The Importance of Troubleshooting...

Hey all,
If you read my blog at all, then there's a pretty good chance you make at least some of your living by interacting in some way with a computer.

And if you've spent any time with a computer as a working professional, then you know how maddening they can be to work with. I'm a gear head. I build my own workstations, and even I spend a significant portion of time "under the hood". This is time spent NOT WORKING, but fixing stuff...

Case in point, over the last month the main computer monitor of my dual screen set up has been acting really flaky. As it would warm up, it would blink on and off. It started out as an occasional flicker, but has progressed to a nearly constant on for a couple seconds, off for a couple seconds light show. Like I said. Maddening.

I tried my normal "jiggle the handle" approach to fixing things: made sure the DVI cables were attached properly, double checked the power cable, even double checked my video card and reloaded graphics drivers.

I was pretty much set on ordering a new monitor. Until, on a whim, I swapped the cables on my dual monitor setup. The monitor which had been acting fine was now flickering, and the monitor which had been flickering was now solid.

Instead of dropping $200 on a decent monitor, I bought a $7.50 cable.

And now I'm back to work...

Kudos for a Guitar Center?

So recent snarky-butt posts aside, I am trying to share more of my positive experiences here, as opposed to complaining about things all the time. That in mind, I just had to share a really great experience I just had at, of all places, Guitar Center.

Helping a client set up some home kit he had just ordered, we realized that he hadn't gotten all of the cables he needed. I almost always have some spare XLR's, but I didn't think to pack some Insert/TRS and Instrument/TS cables. I made a quick run, expecting to hit a RadioShack, but it turned out there was a GC right by his place. I gritted my teeth, and pulled into the parking lot.

I usually avoid big-box stores like the plague. SamAsh, BestBuy, Circuit City, etc, I've had mostly horrible experiences at almost all of them. I either get the "know-nothing" guy who takes longer to "help" me find something than if I just looked for it myself, or I get McUberNerd who acts like he knows more about what I do than I do, yet still manages to not really provide any solid solutions.
Problem is I'm pretty good, and I have a McUberNerd streak myself, so when I need to ask for help, I'm already not in a great mood. I'm pretty much primed to not like what I hear, and it's unfortunate that this stance of mine gets reinforced more often than not.

I walked into this GC ready. Frowny "don't talk to me" face on, shoulders squared, ready to storm in, grab my cables, and get out. I was immediately dismayed by the first wall-o-cables I was confronted with. It was all Monster Cables. I'm still boycotting Monster. This just wouldn't do.
I'm pretty much just ready to leave at this point, but I really wanted to get back to my client, and I didn't really want to drive all over town. Expecting horrible, time wasting failure, I approached an associate.

"Hey I need some TRS patch cables, some TRS to dual Mono TS, and a couple instrument cables. All of them about 2 meters."

"Oh, sure, rght over here."

And then he walked right over to where they were (tucked behind one of the microphone displays), pulled down six packages, and walked me right back to a cash register.

Done.

Helpful, friendly, no cheesy up selling, and he didn't even look at the Monster wall.

Looking around the place, all of the employees were my age or older. They all seemed really casual, joking around with each other and the customers. While there were a lot of associates around, none of them approached me. They seemed ready to help, they just didn't get in my face about it. I like that.

After getting back to my client, I checked out online to see how badly I had been "screwed" by paying "retail" and not ordering these cables online. Turns out the whole purchase was $3 cheaper than where I normally buy from, after accounting for shipping.

I still can't recommend them all, but if you're floating around Sherman Oaks, the GC there is pretty cool...

Dedicated Preamp or Directly into Your Soundcard?

I've gotten this question a couple times, so I figured it was time to throw some equipment at the problem.

Should you plug your mic directly into your soundcard (or mixer), or should you invest in a dedicated preamp?

The answer is "yes".

Either.

Correct.

Let's take a listen!
For today's experiment, we're going to use my M-Audio Solaris because it's a decent budget condenser microphone, and it's become one of my favorite work horse microphones.

The two preamps we're going to compare it with are the Behringer T1953, which I've had for a while now...

