up.

Exciting stuff can be found at the Home Recording Network site. There are currently nine podcasts on audio and recording listed. You can learn quite a bit from these podcasts. In fact, you used to have to pay for stuff this good. Enjoy!

Fantasic Free Plugins and Add-Ons

2006-10-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

Fantasic Free Plugins and Add-Ons

Direct link to the mp3.

Notes

Digitizing records feedback

Derrick K Miller of Inside Home Recording Tips for doing it right http://www.insidehomerecording.com/?p=186

Use phono preamp

It will boost the signal so you can get as much fidelity as you can.
3. The preamp will apply proper RIAA equalization curves to the signal. Yes, before the RIAA was the Evil Empire, they were primarily about establishing technical recording standards.
The ground wire screw that phono preamps usually provide will help avoid static and interference, further reducing noise.

#1 and #2 are the main reason the recordings were noisy: boosting signals artificially in Bias Peak is really only stretching signals that aren¹t using enough of the digital bandwidth, and it¹s much better to get a hot signal from your record player to start with.
Also thanks to Gary LeRude who provided similar advice

This is what FDA is about discovery of digital audio and how to work with it. This includes learning from mistakes and from others. Thanks again Derrick and Gary
Audacity new Intel Mac beta. Newest beta version support AU plugins on Macs and VST on Windows but alas not real-time effects.

Fabulous Free Pugins and Add-ons

Levels Management

RMS Buddy from Destroy Effects http://destroyfx.smartelectronix.com/extras/#rmsbuddy AU and VST Universal Binary avasilable
Rider from Sound Consulting rider automatically rides the gain to keep the apparent volume level consistent. Useful for mastering, broadcast, or just listening. Universal: PowerPC and Intel. AU only. Free RMS Normalization plugin. http://sounds.wa.com/audiounits.html
gain from Sound Consulting offers large volume steps which do not introduce any additional quantization noise. It is comparable to an audiophile stepped attenuator in the analog world. Fine gain control is also available, but it introduces the normal amount of quantization noise inherent in most digital gain stages. Universal: PowerPC and Intel. http://sounds.wa.com/audiounits.html
The Levelator - http://www.gigavox.com/levelator. Evens out your audio levels. Drag and drop. Especially wonderful for recordings of things like panels or muliple hosts.
Audio Leak - RMS measurement. http://www.channld.com/dwnldpg.html. Drag and drop to analyze levels AudioLeak allows quickly (over 200 times realtime on newer Macs) and easily previewing the relative (perceived) playback volume of sound / music files without having to listen to them. Various compressed and uncompressed audio formats are supported, of any sample rate and file size. Shows Average unweighted RMS, A-Weighted RMS and Peak values. Graphing of analysis results: RMS, Peak, histogram, Peak Check. Real-time input mode (can run concurrently with file analysis).

Music Unfolding xEQ - nice UI AU only EQ is a straight forward parametric EQ/Tone Control. It consists of Low and High shelf filters and three Peak/Cut filters. It is very useful for placing around distortion effects. Place before as a tone control and after to simulate a speaker cabinet's frequency response curve. There are some example presets in the distribution that are useful starting points for tailoring your tone. The presets starting with TC are tone control curves and those marked with an SC are for speaker cabinet response curves. http://www.musicunfolding.com/muxeq.html

Effects

ColorTone Free - ColorTone-Free is a Tone Box which simulates the signal path of analog devices through the use of convolution and various proprietary non-linear processes. ColorTone-Free is designed to provide analog-like character and flavor to the modern digital audio workstation. Worth trying for mastering vocal tracks. I like it subtle but very nice http://www.tritonedigital.com/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=35 AU and VST
LFX-1310 from Luxonix - http://www.luxonix.com/home/en/products.html?id=lfx1310 S'Filter 12 / S'Filter 24 / 3-band EQ, Peak Compressor / RMS Compressor, Overdrive / Distortion / Amp Distortion, Crusher / LP Noise / Stereo Image, Chorus / Flanger / Phaser / Auto Wah / Tremolo / Auto Pan, Delay / Stereo Delay / Ping-pong Delay, Gate Reverb / Room Reverb / Hall Reverb / Spring Reverb. I particularily like the RMS compressor and the reverb effects. Plus you get 3 effects in one whic is especially nice in garage band because you can only do 2 effects on one track.
Ozone Vinyl The ultimate lo-fi weapon, iZotope Vinyl uses 64-bit processing and advanced filtering, modeling and resampling to create authentic "vinyl" simulation, as if the audio was a record being played on a record player. http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/vinyl/

Compressors

CamelCrusher - a free versatile 'colouring' multi-effect plugin. It offers two characteristically different distortion sounds which can be blended together to create a wide variety of tones and textures. Great for guitars, drums and plenty more! http://www.camelaudio.com/camelcrusher.php AU and VST. Nice sublte master compression
Digital Fish Phones Block Fish - good compressor but non standard settings http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.php?item=2&subItem=5 AU (Power PC only) and VST Win

Reverb

DX Reverb Light - allowing you to simulate from small rooms with sudden attacks and coloration characteristic of small spaces to large natural-sounding spaces with spread attack and build of a concert hall from ANWIDA Soft. http://www.anwida.com/product.asp?pid=7 VST only Mac and Win
Blackwater Reverb http://www.apulsoft.ch/freeports/index.php Based on the free verb plugin

Commercial

Metro halo for channel strip for Garageband $90
Ozone Isotope mastering plugins $300-$400
ANWIDA Soft

FDA 20 Digitizing Records

2006-09-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

In this podcast I recount my experiences digitzing records using the Edirol UA-1EX.

