🎙️ The default PASport VO setup and what each knob does
🎛️ The built-in compressor—when to use it and when to skip it
🔄 How to set up recording vs communication computers (including mobile devices!)
📞 Source-Connect, Zoom, and remote sessions—how to route your audio correctly
🎮 Live streaming & gaming setups—optimizing your PASport VO for content creation
🔊 How to avoid clipping, latency issues, and phasing PLUS: We test and troubleshoot in real-time so you don’t have to! 🚀 Thanks to our sponsors:
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00:00:00
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
00:00:04
Let's go.
00:00:06
Welcome.
00:00:06
Hi.
00:00:07
Hi.
00:00:07
Hi.
00:00:08
Hello, everyone.
00:00:09
To the Pro Audio Suite.
00:00:11
These guys are professional.
00:00:12
They're motivated.
00:00:13
With Tech the VO Stars.
00:00:14
George Witton, founder of Source Elements.
00:00:16
Robert Marshall, international audio engineer.
00:00:19
Darren Robbo-Robertson and Global Voice.
00:00:21
Andrew Peters, thanks to Triboo.
00:00:22
Austrian Audio, making passion heard.
00:00:25
Source Elements, George the Tech Witton and Robbo
00:00:28
and AP's international demos.
00:00:30
To find out more about us, check the
00:00:31
ProAudioSuite.com.
00:00:33
Line up, man.
00:00:34
Here we go.
00:00:36
And welcome to another Pro Audio Suite, thanks
00:00:38
to Tribooth.
00:00:40
Don't forget the code TRIPAP200 to get $200
00:00:44
off your purchase.
00:00:46
And Austrian Audio, making passion heard.
00:00:50
Now, we've been talking a lot about our
00:00:52
Passport VO.
00:00:53
George has been busy with a few crayons,
00:00:57
knocking up an instruction manual.
00:00:59
So when you get your Passport, there'll be
00:01:01
a card inside that is a quick start
00:01:03
guide, and it's going to have two sides.
00:01:05
And hopefully, it'll get you through a lot
00:01:06
of the settings, what they are and what
00:01:08
they do.
00:01:09
And for some of you, that will be
00:01:10
fine because you are good at interpreting these
00:01:13
things.
00:01:14
But not everybody is going to interpret them
00:01:16
quite as easily.
00:01:17
So I thought, you know, what do I
00:01:19
usually do with my clients when I set
00:01:20
up their gear?
00:01:21
I make sort of like a recall snapshot.
00:01:24
I used to intern at a studio, and
00:01:26
I had to use a recall book.
00:01:27
It was a three-ring binder where I
00:01:29
had to write down and mark the position
00:01:31
of every freaking knob on the console.
00:01:35
Photos of each thing.
00:01:37
Oh, my gosh.
00:01:38
No photos because this is before digital cameras.
00:01:41
This is sort of the equivalent of that,
00:01:43
except there's way fewer knobs to worry about
00:01:46
on a Passport.
00:01:47
So here's sort of an example of what
00:01:49
that might look like right here.
00:01:50
This should be the default mode.
00:01:53
I was thinking, like, what is the most
00:01:56
common use case for a lot of the
00:01:57
folks using it, being voice actors, being a
00:02:00
lot of those folks who have bought one?
00:02:02
What would the settings be ideally?
00:02:04
And this is what I came up with,
00:02:05
and this is what I'm hoping the default
00:02:08
positions will be on the unit, right?
00:02:11
So, you know, it's all the things that
00:02:14
most voice actors would probably want.
00:02:16
It's assuming you're going to use one computer
00:02:19
and connect it with two cables, right?
00:02:21
So the left one's recording, right one is
00:02:24
communication.
00:02:25
And it's kind of confusing.
00:02:26
It says connect to recording PC Mac, but
00:02:30
that's because there is only one computer.
00:02:32
You know, it's just a single computer.
00:02:35
But that's the intention of this particular setup.
00:02:38
Do you guys see anything you would improve
00:02:41
or change, or is that pretty much clear?
00:02:43
No, the only thing I saw that we
00:02:46
talked about before was the input power.
00:02:49
Just explain that, which it's now explained.
00:02:51
You can set to record USB or comms
00:02:55
USB.
00:02:56
Yeah, that power switch could be in either
00:02:57
position, honestly, because if you're going to plug
00:02:59
it into, let's say, a powered hub or
00:03:02
two ports on a computer, both of them
00:03:06
are supplying power.
00:03:07
This will let you choose which of those
00:03:09
you're using for power.
00:03:10
Well, I caught myself out there without the
00:03:12
labels on the bottom of ours.
00:03:13
I forgot that that was something you had
00:03:16
to switch.
00:03:17
Yeah, that's right.
00:03:18
Yeah, that's right.
00:03:19
Our current prototypes are rather minimal on the
00:03:25
labels right now.
00:03:26
And I'm sitting there going, why is it
00:03:27
working on one side and not on the
00:03:29
other, and getting really frustrated.
