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Last evening I decided to try something with a few interesting pieces of gear on hand. I have this Rane Ms-1b preamp. In fact, it’s brand new, purchased from a dealer one year ago. It has been living in my gear closet ever since. I launched Boom Recorder on my G4 Powerbook, plugged my Electrovoice RE-50b mic into the Rane preamp, and patched the output from it – to the line-in on the Powerbook using this cable.

With the gain dialed in at 75 percent, I was able to record high quality, noise free audio. In case you are wondering about latency, I was able to alleviate it entirely by engaging the ‘play-thru’ parameter located in the Mac OSX Audio/Midi configuration utility. I realize a USB or Firewire interface would offer a bit more flexibility. My guess is that unless a high quality interface is implemented, noise issues may be apparent due to low quality preamps on the interface of choice. [the Rane preamp retails for $149 US]

This is a cool way of capturing high quality audio on a portable basis – a great way to record while traveling, or visiting with guests. But what about power? Enter the Sound Devices MP-1 Portable preamp.

This piece is designed for critical radio, television, and film applications. Features include: 66dB of gain, 48v phantom power, a high-pass filter, and a limiter. Best of all – it operates on two AA batteries.

Sound Devices provides some of the highest quality digital recorders and sound components available, and they are designed for similar applications as noted above. This single channel preamp sells for $299 here in NYC.

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This is a brief audio clip recorded with my new Electrovoice RE-50b omni-directional dynamic microphone. The mic was hand-held and plugged directly into my Mackie 1620 console. A dbx 160a compressor was on the insert. Settings were non-aggressive [2:1 ratio]. Keep in mind this mic is specifically designed to be used as a hand-held live interview mic, with internal shock and plosive management. My goal here is to demonstrate how this mic can be used in a studio environment as well, based on the sound quality. For best results, I would probably recommend this pop-filter/windscreen available from Electrovoice.

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A friend and I were just discussing the Electrovoice 635a professional interview mic. This is a lower cost variation compared to the Re-50b. According to Electrovoice, the 635a is the ‘best known news gathering mic in the world’. This is an omni-directional dynamic mic that offers great sound and incredible durability. It checks in at $99 US, and it is also available in black.

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I have been following the development of Ubercaster since its inception. It looks like the initial beta release will be available on July 24th. Besides the impressive sleek design, the application will offer a host of intuitive features, including the ability to design and configure a custom workspace.

Additional features include: extensive recording functionality, multi-track editing, encoding, and file management with an embedded ftp client. Head over to the impressive site for a glimpse of some cool screenshots. You can also view QT movies showing Ubercaster in action. This application looks like it has the potential to become a major player.

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You will notice that I have made it very easy to directly access Impact PBS, a fantastic company that provides professional, high quality Mic Flags. Review their site. It’s very obvious the product is of exceptional quality, and based on the referenced clientele, I think it’s safe to assume professional broadcasting institutions depend on this company for their flags.

Ordering a custom mic flag from Impact PBS is a simple process: you provide a high resolution image, the submission is reviewed, and ‘proofs’ are sent back to you for subsequent approval. The images are then transferred digitally to a glare and scratch resistant acrylic body. Each custom flag comes with a one year guarantee.

Impact PBS provides a retrofitted, custom designed flag for the EV-309a shock mount for the Electrovoice RE-20 mic, as well as a custom model for the Shure SM7B mic. If you require a flag for a handheld mic, you are in business. Various styles and designs are available as well.

I am happy to add Impact PBS to the growing list of endorsed products here at Podcastrigs.com.

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The CEL 2a by Peavey is a compressor, downward expander and limiter. It can be used as a stereo or dual mono processor. Additional features include independent low cut filters, switchable metering [input and output], gain reduction metering and de-esser. This processor looks like a nice deal for $300 US.

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I decided to provide this article that I wrote in reference to Dynamics Compression. I hope my explanation and insight helps you to understand this complex issue.

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I’ve added a new Mobile-Pro Rig to my group of suggested system configurations. Also, the Peavey PV-8 mixer is now my recommendation for the Basic and Ultra Rigs. On the software side, Bias Peak LE 5 has been added to these systems as well. I hope to have the Pro Level systems revised within the next day or so. Please reference the links in the upper right column.

Just a quick reminder in reference to the PodcastRigs.com concept … the suggested gear, system configurations and recommendations are simply my personal preferences based on budgets and possible work-flows. All the images are live links, and in fact point to online merchants. This is intended to help simplify your research. I don’t sell the gear referenced on the site, and I never ask for ‘donations’. Respectfully, I just don’t feel asking for donations is appropriate.

I hope you find Podcastrigs.com, the Forum and my posts helpful.

Update: Pro Level Rigs updated 03:30 EST.

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