Samson Go Mic Mobile 2 Review: A Long Awaited Refresh Falls Short...

Samson Go Mic Mobile 2 Review! 

This company helped kick off the wireless microphone revolution we enjoy today with the original Go Mic Mobile seven years ago, but a lot has changed since then. Samson is back with a refreshed wireless microphone kit. I'm glad to see them release an update, but are they prepared to compete in a REALLY competitive "pro-sumer" space? 

Let's take a listen... 

Go Mic Mobile 2 on B&H https://bhpho.to/3WhW5kC
Go Mic Mobile 2 on Amazon https://amzn.to/4k3MffK 

More info on the Go Mic Mobile 2 https://samsontech.com/products/wireless-systems/go-mic-mobile/gomicmobile2/ 

Boyamic 2 Review: The best wireless microphone bang for buck!

 

When you just have to cut the mic cable, but you still want good audio!

Boyamic tends to undercut brands like RODE and DJI. The refreshed Boyamic 2 arrive at a very attractive price, with a great set of features. It's solid pro-sumer hardware, but what's up with all this AI stuff?

Let's take a listen!

Boyamic 2 on B&H https://bhpho.to/4nZjnb0
Boyamic 2 on Amazon https://amzn.to/4dljh9s

Saramonic Ultra Wireless Microphones: Putting RODE and DJI on Notice!

Saramonic Ultra Review!

What happens when a budget brand goes PRO? We get some fun gear to play with! Sporting great sound quality and a rugged build, the Ultra pack in a few tricks that audio pros will appreciate. Thankfully, these mics wont break the bank!

Let's take a listen! OUTSIDE!

Saramonic Ultra on Amazon https://amzn.to/48GpYk7

Save 10% on the Saramonic Ultra when you use promo code "SOMEGADGETGUY10" when shopping on the link here: https://saramonic-usa.8lvxaf.net/o4R1Y9

Field Recording: Breezy Desert Night with Birds

It's a very quiet recording of a very quiet night outside Edwards AFB. A few chirping birds joined me as the sun set and the moon rose. Pardon the watermark...

 

Mailbag - Camera as Field Recorder Question

I've written before about field recording and how to do it on the cheap (using things like Canon point and shoot cameras), but JL had a question regarding a specific camera.

Hey, I work at a college radio station and your site is great. I read your post about using your Canon PowerShot as a field recorder, and thought, "that's perfect!" I'm trying to get into the audio production field, doing some production work, and this would be much better than buying a cheap audio recorder! I have a Canon S1 IS, so I don't think mine has the stand alone sound recorder setting. I explored it and couldn't find it, but thought you could help. Mine has a video recorder, which also records audio, but that's a lot more tedious than I need. How do you get to this setting on your camera? Thanks for any help!

-JL

Hey JL.
The S1 was a nifty little camera, but as far as I know it didn't have a dedicated audio recording feature. Depending on what you need to record, you could use the memo function by going into playback, while viewing a picture pushing the microphone button, and then using the arrow and set keys to start the recording. I think the memo feature will give you  about 60 seconds of recording time, and should save the file as a standalone .WAV file on your memory card.
If you need to record longer you're correct that you'll need to record a movie, and then seperate the audio after the fact in a video editing program.

Thanks for the question!

Urban Field Recording 01

Just walking round my hood yo...

Recording made with my Powershot S2 IS.



+34° 8' 36.04", -118° 23' 51.07"

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.

In Response to Using your Camera as a Field Recorder

A member of ProAudioNews responded to my post about using your camera's camcorder mode as a field recorder.

JQB:
Interesting idea, however walking around with a massive camera around your neck makes you look like a tourist. Also without a decent mike with mufflers you will can get lots of problems with wind and movement crackles.

I felt like responding to JQB's response!

First off, my camera is not "massive" thank you very much ;-), and I live in LA, so people walking around with cameras [shrug] tourist, paparazzi, whatever. Everyone walks around with cameras here, ya know.

So without going and actually reading my post, the point was to be able to get clean, decent, usable recordings with a minimum of fuss, expense, and without calling attention to yourself. I needed outdoor ambiance, and I couldn't get the results I wanted with voice recorders, mp3 players, or cellphones. I didn't want to haul my laptop, soundcard and mics out to Santa Monica (where with that kinda kit I could just imagine being asked for a permit).

I was able, though, to get what I needed from a Powershot S2 in sound recorder mode.



Just as an example I took a recording of our apartment's fountain using my PPC6700 in voice memo mode, and my S2 in sound recorder mode. Both were recording in stereo, 16-bit @ 44.1K, and both held from the same distance. There was no post done to the sound at all other than to convert to 320Kbps mp3's.

PPC6700:


Powershot S2:


Just for kicks I took the S2's recording and made it into an underwater ambient.


Thanks for reading JQB!

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!