00:03:30
And then I emailed you guys, and you
00:03:32
reminded me, and I went, ah, yeah, that'd
00:03:33
be it.
00:03:33
I know.
00:03:34
I made an RTFM joke, and then I
00:03:37
was like, oh, there is no effing manual.
00:03:39
There's no manual.
00:03:41
Okay, so comp off.
00:03:43
It looks like the knob is in the
00:03:44
on position there.
00:03:46
Yeah, in the picture it's in the wrong
00:03:47
position.
00:03:48
But comp off, I kind of agree.
00:03:51
Although it is quite a good compressor, actually.
00:03:55
It sounds nice, doesn't it?
00:03:56
I really like it.
00:03:57
It's so subtle, but it really does kind
00:03:59
of catch it at the top and really
00:04:01
keep you from going over the rails.
00:04:03
Do you know the other one, and this
00:04:04
is completely off subject.
00:04:05
Well, it's not off subject because we're looking
00:04:07
at it, but the high pass filter I
00:04:09
had my doubts about, but I've got to
00:04:10
be honest, hearing that in place, too, I
00:04:12
don't mind it either.
00:04:13
It's all very subtle.
00:04:15
Absolutely.
00:04:16
We talked quite a bit about it.
00:04:18
I was kind of thinking a little more
00:04:20
aggressive on the high pass filter.
00:04:21
We thought it was too soft.
00:04:22
Yeah, we all had that same thought, going,
00:04:24
that's not going to do anything.
00:04:25
But I've got to be honest, turn it
00:04:26
on and hear it, you've got to go,
00:04:28
Michael, you're the man.
00:04:29
Yeah, absolutely.
00:04:30
Because there's a lot of things you can
00:04:31
do with an EQ with terms of where
00:04:33
the frequency starts to slope off and how
00:04:36
quickly it slopes off.
00:04:38
Okay, so my question then for Robert and
00:04:40
Robbo is, if I was using one of
00:04:43
these for a session, would you be offended
00:04:45
if I had the compressor on?
00:04:48
No.
00:04:49
And as I said in my video, when
00:04:51
I did my unboxing, I think that's why,
00:04:54
is because it's been set up with the
00:04:57
understanding that sometimes you do need a compressor,
00:04:59
but there's going to be no heavy-handed
00:05:01
result in using this one.
00:05:03
That's right.
00:05:04
So the compressor will not actually do a
00:05:06
thing.
00:05:07
If your gain is on the lower side,
00:05:10
if you're not hitting the input too hard,
00:05:12
the compressor never really kicks in.
00:05:14
And as far as I can tell, based
00:05:16
on the behavior, because Robert and I played
00:05:17
with it quite a bit, we were purposely
00:05:20
trying to clip the recordings, we were doing
00:05:22
a lot with it, and it seems to
00:05:24
be, is it a new compressor?
00:05:26
It's a soft knee.
00:05:26
So it has a curve.
00:05:27
Yeah, it curves more and more as you
00:05:29
get into it.
00:05:30
So at the very top, it's almost probably,
00:05:33
I dare say at the very, very top
00:05:35
of it, it might be approaching limiting.
00:05:36
I'm not sure what it is.
00:05:38
Because I think it's a two-to-one
00:05:40
compressor, but with a knee, there's no exact
00:05:44
like, boom, it's this ratio.
00:05:46
It's sort of a sliding, you need calculus
00:05:48
to know the exact ratio at that point
00:05:53
in the curve.
00:05:54
It is very subtle, but useful.
00:05:57
And I think if you just keep your
00:05:59
levels conservative, it's good.
00:06:00
The other nice thing is that if you
00:06:02
look, right around the ring of the mic
00:06:06
one knob, you actually have a compression indication.
00:06:11
You can see when you're triggering it.
00:06:12
It's an Easter egg.
00:06:14
It's great.
00:06:15
Yeah, so when we were playing with it,
00:06:16
you could see the compression light indicating compression
00:06:18
was happening, and it was kind of glowing
00:06:21
in the space between the mic gain and
00:06:24
the mix knob below, you could see it.
00:06:26
A good tip would be, I reckon, set
00:06:28
your levels up with your compressor off.
00:06:31
So find the levels you want to use
00:06:32
and then turn it on.
00:06:34
Don't set your levels up with it turned
00:06:35
on.
00:06:35
I'll tell you exactly why you want to
00:06:36
do that.
00:06:38
Because the meter is post-compressor.
00:06:41
Yes.
00:06:42
And that is a little bit hard to
00:06:44
tell.
00:06:45
And if you're like, I can't get enough
00:06:46
gain, you keep on turning it up, then
00:06:48
you might be kind of pushing it.
00:06:50
So it's not a bad idea to set
00:06:51
your level pre-compressor.
00:06:53
But overall, just be conservative with your levels.
00:06:55
We've been through that whole thing with like
00:06:57
24-bit.
00:06:58
Yeah.
00:06:59
You know, this thing's got fabulous audio specs
00:07:01
anyway, so you don't have to be hanging
00:07:03
out at minus 2 or even minus.
