Heil PR40

My new PR40 microphone just arrived today. It is one of the best sounding microphones I've heard in its price range. Its a front address (end fire), wide frequency range, dynamic microphone and it sounds incredible. Not too many people know about this line of mics, or even the company and it is my mission to spread the word about this awesome mic!

My good friend Bob Strakele (FOH for Billy Talent, Simple Plan, Bouncing Souls, etc) first introduced me to this awesome mic. He put the Heil PR40 on Jeff Stinco's (Simple Plan) guitar cabinet as well as a Sennheiser e906 and we compared the two mics through his headphones. The difference was night and day. The PR40 had a rich full deep bodied sound as well as crisp and not overbearing highs. The e906 in comparison seemed to be missing a lot of low end, as well as sounding to thin and a little muddy. Bob owns four PR40's and several other PR30's as well. He uses them on kick an snare drums, toms, guitar, bass, and even vocals. Now that I have one, I can do the same!

Some of the best features of this microphone are:

1) It's dynamic, yet still sounds like a condenser.

2) The noise cancelation on it in phenomenal.

3) It has MANY potention uses in all kinds of situations.

4) Its large diaphram picks up the lows like nobodys business!

5) It can handle huge SPL's before clipping.

Its an excelent mic for live performance, as well as broadcasting, and in the studio. I'm not going to go into too much detail but look HERE for the specs, ad look HERE for a great review.

Homemade "Subkick"

Ever seen the Yamaha Subkick? It's basically a speaker that you use as a microphone on a kick drum. Because the diaphram is so large (6.5") it produces a LOT of low end signal. Way more than most microphones can produce. The only turnoff for me is the $400+ pricetag. I however made my own for the lovely cost of $20.

I have seen some different homemade and authentic "Subkicks" in my travels and they were all pretty much the same. There are some very impressive and complex versions like the one HERE, but I decided to follow the KISS rule and keep is super simple. I went to a local pawn shop and bought an old car audio 6.5" subwoofer. I then took an XLR cable and reverse soldered + and - wires onto the leads on the speaker. I also have a phase reverse cable for it just in case I have phasing issues. In the future I may make a couple attenuators/PAD's for it as well. The only thing I have to conjure up now is some way of mounting it. I'll keep you updated...

Zoom H4

I have to write an article about the Zoom H4 Handheld Recorder. This handy little grey box is one of the best investments I have made as a live sound engineer. I have used it in many formats and in many places and it never lets me down. I have recorded rock shows, radio interviews, acoustic performances, and even ambient nature sounds and it has worked marvelously every time. I use it mostly for recording the live shows that I mix to play back to the artist for them to critique. They usually critique thier playing more than the mix though which is a good sign for me. Either way its a valuable tool to have in your gear collection. Its a great way to record your shows without having to spend a few thousand bucks on a pro tools rig, and the fact that it fits in your shirt pocket is a bonus too. Its impressive the amount of features that you get out of this little thing all for for less than $300.

The Zoom H4 a handheld recorder can be used by a musician, sound engineer, or hobbyist. It features many recording options including built in condenser mics, combined XLR and 1/4” line and mic inputs, and it can also be used as an audio I/O interface with your computer. It has various recording formats including .WAV in either 96, 48, or 44.1 kHz, as well as .mp3 format up to 320 kbps. It also uses an SD card for storage. My 2GB SD card can record up to 14 hours of audio in mp3 format at 320kbps.

The built in condenser microphones are very good quality considering the actual cost of the unit. They pick up a lot of low end, as well as crisp highs. They can be set to 3 different gain settings to suit whatever recording situation you are put into. A wind sock is also included with the recorder for outdoor and close up vocal recording. You have the option of either using the built in mics, or the XLR / 1/4” inputs. Not only can you plug in a sound board or media feed, but the recorder's built in phantom power allows you to use virtually any microphone as well. The cherry on the cake is the ability to plug in any instruments which uses a 1/4” connector. The unit also has built in effects to give you all kinds of tones including, phasing, chorus, fender amp emulations, distortion, reverb, and many others.

