Makeshift Field Recorder - Your Digital Camera

While working on an animation project, I really needed some wide open sounds, ambiance, street sounds, basic background stuff. Field recording. I tried using my phone's memo function (not great), and I tried using a hand held voice recorder (also not great and surprisingly expensive for very little storage). It started to look like I would either have to lug my laptop, soundcard and mics somewhere (inconvenient and I don't like calling that kind of attention to myself), or I'd have to drop $300+ on something like a ZoomH4 or Microtrack, and I didn't want to do that.

I was getting really frustrated, until I realized I had a gadget ready to help.

If you're anything like me, you probably have a ton of gadgets and kit lying around for those "just in case" situations, and if you're a lot like me, then you probably also collect hobbies. Over the last year I've really gotten into photography, and by "really gotten into" I mean I like to take pics of my dog sleeping and stealing the remote.



While I've spent a lot of time figuring out how to use the photo features of my camera (a Powershot S2), I haven't spent very much time on it's other settings. My camera actually has a pretty decent camcorder setting with, wouldn't you know it, built in stereo mics and a wind filter. Digging into my camera's manual a little deeper, I found it has a stand alone sound recorder setting, with a TWO HOUR limit per recording (and I can record several times over on my 2GB memory card, WAY more than I would ever need for ambient noise). The recordings aren't compressed either, and are a standard 16-bit .wav which can be edited in any standard audio editor.

What's great about cameras, is that they also have pretty standardized accessories. My $9 mini-tripod became a great stand to minimize bouncing and bump noises, and in a pinch can be used as a makeshift short boom. You could even go mono-pod if you wanted to.





On my camera, the lens doesn't engage when recording sound, so I left the lens cap on, and recorded totally anonymously. No one was the wiser, and I got exactly what I needed.
Get it? Batman. Cuz I'm all teh-stealthy-recording-McBat-guy.

The only drawback I could find was the fact that these mics are WIDE. They pick up EVERYTHING. I had to sample a couple different street sounds as I was picking up people's conversations. You certainly wouldn't want to use this if you needed something tight and directional, but if you need something wide, it's worked better than any other gadget I've tried so far (short of actual field recording kit, picture not of me).




To wrap up, I wouldn't recommend going out to buy a camera just to do this (you'll end up spending almost as much as you would've on an H4 or Microtrack), but if you already have a digital camera with a camcorder mode, than your bang for buck is WAY higher than buying something else (like a crappy voice recorder), and should totally hold you over until you need to buy something more sophisticated.

Enjoy!

News Sound Bites - Music Software, MP3 Player busts Cop, Morgan Webb, OpenHulu

Some cool stories to check out around the web.

ExtremeTech has started a series on digital music creation. What's interesting about the read is it's from a gadget blog writer, not a pro-sumer musician, so the advice is a bit more consumer-friendly. [Part1, Part2, via ExtremeTech]

NYTimes has a story up about a kid busting a cop with his MP3 player. Apparently he wasn't read his Miranda, and caught the whole thing on an MP3 player in his pocket. The iPod doesn't have built in recording, hmmmm... [NYT via Gizmodo]

MTV Multiplayer is trying to boost its readership, and it picked a perfect interview to do it. Morgan Webb discusses the challenges and frustrations of being a girl gamer (a little skewed by the fact that she's probably the most recognized girl gamer on the planet right now). I just think it's funny when she says she avoids forums because some jerk always ruins the discussion, and of course the comments on the interview are mostly jerky comments. [MTV Multiplayer]

And lastly, are you bummed that you haven't been invited into Hulu's private beta? Are you dreaming of all that free (ad supported) TV, just waiting to be streamed to your computer monitor (which if you're like me is nicer than your TV anyway)? Well, you can stop bumming out! A kindly web citizen has taken it upon himself to link as much Hulu content as he can to OpenHulu.com. I'm watching TinMan right now. While I type this. I know! [OpenHulu]

Ask Engadget - Best Earbuds?

I really like the "Ask Engadget" posts. They open the comments to the community to try and get advice on a particular topic. This one is all about music earbuds, and is right up my alley.

First off if you're still rocking the white buds that came with your ipod, STOP IT! The headphones that come with most MP3 players are REALLY BAD FOR YOU!

I'm talking about the really-cheapy-hard-plastic-rest-just-on-the-outside-of-your-ear-phones. The problem with these earbuds is they don't create a very good seal around your ear. That means a LOT of sound from the outside world can leak in. The more outside sound that leaks in, the louder you have to play music to rise above the extra noise. The louder you have to play music, the faster your ears get tired.
Some experts even believe that hearing loss starts after an hour of listening on buds, so the problem will compound as you have to keep jacking the volume as your ears tire and wear out.