00:07:05
Just hit this thing with one yellow light
00:07:07
at the most every now and then.
00:07:09
Absolutely.
00:07:10
And that's more than enough.
00:07:12
Yeah, you know what?
00:07:13
Unfortunately, this image, this is not the calibration
00:07:15
of our meter, by the way.
00:07:17
I'm sorry.
00:07:17
This is out of date.
00:07:19
So the current model actually is as shown
00:07:22
here.
00:07:23
I'll zoom in on my – it goes
00:07:26
from 0 to minus 6.
00:07:27
I would say when you set your gain,
00:07:29
you should be landing between 12 and 6.
00:07:32
That would be what I would recommend.
00:07:34
Yeah, like hitting minus 10.
00:07:36
So is minus 10 a yellow, or is
00:07:38
it a green?
00:07:38
Minus 12 is a yellow.
00:07:40
And then you have a minus 6 yellow,
00:07:42
and then this is red.
00:07:44
Zero is red.
00:07:45
Yeah.
00:07:45
Okay, so yeah.
00:07:47
You should never see that red light.
00:07:48
Yeah, you don't want to see that.
00:07:50
If you see a red, you're dead.
00:07:51
So minus 12 is the first yellow, right?
00:07:55
Correct.
00:07:55
Yeah, I would consistently hit the first yellow
00:07:57
and rarely hit the second.
00:07:59
Yeah.
00:08:00
You should just be flicking into there.
00:08:02
Yeah.
00:08:03
All right.
00:08:03
So that minus 6 is really a minus
00:08:05
12.
00:08:06
That's correct.
00:08:07
Yeah.
00:08:07
I'm sorry.
00:08:08
This is not current.
00:08:10
Yeah, hit it with one yellow light, but
00:08:12
really – and then the second yellow light
00:08:14
is minus 6.
00:08:15
So just very occasionally hit the second yellow
00:08:18
light.
00:08:19
Right.
00:08:19
And never red.
00:08:21
Never red.
00:08:22
When you hit the red, you're dead.
00:08:24
Because I think the compression probably starts around
00:08:26
minus 12 or minus 10 probably.
00:08:29
We should know that.
00:08:31
Yeah.
00:08:31
So the compressor – yeah, the compressor does
00:08:33
come in around minus 10 if I remember.
00:08:36
So it's – yeah, the compressor is there
00:08:38
to catch you when you're a little bit
00:08:40
too aggressive on the mic.
00:08:42
Yeah.
00:08:42
And it seems to hard limit eventually.
00:08:44
I don't think anybody that's recording you will
00:08:47
even know you're using it unless you actually
00:08:49
really yell and get into it.
00:08:52
It's not a compressor for color.
00:08:53
It's just a don't clip.
00:08:56
It's transparent.
00:08:56
And it really did stop it from clipping.
00:08:58
I mean, I remember George was yelling into
00:09:00
it, and then if you yelled into it
00:09:02
without the compressor, it would clip.
00:09:03
It would flatline and twisted wave.
00:09:05
And then you yell into it with the
00:09:07
compressor, and it was just rounded out.
00:09:10
And it did kind of sound like it
00:09:11
was getting fuzzy, a little furry, but it
00:09:15
wasn't like that is unusable.
00:09:17
It's also because there's so much headroom in
00:09:19
the AD converter.
00:09:21
Is that where the headroom would be, the
00:09:23
AD converter, or before the AD converter?
00:09:25
But there's a lot of headroom.
00:09:27
I'm assuming that the zero on that clip
00:09:29
light is zero on the AD converter as
00:09:31
well.
00:09:32
Yeah.
00:09:32
I just found that I was able to
00:09:34
go beyond clipping and twisted wave playback, and
00:09:36
I couldn't really hear the clipping.
00:09:37
That's what a lot of you will be
00:09:39
using, and that's hopefully what it will come
00:09:40
out of the box with.
00:09:43
So the next one is Voice Actors Studio
00:09:46
recorded PC and comms on a different computer.
00:09:49
Not many people are probably going to do
00:09:51
this, but a few may.
00:09:52
If you have your recording PC, for example,
00:09:55
firewalled, like literally not plugged into the network,
00:09:59
if you don't have your PC that you
00:10:01
record to plugged into the network for security,
00:10:04
privacy, or whatever reason, this is what you'll
00:10:07
be doing.
00:10:08
And so you'll have a second computer or
00:10:10
device that you'll use for communication.
00:10:13
Or if you want to use your phone
00:10:15
for comms.
00:10:16
Yeah.
00:10:17
Well, that's a bit tricky, the phone thing.
00:10:19
So that was one thing that Robert and
00:10:20
I spent a fair amount of time tinkering
00:10:23
with.
00:10:23
Actually, I was sitting on the sofa with
00:10:25
this thing in my hand, and I was
00:10:26
going, how do I get mobile communication on
00:10:30
an iPhone to work with this thing?