You can use either the stereo recording format, which records a stereo mix using either the built in mics, or the inputs, or you can use the 4 track option which allows you to record up to 4 seperate tracks of whatever you want. In 4 track mode, you can play back a previous track while recording a new one as well. After your 4 tracks are recorded you can mix each one down to a stereo track. Its a portable demo maker! Heres an example of what you can do:

On a rainy day you are noodling on your acoustic guitar in your living room. You find a cool chord progression and you want to remember it. You pull out your handy H4, plug in in to your guitar (or just use the built in mics), throw on a nice warm fender amp tone and record your song. You play it back and pick up your guitar and play a neat lead guitar part over top. Why not record it! Once thats done you decide to add a vocal track to it by plugging in your favorite microphone (hopefully not an SM58 :P) and your headphones and singing your heart out.While your at it you might as well pull out your old Keyboard out of your closet and throw down a quick key solo. Use the onboard mixer and save it as a stereo mp3 file. Plug in the H4 to your laptop and e-mail it whoever you want! Awesome...simply awesome...

Oh and did I mention that you can buy one for under $300?! Awesome...

You can listen to a sample of what the built in mics sound like HERE. I recorded Inward Eye at an outdoor show in New Jersey. The recorder was sitting on top of the sound board from about 40' from the stage.

The official website for the Zoom H4 is HERE

Thanks for reading,

Matt

My Tour Office

For the past few years I have been trying to put together a simple, yet functional system for all my computing, and entertainment needs while traveling. I think I have come pretty close. There's nothing I hate more when im traveling than a backpack FULL of all kinds of cables, power adapters, papers, CD/DVD's, thumb drives, chargers, and peripherals. Yes I am guilty of being very disorganised at home, but I hate having to root around in a bulging backpack for 10 mins to find a lousy usb cable or memory card. When im traveling I like things to be simple, small, and effective.

I relate this situation to my hiking experience. When you are trying to save every bit of weight in your backpack on a long trip, it's a good idea to bring items that have many uses. Example: A bandana can be used for a sweat band, a napkin, to make coffee, and many more uses. This system is what I try to accomplish with my traveling computer setup.

The central hub to my setup is my laptop.

I use a modified Acer Aspire One Netbook. I upgraded the RAM in it and installed internal bluetooth with the help from tnkgrl's tutorials.

It is small and rugged enough to fit in any space needed, and it is fast enough to browse the net and watch movies. The downfalls of using a netbook in my opinion are the small screen, and the lack of a CD/DVD burner. In most cases I can get away with not using a burner but its a feature i miss from my old laptop. I make up for it though by having a crapload of movies and music on an external hard drive. As for the small screen, well its a sacrifice. I would much rather have a small screen then a massive one which takes up a lot of space in my bag.

Next is my new Western Digital Passport Essential

250GB portable hard drive. It is powered by one usb cable which means one less power cable to have to worry about plugging in. I have all the pics, music, and a whackload of movies from my home PC. It essentially turns my laptop into my home PC. My favorite part of the drive is the Mini USB port. It fits my digital camera, my phone, and my GPS which means I can use one small cable for carging and syncing all of those items. LESS CLUTTER! I also use encrypting software to keep all my data safe. Those who travel/tour know how easy it is to leave stuff in a hotel room or venue, especially after a night of drinking and killing brain cells. It is very nice to know that all my data is safe when left in the wrong hands. Luckiny I havent had any problems. Knock on wood.

With my iPod and my Shure SCL3's and Headphones I am well equipped for music and movies as a small alternative to my laptop as well. I also bring my PSP becasue I do enjoy a bit of gaming when given the chance. I should really read more...

There are two more things that I would like to add to my collection pending a bit more cash coming my way. I would like to get a small travel printer, Specifically THIS ONE, and a usb powered CD/DVD burner. Tnk Grl had figured out how to modify the Macbook Air Superdrive so it can be used on any computer, Mac or PC. Check it out HERE. With all these items combined I will have a pretty sweet setup that comes as close as possible to having a full blown office on the road.

Camping

   The guys from Inward Eye and myself went camping last night! We went to Darlington Park in Bowmanville. The campground was pretty nice but we could hear the highway and the occasional train in the distance which took away a bit of the "nature" feel. We pretty much just drank a lot of beer, ate hotdogs and corn, and played glow frisbee. I also got to test out my collapsable wood burning stove that I made a while ago. It is meant to be used for solo and two person hiking/camping trips. It worked out great. It boiled water in no time. I changed the size of it a little bit so it could fit into my small titanium pot. The plans for it are HERE

   Our site was right beside the lake (Ontario) and there was a really neat sandy cliff by the beach. I snapped a pic on my camera phone. On my way down I managed to slip in a muddy spot and completely cover the whole right side of my body in mud. Good times...