I’ve been meaning to write this post for about a year, ever since I called M-Audio technical support to talk to them about my setup and the technician I spoke with had never heard of anyone with the same monitor recording configuration I’m using. In addition, I get a lot of questions about the high quality of my telephone interviews.

The purpose of this post is to explain how using a Delta 1010 and Skype (or SkypeOut) on a Windows XP system allows me to record phone interviews that send my own voice and my guest’s voice to separate recorded tracks in Cubase. The advantage is that, during both recording and post-production, I can then treat my audio and my guest’s audio independently (levels, equalization, audio processing, etc…). If anyone knows that a similar setup (using Cubase) is possible on MacOSX 10.x, please let me know.

I should start by saying that most podcasters WON’T have a Delta 1010 card. When I bought the unit for my music hobby, it was amazingly expensive for an amateur hack musician. I believe the card is now roughly $700, slightly more than half the price I paid many years ago — and still worth every penny.

WINDOWS XP SOUND AND AUDIO DEVICE PROPERTIES

I’m going to assume that your Delta 1010 card is already installed. Next step is to make a few specific settings in the Audio tab of your Sound and Audio Devices Properties (in your Control Panel). Make sure that the default playback and recording devices are set to M-Audio Delta 1010 Multi. Click on the photo to see my settings.

DELTA 1010 CONTROL PANEL

There are several tabs that need to be configured in the Delta 1010 Control Panel. The first tab to visit is the Pathbay/Router tab. Make sure that the following options are selected (click on the photo to see my settings):

• WavOut 1/2 under H/W Out 1/2

Next, mute the H/W In 1/2 Mixer Input in the Monitor Mixer tab of the Delta 1010 Control Panel. Muting this setting prevents a feedback loop when recording the input signal in these channels (click on the photo to see my settings).

The last tab to visit is Hardware Settings. Make sure there is a check next to Disable audio app use of Monitor Mixer and Patchbay/Router under Asio Options (click on the photo to see my settings). Truthfully, I don’t know if this exact setting makes any difference and yet I know my solution works. Like many project studio owners, I don’t mess with a good thing so I’ve never tested to see if having this option unselected messes things up.

SKYPE OPTIONS

Even though the Windows default device was set to the M-Audio Delta 1010 Multi in an earlier procedure, I’ve set my Speakers in my Skype Audio Settings (under Options) just in case I make a change to my Windows settings at a later time (click on the photo to see my settings). This forces the signal from the remote side of the Skype call to be pushed out the Monitor channel of the 1010. Note that this does not separate multiple remote Skype users; it puts all of the incoming Skype stream into one channel.

CUBASE CONFIGURATION

The Mixer In L Delta-1010 and Mixer In R Delta-1010 input ports need to be Active inputs and Visible in the working environment. To do so, make sure that these options are selected in the Device Setup window. Of course, these options are only available one the M-Audio Delta ASIO driver is selected in VST Audio subsystem (click on the photo to see my settings).

Once the Mixer input channels are activated, an input bus must be created so that the inputs appear as Input Routing options for audio channels. In the VST Connections - Input window, add a stereo bus for the M-Audio Delta-1010 Audio Device and select Mixer In L Delta-1010 for the left channel and Mixer In R Delta-1010 for the right channel (click on the photo to see my settings).

CUBASE RECORDING AND MAKING THE SKYPE CALL

To record your own voice through a microphone to one track and your Skype guest on another, create a mono audio track for your own voice and select Analog In 1 Delta-1010 (L or R, depending on which channel your microphone is plugged in to) and create a second mono audio track for your Skype guest’s voice and select Mixer In (L or R) Delta-1010.  Finally, check your input levels, arm both tracks for recording, start the recording, fire up Skype and make your call.

PARTING THOUGHT

I also own the M-Audio Firewire 1814 audio card which is made by the same company as the Delta 1010. Unfortunately, the drivers for the 1814 do not appear to offer the same power and flexibility. If anyone from M-Audio reads this, I’d love to know if you could add this fantastic functionality to the 1814.

I participated in a conference call today.  It was a support call during which I mostly sat back and listened to the interraction between a colleague and two technicians.  It was hard not to notice that the instructions given were rarely to just perform a procedure, they almost always involved the invitation for my colleage to “Go ahead and…”.  After a while I decided to entertain myself by doing a “go ahead” count.  In one minute the technicians delivered twelve times, two of them in one sentence.

I upgraded the Cubase 4 installation on my MacBook Pro from 4.0.3 to 4.1, yesterday evening, and discovered that I was no longer able to import and export MP3 files. The symptoms included:

• Error: Medium type not supported or invalid medium! when trying to import MP3 files;
• Missing export preferences for MPEG 1 Layer 3 File format in the Export Audio Mixdown window; and,
• Unexpected Error when trying to export MP3 files.

