Audio

All things Sound

Zoom’s latest recorder the Zoom H1 Handy costs $99; it’s now shipping!

Samson said they were going to ship the Zoom Handy H1 July 30, but they’re shipping the product as of today. the Zoom H1 Handy is available at Amazon (affiliate link). Based on the product specs (I have not yet seen it), my answer to the question, “What recorder should I buy?” will change. I’ll be saying, Get the Zoom Handy H1, people. Why? CD-stereo quality (and higher) recorder, recording in WAV format, will be available for 99 bucks. And it has one-button recording. Sweet. Very, very sweet.

I got off the fone a little while ago with a spokesperson for Samson’s Zoom line of products, confirming very important items about this recorder. The news is good, people. True one touch recording (press the button and the recording begins). And a zippier start-up time to power the unit on.

Why is this good news? A little background…..

That was then, this is now

Last month, when people would ask me, “What recorder should I buy?” I’d tell them about the Samson Zoom H2 Handy—Samson’s previous lowest-cost portable digital audio recorder.

But I’d also tell them about two of the most significant downsides to the Zoom H2—it takes 30 seconds for the unit to power on, and it has press-twice-to-start-recording. 30 seconds is an eternity, if you’re trying to quickly grab a recording of a conversation in progress. What’s so bad about press twice to start the recording? You press... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware
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From Digital Audio Recording to Audio CD: Part 3 - iTunes and CD burning

In the previous two how-to tutorials, we worked in Audacity with a digital audio file. Now we’ll export it from Audacity, import it into iTunes, and burn an audio CD with it.

Part 1:  Getting your audio into Audacity, whether by opening a digital audio recording made elsewhere, or using Audacity to record directly to your computer.
Part 2: Making minor edits to increase sound level.
Part 3:(You are here!) Exporting your recording to a file format that iTunes can use and creating an Audio CD.
Part 4: Dividing the audio into sections based on topics of discussion using Audacity’s Label Tracks.
(note: I may expand sections if any one of them gets to be too long. This section will be updated as I go.)

First, we work in Audacity to export the audio file to a WAV file (reminder from the little extra section in Part 1: WAV is an uncompressed file format. We likes that, we does!)

1. In Audacity, go to the File menu and choose Export…
   
   A Save dialog box appears.
2. Choose WAV from the file format pop-up menu at

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Software • How-To
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From Digital Audio Recording to Audio CD: Part 2 - Basic Audio Edits

The Audacity how-to continues!! This second part of the series involves working in Audacity to edit your audio file.

A major sound edit technique: Changing Amplification (making a quiet recording louder).

This multi-part how-to series focuses on using Audacity and iTunes — two freely available pieces of software — to work with your recording and then create an audio CD.

Part 1:  Getting your audio into Audacity, whether by opening a digital audio recording made elsewhere, or using Audacity to record directly to your computer.
Part 2: (You are here!)Making minor edits to increase sound level.
Part 3: Exporting your recording to a file format that iTunes can use and creating an Audio CD.
Part 4: Dividing the audio into sections based on topics of discussion using Audacity’s Label Tracks.
(note: I may expand sections if any one of them gets to be too long. This section will be updated as I go.)

Amplifying audio

Here is a stereo file recorded using my portable-studio-in-an-Otter Box (described here).

(click to enlarge)

Notice that the waveforms are small and don’t take up to the entire vertical space there. The recording quality is clean enough where I can amplify the audio.

(The goal in recording is to create a recording with all those sound... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Software • How-To
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From Digital Audio Recording to Audio CD: Part 1 - Audio into Audacity

It starts with the audio recording you made after you said, “Hi Mom, I want to interview you about your memories about Grandma and Grandpa.” It ends with your burned Audio CD.

This multi-part how-to series focuses on using Audacity and iTunes — two freely available pieces of software — to work with your recording and then create an audio CD.