...and, an ART Tube PAC, which I've only just recently acquired.

To keep everything as neutral as possible, I'm recording into my Firewire 410.


All recordings were done 6 inches from the mic's diaphragm, and have not been edited (unless noted) accept for compression to 320Kbps MP3 for streaming (initial recording were done @ 24/96).
The PAC was used low threshold with 3:1 compression.

Solaris direct to FW410 (very quiet):

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Solaris direct to FW410 Normalized (loud):

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Solaris with Behringer T1953 (loud):

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Solaris with Art Tube PAC (loud):

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

OK, so what can we glean?
Well, none of these sound "bad" to me. I prefer the sound of the PAC, it's a little fuller than the direct to soundcard, but I still feel like that sounds like me, natural.
The T1953 sounds "hotter" or "louder" (odd as it doesn't have a compressor like the PAC), but it adds a slightly unnatural timbre or edge to my voice. It's a subtle texture that's not unpleasant, but I don't feel that's what I really sound like. Also the T1953 adds a bit more noise to the chain than the PAC.
The direct to soundcard is the cleanest of the group, but is also the plainest to me. It's not bad, just vanilla, and we all know that vanilla is the best "base" ice cream. I think this recording would probably be the easiest to EQ and mix in front of music on a commercial.

As with so much of what we do, if you're already working a mic you like with a good soundcard, then adding a preamp (especially ones like my budget preamps) isn't going to bring an earth shaking difference to your recordings. It can make editing easier however as it instantly brings up the level of your recordings, giving you a nice hot signal to work with, but it can also make editing harder if your preamp is noisy.

For us VO people, I can only recommend buying a dedicated Pre if you've compared a few, and you've picked one out that compliments your mic and soundcard in accentuating the qualities of your voice you MOST want people to hear.

And of course, everything in this article can be purchased through SOME AUDIO STORE, LOL!
someaudioguy some audio guy voice over recording auditions VO voice acting equipment kit gear microphone preamp soundcard digital audio interface

Some Audio Store!

In conjunction with Amazon.com, I'm proud to present to you,
Some Audio Store!
(The real store is down at the bottom)

I'll be trying to keep it updated with products that I've been using or reviewing, and I'll be adding some links to the right hand side, and the actual store front is now at the bottom of the blog (replacing that youtube vid crawler that never worked right). Pretty cool stuff guys!

Thanks again for all the support!

NRV10 Update - You CAN dasiy-chain the NRV10 with the Firewire 410!!!

I LOVE Firewire!

I updated the driver on my desktop to play with the NRV10. Apparently there is now only one "family" driver for M-Audio firewire products.

I didn't feel like disconnecting my FW410 to plug in the NRV10, so I used the spare port on the FW410. Upon rebooting, my computer ran it's updates, and could see both the FW410 and the NRV10.

I fired up Acid, and set up a couple audio tracks. Acid not only saw both devices, but let me run inputs from different devices at the same time.

Now this might not seem like a huge deal. You've always been able to daisy-chain firewire devices, but usually that means hooking up an external hard drive to your external soundcard. As far as I knew, very few sound cards could be daisy-chained to show up as a single multi-input device. Those devices usually had to match as well, as they would have to use the same driver. M-Audio's firewire "family" driver marks the first time, that I know of, where two different devices can be linked and used as one big interface. This is something that can ONLY be done over Firewire, as USB can't share resources like this.

MAudio NRV10 Analog Mixer and Firewire Audio Interface

What do you even call that? Asymmetrical audio interface daisy chaining?

I don't know, but between the FW410 and the NRV10 I now have 12 routable inputs (10 analog 2 stereo mix down), 2 digital inputs, 10 analog outs (18 software routable outs), and 2 digital outs all in a fairly compact set up.

I'm stoked!

M-Audio FireWire 410 4-In / 10-Out FireWire Mobile Recording Interface

And if you want to see more shots of the NRV10, you can click here for my un-boxing post!

Call for Help! - Mixers: NRV10 vs Zed-14?

All right!
I NEED HELP!

I'm kinda stuck, and some opinions from my faithful readers would be very helpful.

