George's Hearing Test Results Speak for Themselves

Hundreds of voice actors trust my hearing to ensure that they are sending out the best audio quality possible. With this great resonsibility I take the quality of my hearing very seriously.  Each year I have my hearing tested by the House Ear Institute.  Here are the results from the latest exam, just click the document to enlarge it (no, it's not a seeing test).   Basically, it says my hearing is average or better for men my age across the entire spectrum.

Beau Weaver reviews the Tascam iM2 mic for iOS devices

Hello from Nerdville;

Finally a super portable microphone for iOS that, with some care, and in a decent sonic environment can produce voice tracks on your iPhone or iPad that are actually air-able.  In fact, if you take time to listen to my line by line comparison audio file I have posted here, you will be pretty damn impressed.  You can hear the difference, but by the time they finish with post, it will be more than adequate.

The mic is the Tascam iM2 for iOS. It's about 80 bucks!  It connects via the 30 pin connector.

Caution: there is another Tascam product that you do not want (the Tascam iXZ) an iOS audio interface with XLR and phantom power..... but sends analog audio through the 1/8th inch mic/headphone port.  Bad bad bad!  That mic port has a radical "telephone filter" eq baked in, so there is no way to get broadcast quality audio through it.  No no no, fluffy.  You want the Tascam iM2!

NOTE:  George tested the iXZ with an iPod Touch with good results, but it's lousy with the iPhone. 

The audio app you use to record is TwistedWave Mobile for iOS.  

It makes rough editing quite easy, and it will export to Dropbox, memorized FTP folders, and, using a nifty workaround, allows you to send a link to an .mp3 file on Twisted Waves webserver.   Apple will not allow native export of .mp3 due to their contracts with record companies, and their general control-freak nature!

So, Twisted Wave allows you to send an uncompressed file up to their server, and creates an email with the link from which your client can download the .mp3.   However, remember, uncompressed audiofiles are huge......so, you will want to upload only the buy takes, or plan to sit there forever, especially on a 3G connection.  Hopefully, you have found a Starbucks.   I think a better option is using AAC files...which are better quality than .mp3........and most digital audio workstations will read them.  Email or FTP.

I have posted a line by line comparison audio file of a couple of scripts, recorded simultaneously in the studio on the 416 and the Tascam.  I compare my home studio with the 416 to the Tascam iM2, and the built in iphone mic.  I did no processing, except clipping out breaths.  

                                        Check out this WAV file (to download to your desktop)

                                        OR this MP3  (this one will stream in your browser)

After the line by line comparision, you will hear the complete reads all the way through.....  1:   416  2:   Tascam iM2  3:   iphone built in mic.    I am favorably impressed.

I set the volume almost wide open......with the limiter on the iM2 switched off.  I worked it about 5 inches away to the side, at about a 75 degree angle, to minimize plosives and wind.   I have ordered an extension cable, so that I will be able to read a script off the iPhone while recording.

You really  have to be careful to hold the mic very still....it is very sensitive to movement and wind.  Note: switch the iphone to "airplane mode" or you may pick up some RF noise, and be disturbed by notifications.   

In either case, iPhone or iPad, you can start recording and multi-task.......that is, switch to the email client.....by double clicking the home button, and selecting the email icon.  Twisted Wave will continue recording in the background with no problem, and will indicate this by the red bar notification at the top of the screen.  You then return to TW  at the end of your read by double clicking on the home button and selecting the TW icon.

You will not want to try to narrate a documentary with this, but certainly for tags and short promos.......it's not bad at all.  And it may save your client's bacon when you are nowhere near a studio and they have an emergency.   I had equally good results on the original iPad.

There are a couple of other interfaces in the pipeline that will allow us to use the 416 in the field with iOS ......but the ship dates keep getting pushed back. 

In the meantime, for 80 bucks, and something that is truly pocketable, this is not bad at all.

As always, 

Beauregard

 

Update on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 10:42PM by George

Hey:  

Here is a real world test of the Tascam mic on the iPhone:

So, Fox Chicago affiliate has an unschedule promo update that I did not know was coming......I am down in Ojai shopping, 30 minutes away from studio...and they need it now.  

So I hop in the car and record the topical promo.  I send it to them using TwistedWave's cloud based mp3 converter, which renders a email link to the mp3 file.  

The file I have posted here is the audio I recorded on the iPhone, with no processing, except for cleaning up breaths.  The second take is in the home studio with the 416.  

 Beau_WFLD_Tascam-416-compare.mp3

The .mp3 from the TW server is only 96 kbps......and bear in mind, as I made THIS mp3, that's another trip through the MPEG meat grinder........You will hear a little bit of distortion from proximity on the iPhone recording.....that will improve with another inch of distance.....though you lose a little low end when you move away.........but for a topical promo in a pinch....it is completely acceptable.

