In episode 107, Rob Scalise gets on my soapbox about the potential dangers of prolonged use of headphones.
My man in Hollywood got back to us with answers to Jay’s questions from ep 106 re: movie audio.
Ernie wrote and mentioned that he prefers my AKG C3000 to my R84. He also commented on previous assertions that my podcasts were distorted, and asked about recording nature sounds with field recorders and what would be the best way to approach it.
This led me off on a discussion of how it’s not JUST the microphone which influences our perception of the recorded sound, but that the mic preamp, plus any outboard gear etc etc also play a big role.
Which then led me off an a train of thought related to Slau’s latest podcast episode where he did a shootout between a whole bunch of large diaphragm condensor mics.

sl107.mp3 [ 33:32 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In ep 103, a continuation of the discussion on home theatre,
Bomar asked about why I use Lame (which I use in conjunction with Speex Multi frontend) for mp3 encoding,
plus he gave us some links for websites concerned with hearling loss:
deafness.about.com
digital recordings
University of NSW
jimmyr (link 1)
jimmyr (link 2)

and Tim Cumings was after some advice on how to mic up his computer user’s group monthly meetings.

sl103.mp3 [ 33:15 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hold on to your hats, people…
In episode 92, a listener (who wishes to remain anonymous) commented on the possibility of hearing damage inflicted by driving with the windows down, and the possibility of same being caused from riding your pushbike in busy traffic. The earplugs he’s using while riding are these.
Of course, my regular listeners know that I love my Sennheiser CX300′s… damn, I oughtta be on commission!
And that led to a discussion of noise-isolating vs noise-cancelling earbuds and headphones.
All of which led me to speculate on telephone handsets and whether or not they do us more harm than good.

Then, Jim Wesihorn checked in with news of a new pdf from the good folks at Izotope (makers of the VST/DirectX Ozone mastering plugin).
Seems they’ve turned out a whopping great 75 page document on audio restoration.
Going to have to check that out some time soon!
Thanks Jim!

Then, Steve Mayfield sent me a link about a dummy head binaural mic for your video camera!
Crazy looking thing.
One would hope it works well given the price tag!

Another long time listener who wishes to remain anonymous wrote to assure me that no, there is no distorion in my podcasts!
Phew! What a relief!
I didn’t think there was, mind you.

He also went on to provide some interesting real-world feedback on sample rate conversion.

Then, Matt sent me this screen shot of the Pro Tools manual where apparently, even Digidesign doesn’t know the difference between “bit rate” and “bit resolution”.
Why do I feel like I’m fighting an up hill battle here?

Then, Luke asked about vocal training.
I suggested googling some of these words:
‘voice’, ‘vocal’, ‘coach’, ‘training’, ‘tuition’, ‘diction’, ‘eloqution’, plus your local area
or check your local phone book.

Next, E. Bernhard Warg sent me an mp3 of a shoot out between a Coles 4104 ribbon lip mic and a standard lav mic, with regard to ambient noise suppression.

Then, Jim Addie sent in some great information on how the Red Book standard was established.

And finally, there were some listener comments on audio2u about my disaster last week.

sl092.mp3 [ 33:53 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This week, Tokyo Dan asked about the war story pertaining to Cheap Trick and the Angels, so we quickly revisit that one.
Peet Sneakes asked about enhanced podcasts.
And we touch again on the volume/gain discussion from last week.

sl070.mp3 [ 17:03 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In episode 3, Bruce covers hearing damage, and why you should look after your ears. Plus, a correction to some of last week’s information.
Hearing damage article

sl033.mp3 [ 12:39 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download