I need a new mixer.

More specifically I'd like to replace both my mixer and my sound card in one fell swoop, so I'm looking at Firewire and USB mixers. I've gone through Alesis, and Mackies, and Phonics, and I think I've got it narrowed down to 2 units in my price range. I'm completely torn, so on to the comparison.

The two I'm stuck on are the M-Audio NRV10 and the Allen & Heath Zed-14. I need four or more phantom powered XLR ports, and individual channels sent to computer. Both units do that, so what's bothering me?

The Allen & Heath (typically about $450) is, well, an Allen & Heath. That already makes it desirable. Six mono inputs, 4 buses, USB interface, and 100mm faders round out an impressive feature set. I've always enjoyed the build quality of A&H, and those extra buses are awesomely flexible.


Next up, the NRV10 (Usually around $700) comes from a company I'm VERY familiar with, having used M-A soundcards for YEARS now. I think I like Firewire better than USB (especially when I have to use my dog tired laptop). The NRV10 has fewer inputs, no alt buses (so less routing flexibility), but each channel has individual send selectors, giving it some good (but not great) channel flexibility. Lastly, while the mixer itself isn't quite as flexible as the A&H, it comes with one powerful advantage for me. It will play with the copy of Pro Tools M-Powered I picked up for my FW410.

So there's the question. Do I go with the more expensive less flexible mixer because it uses PT, or do I go with the more flexible less expensive mixer and use another program (I like Sound Forge and Audition, but I do need PT from time to time)? PLEASE leave me some comments with your thoughts!

I need some help guys!

so...

HELP!

LOL

***EDIT 03/24/08***

I GOT THE NRV10!
You can check out some unboxing pics, and my first impressions here!

Olympus Releases LS-10 PCM Stereo Recorder

Gizmodo got the scoop!

Olympus is taking all of their experience in making PCM recorders, and delivering a fairly impressive pocket sized stereo recorder.It even looks cool!

The feature set is pretty impressive, boasting 24bit/96kHz PCM recording, wav/mp3/wma support, 12 hour recording life on 2 AA's, built in stereo mics with a line in, 2GB of built in storage with an SDHC card slot for additional storage, and support for both Mac and PC.

Great sign me up, so what's the down side?

Well it's currently being priced out at $399. That's a lil steep. I can only hope it's sold for less when I look them up on Zzounds. At $399 it's hard not to compare this recorder to kit like the Zoom H4 or Microtrack II (each easily found online for $299).
While the LS-10 handily trumps the Zoom and MT in storage and battery life, it doesn't offer Phantom Power, so no powered mics without a separate 48v power supply.

Sound quality had better be top notch to warrant the premium (I will gladly test this if Olympus would like to send me one, *wink*nudge*wink*)...



Olympus Official Site

***UPDATE 8/19/08***

New Media Gear has a great review of the Olympus LS-10.

Rescuing Recorded Sound from Ravages of Time

This is just plain cool!
Scientists are using modern technology to archive the recordings off of older media. I wonder what our media's shelf life will be. I doubt CD's will really last beyond 30 years, and I wonder how long a harddrive can last inactive, let alone early wax cylinders which have lasted over 100 years.



Still it's fascinating work:

"These echoes of a bygone era were recorded on media such as wax
cylinders and shellac and lacquer discs. But many are now too fragile
to play in their original format; the pressure of a stylus or
phonograph needle could cause irreversible damage. Others are too
broken, worn or scratched to yield high-quality sound. The archivists
needed a means to preserve the recordings without injuring them further.

A physicist with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Haber
was developing subatomic particle detectors to be used at CERN in
Geneva, Switzerland. This involved using digital cameras and robots to
place each delicate detector in precisely the right place. In a flash
of insight, Haber realized that an optical scanning system could solve
the Library's quandary."

Read the rest @ huliq

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Holy Crap! $10,000 tube amp!

I REALLY want one, and I don't even know why!
The specs are of course ridiculous, but $10K?!?!

It prolly makes my 128Kbps MP3's sound AWESOME!



Gizmodo has the scoop!



... Wow! ...

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