Peet Sneekes of the Sneaker.fm podcast sends in his review of the Heil PR-40 microphone.

Also, Rogue Amoeba releases the Fission audio editor.

Direct link to the mp3.

Interview with Chris Snyder of Darker Projects

2006-08-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

Direct link to the mp3.

An interview with Chris Snyder of Darker Projects.

Chris discusses the art of creating world-class audio theatre.

A review of the Sony MZ RH1

2006-06-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

Direct link to the mp3
notes

OS X Universal Binary Audio Apps

Sound Studio, Wav Editor very slow on dual core mini - ways to go on these apps
Soundtrack Pro very fast and Bias Peak Pro 5.2 available as Universal binary/Intel macs

Freesound project

excellent source of cc licsened sounds
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/index.php
Not music but field recordings ex. bath in Rio de Jinerio rivoer in Brazil, ocean, water falls, street musicians
I used Ocean waves as sound bed on interview with background noise from computer fan.
Geo-tagged google maps page: http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/geotagsView.php

MZ RH1 comapred to MZ M10

Retail $299
UI and physical improvements

Smaller actually much thinner than the MZ M10 almost half as thin
LCD Display is now on the side and is nice an bright
UI for playback improved switch on side that moves up and down to move back and forth between tracks and press in to listen to a track. On the MZ M10 I had a hard time finding tracks on the MZ M10
UI on the unit is much improved there just seem to be fewer options and fewer menu options
Recording UI much better slide the record button to the right and you are recordings. MZ M10 you have to push record and puase and then pause again. Took me 30 minutes to figure this out the first time. After that it was ok, but I found that when I hand this off for others to use there is about a 50/50 chance they can't get it right.
Time mark off by default. Time mark divides recrdings into files at chosen time intervals - can be a pain. Once accidentally turned it on and go recodings at 5 second intervals. Better defaults

Can use previous generation MD discs (not hi MD) and upload over usb previous generations could not and these recording had to put be played via line out and caputred by an audio interface in real time. I don't have any pre HiMD minidisc units but for those who do this is a nice feature
Mac support for atrac recordings. MZ M10 had support for downloading PCM wav recordings but not atrac. Now atrac recordings are compressed on the fly to allow you to fit more data on a disc. According to Doug Kaye, these atrac recording hold up better than mp3s when converted to wav. On the Mac the Hi-MD importer app simply lists all the recordings an allows drap and drop to your Desktop or other folder. Recordings are converted to wav format on the fly and are available for use in any audio app that supporsts wav (just about all of them). This should allow Mac users to download atrac recordings made on an MZ m10 and other previous models. Will report back on this
This podcast was recorded in Hii SP mode 256 kbps bitrate and converted on the mac.
Mac vs PC. PC users can continue to use Sound Stage from Sony, which in my opinion has one of the worst user interfaces arounds. I used it with the MZ M10 and had a hard time making playlists and copying files. Wish I could have the mac app on the PC
Claims better sounding mp3 playback. No playlist support. I don't ever plan to use it as an mp3 player. Maybe as good a player as an iPod shuffle. Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems very limited
Sony could have owned the mp3 player market
Recording - PCM wav mode 90 minutes, Hi-SP (256 kbps atrac) 2 hours 20 minutes, HiLP 10 hours
Power adapter much smaller than in the MZ M10
Pouch to put it all in
Other good features that make minidiscs popular - automatic gain control, ultra-portable, ablility to plug in to a sound board (and power outlet), walk away and get 10 hours of high quality audio (at a conference for example)

Triple Review: Mackie Mixer, DBX 266 XL, Edirol UA-1EX

2006-06-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

A review of :

the Mackie 1202 VLZ PRO Mixer
http://www.mackie.com/products/1202vlzpro/index.html

DBX 266 XL Compressor/Gate
http://www.dbxpro.com/266XL.htm

Edirol UA-1EX Usb Audio Interface
http://www.roland.com/products/en/UA-1EX/

Equipment to fit your budget and goals!
(Paul Figgiani, creator of The Point podcast, and audio engineer at IT conversations)
See http://www.bu.edu/com/podcast/archive.html

Direct link to the mp3.

A Review of the Shure 55 SH Series II Dynamic Microphone

2006-05-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

Direct link to the mp3.

A Review of the Shure 55 SH Series II Dynamic Microphone.

This mic is afforable and specifically tailored to make the human voice sound good.

It's an XLR mic that retails for about $150 US. I used it with a Mackie mixer and the Edirol UA1EX usb audio inteface.

I do an A/B test with the Blue Snowball usb mic. to compare and find I like the 55 SSH a little better. I even try to (unsuccessfully) eq the Blue Snowball to make it sound like 55 SH.

Articles on Mics:
Equipment to fit your budget and goals!
(Paul Figgiani, creator of The Point podcast, and audio engineer at IT conversations)
Download the presentation(.pdf).
Download the podcast.
(Length: 40:17; Size: 245MB)

The Transom Mic Shootout: Blindfold Test
http://www.transom.org/tools/recording_interviewing/200508.mic_shootout.html

Listener Questions

2006-05-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

Direct link to the mp3.

