Forget about its brand-new engine, 64-bit architecture, and expanded metering. The most important improvement I see in the palindromic version 11 of Pro Tools is that with this update, the renowned audio editing tool from Avid will finally cure its Achilles’ heel. I am talking... ]]> 2013-04-11T20:32:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/bjohnson/story/nab-2013-tascam-dr-60d-dslr-audio-recorder http://provideocoalition.com/bjohnson/story/nab-2013-tascam-dr-60d-dslr-audio-recorder#When:02:25:00Z Most DSLRs have dismal audio sections.  Tascam has a cost-effective solution to this issue.

(Music cue:  Also Sprach Zarathustra) (Lights come up on a monolith, perfectly rectangular and black as death)

OK, maybe I’m being a bit melodramatic.   However, it is hard to have a first look at the Blackmagic Design Hyperdeck Shuttle and not instantly... ]]> 2013-03-12T17:59:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/ssimmons/story/woowave-the-automated-syncing-software-with-the-funny-name http://provideocoalition.com/ssimmons/story/woowave-the-automated-syncing-software-with-the-funny-name#When:12:52:00Z

I’ve made no secret of my love for PluralEyes, the auto-syncing tool that came to market a few years ago. It has saved me countless hours in the edit suite doing that most menial of tasks: syncing. A competitor popped up a while back (not counting Final Cut Pro X’s built-in option) called WooWave. It’s certainly a quirky name that fits this quirky tool. But the most important question is this: how well does WooWave sync? I put it through my usual battery of syncing tests to find out. The results weren’t so great.

When I published two separate Open Letters to Apple less than two weeks ago (links ahead), I didn’t expect to be publishing a third to the same company so soon. With the “update” to iTunes 11.02, Apple has just downgraded a function in the iTunes which I have... ]]> 2013-03-01T22:50:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/awilt/story/hpa-tech-retreat-day-21 http://provideocoalition.com/awilt/story/hpa-tech-retreat-day-21#When:06:39:00Z

The Tech Retreat is an annual four-day conference (plus Monday bonus session) for HD / Video / cinema geeks, sponsored by the Hollywood Post Alliance. Day 2 covered design considerations for HDR displays, ATSC 3.0 and the future of TV, broadcasters' concerns, mobile DTV, 8K UHDTV, and... ]]> 2013-02-21T06:39:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/awilt/story/hpa-tech-retreat-day-1-super-sized-session-more-bigger-but-better http://provideocoalition.com/awilt/story/hpa-tech-retreat-day-1-super-sized-session-more-bigger-but-better#When:05:37:00Z

The Tech Retreat is an annual four-day conference (plus Monday bonus session) for HD / Video / cinema geeks, sponsored by the Hollywood Post Alliance. The program for this year's show is online at http://www.hpaonline.com/2013-program and the opening "Super-sized Session" was on "More,... ]]> 2013-02-20T05:37:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/mspencer/story/exporting-audio-components-and-roles-in-final-cut-pro-x http://provideocoalition.com/mspencer/story/exporting-audio-components-and-roles-in-final-cut-pro-x#When:14:04:00Z

Since I published the article 11 things I love about Vimeo Pro (Pro Video Coalition, November 2012), I have had at least two pending articles about Vimeo’s general service and their upcoming Pay-Per-Vew service, about which I wrote briefly in December. It has... ]]> 2013-01-11T20:16:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/atepper/story/review-irig-pre-xlr-mic-preamp-for-ipad-iphone-ipod-touch http://provideocoalition.com/atepper/story/review-irig-pre-xlr-mic-preamp-for-ipad-iphone-ipod-touch#When:14:30:00Z

Back in 2009, I published an article called How to connect your pro XLR microphone to your iPhone. At that time, it required a special cable adapter that I had to order from the Netherlands and shipped to the USA, and that was a passive device which depended entirely upon the iPhone’s own internal preamp. At that time, it cost €30.28 (about US$39.74) including freight to Miami. Now a new solution has arrived, and it is called the iRig Pre. For approximately the same price, the iRig Pre pre-amplifies the mic signal for better performance, and also offers optional phantom power in case you want to use a condenser microphone.

As we mentioned recently, we've been updating our After Effects Apprentice video courses to reflect changes in the third edition of the book. One shortcoming of previous editions of the book that we corrected with this version is to give audio better coverage, including a new exercise on mixing music and dialog together. In this movie, we demonstrate spotting individual phrases in dialog that we might want to highlight or base our animation around, and mark them including noting their duration (in contrast to spotting music, where we tend to mark just percussive instances in time). 

