Category: audio
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In Praise of the Elusive, Simple Earbud
I like earbuds. Not in-ear-monitors (IEMs) that go into your ear canal, which are often called “earbuds,” even though they’re not – at least they’re not to me. I’m talking about old fashioned earbuds, like the ones that came with your iPod or MP3 player in 2005. They have wires and just sit in your…
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$13 Is Cheaper than a New Blu-Ray Player
A number of years ago I bought a nice Yamaha Aventage Blu-Ray player. I bought this model because it’s a so-called “universal” disc player, able to deal with nearly any format in existence, including high-resolution SACDs and DVD-As. On top of that, reviews gave it very high marks for its audio quality for just playing…
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To Make Sound Art You Just Need a Recorder
Dictaphone, cassette recorder, microcassette recorder, digital voice recorder, smartphone. That’s it. Hit record, make sound. These are the fundamentals I have to remind myself of every so often, when I get too obsessed with fidelity and having really good microphones and recording with many more bits and samples. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with quality, until…
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For concert audio the Sanyo Xacti beats the Sony NEX-5, hands down
One of the most impressive features of my Sanyo VPC-CG10 camcorder has been its audio recording quality. But sometimes you don’t realize how good something is until you have a chance to compare it. This weekend I made an inadvertent comparison and I came away all the more pleased with the CG10’s audio performance. On…
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The best camcorder is the one you have with you
There’s a common idea amongst serious photographers that it’s a good idea to always have a camera on you, because you never know when you’ll see the stuff of a great picture. Seeing as how it’s often impractical to always have an SLR or other larger camera with you, many photogs adopted smaller point-and-shoot cameras…
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Audio, Audiophiles and the Aesthetic Experience of Medium
Back in December I bragged about predicting the onset of the cassette revival, and five months into 2010 it looks like that revival is in full swing. Articles about the renewed interest in the lowly compact cassette have appeared in as wide variety of sites as the Chicago Tribune, UK Guardian and Pitchfork. Much of…
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Turntables at CES: Still Mostly Cheap Plastic
The annual Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone, with the usual array of new gadgets ranging from the cool to useless, to vaporware. Over at RadioSurvivor I covered some of the news relating to radio. Along with radio and a metric ton of iPod/iPhone accessories, there were some new vinyl playback devices at CES,…
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Environmental Encroachment on the mediageek radioshow – sound, pictures and video
In a change of pace from the otherwise talk-dominated radioshow, my guests this week were the magic circus band Environmental Encroachment. They played several songs in WNUR‘s multi-use studio number 105, in addition to our interview. The show is now available for listening and download at the radioshow site. Because the EE marching band is…
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Happy 5th Birthday to Podcasting!
With the word “podcasting” firmly entrenched in the English language it’s a bit hard to believe that the medium is only five years old. Wired’s This Day in Tech marked yesterday, Aug. 13 as the fifth anniversary of the start of Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code, the first widely popular podcast. This Day in Tech…
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Cassettes Are a Weird Way to Distribute Music?
My, oh my, where has the time gone. Sure, cassettes might be nearly obsolete and decidedly retro. But weird? Wired’s Epicenter blog recently compiled “10 Weird Ways to Distribute Music.” But, really, the list might be more accurately characterized as “10 Unique Ways,” rather than weird. Seems that some popular indie bands like Dirty Projectors…