Creamy Radio Audio

Posted in Caviar sound on a cat food budget

Tagged mumble, opus

Funny audio trick for video

Posted on May 27, 2013 | Leave a comment

This is an outtake / sound check of a video interview I did for a friend’s documentary film. I was going to actually use my good mic for the interview, but it didn’t sound right plugged into the camera. But I liked the look, so I clipped my lavaliere mic on the back of the mic out of frame of the camera and plugged that into the camera, but pretended to talk into the radio mic:

worms!

–Michael W. Dean

Posted in Microphones

Photos of the room I sound conditioned in Los Angeles

Posted on May 25, 2013 | Leave a comment

Today on the Freedom Feens Neema and I talked about the difference between sound conditioning and sound proofing. I mentioned that I had done both to a room in our old house in Los Angeles, using carpet remnants and plywood. (This is an old post, from 2007. Look at little baby Fuzzy cat!)

This room got pretty hot from all the carpet, but it sounded good to record in.

Posted in Caviar sound on a cat food budget, General Gear Tips

Tagged the difference between sound conditioning and sound proofing

Two-Minute Audio Test of Electro-Voice RE-20 Microphone

Posted on May 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

Two-Minute Audio Test of Electro-Voice RE-20 Microphone [ 2:26 | 2.3 MB ] Play Now | Download

Michael W. Dean does initial tests of his new birthday mic, the venerated holy grail of broadcasting, the Electro-Voice RE-20 Microphone (get it HERE new for $449 with free shipping). Dig the wonderful meaty-yet-flat pro-izzle sound! Creamy retro 60s charm! Whee!

This mic gives a lot of freedom of movement. With my old Shure Beta 57a mic, I had to be right up on it to sound great. The sweet spot was the size of a plumb. That ended up making my back and neck tense doing a long live show. With the RE-20, the sweet spot is the size of a basketball. I can move all over and sound great. Will extend my life span! (Good for us cranky, creaky old guys. I turn 49 this week.) You can also talk more naturally with an RE-20, it doesn’t require conscious or subconscious “mic technique” that other mics require to sound really good.

I skipped the fancy accessories, like the expensive RE-20 specific shock mount ($125) and the RE-20 specific pop filter. A standard condenser mic shock mount and boom arm works fine. And while this mic, more than most, will work fine without a windscreen, a standard cheap foam windscreen stretched over the end makes it sound even better. No need to get the dorky little RE-20 specific pop filter.

Used correctly and with a good pre-amp, the RE-20 is a sword of truth cutting through the murky swamp of media lies and statist COINTELPRO sheeple-bleeting horizontal enforcement of injustice.

They are also built like a tank. The RE-20 comes with a 3-year factory warranty. What else in the WORLD comes with a 3-year factory warranty these days?????

Available in any color you like, as long as it’s green. To be more specific: somewhere between Vietnam-era US military camouflage green and old-school hospital room green.

Mic was used with a foam windscreen, audio was recorded through Pre-Sonus compressor/pre-amp with a Behringer XENYX X2442USB Premium 24-Input 4/2-Bus Mixer, then normalized in SoundForge.

Worms!!!!!! RADIOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

–Michael W. Dean, Freedom Feens radio show, syndicated on Genesis Communications Network.

Posted in Broadcasting, General Gear Tips

Tagged ev re-20 audio samples, retro 60s charm

The Sorry State of Radio Station Websites, article on GCN by Michael W. Dean

Posted on April 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

For the past two months, I’ve spent about ten hours a day looking at every talk radio station Website in America, compiling contact info.

I have not only looked at your station’s Website, I’ve looked at several pages of your station’s Website. And I took notes. There are a lot of things wrong with a lot of radio station Websites….

(….read more on Genesis Communications Network site, HERE.)

Posted in Being Heard, Broadcasting

Behringer XENYX mixer compressor tests

Posted on April 25, 2013 | 3 Comments

Behringer XENYX mixer compressor tests [ 1:33 | 1.47 MB ] Play Now | Download

Short audio tests using on-board compressor on Xenyx mixer. Conclusion is that for Neema doing talk radio over Audio Compass, a setting of barely on (at 8 o’clock) is better than a higher amount, and better than no compression.

Mixer is a a Behringer XENYX X2442USB Premium 24-Input 4/2-Bus Mixer (get it HERE).

