microphones

Home Recording For Non-Engineers – It’s Not Hard Or Expensive

October 7, 2012 by Ken Leave a Comment

“Home recording for non-engineers” is just my way of saying that it does not have to be hard or expensive for just about anyone to do it.
Now, before I jump into the wonders of home audio recording, allow me to state up front.
I have a Bachelor of Science degree and a Masters degree. I mention this to you not because I’m trying to brag or anything. Why am I telling you this? I only mention it because….wait for it…..reading about audio recording STILL makes my brain hurt!

Why Is It So Hard To Understand?

I’ve been doing it for, well let’s just say more than 2 decades and leave it at that. It’s how I make a living. And usually, whenever I see some tutorial on the web or an article in a trade magazine about audio recording, my eyes start to laze over and I feel like I’m going to slip into a coma. What gives?!
I got to thinking that if I react this way, how must it feel for someone who is just starting out with home audio recording? Someone who doesn’t have enough money to go to recording school or enough time, or both must rely on the mercy of book, article, and tutorial writers to gain their knowledge. And unless you just happen to be an electrical engineer or a music major (preferably both…apparently), one look at most of the literature on how to get started in home recording will probably put you off your lunch.

Audio Recording Is Easier Than You Think

I happen to believe that home recording is much, much, much, much (getting the idea?) easier to understand than most experts make it out to be. If you follow the brief instructions I’m about to give you, you’ll be able to make an audio recording in the next few minutes! This assumes you have a computer and something to use as a microphone, even one of those plastic PC mics will do. If you don’t have the mic yet, then tack on the time it’ll take you to dash to the store and pick one up for $5.00 or so. Ready?

Download and install the open-source (free!) program called “Audacity” from their website at Sourceforge. If you just put “Audacity” software into Google, you’ll find it. (update: if you don’t mind paying $60 for incredible software, try Reaper in place of Audacity).
Find the little hole with a pink circle around it on your computer sound card. It should be right next to the little hole with a green circle where your speakers are probably plugged in. Plug the microphone into the pink hole. (Update: Though this tip is still valid, you can get much better quality by using a USB mic – especially one like the $75 Samson C01U)
Open Audacity or Reaper.
Click on the button with the big red circle on it (that means “record”).
Put the microphone close to your lips and talk into it.
Click the button in Audacity with the large square on it to “stop” the recording (or the smaller Stop button on the bottom left of Reaper).

Is that It?

That’s it! You just made a recording and didn’t need a degree in math or engineering to do it.
Is there a lot more to learn? Uh-huh. Can it be taught as easily as the above? Yup, I think so. So if you’re looking for guidance on setting up a home recording studio, whether you want to do voice-overs, narrate an audio book, produce a podcast, or record music, don’t frustrate yourself trying to decipher the “how-to” articles and tutorials out there that are hyped up on jargon and “engineer-ese.” Find the ones that make it easy and fun.
They are out there – well most of them are here:). Good luck and have fun!
Oh, and if you’d like to get an idea of what our courses are like, click below to get some free videos to see how great they are (if we do say so ourselves):).

Microphone Used By Glee's Rachel and Blaine at Callbacks in The Breakup Episode – Shure KSM 9

October 5, 2012 by Ken Leave a Comment

In the Glee episode, The Breakup, Rachel and Blaine each do a song (Demi Lovato’s Give Your Heart a Break and Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream, respectively) at a New York club called “Callbacks.” The microphone they both use is the Shure KSM 9, and it definitely played a supporting role in both songs – with closeups with the model number front and center (which made my job easier this time;)).
This is a serious microphone, by which I mean seriously awesome. It is described by Shure as a premium vocal condenser microphone. Normally I would say that condenser mics are better off only being used in the studio due to their sensitivity and lack of ruggedness (you don’t want your bass player spitting beer into your Neumann U87, for instance) , but the KSM 9 is designed to do both studio recording AND live performance.

Amateur Audio On Excellent Video

October 1, 2012 by Ken 2 Comments

Here is yet another example of a really entertaining and otherwise excellent video made to appear amateur-ish by the audio quality. I have written repeatedly about why this seems to be so common while simultaneously being pretty easy to fix. See these articles, for example:
Audio For Videos: Do Not Let Bad Sound Ruin Great Video
Pro Audio For Your Video – Review of the BeachTek DXA-2T Camcorder Adapter
So my wife was on Facebook and showed me a very funny video with terrific acting and awesome content. But as I watched, I couldn’t stop wondering why they didn’t try a little harder to mic the actors. Their voices were all echo-y and reverb-y, like the sound you’d get if you just shot the video with a camcorder (or even an iPhone) and the actors 6-20 feet away. To quote a military friend of mine – “that dog won’t hunt.”
In order to get good sound quality on dialogue in a video is the get a mic close to the mouths of the actors. This is done either by using hypercardioid (very directional while rejecting off-axis noise) on a long pole just out of frame, or by using lapel mics.
Sure, wireless lapel mics are a couple hundred bucks, but putting even a cardioid mic (you can get a Shure SM58 for under a hundred bucks) on the end of a pole (you can rig up a DIY version with a telescoping aluminum brush/broom pole at the hardware store, or use PVC pipe if you have to). The solution does not have to be expensive and it can make such a HUGE difference in the level of professionalism.
OK, stepping off the soap-box now. Here’s the video I was referring to. I think these guys are great:

