http://glidesf.podomatic.com/

Audio Codecs breakdown

http://www.allstartapes.com/the-craft-brewers-conference/

February 28, 2011

http://futureofmoney.com/moneyconference/future-of-money-technology-summit-audio-022811

See the photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/octal/sets/72157626087061251/

HI, today I’m going to write a little bit about wireless microphones. Other than projectors, wireless mics can be one of the most temperamental items of gear you will use on an A/V gig. Heck, just last Sunday at Glide, we had our wireless hand-held completely drop-out due to the antenna simply falling over – and these were UHF true diversity microphones! So let’s jump right into it. I’ll first start with some basic characteristics of wireless systems and then go from there…

Wireless mics can transmit in radio waves using UHF or VHF frequencies, FM, AM, or various digital modulation schemes. Some low cost models use infrared light and require a direct line of sight between the microphone and the receiver, while costlier radio frequency models do not. Some models operate on a single fixed frequency, but the more advanced models operate on a user selectable frequency to avoid interference, and allow the use of several microphones at the same time much like in the pictures to the right of this text.

The professional models transmit in VHF (Very High Frequency) or UHF (Ultra High) radio frequency and have “true diversity” reception (two separate receiver modules each with its own antenna), which eliminates dead spots (caused by phase cancellation) and the effects caused by the reflection of the radio waves on walls and surfaces in general. In the United States, the FCC has banned devices to operate in the 698–806 MHz portion of the frequency spectrum due to their auction of the 700 MHz band to broadcasters, cable networks, television and film producers.

Digital Hybrid systems are now available and use an analog FM transmission scheme in combination with digital signal processing (DSP) to enhance the system’s audio. Pure digital systems take various forms as some systems use “frequency-hopping spread spectrum” technology, similar to that used for cordless phones (think: relay towers you see everywhere for your wireless phone). As this can require more bandwidth than a wideband FM signal, these microphones typically operate in the 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz or 6 GHz unlicensed (also known as de-regulated or licence exempt) bands.

Media One just purchased the Shure PGXD 24/Beta 58A digital wireless and we like the results so far.

And despite their “true diversity”, when working with wireless microphones, I always try and make sure the receivers have a clear line of sight to the transmitting microphone. I know the products claim they work behind closed spaces, doors or can pass through cement or wooden walls, but it has been my experience that when the receiver does not have a clear line of site to the transmitting hand-held or lavaliere microphone, you introduce “dead spots” in the transmission and drop-outs occur. This is purely from my personal experience as I am not providing technical data to support this claim. Also make sure your antennas are fanned-out much like in these photos. It just helps the frequency finds its home without having to go through more clutter.

I hope this information was helpful. Happy gigging!

PS Media One acknowledges Wikipedia for some of the technical information provided in this blog.

- by Darkstar Dan

Media One has partnered with old friend David Lee Joy of All Star Media to record every minute of the 2011 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento, CA. This is the largest wine and grape conference in the nation and twelve-thousand industry professionals attended this year’s conference. We record this symposium because, as taken off their website, “the conference represents the collective experience, knowledge and background of the entire industry. We collaborate with a diverse committee of industry and academic professionals to bring you a program with timely topics and compelling speakers.”

For me personally, I was proud to see my Alma Mater, University of California – Davis, well represented and at the forefront of developing technology beneficial to the growth, harvesting, and processing of grapes and related crops within this multi-billion dollar, world-wide industry. UC Davis was touting their brand new sustainable winery, brewery and foods complex which opened on January 28, 2011. The new, 34,000-square-foot teaching and research complex, located within UC Davis’ Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, is the world’s most environmentally sophisticated facility for making wine, brewing beer and processing foods.

The sustainable winery building will enable the teaching and research winery to demonstrate how a winery can operate on rainwater when it captures, filters and reuses that water many times. The planned building also will house equipment needed to sequester the carbon dioxide captured from the winery’s fermentation system, thus preventing damage to the atmosphere. This is expected to make it the first winery to have a net-zero carbon footprint, meaning that it captures and sequesters at least as much carbon dioxide as it produces.

I was attending U.C. Davis when they started the construction of this facility and would wonder what it would all look like when finished. Now I’ll take a ride over and check it our for myself.  And yes, for anyone wondering, I attended college a little later in life. It was weird being almost the same age as some of my professors!

All in all, the Wine & Grape Symposium was a successful and fun event. There is always new information to be learned at these conferences, lots of interesting people to meet, and some delicious wine to be tasted (a great perk of the job!)

Well, that’s our update of what we’re up to lately. Hope everyone is staying busy and healthy out there. And remember, no matter what is happening in your work or personal life at this moment, my dad used to say to me, “It’s not where you are today that matters, it’s where you see yourself going”.