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Posted in Being Heard, Caviar sound on a cat food budget

Making a Franken-Beta Mic for Talk Radio

Posted on April 14, 2013 | 2 Comments

Most people think that for talk radio, you need to get a $500 RE-20 microphone, because that’s the microphone in most radio stations. The RE-20 is a great sounding mic, but you don’t need it. The reason it’s in most radio stations, other than an “emperor’s new clothes” idea of “that’s the way it’s been done since the 60s”, is that the RE-20 is really forgiving of off-axis talkers. Off-axis means not speaking directly into the front of the mic. Radio stations have a lot of people come into the studio who have never used a microphone, so they have no “microphone technique“, that is, they don’t know how to use a mic.

RE-20 microphone:

If you develop good mic technique, you don’t need an RE-20, and can get great sound out of a Shure Beta 57a, if you make a little tweak to it and turn it into a “franken-mic.”

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Posted in Broadcasting, Microphones, radiooooooo

Freedom Feens Microphones for sale

Posted on April 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! NOT FOR SALE ANY MORE. SOLD!

Own a piece of Feens history! Now that we’re going to be on RADIOOOOOOOOOOOO! I’m only using dynamic mics, so I’m selling my two condenser mics and one ribbon mic. All are Used. Excellent condition and sound. Owned by Michael Dean of the Freedom Feens, featured on many Feens episodes. Used with pop filter in smokeless room. No smell.

~~eBay listings:~~

~~Very rare MXL prototype for MXL V6 Silicon Valve, is model M3-B. 2 pop filters. Starting bid: $40. Buy it now (with free US Shipping): $200. Listing on eBay.~~

~~Nady RSM-4 Dynamic Professional Ribbon Microphone. Starting bid: 99 cents. Buy it now (with free US Shipping): $80. Listing on eBay.~~

~~Rode NT1-A Condenser Microphone, with shock mount, gold pop filter. Starting bid: $60. Buy it now (with free US Shipping): $180. Listing on eBay.~~

~~Audio test video I made with these mics:~~

~~https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCIU0U5p_c4~~

Posted in Being Heard, Broadcasting, Caviar sound on a cat food budget, Microphones

Tagged mxl, nady, rode

Opus – The Codec That Will Vastly Improve the World

Posted on March 28, 2013 | 5 Comments

Opus - The Codec That Will Vastly Improve the World [ 4:27 | 3.2 MB ] Play Now | Download

The term “Codec” comes from the words “coder-decoder” or “compressor-decompressor.” There are audio and video codecs. We’re talking about audio codecs in this post.

The word “codec” can have three meanings. One is a hardware Codec. For instance: the Comrex Access Bric-Link unit that the Freedom Feens use to connect to do live shows on LRN, and will soon be using to connect to GCN to do live syndicated shows on terrestrial radio.

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Posted in Being Heard, Broadcasting, Caviar sound on a cat food budget, General Gear Tips, If bad sound were fatal, audio would be the leading cause of death, Microphones

Tagged codec, excellent internet sound, good sound with mumble, how to do a live internet radio show, how to do a live radio show, mumble, opus, skype, speeks, speex

Great headphones for medium and low budgets, and some tips on headphone care

Posted on March 27, 2013 | 4 Comments

sonymdr7506

The headphones I use are Sony MDR-7506. (Get them HERE.) They’re amazing. Cost is 90 bucks a pair. I have two pair and have had them for seven years, they’re still going strong. The audio quality is excellent, and they’re pretty much the only headphones found in 90% of good recording studios and radio stations.

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Posted in Being Heard, Broadcasting, Caviar sound on a cat food budget, General Gear Tips, radiooooooo

Tagged best cheap headphones, headphones, replacement ear pads for headphones, skype headset

Surge protectors that actually protect, ground testers, and the joy of power conditioners

Posted on March 23, 2013 | 4 Comments

By Michael W. Dean, Freedom Feens

I like electronic audio gear. And I like cats. These are a few of my favorite things. We feed our cats the best food possible, and always have. I also feed my electronic gear the purest, safest, best power possible.

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Posted in Caviar sound on a cat food budget, General Gear Tips, radiooooooo

Tagged and the joy of power conditioners, being safe in the home studio, getting good audio, ground testers, home wring problems., protecting your gear, radio tips, Surge protectors that actually protect, the ultimate power., voiceover tips

How to keep cats off your electronic gear for 8 dollars

Posted on March 12, 2013 | 5 Comments

by Michael W. Dean

There’s a growing problem in our society that no government or law can solve (like all problems). The problem is cats encroaching on electronic gear.

