bit-tech.net

Series 3, Episode 1 - Phenom II isn’t that bad and cats still need rescuing

Posted on 8th May 2009 at 18:08 by Podcast with 34 comments

Podcast
The podcast returns for a third series, powered up by the addition of the bit-tech team and some new microphones from Shure. CPC Editor Alex, Reviews Editor Clive and bit-tech main man Tim take a look at the big stories in tech from the last month, including new graphics cards from ATI and Nvidia, and the Phenom II X4 955 BE which sees AMD returning to form. Tim talks about getting his new laptop, the Thinkpad, X301 and the panel then look ahead, taking in Windows 7 and DirectX 11. The games chart returns, but it looks depressingly familiar. Fortunately one of the team is still playing Mass Effect.

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Tags amd, ati, geforce, phenom 2

34 Comments

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ComputerKing 9th May 2009, 09:04 Quote
downloading :D amazing. now I have something better than music to listen to :) thanks

best of luck
coolius 9th May 2009, 10:27 Quote
Finally! I listened to all of the CPC Podcasts and have missed them dearly since they stopped!
Glad to see them up and running again
[PUNK] crompers 9th May 2009, 10:30 Quote
+1

always really enjoyed the cpc podcasts and now they involve bit-tech too?! very happy about this indeed. any chance we'll be getting joe on the airways?
Cupboard 9th May 2009, 10:31 Quote
Great! just getting these now, your server is going to love this morning!
Nice of Shure to get you a mic, shame about the Behringer desk though :D
Sim0n 9th May 2009, 10:48 Quote
Is it just me or is anyone else struggling to hear the audio.

And the video doesnt seem to work in VLC :(
flibblesan 9th May 2009, 11:31 Quote
Audio is insanely quiet, and the video didn't work in VLC either. I had to use <shudder> Windows media player :(
Cupboard 9th May 2009, 12:00 Quote
Yes, VLC can't do the video but the audio is fine.
I am loving the tiger!

1)Just got to the bit about kids' piss - "Thats going to get hit with the edit stick right there!"
I think you missed!

2)Yay Rockstar! We have crates of that in college that is used frequently when setting up PA rigs! You shouldn't drink any past ~ midnight because you will not get any sleep. Which is bad. We did get it for free though, and we also have an orange, possibly mixed fruit, flavour one.

3)"How do you know what gonorrhea seepage looks like? Do you go round studying people?" - What!?!
Xtrafresh 9th May 2009, 13:14 Quote
mmm, sorry guys, but i guess this is not for me.

Also, somebody needs to balance his speaking a bit, he slides from good volume all the way to mumbling and then suddenly back again. I cant tell the voices apart, so dont ask which one it is ;)

Anyways, nice addition, as long as you dont get distracted from core reviews and modding anymore!
Bindibadgi 9th May 2009, 13:23 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xtrafresh
anymore!

Anymore?
mrb_no1 9th May 2009, 13:27 Quote
hmmm listened to the energy drink one, not my cupof tea i have to say. And who sai that a mars bar has 150 calories, i think its more like 250+ but i havent looked it up and i'm no nutritionist! I agree with the conlcusion though, relentless are very nice, a new one called energy from tescos for 26p is also nice!
LeMaltor 9th May 2009, 13:55 Quote
Thank yous for putting this on the front page, makes it easier to avoid.
coolius 9th May 2009, 14:59 Quote
Tiger is my energy drink of choice, 2 litres for £1.49 from the polish section at tesco!
Xtrafresh 9th May 2009, 15:54 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bindibadgi
Anymore?
meh, dont wanna start a riot, and that was just a sideremark of the whole post. Never mind :)
[USRF]Obiwan 9th May 2009, 16:21 Quote
First I thought: "Damn those BT morons are going to replicate Sound on Sound and going to review mixing desks and mics now, starting with a cheapass Behringer desk and the 'proven worthy all over the world' Shure SM58 mic" the combo alone will make any sound engineer start to cry or laugh...


Luckely for us the BT heroes do not make that step.
Turbotab 9th May 2009, 17:12 Quote
Loved the Inquirer comment!, using VLC, the 70's porn music goes on for ages!
roblikesbeer 9th May 2009, 17:55 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xtrafresh

Also, somebody needs to balance his speaking a bit, he slides from good volume all the way to mumbling and then suddenly back again. I cant tell the voices apart, so dont ask which one it is ;)

It's Tim, his volume goes up and down for some reason, the other two are ok. Really enjoyed the podcast but it was hard to make him out sometimes.

/edit - my favourite bit was the "you can't game on a baby..." section :D
HourBeforeDawn 9th May 2009, 18:08 Quote
I thought you couldnt call it a pod cast due to the apple copyright and that you have to call them eCast???
Cupboard 9th May 2009, 19:27 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by roblikesbeer
It's Tim, his volume goes up and down for some reason, the other two are ok. Really enjoyed the podcast but it was hard to make him out sometimes
Whack a load of compression on Tim and that would sort that.

Suggestions for more energy drinks:
http://www.blameitonthevoices.com/2009/04/quagmire-energy-drink.html
wuyanxu 9th May 2009, 20:47 Quote
the game mentioned in in GTX285/295 is Impossible Creatures.
Ending Credits 9th May 2009, 22:57 Quote
Quote:
Is it just me or is anyone else struggling to hear the audio.

Yeah, I gave up because I couldn't hear it. The mic quality isn't the best.

