GoodBuyGuys Blog

Its been a while since I reviewed a cool new microphone. Calling the new FlashMic form HHB a microphone is like calling a computer a typewriter. Microphone just begins to describe this great new technology.

The FlashMic combines a handheld mic and an onboard digital recorder that has a full gigabyte of storage. The whole thing runs on AA batteries. No recorder, no cables, nothing but a handheld mic. It uses a quality Sennheiser mic capsule (cardiod or omni) and can record as much as 18 hours of broadcast quality audio.

This is a whole new take on the wireless mic concept. Rather than sending audio wirelessly to a receiver, it simply stores the audio for later downloading into a computer via an onboard USB port. Once you hook the FlashMic up to your computer, you can simply “drag and drop” audio files directly from the mic to your computer. It also has a standard headphone jack so you can listen to the audio directly from the mic or have an audio output that can feed conventional analog audio equipment.

What a great way to do a podcast!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and  handy products for audio production.

We are breaking in a new customer service person today, and I always have to stop when we have a new employee to marvel at how a business like ours can exist at all.

We don’t actually make anything and it is hard to support the argument that we really add any value to the things we sell. We rarely meet our customers face-to-face and we work hard to make interactions with our customers as transparent as possible.

We really do “take it out of one box and put it in another box”.

What makes this sort of distribution business work is not so much the products as it is the stream of information that follows each order. Everything from the correct color for your case of gaffers tape to the email address we use to send you the tracking number for your package is attached in some way to that box.

We know that you can buy tape or batteries from hundreds, if not thousand of vendors, and we hope that the way we manage the information you give us regarding your purchase is what will keep you coming back to our (virtual) door.

Some of your information, like credit card info and email address, is very private and we work hard to insure that your confidence won’t be broken. Other info like your tracking number and your invoice info may be made available to your co-workers, receving department or accounting office in order to make sure that the proper accounts are creditedand shipments are efficiently routed. Each order has its own set of info and it has to be handled on a case-by-case basis. We appreciate your trust and will not abuse it.

We’re glad to report that there is a place in the product and information chain for a small business that sells information along with their products. Thank you for making that possible.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other useful tape products.

Miles Davis, the famous jazz trumpeter, once said “don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there”. That may be great advice for a musician learning to improvise, but it would not have gotten much traction with internet search engines.

When I write an article or blog post about gaffers tape or microphone cables I certainly hope that my writing is something that someone would actually like to read. Regardless, my true intended audience is something known as a robot or a spider. Internet search engines constantly send around these spiders to sample internet content and make notes of what links to what. This is the major source for data to determine what information you are offered when you enter a word or term in a search engine.

Since Miles was famous for playing a piece by completely ignoring what the composer had actually written, what he played would be completely invisible to an internet robot. At this point, robots are indexing text, not sounds, but you can be sure that someone, somewhere is working on a version of spider that can read music and index it for search engines. Its going to be an even tougher challenge to index Miles.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other great products for musicians.

I always enjoy seeing synergy between our customers, even when they might not know that they all have a common relationship with us. When you sell an item everybody uses over and over (we call it “being at the bottom of the food chain”) then you can become a common link among lots of different customers.

One example of this synergy is coming together later this month in Greensboro. The Carolina Theatre (a long time customer of ours) is hosting the debut of Spiritual Cake, a film made as a collaboration between UNC Greensboro and Piedmont Community College. Both of these NC schools have film making curriculums and provide technicians for the North Carolina film and television industries.

Both film programs buy expendables from us and we are pleased to see their collaboration. It is a good sign that the money that the people of North Carolina have invested in education is going to the right place. The idea that there will be jobs in our state for these student film makers may be the only real reason to support the tax breaks that this industry has been given by the NC Legislature.

The debut of Spiritual Cake takes place at the Carolina Theatre in Greensboro on April 20 at 7:30 pm and is open to the public. Your ticket is good for the film screening as well as a reception featuring blues and gospel music by Roy Roberts. The cost is only $10.00.

Here’s a great opportunity to support the NC arts community. See you there!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other useful products for audio production.

If you check by here periodically, you know that I have written several times about the proposed change in wireless mic frequency allocation and how it might impact the pro sound industry. The plot thickens.

