Cocktail Confessions

This is more or less a quick entry on the state of affairs over here at my blog.

I’ve got a few things lined up in the coming days and weeks including some additional video’s and a podcast I just recorded with my buddy Brett who visited from Idaho this past week.  I’ll have some new recipes up soon, including Cuban burgers (that were a hit at this Friday’s last BBQ), grilled zucchini boats with a bacon gremolata, a new cocktail recipe dubbed ‘The Camel Toe’ for you vodka and tropical drink lovers, and a refreshing watermelon sangria.

I’ll have a few stories to share that took place with my friend Brett, especially our afternoon visit to Turq’s in Dana Point where we get talked to death by druken senior citizens, some additional video of the San Clemente Pier, a review of the Original Pedro’s tacos, some random shots at Cook’ Corner, Dana Point Harbor, S.C. Pier, and more.

This upcoming weekend, my wife and I are going to the Huck Finn Jubilee up in Victorville, CA with our friends Brian and his fiance Shea as well as my college friend Sam and his wife Alicia.  We’ll be there for the beer, food, and good ‘ole bluegrass music and banjo championships.  I expect to get some good vittles there and hopefully taste some good brews.

On the technical side of things, I just upgraded the NextGen Gallery here to v1.5.3 and I also finally purchased a ‘shoot & share’ video camera in the form of the purple Kodak Playsport along with a 8GB SD card.  I’ve posted a few videos up at YouTube, and I hope to not only use it this weekend at the Jubilee, but also do some grilling recipe and preparation “How-To” videos here in the future.  I also have to finish the Earthbox series that I began a few weeks back.  I already have some great jalepeno peppers and tons of cilantro that we are using.

I did have one bummer issue that happened over the weekend.  This past Saturday my Behringer 502 USB mixing board died on me.  I was actually right in the middle of recording a podcast with Brett and at about the 40 minute mark there was a slight pop in my earphones and when I looked at the screen for status I noticed a flat line on Audacity.  The board is just over a year old (March ’09)  and I purchased it through Amazon.  Of course I don’t have the box anymore, so I’m gonna try and get an RMA straight from Behringer, and looking at their support website it appears that they make you jump through hoops for repair. *Sigh*.  The good news is I picked up my Zoom recorder and was able to finish our podcast, but I’ll have to mash the two files together and do some additional editing before I get the next episode posted….maybe in another week since this weekend is already claimed.

Behringer all-in-one kit

When I first got the idea of wanting to do a podcast while chatting with my friend Brian and goofing around with yet another new hobby, a few questions arose.  Sure there was the whole ‘What the hell random subject am I gonna rant on about?’ but also I had to think about the hardware I was going to use to create said verbal tangents.

Since I knew nothing about mixers, condenser microphones, editing/production software, let alone hosting sites, feeds, RSS and the like, I decided to begin my research on amateur, yet affordable ’starter’ equipment.  I came to grips early on that I knew this whole experiment was to be a hobby and not a career, so I needed to find something preferably on the cheaper end of the money spectrum without sacrificing quality and a name brand I could trust.  The problem was, I didn’t know where to begin or what was even out there.

Fortunately after some brief Google searches and a look at various ‘podcasting’ sites as well as Amazon.com, I came across an all in one kit by Behringer. Although the the pictured USB Podcasting Kit lists for $149, you can easily find it for $99 online if you shop around a bit.  In reading various reviews on this product and those of the competitors, it seemed to me that this kit had more going for it with solid reviews than many of the others, so I chose to purchase this one from an Amazon affiliate.

The kit includes:

• A high-resolution 2 In / 2 Out USB audio interface with plug-and-play for Windows XP and Mac OS X operating systems.
• A studio-class 5-input 2-bus mixer with a premium mic preamp and 2-band “British EQ”. (model: Xenyx 502)
• A Dynamic broadcast-style microphone with a 2-stage pop filter.
• High performance studio headphones with ultra-wide frequency response.
• A tripod microphone stand, XLR mic cable, and 2 stereo RCA cables.
• Podifier, Juice, PodNova, and Golden Ear podcasting software.
• Kristal Audio Engine multi-track sequencer and Audacity audio editor software.

Okay a few additional notes on the items within the box.  First, the microphone, cables, mixer, stand and preamp are totally worth the $100 you have to spend.  However, that being said, I have a few ‘issues’ with the rest that was included.  Audacity, out of the box is an older version….sure it’ll work, but don’t bother installing this one at all…go straight out to the web and downloadthe newest version (it’s free anyway) and you’ll be much happier.  Second, the “How to Podcast” quick sheet manual that comes pre-packaged kinda sucks.  Assuming you are not a techie at all, this sheet seems to be written by someone in Jr. High detention and is all of two pages long and very vague.  Lastly, the other software included may indeed be nice, but they are all on one disc and the on-disc manuals are pretty lack-luster as well.  Yeah, you can get by with them, but clearly this is just a bundle package they threw some software in to help sell and make more attractive to the consumer, but I’m not a fan of vague manuals or non-descript software that you have no idea on how it’s going to change your PC once loaded.

So for me, it’s all about the hardware and this is a perfect starting kit for the solo hobbyist.  I suppose if I get a bit advanced and require an additional mic for a second guest, I may go up to the next mixing board model, the Xenyx 802  (8 input, 2 bus) that will allow for two plug-in mics.  However, I’m not too worried as I have done a few tests in my ‘studio’ (read: spare bedroom), and the single mic can pick up two or more voices just fine anywhere in the room.  Reserve the headphones for the host and mixer, as your interviewee really doesn’t need it.