There weren’t a lot of them but more than most airlines have, for sure
Category Archives: Podcasting
New Media Gear: Roland R-07 Audio Recorder via Bless This Stuff
Your iPhone is pretty handy for making quick audio recordings, but unfortunately, the quality of the recordings isn’t good enough for actual music making. Roland´s new sleek and ultra-portable audio recorder works with iPhone and Apple Watch, allowing wireless listening and remote control. The Roland R-07 gives you the quality of a proper recorder with stereo mics, and the convenience of an iPhone app. But the best feature is that you can control the recorder from your Apple Watch. You can lay the recorder wherever you like, and trigger it from your wrist. For example a guitarist could place it next to an amp speaker, sit down on the other side of the room, and record interesting ideas at will using the remote.
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An interesting link found among my daily reading
New Media Gear: Razer Seiren X Microphone ($100) via Geeky Gadgets
Razer Seiren X Microphone Now Available For $100 via Geeky Gadgets
As well as launching their new Razer Kiyo streaming camera, Razer has also unveiled a new desktop microphone they have created in the form of the Razer Seiren X which is now available to purchase priced at $99.99
Equipped with supercardioid pick-up pattern to reduce background noise, the new microphone has been designed to complement the new Kiyo web camera which is also now available to purchase priced at $99.99.
Specifications of the Razer Seiren X Microphone :
- Condenser microphone made for streaming
- Supercardioid pick-up pattern to reduce background noise
- Built-in shock mount to dampen vibrations
- Mute button
- Zero-latency 3.5 mm headphone monitoring port
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13 ways to come up with fresh content ideas via The Next Web
You’ve heard it before: Content is king. Crafting valuable content can help hook new customers and keep your current ones engaged. But coming up with fresh, new ideas can be challenging, especially if your product or service falls within a narrow market.To help prevent your content from becoming stale, I asked 13 members of YEC the following question:What is one unconventional way your content team sources ideas for creating fresh content?
New Media Gear: Lavalier Mic Furry Windscreen Muff/Micromuff
New Media Gear: Lavalier Mic Furry Windscreen Muff/Micromuff
Sometimes the simplest needs are the most important needs. I have gotten tired of losing the little foam windscreens that came with my fav mics. One bump and they drop off. If I am shooting in the garden they are often gone forever. Leaf litter is very unforgiving to dropped items. It swallows them up before you can even see where they have dropped.
Looking for a replacement, I decided to go for windscreens that were less likely to drop off and were more effective at blocking wind noise. Again, filming out in the garden with even a small breeze can give my mics trouble, so these muff-type windscreens seemed just the “step up” I needed.
I have found these to be very useful in both ways. First, the elastic makes them easy to install and yet they fit tightly enough that there is now way you are going to knock them off the mic. They are also easy to remove, though, so another big advantage.
Second, they do significantly cut down on wind noise as should be expected by their design. In my experience, “Furry” windscreens offer a better method of dissipating wind than any foam windscreen. It also seems to cut down on the noise created should a interview subject happen to brush against them during a recording.
This is a simple yet important and effective upgrade for my podcasting kit. You might find them useful, too!
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What I’m “Driving” Today via Instagram
Podcast recording underway for client. Interviews and more!
Join me on Douglas E. Welch Photography on Facebook
Zoom H5 (and other recorders) from Amazon
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Great Looking Interviews – 2 minute filmmaking tutorial via Tom Antos
See in 2 minutes how I setup an interview that works in any situation. In this video I show 5 different lighting setups.The project we filmed is a documentary about Canadians soldiers in World War I. It’s produced by Spinning Rabbit Productions. If you’d like to see the finished documentary, please follow their Facebook page.
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Elgato’s Cam Link turns your DSLR into a souped-up webcam via Engadget

Most of the time, I buy cameras for specific purposes. My DSLR exists to capture vacation photos and product shots for Engadget reviews. When I go on hikes or long bike rides, I pull out a GoPro Hero4. For some reason, however, I just can’t bring myself to buy a dedicated webcam for Twitch streaming or YouTube vlogs. I already have a handful of great consumer cameras — shouldn’t I be able to use one of those? In reality, that’s easier said than done: Most cameras simply aren’t designed to push a live feed out to a PC. It’s a problem I’ve spent hours trying to solve, but never did. Then, I heard about the Elgato Cam Link, a USB capture device that can turn any camera with HDMI output into a functional webcam.
An interesting link found among my daily reading
The Top 10 Best Audio Interfaces for Your Recording Needs via The Wire Realm
So you’re looking to solidify your studio with the best audio interface? To us, this is one of the most important parts of making music and we consider it to be the star on top of the Christmas tree. Without an audio interface, you simply can’t record optimally. Your gear is essentially missing half of its power and capabilities without one of these in your studio. The best audio interfaces help us with sound quality, phantom power and amplification, more overall control of our gear, organization of all of our inputs\outputs into one device, and lastly make the pesky concept of latency disappear. Today we highlight our top 10 audio interface picks available in the market and give you some info to help ease your shopping adventures.
