The MicPort Pro is one of those pro-audio tools that gets the job done. It isn’t flashy, but makes up for the utilitarian look in performance.

You’ve likely seen them before. Small “converters” that allow you to plug a professional XLR microphone (dynamic or Phantom powered condenser) into your computers USB port. What sets the MicPort Pro apart from the crowd?

As I opened the large box, first impressions were quality with a no-nonsense appearance. The black anodized, extruded aluminum casing not only looks pro, but helps keep the internals shielded. Included in the box is a small guide, a fabric carry pouch and a 6′ long USB cable.

Visible from the top of the “tube” are 2 smooth feeling pots that allow you to separately adjust the pre-amp mic gain and the headphone monitor gain. At one end, you will find a female XLR connector. On the other end of the MicPort Pro is a mini-USB connector, a small 48 volt Phantom button complete with lighted indicator and an 1/8″ headphone connection. You will know when the MicPort Pro is plugged into a USB 1.1 or 2.0 connector because the XLR side of the capsule has a small, lighted ring that comes to life. No batteries or external power are required.

How does it perform? As I write this, the street price for a MicPort Pro runs around $149. That’s a fair amount of money and the compelling reason for trying one in Studio1A. There are basically four functions going on inside the MicPort Pro. First, there is the microphone pre-amp stage, then the analog (mic) to digital (USB) conversion, microphone headphone amplifier and finally the voltage up-conversion for Phantom power. Weighing in at 2.2 ounces and about 4.5″ long, there is a lot going on inside this small device.

The real test is plugging in my trusty phones and a well known mic to hear the MicPort Pro in action. The headphone pre-amp is extremely quiet while delivering plenty of gain. The signal you hear emanates from an analog amplifier. Keep in mind that the actual mic signal is converted to digital at 24-bit/96kHz. Windows XP Pro automatically set the MicPort Pro as my default sound device.

Although tested on Windows XP, the MicPort Pro claims Vista compatibility as well as Mac OS X Core Audio compliance. In testing the MicPort Pro on XP, I downloaded and installed the free ASIO driver from CEntrance, which was needed for recording on Sony Sound Forge 9.

One simple feature sets the MicPort Pro apart from others and justifies its price: quality.

The shear amplitude (always turn down the mic and headphone pots BEFORE plugging in) of clean monitoring audio coupled with a low-noise, linear mic pre-amp make the MicPort Pro worth every penny.

Have a listen as we try out the MicPort Pro…

MicPort Pro (street price at publish time $149.95)

Best,
MarkJensen

Seventy US Dollars doesn’t buy a lot these days. Dinner and a movie - or maybe fill up your vehicle with fuel. When it comes to pro audio gear, it’s even tougher to squeeze much value in the sub-$100 bracket. This fact was compounded, not all that long ago, when foreign trade was limited, discrete components ruled the land and the lack of internet access at every street corner made the World a much bigger place.

The mixer. That metal box with pots and/or sliders often forms the hub of our studio. For simple work, many of us don’t even require a “physical” mixer since we can virtualize these functions on screen.

For others however, the tactile feel of riding levels, the response of LED’s, and the visual feel of switching/routing signals using TRS and XLR connectors just feels right. I’m still one of those that needs to feel the comfort of a knob or slider, however large or small, to manipulate audio.

When it comes to value, Behringer is in it to win, offering sub-$100 components when few others did. When it comes to quality, some will balk at the name. But… for most of us, Behringer products simply offer unparalleled value for our money. A good example would be many years ago when I needed a simple Phantom power supply for my condenser microphone. I had the choice of spending $50 for the power supply, or the little Behringer mixer for an incredible $39, not only able to supply Phantom power, but offer discrete EQ, panning, hi-z muxing and more. Amazing!

As consumers, we have become very knowledgeable about the gear we buy. Quality has to be good and price has to be low.

Enter the latest generation of analog Behringer mixers. I selected their small 1002 model, not much bigger in size than my hand, as a simple way to plug in and add devices to my existing chain. My large console uses solder connections to a DB-25 connector, so the little 1002 sits, dwarfed in size, next to it, ready to simply pass audio, add effects, or allow me to plug in a device for testing without re-arranging the studio.

Small mixers like the 1002 are also great for video work. You may need to inject a music bed or do a quick voiceover right to your camera. The small size of the 1002 lends itself nicely to this task, being small enough to fit in a carry-on for travel.

