The two hardware options considered are the Blue Mikey and the Alesis Pro Track, which I reviewed last year.

I don't think I could have written a better article myself, so that's why I am sharing this one in my blog.

We are close to this being a viable option, but I don't think we're quite there yet. One important problem with the concept of something like Source Connect on the iPhone is the fact that many audio interfaces require you turn off the network connection to keep the radio from interfering and making nasty noise on the recording.  Maybe the iPad will become the weapon of choice, but it's way too early to tell.

I happen to use Apple iCal, but in actuality Google Calendar is what powers my scheduling.  iCal just connects to Google through its "Accounts" feature, which can connect to any online calendar system that supports the CalDAV protocol.  The beauty of using Google Calendar is it can connect to so many different services, and it syncs flawlessly with my Blackberry over the T-Mobile's data network.  I don't have to wait until I get home to plug my USB cable in to get calendar updates.  I do a similar procedure for all of my contacts in Apple Address Book, as well. 

OK, getting back on topic, what Tungle does is fascilitate the coordination of meetings between two or more people.  You can establish the meeting, or any one else who has access to your Tungle.me link.  Ours is tungle.me/vostudiotech, go ahead and take a peek.  The user can propose multiple dates and times, invite multiple attendees, set the duration of the meeting, topic, and so on.  Then, Tungle sends an email to the list and invites the others to chime in with their prefered meeting time.  Once the time is settled, Tungle automatically places the meeting into the calendar that's synced to it, and notifies the attendees. 

When you setup Tungle, you establish what default openings you want to make available each day of the week.  If you place something in your Google Calendar, Tungle knows and makes that time unavailable for meeting.  Tungle makes it impossible to double-book anything, and eliminates what can seem like endless back-and-forth emails to lock down a schedule.  We're putting it to the test right now, and I can say that so far it has worked flawlessly!  

Bargains that impress me with great sound quality:

Sennheiser HD201- Available for under $20 from Amazon, I find these comfortable with really good fidelity.  Featuring a circumaural, sealed design, they reduce outside noise, create minimal bleed into a mic, and don't press on my pinna, which can really hurt after awhile.  They aren't very bass heavy, but for monitoring voice-over recordings that is a good thing.  They don't get terribly loud with an iPod, but I am far from deaf so that's fine, too. 

Sennheiser PX100- While they look like your classic cheap "walkman" headphones, looks are deceiving.  These $50 beauties (or less) sound shockingly great.  They come folded in a nice hardcase with wire caddy to keep everything well protected in your laptop bag.  They are soon to be replaced by the PX100-II's, so you might find some deals.  Then again, they were so well loved it could be hard to even find them for sale at all.

Koss PortaPro- Koss is unique in the business with a lifetime warranty on all of their headphones, and these you'll want to keep around for a long time.  With sound very similar to the PX100's, and a unique headband with adjustments for the amount of tension on the earpads, the Porta Pro has stood the test of time.  They fold down pretty small and slip into a small satchel.  They sell for $50 on the Koss website and can be found for much less.  Get spare ear pads for them if you use them a lot, they eventually fall apart. 

Have a pair of headphones you just can't live without?  Leave a comment and share!

Getting a hearing test from House Ear Institute

The tests are so popular among the attendees that you must arrive first thing in the morning to sign up on the list and book a time slot, or you'll miss out.  I was there on the last day of the show and amazingly only needed to wait an hour for my slot.  You fill out some info and hand it to the test administrator, take a seat, and strap on some pretty utilitarian headphones.  They squeeze tight against your ears and are just bareable for the lenght of time it takes to complete the test, which in my case was less than 10 minutes. 

When all are finished their tests, the door opens and you return to the show flow to await the results.  I spoke to a few guys nearby and share a bit about what we expect to discover.  In five minutes the results are prepared and handed out to the subjects.  I was expecting pretty good results since my previous exam showed I was on par or better for men my age.  This test's results were consistant with my expectations, if not better. 

So, here's the results for your own examination.

What they show is that my left ear has a bit of loss at 500 hz, but left and right ears have 5dB or less of hearing loss across the test spectrum from 1khz to 8Khz.  This is as good or better than average for my age.  The fellow standing next to me, on the other hand, and huge dip in his hearing at 6khz, down to 30dB.  This is all to common when monitoring music or any kind of audio at too loud a volume for extended periods.  Turned out he is a production sound mixer and works in loud environments, so no big surprise there.

Moral of the story?  Keep your headphone volume as low as you can throughout your workday.  If you use speakers, the SPL (sound pressure level) should be under 85 dB at your listening position.  How do you find out what SPL you're monitoring?  Why with an SPL meter, like this one.   



For this test each mic was connected to the same channel of a Presonus M80 preamp, with 80 Hz roll-off engaged, positioned as close to the same as possible, with the same source (me, reading badly).  The U87's switches set to no bass roll-off or pad, and capsule in cardioid mode. 

