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I’ve found my attentions, as of late, pulled to the question of should I have an audio book. Could I make it on my own? I met someone at a technical conference really, and they offered to let me borrow the “latest thing” in portable audio recording as a test. I was grateful, and gave it a try.
My initial recordings using a Sony PCM device weren’t very promising. This “blogger” recorder’s tool had only one main function – the ability to record digitally on a portable device. Devices of this type sell from $700 – $1000 plus, it seems, and this device was sort of in the middle of this range. This one even had a nifty fuzzy bonnet that went over its dual microphones – combo pop-filter and windscreen, I presume. Reading the description, it seems as if it was supposed to be a “high resolution” recorder.
Okay, portable recording, in a digital sense, isn’t all that special these days. That designation could be credibly given to my iPod or iPhone, honestly. They have the same basic ability, even a little better than normal with some applications and a decent mike. What I was hoping to get out of this little device was exceptional audio quality, background noise cancellation – and … it didn’t deliver. In point of fact, I wouldn’t consider the device usable unless it was on a stand – and one with a lot of cushioning, at that.
Now, I have to offer a little information about myself, here. I spent more than twenty years running house sound in small to medium sized venues (even ran sound for a well-known Christian vocal group, once) – so I know about powered mikes, mixer boards, pop filters, boom mikes, and so on and so on – including that used for TV production (I ran a Profile digital recording system that was fed into an Avid editing system). So, I know about microphones and recording, at least more than the average person who doesn’t have that kind of experience.
My problem with this device is that it offered no isolation between the microphones and its control panel. Every touch of my fingers across the buttons created a vibrating click or twang bad enough to make me wince – even with the input volume turned down. Many microphones I’ve used had a little rubber washer, padding, etc. to keep the touches on the outside casing from translating into “core” of the microphone (the condenser) and the audio recording. No such luck here, so … that $1000 will stay in my wallet, thank you very much.
So, in comparison, I stuck a pillow on my desk, pulled down my little short stand mike with two pop filters (placed one in front of the other – one metal grid and one fabric), and clicked “record” on my copy of Audacity recording/mixed software. The results were much better. Throwing some filters across the sample (noise reduction, reverb in places, EQ and the like) rendered a pretty decent first try. Now, I didn’t concentrate on getting all my words right, and I didn’t do multiple takes – I just wanted to see what kind of quality I could get. It was pretty fair! With a little work, smoothing out the rough spots, I might have something I could offer! I’ll be shopping a sample recording to some friends of mine so they can tell me if my voice is something they could listen to for several hours. Hopefully, if results are positive, I can create an audio book! 🙂
Take Care and See you in the future!
JTL