Hart's Dynamic Media Blog

When I first heard about the HHB DRM85 combo microphone/flash recorder I thought it sounded like a great (if a bit pricy—it seems to be going for about $1299 most places) solution for a lot of interview-centric folks out there. Up until now I hadn't seen an actual real world evaluation of how it worked in the field, but Radio World online just posted exactly that. Even better, they verified that the ability to add markers to your recorded audio comes through directly into Audition, which is really convenient for marking those bits you'll want to make sure to listen to later. It can record for 3:15 in PCM mode so not having to listen to all of that again would definitely speed things up.

Posted by Hart Shafer at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

From where I sit (as an audio guy in the middle of a company that spends its time thinking visually) I love seeing the intersection of graphics and audio come up again and again. The latest example is this roundup of applications that use the input from a Wacom drawing tablet to control music in one form or another. I have no idea if any of these things are useful but they certainly look fun.

Posted by Hart Shafer at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is a fascinating article, even if it IS a bit tangential to the music business. Apparently one of the only remaining factories for tubes for music gear is under threat from organized crime in Russia. I've been worried about takeovers before, but never anything like this!

Posted by Hart Shafer at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A couple days ago I saw a picture of the Lightsnake, which at first glance looks like a normal 1/4" cable but actually has a USB port on the other end. The whole sound card is built right into the cable so that you can plug your guitar or keyboard or whatever straight in to the computer for recording. I know purists will scoff, but I think the idea is outstanding--how incredibly convenient! And it's perfect for folks who want to record themselves but aren't ready to start getting into more complicated setups. Has anyone tried one of these? Do they work and sound alright?

[via Engadget]

EDIT: I got a note that said that it is limited to a 48k sampling rate which would be disappointing if true.

Posted by Hart Shafer at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Edirol R-09 is one of those devices that I wish I had seen in person at NAMM. (warning: the link plays music) It looks like the built-in microphone makes it just about perfect for interviews in the field for radio or podcasting, and with full 48V phantom power on its microphone inputs it might be usable for some high-quality stereo recording as well. Plus, like some other recent recorders, it's all solid-state so hopefully it's a lot more durable than a portable DAT. If anyone has one of these, let me know. I'd be curious to hear how it works in the field.

[edit: I just saw that these are available coming soon, so it's unlikely anyone has one yet!]

(Found via createdigitalmusic.com)

Posted by Hart Shafer at 09:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

My colleague Steve and I were talking about the horrible sound that so many talking head videos have, and what would improve them. He suggested that the best thing would be to include some sort of Bluetooth (or similar) lapel microphone. That would make it easy to close-mic the talent without wires and, if the quality was any good, that one thing alone would significantly increase the average audio quality of all the video being shot today.

Well, I think Steve has a crystal ball (which I'm going to insist on borrowing) because Sony just announced exactly that. Well, it doesn't come included with the camera, but is available in Japan for ¥21,000 (about $165) and I hope it will be available worldwide soon. The talking head videos of the world need it.

Posted by Hart Shafer at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Finally, we can live in the sci-fi future of music production. I mean, everyone would look cooler with their own robotic exoskeleton, right?

Posted by Hart Shafer at 02:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Dan on our testing team was telling me how he was putting his new monitor in portrait mode to great use for editing in the Spectral Frequency Display, so I decided to try it with one of the 24-inch monitors that we have in the office. Wow! I wish I had one of these at home!

(View large image)

Using the full length of the screen to display the frequencies and setting the spectral controls to 16384 reveals amazing detail, and almost makes the song look like a piano roll.

Posted by Hart Shafer at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)