When Software Burps

Workflow is a time sensitive thing. We have delivery dates for the work we do and part of our job is to anticipate potential time-sucking issues that may impact a timely delivery.

I am getting pretty good at balancing my daily forays into Social Media, but we all have other areas that need attention.

  • Family (my increased time with my mom needs to be figured into the equation)
  • Exercise (oh, brother, this is high on my list of things I don’t get around to – do my weekly tap classes count?)
  • Home and Garden (my yard is a MESS – my counters are getting mightly cluttered – and there is a leak in the big bathroom that needs to be attended to – not to mention I am stripping an old door for a remodel project)
  • Volunteering (my work with MCA-I has increased recently due to some major changes in the association requiring more time as […]
2011-01-27T10:32:45+00:00January 27th, 2011|Categories: Business, Recording, Technology|
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What the heck just happened?

Excuse me, did I miss something? Like the whole 2nd half of the year maybe? What is this pile of paperwork sitting here? Wait, what I meant to say was what are all these piles of paperwork sitting here? Why is that list of things to do getting longer instead of shorter?

Part of it is personal obligations – that has increased over the past year and a half or so – since my mom moved out here from across the country. Part of it is that my ability to be superwoman is diminishing due to hot flashes.

Part of it is a slight increase in the amount of time I am spending chasing down money from people I didn’t expect to have to chase down for money.

But a big part of it is the time suckers – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, other social media message boards, my volunteer time for MCA-I, this blog, the other […]

2018-02-06T06:48:36+00:00December 22nd, 2010|Categories: Business, Communication, Technology|
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Car Noise Reduction

Controlling random noise in a studio is a constant challenge if you don’t have a heavy duty floating walled recording space. Even if your space is treated acoustically and your tracks end up clean and noise free, sometimes there is a lot that ends up on the cutting room floor to achieve that result.

While it may sound a bit odd, I have two recording spaces. One inside a small closet in the main house is primarily for my ISDN projects. The other – the spot where I do most of my work – is out in the back yard in a separate structure. There is a small recording space and another larger area for the rest of the work we need to do when we are not recording.

I’ll tell the story of the two spaces sometime, but right now a growing noise issue is on my mind.

The bulk of my […]

2010-10-03T08:56:39+00:00October 3rd, 2010|Categories: Recording, Technology|
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Fafftermath

I didn’t coin this – fafftermath – but it is what is happening to at least some of the people who attended the first ever FaffCon in Portland OR, September 11 and 12, 2010.

One of the things Amy, the organizer did near the end of the last day, was force everyone in the general session to answer some questions and write down some action items. This was so that we didn’t get back home and let life take over without capitalizing on the information that was shared and the energy that was exchanged and enhanced.

I managed to walk off without my notebook and my notes – and all my remaining business cards, but I did remember at least one of my action items (or if it isn’t on the list when I finally do see it again, it is now!)…get in contact with old clients.

So I have make it a […]

2018-02-06T06:48:37+00:00September 21st, 2010|Categories: Business, Techniques, Technology|
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I could work here…

Oh my – what a wonderful city Munich is – even if it is raining. And one of the first things I saw after climbing 4 flights of stairs to my brother and sister-in-law’s apartment in the Haidhousen area of Munich, was a wooden “whisper” room.

My brother is a horn player – a world-class horn player. He is presently principal horn for the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and for 30 some years was principal horn for the Munich Philharmonic. After finding this new apartment right in the middle of a park near the Iser River, he had to convince the landlord that his 3 times a day practicing wouldn’t be obstrusive. Somehow he was able to get the potential landlord to visit someone who had a “whisper” room in their apartment so that he could hear that there was really no sound emerging.

So there it was – a 13,000 Euro wooden room […]

2010-06-17T11:38:49+00:00June 17th, 2010|Categories: Technology|Tags: , |
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Me and My Equipment

You know how when you first start doing something you spend a lot of time figuring it out and you end up with something that works really great – and then over time – you end up forgetting what it was you did in the first place – and for a while that doesn’t matter – because everything is working just fine. But then it stops working fine – and like I said – you have no idea what you did in the first place – and now you are stuck with this incredible kluge job of tangled cables and settings.

That’s where I am right now. I’ve been doing voiceover work full-time now from my home studio for more than 10 years – and have slowly added this and that to the mix of equipment. In fact I have two separate “studios” – one for my phone patch and self-directed […]

2018-02-06T06:48:41+00:00May 14th, 2010|Categories: Marketing, Technology|Tags: , , , , |
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VO Booth on Wheels

My virtual good friend Philip Banks posted a video recently of his VO Booth on Wheels (he calls it the Voice and Go), but I think the technology in this article from Studio Daily tops it.

Perhaps a bit more pricey, but seems to be working for those busy celebrities who need to do some VO work in between takes on the set of their latest series. Complete with ISDN, this mobile recording studio helps prevent those pesky and expensive “no show” sessions.

It’s called Voice Over There.

Here is the article about it – http://www.studiodaily.com/blog/?p=3148

2018-02-06T06:48:41+00:00May 3rd, 2010|Categories: Announcements, Recording, Technology|Tags: , , |
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Technology Update

Never reported back about the new Toshiba laptop. Working great! Except for some sort of Toshiba software that keeps opening up telling me I have messages, it has been a seamless transition. At some point, I will spend a few minutes and turn that off.

Took just a few minutes to get the audio chain set up so that I knew I could reliably record on the road. The first set up was with the dbx mini pre-amp I have been using for years, but early in the week a new MicPort Pro arrived and that was even easier to set up. I’m hooked on it, just like everyone else I know who has one.

The only thing I am missing right now is a single piece of Auralex acoustic foam in the 2″ pyramids – not the long wedges – the little pyramids. Need to replace the old foam in my […]

2018-02-06T06:48:42+00:00April 3rd, 2010|Categories: Business, Recording, Technology|Tags: , , , , , |
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Technical Troubleshooting

Argh! Turned on the system the other day and there was a phased hum/tone thing going on in the background of my recordings. Nothing had changed (well, maybe the weather), but suddenly my output was unacceptable.

I was able to clean up the background noise well enough for auditions (and it didn’t affect my ISDN sessions), but luckily, I didn’t have any paying work that couldn’t be delayed until a fix was found.

Was it the Mackie? Was it the cable to the computer? Was it the mic cable? One thing at a time – one precious minute after minute – I eliminated and pondered. Finally, I packed up the Mackie and the cable to the computer and trundled them down to San Diego Professional Sound and Music.

Turns out the 2nd channel on the Mackie is kaput – or at least has a permanent […]

2018-02-06T06:48:43+00:00March 18th, 2010|Categories: Recording, Technology|Tags: , |
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New Toshiba Laptop Arrived

Ah, technology today. My new Toshiba Satellite laptop was on the front porch yesterday.

Open the box. Plug it in. It finds my network. Asks a couple of questions and boom, we are up and running. This one has Windows 7 on it. So far, it seems pretty self-explanatory and user friendly.

Now comes the task of loading all my software on it to see if it is user friendly for the various programs. This will take me until the end of the week probably.

The basics:

  • Adobe Audition (done, not checked yet for recording)
  • Office (at least Excel and Word – maybe Front Page for website updates on the road)
  • Vox Studio
  • Word 2 Wav
  • Paint Shop Pro
  • Miscellaneous enhancements for playing audio, video, etc.
2010-03-10T08:27:18+00:00March 10th, 2010|Categories: Business, Technology|Tags: , , |
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