Part 1: (You are here!) Getting your audio into Audacity, whether by opening a digital audio recording made elsewhere, or using Audacity to record directly to your computer.
Part 2: Making minor edits to increase sound level.
Part 3: Exporting your recording to a file format that iTunes can use and creating an Audio CD.
Part 4: Dividing the audio into sections based on topics of discussion using Audacity’s Label Tracks.
(note: I may expand sections if any one of them gets to be too long. This section will be updated as I go.)

Part 1: Audio in Audacity

I love Audacity. It’s open source software (freely available, or volunteer a payment to support the effort). It’s cross-platform; it works on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Screenshots shown here will be Mac based, but the instructions work for Windows and Linux, too. 

Do you need Audacity? Download Audacity from audacity.sourceforge.net. The page... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Software • How-To
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Not your father’s iPod… well, actually it is (a Walkman)

For Sony Walkman’s 30th anniversary, 13-year old Scott Campbell tries it for a week. Hilarious for us oldsters to see our old fave equipment through a young-person’s eyes.

My dad had told me it was the iPod of its day.
He had told me it was big, but I hadn’t realised he meant THAT big. It was the size of a small book.

Size? cumbersome. Handy belt-clip, but with that weight? (you hafta read the article to find out its effect for current 13 year olds).

When I wore it walking down the street or going into shops, I got strange looks, a mixture of surprise and curiosity, that made me a little embarrassed.

Though one teacher got nostalgic. Two tantalizing questions:

How long did it take for Campbell to figure out that there was a side B to this tape?

And how did he create his own impromptu “Shuffle” effect?

You hafta read the article to find out the answers.

A couple of pluses: two output jacks for sharing music with friends, and a power port to plug... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware • Digitality • Longevity • Memorabilia
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Countown to my Digital Audio Workshop

Am currently working hard to prepare for Friday’s “Birthing Digital” workshop at USC for the Southwest Oral History Association conference. What equipment am I bringing? Here’s a list.

YES, you can still sign up! (late fee waived!)

• Two Mac Laptops to demo and test all the direct-to-computer tools
• USB mic
• 2 USB Audio Interfaces: Edirol’s and M-Audio’s
• No wait, make that three. Creative Lab’s EEMU USB Audio Interface
• iPod Nano and Belkin TuneTalk, plus Belkin GoStudio. Or, everything you wanted to know about turning your iPod into an audio studio (or quick, stealthy recorder)
• M-Audio Microtrack II Portable Digital Recorder
• Samson’s Zoom Handy H2 Portable Digital Recorder*
• Marantz PMD 620 Portable Digital Recorder*
• LiveScribe Pulse Pen
• Possibly a Tascam portable recorder
 
• My own portable recording kit, as written about here

*A couple of these will be for sale, (very) gently used, in about 3 weeks’ time, once I’m finished with all my equipment tests

I expect to post lots of good info on audio recorders to this site in the weeks following this presentation.

Kevin Roderick at LA Observed mentioned the conference in this morning’s link roundup.

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware • Audio: Software
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Workshop in March on Portable Audio Recorders

In L.A. Friday, March 27, I’ll be presenting a workshop called for “Birthing Digital: Portable Digital Audio Recorders” for the Southwest Oral History Association’s Conference that afternoon. Location: USC. Register: Cost: SOHA members $35, Non-Members $50, Students $20. (+online registration fees). Short description: When an audio recording is initially stored as bits, bytes, ones and zeroes, it’s called “born digital.” The birthing begins with two people having a conversation. It ends with a digital audio file. This 3-hour workshop focuses on what happens in between. It’s part theory, part show and tell, and part practice using a glorious array of portable audio recorders.

Long Description:

The Theory:

An overview of the most common routes to go from spoken word to audio file. It will provide a framework to understand the myriad portable audio recorders available on the market. There will also be an introduction to some basics of audio, digital sampling, file formats, and concepts that underlie best recording practices.

The Show and Tell:

A look at many of the common portable audio recorders. Recorder types will include portable flash memory, portable internal micro-drives, direct-to-CD, recording pens, components that connect microphone directly to computer, and add-on components that extend functionality of common audio devices such as certain iPods. Attendees will be able to handle the recorders and compare them by size, weight, and inspect their controls.