Review of IK Multimedia’s iRig Microphone For iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

September 30, 2012 by Ken 5 Comments

microphone for iPhone and iPad — Click Here For More Info and To Purchase the iRig Mic

Home recording is our thing at Home Brew Audio. And in that capacity we are making it our mission to spread the word that professional sounding audio is do-able for just about anyone. The technology leaps in the past few years make professional audio recording affordable to pretty much everyone with a computer and microphone. That’s what we’ve been saying. But IK Multimedia is challenging even the need for a computer now! We’re still a bit shell-shocked about their new products for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. These include the iRig Mic, iRig AmpliTube electric guitar/bass adapter, and the iKlip microphone stand adapter for the iPad. Today we’re going to talk about the iRig Mic.
So what is the iRig Mic? It is a condenser microphone that you can plug into your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. So you don’t even need a computer to record good quality audio. You can download free apps to you device to use as your recording studio software. You’ll want to get the iRig Recorder Free and VocaLive Free apps immediately. The iRig Recorder is an incredible app that lets you record AND edit or process audio right from your device. The recording format is 16-bit 44.1 kHz uncompressed, another way of saying “CD quality,” which is amazing for a set-up of this size.
The mic has a 3-position (low, medium and high) sensitivity setting switch that allows you some control over the input volume being sent to

iRig Export Screen Pic — iRig Recorder Export Screen

your device. You should leave this setting in the middle (medium sensitivity) as a default. If your source audio is too faint, you can move the switch up. Likewise, you’ll want to move it to the low-sensitivity setting if the source audio is very loud. In addition to these settings, the app itself has input and output level settings you can adjust so that your levels are just right. You’ll definitely want to test this before each recording session. Once all that is set up, you simply point the mic at whatever you are recording and tap the large and prominent “RECORD” button on your device. Tap it again when you’re done recording.
The iRig Recorder will then store your recorded file on your device. At this point, you can apply any number of processing effects (available as in-app purchases for just a few bucks apiece) such as volume and tone optimization, compression, EQ, noise reduction and pitch/timing adjustment. Of course, you’re also free to simply export the audio and then edit it on your computer if you have recording software to do that with.
How do you get the audio from your device onto your computer? Get this. You have a choice of posting the audio onto a webiste via Wi-Fi so you can download it, e-mail it to yourself, iTunes file sharing, FTP upload of SoundCloud (the social audio-sharing site). I used the Wi-Fi option for my test of a voice recording. This particular option is available once you grab the Hi-Quality Wav Processor app for $2.00. Then once you tap the Wi-Fi button, you are presented with a web ip address. Simply type that into a browser and you’ll be presented with screen allowing you do play or download (via the right-mouse-click/save link as action) the wav file to your computer. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!

You can then do what you want with your audio, such as import it into a recording program, put a music track beside it, and voila! You have a voice-over ready to go. For my test I did not add any background music since I wanted you to hear it as clearly as possible. Here is the result:
Since I am a voice over actor and frequently hire other voice over actors, I can tell you that the quality of this audio is very competitive with the best results in a typical audition, and is a good deal better than a good percentage of audios in any given audition. But I am a big believer in the proof of the pudding being in the eating, so I’m putting the audio right here for you to listen to. Don’t take it from me. You be the judge.
[jwplayer config=”Custom Audio Player” mediaid=”4023″]
I mentioned another app earlier called VocaLive, which is geared more toward music, as it has several effects and tools specifically for singers. As with the iRig Recorder, many of the VocaLive tools are available as in-app purchases from the iTunes App Store. The free version of VocaLive comes with a reverb effect, along with tools such as a metronome, a vocal “trainer,” and voice cancel, which allows you to sing along with your iPod song library. Here are some of the other available apps:

Doubler
De-Esser
Choir
PitchFix
Morph
Delay
Chorus
Compressor
Parametric EQ
Envelope Filter
Phazer
Four-Track Recorder