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An interesting link found among my daily reading
20 MUVI X-Lapse 360-Degree Photography and Timelapse Accessory | Douglas E. Welch Gift Guide 2017
See all the 2017 Gift Guide Entries
20 MUVI X-Lapse 360-Degree Photography and Timelapse Accessory
I picked one of these up on sale a few months ago and have found a variety of uses for it. It only plans right to left, since it is based on a mechanical timer, but it is a great way to start integrating movement into you time-lapse movies without spending hundreds of dollars on more complex motorized camera sliders. It is cheap enough to just have fun with it.
- Create 90° degree (15 minutes), 180° degree (30 minutes), 270° degree (45 minutes), 360° degree (60 minutes) sweeping time-lapse films.
- Create 90° degree, 180° degree, 270° degree, 360° degree panoramic pictures
- Mount cameras up to 750 grams on the standard 1/4 -20 UNC male tripod screw thread. Perfect for the MUVI HD or other actions cameras with continuous photo mode
- Standard 1/4 -20 UNC female tripod screw thread for mounting on Veho DuoPod tripod or other tripod systems and integral fold out feet to stabilize and support larger cameras
- Ships with iPhone/Smartphone holder to enable panoramic time lapse photography using your smartphone with apps such as Time Lapse Pro, Glimpse Pro, Osnap
A Device That Turns Almost Any Camera Into A Webcam via Gizmodo
Game capture hardware maker Elgato made streaming a little bit fancier this week with the release of Cam Link, a $129 USB device that allows users to use any camera with an HDMI output as a webcam. Plus it also does game capture. It’s pretty nifty.
- Easily connect your DSLR, camcorder, or action cam to your PC or Mac
- Go live on any platform in No time thanks to ultra-low-latency technology
- Broadcast in stunning quality up to 1080P at 60 FPS
- Shoot and produce within your favorite tools
- Record footage directly to your Hard Drive without time restrictions
An interesting link found among my daily reading
Even Amateur Filmmakers Can Afford This Tiny Motion Control Camera Rig via Gizmodo
Motion control rigs capable of repeatedly recreating smooth, controlled camera movements usually cost tens of thousands of dollars, and they require trained operators to set up and use. But Edelkrone’s new SurfaceONE costs just $690 and apparently can be configured in just a few minutes using a smartphone app as a remote control.
The rigs used in Hollywood, often for complicated special effect shots that require multiple takes, aren’t going to be replaced by the SurfaceONE anytime soon. Edelkrone’s creation can only move in two-dimensions as it rolls around on a flat surface, the camera itself can’t autonomously tilt or swivel. But thanks to a built-in laser pointer that makes it easier to set up a shot, you can ensure your subject will always be in frame as the camera slowly arcs around it.
An interesting link found among my daily reading
New Gear Review: Raspberry USB Microphone from Blue via SonicScoop
Blue has created a new USB-powered microphone for podcasters, voice-over actors, and songwriters in need of an on-the-go recording solution.
This new Raspberry mic is their most compact yet, with some new patent-pending technology under its memorable retro-futurist casing.
Features
The Raspberry is a bus-powered cardioid condenser microphone with a built-in headphone amp, featuring A/D conversion at 16 and 24-bits and 44.1 or 48kHz, with Lightning USB connectivity.
Blue has implemented their patent-pending “Internal Acoustic Diffuser” (IAD) technology, a key feature that is meant to set the Raspberry apart from other USB microphones geared toward the podcasting and portable voiceover mic markets.
The IAD technology is much like the acoustic diffusion you might see in a concert hall or recording studio. It has been designed to fit inside the microphone to help minimize the ringy or boxy sound that so often goes along with capturing audio outside of a well-treated professional studio environment. Through this feature, Blue claims the mic should allow for a clearer, more present and more focused-sounding recording, regardless of the limitations of the room itself.
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An interesting link found among my daily reading
Timbre is a totally free app for editing video and audio via Android Authority
Good audio and video editing tools are somewhat hard to come by on mobile — a sentiment shared by app developer Xeus. The dev was prompted to create the Timbre: Cut, Join, Convert mp3 app after failing to find a “decent” tool for doing the same in the Play Store. And what Xeus has come up with is certainly an effective tool.
Despite the name, Timbre lets you do more than just edit mp3s: you can split and join audio or video, remove sections within a range, and combine files together, as well as remove the sound from your videos or create audio tracks from them.
Learn more about podcasting with this book
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Available of the LA Public Library (9 books/1 ebook)
An interesting link found among my daily reading
Three History Podcasts That Aren’t “Hardcore History” via Lifehacker
Three great podcasts to add to my already crowded playlist. I am a history geek and have several shows that give interesting, insightful looks into history we might not know well. These will be a great addition — Douglas
Three History Podcasts That Aren’t “Hardcore History” via Lifehacker
Nothing against Dan Carlin’s “Hardcore History,” but it seems to eat up all the publicity for history podcasts. That’s a shame, because the podcast format is a fantastic way to dive into a thirty-hour history of the French Revolution, or snack on a 12-minute account of how Warren G. Harding, betrayed by his corrupt Cabinet, publicly projected all his feelings onto his dog Laddie Boy.
