OK, enough is enough. Isn’™t everyone more than a little tired of my incessant whining about various audio difficulties I’™m having with my new Dashboard Minute recording set-up? I sure am and I’™m the guy having the problems. Tim and Chad have chimed in asking for my GarageBand band file so they can have a crack at making it sound better and I got the same offer of help from Paul who has been emailing me with lots of tips on what to do. Man, you guys are wonderful and you have no idea how much I appreciate your generous offers of time and materials, but as I recently discovered the main problem seems to be hardware related, as in, the person in front of the keyboard’¦which ..um’¦would be’¦heh heh..me.
I have tried every trick I know of. I’™ve read the manuals (not going to the name of an illegal alien joke again), I’™ve done countless adjustments, I’™ve moved equipment all around my desk trying to figure out why something that should sound so frigging great, sounds more like two cats coughing up the same hairball in stereo (gee, thanks for THAT visual). As it turns out, the first thing I should have done is so basic; I’™ve been kicking myself in the keister for not thinking of it immediately.
First rule of electronic troubleshooting should be, ‘œIf something doesn’™t work the way it should with the set-up that it’™s advertised to work with, try it again with similar, but different, equipment’. At this point I was going to use an analogy of pushing a bowling ball through a garden hose, but I really suck at analogies, so I thought better of it. Instead, I’™ll do something SO unusual for me and my (stop it you’™re killing me) writing style, that it will amaze all those who read this and might even get me posted at MacSurfer again (though I seriously doubt it). I’™ll get to the (GASP!) point.
I have a neighbor who is an audio guy for a government agency here in the DC area. His home is similar to mine except that instead of lots of half-utilized computer equipment (like in my home), he has lots of fully functional and well understood audio recording gear and a really neat collection of guitars. I’™ll call this neighbor Joe (as well I should since that’™s his name).
Joe’™s son was attending a birthday party for my younger son Peter (Happy 10th birthday Pete!) and when the celebration was over and it was time for sanity to once again reign at our house, I asked Joe about my problem. He’™s a nice guy and didn’™t laugh at my ineptitude (always a good thing) and made his way to my basement office/recording suite/library/junk-hole to look at what I had assembled.
I would LIKE to say that he praised my obvious talents in putting together fine audio gear and it was difficult to exactly pin down the problem. I would LIKE to say it was some obscure, only known to audio professionals tweak that involved tons of expensive and hard to get testing gear that would take weeks to analyze and only after being run through some Mac-based (of course) G5 Super-Computer, but that would be a terrible lie. It actually took him about 15 seconds and I think he had a few drinks before coming over. He looked at my Alesis mixer and nodded his approval. He looked at my Shure SM-57 microphone and nodded his approval. He looked at my 933 MHz Mac tower and nodded his approval. He looked at my 21-inch IBM CRT monitor’¦.and frowned.
‘œThis is the monitor you use with this computer?’™ he asked. ‘œWhy, yes.’ I replied. ‘œAnd you have this very sensitive microphone right next to it when you record?’ was his next question. ‘œUm, maybe.’ I said tentatively.
He then asked if I had another computer that I could connect all this equipment to. So I pulled out my G4 iBook and popped in the USB connector from the mixer. He had me then turn off the CRT monitor attached to the tower and start up GarageBand from the portable. I did all these things, made some minor tweaking of system and GB settings and spoke into the microphone. It wasn’™t perfect and some more adjustments will need to be made, but the massive interference I got before was gone. Joe smiled piteously at me and patted my arm as if to say, there, there, it couldn’™t be helped that you’™re too stupid to follow basic troubleshooting techniques.
Sunday was Father’™s Day and my wife had been asking me what I wanted. I half-jokingly said a 20-inch Intel iMac and she surprised me by saying that if I would get rid of all the crap I have in the ‘œoffice’, she would buy me one. Remember, we are talking about a $2000 dollar computer with extra Ram, the 256mb video card, and AppleCare. Because this would mean I would actually have to clean up the room and throw away stuff that while it may not have been used for 5 years or more, I had a firm, yet totally unreasonable fondness for. I think most likely it was because I would have to take the time to go through all the garbage down there that I am somewhat reluctant to even attempt it. Even for an iMac. So I made a counter proposal. How about a new LCD monitor?
I had seen at the local French Retailer (Target), a ProView 19-inch wide screen LCD display for less than $300. Done and done. With the generous gift from my wife in hand (and a delicious steak dinner at Outback), I disconnected the behemoth I had been using for the last couple of years and attached the new display. I made a few monitor setting adjustments and I was good to go.
This monitor will never win best in class awards, but it is clear with reasonable color accuracy and with it adjusted to a resolution of 1440 by 900, it actually gives me more screen room than I had with the 21-inch CRT. It still can be considered old-school tech, since it only connects via a SVGA connector, but my QuickSilver has that built-in. Best of all, it doesn’™t interfere with recording.
So thanks once again to Tim, Chad, Paul, and everyone else who has been so kind during this time of foolishness. I promise never to make the same mistake unless I do it again.
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