(I am partially hearing impaired though)
[USRF]Obiwan 11th May 2009, 10:03 Quote
Start a good editor like wavelab/soundforge/audition or the open source Audicty, normalize the voice tracks, this way all audio volumes will be straightened, then add a little compression with a soft knee and a little eq to filter out the lows until it sounds 'natural' to the ear then eq the mid section around 1khz area a slightly higher so the voices are crisper.

If you have two people talking. Pan the secondary voice slightly to the right. the lead voice can be panned slightly to the left or leave it centered.

I did a lot of recordings with a Rode NT1 condenser mic in my studio. It is a extremely sensitive microphone, it pics up everything. One time even a heartbeat from a singer that just came to the studio on his bicycle, when we where setting up the mic for his needs we thought there was a bassdrum looping on the sequencer. While the singer was rehearsing lyrics into the mic.

So I know it can be hard to record voices.


When recording live, especially when talking use a pop filter if possible.
Claave 11th May 2009, 12:38 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by [USRF
Obiwan]Start a good editor like wavelab/soundforge/audition or the open source Audicty, normalize the voice tracks, this way all audio volumes will be straightened, then add a little compression with a soft knee and a little eq to filter out the lows until it sounds 'natural' to the ear then eq the mid section around 1khz area a slightly higher so the voices are crisper.

If you have two people talking. Pan the secondary voice slightly to the right. the lead voice can be panned slightly to the left or leave it centered.

I did a lot of recordings with a Rode NT1 condenser mic in my studio. It is a extremely sensitive microphone, it pics up everything. One time even a heartbeat from a singer that just came to the studio on his bicycle, when we where setting up the mic for his needs we thought there was a bassdrum looping on the sequencer. While the singer was rehearsing lyrics into the mic.

So I know it can be hard to record voices.


When recording live, especially when talking use a pop filter if possible.

Thanks for all the suggestions Obiwan - we used to use Audacity as the recording app, but stopped because it doesn't do multi-track recording and we wanted to level volume per person in sotware. Can Audacity now do multi-track recording? At the moment we're recording in GarageBand (to get separate channels and do compression and leveling) then amplifying in Audacity (I amplified the track lots for the long podcast) as GarageBand can't do this very well.

Any advice to make the process quicker and give a better output would be greatly appreciated!
Ape 11th May 2009, 18:56 Quote
Guys, thanks for getting it going with podcasts, have been missing the CPC ones ever since they stopped (must be mad but there ya go).

Now we get the combined podcast which is kinda cool - keep up the good work an all that.

HOWEVER, can you all keep your gobs next to the mics as some of you fade in and fade out, some are quiet some are not etc you get the idea. Problem starts when someone quiet talks, I turn up the volume and then someone decides to eat the microphone and deafen me!

Anyway, cheers. Welcome Back!
thehippoz 11th May 2009, 22:22 Quote
yeah hard to hear.. cause looks like you started close to the mic.. then guys ended up settling away from it.. I can fix that with hard limiting and come back with noise reduction to clean up the background hiss.. least it would be something you could listen to =]
Shadow_101 12th May 2009, 14:13 Quote
I was looking forward to this, but really disappointed with the sound! Sorry. I'm sure it would have been a good podcast but I had to give up after 5 minutes the sound was ridiculously quite and people kept fading in and out?

I'm sure it will get corrected over time and more experience producing them. - looking forward to the next one.

Good Luck with it all!
Sifter3000 12th May 2009, 18:06 Quote
People with volume problems - are you talking about both episodes of the podcast, or is one worse than the other?
badders 12th May 2009, 18:17 Quote
I've only started listening to the main part. Tried listening in the car on the way home from work - I can't do it. If I put the volume up to a level where I can hear everyone talking, then whoever it is that likes to laugh an inch from the microphone tries to blow out my speakers :(

Normalise the volume!!
Ape 12th May 2009, 18:45 Quote
You guys need to keep the mics the same constant distance from your mouths all through the cast. I know that might sound hard but its really obvious when you guys are chatting that someone has sat back in their chair or stretched ... or maybe even walked out the door halfway through a sentence ...

OK, I exagerate s tiny bit. Can you guys do it with headsets?

At least that way the mics stay a constant distance and we don't get deafened or strain to hear whats going on.
Ape 12th May 2009, 18:52 Quote
an example ...

mumble
mumble
mumble
mumble
(I turn up volume to compensate)
mumble
mumble
mumble
THE CAFFEINE IN THIS REDBULL MAKES MY PENIS SHRINK REALLY BAD
mumble
mumble
mumble

(worried look from girlfriend)

:|
thehippoz 12th May 2009, 19:34 Quote
I sent tim a fixed version in his pm's yesterday.. you guys can use that- it's was pretty bad before, not even really audible.. I had to pimp some old school algorithms and then cull the noise out by taking a sample- but it turned out pretty good.. I can just post here if you guys want
thehippoz 12th May 2009, 19:35 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sifter3000
People with volume problems - are you talking about both episodes of the podcast, or is one worse than the other?

lemme do the other podcast too.. I started to listen to the other one and then said in my fake british accent.. raabbish!! :D
thehippoz 12th May 2009, 21:46 Quote
here you go guys.. about good as it's gonna get

http://www.archive.org/details/CpcbtPodcast
Ape 12th May 2009, 23:00 Quote
hippoz! Cheers!

sounds fantastic now!
thehippoz 13th May 2009, 01:02 Quote
thanks =] it's actually a good podcast- tim seems to know his stuff.. I dunno about the editor XD he sounds like he likes to swing the ding around- thats his job XD.. and getting drunk off energy drinks is something I can relate too
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