Give the two a listen and you be the judge:

Neumann U87 voice-over recording test

MXL Harlan Hogan VO: 1-A voice-over recording test

While the U87 has that smooth, almost dull top end in comparison, the VO: 1-A's response is almost identical to my ear across nearly the entire frequency spectrum.  The VO: 1-A is slightly hyped at the top, but not overly so, and sounds very even and natural all the way down. 

The physical construction of the microphone is quite impressive, and consisent with the quality we've come to expect from MXL, which continues to give their German counterparts a run for their money.  Why else would Neumann release cheaper mics in their product line than ever?   The shockmount is a common design that is functional and easy to install and remove.  Harlan even supplies you with replacement elastic, who else does that??  If you don't care for the shockmount, a standard rigid mount also comes in the package. 

We're so impressed with VO-1a that we'll begin bundling it in our "The Audition" package beginning in 2010.  Coupled with the MicPort Pro, the two work wonderfully together either as a budget home studio setup, or as a travel companion for the working voice actor.  If you just gotta get one, Harlan's ready to ship them at his Voice-over Essentials shop. 

We've also got some new products available and a new package called "The Audition", making it easier than ever to get started with your home voiceover studio. 

One walking 24 block round trip later to a little cell phone shop straight outa Mayberry and I had my charger.  The shop owner was gracious enough to let me sit there and charge my phone for 30 minutes until it would power on again, just to be sure it was still functioning.  I didn't want to be late to the ship so I even walked past the town's brewery without a stop.  Never let a Blackberry run completely dead, if you can avoid it! 

Dinner that night was cleverly designed to give each student a chance to chat with coach.  I was the honorary coach at my table, representing the tecnical side of voiceover.  Fortunately we talked about much more than just tech, or it would have been one drab dinner.  Then off to an evening of music in the Spinnaker lounge (not too late, I had to be up early on Wednesday). 

Day 3 was the first day of VoiceLympics workshops, and it was a busy one for me.  In the hour before the three meeting rooms filled with eager students I had to setup recording equipment and train the operators how to run their systems.  I am glad I kept it simple as possible, equiping the three Mac Powerbooks supplied by Out Of Hear with TwistedWave recording software.  It only took a few minutes of instruction to get operator up to speed.  Other equipment in use included the CEntrance MicPort Pro for Bob Bergen's full day animation class, an Apogee Duet for Deb Munro and Julie Williams' classes, and a Mackie 1202 mixer and Aphex Headpod with Sony MDR-7506 headphones for Joyce Castellano's promo class.  Microphones included Sennheiser 416's, an Audio Technica 3035 and an MXL1006. 

I spent much of the day bouncing from room to room, answering questions and checking on the operators to ensure everyone was comfortable with their systems.  I logged onto the Internet periodically to check email while staying close by, always within earshot in case someone needed assistance.  Doug DeNance handled recording Julie's workshop nicely, but I took over for Deb's since Doug went on to work with Joyce after lunch.  We all worked together harmoneously, and it went smoother than I could imagine. 

After all of the classes wrapped up at 5PM, my next big task was to make sure each student had copies of their mic work transfered to flash drives.  With a nice break for dinner, Doug hung out with me until the task was finished after 9PM.  I packed up all the gear, and I called a porter to help me haul all the equipment back to my stateroom.  No more dragging gear case saround the ship for me!  We closed out the night hanging out in the club Bliss, listening to kareoke performances by our shipmates. 

Day 4 was our next day at port, this time in San Francisco.  Rather than just taking the day to relax aboard the ship I decided I'd take advantage of a chance to meet JS Gilbert and get a little walking tour of the area, including an amazing recording studio called Polarity Post. The facility was impeccably designed and maintained, with incredible attention to detail everywhere you looked.  Cheif Engineer Roger Wiersema graciously showed our group of 12 around and engineer Eduardo Mendoza demonstrated Studio 5 to us.  I enjoyed pointing out some of the finer details of the room that were easy to miss but contribute greatly to the sound quality of the studio. 

After a walk around Chinatown and a swing by Fisherman's Wharf to drop a few of our out of CA visitors, I headed back to the ship for a meeting with Julie Williams.  We discussed how we might work together in the future over a glass of wine while sitting on her balcony.  She hooked me into writing for her Voiceover Insider monthly e-publication, which I gladly took on.  Make sure you subscribe and read my first contribution in the October issue.

John Taylor and I did a test of Source Connect in our stateroom that evening after we were well out to sea.

Take a look at this video clip for the surprising results!

Stay tuned for the wrap-up...

In two days, we:

1- Went to a street fair

2- Visited Powells books downtown, largest bookstore complex in the country

3- Rode bicycles to the First Anual Biketobeerfest at Hopworks Urban Organic Brewery

4- Hiked around several spectacular water falls

5- Relaxed in a large outdoor hottub at Kennedy School

6- Had drinks in an old boiler room

I've had a wonderful time and will miss my new friends here.  I could honestly say I could enjoy living here.

But not moving anywhere anytime soon, I promise!