Audio in Rich Media
Audio Gear for Rich Media
There’s no fixed mic formula for the audio-enabled journalist. One simple solution is to carry a single cardioid-type mic for interviews, but use the built-in stereo omni mics for ambient recording. If sound quality is of the essence, you may want an external stereo mic. One good all-around model is the Audio-Technica AT822, which sells for about $250.
The Audio-Technica AT822, a good all-around stereo mic.
If you’re shooting video and need a clean look, you may want to use a wireless mic, or a lavalier (lav for short), which attaches to the speaker’s lapel.
The bad news about buying mics: There are so many options, it’s hard to know where to start. The good news: Mics represent a very mature technology. If you purchase the right type of mic from a reputable manufacturer like Shure, Beyerdynamic, Rode, Sony, Audio-Technica, AKG, or Sennheiser, you’ll probably be in good shape.
XLR-type mic connectors are the professional standard for microphone cables. You’ll need a special cable or adapter to connect pro-level mics to a recorder with a phone-plug input.
You’ll need some accessories too. Your mic may or may not come with a cable. If it does, chances are it will have an XLR-type connection, so you may need another cable or an adapter to plug into the 1/8" phone jacks featured on many recorders. You’ll also want a compact tabletop mic stand. And if you’re working outdoors, you should probably have a windscreen to minimize wind noise.
In a perfect world, we’d all have hefty microphone lockers. But don’t forget that countless great recordings have been made with cheap mics.
The Right Headphones
You need a good pair of phones to check your recording in the field. In fact, some pros insist you should always wear headphones while recording. Sony’s MDR-7506 headphones, which sell for about $100, are something of an industry standard, but comparable “cans” (another name for headphones) from name manufacturers will get the job done.
Sony’s MDR-7506 headphones have become something of an industry standard.
If you’re self-conscious about wearing cans, you could use earphones that fit snugly inside your ears, such as the Shure E2s, which sell for about $100. (You can spend a lot more for high-end earphones.) Note that these types of monitors provide a much tighter seal than the earbuds that came with your iPod. Better isolation means you can more accurately gauge the quality of your audio. But in a pinch, you may be able to make do with those basic earbuds.
The Right Storage Media
Modern digital recorders use either SD or CF cards. Sonically, there’s no difference—a bigger deciding factor may be whether you carry a camera and want to use only a single card type. (Because CF cards are used in most high-end cameras, some regard them as slightly more pro.)
Prices are similar for both card types. The maximum-sized 2GB card retails for $90 to $100, but you can often find them hugely discounted. Two gigs is a lot of memory: that’s six hours of CD-quality sound, or about a day-and-a-half of MP3 audio.
But even if you get a bargain price on memory cards, they’re still a relatively expensive form of storage. You can buy external hard drive memory for less than a buck a gig, but you’ll probably pay at least $20 per gig for CF and SD. That’s why it makes sense to archive all your audio to hard drives and reuse the same few memory cards in the field. Budget for a large external drive, plus another one for backup.
Most modern digital recorders use the same CF (left) or SD (right) memory cards found in digital cameras.
The Right Software
There are far too many audio-editing applications to cover them all here. We’ll focus on Apple’s own products, which should also help you weigh third-party options.
GarageBand ($79 as part of the iLife ’06 suite) is powerful, cheap, and offers excellent audio quality. It’s a great choice for creating podcasts and quick videos for websites.
If you’re working with video in Final Cut Pro, you’ll probably want to use Soundtrack Pro. It’s not sold separately, but is included with the Final Cut Studio suite. It offers state-of-the-art audio processing tools and seamless integration with Final Cut Pro.
If you’re also a musician, consider Logic Pro. It’s an amazingly versatile recording program, and it excels at combining audio with QuickTime video.
Since all three applications exploit Mac OS X’s Core Audio functionality, they offer the same stellar sound quality, and support all Audio Unit-compatible plug-ins.
Before springing for any audio software, determine whether you’ll be working with video as well, and if so, in which format.
The Right Everything
You can put together a truly professional audio kit for about $1,000, not including a computer and software. But it’s worth repeating: Great audio has been created on far-from-great gear. Passion and ingenuity will carry you far. Don’t let a lack of cash discourage you from getting out there and capturing incredible sounds.