But what sets the Behringer 1002 apart from the crowd of sub-$100 mixers? In the software world, we would add features, tighten code up, fix bugs and raise it a version. Behringer has done much of the same in hardware with their small mixer. That little $39 mixer I bought about 8 years ago is still around, but even physically, I notice the enhancements. The 1002 pots and trimmers feel much tighter and stronger. There is no doubt that the Xenyx microphone pre-amp is quieter. The “British” EQ is improved. Frankly, at this price, I don’t expect much from EQ and would much rather stay flat unless absolutely needed …but it is there, and it’s miles better than my older model.

I was very pleasantly surprised with the capabilities of the upgraded 1002FX model. I perused the 99 presets (from the nice blue glow of the LED’s) and found a very nice array of reverb, echo and slapback effects. Very nicely done. The small, but helpful array of level LED’s worked fine, along with lighted “clip” and Phantom indication.

Improved mic pre-amps, nice fit and finish, smoother EQ, built-in echo/reverb effects and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Overall, a great little compact mixer at a price that’s hard to beat.

Behringer Xenyx 1002 w/FX (street price at publish time $89.99)

Behringer Xenyx 1002 (street price at publish time $69.99)

Best,
MarkJensen

We received a great response from our last mic show - Broadcast Classics.

This week, we turn to Recording Studio microphones. The natural follow-up show would be “Recording Studio Classic” microphones. As I pondered that thought, it sounded great in my head. Then I started thinking about who may part with their classic U47, U87, a nice Ela M 251 or an AKG C12 and reality set in. Another thought was encoding audio from these mics into MP3 and goosebumps appeared.

Suffice it to say, that we’ll not hear from any of the very costly mics above on this particular show. However; for our purposes, a new wave of “classics” are right at our fingertips.

The goal for this show will be affordable large diaphram condenser “recording” microphones. Who better than to represent the first wave than MXL. MXL has been producing affordable, quality studio and general purpose mics for some time. When I started Studio1A Productions in 2005, MXL was anxious to work with me and I appreciate that.

We’ll try out 3 MXL mics that I really enjoy using. Looking at the MXL site, we can find a wide array of new models. The mics you’ll hear represent a good cross-section of that lineage, including a high-quality USB model, a tube-powered offering and finally, a hybrid - the Silicon Valve.

Hit the play button as we demo affordable, studio mics from Marshall/MXL, meant to capture voice and instruments in your studio without breaking the bank.

In no particular order, we’ll try out the:
MXL V6 Silicon Valve (street price at publish time - $221.11)
MXL V69 Mogami Edition (street price at publish time - $299)
MXL 008 USB (street price at publish time $169)

Best,
MarkJensen

Hometown for Laura and I - A photo of the Mighty Niagara

Credit: Roland Tobiasz - Licensed under Creative Commons

I used to love zipping across the nation, whether it be for business or a simple getaway.

These days, ‘there is no place like home’ - especially after 1200 miles of driving and roughly the same amount aboard a Boeing 717 (I wasn’t flying the plane).

This little get-away was a respite for Laura and I. It was great to spend time with family and we did have a wonderful time.

Now… back to business as we take on more mics, a very cool little vidcam and the promised small-frame mixers.

First priority is a freshly brewed blend of my favorite Java and then email and into Studio1A, where we’ll all meet up to chat about the gear that makes it happen.

Chat with you soon…

Best,
MarkJensen

The venerable Electro-Voice RE-20 microphone.

When I think of radio and broadcasting (new media or traditional), microphones come to mind as the most up-front, intimate part of the gear that gets us “on-the-air”.

Of course, there are thousands of microphones out there. …everything from the inexpensive electrets in our laptops to the classic studio standards. When talking about studio recording microphones, names like Telefunken and Neumann come to mind.

In radio, Electro-Voice, Sennheiser and Shure are the staples, with the Heil PR series making its mark as a relative newcomer. The Rode Broadcaster, also fairly new on the scene is highly regarded.

I am certain that in other geographical areas, the names would be different. As well, I can almost hear the email inbox filling with suggestions of names I have overlooked. I purposely designed this show as a small, virtual tour of my experiences in the control rooms of stations, both past and present. No doubt, there are many others, but these few mics we will demonstrate have had a profound effect on me as a broadcaster.

Radio broadcast microphones are selected for their tough-as-nails physical attributes along with their smooth response. Unlike a recording studio environment, radio broadcast mics are usually (that trend is changing) dynamics and not overly sensitive, both physically and sonically.

