I find it odd that there isn’t more said about the shortcuts available for the Zoom F4 and F8. They can really speed things up when you are on a gig. Unfortunately, without the use of the f control, the F4 cannot use a usb keyboard but these shortcuts make it so that for many of the necessary functions needed on a film shoot, you can … Continue reading Zoom F4 Shortcuts

Aputure sent me this microphone package to review so let’s do that. I’ll compare it to a couple of other beginner to prosumer microphones, the NTG2 and NTG3 from Rode. The first thing to notice about the microphone itself is the shape. It is almost Identical to NTG3 in length and diameter and I’m told its a carbon copy of the popular Sennheiser MKH 416. … Continue reading Aputure Deity Mic Review

Written By: Jimmy Hepworth This simple cable can give you another powering option for your recorder. At only 6 bucks I had to give it a try. It works just as advertised, converting a small USB power bank into 12V for my Zoom F4. Something I didn’t realize is that these little cell phone chargers keep a constant 5 volts which means it will step … Continue reading USB to DC, 5V to 12V Converter Cable

Here is the ISK Little Gem. It’s from a U.S. based company but is clearly a Chinese microphone similar to the half dozen other small diaphragm condenser microphones. This appears to have an all brass body painted black. It comes with three interchangeable capsules: cardioid, hypercardioid, and omnidirectional. My interest in this mic was to see if it could be used as a cheap indoor … Continue reading ISK Little Gem Indoor Boom Mic

As an amateaur/enthusiest recordist and sound engineer, a lot of the information I get is from occasional hands on experience. I don’t often get a chance to work with other more experienced recordists and learn from them so blogs like this one are a wealth of information for me. With that being said, here are a few things I’ve learned about room tone mostly through … Continue reading Simple room tone tips

The resources for sound recording and design are getting more sophisticated and cheaper every day and as a result more people are jumping into careers or hobbies in sound without formal training. In the internet age this isn’t a huge problem, because the knowledge is easily obtained, but it can be hard to know where your knowledge gaps are without an organized curriculum. For example, … Continue reading Sound Theory: an under-taught lesson for self-taught film makers