Features I particularly like for a desktop #ProAudio interface:
- USB C w/ separate USB C power (for situations where the host can't provide adequate power, e.g. a phone)
- physical on/off
- per channel switches for 48v, line/instrument, and live monitoring
- per channel knob for monitor mix
- big fat volume knob
- gain boost button and separate volume for headphones
- pleasantly stiff analog knobs
- separate level meters for both inputs and outputs
- all of the buttons light up when engaged
Tomorrow I get to shadow Liv Lombardi at her job with #Nashville Public Radio's "This Is Nashville", for which she is the technical director. Exciting!
Rode’s Parent Company Acquires Wireless Audio Brand Lectrosonics https://petapixel.com/2025/05/08/rodes-parent-company-acquires-wireless-audio-brand-lectrosonics/ #thefreedmangroup #wirelessaudio #lectrosonics #acquisition #Industry #proaudio #merger #audio #News #rode
But it also occurs to me that this is a use case where I could see value in machine learning tools
to recreate the cadence and art of the delivery cleanly from existing sources would make these much more accessible to modern audiences.
Reading King is not the same as hearing him speak. And I'm not normally one to listen to speeches.
(reposted to fix borked threading)
2/2 #ProAudio
I have a 16-disc (!) set of sermons and speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that recently I got from a library fundraising sale for like a dollar.
The audio quality in some of the early stuff especially is very poor, owing in part to the circumstances of recording and in part to the limitations of available technology.
A lot could be done with modern software to clean this up, so I'm going to give it a swing as an exercise.
1/2
After spending part of the last week trying to figure out a good workflow for noise reduction in problematic spoken word audio
(and documenting it here https://venya.soundslike.pro/blog/2025/05/meeting-acx-audible-standards-with-adobe-audition-and-reaper/)
I am now playing on hard mode by trying to fix up audio from an outdoor wedding recorded on a not-close Zoom H4N under a local airport flight path
Some #LessonsLearned on using #AdobeAudition to remove background noise and make #AudioBook recordings comply with ACX standards for #Audible
(and because that's how I roll, how to do it in #ReaperDAW, too)
When I switch to the melodic range spectrogram layer, you can see WHERE the ref mix is louder. The low end is much more powerful throughout.
But there are also some short higher pitches (xylophone, I think?) arpeggiating throughout that are much louder. It's PRETTIER, but I didn't actually like how bright they were in the ref mix.
Reference mix is on top; our mix is on bottom. These are normalized to -1 dB peak, because I am specifically evaluating the mix. (If I just wanted to compare how they sounded and which I preferred, then it would make sense to normalize to perceived loudness, the default for #ffmpeg-normalize.)
Our mix has more dynamic range, prob too much. That fits _my_ tastes, but it's not what the market prefers. You can see some limiting in the ref mix, but not excessive.
I need to compare a reference mix to the one that my team did in the AES student mixing competition last month. #SonicVisualiser is a great tool for this, but first I need to normalize the audio tracks so they are at roughly the same perceived loudness. ffmpeg-normalize is a quick CLI tool for this purpose.
https://github.com/slhck/ffmpeg-normalize/wiki/examples
(I had to install several things to get to the point I could use this, but "you need this" first messages were helpful and clear. Yay, #Debian.) #ProAudio #MusicDev
I have been asked last minute to do sound for a funeral.
I did not get to test anything before it started so I'm leaning pretty heavily on the default configuration.
I have so many questions about this EQ curve but I'm not about to mess with it during a eulogy.
Freelance is (in this case) another word for "unemployed"
but I'm staying busy
One of the super insightful people we heard on Friday afternoon at an AES event.
Scheduled an interview on Thursday for a studio internship. #Nashville #ProAudio
My new sticker order arrived. I am trying out TheStickyBrand.com, which had a promo to get 100 of these (about 3"x2") vinyl holographic stickers for $25.
I like the way they turned out. There are some other designs I'd like to have lots of. I will order more. These are destined to be given to my audio nerd friends (and former instructors, one of whom inspired the design).
Which is available here, btw: https://archive.org/details/bs-meter/BS%20meter.png
Dad will be visiting town for a few days next week. His idea of cool is similar to mine; we won't be hitting the bars on Broadway, but I am trying to line up some studio tours and/or coffee with some audio people. Ideas and contacts gratefully welcomed.
Going to spend the day in a team mixing competition with two of my fellow recent Blackbird Academy grads up against teams from 4 or 5 of the local university and tech school audio programs. Should be fun. I am getting two t-shirts out of this.
Sennheiser’s New Climate-Proof Shotgun Mic Is Built for Pros https://petapixel.com/2025/04/07/sennheisers-new-climate-proof-shotgun-mic-is-built-for-pros/ #microphone #sennheiser #shotgunmic #Equipment #proaudio #nab2025 #audio #News #mic #nab