Lodging booked, logistics budget wrapped, $902.42 budget for equipment

Thu Jan 21 20:24:19 UTC 2010

Andrew,

Yeah, I considered the xlr cabling solution.  I agree that a simple
dynamic microphone would be great, especially for audience questions,
which might be applicable depending on the room.  However, I think
it'd be really useful to have a powered dynamic mic so that a
volunteer could easily walk it around to different folks for
questions, if desired.  Maybe we should add that to the list :)

As far as the remote lavalier microphones go, I have both the audio
technica and a cheap $50 set from radio shack.  Both work well, but
the radio shack one has much less distance and gets a bit of
interference from time to time.  I love the audio technica, but the
Utah Open Source Foundation's budget isn't quite as great as Fedora's
budget or my personal budget, so that's why  we got the radio shack
remote mics. :)

Cheers,

Clint

On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 1:17 PM, Andrew Ross <aross at fosslc.org> wrote:
> Clint,
>
> One option we also do sometimes is run an XLR mic into a mixer. We have
> Xenyx 1204's and Xenyx 804's, Both are excellent. The 1204 has a USB output
> and both XLR and 1/4" inputs. The 804's are teeny tiny and take 1/4". XLR
> mics and cables are cheap.
>
> The XLR + cable approach saves a lot of money, but it means hauling more
> stuff around. The XLR cables and mics can be quite heavy and also, the
> speaker can't move around as they can with wireless.
>
> The remote mic looks interesting and fairly cheap. Have you used them
> before?
>
> Andrew
>
> 2010/1/21 Clint Savage <herlo1 at gmail.com>
>>
>> Andrew,
>>
>> Great to know about the splitter in the vga2usb device!
>>
>> I'm bringing two of my remote mics, but I believe it would be a good
>> choice to purchase a remote microphone set (with two remote mics and
>> one base unit would be best imo) for the Event Box.  As far as the
>> rest of my shopping list, I really haven't had a bunch of time to
>> look, but here's what I'd like:
>>
>> at least one vga2usb device
>>
>> at least one 4channel mixer (I use Alesis because they are awesome and
>> provide usb input to the computer)
>>
>> (http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-MultiMix-USB-Four-Channel-Mixer/dp/B001T9O5VG)
>>
>> at least one remote mic set (I have this one:
>>
>> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UV8KQA/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00006I51V&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0N2DKZ627FDNMGMZPWG5)
>>
>> at least 3 1/4" to XLR male (3' cables at longest) for connecting
>> remote mic to mixer.  If the mixer that Andrew suggests has a mixer
>> built-in that's great too!  However, I didn't see it on my cursory
>> review.
>>
>> Lots and lots of batteries to go with the units.
>>
>> I worry that we will spend too much money on the lavalier mic set.  At
>> $599 and $239 respectively (per the links on the wiki), I think we can
>> do something with a bit better pricing and still get great quality.  I
>> think the cost would be around $500-$600 for what I suggest above vs
>> near $1k for the other items depending on the mix.  I'm not trying to
>> be controversial, but believe that the equipment I purchased to be
>> quite nice, and a good start for a Fedora Events System.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Clint
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 6:56 AM, Andrew Ross <aross at fosslc.org> wrote:
>> > Hi Mel, Clint
>> >
>> > FYI, the vga2usb device from epiphan is actually a small box kit that
>> > includes the vga splitter cable, vga extension cable, and pretty much
>> > all
>> > you need. The one addition I would make is to get a 10 ft usb extension
>> > cable. In my opinion, extending the USB is easier than extending the vga
>> > cable to avoid signal loss. It's also a lot smaller and lighter which is
>> > a
>> > good thing.
>> >
>> > One nice thing about the ew100g2's is that they pack into a small pencil
>> > case. This keeps them safe, and means they're very portable. The fact
>> > they
>> > run on batteries is really nice. Means you can record in all sorts of
>> > crazy
>> > places without power readily available. The base units don't facilitate
>> > that
>> > unfortunately.
>> >
>> > The usb powered vga extension looks interesting... I'm not sure if it
>> > provides any signal boost and thus if it's worthwhile. If you decide to
>> > go
>> > for it, I'd be interested to know.
>> >
>> > Also, having done quite a bit of testing with many types of batteries in
>> > the
>> > ew100g2's, I've found that the choices are alkaline OR eneloop (Sanyo)
>> > NiMH
>> > batteries. Thus far, eneloop is the only NiMH that I've found that works
>> > right in the mic/receiver - each takes 2 AA batteries.
>> >
>> > Andrew
>> >
>> > 2010/1/20 Mel Chua <mel at redhat.com>
>> >>
>> >> > This wraps up everything except for getting equipment, for which we
>> >> > have
>> >> > $902.42 budget remaining; this is a good investment in durable events
>> >> > recording equipment that we'll be using frequently for many years
>> >> > (one
>> >> > hopes).
>> >>
>> >> Update on this: Clint is looking at shiny things and coming up with a
>> >> proposed shopping list for us. The list at
>> >> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Events_FAD_2010#Equipment is largely
>> >> taken from suggestions and links from Andrew and Jon (thanks, folks!)
>> >>
>> >> --Mel
>> >> _______________________________________________
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>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Andrew
>> >
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>
>
> --
> Andrew
>
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