In no particular order, we’ll try out the:
Electro-Voice RE-20 (street price at publish time - $399)
Electro-Voice RE-27 (street price at publish time - $449)
Heil PR-40 (street price at publish time $320)
Rode Broadcaster (street price at publish time $419)

Although absent from this audio cast, the following are just as deserving of broadcast fame:
Sennheiser MD-421II (street price at publish time $379)
Shure SM-7B (street price at publish time $349)

Best,
MarkJensen

Let me correct that title by saying “extensive Post Production Editing”.

Last week, as I was jumping around the boards and Social Networks, several people mentioned they were post-producing their Podcast and how long it took. Since they were audio, I couldn’t help but wonder what could take so long? Many people prefer to process and normalize in post - that makes perfect sense, but only takes a few minutes. Be careful not to cut out every small blunder in your cast. Let’s face it; those are sometimes the best parts!

I know, …there are times and situations when serious post production is necessary. I’ve had things fall, spill my water or coffee along with other cataclysmic events and decided to edit away. I’m convinced that the freedom to record at different times of the day along with the ability to do re-takes adds a completely different feel to a cast. Recording when you’re tired and after a long day is always a recipe for many re-takes.

The point, however, is to get used to a “radio” workflow. How many perfect radio shows have I ever had? The answer is none.

How about phone interviews? Do you record your voice and the callers on 2 separate channels and then process them separately? How about just recording a mono channel and leave it at that - mistakes/levels and all? Some of the classic and most important interviews of all time were never processed afterwards on separate channels.

Admittedly, there are many, many times I would have liked to edit things out.

As a 19 year old kid, I was working afternoon drive time and filling in on weekends. My most fervent distraction was the request line. I still remember the vertical row of LEDs flashing on the control room phone, each signaling a listener that couldn’t wait to talk with me. How many cues did I miss while talking with listeners? It was all live and if a cart didn’t fire, the splice broke or if you were on the phone when that :28 second (it was supposed to be a :30!) spot ended, then the dreaded dead-air just happened. Tertiary and secondary tones helped, but what if I forgot to turn on the sequencer? Dead air again.

The very worst was the realization that you had a “live” read coming up in 2 seconds, without a pre-read. …now those were classic moments in broadcast improv

There were many other issues that could ruin that potentially “perfect show”. How about an hours worth of stacked Fidelipac carts falling on the turntable playing Dan Ingrams Top 40 Satellite Survey and hearing the screech of the needle as it bounced across fresh vinyl. If only video cams were around to see me running into the control room door and frantically reaching for my phones just as the song faded out. Of course, the Optimod or Vol-U-Max locked-on and raised the noise floor of amplitude-modulated static nicely, but listeners didn’t complain at all. The GM and PD were another story.

With voice-tracking, automation and the loss of those beautiful QRK turntables with wooden tone arms, operator error is a bit less common, but still happens.

The long list of “million-plus” talk show hosts forever use the grammatically incorrect “uh, ah, and so” fill-ins along with the dreaded double “uh” as well.

Software has made it very tempting to sanitize our shows, but I say - leave it as is. Unless you need to bleep something out or run into the audio equivalent of a natural disaster, let it go and put it on the air. These mistakes, whether they be verbiage or other are part of our character.

I constantly try to tame my poor verbal habits, but the truth is that we’re all human and we all make mistakes. Have fun with it!

Best,
MarkJensen

The Presonus Monitor Station

My Presonus FirePods are among the oldest (Podcast specific) gear in Studio1A. They just work. I’m tempted to try the new FireStudio series, but the FirePods are just so good and work transparently with my gear.

I got in touch with Presonus about the Monitor Station, which really intrigued me. I had no idea if it would work in the slightly unconventional way I envisioned.

The idea behind the Monitor Station is to, well …monitor. For me, being able to monitor my audio in real-time isn’t an option, it’s a requirement. The Monitor Station allows audio routing in different ways while providing a central monitoring post with 4 (volume adjustable) headphone jacks.

Plug in 2 or 3 sets of professional powered speakers, including a sub-woofer if you like. Switch using latch (one speaker on turns the other off) or open (multiple speakers on at once) - the choice is yours in the setup config.

The Monitor Station also has a consumer level aux/phono input (using consumer connectors). A built-in electret mic with momentary-on switch is included, but you can also use your own talkback mic as an option.

To sum it up, the Monitor Station has 2 pro (stereo or A/B) inputs using TRS connectors, an aux/phono input and 3 outputs with multiple routing options. You can also route inputs to a separate Cue Source and even use the talkback system as an intercom that won’t be recorded.

Back to the 4 headphone connection amplifier (with discrete levels). They can each be switched to monitor the main or cue buss.

