[PodcastMN] Whaddya think?

Sun Aug 19 03:12:24 GMT 2007

Thanks everybody for your input.

My goal was to get as clean a sound as I could for somewhere in the
neighborhood of $1,000 (I spent about $450 more than that). Besides the
Shure SM7B, I bought a Trident T4 preamp ($800) and a Monster power
conditioner ($150), got 'em home and ran them through their paces (hooking
up to my Mackie 1202, and the Trident sounded like crap.

I then invested about four hours yesterday and ended up emailing Paul
Figgiani (ptfigg) who works with Doug Kaye (Gigavox; IT Conversations)
because of a bunch of posts I saw on various audio forums and asked about
this pro rig and if it was sufficient to meet the needs that I spelled out
in the email:  www.podcastacademy.com/pro

Not only did he answer all my questions, the guy did a pre and post
processed WAV file using that mic and that Mackie board and with the dbx
compressor/limiter/gate in the chain. His sure sounded great and I knew that
-- if I was still disappointed -- I could return everything but the mic (MN
health disallows the return of mic's according to the kids at Guitar
Center).

Drum roll please......

I hooked up all the gear at 5pm and by 6pm was finding the sweet spot in the
board and the dbx. Holy shitsky! I have never been in front of a setup as
nearly dead silent as this one. It's all my ear and no scopes to tell me how
clean it is (and there is still a tiny bit of EMI through my
electrical...easy to get out in post) but I'm pretty blown away.

Now we'll be able to deliver the half dozen recorded Web sessions (slides
sync'ed to audio); CD-delivered Flash videos with our ebooks; do even better
Skype recorded interviews (if it doesn't go down again!); and yes, I'm
planning to start podcasting again though this time focused on stories (more
to come on that...).

Seeya at podcamp and thanks again.

--
Steve

P.S. Is it just me....or is the whole audio experience a black art? It is
THE most non-intuitive, expensive and goofy industry I've ever seen. One
example: I need to hook up the dbx box to the mixer. The documentation
explains terms but has NO hookup info. The mixer does but isn't specific. I
follow the naming conventions of send/receive to channel input on the mixer
and end up calling Guitar Center. It takes TWO smart guys to decipher what's
up with my configuration and one guy tells me to "just ignore the
send/receive on the dbx and route the cables to input and output at the
sides". That makes no sense to you as I describe it, but I'm still shaking
my head over the illogic of the cable routing. NO ONE would intuitively
understand how to do it.

On 8/18/07, Creot Radio <creotradio at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> but before you buy anything, i would definitely mess with the eqs on your
> mackie board.  i know mine are pretty noisy.
>
> On 8/17/07, Mike O'Connor < mike at haven.com> wrote:
> >
> > At 09:20 AM 8/17/2007, Steve Borsch wrote:
> > >A new idea for my bride's business meant that I need actual
> > >broadcast quality audio.
> >
> > you think *you've* been quiet on this list for a long time?  i gotta
> > tell ya, i'm even worse.
> >
> > but i thought i'd chime in on this one.
> >
> > see that quote up there?  "broadcast quality" audio is actually a
> > pretty low standard, easily met by your noisy preamp, and certainly
> > wildly exceeded by the mic you've bought.  i'm dredging pretty old
> > knowledge here, but my recollection is that the FCC noise floor for
> > an FM station is something on the order of 35db.  maybe 40.  anyway,
> > pretty low.
> >
> > so, depending on what you're trying to do, here's another
> > approach.  try switching from phantom-powered mics to dynamics.  the
> > iron-clad standard for remote broadcast use is the EV
> > 635A.  completely indestructible, sounds great, pretty cheap (a quick
> > Google finds a new one at $105).   nice n'quiet 'cause you don't have
> > all thum electronics to fuss with.
> >
> > phantom powered mics are usually recording *studio* mics -- and maybe
> > that's what you're gunning for.  but for podcast-style voice work,
> > that's overkill.  the place you see those kinda mics is when you're
> > doing a music session, and then you're looking at a much spiffier
> > mixing board and pre-amps and etc. etc.  down that path lies much
> > money and all kinds of audio geek stuff that you may not want to
> > tangle with.  if your noise floor gets much below 50db, you're gonna
> > have to rebuild your house.  turn off the furnace, get rid of the
> > fridge, build a concrete room, springs under the floors, foam stuff
> > on the walls -- it's *hard* to get recording-studio sound.  and
> > electronics are just the start.
> >
> > after all, it a system.  and the noise floor is determined by your
> > noisiest component.  'soon as you get that mic squared away, you'll
> > find something else.
> >
> > funny note -- i just did a podcast using the phone-recording
> > capability of GrandCentral (www.grandcentral.com).  it worked great,
> > but in order to make it sound "good" i had to *inject* noise into the
> > audio to cover up some odd compression that Grandcentral was
> > doing.  laid in a white-noise track at about -25db and it sounds just
> > like an NPR phone interview.
> >
> > my 2 cents,
> >
> > m
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > voice: 651-647-6109 <callto:+16516476109>
> > fax: 866-280-2356 <callto:+18662802356>
> >
> > web: www.haven.com
> > ham radio: KZ0C -- www.kz0c.com -- Grid Square EN44dk
> >
> > IM -- MSN: mike at haven.com
> > IM -- ICQ: 235943241 <callto:+1235943241>
> > IM -- Yahoo/AIM/Skype: OConnorStP
> > IM -- Jabber: OConnorStP at gmail.com
> > IM -- Gtalk: OConnorStP at gmail.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------
> > Next Meetup: PODCAMPMN
> > 10am Sat. Aug. 25, 2007
> > Flat Earth Brewery, St. Paul
> > ----------------------------------------
> > These are the Podcasters in your Neighborhood
> > http://frappr.com/podcastmn
> > ----------------------------------------
> >
> > PodcastMN - The Sound of Minnesota
> > PodcastMN at lists.podcastmn.com
> > http://lists.podcastmn.com/mailman/listinfo/podcastmn
> >
>
>
>
> --
> http://www.creotradio.net
> ----------------------------------------
> Next Meetup: PODCAMPMN
> 10am Sat. Aug. 25, 2007
> Flat Earth Brewery, St. Paul
> ----------------------------------------
> These are the Podcasters in your Neighborhood
> http://frappr.com/podcastmn
> ----------------------------------------
>
> PodcastMN - The Sound of Minnesota
> PodcastMN at lists.podcastmn.com
> http://lists.podcastmn.com/mailman/listinfo/podcastmn
>
>
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