Tascam iM2 iPhone Recorder

There are a lot of cool gadgets coming out right now and we’re usually pretty selective with the “look at this” type of posts here on PCN but since I’ve covered using an iPhone as an audio recorder in the past I thought this would be of interest to our readers.

The Tascam iM2 attaches to an IOS device (iPhone or iPad) giving you a serious recording tool. I really like the idea of carrying a microphone to use with my iPhone around instead of another full sized electronic device in my laptop bag. Here’s a video from Tascam:
… Continue Reading

Audiophile Gear for Photographers

Photographers are often fetishists when it comes to gear and gadgets. I know I am. I think it stems from the fact that we rely on machinery as part of our creative process and we have to be familiar with the inner workings of these machines for our lively hood, especially now that our cameras are delicate electronic instruments. I think the following soldiers chant from Full Metal Jacket sums up our relationship with our gear nicely:

This is my rifle camera. There are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle camera is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my rifle camera is useless. Without my rifle camera I am useless. I must fire my rifle camera true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy competition…

As a result of this symbiotic relationship with gear, our brains have become hard wired with an affinity and understanding of mechanical gear and electronic gadgets. The fact that photographers are primarily Mac users supports my fetishists theory. We like high style with great design that inspires us which includes iDevices loaded with shoot playlists and recreational soundtracks. … Continue Reading

DSLR Audio Master Class With Ric Viers

Tonight come and learn the fundamentals of sound recording for DSLR video and take your work to the next level. Suitable for DSLR film makers from beginner to advanced levels, the DSLR Audio Master Class hosted by Ric Viers, author of The Sound Effects Bible, will show you all of the tips and techniques to record audio to match your footage quality, with solutions to suit all budgets. This is the first DSLR Audio Master Class of its kind – so register now to secure your place at this exclusive Samy’s LA event.

This workshop is from 7-9PM tonight Thursday August 11 at the Samy’s Camera Fairfax location. It costs $50 but I will comp any PCN readers in for free if you email me to sign up today.

For a preview of Rick Viers teaching, check out the Røde University video learning center here or watch the video below. … Continue Reading

DSLR Audio Workshop in LA With Zoom H4N

I’ll be hosting a Audio for DSLR workshop at Samy’s Camera in LA on March 5th with Jeremy Ian Thomas. If you’re a long time reader you will recognize Jeremy’s name because I hire him to teach when ever I have an opportunity. He is a very engaging teacher and experienced Indie filmmaker who also works as a colorist/editor on big Hollywood projects. The last time he taught this audio workshop we had about 70 people and it was very well reviewed.

What was pretty cool is that Jeremy Thomas, the tutor, brought in one of his actors and shot a monologue right in front of the whole class and then showed step by step how the whole process goes, from ingestion, transcoding, importing to FCP and synching with Plural Eyes. Definitely an exciting, explicit and very effective way to teach, that the crowd reacted really well to!

All attendees present will be entered into a raffle to win a Zoom Q3HD video recorder. The workshop is $50 and takes place at the Samy’s Fairfax EDU building (next to the store) from 10AM-1PM.

Click here for more information and to register.

Phiaton PS 320 Dual Purpose Headphones

Following last weeks iPhone as audio recorder post, I’d like to talk about headphones that perform double duty for both monitoring and listening to music. Professional sound mixers need to hear all tracks clearly and evenly so they can have baseline for their recordings that can play on the widest range of speakers and audio systems. This includes everything from portable cell phone speakers to high end audiophile home theater systems. The headphones they use are very flat and linearized so as to not color the sound being mixed. In the photography world, it is like editing all your raw images with the tone curve set to linear. The image files will be flat looking with very little contrast and that’s what music sounds like from traditional monitoring headphones. … Continue Reading