So how do we fix this issue? We reduce the noise around you!

Recently there have been huge advances in consumer noise reduction technologies, and you can pick between Active and Passive reduction.


Active reduction headphones have a microphone built into them that "listens" to the world around you, and then "removes" the noises you don't want to hear.

Passive reduction is just that, passive. It works by creating a better seal around your ear to physically stop sounds from entering your ear. Either way, there's less competition for your ears, less crap for your ears to filter, and you can turn down the volume while having a better listening experience.

Both active and passive have their pros and cons. Active needs power, and that means a battery bulge somewhere. Active also wont block single noises, just constant noises (airplane engines, traffic noise). This can actually be good as you should be able to carry a conversation with little effort, or you should be able to hear an alert if your walking around (like a horn honk from a car about to run you over).
Passive on the other hand blocks EVERYTHING. It's a hard adjustment for some, as the world around you will sound like you're underwater.

Personally I actually prefer Passive, just because of the battery issue, and I like the thicker bass that usually comes with having your ear closed up, though some people find it muddy. Right now I'm rocking a pair of Sennheiser CX300's, which were a great buy at $45.

Using the following links, shop for Music or Headphones on Amazon, and you'll be supporting this site at no cost to you!

News Sound Bites - Wavosaur, Writers, and Hi-Def Transfers

Just a couple cool links for ya'll.

Download Squad has the scoop on Wavosaur, a free tiny portable audio editing suite. Does it have what it takes to compete against products like Audacity?

Gizmodo is looking for writers! If only there were an influx of really good writers, with time on their hands, looking for new projects ... hmmm ... (I kid because I love)

Sound and Vision Magazine has a great article on the challenges of transferring Blade Runner to HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. YAY! I get to buy the movie AGAIN once I get an HDTV! I can't wait!

Canadian songwriters propose monetizing P2P in Canada

The Songwriters Association of Canada has proposed an interesting solution for Canada's P2P woes. Charge customers a fee at the ISP and monetize file sharing. I think this is a great idea. Realistically if something like this had happened during the first Napster, the music industry wouldn't be in the shape it is today (and everyone would be making a LOT more money). I would have no problem paying TW $15-20 more a month to treat the whole internet like a Netflix-watch-it-on-demand-type service. To bad it'll probably never happen here stateside... schniff...

read more | digg story

How to properly pronounce the hard words - HowJSay.com

Man it's all about web apps today I guess, but here's a good one.

When it comes to dissecting copy, I've gotten pretty good at looking up the tough words on sites like dictionary.com. Recently a lot of those site now feature audio pronunciations, which is great, but not all sites have all of their entries voiced yet. Sometimes you have to search out a few sites to actually hear the word you're looking for.
Hard? No.
Kind of a pain? Yeah, a little.

So, trolling Lifehacker, I've found this neat little service called HowJSay. Basically it's a search field for word pronunciations. Handy, easy to use, bookmark it and go. They've currently got over 80,000 words indexed, and I haven't really stumped it yet (except for those really obnoxious pseudo-science words used in cosmetic ads).

CHECK IT OUT HERE

How to speak Droid: R2-D2 Translator

I can't tell you how many times I've been strolling around WeHo, and thought to myself "man I wonder how R2-D2 would yell obscenities at people".

Well wonder no more!
Thanks to the R2-D2 translator you too can discover how to tell someone to "piss off" in droid speak.

R2-D2 TRANSLATOR

Hangin at the IPR cd release party!

Just grabbing a drink and hanging with my pal Joe. We're about an hour from hearing It for te first time!
Sweet!

You Smell Nice...

High-Five Hollywood!

I can't say why I love this vid. Maybe it's my Puddy obsession, I don't know, but it's funny in that really stupid slow build chuckle to the end kinda way.
High-Five!

They call me mellow yellow...

It's late.


I'm just pissing around online.


I'm having a really good time just listening to music.


My "feeling mellow" playlist for the night:
*Crazy (unplugged) - Seal
*Stuck in the middle with you - Stealers Wheel
*Head Over Feet - Alanis Morissette
*The Freshman - The Verve Pipe
*Stars and Boulevards - Augustana
*Pinch Me - Bare Naked Ladies
*Piano Man - Billy Joel
*Save Tonight - Eagle Eye Cherry
*Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield
*I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash
*Don't You Forget About Me - Life of Agony
*Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed
*Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
*Crazy - Nelly Furtado (Gnarls Barkley cover)
*No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley
*Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
*What is Love - Howard Jones
*Thank You - Boyz II Men
*I Will Survive - Cake
*Yellow - Coldplay
*You Got Me - The Roots
*The First Cut is the Deepest - Cat Stevens

What are you listening to right now?

Oh, and the pic at the top is one of mine! Not bad huh?