Each of these effects is only $2.99! Let me say that again. Each of these effects is only $2.99! What? I know. It’s freakin’ mind-boggling. The Four-Track Recorder, which adds multi-track recording functionality to VocaLive, is a bit more expensive at $4.99. It’s too bad you can’t hear the sarcasm in my voice when I say “expensive.” To put this in perspective, when I bought my first 4-track tape recorder it cost me over $500.00 clams! With that app you can import any song into VocaLive and record yourself singing along with it, add harmony or other music tracks, etc.
Okay, so to test the VocaLive out I recorded just a few lines of myself singing. It’s just one voice with no backing tracks and only the reverb app applied. Obviously you have the option to treat your voice with any of the above effects as well. As I said in the iRig Recorder review, I am a big believer in the proof of the pudding being in the eating, so again I’m putting the audio right here for you to listen to. You be the judge.
[jwplayer config=”Custom Audio Player” mediaid=”4026″]
That was just the bare minimum! Not only can you add any of the effects mentioned above, but as with the iRig Recorder, you can export your audio, though in a slightly different way. You have the options of: File Sharing (sends to iTunes), e-mail, and Song (puts a wav version into the VocaLive Player). It exports only in m4a format, which is the iPod format. I did not see an option for a Hi-Quality Wav Processor app as with the iRig Recorder. I simply e-mailed my file to myself. This isn’t a huge problem for most folks, since the audio is the same quality as pretty much everything you hear in iTunes. But you should be aware that “m4a” is a “lossy” audio format like you get with other data-compressed files like aac and mp3. But I defy any but the most trained ears out there to reliably tell the difference between wav and mp3 files in 2011. So for use in the real world, this is hardly much of an issue at all.
Whew! So welcome to the future. IK Multimedia are charting new territory here with the iRig Mic and their other iOS products and apps. If someone had shown this to me 10 years ago I probably would have keeled over from shock. That is how amazing the iRig products are. Will they eliminate the need for a computer if you want to produce professional quality audio on the go or from home? For some people, absolutely yes! For those folks who need 12+ tracks and complex routing or midi applications, or those who need big-screen sound-track or audiophile level production capability, you may want to hang onto your computer rigs, at least for now. But if you’re a song-writer, a voice-over actor, podcaster, audio-blogger or otherwise have simply a basic need to produce professional sounding audio quickly and conveniently, wherever you are, get the iRig as soon as you can.
The iRig Mic sells for a street price of about $47. This basically means that if you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, you can have multi-track recording studio with a suite of effects and tools for between $47 and about $70, once you add in the price of the other apps you’ll want to download.
To see more details and/or to purchase your own iRig Mic, CLICK HERE.
Find out more about these products here:
iRig Mic: Ikmultimedia.com/irigmic
iRig Recorder: Ikmultimedia.com/irigrecorder
VocaLive: Ikmultimedia.com/vocalive
Cheers!
Ken
ps- The demo song I sang part of for the review is from “The Bluest Eyes in Texas,” by Tim DuBois, Dave Robbins and Van Stephenson.

Microphones On Big Brother TV Show

August 29, 2012 by Ken Leave a Comment

Reality television shows present something of a challenge for the sound folks on the set. This is especially true of the shows, like Big Brother, where the cast members are often shirtless, or otherwise clad in something difficult to hook a clip-on (also known as a lapel, lavalier or just “lav” for short) microphone to – bikinis at the beach or by the pool, etc.
So you may have noticed (from 2013) Frank, “Boogie”, Ashley, Ian, Jenn, Joe, and companions wearing lanyards around their necks and carrying around little boxes with antennae on them. In case you hadn’t already guessed, these are lavalier (clip-on) microphones and bodypack transmitters (since these are wireless systems like the Sennheiser Evolution Series.)

Shotgun Mics

On a set where people wear shirts and the scene is blocked and scripted, the actors’ voices are picked up by shotgun mics (like the Sennheiser MKH 416), which allow for excellent sound when the voice is a couple of feet away from the mic, which is just off-screen.
And indeed they do have some shotgun mics hanging from the ceiling around the Big Brother house. But in a reality show, you can’t have a sound guy following every actor around with a shotgun mic on a fish pole. So the shotgun mics are usually too far away to get good sound.
The voice has to be close to the mic or it sounds too echo-y and reverb-y. And the cast can’t all wear headset mics like in the picture at the top left. So the only way to get good sound quality on the voices of the Big Brother house guests (HGs) is to have them wear lapel/lavalier mics.

But you have to attach them to something. Lavs usually come with an alligator clip so you can clip them onto ties, lapels or folds in a shirt or blouse, etc. But it would be pretty painful to pinch these onto your skin.
So the alternative is to hang them around the neck on a rope, cord, or “lanyard,” like the Countryman Magnetic Mount. That is what the HGs are wearing around their necks – microphones attached to neck lanyards.
But these are wireless microphones, so in addition to the mic necklace, HGs have to carry around bodypack transmitters.
The way wireless lav systems work is that the mic plugs into the bodypack transmitter, which then wirelessly transmits the audio to the receiver (another box) that is hooked up to the audio recording device or directly to the video camera.
So wonder no longer! Often times the thing that makes the difference between amateur and professional video is the audio quality, and a lav mic is much better (if you don’t have a shotgun mic) than using a mic that is built-into the video camera, which is too far away to get decent sound. To hear this for yourself, see my review of a wireless lavalier mic here: Audio For Video: Do Not Let Bad Sound Ruin Great Video.