After a very long wait and multiple requests of the developer, version 1.2 of FiLMiC Pro 2 for certain iOS devices can finally record correct 48 kHz audio! For those unfamiliar, FiLMiC Pro 2 is the relatively new incarnation of the original iOS app called FiLMiC Pro, and is offered separately for US$4.99 (or a similar amount in your region). Unlike the original version, FiLMiC Pro 2 is only compatible with later iOS devices which feature a faster processor. Ahead in this article you’ll see which exact models iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches are compatible, and some changes I’d still like made in the audio portion of the app.

Head mounted microphones have specific virtues, including isolation, consistent distance between mouth and element, elimination of the cost & complexity of mounting gear, and -in some cases- built-in listening devices. I have been anxious to compare the BPHS1 broadcast headset with the AT2005USB hybrid mic, which I’ve already covered in three articles in ProVideo Coalition magazine, and in one ebook which is available in two languages. Thankfully, Audio Technica obliged my request and sent me a review unit of the BPHS1, so ahead you’ll find my comments on its construction, specs, applications, and cost analysis, followed by recordings, subjective analysis, and conclusions.

Mikey Digital on an iPhone 4S running Voice Memo.

Blue Microphones recently started shipping the Mikey Digital, an add-on stereo mike for iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2, iPad 3, and iPod touch 4G (iOS 6 only), and Blue offered to lend me one for review. I'd been intrigued by earlier, analog Blue Mikeys at trade shows, so I jumped at the chance to look at—and listen to—this digital descendant. ]]> 2012-11-01T20:00:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/atepper/story/you_can_hear_tepper_on_emnosillacast_em_episode_384 http://provideocoalition.com/atepper/story/you_can_hear_tepper_on_emnosillacast_em_episode_384#When:21:33:00Z

Last week I was happily surprised when Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast invited me to participate in her episode 384. The tagline of the NosillaCast describes the program as being: “a tech geek podcast with an ever so slight Macintosh bias”. Allison asked me to help her answer a question from one of her listeners about microphones, specifically a situation where it is necessary to isolate from some strong background noise. Allison remembered that this is one of several points I covered in my most recent book, Hybrid USB/XLR microphones: the missing workflow for independent voice talent and podcasters. If you’re not already subscribed to the NosillaCast, listen to episode 384 at the following link.

Back in July, I published JuicedLink video illustrates audio quality with DSLRs via RiggyAssist versus an H4n recorder. After that, I asked Robert Rozak from JuicedLink to repeat his test using a dynamic microphone, since that way both preamps (the one in the H4n and the one in the Riggy-Assist from JuicedLink would need to work harder, since they’d receive a lower level from their respective mic. Fortunately, he did, and in August I published JuicedLink accepts our dynamic microphone challenge; re-does comparison test. Now Robert has taken our request even further, to a full range of tests, which include comparisons with equipment from Beachtek, Edirol, Sound Devices, Tascam, and Zoom.

SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 5 is not only amazing soundtrack scoring software, but also a collection of royalty-free music clips that are fully customizable, with features like Mood Mapping and Timing Control. You can easily pull out select instruments and "write" a complete score of any length you wish. With the Sonicfire Pro 5 software and the Premiere Pro or After Effects plug-ins (CS5 and above), you can streamline this workflow with simple export functions and double-clicking the audio files right inside your timeline. ]]> 2012-08-25T05:41:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/atepper/story/juicedlink_video_illustrates_audio_quality_with_dslrs_via_riggyassist_versu http://provideocoalition.com/atepper/story/juicedlink_video_illustrates_audio_quality_with_dslrs_via_riggyassist_versu#When:06:27:00Z

JuicedLink just released a new video to illustrate the quality of an audio recording to a DSLR camera (the Canon 60D) via JuicedLink’s own Riggy-Assist low-noise preamp versus the same signal recorded on the popular H4n audio recorder. The same microphone was used in both cases. Ahead you’ll see the video, hear the audio, and discover why I am inviting JuicedLink to create a slightly different comparison for us.

Several times a month, I am inspired to write and publish an article about one of my varied interests. This happens less frequently with books that I write and publish, but it does happen. In this case, it has to do with a need I’ve seen for quite a while among independent voice talent and podcasters who generally work from home or an office (not from a recording studio). Often many professional voice talent just need to record audio (not to edit it), and are confused about what microphone to get, what non-editing audio recording app to use to record uncompressed AIFF or WAVE, and when (and how) to record either 44.1 or 48 kHz. So I wrote an ebook in two languages, with photos and appropriate screen shots for each language.