Yesterday I spent an hour with Ian Freeman kindly helping me set up a mix minus on the Feens brand new mixer, the Knob-Master 9000. It worked great, and I wrote down the settings on the many many knobs and buttons, turned it off, and covered the whole table with a thick towel like I do every night to keep cat hair off it.

Next day when Neema and I went to use it, it wasn’t working as it should. Even with my list of all the settings, it took us an hour to figure out which of the 9000 buttons a cat had pressed by standing on it. That’s an hour we’ll never get back, and it’s bound to happen again and again without a solution.

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Posted in General Gear Tips

cool mixer trick

Posted on March 12, 2013 | 1 Comment

I got my PhD in mixology today, and then some. Ian Freeman of Free Talk Live walked me through setting up a mix-minus with the new mixer and the Comrex and Audio Cactus (blog post on all that coming soon.) Then I read the whole manual. Then I got to try a trick I’ve only heard about before, but never tried, since this is the first mixer I’ve owned that has a built-in compressor for each channel.

Two compressors in series using half the ratio sound better than one compressor with a higher ratio. Try turning the ratio down on your outboard compressor/pre-amp to half what it is now, then turn the compressor knob on the Behringer up to two or three (I don’t think the numbers on it are strict correlations to ratios, i.e. setting it on 3 seems to give a ratio of about 2:1.)

Check it out if you’re not doing this yet. It sounds creamy.

Before I got this mixer, I was using a 4:1 ratio on my outboard tube pre-amp compressor. Now I’m using a 2:1 ratio on the outboard tube pre-amp compressor, and setting the compressor knob on the Behringer on 3. Sounds better than just the 4:1 ratio on my outboard tube pre-amp compressor did through the old mixer. (Also the Behringer has less noise than my old Alesis, and the Alesis had no compression in it.)

I’m not using compression on the other tracks obviously (Comrex, Audio Cactus), only on track one, the one my mic is plugged into.

Posted in pre-amps, radiooooooo

Tagged compression audio trix

I Need a PhD in Mixology (not the booze kind!)

Posted on March 11, 2013 | Leave a comment

Got the Mixer-of-1000-knobs today. Whee! It sat on our porch for two hours in the snow before I got up, but it’s fine. It’s a Behringer XENYX X2442USB Premium 24-Input 4/2-Bus Mixer (get it HERE).

People ask me “Why don’t you read books anymore?” Basically because I spend most of my time reading gear manuals. I did get a sound out of this thing, but it’s going to take me all day to figure out and master all its features.

The Feens got this mixer because my old mixer (the little blue one on the left, above), doesn’t have the ability to set up separate busses, which we need to be able to do in order to do live radio over the Comrex. (The Comrex is barely viewable here, just behind the top right of the big new Behringer mixer, under the shelf that contains the Presonus tube pre-amp.)

I’m selling the old mixer for 100 bucks, with US shipping included. It has a USB interface and phantom power, but only works on Windows XP (NOT Windows 7 or 8), and older Mac OSes. Drop me an e-mail if you’re interested, it’s a ALESIS MultiMix 8USB Audio Mixer.

Posted in Broadcasting

Even Creamier Creamy Radio Audio ad

Posted on March 8, 2013 | 1 Comment

Even Creamier Creamy Radio Audio ad [ 1:02 | 1.04 MB ] Play Now | Download

I re-recorded DJ doing the voiceover for the radio ad for this website. MY GOD it sounds creamy! I used a Rode NT-1a condenser mic into my new Presonus tube pre-amp, and recorded into SoundForge. The resulting WAV file was normalized in post in SoundForge, then edited with the music beds in Sony Vegas, output as a stereo WAV file, then normalized again. (Normalization setting: “speech” preset in SoundForge, both for DJ’s VO, and for the final file with music beds.) Neema made the music.

Rock on, and feel free to use anywhere you please without permission. But please let us know. That would make us happy!

=-=-=-

(NOTE: The FTC thinks you’re too dumb to figure out that we get referral fees from my Amazon referral links above, so we are legally required, with a potential government gun to my head, to tell you that. But we wouldn’t recommend anything we wouldn’t personally use.)

