Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Iphone’

The famous line from Animal House bears no resemblance to my present-day journey, but I can’t but help to draw the comparison in enthusiasm.

I love driving, and I love my daughter, so having the two of them to myself for the next 2 days is optimal.

We’re on our way to Champaign, Illinois in a mini-van full of furniture we’ve cobbled together from Craigslist to move her into her first off-campus apartment.  I’ve even found a patsy, er, uh, friend to join me for the trip back to help with the driving.

I’ve got a rented Honda Odyssey and I think they still sell gas along the way, so I’m set.

I plan to stop to check e-mail and make uploads every few hours for a break.  I’m gonna hate giving up my 3G network for the slower Edge (E) Network in most locales…but Starbucks stores are good for free wi-fi’s.

For recording, I’ve got my Zoom H4n, my laptop, a AKG C3000B with USB adaptor, and Adobe Audition 3.0.  I’ve even got my iPhone with Blue Microphone’s “MIKEY” if I need to get an audition in down ‘n’ dirty.  I use the Poddio app on my iPhone to edit on the fly.

So look here for postcards from the hiway the next few days.  My blogs may not always refer to the voice-over business, but life on the road.  I’ll at least try to post lots of good pics.

CourVO

Julie Williams was the connection.  When she began discussing Blue Microphone’s “Mikey” product I was intruigued.

Mikey is designed for the iPod and iTouch, but when she mentioned in her “VoiceOver Insider” newsletter that it also works with the iPhone, my ears perked up.

I took advantage of the discount she managed to negotiate with Blue Microphones for VO artists, and that knocked-off about $15 from the $80 price tag.

I’ve been using it in tandem with the iPhone App called TweetMic.  Together, I think the combo is a winner for getting out a quick audio to anyone who wants to hear.  Of course, Mikey works with any one of a number of other Apps for the iPhone, and in each instance is a distinct improvement over the mic that Apple has built-in to the phone (although it’s not that bad either, considering).

Wanna know what it sounds like?  OK, click HERE for a sample.  I give a brief description of the conditions under which I recorded this Tweet.  You’ll notice just below the soundfile that plays, a list of previous tweets I’ve also recorded with Mikey and Tweetmic.  Don’t look for any particular pattern with the subject matter.  So far, I’ve been mostly playing with the thing.  (BTW, you can download the file, too, if you want to put it under analysis)

I’d be interested in know what you think of the quality.  Would this be good enough to get a quickie audition out to someone who just HAD to have it NOW?

CourVO

P.S.  The company that makes TweetMic — Voice Tal –  also makes FaceMic…a similar App for FaceBook.

Julie Williams’ monthly VoiceOver Insider newsletter has lately been extolling the virtues of BLUE Microphone’s “Mikey” portable condenser mic for use with the iPod, iPhone, and iTouch. 

She also sends out an occasional e-mail blast titled “VO Things of Interest” that has been mentioning the Mikey as well.   The meat to this story is that she’s secured a significant discount for us all in the purchase of Mikey, and all of that is mentioned in her latest missive below:
_____________________________________

VoiceOver Insider Subscribers Save 20% on Blue’s Latest Product

We’ve arranged a special deal for you on Blue’s new MIKEY! For a limited time you can save 20% by using a special coupon code.  Please note…this is a market test for them.   If they get a great response from VoiceOver Insider subscribers, there will be more coupons and giveaways to come!   So if you want a Mikey, THIS IS THE TIME to buy it!

ABOUT MIKEY:

Mikey is the first  CD Quality Recorder for iPod and .   Mikey delivers Blue’s award winning design and sound quality to an easy to use iPod recording device. Use Mikey to record a quality voiceover audition wherever you may be, song ideas, narration projects, field recording …and expect to get the best sound CD quality out there.  Then, sync your iPod and all of your recordings automatically load into iTunes.  Mikey features Blue’s superior quality condenser capsules, 3-position user selectable gain settings, and built-in speaker for playback. It’s never been easier to record your world. Simply connect Mikey to your iPod/iPhone and instantly begin recording. Mikey is capable of recording everything from the barest audible sound to extremely loud sources without losing audio fidelity, and compatible with the iPod 5G, iPod Classic, iPod Nano 2G, 3G and 4G and now compatible with iPhone and iPod touch. 