Read Three History Podcasts That Aren’t “Hardcore History” via Lifehacker
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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
Roland GO:MIXER for iPhone/iPad via Bless This Stuff
This could be an excellent addition to your New Media audio kit, whether for music or podcasting. Record direct to iPhone or iPad. — Douglas
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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
An interesting link found among my daily reading
Record Your Project With a “Catapult Tripod” via Hackster’s Blog
With more and more of us doing live streaming and YouTube videos — along with tech projects and other closeup video work — this little DIY “tripod” could be a great item for your toolkit. I know it would come in really handy for me when I am doing an Arduino or Raspberry Pi video and trying to show people how to cook up jumpers to the — for me — tiny IO pins on these boards. Heck, I practically need a magnifying glass when I do it, so anything I can do to help them see it more clearly would be a great benefit Of course, it doesn’t just have to be tech videos. This would be great for painting demos, craft projects and any other small thing that you are trying to demo. — Douglas
Read Record Your Project With a “Catapult Tripod” via Hackster’s Blog
An interesting link found among my daily reading
Forecast Provides High Quality Live Video Streaming From Any Camera (video) via Geeky Gadgets
Photographers looking for a simple system to send live streaming video from almost any available camera may be interested in a new piece of hardware called Freecast.Freecast has been specifically designed to wirelessly cast live video to production monitors or iOS devices allowing you to share video footage in real time from a camera straight to social media or other sources.
An interesting link found among my daily reading
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert [Book]
I first saw mention of Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear in some magazine I was reading. There were several writing and creativity books mentioned and I quickly requested those I hadn’t previously read from my local library. What I hadn’t noticed, until I started reading the book was that it was written by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love. This often happens to me. I don’t recognize famous people out in public or important people in a company or government. It is just not something I am attuned to. In this case, I might not even have started to the read the book had I known more about the author. Sometimes coming to a new resource “cold” allow you to take in important lessons without any preconceptions.
One big thing I agree with Gilbert on is that writing — like many creative pursuits — is indeed magic. Whether I have been writing, performing music, singing with a choir, performing solo or walking onstage in the play or musical, there is something amazingly magical in what results. Thinking that creativity is magic doesn’t mean that it is unattainable for everyone, though, only that we have to treat creativity as something that is special and — most importantly — something that everyone should experience, as often as possible, in their lives.
Big Magic isn’t a book about writing, with special exercises, meditations, or prescriptions. Rather it is a book about having and coping with a creative life. Creativity is always seen as something special — found only in select others — and this can lead to our own denial of its power and rewards and our own abilities. In a section entitled Permission, Gilbert says that we should all be “entitled”. This is a loaded word these days, but the fact is, we should all feel entitled to engage in creativity throughout our lives, regardless of what others might say or do or how much they try to dissuade us. Creativity is a certain, inalienable right, like those others laid out in the Declaration of Independence. In fact, I consider it one large part of “the pursuit of happiness” that Jefferson gave such importance.
One of the most important lessons Gilbert imparts is one that many creatives might not want to hear. She says that, in most cases, you shouldn’t depend on or expect your creativity to support you financially. In fact, she thinks this is one of the best ways to kill of your creativity entirely. If you expect your music or poetry or photography to support you, you quickly turn the magical into drudgery. What you once loved to do becomes a hateful burden and if allowed to continue, will kill your desire to create.
Sure, some lucky few might be able to support themselves from their creativity, but most will not. In fact, she says, “with rare exceptions, creative fields make for crap careers. (They make for crap careers, that is, if you define a “career” as something that provides for your financially in a fair and foreseeable manner, which is a pretty reasonable definition of a career.)”
No matter how successful you may become, there will still be aspects of any job that you hate — the bureaucracy, the finances, the constant travel and more. On the other hand, Gilbert says, “Creative living can be an amazing vocation, if you have the love and courage and persistence to see it that way.” For myself, I often say, “Love your creativity, but don’t necessarily expect for it to love you back.” There is much to be gained from creativity, but money not be the most abundant nor important.
Big Magic is divided into short, easily consumable, sections — more like a collection of essays, although unlike some similar books, it holds together well as a complete book, too. You can read it from cover to cover, as I did, or jump from essay to another as your mood — and your creative need — strikes you.
Come to Big Magic to help you understand and better manage your own creative life. Creativity is never an easy path, as either vocation or avocation, but it is amazing and something that everyone should experience in some way. Like most things in life, though, having a guide along a strange and confusing path is always more helpful than we might like to admit. Consider Big Magic one such guide in your creative life. Now, head out on your own creative journey.
Other books by Elizabeth Gilbert
See more of her books on Amazon
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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
** 74 copies of Big Magic are available to check out from the Los Angeles Public Library
On YouTube: Phone on a gimbal? Mobile filmmaking feat. Smooth Q from Fenchel & Janisch
I have been looking at one of these gimbals for a long time, but haven’t found one that I really NEED. This Smooth q at only $139 could be a possibility, though. Watch below for a complete review with all the pros and cons. — Douglas
Watch Phone on a gimbal? Mobile filmmaking feat. Smooth Q from Fenchel & Janisch
Get your own Smooth Q or other iPhone gimbals from Amazon
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