I say let’s reach for the stars…

Dan & John Meyer of "Meyer Sound Labs"

Click on the following link to hear our “San Francisco Music & Technology Summit 7″ recordings from December 06, 2010 at the Hotel Kabuki.

http://www.sfmusictech.com/media.html

And to learn more about John Meyer & Meyer Sound Labs, click on the following link:

http://www.meyersound.com

http://www.glide.org/page.aspx?pid=374

“The SF MusicTech Summit brings together visionaries in the music/technology space, along with the best and brightest developers, entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, journalists, musicians and organizations who work with them at the convergence of culture and commerce.”

To see the SFMT 7 line -up, Click on the following link: 

http://www.sfmusictech.com/schedule.html

To hear our recordings from SFMT 6, click on the following link:

http://www.sfmusictech.com/listen.html

Said Jerry Garcia in song. And like Jerry, I found myself traveling so many roads, representing our Media One Archive side in the month of October. I traveled to the East Coast for a large conference and then back to the Bay Area for another recording gig. In October alone, Media One was involved in approximately 125 hours of recordings – all edited-down into 72 individual sound files and then transferred onto Flash Drives or burned onto MP3 Cd-R’s. 

The first rounds of recordings were up in Burlington, Vermont. I flew into Boston, MA, the place where I was born and raised, and drove up to Burlington for the “Over Eaters Anonymous Region 6 National Conference”. I worked this event with my bud and associate, David Lee Joy of All Star Media in San Diego, and it was a great experience. David has a great expression that rings true in our working world, “We’re only as good as the speakers we record”. That statement is especially accurate when creating archival material. 

But on to the trip… 

First of all, it was mid October in New England. The ride up to Vermont was beautiful as I took my time to cover the almost 4 hour drive. I had clear blue skies, some puffy clouds, sunshine, low 60’s temperature, and peak foliage throughout southwest New Hampshire and well into Vermont. It seemed every hilltop or turn offered a post card type of view; simple beautiful landscapes drenched in full vibrant colors. There were golds, greens, reds and oranges. And like magic rivers, they swam up mountain valleys, with colors jumping like rainbow trout up and over the hills, splashing into electric green pastures, golden haystacks, apples, tractors, red barns, maples, cows, pumpkins, blue sky, and crisp, elf-like air… I felt as if in a cartoon at times.

My plan was to stay at the Dunn Family Homestead high upon a mountain in Jericho, Vermont, about 20 minutes outside of Burlington. Dick and Donna Dunn are friends and the parents of my friend and great singer/songwriter Jesse Dunn of Montana Slim and now the Dead Winter Carpenters. This bluegrass band is based in Lake Tahoe, CA. The Dunne stay was fantastic as their hospitality was kind and comfortable. It felt like being with old family. 

The Next Day

As I neared Burlington,
it seemed to me,
that some of the trees,
were dusting themselves free,
of the leaves,
that grew upon their boughs.
They showed a little more bare,
while the branches flexed their muscles in the air.
You could almost feel the nip of winter on the air,
while hints of summer
still struggled to hang on
hoping to be spared                                                                                                                                                                                                  from the changes of the season.

And then, Burlington… 

The 3 day event had 52 individual hour-long conferences in 8 different rooms, as well as two all day “open talk” marathons from 8 am until Midnight. These were rooms where guests and attendees could essentially express their feelings to a willing and sympathetic audience: a healing benefit for those attending these conferences and a big reason why we record these events. And a great benefit for us providing Audio/Visual or Conference Recording Services is our exposure to cool events or educational seminars such as these. It has greatly enriched my life in the 20 or so years I’ve been working in this field.

In late October, I arrived back in the Bay Area for a 3 day event of the “Workaholics Anonymous World Conference” in Menlo Park, CA. I am also very happy with those recordings as I personally brought in and mixed the main session room. To save on my post production work, you better believe I had the headphones on and was riding the fader levels and EQ for clarity! Overall, as mentioned above, approximately 125 hours of recordings and lots of fun. 

The Gift of Archiving

The communication of our recordings is, quite often, healing, revealing, educational, and comforting. We try and capture the essence of the message, conference or concert through our recording techniques. These may include mic placement, mixing, audio/visual services, and post production editing. Recording is our passion and we really enjoy being out in the field with the challenges each working environment presents to us. I feel we are very good at what we do and it’s why we’re doing it for a living.

And on a related note: I have been a practioner of various audio formats for many years in my life, starting with reel-to-reels through Wave files and more. One of the more recent lessons I am learning – and I can’t believe I’m going to say this – is an appreciation for MP-3 recordings. Ahhh, but this is a subject for my next blog…

You’ll have to check back in a couple of weeks or so. Until then… 

Happy recording folks!!! 

- Dark Star Dan