Audio Media - September 2008 - (Page 18) For the Record Somebody’s Moved The Line… JERRY IBBOTSON wonders at the increasing blurred divisions between pro and consumer audio gadgets. I’ve got my colleague Adam Rowley to thank for inspiring my For The Record offering this month. We’d both been playing with the baby Marantz 620 portable recorder (reviewed elsewhere in this issue) and were staggered at how useful it had proved to be, when he said this: “It’s amazing how blurred the line has become between top end kit and hobbyist stuff.” He‘s so right: I’ve also just reviewed a new Rode shotgun microphone, which I liked a lot but which costs roughly double what the tiny recorder does. Side By Side have 26|02|2008 honestly, Given the choice I’d AM both of them. No,14:45 they’re two highly desirable bits of kit despite the gulf in price. In the last few weeks they’ve both won a place in our hearts by delivering excellent quality. The Rode was used on a couple of location interviews for a CD project, and my jaw dropped at how good it sounded. What a microphone. But the Marantz also takes the breath away: when a steam train happens to pull up on the platform opposite yours, you want something you can whip out, flick on and use. And it does it so well. I wanted to dismiss it but couldn’t. Side 1 I remember my first day on the job as a reporter at Radio One Newsbeat back in 1996. A producer handed me a brand new Sony Minidisc Walkman and said, “This is yours, take the instructions home and learn how to use it over the weekend.” That was the first time I realised that if you’re open minded about kit you can find some real gems out there, and that’s truer than ever in 2008. At the recent Develop conference in Brighton I saw a number of in-house audio teams who had brought small devices like the Zoom recorders with them. One was even used to record claps and cheers at the end of a session, for use in a forthcoming game. I’m guessing that these guys have top notch studios back at base, but were happy to take a consumer device with them on the road. Okay, for a full on location session you might use something bigger and more expensive, but a tool like the Marantz or a Zoom can be dropped into your bag on the ‘off chance’. sound engineering RM8 TUBE MODULES SIDE-BY-SIDE FRONT TO BACK There’s a word I’ve steered away from using: prosumer. If the lines are being blurred between what we think we should be using, and what will help us in our work regardless of (low) cost, who needs tags? We’re still going to use the top end stuff of course (you can prise my Genelecs, DPAs, and Edirol from my cold dead hands) but we’d be wrong to dismiss something that might just add to what we do as audio people. Thanks Adam, the cheque’s in the post. JERRY IBBOTSON runs Media Mill, a York-based audio production company started in 2000 that specialises in sound for video games. Prior to this, Jerry was a BBC journalist for ten years, ending his spell with the Beeb as a reporter and - CM1A, EM1A, PM1A & RM8 now shipping LYDKRAFT www.tube-tech.com newsreader at Radio One Newsbeat. SOMETHING TO SAY? If you are an audio professional and have something constructive to say about your field of expertise, or tips for your peers, contact us with your ideas at ftr@audiomedia.com 00 18 AUD O MED A M A U D II O M E D II A S N P TVEEM BBE ER R 2 2 0 0 5 EO 008 http://www.tube-tech.com http://www.tube-tech.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.