Listener questions are the focus of this podcast. We cover questions on monitoring your voice in Audacity, usb interfaces, recording a meeting/classroom, and recording levels with the Blue Snowball. Audio and email questions can be sent to digiaudio.podcast@gmail.com. Shownotes are at http://digiaudio.blogspot.com.

Peete Sneekes from the Sneaker.fm contributes a segment about his gear in this podcast. Check out his podcast at http://sneaker.fm/

Great Sound on a Budget: Compression 101

2006-05-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

Direct link to the mp3: http://www.archive.org/download/FDA-14-Compression/FDA-14-Compression.mp3

▼ Notes and News
• Welcome - feedback at digiaudio.podcast@gmail.com, show notes and archives at http://digiaudio.blogspot.com
• Superb podcast on audio - Sine Language (S I N E) at http://www.audio2u.com/sinelanguage.htm. By Bruce Willianms a pro audio engineer. I recommend subscribing right away. RSS feed at http://www.audio2u.com/xml/sl.xml. Compression episode: http://www.audio2u.com/pod/sl004.mp3
. My Del.icio.us Audio bookmarks are at http://del.icio.us/ghankstef/audio (html) http://del.icio.us/rss/ghankstef/audio (rss)
• Thinking of re-branding this podcast as "Getting Started with Podcast Audio" ;et me know what you think. I think I've missed some opportunity with the current title even though I like it. People searching might find it more easily.
▼ Using compression to get help great sound
• Why do we need compression and what is it for?
• The dynamic range, the difference between the soft and loudest parts of your audio signal, is typically too dynamic when recording your voice. This means the softest part is hard to hear, particularly over background noise
• Compression can limit the louder parts and boost the softer parts and limit the louder parts - thus reducing the dynamic range and leveling the the audio to some extent
• Demo before and after
▼ Most compressors have 4 parameters to set: threshold, attack, release and output gain.
• Recommendations from Bruce Williams of Sine Language podcast
• Threshold - the point at which to start compressing. If you just want to control peaks (limiting loudest parts) you can set it higher, such as -1db. Start at -10 and adjust to your liking
• Attack - how quickly to start compressing. Start at 10 milleseconds
• Release 100 milleseconds
• Output gain - since you are quieting the louder parts, you may want to boost the output.
▼ How to
• Great news - good free compressors out there:

Blockfish compressor from www.digitalfishphones.com
Mdsp Compressor from Smart Electronix

• Use good mic technique - get close either use pop screen or move slightly off center
• Record an unprocessed signal - try to keep your peaks between -3b and -6db if you can. This may take some trial and error
• By the way this is where a hardware compressor is better. If you're too loud and go over 0 db (clip) the hardware compressor will push down on the signal and make sure is is sent to your computer under 0 db. Without the hardware compressor - you just have to make sure you don't clip
• Get close to mic but not right up against (unless you have a foam pop filter). If no filter move slightly above left or above right
Add compression: here are the settings I used for this podcast:

Interview with Eric Busby of Darker Projects

2006-04-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

Direct link to the mp3: http://www.archive.org/download/darker-projects/FDA-13-Darker-Projects.mp3

An interview with Eric Busby, creator of Darker Projects, superb science fiction audio theatre.

Boss BR-1200 CD Review

2006-04-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

Boss1200CD

Boss BR-1200 CD Review

Direct link to the mp3:http://www.archive.org/download/Boss_BR1200_CD_Review/FDA12Boss1200CD.mp3

Samson announces 2 new usb mics: CO3U condenser mic ($129 retail) and the Q1U dynamic mic ($49 retail) http://www.samsontech.com/
Pros

Complete studio, 2 XLR inputs, preamps, guitar and midi inputs, insert effects, CD burner, usb import and export, RCA component in and out.
Solid manual. I was able to use the BR 1200 CD right out of the box following the manual step by step even though
Evertything worked as expected
With built-in 40 gb

Cons

Has a bit of a learning curve
If you're used to editing and recording on a computer, it feels like you're trying to write left handed at first
$999 is a bit steep

Boss BR 900CD is a similar model for $699 with simlar features except it records onto compact flash cards http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/products/en/BR-900CD/index.html
Boss BR - 864 is a similar model that is very small and portable for around $400 http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/products/en/BR-864/details.html
Next time an interview with Darker Projects. http://www.darkerprojects.com/

Levels Redux

2006-04-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

News and Notes

Direct link to the mp3: http://www.archive.org/download/Levels_Redux/FDA-11.mp3
If you want to include a short promo send an mp3 to digiaudio.podcast@gmail.com

Sony Announces new Minidisc recorders

Full Mac Support
Record to mp3 - great for conferences, classrooms. Record and post right to the web. Good levels with the automatic gain control feature
http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=14814

Other podcasts with a focus on Digital Audio

The Point http://www.pfiggianimsc.com/blog/
Inside Home Recording http://feeds.feedburner.com/insidehomerecording
The Podcast Academy from IT Conversations : http://www.itconversations.com/series/podcastacademy.html
Take control of Podcasting on the Mac - new podcast: http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/mac-podcasting/

Look for a review soon of the Boss 1200CD: http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/products/en/BR-1200CD/

Audio Hijack Pro: check it out - very useful. Inexpensive $32 or $16 -10 minute limit in Demo. Classic podcast use is to record Skype interviews: http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/

Levels Redux

Peak Levels vs. RMS levels - what's the difference? We need to keep track of both

I became infatuated with the idea of getting the RMS levels spot on (-17.5 db) right from the recording. The problem with this is it requires recording at very high or hot levels. This means I would at times shoot past a peak of 0db which causes terrible distortion called clipping. I thought I could use a software peak limiter to control this, but I have learned that once it is clipped it stays clipped (or distorted) in the digital domain. So you need to keep track of both

What to do about this?