00:10:31
And what we learned was that if you
00:10:34
load an application that is designed to speak
00:10:38
to an external input, This is on a
00:10:42
mobile device.
00:10:43
On an iOS device.
00:10:45
Yeah, not Android.
00:10:47
I think Android doesn't have this issue, but
00:10:49
I have not yet had a chance to
00:10:51
test this with an Android, so I need
00:10:53
to do that.
00:10:53
I do have an old LG V40, so
00:10:56
that might be a good test platform.
00:10:58
What we found was that when we loaded
00:11:00
a recording app that does actually call out
00:11:03
and connect to external devices, like I was
00:11:07
using Road Reporter, a free little app you
00:11:10
can install on your iPhone, it would immediately
00:11:12
detect the unit, and it would show on
00:11:14
the Road Reporter that I'm connected to the
00:11:16
Passport VO comms port.
00:11:19
Mom's or uncle.
00:11:20
Then I would launch Zoom.
00:11:22
And Zoom also said, hey, I'm connected to
00:11:26
the Sentrance Passport VO comms port.
00:11:29
So it does work if you do it
00:11:32
in that sequence.
00:11:33
So screw you, Apple, we found a way
00:11:34
around you.
00:11:37
We worked around an annoying iOS limitation.
00:11:41
I'm going to call it a limitation.
00:11:43
So that was very encouraging.
00:11:46
So in other words, you could plug your
00:11:47
phone into that second comms port and you'll
00:11:50
be fine.
00:11:51
Just make sure your phone isn't sitting next
00:11:54
to the mic, so you don't get that
00:11:55
static-y sound you get from a cell
00:12:00
phone near your mic.
00:12:02
I didn't notice any of that.
00:12:04
I had my phone all around it, and
00:12:06
I don't think I noticed it.
00:12:08
This is a lesser-used configuration, but still
00:12:11
one that's really relevant.
00:12:12
This is almost the same as the first
00:12:14
one, except now you've separated your record and
00:12:16
your communications device.
00:12:18
Right.
00:12:18
Otherwise, it should be identical.
00:12:21
Yep.
00:12:22
And that's where this thing is so powerful,
00:12:24
because it's like two, one, you can do
00:12:26
it all.
00:12:26
Yeah.
00:12:27
Absolutely.
00:12:28
Yeah, I'm looking.
00:12:28
I'm clicking back and forth to see what's
00:12:31
changed.
00:12:31
It's like the world's war.
00:12:33
Where's Waldo?
00:12:34
Oh, you know, it says here, blends mix
00:12:37
between mics and DAW sent to guests and
00:12:39
headphones.
00:12:41
Blends mix between mics and DAW sent to
00:12:43
headphones.
00:12:44
It also controls what the guests hear.
00:12:46
So when you're using the mic playback blend
00:12:50
while listening to it back, that determines what
00:12:54
gets sent out down the comms line.
00:12:57
Yeah.
00:12:58
Because they hear what you hear.
00:13:00
They hear what you hear.
00:13:01
If the switch is on the far right
00:13:04
side, the bottom right switch.
00:13:06
Yeah, the comms source mic playback to send
00:13:09
DAW playback to remote guests on Zoom, that
00:13:12
switch has to be in the right position,
00:13:14
which that's the way I would say almost
00:13:17
everybody is going to want to use their
00:13:19
passport.
00:13:20
And which is, I just want it to
00:13:21
play back automatically.
00:13:23
I don't want to have to think about
00:13:23
it.
00:13:24
Yeah, that was the thing that caught me.
00:13:25
I was looking for something far more complicated
00:13:27
when I was trying to do playback.
00:13:29
When Robbo and I were playing with it.
00:13:31
Yeah.
00:13:32
Yeah.
00:13:32
If you have a DAW and for some
00:13:34
reason you are listening to yourself through the
00:13:38
DAW, then you could create a potential comb
00:13:42
filtering, where it's like if the DAW has
00:13:44
a little bit extra time than the direct
00:13:46
mic that you're feeding them, and if you
00:13:48
don't mute your DAW, if your record is
00:13:51
not muted and it passes through in real
00:13:52
time, then you could be doubling up.
00:13:56
You'd have to turn the playback knob all
00:13:58
the way to playback, and that will eliminate
00:14:00
that.
00:14:01
That will eliminate that.
00:14:01
Yeah, you'd have to turn it all the
00:14:03
way one way to eliminate it.
00:14:04
I don't know many voice actors who monitor
00:14:06
through the DAW, like through a Pro Tools,
00:14:08
but I'm sure some do because that's how
00:14:11
they do their punch and roll.
00:14:12
You wouldn't want to be confidence monitoring.
00:14:14
I would rather be confident in everything that
00:14:17
I want to go to take.
00:14:19
Do you confidence monitor what you record through
00:14:20
the mic as an actor?
00:14:21
I don't know.
00:14:22
That's what I'm asking.
00:14:23
I mean, I do when I record podcasts.
00:14:25
I confidence monitor.
00:14:26
So you're not hearing the latency.
00:14:28
Yeah.
