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As the year 2011 turns into a fond mix of gratitude and wonderful memories, I am incredibly fortunate to have you as part of our audience.

Laura and I wish everyone, both near and far, Merry times until we shortly ring in the year new.

@markjensen

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Funny how things happen. I had this show ready to post on December 24th. Basically, our Macs are used for video and PC’s for audio. Laura and I recorded this show (and many others) on my trusty Dell XPS laptop, but didn’t post at the studio. It was time to shut down Studio1A for the Holidays, so I’d normalize, tag and post at home. As a precaution – I uploaded the raw WAV file to our off-site server. Always good to backup.

Surprise! I booted up later that evening and ‘POOF’. Well, the laptop didn’t really make any noise, but that’s part of the problem. My M1710 started displaying strange screen patterns – even at POST. It was toast. Of course, that has nothing to do with our show, except for timing …and the sad departure of a good ole’ Core 2 Duo audio partner.

Laura and I had fun talking about some of the stand-out gear of the year. I realized later that a lot of very cool field gear never made it into the categories. This really is a core, popular list of the gear that gets mentioned most in emails and on the channels.

In with the new. A very Happy 2010 from the people at Studio1A!

My personal picks for this, and the other categories are based on my own studio, clients and preferences. A few things I always keep in mind (besides performance) is ambient noise and how the mics will be used. A large diaphragm condenser is great if your studio is well isolated. Otherwise, a dynamic may be the only practical choice.

Surprisingly, the two mics listed below are very forgiving (compared to some) of room noise considering one is a condenser and the other is an electret (form of condenser).

Final processors for radio and television are prohibitively expensive and complex. Amazingly – in the last 5 years or so, much of this high-end processing power is now available to home studio owners. Typical functionality in a final processor may be multi-band compression, leveling, limiting and a myriad of other functions depending on the make and model.

Having said all that, the choices for a home studio final processor are still slim. I almost started to include others, but found only one that is currently under $1000USD and performs quite well. No doubt, prices will lower on other brands and soon there will be more competition. As it stands now, my personal pick is the Finalizer Express from TC Electronics.

Final Processing that Should Cost More! The TC Electronics Finalizer Express.

MIXERS/CONSOLES

First – a mixer and console. What’s the difference? Using my own definition, an audio mixer is designed for music recording. That means you can tailor the channel(s) with a trimmer, EQ or even pan.

A radio, or broadcast console doesn’t allow you EQ or pan audio on the fly. The reason? In a commercial setting, the dynamics and spectral sound is the job of an engineer; not the talent. The on-air personality should be able to adjust levels, assign outputs and select bus assignments, but that’s about it.

In the context of a small, but professional studio, I selected my favorite budget mixer and a few excellent consoles. There is a huge difference between a budget mixer and an on-air console – both in price and functionality.

The 10 Channel Yamaha MG102C-CA. Yamaha Quality on a Budget.

The Standard in Broadcast Consoles. The AudioArts (by Wheatstone) AIR 1 is a True Broadcast Console.

A New Era. The Henry SixMix Brings Back Memories of a Miniature Gates Console.

Studio1A is Powered by Panamax UPS Line Protection…

Studio1A BlueMax Lighting by full spectrum solutions…

Drop me a line with comments, thoughts and suggestions:
mark at newmediagear dot com

Best,
Mark Jensen & Laura