Invest in a hardware limiter that limits the signal before it is convered from analog to digital. This probably mans investing in a compressor/limiter, xlr mic and mixer with inserts.

Or, record at lower levels and boost in post - best way is to use the RMS Normalization feature of apps like Peak Pro, Audition or SoundForge, but those are expensive

Step by step in Garage Band

Set input levels
Check levels with RMS buddy on the Master track. I get about -25db average or RMS level and a peak of about -4 to -6db.
Garageband lets you boost a track by a max. of 6db. So i've boosted by 6db and added a peak limiter on the vocal track. In this case the peak limiter is set to -5db. I'm finding that the limiter can't react fast enough to limit at a level of -1db - I still get clipping so I had to lower it to -5db.
After boosting I get RMS levels of about -21 db or so with peaking still under 0db. We are shooting for about -17.5 so we are a little short. Still this gets us at an RMS level about the same as public radio uses - all in all not bad.

If you are really bent on getting to -17.5 db you can export the vocal track out of Garage band, import it back in and boost it by 4 to 5 db, and apply a peak limiter again. May not be worth the trouble.

It's a lot easier to use a tool that has RMS normalization like Peak Pro or Audition, Sound Forge, Wave Editor, etc...

Wrap up

digiaudio.blogspot.com for show notes and links

digiaudio.podcast@gmail.com for comments, feedback or audio promos

Next time Boss BR 1200CD

Still working on into to DSP as promised

2006-03-14T18:38:00.000-08:00

podsafe

Direct link to the mp3

What is podsafe music?

Welcome and welcome back

digiaudio.podcast@gmail.com - send show suggestions
digiaudio.blogspot.com - show notes and articles

Notes on last show - Windows audio editing with VST support - Cubase SE $99 at Amazon. Might be a decent PC based low-cost option that supports VST and thus RMS buddy, but I'm not sure it's the holy grail of low cost options
Update on Sony MZ M10 minidisc recorder - used for long conference recording (need PC to download compressed files) - worked great. Push record come back 4 hours later
Tried Audacity 1.3 beta with VST enabler- no love
Disclaimer: do not take this as legal advice. I am not a lawyer and make no guarantees on the accuracy of this information.

Any work is copywritten by default in US
Fair Use is not well defined for digital media like it is with text
Intro to copyright Garon lecture. mp3: http://www.hamline.edu/law/audio/copyrightintro.mp3

Podsafe:

Made yourself - in GB or Acid on the PC.
Royalty free loops in GB3 or Apple loops or otheres (link to loops). Link to free loops: http://www.icompositions.com/site/tour/freeloops/ 789 free loops listed. Or buy something like Apple's Jam Packs - great stuff but $99 each for about 3,000 loops
Podsafe Music Network. Musicians agree to allow others to use. http://music.podshow.com/ - don;t know the ins and outs of the license agreement but the basic idea is indie artists sign up to have podcasters play their music in exchange for a mention and a link.
Creative Commons licensed music - usually must give just attributuion. (link to CC site and links Opsound).

Key ideas are some rights reserved: attribution, derivatives, non-commercial and share alike
Links

Creative Commons site and search - http://creativecommons.org/
Opsound - http://www.opsound.org/info/about/
Our Media - http://www.ourmedia.org
Creative Commons search - http://search.creativecommons.org
Yahoo creative commons search: http://search.yahoo.com/cc
Google advanced search allows search for CC works (look for usage rights option) - http://www.google.com/advanced_search

Commercial music - stay away. I don't think there is a clear definition of fair use and labels seem to be of the opionion that any use is not fair use.
Wrap up

digiaudio.podcast@gmail.com - send show suggestions
digiaudio.blogspot.com - show notes and articles

2006-02-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

How do I get the right volume levels?

Direct link to the mp3

Special thanks to Doug Kaye of IT Conversations and Paul Figgiani of The Point Podcast and IT Conversations. Although I don’t know them personally, I would not understand audio levels at all without the guidance they have provided to the podcast community.
Ironically, the levels in this podcast are just a touch too loud as I peak in some spots. It’s not too bad though and I don’t have time to re-record.

Notice how some podcasts are too quiet while others have a nice big sound while others still sound too loud and distorted in spots (especially poppig ps)?
Getting the levels right is tricky because on one hand you want to have a nice big loud sound but if you get too loud it distorts or peaks above 0 db.
You need a tool for measuring the average levels or RMS levels - root mean square.
Higher end editors have RMS Normalize - Peak Pro, Wave Editor (mac, on the PC - Soundforge, Audition

Punch in -17.5 db and your done
The application boosts levels that are too soft and quites those that are too loud
These apps are expensive star at $299 up to $599 (Peak Pro) - get academic discount

I don’t have $300 for software - what do I do? 2 free Mac prgrams - one can also work on Windows
RMS buddy is one free tool available as a AU plugin on OSX and a VST plugin in Windows - works in Garage Band, Soundtrack Pro

Using RMS Buddy
Gives a running measurement of RMS levels

AudioLeak (Mac) is standalone app that can measure RMS levels of a whole audio file in a few secondes - even of it’s a 60 minute audio
How to control this?

