Product reviews, tips and more for photographers and Youtube producers
If you record audio via an external recorder in order to replace the audio your camera captures, you’ll usually need some sort of a synchronisation tool. The simplest is using a clapper, with the second-best using Red Giant’s PluralEyes. But what if the audio your recorder captures drifts out of sync during recording? Why does that happen and how can you avoid it?
With studio condenser microphones like my favourite sE2200A usually come nice shock mounts. The only problem is that these are heavy and wear out quickly because the shock absorbers are elastic rubber bands. When I saw how well Rycote’s Softie Duo-Lyre Mount with pistol grip handle works with a Deity S-Mic 2 shotgun, I decided to give the company’s InVision Universal Studio Mount Kit a try as well.
Rogue Amoeba just released a major upgrade of Loopback, the audio routing app used by many thousands of podcasters, sound pros and screencast creators. They all use Loopback to route sounds from any sort of source on a Mac to any sort of output – from physical inputs and outputs to audio generated and/or accepted by software apps.
Almost a year ago, I purchased an sE Electronics V7 dynamic microphone, assuming it would be a great microphone to have for creating videos on Youtube or Vimeo. At the time, I didn’t realise I would have to “eat” the microphone or crank up the gain to a whopping 75dB on my Apogee Duet iOS/Mac in order to get a decent signal. As a result, I only used the mic occasionally. A week or so ago, I discovered the DM1 Dynamite preamp on the sE Electronics website that claims to solve exactly this problem.
As UK-based Rycote is the industry-standard specialist in shock & wind protection for field production sound, I took their Softie Duo-Lyre Mount with pistol grip handle to the test with the Deity S-Mic 2. The microphone came with only a basic plastic mount that I suspected to transmit all the vibrations and bumps it could possibly suffer from common, daily usage.
Revoice Pro is used worldwide by audio professionals for adjustment and alignment of vocals, instruments and ADR as well as double track generation. I tested the app using several recordings from audio as well as video sources.
IK Multimedia announced that it has expanded its campus in Modena, Italy with the unveiling of a modern manufacturing and recording facility. The new complex greatly expands the company’s in-house R&D, manufacturing and logistics capabilities. It also adds a state-of-the-art audio recording studio for in-house sound design and sampling.
Youtubers, wedding video shooters, broadcast sound men/women and filmmakers: they all want to record sound with the best possible results. But practicalities such as pricing often stand in the way of reaching this lofty goal. Yet, equipment that exceeds the basic technical requirements – essential to even think about reaching it – is what you’ll need. A microphone is the first and one of the most important links in the chain from the sound you capture to the audio the viewer/listener gets out of their speakers. The results depend on the whole chain, but if you start with a tin can sound because of a low-end mic, you’ll never get to the full and rich sound you’re after.
In the past, we have tested and reviewed an sE Electronics V7 dynamic vocal microphone, an sE2200a large-diaphragm condenser and a RØDE NT1 condenser mic. We found the clarity and flat tone response of the V7 and the NT1 great, but they lack the warmth of the sE2200a. So, after reviewing the Universal Audio DSP-capable Arrow interface, which allows you to use a near-zero-latency Unison plug-in as a preamp that can dramatically change the sound characteristics of the mic you’re using, we wondered if it would be possible to change the sound recorded with the V7 and NT1 in such ways that they would sound more like the sE2200a without losing their own unique qualities. In other words, we wanted to know if you can make your audio sound as if it were recorded with a Universal Audio Unison tube preamp UA 610-B.
Arrow, the newest audio interface by Universal Audio has ultra-low latency input monitoring and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) on board. The Arrow is a solo processing interface, meaning it will accept all the Unison and common plug-ins from Universal Audio, but won’t be able to process as many of them as the more expensive models. The Arrow can be had for around €499.