00:14:29
Like in Twisted Wave, there's an option to
00:14:31
pass it through in real time or not,
00:14:32
right?
00:14:33
Yeah, it's playthrough monitoring.
00:14:35
But you don't want that as an actor.
00:14:36
It's distracting.
00:14:38
Yeah.
00:14:38
You're going to want to have playthrough monitoring
00:14:40
turned off on whatever recording application you're using.
00:14:44
In Pro Tools, it's called low latency monitor
00:14:46
mode.
00:14:46
So you want to go to your options
00:14:48
menu at the very bottom.
00:14:50
Yeah, but that's got a problem.
00:14:51
So Pro Tools is pretty stupid.
00:14:53
Yeah, I said that.
00:14:57
When you flick on low latency monitoring mode,
00:15:00
you can't have any plugins.
00:15:02
Well, you can't have them run live, no.
00:15:04
It will bypass all your plugins.
00:15:05
Well, because plugins induce latency.
00:15:08
So, yeah, that's why.
00:15:10
If you're a voiceover artist, would you want
00:15:11
to be recording with plugins on anyway?
00:15:13
I don't know.
00:15:13
Well, you might have Nexus or something else
00:15:16
going so that you're doing routing and some
00:15:17
other stuff.
00:15:18
Ah, good point.
00:15:19
Yeah, I suppose.
00:15:20
You could feed that from another auxiliary.
00:15:22
You could feed that from somewhere else.
00:15:23
You don't have to have it coming through
00:15:24
your mic channel.
00:15:25
As long as that's in your monitor path,
00:15:28
it's going to bypass it, unfortunately, the way
00:15:30
Pro Tools does it.
00:15:31
The point is, don't monitor through your DAW
00:15:33
if you're using the playback option.
00:15:35
Yeah, when you have zero latency monitoring hardware
00:15:38
like this, don't monitor through the DAW.
00:15:41
Yeah, just use it.
00:15:41
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:15:43
And then moving on, podcaster studio mode.
00:15:45
So this is being a podcast producer slash
00:15:49
podcast host, really, and having two mics in
00:15:53
the studio with you.
00:15:55
Local.
00:15:55
This is probably one of the more simple
00:15:57
modes because you're not using the comms port
00:16:00
at all.
00:16:01
You can have it plugged in, but you're
00:16:03
not going to use it.
00:16:05
This is more like, I'm just a regular
00:16:07
audio interface.
00:16:09
Yeah, this is essentially, I'm a Scarlett 2i2.
00:16:12
Yeah.
00:16:13
Yeah, just a stereo two-channel record interface.
00:16:17
Well, I keep saying Scarlett because it's such
00:16:19
a popular device, but it's still way beyond
00:16:21
a Scarlett because we've got high-pass filtering.
00:16:23
We have compressors.
00:16:24
Limiter.
00:16:25
Yeah, yeah.
00:16:25
So in this mode, now we're going to
00:16:27
split the record channel to source switch to
00:16:29
the middle position because we want to record
00:16:31
the right mic on the right track or
00:16:35
the right channel, right?
00:16:36
So, George, what you should use the comms
00:16:39
for is for your broadcast out live to
00:16:41
YouTube live and Facebook live.
00:16:45
Okay, that would be a new mode.
00:16:47
We can make another one called live stream.
00:16:49
Like record and broadcast.
00:16:52
Yeah.
00:16:53
Yeah, I would call that live streamer mode,
00:16:55
actually.
00:16:56
Right?
00:16:56
Because that's a whole other audience of users,
00:17:01
which are live streamers.
00:17:02
Actually, there's another function here as well.
00:17:04
When you're using two microphones like that for
00:17:06
a podcast, you can also use the auxiliary
00:17:09
out to run another pair of headphones.
00:17:12
So you've got two headphones.
00:17:13
Oh, yes.
00:17:14
Yes, you can.
00:17:15
Yeah.
00:17:15
So you're going to use your aux out
00:17:17
in headphone mode, and you'll connect your second
00:17:20
headset to that.
00:17:21
Yeah, so you really want to have the
00:17:22
aux out in headphone mode so you can
00:17:24
have two sets of cans.
00:17:26
Now, the headphone knob will be controlling the
00:17:28
levels to both sets of cans.
00:17:30
So make sure that the two sets of
00:17:32
cans are similar, like either the same brand
00:17:35
or similar impedance.
00:17:37
Is that the case?
00:17:38
Yeah, because you're going to have one person
00:17:40
with much louder cans than the other, and
00:17:42
that could be a little frustrating.
00:17:45
So when you flip that to headphone mode,
00:17:47
the speakers are only the speakers, right?
00:17:50
Okay.
00:17:50
Right.
00:17:51
Yeah.
00:17:51
The speaker outs are only the speaker outs.
00:17:53
And then I would almost guarantee that compressor
00:17:55
on for a podcast is the way to
00:17:57
go.
00:17:58
You just never want to have to worry
00:18:00
about clipping in a podcast.
00:18:02
And pretty much everything else is set.