Tagged 6-Minute Audio Examples and Review of Presonus Studio Channel Tube-Pre Amp / Compressor / Parametric EQ unit, do I need a compressor?, gain staging, great sound on a low budget, radio, voiceover, what does a compressor do?, will a compressor help my podcast

Posted in Caviar sound on a cat food budget, Microphones, pre-amps, Tubes

Tagged ad copy, make money recording ads, recording smooth female vocals, voiceover

6-Minute Audio Examples and Review of Presonus Studio Channel Tube-Pre Amp / Compressor / Parametric EQ unit

Posted on March 5, 2013 | 5 Comments

6-Minute Audio Examples and Review of Presonus Studio Channel Tube-Pre Amp / Compressor / Parametric EQ unit [ 6:22 | 6.5 MB ] Play Now | Download

I recently bought the amazing 300 dollar Presonus Studio Channel Tube-Pre Amp / Compressor / Parametric EQ unit. You can get it on Amazon, HERE.

The audio demonstration here was recorded with a Shure BETA 57A Microphone, with a foam windscreen, speaking at a medium-low volume right up on the mic (lips mostly touching the windscreen), with no processing added in post. The audio demo includes explanations of basic use for a good sound, as well as gain staging, and telephone effects.

The Presonus Studio Channel is a wonderful “Swiss army knife” with several functions for improving the sound of voice or instruments. The manual is available free for download, HERE. It’s not only a good intro to this unit, it’s a good intro to compression and EQ and tube pre-amps in general. I recommend it if you are new to compression, even if you have a different unit.

But here’s my quick start guide for spoken audio, the settings I used in this six-minute audio example (click for full-sized image). Enjoy!:

I replaced the stock tube with this Russian Tungsol 12AX7 Tube that is better than the generic Chinese tube that comes with the unit.

To replace tube, unplug the unit from the wall, remove screws on top, and gently rock the tube left and right to remove. Then gently rock the replacement tube in to the tube socket. Hold tube with a handkerchief or other piece of fabric to avoid getting skin oils on it. Skin oils will lower the life span of the tube.

-=-=-=-=-=-=

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Posted in Broadcasting, pre-amps, Tubes

Bad Quaker’s Bad Audio, and How to Do Better

Posted on March 2, 2013 | 1 Comment

Bad Quaker's Bad Audio, and How to Do Better [ 4:51 | 4.68 MB ] Play Now | Download

bad-audio2

Ben Stone, the podcaster known as The Bad Quaker, is a friend of mine. Aside from my wife, and Neema Vedadi, Ben is my best friend, which is despite the fact that I’ve never met him. We talk on the phone several times a week for hours at a time. And he even fills in for Neema on the Freedom Feens Live on the rare occasion that Neema can’t make it.

My first contact with Ben was writing him the following e-mail, about a year ago:

Hi Ben, this is Michael Dean of the Freedom Feens. I really dig your cast, and it’s great information. But the audio quality isn’t very good. I’m willing to do free consulting work with you to help you make it better. I do this because I care, and because your message is so important that it shouldn’t be muddled in sub-standard audio quality.

Posted in Being Heard, Caviar sound on a cat food budget

Tagged good remote audio, how to get great audio interviews at a convention, interview recording tips

STEPHANIE MURPHY’s creamy radio audio studio

Posted on February 25, 2013 | 1 Comment

Stephanie Murphy of the Porc Therepy podcast has incredibly good audio on a very low budget. HERE’S AN MP3 of a show she did with Michael Dean on Anarchy Gumbo that sounds great.

Stephanie’s profile here is the first installment in our new series “Caviar sound on a cat food budget”, of people other than the Feens who get great sound on almost no money.

Here’s a reprint from her website of how she gets such great sound on such a low budget:

Many people have remarked on the professional sound quality of Porc Therapy and the various narration and voice over projects that come out of my studio. I’m proud of the studio – which I built myself for less than $800, including the studio computer and all the equipment. You could do it for even less by purchasing only some of the following equipment and re-purposing some of your existing furniture instead of getting new stuff – and you can have the same professional quality sound.

This post will also serve as a how-to for those wanting to make a podcast with a high quality, professional sound.

Here’s a look at the Porc Therapy studio – and a guide about how you can replicate my setup!

Posted in Being Heard, Caviar sound on a cat food budget, Microphones

How to take phone calls on a live Internet or radio show

Posted on February 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

Screaming Into Phone

Neema Vedadi and I do the Freedom Feens Live show. It streams live over the Internet, is on Ku-band free-to-air satellite radio throughout North America, and is on about a dozen FM and AM community stations around America. We have been doing a non-live podcast weekly for a year, but added the live show last week. It’s Sunday from 5-7 PM East Coast Time, and you can listen live, HERE.

Neema and I talk to each other and also wire into the New Hampshire servers with the program Mumble.