Get the extension cord, so you can read the script off the iPhone as you record.

Beauregard

ISDN ordering hell, courtesy of Verizon

In light of my last article about ISDN going down hill, I thought I should support it with further evidence and experience.  

Howard Parker (I call him Client Zero, my first voice over studio client), had me design him his dream studio in his Mother's townhome after she tragically succombed to cancer this year.  He was incredibly fortunate that Verizon brought FiOS to his neighborhood at the same time, a huge blessing and cost savings over his dual T1 lines at his previous residence.  The build went great, and the results are fantastic, but for one last hurdle... the ISDN.  

EdNet books the Verizon installer for December 12th from 1-5PM, and I'm there.  I work on whatever I can while I wait for the guy, but I can't leave to remove the equipment from Howard's old studio for fear that I might miss the tech's arrival.  Unless you have Verizon mobile phone service, you can't receive even a text message at Howard's old place, so I wouldn't know if they guy tried to contact me.  5PM comes and goes, and no technician.  EdNet calls Verizon, but their office is already closed.

I did book the following day as a contigency, darn glad I did.  The installer was confirmed for Tuesday from 1-5PM.  At Noon I get a call from my builder James Michael telling me the Verizon tech was already there.  By some stroke of luck JM was at the location when the tech arrived, as he was supposed to be at another location.  What transpired next was just pitiful...

You know things are going down-hill when the Verizon phone technician, who admitted he's worked for them for 35 years, isn't permitted to have a power drill in his truck.  They let him bring a Yankee hand drill to use, that's all.  I mean, seriously?  That ain't gonna cut it when you have to drill through 12+ inches of studio wall, insulation, and stucco.  JM had to go out and buy a long drill bit and handle the hole for the wire himself, and I am glad he was there to do it in the end because I don't want a single mistake when a hole needs to penetrate a very expensive sound isolating wall and side of a custom built cabinet.  

The techician moped around for a few hours waiting for the home office to switch things on.  I asked him what was the hold up and he said they didn't "build out" the ISDN network before he arrived, as they are required to do.  Someone "had a question" and rather than seek out the answer, just sat on their thumbs and held up the job.  Again, 5PM came and went, and we were left with a non-functioning ISDN connection.  I can't go back today, but I did leave everything connecting so if the SPIDS we were given are actually correct (which there is no guarantee), everything should just work when they push the right buttons.  

So, even with the proper planning, a respected ISDN provider handling the order (at great cost, mind you), an experienced technician, my builder, and myself involved, things still didn't go well.  ISDN IS DEAD, and it's beginning to smell.  OK, not dead, but dying...

iPhone and Pro Tools: A Bad Combo

My readers and clients know how I feel about Pro Tools in the context of a voiceover actor's home studio.  However, some of us still use Pro Tools because we do production and find it the best tool for the job.  Others producing audio books find it's the best workflow for them.  Whatever the case, if you use Pro Tools on your workstation, I don't recommend connecting an iPhone to it.  

Many who have used Pro Tools for a while have experienced the dread after Mac OS has automatically updated and created problems.  It's not a situation anyone wants to have.  You walk into your studio in the morning, click the Pro Tools icon, and nothing happens.  Pro Tools is extremely sensitive to the version of Mac OS running on your system.  Unfortunately, so are iOS devices.  

If you like to have the latest and greatest iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch device or iOS version from Apple, you'll find yourself in a situation where you need to upgrade several elements of your system to handle them.  First you'll need to run the latest iTunes version available.  This may require that you upgrade the OS to handle that request, which puts you in a bad situation.  This also holds true for Apple's latest creation, iCloud.

iCloud attempts to keep all of your documents in sync between your different Macs and iOS devices.  Like everything new that comes from Apple, they require that ALL of your devices have the latest OS running on them.  iCloud seems great in concept, but it is a closed system that has many limitations, especially if you have any devices you want to sync that are not from Apple.  It's sure to get better, but for now it's frustratingly simplified (in my opinion).  

Consider a more flexible system such as Sugarsync, which I've used very successfully for over three years to keep my entire business in sync.   I've yet to have it interfere with any software I use, and it works on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, and others.  You can choose any folders on any of your systems you want to sync or share with friends or coworkers, which is very handy if you have an assistant handling some of your tasks!

George Whittam guests on This Week in Radio Tech

THANKS to Kirk Harnack for inviting me on!

It was an honor to be on a TWIT.TV webcast.

More info about TWiRT