I’m a 15 year radio veteran. I’ve seen the debate between high-end and low-end microphones both in-person and on message boards. Usually, the argument ends with snide comment like: “The Behringer is crap because it’s only $98 dollars!”… That’s not very scientific, so I wanted to study this on a technical level.

In my office is a Behringer B-1. I purchased it new in 2001 from zzounds.com. It’s widely known as a cheap, yet rugged starter microphone. I’ve use it to voice-track, cut voice-overs, and mic live instruments (the coolest being a 100 year-old cello). It’s a tough microphone. The kind of microphone you can toss into the backseat on the way to a gig and not think twice.

The Neumann TLM 103 is known as a high-end, yet affordable option for voice-over professionals. The Neumann name is known throughout the recording industry as THE microphone for vocals. It’s truly the Cadillac! There are three TLM 103′s in the building, one in each production room. Many of our DJ’s have them in their home studios too. Note: most radio stations wouldn’t dare spend $1,200 on a production room microphone.

What you’re about to see (and hear) is me talking into both microphones – unedited. To prove that I’m not swapping voice processors, you’ll even hear me changing out the microphones. (note: never unplug microphones before turning off the phantom power!)

I personally have no stake in the argument, I’m an engineer. I simply wanted to introduce a more technical point-of-view.

Technical Specifications

Behringer B-1

• Type: Condenser
• Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
• Pickup Pattern: Cardioid
• Diaphragm: 1-inch pressure-gradient transducer capsule
• Power: 48v Phantom
• Construction: Ultra low-noise transformerless circuitry
• Price $98.00 USD
• Website: http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/B-1.aspx

Neumann TLM 103

• Type: Condenser
• Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
• Pickup Pattern: Cardioid
• Diaphragm: 1-inch pressure-gradient transducer capsule
• Power: 48v Phantom
• Construction: Ultra low-noise transformerless circuitry
• Price: $1,200 USD
• Website: http://www.neumann.com/?lang=en&id=current_microphones&cid=tlm103_description

I grabbed these specifications from each respective website. I’m not going to dive into exactly how they are made, or the quality of materials used…but on paper they should sound almost identical.

Test 1: Basic Home Studio

With this test, I’m recreating a (very) basic home studio. There’s no audio board, just the voice processor plugged into “Line-In” on the motherboard sound card. For both tests, the B-1 is set to “flat” as there is no low-frequency roll-off option on the TLM 103.

Equipment:

• Symetrix 528e Voice Processor
• On-Board High Definition Audio Card (Dell Optiplex 360)

Adobe Audition Screen-shot:

Average Frequency Response:

Behringer B-1

Neumann TLM 103

Test 2: Production Room

Now, let’s move into a real-live-working production room at a radio station. This room is “Prod 3″. It is used daily to voice-track shows and cut commercials. It features a flat-response 12-channel mixer, and a professional grade sound card – oh, and lots of foam on the walls.

Note: I used the same exact Voice Processor in each test. 

Equipment:

• Symetrix 528e Voice Processor
• Broadcast Tools ProMix 12
• Audio Science 4344 Sound Card

Adobe Audition Screen-shot:

Average Frequency Response: 

Behringer B1

Neumann TLM 103

Sound Check

• Listen: B1 vs TLM 103 – Home Studio (320kbps .mp3 – unedited)
• Listen: B1 vs TLM 103 – Production Room (320kbps .mp3 – unedited)

Conclusion

It’s obvious the production room environment sounds better. That has nothing to do with the board, and everything to do with the professional sound card.

IMHO: The B-1 sounds brighter and a bit “punchy”, while the TLM 103 sounds warm and more “mellow”. Overall, they’re not that far apart. (Really) That’s no surprise since their specifications and frequency responses are identical.

How? Quality of materials and parts used in construction.

What does that mean? Nothing. A Top-40 DJ might want to sound punchy, while a soft-rock DJ will want to sound warmer. Do you want to flaunt the name “Neumann” to owners of B-1′s on messages boards? Or do you want to have a fantastic sounding microphone for less than $100? In the end, it’s all about your budget and application.

A co-worker of mine, John Garrett, does voice-overs for a living. He started out with a Behringer B-1. He jokes all the time about how that “starter microphone” made him a living for a few years. (Last year he purchased a TLM 103).

My advice (and John Garrett’s) to up-and-coming voice-over artists is: Don’t worry about the microphone as much as the gear surrounding it.

• Buy a high-quality USB sound card. A Tascam US-144MKII or an M-Audio Fast Track. These will make your audio sound better – long before you hook-up the microphone
• Buy an industry standard voice processor like the Symetrix 528e. Adjust it to fit YOUR voice.
• Use sound dampening foam in your studio/room

When you’re both successful and have some extra cash, then take the leap and get the TLM 103. Just don’t expect gigs to flood in because you own a $1,200 microphone.