HOW TO GET DISCOUNT:
To purchase and receive your discount, click to http://tinyurl.com/VOI-MikeyDiscountand enter the coupon code:  voice0709. This offer expires on August 31, 2009.
For iPhone and iPod Touch: Recommended Recording Apps Include: Audioboo, Fire-Field Recorder and HT Pro-Recorder – there are hundreds out there to choose from.
And you STILL HAVE TIME to register to win a chance to review a Mikey, and keep it in return for your review!  For details go to www.Voice-Overs.com/forum and click on the REVIEW PRODUCTS thread.
______________________________________

Sounds like a pretty good deal for somebody….maybe you!

CourVO

Holy Buckets!!…I’m such a geek.  If it has to do with audio and/or the iPhone, I’m all over it.

This particular app has me practically written into the code.

TweetMic is reeeeally simple.  .99 buys you an app that is understated in it’s ease of use.  Launch the app, hit the big button in the middle, speak, hit the big button in the middle again…hit another button to send to Twitter.  (there is a minimum bit of setup configuration involved to begin).

Am I nuts, or could this be a quick, or even sly way to give someone a low-tech clue as to the quality of your VO capabilities?

‘Just don’t want to overlook any possibilities.

BTW, I heard about this from one of the better Twitter Blogs around: TwitterHandbook.  They always are on top of the good stuff.

HERE is the link to the actual blog about the TweetMic.

CourVO

I have an iPhone.
 
I also have a rant about iPhone…well, actually the rant is about a misguided misnomer that’s gaining momentum in regards to a new iPhone 3GS feature.

LOVE the iPhone!  Love the new 3GS…it comes with a VoiceControl feature that lets you press a button, call out a name, and the phone dials the number. Cool!

It is VoiceControl though, not VoiceOver. (see here, iPhone 3GS feature website) Yet, iPhone’s avid proselytes are consistently referring to it as “VoiceOver”. 

Here’s why you should be intolerant of this.  From now on, every time you do a search for voiceover, a keyword selection for voiceover, look up an e-mail reference, or depend on the singular integrity of the word “voiceover” ANYWHERE, it’ll be trashed, sullied, and laden with numerous references to iPhone 3GS.

I’ve already noticed this when I configure my Tweetdeck columns to include the searchword “voiceover” as a topic.  About half of the recent returns for that word refer to iPhone 3GS’s VoiceControl feature…being misnamed as VoiceOver by all its users.

I thought Mac aficionados were supposed to be smart! (ooops…I will pay for that one… but I’m leaving it in the final publish).

My rant is probably worthless in the real world.  The cat is out of the bag, and I don’t think it’ll go back in the bag with the legs it has among users now.

But I can rant, can’t I?

CourVO

    Each voice actor brings to the table a different FOCUS skill for which they could arguably be labeled as “expert” beyond the jack-of-all-trades stuff like marketing, recording, cold-calling, and editing that we all must develop as core competencies.

    I look at George Whittam, and his prowess with equipment and audio engineering.  Kara Edwards and her knowledge of character animation, and JS Gilbert with his experience in video games.

    I’ve always struggled to determine that which I’m best at…certainly not marketing…and I’ve had my wrist slapped many times of late for stupid mistakes in audio engineering.  Many of my long-time friends call me a “Renaissance Man” for my broad understanding of many things…but that doesn’t do much for my hope of focusing on a distinctive skill that I could call my own.

    Many’s the time I’ve chosen not to post, here, of Web 2.0 stuff that I discover, ‘cause I figure we’re ALL trolling the internet to find what we need and use for our business…but I think I’m finding that my singular passion may lie in this area.  Social Networking and cutting-edge internet-based innovations are fascinating to me for the possibilities they bring to our lives and our business.

    I’m choosing from now on to post more of what I find…not because it’s always pertinent to the voice-over business DIRECTLY…but certainly indirectly in the sense of how such tools MAY apply to the business of voiceovers, that no one’s discovered yet.

    In that vein…here’s another gem: TweetDeck, the odds-on favorite 3rd-party Twitter-application GUI interface now has an iPhone App that words just as wonderfully as it’s PC or Mac-based counterpart.  Free and helpful.  I love it most for searches.  Have Tweetdeck search for voiceover or #voiceover sometime, and you’ll learn things.

CourVO

‘Seeing lots of posts here and there on the forums about the next-gen OS for the iPhone likely having voiceover capabilities…whatever THAT means.

Well, it turns out some features of the new operating system (V3.0) for the 3G iPhone will likely be voice-activated.  That’s a far cry from creating a new market for voice-actors…which is what could be intimated by those headlines.  Voice-activated would be more like giving voice commands to activate certain functions in the software — like run a program.

Click HERE to see a more detailed explanation of all this.

CourVO