iPhone external mic connection - solved!

The attached image is a triumph of sorts as it shows the solution to a problem that has been driving me nuts the whole week.
I wanted to connect an external, professional mic to an iPhone 4 (running iOS 5.1). Research showed me that the iPhone needed an external mic to have an impedance of at least 800 ohms or else it wouldn't switch over from the internal mic.
So I bought a cable on line from Sescom, via B&H. It arrived but wouldn't work. I was using a pro Sennheiser mic, but my iPhone just wouldn't switch over from the internal to the external.
I even pulled the XLR connector apart to see if it had the right impedance matching circuit in it, which it did. The strange thing was that the mic and cable worked fine into my iPad.
The solution is to insulate the base of the TRRS connector from touching the iPhone case. (The screwdriver is pointing to the offending part). Once this was done - Bingo! Worked fine. I now need to refine the solution and I have told the nice guys at Sescom how to do it. A small neoprene washer should do the trick. The supplied TRRS plug on the connecting cable is different from the ones Apple supply, in that the Apple ones don't extend the sleeve connection to the base of the plug.
This base (screwdriver blade in pic (L) indicates the offending area) comes into contact with the metal case/antenna that is around the iPhone. In effect it's then a connection between the 'sleeve' of the plug and the case. This obviously causes the audio circuits to malfunction and not switch over to this external input.
Nice to have worked it out.

Nostalgic for the analogue age

Like almost everyone working in the field of sound recording, video production and graphic design I use a computer. I often marvel that what once took a room full of one inch video tape machines, a rack filled with character generators and then another room with a 24-track audio recorder, can now all be done on a 13 inch laptop. And all in high definition with surround sound.
But visiting Old Parliament House this week I walked through the former press office and became somewhat nostalgic for the analogue days of audio recording.
The Cuemaster cart machine (pictured) was the only way of playing multiple audio tracks one after the other in radio. The Nagra reel-to-reel tape recorder was used to record sync audio for interviews, documentaries - even feature films.
Whilst the digital world provides wonderful versatility, nothing like using a blade and splicing tape to edit radio interviews to help you get a reel feel for the medium.
Ahh - memories ....

At the end of my street ...

This is not an image you'd ever see on a travel brochure or in the window of a travel agent, but its the view at the end of my street looking out over Gray's Point. Whilst it's probably not significant to anyone else, it marks the turning point of my daily walk before I start my day.
Life is made up of such routines and whilst some may think daily or weekly routines are boring, they do help set the rhythm and pattern of life. So much so that when they're disrupted by travel, work or maybe sickness, getting back to them brings the world back to balance, even normal. Apparently its good to have regular routines - walking has an impact on both physical and mental well being.
Looking over the above view each day, or as many times a week as I am able, provides a sense of peace. In a world of sometimes crazy activity, that can't be all bad.

The disconnected 'connected' generation

We are the parents of one Gen X'er and with wives and partners, four Gen Y'ers. And although we're Baby Boomers, we as connected as our children - with one exception. Being brought up on the principle that it's always polite to return phone calls and answer letters, we're pretty good at answering e-mails, texts, facebook posts and even voice mail - their modern day equivalent.
Gen X and Y are supposed to be the 'connected generation'. You know, with an iPod in one ear, left hand sending texts and the right hand answering e-mail on the laptop or iPad.
Trouble is, despite all this connectedness, trying to get them to answer simple questions like, "are you home for dinner?" or, "can you both come to dinner in a week?" are met with nothing. Silence.
I reckon the connected generation is not as connected as everyone says or is that they're just not focused on planning ahead. Rather than commit to a dinner date with parents or parents-in-law (what could be better) they wait until the last minute - in case they get a better offer. (Maybe I could do better)
As frustrating as this is sometimes, we have just learnt to live with our disconnected ' connected' generation.

PS. We love them just the same. Hope they don't read this.
Comments?