1. Manually with mic technique - I turn input levels up 80% of the way, move in close (approx. 8 inches from the mic of to the left side a bit) and speak in a steady voice. If you speak loudly in some spots move your head in the other direction a bit.
Limiter - software or hardware. A limiter cuts the volume levels of at a set point like -1db or -0.5db. It doesn’t allow a recording to get louder than this. I use this in recording with garaqge band. Works well.
Compressor similar to a Limiter but more gradual. Starts limiting lelvels as they get to a certain threshold - say -12db. This alloes you to boost the average levels without getting too loud. Can be tricky in pratice.
Record at lower levels and boost in post using a limiter to assure you don’t get too loud (clip).

Even if you take these measures - you may find it’s not right in fact how do you know the levels are right or if you just have your headphone volume too loud or roo soft.
You want to shoot for RMS levles of about -15 to -17 db
How to boost

Otherwise measure, boost and apply limiter

Measure say RMS buddy give -24db

GarageBand 3 Review

2006-02-17T18:13:00.000-08:00

GarageBand 3 for podcasting - a lot to like and a few drawbacks

Direct link to the mp3 (18.5 mb 22:58 min)

App is much faster, reponsive previous versions a dog
Open garageband chocie for a podcast episode you see: a podcast, male voice, female voice, Jingles and radio sounds tracks

Podcast track for chapter markers and photos for making enhanced podcasts

mixed feelings

Positive for long tracks, podcasts and audiobooks lets you jump around easily
Positive - easy drag and drop photos, put in titles and links. Formerly done via the command line app.
Negatives -Set up AAC (Mpeg 4) compatibility won't play on iRiver, Creative Zen or even a stock pc without iTunes, quicktime or Real Player installled. Mp3 plays everywhere. I never look at the enhanced podcast pictures on my iPod Video - so in the end I'm not sure of the value on shorter tracks. Stay tuned for a tip on how to get an mp3 from your Garageband recording

Sound Effects and Jingles

Brilliant. High quality, royalty free, sound effects and music that sound fantastic. I've been using them in my last few podcasts. In fact I'm half-tempted to get one or two of the jam packs Apple sells to get more of these (but they cost more than iLife itself). This really adds something to your podcast. I find a short musical interlude really helps break up a monologue.

Podcast Radio Engineer

Another great feature set

Ducking. Lowers music track automatically if you start talking. Automatic ducking can be a little abrupt, but can be adjusted on the master track
Male and female voice tracks are tweaked with eq, compression, noise gate to really improve on the sound. These really are "templates" - a feature Apple has been putting in many of their consumer applications - you could do better if you're an expert
I do like the way my podcasts are sounding coming out of Garage Band

iChat interview recording and iMovie scoring. Great sounding features haven't tried them yet. If you'd like to plug your podcast with mme over iChat - let me know.

One click iWeb publishing - mixed feelings here -

Great if you want to fork over $99 for dot mac web hosting -which you may want to do. It has some nice features and simplifies amost all aspects of online sharing plus adds features like email, backup, etc.... I don't plan to purchase this. I find I can find plenty of places to host things for free or cheap (Flickr, Ourmedia.org, Gmail, etc..)
A bit of a minus if you don't want to use iWeb/dotmac. Everything set up for this by default. There are workarounds though such as export to folder.

Other thoughts

Some have reported long export times from GarageBand 3. I think is due to the need to mixdown all the tracks into one stereo or mono track and then compress the file into aac format.
How to make an mp3 file and avoid this problem alltogether? Delete the podcast (photo) track and then choose Share -> send to iTunes. This will mixdown an uncompressed aiff file and send it to iTunes. From there you can convert the aiff file to mp3 with itunes or another tool of your choice (LameBrain).

Microphones and Mic Technique

2006-02-10T10:43:00.000-08:00

Direct link to the show (18.2 mb mp3 23 minutes).

Welcome and welcome back - thanks for taking a few minutes of your day to listen to the Fundamental of Digital Audio
A few follow up points from last week's podcast
Another company to check out for usb and firewire audio interfaces is MAudio prices start at about $100.
Edirol UA1 EX is really for giving mixers a usb interface. It doesn't have some of the features the other usb/firewire interfaces have like phantom power, xlr inputs for higher quality mics. Not even sure it has a preamp

Microphones
Use this as a starting point for research not your entire research. I've only used 1 mic in the group I wil mention in the next finutes
Dynamic vs. Condenser

Dynamic

more durable
don't need phantom power

Condenser

more fragile
need phantom power (external power) most mixer and usb/firewire interfaces provide this - but don't take my word for it - check with your delaer or RTFM

Directional or Cardiod vs Omnidirectional

Directional or Cardiod - pics up the sound directly in front of the mic. Denser, more bassy sound
Omnidirectional - picks up sound from all around the mic. Multiple people. Sound is more spread out and more treble emphasis

Go to http://www.transom.org/tools/recording_interviewing/200508.mic_shootout.html. They have 18 mic samples with a bassy male voice, a female voice and another male voice. These include mics under $100 to $500-600 to over $2000. See if you can tell a big difference. If not, go for one of the less expensive ones. At the bottom of the samples you can view the key with the mics listed.
A few safe choices for the budget conscious

