Sound – Geek Detour

BOOM Swimmer: waterproof bluetooth speaker – the best shower speaker

Everson Siqueira — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 23:53:57 +0000

For the first time a Bluetooth Speaker caught my attention – mostly because of its unique form-factor and sturdiness. My wife watches videos in her iPhone all the time, even when she cooks or take a shower, so, a small waterproof speaker was perfect for her.

There are lots of places this wireless speaker is great: on the bicycle (for safety reasons you shouldn’t bike in the city using earbuds), in a bathtub, as a shower speaker, in a swimming pool, on the beach, camping, traveling / backpacking / hiking… It is not only water-resistant, it is IPX7 Waterproof (I explain what is it in the video) – so, water is not a problem. Watch my unboxing and full review of the BOOM Swimmer:

Check it out on Amazon:

Buying from these links, you are helping me a big deal! Thank you for your support!

My impressions

I honestly don’t know why there are so few articles about the BOOM Swimmer. The reviews I found were very positive and even enthusiastic – and I totally agree. While I was testing and preparing the video, I had loads of fun playing with the Swimmer – before handing it over to my wife definitely.

The only critic I have is about the position of the “+” and “–” buttons: they should switch places. Holding + for 3 seconds jumps to playback to the next song, so, it would make more sense if this plus were at the ‘right’ of the play button (and the minus at the left). It is the only complaint I have.

Another surprise was about Bluetooth performance under water. I knew that bluetooth radio frequency ranged at the microwave level, so I imagined no bluetooth devices wouldn’t really communicate well underwater – but I was really amazed that only a few inches would be enough to interrupt the signal. Thats the reason there are no “bluetooth swimming earbuds”.

Bottom line: I like it a lot. Recently I listened to several Bluetooth Speakers in stores – and of course you can find lots of options with deeper and louder sound, but they are much heavier, bigger and cost a LOT more. The Boom Swimmer has nothing to do with “sound-systems”/stereo/living-room… But it is perfect for what I’ve shown in the video.

How this video was produced

Voice entirely recorded with the Blue Yeti USB Condenser Microphone (watch my review) on Cardioid Pattern. Sound recording, editing and post-processing all in Audacity, including equalization, noise reduction, normalization and audio compression.

Video recorded mostly on Canon 600D at 24 frames per second. Final “60fps look” is naturally achieved in accelerated sequences using custom/fast-speed fps, and artificially by interpolation on normal speed takes.

Outdoors bicycle sequence was recorded on an iPhone 4S using the “Filmic Pro” app. The park is the “Parque del Retiro” in Madrid, Spain. Since 2014, Madrid offers a public bicycle renting service – BiciMAD – with 123 stations scattered on the center of the city.

Featured songs provided by YouTube Audio Library, free music; listed by appearance order in the video:

“Opening Night”, Jason Farnham
“Blues Blast”, John Deley
“Play Song”, John Deley and the 41 Players
“Dixie Outlandish”, John Deley and the 41 Players
“Non Piu Andrai”, Ron Meixsell
“Horses to Water”, Topher Mohr and Alex Elena
“Led Foot”, Ethan Meixsell
“Loophole Fragment”, Silent Partner
“World Map”, Jason Farnham

The video was written, performed and produced by Everson Siqueira.

Backstage photos:

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Best sound recording with Blue Yeti, Radius II and Rode PSA1

Everson Siqueira — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 12:14:29 +0000

This is a super-condensed unboxing and review of the audio setup I use to record my voice in my videos – very interesting if you are a YouTuber, game commentator, podcaster or want a home-studio for audio recording. You need good equipment and learn how to use it.

This video will guide you to make better recordings with good sound quality.

Connecting the Blue Yeti to an iPhone or iPad is possible; but not as simple as it is to connect the Yeti directly in a computer’s USB. To use the Yeti microphone with an iOS device you need an Apple’s USB Camera Adapter (or the 30-pin “Camera Connection Kit”) and a powered USB Hub, and you are ready to record sound with Garageband or any other App. But I recommend you to check the microphones Blue has made specifically for iOS.

