Posted by Ub3rG33k on Apr 18, 2009 in
Tech Over the post 6 months or so, I’ve become heavly involved with recording audio for a number of projects we work on, over at Fictionshed. If you listen back to the earlier podcasts (Fictioncasts), you’ll here me say, that you don’t need any specialised equiptment to record your voice, and a standard PC, with cheap mic will do…..the rest of this post will be me eating my words.
Due to getting a not the quality I wanted from the cheap headphone/mic combination, Tony kindly lent me a mixer and a couple of mics. This did improve the quality, however gave me some hard background noise.
In January, and with the ScutterCast in mind, I decided to splash out and get myself a MacBook Pro, as this was the only way I could find to do an enhanced podcast. The sound quality with the MacBook was a massive improvement, however the internal mic gave me a “roomy” type sound to my voice, which has been ok, however I needed something a little more direct.
After weeks of looking at the Samson C01U, the SL300 USB Studio Microphone and even the Samson G-Track, however Tony suggested I get the same as him, which was the M-Audio Fast Track Pro, as I already had the mic
Well Friday it finally turned up, and due to spending my Friday evening editing together the latest ScutterCast, I’ve only had chance to get to play with it today.
All I can say, is this thing is MINT ! It’s exactly the sound I’ve been wanting, it’s crisp, it’s clean, and NO background noise !
I now feel I’m set up to record the machinima project, this will also mean a lot less editing on the ScutterCasts, as I usually spend an age increasing the volume on my voice.
My setup is now as follows
MacBook Pro
M-Audio Fast Track Pro
AKG D650S Microphone
Stand & Pop Shield
I’ve included a small audio clip so you can hear the quality
maudio_test.mp3
Tags: audio, fast, Fictionshed, m, mac, mic, pro, track
Posted by Ub3rG33k on Jan 10, 2009 in
Apple 
Gotta love the apple packaging
What’s underneath the MacBook Pro
The stylishly designed document holder
The multi ended power supple cable (which if you didn’t know is held onto the Mac with a magnet, so no fear of breaking off the end of the power adapter if you were to trip over the cable, Clever I know !)
Well, in true geek style, I thought I’d take shots of the unboxing of the MacBook Pro.
btw, forgot to mention in my previous blog “Apple Day, Hurray !” , that we went to the Apple store, because the one I had ordered, was due to turn up on Wednesday, and I’m just far to impatient, got home, only to find it had been delivered and left with the neighbour ! I know, the irony ! However it did mean that both myself and C could start the Apple learning curve together.
Below is the shiny new one from the Apple Store
and here are the 2
So, on with the unboxing
Out of the box
The huge trackpad
The left hand side connectors
The SuperMutli Drive Slot
Such a nice Gloss Screen
The first switch on !
The welcome message
The backlit keyboard
Finally the lit up Apple logo on the back
Below is the now slightly over crowded computer room
However, C may have lost her MacBook to the cat, as he seems to think it’s his new bed, lol
Tags: Apple, mac, macbook
Posted by Ub3rG33k on Jan 9, 2009 in
Apple 
Well, as planned, we went to the Apple store in Leicester after work today.
If you’ve never been to an Apple store before, then I can highly recommend it. If you asked me to describe what heaven looked like, it would be an Apple store.
We walked though the …… looking for the store as we’ve never venture to …. before. Walked through the carpark, through John Lewis (the store, not a person, LOL)….saw next, new look and the I saw it, no words outside the shop, just a huge 10 foot illuminated apple logo above the door. I swear, it was like seeing a roller coaster for the first time 
(as you can probably tell, this is the first time I’ve been to a Apple store, I know, I need to get out more)
Walking into the store itself, first table had 6 macbooks, all connected to Iphones, next table had MacBook Pro’s both the 15″ and 17″ models all connected to Iphones, all with internet access.
Down the outside wall, there was just a wall of Imac 24″ s (so nearly bought one of them too).
The staff in there were chilled, very chilled, weren’t pushy and really helpful, Very very sweet place !
Anyway, to cut a long ish story short, we walked out of there is a 15.4″ MacBook Pro, a pair of the earbud headphones, a wireless mighty mouse, and a dock for my Ipod Touch
Tags: Apple, earbud, ipod, leicester, mac, macbook, pro