Attendees who have worked with a given recorder will be encouraged to describe their experience using that recorder, including their learning curve, workflow, and any technical “gotchas.”

The... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware
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Restored Reel-to-Reel Tape Decks as Art.

A Gallery of Custom Tape Decks, wherein Jeff Jacobs restores old audio technology as art, via BoingBoing Gadgets. I love the meta-line here. Jacobs restores tape decks, which I think of as tools for restoring (and digitizing) audio. If tape decks are art, then there’s a ton of art at Richard Hess’s audio tape restoration studio! In decades to come, when those machines grow ever scarcer, the BoingBoing post points to another source to find those long-obsolete tape decks of the world: the personal collections of geeks.

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware • Longevity • Memorabilia • Restoration
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Who invented the electret (condenser) microphone?

Dr West, I presume. How do I know it? Kareem told me. That Kareem. The Basketball Kareem. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In his blog. No kidding. Quoth Kareem: “In 1962, Dr. [James] West and his partner Gerhard Sessler invented the electret microphone used in almost 90% of all microphones built today — over 1 billion a year.”

Electret (also called “condenser”) microphones are the type generally used in lavalier (or lapel) microphones. (Hello every TV anchor and guest in recent history. How do we hear you? It’s electret!) Electret mics are used in all mini-sized microphones.

I love how I came to learn of Dr. West, electret mic’s co-inventor. Though I have passing awareness (heh. pun unintended) of Pro Basketball, and have heard the name of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and I read a local (L.A.)  blog by Tony Pierce, who became the blog editor at the L.A. Times, and though I saw an announcement that he got Kareem to start blogging, I had no idea. I yawned, oh, it’s a sports blog. Whatever. Didn’t even click through. I had no idea that Mr. Abdul-Jabbar loves history, and has written history books. His blog bio states that he has authored “four bestselling history books intended to popularize the contributions of... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware
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Grammy goes to math-expert audio restorer

The recording was a bootlegged Woodie Guthrie live concert. 1949. Original format is something called a wire recording — which predates widespread use of the magnetic tape recorder. Getting a 50+ year old format to playback while making a recording off it was quite an effort. The Woody Guthrie Live Wire album won a Grammy was for “Best Historical Album” — the mathematics involved was to use ambient noise in the recording to re-set the tempo after portions were stretched and broken.

Shortly after September 11, 2001, a small, heavy package wrapped in brown paper arrived in the mail at the Woody Guthrie Archives in New York City. Inside was a mess of wires.

Guthrie’s daughter Nora eventually figured out that the suspicious package wasn’t a bomb, but rather a recording of her father on a device that predated magnetic tape. After a year of searching, she managed to track down someone with the equipment to play it.

What she finally heard was a bootleg recording of her father singing a live performance in 1949. It was the first time she had ever heard him perform in front of a live audience. He had developed Huntington’s chorea and stopped performing when she was a child, and she thought he had never been recorded live. [Read More] 

The Woodie Guthrie Foundation gives more background on the finding and restoration of the album.

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Restoration
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Marantz PMD620 Review

Oryoki’s First Impressions of the Marantz PMD620 (plus responses). It seems as though the preamps are better than expected.

The preamp specifications Marantz publishes for the PMD620 are similar to the specs of the PMD660 recorder.  This is not a good sign, because the PMD660 is (correctly) criticized as having relatively high self-noise and poor performance when recording loud material.

However, in my brief tests the PMD620 sounded better than the specs might suggest.

The built-in mics are adequate.  They have a somewhat better sound when you point the top of the mic at the subject, holding the recorder as if it were a TV remote control.  The sound is thinner and brighter when you point the front or back of the recorder at the subject (this points the top of the recorder and the mics at the ceiling).

[...] Compared to my Oade-modified PMD660, the PMD620 was a bit noisier, but sounded very good as long as the preamp gain was held a little below maximum.  Overall, I’d say... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware
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Library’s digital storytelling station

Covina library has digital storytelling station to collect stories about city’s 125-year history. Cool. It’s local, very local. I’ll go and see. It’s from a grant award. If it goes well, more of these may pop up in libraries in the State of California.