New “Radius II” shockmount suspension from Blue:
The old Radius falling problem is fixed! Blue rebranded it as “Radius II“. The new model comes with a different thumb-screw mechanism with teeth (cog). Now it stays put just perfect
http://www.bluemic.com/radius2/

Check them on Amazon:

by - [-]
Price: - - - -

Buying any product from these links, you are helping me a big deal! Thank you for your support!

Getting the best sound with Yeti recordings

To improve the sound quality of your recording with the Yeti, be sure to:

use the cardioid pattern for voice-overs
keep the gain knob to the minimum (I never use it over 40%)
use a pop-filter (the nylon ones are cheaper and hold plosive-wind better than the metallic ones)
speak really close to the microphone
use custom equalization to enhance the sound of your voice
you might need to apply some noise reduction
you might need to apply some sound compression

If your natural voice is captured close to the microphone, you can use less gain and you will have less background noise.

My voice in this video was entirely recorded with the Blue Yeti USB Condenser Microphone on Cardioid Pattern. Sound recording, editing and post-processing all in Audacity. Custom Equalization was applied to remove very low frequencies and increase high frequencies (for better speech comprehension).

The best equalization is different for every person/voice. As a starting point, C-Threep has a great Audacity Equalization tutorial: https://youtu.be/t1fS97ut93c

Since my ‘recording room’ is not properly sound isolated (wooden building, you can hear neighbors walking upstairs… cars, trucks and motorcycles are frequently heard), I also apply noise reduction.

Audio compression is minimum, but, yes, also applied (by audio compression I mean increasing overall volume and reduce volume for the loudest parts, to achieve more uniform audio level – nothing to do with file size).

Professional Microphones for iOS from Blue:

http://www.bluemic.com/iOS_devices/
Spark Digital: http://www.bluemic.com/spark_digital/
Mikey Digital: http://www.bluemic.com/mikey_digital/

Special Thanks/Credits

“C-Threep”
amazing and hilarious Radius shockmount review
https://youtu.be/c1D_quSjfcc
awesome tutorial on equalization with Audacity
https://youtu.be/t1fS97ut93c

“Syrtah”
sound effect: 8mm projector
https://www.freesound.org/people/Syrtah/sounds/241886/
http://videofüralle.de

Jorick Bronius (“jorickhoofd”)
sound effect: breaking glass
https://www.freesound.org/people/jorickhoofd/sounds/179234/
http://jorickbronius.wordpress.com

“Archeos”
sound effect: woman scream
https://www.freesound.org/people/Archeos/sounds/261419/

Jason Farnham
closing song: “Opening Night”
YouTube Audio Library, free music

Sound problems on iOS 9, iOS 8 or 7? Lets fix it!

Everson Siqueira — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 00:48:32 +0000

No Sound on your iPad? Your iPhone has sound problems on certain games and apps?

iPad and iPhone sound problems are very easy to fix!

This tutorial shows you:

how to un-mute the iPad (lots of people don’t even know it can be put on mute)
how to un-mute when the side-switch is used to lock the rotation of the screen
how to turn the volume up
how to bring up and down the Control Center
how to close all the background apps in iOS 8 and 7 (it is basically the same on iOS 9, only that now you are presented with a stack of screens, not side-by-side)
how to reboot/restart the iPad

Hope you enjoy!

Headphones Only

If you tried everything in the video but have “headphones” indication even when you don’t have headphones inserted, your iPad might moisture in the headphones connector. Try inserting and removing your headphones a few times. Also, be sure the docking connector (where you charge the iPad/iPhone) is clean: use a dry toothbrush to remove any dust/dirty particles from the bottom connector. Keeping the iPad in a plastic zip bag with some silica envelopes for a night might help in the case of moisture messing up with the headphones detection or the external docking audio detection.

“Mute” doesn’t mute it all

The “Silent” function (either on “side switch” or in “Control Center”) doesn’t mute content such as videos in YouTube – this is expected and explained by Apple in its documentation… but it causes some confusion as Apps get silenced and people don’t understand why since videos plays sound but apps are quiet.

Understand the Lateral Switch:
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4085

Reset iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch: (rebooting, forcing it ‘off’ and ‘on’ again)
https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1430

Unresponsive iOS device, resolution checklist:
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS3281