I’m told he smokes Marlboro Reds.

It’s a bit nerve racking, since the learning curve is so high. It’s all worth it when you see stats like this, and anyone familiar with configuring APC + PHP + W3 Total Cache will appreciate  this graph:

 (hint: there’s almost no fragmentation)

Update: Some of you have asked to see my setup and PHP configuration.

Amazon Large Instance

• Operating system – Ubuntu Linux 11.10
• Kernel - Linux 3.0.0-14-virtual on x86_64
• Processor - Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5507 @ 2.27GHz, 2 cores
• RAM - 7.29 GB total
• Disk - 1.80 TB total
• Apache - 2.2.20
• PHP - 5.3.6
• APC – 3.1.9

My php.ini configuration

[APC]
extension=apc.so
apc.enabled = 1
apc.shm_segments = 1
apc.shm_size = 512M
apc.optimization = 0
apc.num_files_hint = 4096
apc.ttl = 0
apc.user_ttl = 0
apc.gc_ttl = 900
apc.cache_by_default = 1
apc.filters = "apc\.php$"
apc.mmap_file_mask = "/tmp/apc.XXXXXX"
apc.slam_defense = 0
apc.file_update_protection = 2
apc.enable_cli = 0
apc.max_file_size = 10M
apc.stat = 1
apc.write_lock = 1
apc.report_autofilter = 0
apc.include_once_override = 0
apc.localcache = 0
apc.localcache.size = 512M
apc.coredump_unmap = 0
apc.stat_ctime = 0
apc.use_request_time = 1
apc.canonicalize = 1
apc.lazy_functions = 0
apc.lazy_classes = 1

While this configuration works great for me, keep in mind, that my apc.shm_size is set to 512M because my server has almost 8GB of RAM.

Then removed over 41GB of crap!

(If you use a PC, you should run CCleaner at least twice a month.)

After updating all the browsers, plugins, and removed a bunch of malware…this rig is running great.

Turned out to be a jQuery conflict…but it’s an easy fix.

If you’re enqueing scripts with functions.php (or custom_functions.php) and using wp_print_scripts, then you’re doing it wrong. The folks at WordPress have officially stated that the preferred way to load scripts is by using: wp_enqeue_scripts.

If you see this inside functions.php, then this is the problem:

add_action( 'wp_print_scripts', 'load_my_scripts' );

One of your plug-ins could also be loading scripts using wp_print_scripts. If you’ve checked your functions.php and don’t see wp_print_scripts, then try disabling your plug-ins one-by-one until you media uploader works again. Then, report the erroneous plug-in to it’s author so he/she can make an adjustment.

Bottom line: The preferred method is, wp_enqueue_scripts:

//** Script Managment **//
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'load_my_scripts' );
function load_my_scripts() {
	  wp_deregister_script( 'jquery' );
	  wp_deregister_script( 'jquery-ui' );
	  wp_register_script( 'jquery', 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js' );
	  wp_register_script( 'jquery-ui', 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.16/jquery-ui.min.js' );
	  wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery', 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js', array( 'jquery' ), '4.0', false );
	  wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery-ui', 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.16/jquery-ui.min.js', array( 'jquery' ), '1.8.16' );
}

Features

• In-line image uploads and real-time resizing
• Schedule by day, hour, and minutes
• Schedule multiple DJ’s per day – or just one
• Give the DJ’s a description
• Link to the DJ’s website or web page
• Hooks
• Custom CSS
• Template Tags
• Shortcode
• Widget

Download at WordPress.org | Demo | Support | Contribute

Layout Editor

The new visual editor...sexy!

My homepage...nothing to see here

To get started, just click and draw a box

After drawing the block, it automatically asks you what you want to put there

Drawing a website? I'm a fan!

The result is pretty rough, but that brings us to Design Editor...

 Design Editor

Click on any element, and start customizing. Your changes will show up live in the window above

After a few minutes, my rough design starts to take shape

I’m really impressed with how easy it is to point-and-click your way to a design. Of course, it’s a beta so don’t use this on a live site. You can read all about Beta 1 here: http://headwaythemes.com/getting-started-with-3-0-beta/

There are a couple bugs (it’s a beta!) like I couldn’t style sub-headers, and images would default align left, even though I selected align right.

UPDATE

The official release date for Headway 3.0 is November 25th.

With the release of Headway 3.0, upgrading to a developer license (if you don’t already have one), will cost more. Plus, those who do not already own Headway will pay an annual renewal fee. This does not apply to those of you who own Headway now. You will always get free upgrades and support.

If you don’t have a copy of Headway, head on over and purchase yours today.

