Improving Audio on the Canon EOS 5D Mk II

Kevin Reylek over at B&H has done a fantastic review of options to record better audio with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Kevin writes: "While the onboard mic performs as advertised, I found it to be serviceable at best. Consisting of just 3 tiny pinholes on the front of the camera body, the mic doesn't have the greatest pickup distance or quality. It is capable of picking up general ambience and voices, but it also picks up a fair amount of handling noise, which can mar an otherwise suitable recording. So, if you're recording video clips with the goal of having them heard as well, then an add-on mic is a must." They did multiple testings with several mics, and you can listen to the results at the bottom of the article.  While some of the options might seem a little impractical and unwieldy, if you're serious about using a 5D…

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Poynter Institute Seminars & The Stan Kalish Picture Editing Workshop

The Poynter Institute will be kicking off the new year with a series of audio and multimedia based seminars. In January, they are offering Online Storytelling with Audio and Images. February brings Multimedia Journalism for Every Craft. In March, the Poynter staff teams up with the folks from The Stan Kalish Workshop to host Digital Photo Editing: Print to Motion/Motion to Print. Deadline for the first Poynter seminar is November 26, so don't delay. For those interested in attending both the Poynter Digital Photo Editing seminar and the Stan Kalish Picture Editing Workshop, they are offering a special $100 off deal if you register for both. The Kalish Workshop will be held in Muncie, IN, from May 30-June 4 and June 6-11.

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Free music from Moby

For anyone looking for music they can use (legally!) for multimedia projects- Moby has created a section of his website, mobygratis, where students, independent filmmakers, and non-profits can listen to selected pieces of his music. Interested users can register and then submit requests for music to be used (users must agree to terms, including that music is not to be used in any for-profit projects, anything depicting harm to animals, violence, etc). Thanks to the folks at Multimedia Evangelist for pointing this out!

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Wild Sanctuary on Google Earth

You've probably seen Google Street View by now- the new addition to Google Maps that lets you search and zoom into street-level imagery at select locations throughout the world. Pretty cool. However- you might not have seen Wild Sanctuary's KML Layer addition to Google Earth and Google Maps- a layer of soundscape icons that let users click on locations and hear recordings of the area, with field notes describing the location, date, and sources of the sounds. Wild Sanctuary has over 3,500 hours of recordings, representing almost 15,000 species. Samples in this project range from New York City streets, to the sounds of humpback whales in the depths of the Pacific. You can read more about their Google Earth Soundscapes project in The Christian Science Monitor, or just check out the Google Map.

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Transom’s Portable Digital Recorder Comparison

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"What is the best audio recorder for me to buy?" We get asked that question quite often at MediaStorm. Unfortunately, there is no easy, universal answer. Everyone's recording needs are different. Some people are more concerned with sound quality, while others are more concerned about the size of the device or how easy it is to use. Getting solid, detailed information about device options and making an informed decision is a large part of the challenge when buying a portable audio recorder. To that end, Transom's Portable Digital Recorder Comparison is an enormous help. They aggregate information for all the available devices in a single, easy-to-digest chart, including sound quality specificatons, device size and pros and cons for each. In the last row of the chart is a link to a detailed review for each recorder. Learn more about our approach to producing multimedia by purchasing MediaStorm's Post-production Workflow. Spanning more than…

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