Shure SM-57, Shure SM-58 $90 and $100. Durale dynmaic mics that are tried and true
Studio Projects B1 $79 Condenser - heavy on bass
Kel HM-1 $100
Heil PR-30, PR-40 http://www.heilsound.com/proline/pr-30.htm $289 and $325 being used by Leo Laprte, Paul Fiagiani and others
Wireless Sennheiser EW122-G about $500. Great quality. Defualt settings too hot check out tutorial at: http://www.dvestore.com/theatre/index.html

Mic technique

Check your input level. Try to get your peaks (loudest to between -6 to -3db) below 0 db for sure
Spend some time and find the sweet spot. Play around. The sweet spot on mine seems to be about 8incehes from the mic pointing my mouth slightly to the left
Avoid plosive "popping Ps"
Closer - more bass
Control peaks/louds parts in one of three ways:

Hardware limiter/compressor - requires external unti more complex but probably most efective. Limiter cuts off louder sound before or at 0 db to avoide clipping/distortion. Compression pushes down on louder parts and can optionally boost the average levels.
Software limiter/compressor - no extra equipment many software apps even audacity have some ability to limit and compress. Garage band can do this. require a lot of cpu power so you need a realtively fast machine and lots of ram
Low tech move farther away during lounder parts. Email exchange with singer

Equipment Options

2006-01-27T19:28:00.000-08:00

First new episode in a few months. I hope to get back into the
swing of podcasting. This episode is about equipment options
suchas preamps, mixers, usb and firewire interfaces, and external
recorders. I hope to give you an idea of what many of the common
options are with their advantages and disadvantages. Direct link
to the aac mpeg-4 audio file (19 minutes 9mb).

Usb and Firewire Interfaces

Presonus INSPIRE 1394 Price: $199.95

Features:

The microphone and instrument preamplifiers loaded in the
INSPIRE 1394 are designed to deliver ultra-low noise, high gain
preamplification for all types of microphones and instruments
needed for professional quality recordings.
The INSPIRE 1394 comes complete with Cubase LE recording and
production software featuring 48 audio tracks, 96 MIDI tracks,
VST plug-ins and full VSTi support
Over 1GB of drum loops and drum samples INCLUDED!
The INSPIRE 1394 is completely controlled by an easy-to-use
software mixer interface called the CONTROL PANEL. Controls
include, input gain, phantom power, limiter (off/on), preamp
boost (off/on), sample rate, headphone volume, main output volume
as well as zero latency input mixing with playback mixing. This
software control panel also serves as a mixer between your
computer playback and your inputs for zero latency
recording.
The front panel of the INSPIRE 1394 features two
custom-designed PreSonus microphone preamplifiers with +48V
phantom power and two instrument Hi-Z inputs. The back of the
INSPIRE features selectable line or phono (with RIAA filter)
inputs great for all types of keyboards, samplers, drum machines
and turntables. Outputs on the INSPIRE 1394 include RCA
unbalanced and mini TRS jacks as well as headphone output.

Edirol UA-1EX: USB Audio Interface

The UA-1EX is a simple ASIO-compatible USB audio interface
capable of 24-bit/96kHz operation and designed to offer
component-quality audio signals in and out of your computer. The
UA-1EX offers excellent sound quality for connection to any RCA
or S/PDIF optical device. The UA-1EX features professional A/D
and D/A converters, ensuring accurate recording and playback,
whether youÍre recording tapes or vinyl to the computer,
or just playing your MP3 collection thru a home stereo receiver.
The UA-1EX also offers an electret condenser microphone input
similar to the ñMIC-INî on most internal soundcards
and a headphone output with volume control to quickly and easily
listen to audio from your computer. The UA-1EX is ideal for use
with laptops where audio quality is all but ignored, offering
superior audio quality, versatility, and the utmost in
portability. *EDIROL designs its USB devices in accordance
with USB specifications and has passed all compatibility tests,
which are continuously held and organized by USB Implementers
Forum (USB-IF).

Up to 24bit/96kHz audio quality
ASIO 2.0 (Win/Mac), WDM (Win2000/XP), Core Audio (Mac OS
X) compatibility
USB Powered (no AC adaptor required)
S/PDIF optical In & Out
Supports both OS-standard drivers as well as
EdirolÍs drivers* (Win/Mac OS X)

Behringer F-Control Firewire Interface

The Behringer F-Control Firewire Interface looks like an
interesting new product . It offers ultra low-latancy, 2 in/2 out
[TRS], 24Bit/96kHz firewire audio. The interface includes the
Behringer Edition of Ableton¬ Live Lite 4. Retails
$80

Edirol FA 101 Firewire Audio Interface (Windows and
Macintosh)

Price: $449.00 - $500.00 Description from Zzounds: The
FA-101, Edirol's first Firewire audio interface is a smashing
10x10 audio interface, capable of 24-bit/96 kHz at a full 10
channels in and out. You can record and monitor all 10 channels
simultaneously in full duplex -- phenomenal audio power for the
studio musician. In addition to 10x10 24-bit/96kHz performance,
the FA-101 also offers stereo recording and playback at
24-bit/192kHz for performance at DVD-A quality. Digidesign Mbox
$449 Mackie Spike $349

UA-101: USB Audio Interface $499

Features

The UA-101 is a half-rack, high-speed USB audio interface
designed to turn your USB 2.0-ready computer into a powerful
digital audio workstation. No other computer connection is
required to get a full 10 inputs and 10 outputs at 24-bit/96kHz
to the computer. The UA-101 is built to offer low latency and
extraordinary stability. It's the easiest-to-use yet
most-powerful compact audio interface available.