After winning a competitive grant from the California State Library this summer, the Covina Public Library received a “digital storytelling station,” a massive cabinet full of digital equipment valued at about $3,000.

The equipment, which includes a new Apple iMac computer, a digital camera, a printer, a scanner, a tape deck, a record player and a DVD player, was awarded to the library with the hope of documenting Covina’s history through the eyes of those who lived it.

“We are very excited about this great library program that uses cutting-edge information technology to explore and preserve California’s untold history,” said Susan Hildreth, state librarian of California. “We look forward to seeing the results of the pilot program, and we’ll consider expanding the initiative in 2008 and 2009.”

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Oral history in the news • Video
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A Grandfather’s War Stories

Kenneth Harbaugh reflects on stories his grandfather told him about World War 2. (links goes to page on NPR with link to 3+ minute audio file). Harbaugh describes being a young kid listening to the humorous twists to his grandfather’s stories (“War, for all I knew, was fun”), and then, as they both got older, the stories took on a different meaning.

When I was nine, my family visited the American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg, near where the Battle of the Bulge took place. I had never seen my grandfather cry before. But watching his face as “Taps” was played, I finally made the connection between the tales he told and the real cost of his war. I began to ask for the other  stories, as much as I knew they might terrify me.

Besides being just a good story about a grandson and grandfather, two other things about this audio essay struck me:

The stories change over time, as the listener grows old enough to hear the more difficult parts of someone’s life story. And, for all I know, the aging witness to past events wants to pass on “what really happened” before it’s too late. (This wasn’t explicit in this case, but has been noted in similar circumstances)

The sound of... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Personal History
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Marantz introduces new portable digital recorder: PMD620

Ontario, CA — Marantz unveiled its PMD620, a new handheld solid state SD-Flash memory recorder, due to ship in November for a street price of $399. [Click image to enlarge] UPDATE: It’s Shipping!!!

The Marantz PMD620 will record in WAV or MP3 file formats (16 or 24 bit resolution) from its two built-in omnidirectional mics or a plug-in external microphone. It can record in mono or stereo. It stores recordings on SD memory.

It is powered by two AA batteries (recorders that take standard batteries make better field recorders, since you can buy fresh batteries anywhere; custom batteries present more of a problem). The Marantz representative plugged something into its side which I assumed to be AC power, but I didn’t ask.

I did plug in my own headphones and external microphone to try it out. Alas for the noisy trade show room; I couldn’t really hear the sound quality (this was true for other “let me try it out” show floor tests).

One thing the PMD620 offers that none of the competing hand-held recorders do is built-in speakers.

At first glance, the PMD620... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware
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A PodCamp SoCal report

Audio gadgets, workflows, meeting people, and stories. PodcampSoCal was a good day yesterday. I was expecting to have different breakout regions in the room, but we all followed a single track together as one room. I saw several Zoom Handy H2s set up on small tripods, recording the proceedings. And one or two Zoom H4, too. Looks like I’ll be turning from The War and what’s your story to an audio geek gadget maven for the next day or so. The agenda was full and continuous I didn’t get a chance to ask people what their experience was like using their various recorders. But I’ll be at the show Friday and Saturday, so I hope to do that then.

Oh, and family stories did come up; I managed to get myself on the agenda at day’s end and spoke of the Veterans History Project. One guy, Dan Bach (he produces a math show and wore a tee shirt filled with lovely graphic symbolic goodness related to prime numbers), mentioned his dad during the Q & A: A WWII vet, a prisoner of war who received his purple heart 60-some years later. Perhaps I heard about him in the news? Just looked it up, and here’s the story of Leo Bach. He was at Pearl Harbor the day it was bombed, and he was shot down over Germany. I told him, you gotta interview your dad; this field kit has your name on it (I only had a handful of Veteran History Project field kits).

Some other good questions that came in… do you stop the recording if the interviewee gets... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware • Interviewing • Veterans History Project
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