As a reporter, I spend a fair amount of time recording telephone interviews. Sometimes I use excerpts of the audio to produce radio stories, and sometimes I upload complete interviews for this site or Download Squad. If you want top of the line telephone audio recording equipment, you could easily spend $500 or more. The […]
Blog
Sony PCM-D50: Producer’s Edge video from AES
I found yet another video overview of the Sony PCM-D50 digital audio recorder. Producer’s Edge Magazine recorded this 10 minute video with a Sony rep at the AES show. Here are a few highlights: A/B repeat feature for musicians. You can set a start and end point and have the recorder play the select audio […]
Sony PCM-D50: Mix Magazine video from AES
Mix Magazine has posted a nice video showing off some of the Sony PCM-D50 digital audio recorder’s features. I couldn’t find a way to embed the video here, so you’ll have to check it out over at Mix’s site, but here are some of the highlights: The Sony PCM-D50 has cheaper mics and preamps than […]
Fun with audio sample rates
When you play back audio of someone talking or singing at the wrong speed, they sound like a chipmunk or James Earl Jones. But what happens when you play back music at the wrong speed? At a recent Van Halen concert, someone played the prerecorded keyboard part for “Jump” at 48KHz instead of 44.1. Most […]
Sony PCM-D50 audio recorder to retail for $499
It looks like Sony’s PCM-D50 digital audio recorder will have a street price of $499. It carries a list price of $599, but a quick look at Pricegrabber shows that most online retailers will be selling it for a hundred bucks less. Of course, none of these stores actually has the recorder in stock yet, […]
Using the Zoom H2 mic clip adapter as a handle
Here’s something I totally missed when the Zoom H2 digital audio recorder was first released: it includes a mic-clip adapter. While that might not sound very exciting, it kind of is, and here’s why: The Zoom H4 cannot be placed on a mic stand. Instead you have to attach a standard camera tripod, making it […]
Chalk this one up to bureaucracy
Sometimes you can’t make this stuff up. Okay, maybe you can. But the real news reads just like the fake. The New York Daily News has an article this weekend about the city issuing a fine to a family for graffiti. The graffiti in question happens to be the chalk art doodlings of a 6 […]
Asus Eee PC shipping next week (in Taiwan), US price TBA
Asus president of sales and marketing Jonathon Tsang says the company will start shipping the Eee PC in Taiwan next week. That’s the good news. The meh news is that while the original $199 price tag still exists, the laptop will only be available at that price for “contract orders.” While we’ve been hearing for […]
Sony PCM-D50: Sonic State video from AES
Want to see the Sony PCM-D50 digital audio recorder up close and personal? While Sony isn’t officially launching the device until November, the company had a few units on display at last week’s Audio Engineering Society convention in New York, and while I got some audio, the folks over at Sonic State snagged a video […]
Will the Asus Eee PC be available November 1st?
Rumor has it that the Asus Eee PC will be released on November 1st. I’m taking this with a grain of salt. First we heard that the tiny Linux-based laptop from Asus would be available in September. Then we heard mid-October. Now that it’s nearly mid-October it’s not too surprising to hear the date’s been […]
New York could ease alternate side parking for clean streets
Living in New York is great. Trash is picked up three times a week, there’s curbside recycling, and you can get pretty much anywhere you need to go by train, bus, or foot. But if you’ve got a car, things are a bit different. Since I work from home most days, my car doesn’t really […]
Comparing the Sony PCM-D50, Fostex FR2-LE, Zoom H4 and Sound Devices 702
I tested out a couple of different flash audio recorders at AES yesterday. And while recording conditions weren’t ideal on the noisy show room floor, here are the results. Ideally I’d love to take each of these recorders into a quiet room and record an interview and some ambiance, because even the Zoom H4 with […]
New field recorders category
Over the last few weeks I’ve been writing a lot about new field recorders. This is both because I’ve been thinking about buying a replacement/companion for my trusty Zoom H4, and because those pesky audio equipment companies keep coming out with new toys. So I’ve created a new label for field recorders. If you want […]
M-Audio Microtrack II available for $299 in November
While Marantz was a no show at the AES convention, I did get a close look at a non-functional M-Audio Microtrack II. I used a Microtrack for a little while at my old radio station. It was a decent little machine. The quarter-inch mic and line inputs seemed a bit sturdier than the 1/8th inch […]