Lets Talk Turkey

[Duff]

So, since this project is getting a good reboot, we've been talking about the costs of streaming and site fees and all that fun stuff.

One of the major things that we've brought up is sound quality and inuniformity(real word?) which I think has a simple and expensive solution: We need to get brand new, professional quality microphones, and it would be preferable if they were all the exact same kind for the 6 main characters.

I have no clue how much these things actually cost or what would actually be considered a good mic, I know mrguy does and probably weathel so they'd probably be in charge of actually shopping for the best mic for us. But the big issue is how we should pay for them, I know that, depending on the price, a few of the cast members wont be able to afford new mics just for this, so we should try to raise the funds so that RAF can buy 6 mics and have them sent to the respective cast members, and if that person drops out for whatever reason, they will be expected to send the mic to their replacement or back to whoever. (yea I know there could potentially be a problem with that one lol)

As one of the cast members, I don't want you to think I'm doing this just to get a free mic, if we go ahead with this plan, I'll definately put down the money for at least one mic, maybe more if I can afford it.

What do you guys think?

[wildweathel]

Since you want to bring this subject up, here goes.

My microphone is a Tascam TM-78.  It's a decent enough, if entry level, mobile studio mic.  It requires power from a preamplifier to function, activating a switch marked "Phantom Power," but which really means "make my expensive mic work, please."  The preamplifier is a Tascam US-122L digital audio interface, which also contains a headphone amplifier and converters between analog signals and digital numbers.  Also included in the package was a decent pair of headphones.  Nothing fancy, but it does a nice job, and I'm mostly happy with it.

This connects via a USB cable to my laptop running Ubuntu Linux.  Here's where the problem creeps in.  USB Audio devices are supposed to speak a standard protocol, so that they can all use the same driver.  Linux's usb-audio driver is excellent.  Naturally, then, Tascam wrote their own protocol, requiring a different driver.  Which is a huge pain to install, because it's not officially part of Linux yet.  It took me, with my four years of Linux experience about four hours to get the install working and playing nice with my AMD graphics driver. 

(Though to be fair, this was mostly my fault for trying to run a semi-experimental 'tickless' task-scheduler with non-open source graphics drivers, and not any problem with the audio driver).

I don't imagine this would be a problem on Windows, since you can just use Tascam's driver.  I have no idea about Mac.

Build quality is very good for the interface.  The headphones are pretty solid, too.  The microphone is, as typical for microphones, a bit fragile.  This is because the diaphragm must be light to pick up high frequencies, and thus susceptible to shock from being dropped, etc.

Anyway, all this: microphone, interface, headphones, podcasting stand, and assorted cables, was $200US at Guitar Center. 

Tascam Track Pack.

[Mr. Guy36]

I've got a Shure SM58 going through Behringer powered mixer (don't know the model number now) to a computer running Ubuntu Studio. The audio from the mixer to the computer just runs through a 1/4" to mini adapter, then to line in.

Side note- If you just have a little mic, and want a quick and dirty upgrade, use a Rock Band mic. It's standard USB, and actually quite decent.

[Touquie]

Wow.  My siblings and I are actually planning on getting that pack (or a similar one) to record music.

We also just got rock band 2, so I can use that mic until we are able to get the pack.

[Liz]

Maybe we don't need six.  I think it would be more economical to have maybe one or two for the US and Canada, one or two in Australia, and maybe more for whatever other countries I'm missing.  Then we can ship them around as needed.  If someone recorded lines for many books at one time before shipping to the next person, this could end up saving money.

There are others besides the six Animorphs that have substantial parts (Erek and Visser Three come to mind), so we would have to have access to the mikes for more than six people in any case.

[Duff]

well ideally the six main people should have a good mic at all times, cause you dont know when you'll find time to record and you dont want one person holding up everyone else

i agree there are some other characters that have alot of lines but i dont see us getting the money for all of them to have mics

it sounds like mrguy and touq have/will have decent mics, and we dont really need to all have the same as long as we all have mics than can produce really good quality

how much was yours mrguy? and how much is the rockband mic do you know?

[AniDragon]

The only time I would see this being a problem is if someone has a built-in Mic in their PC/laptop. Like, mine doesn't even have a Mic port, because the default mic is built in.

[Mr. Guy36]

Well, an SM58 is about 100 bucks, but I'm not sure on the cheapest way to get from that to the computer.

[wildweathel]

For around $100, the Blue Snowball (yes, that's the actual name) looks pretty good.  It's direct-to-usb microphone.  I haven't bought one, but that'd be my pick for inexpensive.

[Touquie]

Maybe we don't need six.  I think it would be more economical to have maybe one or two for the US and Canada, one or two in Australia, and maybe more for whatever other countries I'm missing.  Then we can ship them around as needed.  If someone recorded lines for many books at one time before shipping to the next person, this could end up saving money.

There are others besides the six Animorphs that have substantial parts (Erek and Visser Three come to mind), so we would have to have access to the mikes for more than six people in any case.

I dunno, I think that could end up costing more.  Maybe we can find some sort of whole sale price.

[Duff]

yea if we buy them all at once we should be able to find some kind of discount, 100 wouldnt be too bad

[wildweathel]

Honestly, I don't think we want to go less expensive.  I mean, if you find one on sale, great.  But, eventually, you end up in "communication" quality.  The frequency response is limited, giving you a stuffy, walkie-talkie sound.  Intelligible, yes, pleasant, no.

Actually, I have low pass filters in my bag of tricks.  I can give a demo of what frequency response issues stand like.  But not now, I'm not at home with access to my mic.

[Duff]

but will 100 buy us a high quality mic or do we have to go more? if we're going for it then we def got to get as high a quality as we can afford, but if we only manage to raise enough for something cheap then we shouldnt even bother

[SuperBlue]

I don't know exactly what this is for but I have a laptop tht has like a built in mic

[Touquie]

I don't know exactly what this is for but I have a laptop tht has like a built in mic

That's exactly what we don't want for the main characters.

In order to get a good sound from these good microphones, an audio interface to connect to the computer is needed.  So the mic may be getting a great sound, but it won't of the same quality on the computer because of crap inputs.  There's one included in the pack that wild posted.

Check out some of these packages at Guitar Center.  http://www.guitarcenter.com/Computer-Music-Packages-Computers-and-Peripherals,Page-1.gc?ipp=15

Obviously, some of them aren't really necessary.  ...unless you need the huge speakers.