Let's Talk Tech
Good things come in small packages, especially if you’re an audio nut. Cambridge Audio‘s solution here is formidable, especially for those looking for the highest quality audio playback in a manageable form factor.
Shop the DacMagic XS on Amazon
Since 2004, V-Moda has been offering up high quality audio solutions with stylish design. The Crossfade M-100’s follow in this tradition, and come with the handy trick of modular cabling, making them one of the more flexible solutions on the market. Let’s take a look!
V-Moda Crossfade M-100, BoomPro, and CoilPro on Amazon.
V-Moda Site
I’m really liking this new crop of outdoor and ruggedized gear.
I enjoyed Outdoor Tech’s ADAPT bluetooth headphone adapter, and they were kind enough to send out a Turtle Shell 2.0 to run through our audio test.
I know I act like a little kid, but whenever something is water resistant in the slightest, it’s ten times more fun to review…
Continue reading “Review: Outdoor Tech Turtle Shell 2.0 – Water Resistant Bluetooth Speaker”
I work in voice over and spoken word recording, and it’s kinda killing me how many people are still pumping out bad audio for their podcasts.
With all of the radical improvements in our technology, it really does drive home the point that nicer equipment doesn’t guarantee better results. If you’re wanting to produce more professional sounding audio, you’re still going to have to learn the basics of how recording works.
So, in true internet geek fashion, allow me to insult you for a bit while we take a look at some tips to improve your home recording.
This one’s short and sweet.
Do you use Spotify? Well now Spotify is removing time limit caps for free accounts across all devices. iOS, Android and through a browser, now all devices have the same access to unlimited music streaming. Super handy.
For those wanting to step up, their premium monthly plans will also remove ads and allow for offline storage, but those of you streaming in your cubicle are in for a treat.
More info at Spotify, or read the PR below:
Continue reading “Spotify Removes Time Limit Caps for Music Streaming”
Disclaimer: My primary job when I’m not tech blogging is commercial, animation, and video game voice over casting in Hollywood.
One interesting side discussion during this year’s Developer Summit was the utilization of new speech API’s from AT&T. It’s based on the Watson engine, which you heard as the HAL-like voice which spanked a couple of flesh bags on Jeopardy back in 2011. It’s an alpha API, but is already light years ahead of the basic Text to Speech engines in use for audiobooks.
As a voice over director and producer, I completely understand some of the challenges in recording with people. It’s an endurance match recording a 30 second TV spot, let alone a whole book. I’ve always been shocked by people who listen to the books recorded by artificial voices, devoid of any performance, and with tragically awful emphasis. Those older speech engines will say all the words in the right order, but they can’t tell you a story.
This new speech engine is working to change that. It’s still wholly artificial, but it can now represent several different characters instead of just one voice type. Plus it can be programmed to follow punctuation and energy levels for urgency and emphasis. It makes the act of listening to an audiobook a lot easier when there’s some sense of through line or narrative.
It’s obviously years away from replacing the terrific actors whole labor over these kinds of projects, but computer voices are improving rapidly. We all make jokes about Siri, but Google and Apple have delivered mobile data assistants with voices we would’ve thought impossible at the consumer level even just five years ago. And then there’s Watson, which can even learn the nuance of language well enough to pick up on swearing and other colorful metaphors.
Seth Stell from Smashing Ideas was on hand to demo some of the work they’re doing with Random House to replace humans. I shot video of the demonstration, but unfortunately the Galaxy S4 Zoom I used ate the audio, which is like the most important part of demoing a speech engine. Thankfully there’s a Livestream of the event embedded below.
Skip to 22 minutes to begin the piece on Speech hosted by Random House.
You can’t even buy one yet!
Microsoft has been sending them out in limited batches via contests, and it’s a very interesting beginning. A first step towards offering up custom hardware interfaces for our tablets and hybrids. No longer shall we be ruled by the tyranny of QWERTY!
Well then, let’s take a look at the Surface Music Kit!
Related:
Audio recording on the Surface 2 for Voice Over and Podcasting!
Reader question!
500embo has a problem. When streaming Youtube in Windows 8, he can’t find a way to keep the audio playing in the background whenever his browser isn’t on the screen.
Fret not, it’s an easy trick. Here’s how!
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