Using the CLI (Command Line Interface):

L.A.M.P Stack (Apache, Mysql, PHP)

sudo apt-get install lamp-server^

Let’s move onto essential extras which can help you administer your LAMP stack via point-and-click:

phpMyAdmin

sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin

Choose Apache and then YES for dbconfig-common.

Webmin

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Paste the following lines:

deb http://download.webmin.com/download/repository sarge contrib
deb http://webmin.mirror.somersettechsolutions.co.uk/repository sarge contrib

Import the key

wget http://www.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc
sudo apt-key add jcameron-key.asc

Update the sources list

sudo apt-get update

Install Webmin

sudo apt-get install webmin

Start Webmin

sudo /etc/webmin/start

When it’s finished, open Firefox or Chrome and type:

http://localhost:10000/ (or if on a network) http://ipaddressofubuntu:10000/

ProFTPd

sudo apt-get install proftpd

APC

sudo apt-get install php-apc

Other handy L.A.M.P. related commands:

Edit PHP.ini = sudo nano /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini
Edit FAST-CGI-PHP.ini =  sudo nano /etc/php5/cgi/php.ini
Apache restart =  sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Set Recursive Web Permissions =
sudo chmod -R 775 /public_html/XXXXXX
cd /public_html/ sudo chmod -R www-data:www-data XXXXXXX

Manage packages

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get autoremove

Remove LAMP in four steps

sudo apt-get purge libapache2-mod-auth-mysql phpmyadmin
sudo apt-get purge mysql-server mysql-server-5.1 mysql-server-core-5.1
sudo apt-get purge apache2 apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils apache2.2-bin apache2.2-common libapache2-mod-php5
sudo apt-get autoremove

More resources:

• Setup Virtual Hosts in Webmin
• http://www.ubuntugeek.com/step-by-step-ubuntu-11-04-natty-lamp-server-setup.html
• http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_lamp_for_newbies
• http://www.techtickle.com/how-to-setup-lamp-on-ubuntu.html

Ugh, waiting for the Ubuntu Repositories to “officially” include updated software can be frustrating. Such is the case with the LAMP stack, including phpMyAdmin. I’ll show you how to do it using Webmin’s File Manager.

Quick Setup

Upload the latest phpMyAdmin files into /usr/share/phpmyadmin

Detailed Setup

Step 1) Log into Webmin

Step 2) Go to “Others” –> “File Manager”

Step 3) Navigate through the file structure to /usr/share/phpmyadmin

Step 4) Backup the old files (optional, but highly recommended)

A) Create a new folder and name it “_old”

B) Select all the files in /usr/share/phpmyadmin

C) Click “Cut”

D) Open /usr/share/phpmyadmin_old

E) Click “Paste”

Step 5) Download the latest version of phpMyAdmin (I chose, “English” and .zip) and save it to your desktop

Step 6) In Webmin, Select “Upload” and select “Yes” to Uncompress Zip or Tar file?

There should be a new folder in /usr/share/phpmyadmin called something similar to: phpMyAdmin-3.4.5-english.

You need to move the files located in that folder… back to /usr/share/phpmyadmin.

Step 7) Navigate to the new folder /usr/share/phpmyadmin/phpMyAdmin-3.4.5-english/

Step 8) Select all the files and click “Cut”

Step 9) Navigate back one folder (to /usr/share/phpmyadmin)

Step 10) Click “Paste”

What is a virtual host?

By definition: The term Virtual Host refers to the practice of running more than one web site (such as www.company1.com and www.company2.com) on a single machine. Virtual hosts can be “IP-based”, meaning that you have a different IP address for every web site, or “name-based”, meaning that you have multiple names running on each IP address. The fact that they are running on the same physical server is not apparent to the end user.

In English: Imagine what a waste it would be if you could only host one (1) domain per server? With virtual servers, your rig can handled thousands of domains.

Step 1) Create your website’s directory

Go to Others –> File Manager

Navigate to public_html (or var/www/)Click on New and type the name of your website

Step 2) Set directory permissions

Select your folder, then click Info

Make sure the permissions are set to: 0755

Change the ownership and group to: www-data (www-data is the default user/group for Apache)

Apply changes to This directory and all sub-directories

Step 3) Create your virtual host

On the left menu under Servers, click Apache Webserver

Click Create virtual host

Enter your Document Root, and change the Server Name to match your domain

Click Create

Almost done!

You should be back at the Existing virtual hosts screen

Now click on your Virtual Server and then Networking and Addresses

Here you can set the Server admin email (optional) and the Alternate virtual server names

See how I put “www.” in front? If you don’t set an Alternate virtual server name with “www”, then anytime someone types “www.yourdomain.com” the site wont load!

Step 4) Apply Changes

This is important! :)

That’s it!

Wrap up

If your DNS is setup – and pointing at your server’s IP address…then you should see something like this:

It will look like that until you upload some HTML files.