00:18:06
You do want to make sure that you
00:18:07
select mic one with your mic select, because
00:18:11
if you put it on mic two, you're
00:18:12
basically going to record two copies of mic
00:18:15
two.
00:18:15
Yes, exactly.
00:18:16
Mic two on the left and mic two
00:18:17
on the right.
00:18:18
To the right, yeah.
00:18:18
Which you'll figure out.
00:18:20
But that's just, I put that on there
00:18:21
to make sure that was really clear.
00:18:23
Don't do that.
00:18:24
So that is podcaster studio mode.
00:18:27
Moving on, then we have podcaster studio remote
00:18:29
guest mode.
00:18:31
And so this is when the guest is
00:18:33
actually on some remote recording tool, right?
00:18:37
So this one is, again, similar to VO
00:18:41
mode, but this is all about recording the
00:18:43
guest as well.
00:18:44
So pretty much everything the same as if
00:18:47
you're doing a voiceover job.
00:18:49
But now you've got the comms knob that
00:18:51
you control the volume from the guest.
00:18:54
And if you happen to have two people
00:18:57
in studio with you, which probably not very
00:18:59
likely if you're doing a remote, you probably
00:19:02
won't use the second headphone jack, but it's
00:19:04
there.
00:19:05
And then you're going to connect your second
00:19:07
USB port to your second computer.
00:19:11
If you had a second person in the
00:19:13
studio, they wouldn't be heard by the guests
00:19:15
who are remote.
00:19:17
Well, if they're on speakers, they won't hear
00:19:19
it.
00:19:20
Well, even if they're, it's not going to
00:19:22
send mic two to comms.
00:19:25
It's only going to send mic one to
00:19:27
comms.
00:19:27
That is correct.
00:19:28
Yes.
00:19:29
So you can't really have two people in
00:19:32
the studio and unless they're just kind of
00:19:35
hearing you through your mic.
00:19:37
That is a design limitation.
00:19:38
Just turn their gain down and get them
00:19:40
to speak loud.
00:19:41
That's fine.
00:19:41
And they'll spill into your mic.
00:19:43
The other thing about this mode, George, is
00:19:46
that how do I record the guests?
00:19:49
I need to hook up two recording applications
00:19:52
because I'm coming in on the record interface
00:19:56
and the other people are coming in on
00:19:58
the comms interface.
00:19:59
You just record a stereo track because remember
00:20:02
the comms return is being sent to channel
00:20:05
two, the right channel.
00:20:07
So you see the switch that says set
00:20:09
comms for right channel.
00:20:12
Oh, does that right channel go out?
00:20:14
Of course, it goes out the recording.
00:20:15
Yeah.
00:20:16
So you set comms for right channel only
00:20:18
when recording.
00:20:19
And I put in parentheses only when recording
00:20:21
in stereo, folks.
00:20:22
So if you want to record both you
00:20:25
and your guest, you have to record a
00:20:27
stereo track or two tracks in your DAW
00:20:31
if it's two mono tracks.
00:20:32
So there's no way you're recording that second
00:20:34
mic.
00:20:34
Even if you put up that second mic,
00:20:37
the comms aren't hearing it and you're not
00:20:39
recording it.
00:20:40
So it's really not a use case to
00:20:42
have two people in studio and one remote.
00:20:44
You can either have two in studio or
00:20:46
you and the other person remote.
00:20:48
But this isn't like the full guest and
00:20:51
five people in studio kind of interface.
00:20:53
Right.
00:20:53
Because this thing's got so many modes, sometimes
00:20:55
we had to choose our battles and we
00:20:58
couldn't do that.
00:20:58
The main point is like a voiceover person
00:21:01
who might occasionally record an interview.
00:21:03
And maybe that interview is local or maybe
00:21:05
that interview is remote.
00:21:07
Or you want to record your clients.
00:21:10
Or your client, yeah.
00:21:11
You told me to read it faster with
00:21:13
a smile.
00:21:14
See?
00:21:16
So mode five is using only mobile device
00:21:19
field recording or reporting.
00:21:22
So this would be if you literally are
00:21:24
going to use only a mobile.
00:21:25
No PC, no laptop, nothing.
00:21:27
Just plug this thing, mobile device, go out
00:21:30
in the field.
00:21:31
That's this.
00:21:33
Record.
00:21:34
It'd be great to have Mike's little microphones.
00:21:36
Yes.
00:21:37
Those things are pretty slick, man.
00:21:39
I do have them here in these little
00:21:40
sacks.
00:21:43
But when I do that with the Micwalk
00:21:46
Pro, as we've seen before, I just jam
00:21:49
the mic straight into the unit.
00:21:51
And then record on Twisted Wave on my
00:21:53
telephone.
00:21:54
That's right.
00:21:56
That's right.
00:21:56
Absolutely.
00:21:57
So this is the one thing that's going
00:21:59
to be very different here is you need
00:22:00
to power the unit.
00:22:02
So you have to have a power bank
00:22:04
plugged into the comms port.
