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

This week, Greg Anderson sent in a voice comment of his own “radio war story”,
Jim Weishorn wrote to ask for more info on subtractive eq,
Alexander Williams* (no relation) wrote to ask about processing audio for live streaming (as opposed to pre-producing content),
…which led me to again remark about having VU meters rather than just peak program meters (PPM’s), and a great free VST plugin VU meter is the Modern Meter,
and then Jim wrote again asking about home theatre… setting up speakers and subwoofers and so on.
After I finished mixing this episode, I realised I didn’t really finish answering Jim’s questions, so consider this ‘part 1 of 2′.
And talk about freaky… in the very week I talk about my Energy 10.2 subwoofer, the damn thing decided to die on me! About an hour after I recorded this ep, I realised that the sub wasn’t working. After some investigating, I came to the conclusion that it had died. I took it to 2 different stores to be checked, and they both deemed that it was dead, too. So, I’m taking it to a friend’s place today for him to have a look at it (he MIGHT be able to fix it). But if he has no luck, looks like I’ll be buying a new sub in the next week or so.

* BTW, I love Alexander’s tag line for his streaming show:

“Like a morning show. Only interesting. And at night.”

sl102.mp3 [ 34:29 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In ep 69, Jan Polland gives us a rundown on the Zoom H4 (download Jan’s original mp3 here),

plus he asks about keeping monitoring levels in check.
Which led on to an impromptu war story (which I now fear may be a repreat). JBL 4430 studio monitor spec sheet. (Sorry, I got the dimensions a little bit wrong.)
Also, a follow up to last week’s “processing order” discussion,
plus my new mp3 player… the Creative Zen V+ (4GB).

sl069.mp3 [ 27:23 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This week, Bruce answers more listener e-mail, including the sound of coffee (true!), why you can’t go above 0dBFS in a digital system, and why sounds are different.

sl011.mp3 [ 12:23 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In episode 5, Bruce mentions the interview he did with Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting,
answers some listener questions,
and mentions a product shoot out to be covered next week (which should be of interest to most podcast listeners).

Sonic booms : How stuff works

sl005.mp3 [ 17:30 ] 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