Oranges and Sunshine ... a reflection

Just after Christmas, 1960, our family of four - Mum, Dad and my younger brother and I boarded the Fairsky for a five week voyage to the UK. I was eleven and my brother 14 months younger. Spending five weeks on a boat that was making the return trip to the UK to bring more '10 pound poms' to Australia was great for two young boys. Dad was an opera singer and was off to the UK to further his career.
We made the return journey 18 months later - this time the Fairsky was also carrying English families looking for a new life in the 'lucky country'. What I didn't know at the time was that that ship (and others sailing the same route) were bringing some of the 130,000 orphans to a land of 'oranges and sunshine' in a 'scheme of forcibly relocating poor children from the UK to Australia.'
I am the same age as many of these children whose story is now told in the just released feature film starring Emily Watson, David Wenham and Hugo Weaving.
Oranges and Sunshine is a simply told story with much of the detail of the abuse suffered by the children told in flashbacks to interviews carried out by Margaret Humphreys, on whose life the story is based. That both the UK and the Australian governments were party to such an arrangement is appalling. Worse is the treatment and abuse the children received at the hands of charitable and church organisations once they got here.
At last the story has been told in this moving film. See it ... you won't be the same afterwards.

Looking at the world digitally ...

I've been wearing reading glasses for 15 years or so and despite the annoyance of occasionally misplacing them, they're a part of life. On my most recent visit to my friendly optometrist I decided to try a pair of multi-focus lenses. Whilst I knew that would mean wearing them all the time, at least I would have progressive correction as things got closer-which sounded perfect.
The lenses are called digital lenses because of the way they're made. The top of the lense is for distance viewing with the bottom set for close-up work and reading.
The one problem is that the manufacturing process used means that the bottom left and right corners of the lense is blurry - which means a quite narrow 'field of focus' in the bottom of the lense.
So instead of seeing the whole page of a book or my computer screen in focus from left to right, there is a 'hot spot' in the middle which at times only covers a few words. This means I either have to track the book left to right as I read, or move my whole head.
Both options are a bit of a nuisance - so there is one alternative left to try which will give me a slightly wider reading angle at the bottom.
I hope it works ...

Imitation - the greatest form of flattery ....

Newspapers in Sydney this weekend ran a story about a new ad campaign being planned by an Islamic group called 'My Peace'. Their ads (see billboard left) will carry slogans such as ''Jesus: a prophet of Islam''.
The article claimed that: "CHRISTIANS in Sydney will have their core beliefs challenged by provocative advertisements due to appear on billboards and buses in the next month."
The Islamic campaign follows a series of campaigns run throughout Australia from 2005 - 2010 in Adelaide, Tasmania, Canberra/ACT, NSW/Sydney and WA/Perth by Christian churches and facilitated by Bible Society. The 'Jesus. All about life' (JAAL) campaigns used billboards (pictured), television commercials and encouraged local churches in each city or area to support the campaign by reaching out to their local community.
I was actively involved in developing the first three campaigns and laying the ground work for the fourth one. (For media reports, etc - click here)

The news that 'My Peace' are copying the JAAL model (but not the message of course) is not surprising, given the amount of coverage our campaign received by the secular press.
'Jesus. All about life' was favourably commented on by the Gruen Transfer and is also studied in marketing and theological courses. However JAAL varied in one key area compared to this most recent use of modern marketing techniques to promote religion. Our campaign was strongly linked to the 'brand', ie - Jesus. We chose not to denigrate or comment on other religions. We simply stated our position and then encouraged people to find out more by way of a web site or phone call.
My Peace have taken a different approach, claiming that Jesus is a prophet of Islam. Whilst I don't think this will 'challenge the core beliefs of Sydney Christians' it does 'position' Jesus as something other than who he is, in the hope maybe that those who aren't Christian, might want to find out more.
It's a bold move and one that takes the 'battle' if you like, right up to the Christian frontline.
As Bishop Rob Forsyth said, 'it was ''complete nonsense'' to say Jesus was a prophet of Islam. ''Jesus was not the prophet of a religion that came into being 600 years later.'' But the billboard was not offensive, he said. ''They've got a perfect right to say it, and I would defend their right to say it [but] … you couldn't run a Christian billboard in Saudi Arabia".'
I agree with Rob - imagine a 'Jesus. All about life' banner in the middle-east!
That My Peace have imitated our campaign is in one sense flattering, but all we did was use modern marketing techniques, backed by research to encourage people to find out what Jesus said about life. 'I have come to give life and life to the full", he said.
What do you think?