00:22:07
And then you will switch your power source
00:22:10
switch to comms.
00:22:13
Yep.
00:22:14
So that's something you have to do.
00:22:16
My little anchor has got a USB-C
00:22:18
and an A so you can power a
00:22:19
phone and a passport simultaneously.
00:22:22
No problem.
00:22:23
If you want to power your phone while
00:22:25
you're recording, you can't because you've only got
00:22:27
one input.
00:22:29
Unless you've got those weirdo T jacks.
00:22:33
Yeah, some strange thing.
00:22:34
So on iPhone, you have to use, it's
00:22:36
called an MFI, made for iOS adapter.
00:22:39
And they make one that has a USB
00:22:42
-A port, which is a USB 3.0
00:22:45
jack, and a USB-C port for charging.
00:22:48
So when you use that little adapter, now
00:22:51
you can charge your phone and run a
00:22:54
signal to the passport.
00:22:56
So Andrew, that's what you're saying.
00:22:58
Those adapters are $30 range.
00:23:01
I think that's what Apple sells them for.
00:23:03
It does turn it into a little power
00:23:04
splitter so it has that additional benefit.
00:23:08
So you have that available too.
00:23:10
The comms mic, mic playback switch, it's not
00:23:13
being used because we're not using comms mode
00:23:16
at all.
00:23:17
Compressor on if needed.
00:23:18
Again, that depends on what you're doing.
00:23:20
Probably most of you would probably use that.
00:23:22
Comms knob doesn't do anything because we're not
00:23:24
using the comms.
00:23:25
So it's a really more simplified mode of
00:23:28
operation.
00:23:29
I'd actually have the, because if I'm using
00:23:31
this on the phone, historically, I will be
00:23:34
probably recording in a car or not a
00:23:37
particularly good environment.
00:23:38
So I would have the high pass filter
00:23:39
on for sure.
00:23:41
For sure.
00:23:41
Yeah.
00:23:42
Good point.
00:23:43
Yeah.
00:23:44
And lastly, just so you're aware, there are
00:23:46
limitations on mobile devices.
00:23:48
You will not be able to connect on
00:23:49
Zoom and in your recording app on your
00:23:51
mobile device at the same time.
00:23:54
Can't be done on an iPhone.
00:23:56
Android?
00:23:57
I don't know.
00:23:58
Got to test that out.
00:23:59
I don't think so.
00:24:00
But the phone can only act as a
00:24:02
communications device for making calls or Zoom calls
00:24:05
or whatever.
00:24:06
Or a high bit rate pro audio recording
00:24:10
device.
00:24:12
It can't do those two at the same
00:24:13
time.
00:24:14
Just to be aware of that.
00:24:15
So moving right along.
00:24:17
This one is camera sound kit.
00:24:19
And this is definitely a very edge case
00:24:21
use for the Passport VO.
00:24:25
But if you wanted to use it as
00:24:26
a portable mic input preamp mixer for ENG
00:24:32
or film production or whatever, that's this.
00:24:35
So this would be assuming you're not connected
00:24:37
to a computer at all.
00:24:38
You have the option to do so.
00:24:41
But this would be assuming it's not connected
00:24:43
to any PC or anything.
00:24:44
It's only connected to a power bank.
00:24:46
And then the aux out goes to your
00:24:49
camera.
00:24:50
And depending on what kind of camera you
00:24:51
have, you'll have to be very careful of
00:24:54
what you set the speaker knob to.
00:24:58
Actually, no.
00:24:59
No, this is headphone mode.
00:25:00
This is in headphone mode.
00:25:01
So you can't change your headphone volume because
00:25:05
you will be changing the record volume.
00:25:07
That is true.
00:25:07
Can't you set it to speaker though?
00:25:10
No.
00:25:10
They won't have the microphones on it.
00:25:12
That's right.
00:25:13
Speaker will not pass the microphone signal out
00:25:16
of the speaker jack.
00:25:16
So that way there's no feedback.
00:25:18
That is our feedback prevention thing.
00:25:22
So we didn't want to have yet another
00:25:24
switch to have another mode.
00:25:27
You can still monitor on headphones.
00:25:28
You'll have your headphones plugged into the headphone
00:25:31
jack.
00:25:31
But the volume that you hear in the
00:25:33
headphones is going to be predicated by the
00:25:35
signal you need to send out to your
00:25:37
camera.
00:25:38
So keep that in mind.
00:25:40
Your headphone volume is your camera gain.
00:25:43
Yeah, kind of.
00:25:44
So if you've got a good camera with
00:25:46
a variable line input, you might find a
00:25:49
perfect sweet spot where the headphone level is
00:25:51
solid.
00:25:51
And then you can trim your camera input
00:25:53
until everything matches.
00:25:55
If your camera has got a micro input
00:25:57
level only, you're going to have to run
00:25:59
that really low.
00:26:02
I would suggest that if your camera passes
00:26:04
audio in real time that you're better off
00:26:06
monitoring through the camera so you can hear
00:26:09
what you are doing to that camera input
00:26:12
gain.
