ERS What's New in VO Tech

ERS now offers the HOT CEntrance MicPort Pro portable USB mic preamp.  Don't suffer with a typical USB microphone when you can have a very high quality mic preamp w/48V Phantom power, headphone amp with zero latency monitoring, and 24bit/96khz sampling rate A/D converters.  It weighs about the same or less than most cell phones, and is completely plug and play with Mac and Windows computers.  Think of it as an Mbox stripped to the bare essentials, that actually sounds BETTER, and takes up less space than your microphone. 

Use it with almost ANY professional microphone with an XLR connector.  You don't even need a mic cable with most mics!  It's a ONE CABLE recording solution for your computer, requiring just the included USB cable.  You can install the CEntrance Universal driver for Windows XP and Vista SP1 to give you more control over the MicPort Pro, such as sample rate and latency settings.  Use it to record audio into your favorite recording software on Mac or Windows (almost everything but Pro Tools, of course).  Throw it in your laptop bag with a mic and a small desktop mic stand and record whenever and whereever the need arrises.    

If you've been holding off that purchase  of a shiny new Apple Mac computer because you rely on Pro Tools LE for your production, then you'll be happy to know that Digidesign has finally caught up and released Pro Tools 7.4.2 for Mac OS Leopard 10.5.3 & 10.5.4.  We've found it to be a stable release on the latest series of Mac computers.  As always read the compatibility page thoroughly before taking the plunge.  If you are running an previous release of Mac Leopard, or have been using Apple's automatic updates (NOT recommended for Pro Tools users), then be sure to download the GIGANTIC Mac OS 10.5.4 Combo Update as it is the best way to ensure that Pro Tools will run properly. 

After you've downloaded and installed Pro Tools 7.4.2, you may receive this message in an email:
Thanks for downloading Pro Tools® 7.4.2 software. If you're currently using the software, we wanted you to be aware of a Pro Tools 7.4.2 preview release dialog we forgot to remove prior to releasing the final version of Pro Tools 7.4.2. Starting around July 18th, you may see this dialog pop up, incorrectly stating that you are running a pre-release version of Pro Tools. We know you're not -- sorry about that.

If you do then read see this page for a patch to fix this problem. 

Now more than ever, using a cell phone while driving has created a whole new level of distractions.  Not only are we making calls, but we are texting, checking the traffic on Google maps, and reading email.  OK, maybe by WE I mean ME.  But if this sounds familiar to you, you might want to check out Jott.  Jott does a lot of stuff, so I won't get into too much detail here.  I'll just tell you the cool stuff I've tried and know works well. 

• Return an email
  
• Send a reminder to yourself
• Enter a task into your calendar
• Reply to a text 

OK, so what's the big deal?  You do all of that with your VOICE. 
Jott listens to your message, transcribes it into text for you, and posts it to your calendar, sends it as an email, or any number of things.  And... it's FREE.

There are a few ways to use Jott from your cell phone.  You can install their application into your phone, which then integrates the Jott function into your messaging application and calendar.  Or you can just make a speed dialer entry to call Jott's 800 number and create entries this way.  The latter is my preferred method for Jotting while driving.  On my Blackberry I set the letter "J" as a speed dialer for Jott, and away I go. 

It has some issues translating your voice if you are driving in a particularly noisey car or standing on a busy intersection.  I've find I need to slow down a little to reduce the road noise in my Subaru, but those with a more sleek and modern car shouldn't have a problem.  Forget trying to use it with the top down on the freeway!   

Now if you get a Jott from me, you'll know what the heck this Jott thing is all about. 
Give it a try!

OK, I gotta admit, I was feeling really behind the times posting ONLY an email newsletter once a month.  I am hearing more and more that newsletters are getting very passe, and that they are often filtered as Junk mail or deleted before read.  So when I found out that my webhost, Pair Networks, provides a blogging tool called Moveable Type, I decided to give it a shot. 

Now, whenever something really important, or just plain COOL, pops up on my radar, I will post it here for you to read.  This  also provides a means to keep my pearls of wisdom organized and archived to make it easy to refer to past posts and search for information.  But if I am no longer posting all of this great stuff in a comprehensive monthly newsletter, how will you know about it?  That's where RSS comes in!  Just look for this logo:

Want to give it a try?  Please read on...

I will now steal some text from whatisrss.com:

What is RSS?

Why RSS? Benefits and Reasons for using RSS

What do I need to do to read an RSS Feed? RSS Feed Readers and News Aggregators

ERS provides a unique service to our customers and a knowledge base rivaled by few for technical support in the field of voiceover and recording studios.    We've learned a great deal in the past year about what it takes to succeed in this business and what changes are necessary to achieve our goals in the new year.  As of February 1st, 2008 the following changes will go into effect.  

The first area of focus is formalizing our billing and rate structure.  We have found that in order to maintain the open and flexible schedule required to accommodate the needs of our clients, we need to increase our hourly billing rate.  

Hourly billing rate for services during regular business hours, 8AM to 8PM PST Monday through Friday will be $135/hr.  

All house call services billed at a minimum of 2 hrs.
Travel time billed at $135/hr for only one direction.   

Any service outside of those hours will incur a 25% surcharge.  
Overtime billing (1.5x) will be charged for services calls extending beyond 8 hours.

Services rendered on Saturday is billed at time and one quarter rate (1.25x).  
Services rendered on Sunday is billed at time and a half rate (1.5x).

We do not charge a "rush" fee because we consider every service call urgent in this business.  

All materials and equipment purchased for the client is marked up at a standard rate of 20%.  This margin covers the time and expenses incurred to research, locate, and procure materials to meet the timing needs of the project.  

Clients will only receive a written estimate for new services if one is requested.  Clients must make payment for equipment in full to initiate any project.  Labor charges are billed at the completion of the project unless otherwise stipulated.