Dedicated monitor output
Balanced I/O
Included Signal Router/Mixer application
Built-in limiter
40-bit internal processing
MIDI I/O
Optical S/PDIF (ch. 9-10)
Low-latency drivers: WDM, ASIO 2.0
High-speed USB (USB 2.0) and full-Speed (USB 1.1)
compatible

Usb and Firewire Interfaces

2006-01-26T12:19:00.000-08:00

Presonus INSPIRE 1394 Price: $199.95

Features:

The microphone and instrument preamplifiers loaded in the INSPIRE 1394 are designed to deliver ultra-low noise, high gain preamplification for all types of microphones and instruments needed for professional quality recordings.
The INSPIRE 1394 comes complete with Cubase LE recording and production software featuring 48 audio tracks, 96 MIDI tracks, VST plug-ins and full VSTi support
Over 1GB of drum loops and drum samples INCLUDED!
The INSPIRE 1394 is completely controlled by an easy-to-use software mixer interface called the CONTROL PANEL. Controls include, input gain, phantom power, limiter (off/on), preamp boost (off/on), sample rate, headphone volume, main output volume as well as zero latency input mixing with playback mixing. This software control panel also serves as a mixer between your computer playback and your inputs for zero latency recording.
The front panel of the INSPIRE 1394 features two custom-designed PreSonus microphone preamplifiers with +48V phantom power and two instrument Hi-Z inputs. The back of the INSPIRE features selectable line or phono (with RIAA filter) inputs great for all types of keyboards, samplers, drum machines and turntables. Outputs on the INSPIRE 1394 include RCA unbalanced and mini TRS jacks as well as headphone output.

Edirol

UA-1EX: USB Audio Interface

The UA-1EX is a simple ASIO-compatible USB audio interface capable of 24-bit/96kHz operation and designed to offer component-quality audio signals in and out of your computer. The UA-1EX offers excellent sound quality for connection to any RCA or S/PDIF optical device. The UA-1EX features professional A/D and D/A converters, ensuring accurate recording and playback, whether you’re recording tapes or vinyl to the computer, or just playing your MP3 collection thru a home stereo receiver. The UA-1EX also offers an electret condenser microphone input similar to the “MIC-IN” on most internal soundcards and a headphone output with volume control to quickly and easily listen to audio from your computer. The UA-1EX is ideal for use with laptops where audio quality is all but ignored, offering superior audio quality, versatility, and the utmost in portability. *EDIROL designs its USB devices in accordance with USB specifications and has passed all compatibility tests, which are continuously held and organized by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF).

Up to 24bit/96kHz audio quality
ASIO 2.0 (Win/Mac), WDM (Win2000/XP), Core Audio (Mac OS X) compatibility
USB Powered (no AC adaptor required)
S/PDIF optical In & Out
Supports both OS-standard drivers as well as Edirol’s drivers* (Win/Mac OS X)

Behringer F-Control Firewire Interface

The Behringer F-Control Firewire Interface looks like an interesting new product . It offers ultra low-latancy, 2 in/2 out [TRS], 24Bit/96kHz firewire audio. The interface includes the Behringer Edition of Ableton® Live Lite 4. Retails $80

Edirol FA 101 Firewire Audio Interface (Windows and Macintosh)

Price: $449.00 - $500.00

Description from Zzounds: The FA-101, Edirol's first Firewire audio interface is a smashing 10x10 audio interface, capable of 24-bit/96 kHz at a full 10 channels in and out. You can record and monitor all 10 channels simultaneously in full duplex -- phenomenal audio power for the studio musician. In addition to 10x10 24-bit/96kHz performance, the FA-101 also offers stereo recording and playback at 24-bit/192kHz for performance at DVD-A quality.

Digidesign Mbox $449

Mackie Spike $349

UA-101: USB Audio Interface $499

Features

The UA-101 is a half-rack, high-speed USB audio interface designed to turn your USB 2.0-ready computer into a powerful digital audio workstation. No other computer connection is required to get a full 10 inputs and 10 outputs at 24-bit/96kHz to the computer. The UA-101 is built to offer low latency and extraordinary stability. It's the easiest-to-use yet most-powerful compact audio interface available.

Dedicated monitor output
Balanced I/O
Included Signal Router/Mixer application
Built-in limiter
40-bit internal processing
MIDI I/O
Optical S/PDIF (ch. 9-10)
Low-latency drivers: WDM, ASIO 2.0
High-speed USB (USB 2.0) and full-Speed (USB 1.1) compatible

Review Your Rig #3 - Samson C01U Usb Condenser Microphone

2005-10-30T16:09:00.000-08:00

A review from Robb Mitchell on the Samson C01U Usb Condenser Microphone. One of two high quality usb mics on the market. The other is the Blue Snowball which I use. This epsiode actually features both mics in the same podcast for comparison.

Links:

Direct link to the mp3.