00:26:13
I agree with that entirely.
00:26:14
Because who knows what you've got there.
00:26:15
You've got a preamp on there.
00:26:16
And I've seen it before where you're clipping
00:26:19
something, but you're clipping it so early on
00:26:22
that it's actually not going into the red.
00:26:25
It's just in the green zone.
00:26:28
You're clipping the input of the camera, but
00:26:30
not clipping the DAC on the camera.
00:26:32
You're not clipping the digital recorder.
00:26:33
You're clipping the analog stage.
00:26:35
And that's a combination.
00:26:36
It's in the green.
00:26:36
It's okay.
00:26:37
It's like, nah, you didn't listen to it.
00:26:39
Yeah, so that is a very good point.
00:26:41
And this was something I learned from doing
00:26:43
production sound mixing way, way back is I
00:26:46
had a cable that had a monitor return
00:26:48
on it.
00:26:49
It was like a snake, you know, and
00:26:52
that would run out to the camera.
00:26:53
And it had a signal returning from the
00:26:55
camera all the way back to my mixing
00:26:56
rig so I could hear what was coming
00:26:59
off the camera.
00:27:00
Because that is the most important thing.
00:27:02
I've gotten this request.
00:27:03
They send me the video, and it's some
00:27:05
guy talking, and the camera's like 15 feet
00:27:08
away from him, and he's got a lav
00:27:10
on, and it sounds like he's 15 feet
00:27:12
away.
00:27:13
Because the camera person who's got XLRs on
00:27:15
his camera didn't switch his camera to XLR
00:27:19
input.
00:27:20
And it's just getting like the built-in
00:27:22
crappy shotgun.
00:27:24
Yeah, and let this be a lesson.
00:27:25
Looks like meters.
00:27:27
Always record a backup.
00:27:29
Always record a backup.
00:27:30
Or don't just look at meters.
00:27:32
Listen.
00:27:33
Yeah, and record a backup.
00:27:35
Like when I was doing production mixing, even
00:27:37
if we ran audio straight to cam, I
00:27:39
would always record a backup to a DAT
00:27:41
at the time.
00:27:42
That was how long ago it was.
00:27:44
But this thing, you can use your phone
00:27:46
as the backup, right?
00:27:47
You can plug your phone into the record
00:27:49
port, and that could be the backup recorder,
00:27:52
right?
00:27:52
So you got you covered.
00:27:54
Again, how many people are going to be
00:27:55
doing this on this device?
00:27:57
I don't really know.
00:27:58
It's the photographer VO professional.
00:28:01
Yeah.
00:28:02
I mean, a lot of people do more
00:28:04
than one job.
00:28:04
Let's face it.
00:28:05
That's how this business goes.
00:28:07
All right, two more to speed through.
00:28:08
This one is the producer's studio.
00:28:12
So this is Robert.
00:28:14
This is Robbo.
00:28:16
This is them engineering and just wanting to
00:28:19
have the ability to communicate with the talent
00:28:21
in the booth.
00:28:23
And that's what this mode is for.
00:28:24
And I also threw in the record on
00:28:27
PC1, comms on PC2, because I figured some
00:28:31
producers are like, I don't let the Internet
00:28:33
touch my doll.
00:28:34
It's a separate computer.
00:28:35
So that's kind of what this mode is.
00:28:37
What do you think?
00:28:37
This is one that you would use probably,
00:28:39
Robert.
00:28:40
Yeah, and it's kind of clever.
00:28:41
You can use the second mic input as
00:28:43
your talkback in the control room.
00:28:46
You got that mic, so you got your
00:28:47
talkback mic.
00:28:48
You have your talent mic.
00:28:49
You have your speakers.
00:28:50
You have your talent headphone.
00:28:53
And in this case, so the one thing
00:28:57
that would be interesting is that you as
00:28:58
the engineer, because you're listening to speakers, you're
00:29:01
going to want to pass the talent through
00:29:03
your DAW.
00:29:05
But the playback that goes to the talent,
00:29:08
you're not going to want to have that
00:29:11
knob switched over to mic.
00:29:13
So the talent will want to hear the
00:29:15
mic.
00:29:15
You'll probably have to flip that mix knob
00:29:17
back and forth a little bit.
00:29:19
The mic playback knob?
00:29:20
Yeah, because you want to hear the talent,
00:29:23
so you got to listen through the DAW.
00:29:25
But then you don't want the talent hearing
00:29:27
them twice.
00:29:28
So you only want the talent to hear
00:29:30
the DAW when you have something to play
00:29:34
for them.
00:29:35
And the only way to do it is
00:29:36
to flip that back and forth.
00:29:38
So this knob here, you would, let's see.
00:29:41
So while tracking or while recording, you would
00:29:44
turn it to mic?
00:29:46
While recording, you would turn it to mic.
00:29:48
The speaker output is always the output of
00:29:50
the computer.
00:29:50
Then you basically keep that over to the
00:29:52
left while recording and to the right while
00:29:56
playing back.