I checked the Cubase.net forums and saw that many other people had the same problem. Still, many had a seemless and error-free upgrade. A few workarounds and possible solutions have been shared in the forums with mixed results.

I submitted a ticket to Cubase support today and Lindsay was amazingly helpful and responsive with this Mac-specific fix that worked right away!

• Close all Steinberg applications
• Go to Mac HD–>users–>you–>library–>preferences–>
• Move all Cubase 4 and Cubase SX folders to the system Desktop
• Reopen Cubase 4
• It may take a while for Cubase to rebuild the preferences folder

While it may have been inconvenient and scary for a few hours, Cubase is worth these exciting moments. Of course, if I had lost data it might be a whole different story.

Thanks a million Lindsay and Steinberg!

I’m beginning work on my December submission of Defining Moments, my column in Podcast User Magazine.  My theme for this installment is Striking an Emotional Chord.  If you have any stories, experiences or thoughts on podcasts that strike an emotional chord for you — whether you listened to the program or created it — please email me no later than this Wednesday (November 28) at markblevis@gmail.com.

Today, twenty campers came from Ottawa, Gatineau, Kingston, Montreal and Guelph for the first, and likely not last, PodCamp Ottawa. They made themselves comfortable on pillows (sitting up and laying down), participated in a lively discussion, ate pizza and collectively raised $200 for the Snowsuit Fund. That’s right. In my books, PodCamp Ottawa was an outrageous success.

Click here to see my Flickr Photos of PodCamp Ottawa.

Today’s event tested out a number of theories and ideas about PodCamp and how events can be run. This list includes things like having no chairs or tables (although chairs crept into the circle late in the day), facilitated discussions instead of presentations, no computers and limited capacity.

For me, the greatest victory was the principle of ‘no computers’. Everyone cooperated on this one and not a single person told me that the event was lacking as a result. Everyone was engaged — more so that I had expected. I have to admit that I was expecting resistance and noise about this one, particularly from a community of people who live their lives in a connected hobby or business.

Perhaps the only of the points I’ve just raised that could draw some form of constructive criticism is the fact that we had only 20 attendees out of 25 registered with a planned capacity of 80 (most notified of their cancellation in advance). My feelings on this are strong; the small group allowed everyone to participate in the discussion and everyone got to know each other. Personally, I have a far better understanding of the challenges that podcasters, new and established, are facing. In fact, you can expect some announcements in the next week or two about a new initiative to help the community. There will likely be some changes to the Canadian Podcast Buffet as well.

If that isn’t enough for you, Chamika and Chulaka Ailapperuma (who are not YET podcasting) brought fruit and treats for the entire gathering, and some!

It’s likely that I will release most of the discussions as podcasts. I’m catching up on work and family so it may be a week or two before any of that makes it out.

Thanks so much to National Arts Centre New Media for the space and Thornley Fallis for the use of their projector for Bob’s workshop on Audacity.

The Canadian Government in partnership with the National Arts Centre, and the help of Collectik, launched a new directory of Canadian podcasts earlier this week on their culture.ca website.

The directory is available in English and French versions and focuses on podcasts that have a Canadian cultural slant. The definition of culture seems to include everything that isn’t specifically sports and science.

The new directory of can be found at podcasts.culture.ca.

Don’t forget that PodCamp Ottawa happens this coming Sunday (November 25), from 10am to 4pm in the Panorama Room of the National Arts Centre.

Be sure to check out our Guiding Principles, then register and volunteer to facilitate a discussion.

I’m a little late in posting this…

I was a guest of the fantastic podcast, Inside Home Recording last week. Derek Miller invited me to participate in a discussion about the Zoom H2 portable digital recorder, and others. You can hear our discussion in IHR episode 49… Mp3 version and M4A version.

Seth Godin started a thread (see: Thanks) and Rob Safuto of Awakened Voice picked up on it (see: Losing Your Users). In summary, Seth points out that blog [and podcast] followers give their creators the gift of attention, and Rob follows that up with a thought that ad services are a specific and directed invitation for the audience to go away.

Basically, if you want to attract a following and you respect the people that give you their time, why would you push them out the door?

The latest issue of Podcast User Magazine includes a photo of me, taken by Steve Garfield, as the header for my Defining Moments column.

While I submitted the photo as a candidate for the header, I didn’t expect it to run without a credit. More importantly, use of the photo without clearing it with Steve is a problem in this particular case since PUM makes revenue from advertising and the photo is licensed under Creative Commons attribution-non-commercial-share-alike.

Steve’s a cool guy, though, and has assured me that with appropriate credit, he is okay with the use of the photo in this particular case.

Earlier today, I submitted a request to have the PDF updated and posted an acknowledgment through the comment feature on the PUM website. The comment is in moderation.

Thanks, Steve, for taking a cool photo and for sharing it with us!