Audio Hardware/Software Repsonses

1. Discuss your experiences with building your microphones. Was this process more or less what you thought it would be? How did your microphone rig work on your Drift walks? Were you able to capture both overall ambiance and extreme close-ups? Describe your ideal microphone and recorder setup, with unlimited time and money. 


The experience was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I thought that attaching the microphone heads to the wires would be a lot more complicated. My microphone set up worked a lot more smoothly. The microphones were balanced and the windscreen worked perfectly. It worked almost too well when I went into the Russian store and it picked up the refrigerator sound. My ideal setup would be a microphone that could be adjusted to specific sounds that could be picked up. It would be easy to use and could record as much as needed. Also the microphone would be disguised so that one could record anything inconspicuously.

2. How was your experience with operating the Minidisc recorder? How does this recorder compare to other audio equipment you've used? In an ideal world, how would your recorder of choice function? 


My experience with the mini-disk recorder was not so bad. I was annoyed that each time you saved memory you had to reset everything, but besides that it wasn’t so bad. This was the second time I recorded sound and I prefer this to the other recorder I used. My perfect recorder world be compact, and have lots of memory. It would be hooked up to my brain somehow so that if I heard an interesting sound it would automatically just record that sound.

3. Discuss the audio-editing software you chose and your history with this application. If you used this software for the first time, explain why you chose this particular application and how you think it helped you to accomplish your creative goals (or proved detrimental). Will you use this software again for future projects?
I chose Audacity, which I used when I was in the 8th grade to edit a song. I used it again because from what I recalled it was easy to use. That was not the case. This program was unstable on my computer, even after I downloaded the correct version. Any time I typed the letter “r” it would start to record. It did this with other command keys as well. I might consider using other editing software for my second drift walk. Although in the end Audacity did get the job done.