I must admit that after having 3 different reference monitors that it was overkill. I only needed 1 and decided to keep my Yamahas. A cool idea is to ‘test’ your mix using Mix Cubes. The Cubes and their ideology will be for another show.

I had a completely different idea for using the Monitor Station. Listen in and hear how it turned out!

Best,
MarkJensen

It’s a simple concept and several people this week, from different parts of the world, asked me this question… What is the best way to get that “radio” sound?

The debate reminds me of the never ending clash of political parties and viewpoints. Some people strive for the “pure” sound, with the goal of sonic transparency. Others long for the punch and whollop (is that a word?) of decades old Top 40 CHR and BOSS radio - just as it was meant to be - compressed like crazy.

I’d like to think Studio1A is somewhere in the middle, with an admitted slant towards (only slightly) pushing the compressor.

It takes good engineering skills to push the limit and get punch while not being so compressed that our ears (actually our brain) becomes fatigued.

Commercial RF broadcast chains are filled with compression, leveling, AGC/ALC and a myriad of patented sonic alterations. Although the world of digital signal “routing” has simplified, and at least theoretically, cleaned up the signal chain it is more important than ever to have tight control of your audio - whichever path you select.

For the world of New Media, there are several emerging choices to achieve aural control of your signal at a fraction of old-world prices.

The simplest form of getting the sound you desire is with a vocal strip. Of course, I’m talking mainly real-time appliances vs. software. A vocal strip is designed to give you control over amplitude, passband, filtering and even some custom (voice tailored) equalization on most strips.

However; after feeding your mic into your vocal strip, where does the sound go? Feed it right back into your mixer or console. Most vocal strips will transform and boost your mics signal up to line level, so feed the vocal strip right into your mixers line-in. Most consumer type mixers offer a line in that is basically an attenuated mic pre-amp on the first channel or 2. This will add noise to your signal, vs. a non pre-amp (true line level) channel. The question remains whether you (or your listeners) will perceive this noise if you use an attenuated mic in on your mixer?

Everything else being equal, there’s no question that .0001 Total Harmonic Distortion is cleaner than .001 THD - but can you really hear the difference? More importantly is how the figures were measured, but that’s for a completely different show.

The output of your vocal strip enters a channel on your mixer. For our purposes, you would then take the sum output (usually main outs) of your mixer to a Final Processor. This processor has the final say on conditioning your audio, such as split-band processing, ALC/AGC and soft or hard limiting. This last piece of hardware outputs your audio to its means of transmission whether it be a computer, transmitter or stream.

This simple audio topology will help get you closer to achieving a big consistent sound.

Best,
MarkJensen

Well, the Studio1A Vidcast tests were definitely a hit considering stats and emails.

I did receive 1 email that reminded me of my own fears launching video. The first issue is just how long each cast would take to produce and post-produce. The 2nd concern was more of the 1st.

I quickly found out that things like lighting and studio layout along with wearing the proper color shirt had to be taken into account (my plaid wardrobe is extensive). Multiple takes were a necessity in changing camera angles to properly show an item. …and then, there’s the issue of a 2nd person in studio to aim the camera after the static shot ‘intro’.

Another issue is the length of the Vidcast in proportion to the file size.

The last issue may just be the most important. I wonder just how many people would rather ‘listen’ to this Podcast since they do so during their morning or afternoon drive time.

Contrast the drive time audience with the boom in YouTube, Blip.TV and dozens of others, not to mention the untapped potential of Apple TV.

I’m finding the best route, so far, is to offer both mediums, visual and audio in no particular order based on show content. Sometimes, I think a Vidcast will really help explain an item as we open the virtual ‘window’ in Studio1A, turning knobs and punching (not literally) buttons. Other times, expecially when I drone on during long shows with Laura, an audio-only format may be a better fit.

So; be sure to join us as we continue to experiment with the formula and evolve.

Best,
MarkJensen

The unique Blue Snowflake USB mic

Leave it to the people at Blue Microphones to create yet another unique design.

The Blue Snowflake is like no other compact USB mic I have tried.  It has traditional Blue quality, fit and finish.  The audio quality is surprisingly full, considering its $59 street price.

The small, round head swivels easily and the unique mount allows for setting it on a table or the top of your laptops display.

With a small tray to hold the (included) USB cable and the mic itself, the Snowflake can easily drop into your pocket or a laptop case, ready for high-quality, on the go recording, Skype or Podcasting.

Check out the Snowflake.

Best,

MarkJensen