Samson's product page

Robb Mitchel's Blog on Independent Film

Review Your Rig #2 - Sony MZ M10 Minidisc Recorder

2005-10-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

My review of the Sony MZ M10 minidisc recorder (recorded on a Mz M10).

For the impatient:

Pros:

Small, compact form factor

Very good sound quality for a portable unit.

Uses inexpensive (approx. US $6.00) 1 gb Hi Mini Discs

Can function as an mp3 player

Cons:

Power adaptor is as big as the rest of the unit

Stereo microphone picks all noise around it making this unit the ultimate bootleg concert recording rig, but not as good for recording the spoken word unless in a quiet room

Direct link to the mp3.

Review Your Rig #1 - Blue Snowball Usb Condenser Microphone

2005-10-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

I review my podcasting rig. I am hoping to create a series of user reviews (as opposed to trade publication reviews). Please send me a review of your rig at digiaudio.podcast@gmail.com.

My rig consists of the new Blue Snowball Usb Microphone, a Powerbook and a 250gb LaCie FireWire hard drive.

Snowball Pros:

Fantastic Sound perhaps best of class for a usb mic

Plug it in and it works (Mac annd PC) no extra drivers needed

Reasonable price ($139 retail

Cons:

Can't be integrated with a mixer (it's usb)

usb cable and mic stand are not included

Direct link to the show (9.3 mb mp3 - duration 10:58).

Episode 2 - Usb Microphones

2005-10-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

Episode 2 - Usb microphones. Direct link to the show (5.7 mb mp3).

Show notes. Products mentioned:
Logitech usb microphone
Plantronics usb headsets
Samson Usb C01U Condenser Microphone
Blue Snowball Usb Condenser Microphone

Reviews:
Dr. Mac's (Bob Levitus) review of the Blue Snowball mic.
Macintouch review of the Samson C01U mic.
The PodSqoad podcast review of the Samson C01U mic. (The C01U microphone is actually used in this podcast so you can hear how it sounds).

Behind the Scenes podcast excellent 2 part series on guerilla podcasting (podcasting with inexpensive equipment)
Watch for a new series of espisodes called "Review Your Rig" coming very soon. Send me an audio (high quality mp3, aiff or wav file) review of your rig at digiaudio.podcast@gmail.com

Podcast Promo

2005-09-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

Promo for the Fundamentals of Digital Audio podcast.

Direct link to mp3 file: 500kb 1:03 minutes.

Music featured from the Podsafe Music Network: Larry Seyer

Podcast Episode 1

2005-09-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

Check out the first episode of the Fundamentals of Digital Audio podcast where we cover theory, equipment recording, editing and distribution of spoken word audio. In this first episode I introduce the podcast explaining the origin, format and topics for the podcast. Then I move on to provide enough basic theory to help you understand the terminology used in digital audio including: sound, cycles, frequency, pitch, amplitude, analog to digital conversion, sample rate and bit rate.

Music featured from the Podsafe Music Network: Larry Seyer - Conscious Restraint.

Direct link to the show: 15:40 minutes 8.9 mb mp3

Test

2005-04-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

Test

Fundamentals of Digital Audio Podcast

We've Moved!

The Podcaster's and Musician's Guide to Buying Used Pro Audio Gear on eBay

My Guide to buying used audio equioment on eBay for podcasters.

The Tips

Mic Preamps, Audio Interfaces and Beyond

Russ Stark

Portable Recording on the Cheap

Microphones for first time buyers

Blue Snowball on sale on eBay

Big Al Wagner

Recording Skype Calls and Double Enders with Audio Hijack Pro

Recording Live Events

FDA 25 Amadeus Pro, Post Processing

Basic Recording with Audacity

FDA #23 - Speech Processing and Field Recording

You too can make the perfect itunes playlist

FDA 22 Lessons Learned

FDA now part of the Home Recording Network

Fantasic Free Plugins and Add-Ons

Fantasic Free Plugins and Add-Ons

FDA 20 Digitizing Records

Interview with Chris Snyder of Darker Projects

A review of the Sony MZ RH1

Triple Review: Mackie Mixer, DBX 266 XL, Edirol UA-1EX

A Review of the Shure 55 SH Series II Dynamic Microphone

Listener Questions

Great Sound on a Budget: Compression 101

Interview with Eric Busby of Darker Projects

Boss BR-1200 CD Review

Boss1200CD

Levels Redux

podsafe

How do I get the right volume levels?

GarageBand 3 Review

Microphones and Mic Technique

Equipment Options

Usb and Firewire Interfaces

Presonus INSPIRE 1394 Price: $199.95

Edirol UA-1EX: USB Audio Interface

Behringer F-Control Firewire Interface

Edirol FA 101 Firewire Audio Interface (Windows andMacintosh)

UA-101: USB Audio Interface $499

Features

Usb and Firewire Interfaces

UA-1EX: USB Audio Interface

Behringer F-Control Firewire Interface

UA-101: USB Audio Interface $499

Features

Review Your Rig #3 - Samson C01U Usb Condenser Microphone

Review Your Rig #2 - Sony MZ M10 Minidisc Recorder

My review of the Sony MZ M10 minidisc recorder (recorded on a Mz M10).

Review Your Rig #1 - Blue Snowball Usb Condenser Microphone

Episode 2 - Usb Microphones

Podcast Promo

Podcast Episode 1

Test

Edirol FA 101 Firewire Audio Interface (Windows and
Macintosh)