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7 comments

The Importance of Good Hardware

2011
06.21

Tuesday marked the first time anyone can recall there being a Pagan Press Conference, a press conference specifically for Pagan media. I, along with Rev. Don Lewis of the Pagans Tonight show, Iris Firemoon of The Firefly Chronicles, Cara Shultz of PNC Minnesota, and Star Foster of Patheos.com were present for the press conference recording with video and audio.

The Wild Hunt posted a post-produced version of Star Foster’s audio today, you can take a listen at:

http://www.archive.org/details/PatrickMccollumQaAtPaganSpiritGathering2011

I have posted a version of the separate audio I recorded using a different recording device at:

http://www.archive.org/download/PaganPeople/PatrickPressConference.mp3

While Jason invested more post-production effort, there are still screeches in the audio sounding like someone tuning to a different station on an old-time AM radio. My audio, despite no post-production other than noise removal, lacks those artifacts.

Why the difference? Different portable audio recorders have different microphones (unidirectional vs. omnidirectional – a summary on this topic is available at this third party website). However, an important factor is the ability of a recorder to reduce background noise. Many portable recorders tend to be telescoping or omnidirectional, thus being terrible because they pickup all background sound. While that is mere microphone design, many newer recorders have built-in noise reduction technologies that make a difference, as illustrated in the above audio. Just something to keep in mind when you want to move to the next latest and greatest recorder for your show.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 at 5:40 pm and is filed under Podcasting Tips and Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • PagansTonight

    This is terrific, and yes, I believe this is the first all Pagan Press conference. I was the first Pagan reporter to get press credentials at the Parliament of the World Religions, and in 21 years of Pagan Journalism, I never saw a press conference for the Pagan Press. So this is one to mark in the history books.

  • EdthePagan

    This is Ed replying from Pagans Tonight!

  • Mr. Foutch

    Heavy, Man

  • Ananta Androscoggin

    And don’t forget to isolate mics from vibrations such as finger tapping, table thumping, dragging things across the surface the mic stand it on.

    One good thing for that is one of those older mouse pads, the thick and spongy kind. Otherwise, perhaps one of the heavy-weight roll-up pads for putting under a sleeping bag on the ground, cut into pieces for carrying in the mic kit.

  • http://PaganCenteredPodcast.com Dave of Pagan Centered Podcast

    Yeah, Patrick can get… passionate. Tripods even for audio recorders from now on :D .

    Spongy mouse pads trick though is absolutely valid, but with this type of table thumping, wouldn’t do much.

  • Ananta Androscoggin

    Unfortunately, some podcasts sound like someone is continuously fondling the mic-stand, endlessly causing distracting noise, and for those with hearing difficulties, sometimes making the speech incomprehensible.

    And please, new podcasters, learn the difference between actual Feedback, and Latency.

  • Ananta Androscoggin

    Unfortunately, some podcasts sound like someone is continuously fondling the mic-stand, endlessly causing distracting noise, and for those with hearing difficulties, sometimes making the speech incomprehensible.

    And please, new podcasters, learn the difference between actual Feedback, and Latency.