On the positive side, US Rep. Bobby Rush (D Illinois) has introduced a bill that would go a long way towards protecting the frequencies currently in use by UHF wireless mics. Rep Rush’s bill (HR 1320) would require that unlicensed consumer electrnonics would require “smart” technology which would detect the presence of other frequency users like wireless mics that were in use in the proximity of the unlicensed device. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, on the negative side of this argument, such “smart” technology doesn’t exist. Even if such technology can be brought to market at a reasonable price by the February 2009 date proposed by Rep. Rush, the intermittent nature of the use of wireless mics would probably make “smart” technology designed to locate “in use” frequencies of little value. Either way, the problem of battery life is going to pale, compared to the problems this changeover will bring.

While its good to know that someone in Congress is taking this potential train wreck for the pro sound industry seriously, it is more than a little discouraging that his solution is based on phantom technology. The companies that want to bring all these new wireless devices using UHF channels to market are powerful consumer goods manufacturers and they are sure to fight against any technology that increases the price for their products.

There are two bright spots in HR 132o. One requires that unlicensed devices must provide “adequate safeuards” to not interfere with other devices operating on these UHF television channels. The other sets a date of Feb. 17, 2009 as the earliest date these new devices could be brought into use.

If nothing else, his proposed date gives our industry a little breathing room.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other useful products for audio production.

You don’t usually think of car batteries as expendables, but it looks like that is changing. An interesting article in this weeks Wall Street Journal talks about how the demands of today’s electronic-laden cars are taking a real toll on their batteries. A car battery has traditionally lasted 3-5 years but the addition of power sapping devices like DVD players, GPS systems, heated cup holders and security systems has radically altered the life of these batteries.

The design of the auto battery is little changed in decades and what we ask these batteries to do was never imagined 10 years ago. It used to be that about the only thing that used power when the car was shut off was the clock. Now all sorts of items from the cooling fan to your cell phone charger continue to use power long after the car has been parked.

Experts in battery maintenance recommend that the battery be disconnected when the vehicle is parked for more than a couple of weeks. Better yet, use a device called a “trickle charger” to keep the battery charged up even when the car is not being used. These same experts warn that the biggest threats to battery life, extreme weather and harsh vibtration,can’t be avoided.

With the cost of a replacement battery sometimes exceeding $200.oo a little thought given to battery mainteance can go a long way.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other useful maintenance supplies

Daylight savings time starts this weekend. The clock is being set forward three weeks earlier this year and some confusion is probably in order.

One thing you don’t want to be confused about is the need to change your smoke detector battery. Using the time change as a reminder to change these batteries twice a year is a great idea, and the date change doesn’t diminish the need to attend to this important task. It takes just a minute and its easy to do.

Lots of new residential construction uses hard wired smoke detectors and some homeowners don’t realize that these detectors need battery changes too! The battery provides a backup in case there is a power failure. Quite often an electrical fire can lead to a quick shutdown of your electrical service, leaving the smoke detector without a fresh battery useless. Just because the LED indicator on the smoke detector is glowing doesn’t mean that the battery is good.

A battery that is no longer adequate for your smoke detector may still have enough power to use in other non-critical applications. Try it in some other device before throwing it away.

Goodbuyguys.com is a collection of web sites (including buytape.com, buybattery.com, buymicstand.com, buyextensioncord.com, buyaflashlight.com and buywireties.com) designed to deliver a great selection of hard to find products.

I spend several hours a day reading, and the bulk of my time is spent with technical journals. I never cease to be amazed at how willing publishers of magazines oriented towards the entertaiment production and audio visual industries are to underwrite the publication of dozens of really valuable journals. How can they do this? Advertisers like Duracell and Pro Tapes pay, not you!

Maybe this model is used in other industries, but this is the only one I am familiar with. These magazines are filled with dozens of really useful articles, and, many times, the advertising is filled with good info as well.

I use these journals regularly to find new products for our catalog. Its also really great to come across articles about our customers. I even saw one of our products in a photo accompanying a story about the NFL Playoffs.

Any student or hobbyist in sound, lighting or theatre tech can easily begin receving these journals by simply making up a business name. The magazines base their ad rates on the number of subscribers, so they are happy to add you to their subscriber list. They rarely do much to insure that you are a legitimate business with a large purchasing budget.

Journals like Pro Sound News, Sound & Video Contractor , Live Sound International, Church Production, and FOH Magazine are yours for the asking. They have great columns, handy “how to” articles, and honest equipment reveiws. The photo quality is first good and the editorial content, while advertiser driven, is still useful. Most of the writing is first rate.

Interested? You can sign up for regular subscriptions at any of the publication web sites in this article.

Goodbuyguys.com is a collection of web sites (including buytape.com, buybattery.com, buymicstand.com, buyextensioncord.com, buyaflashlight.com and buywireties.com) designed to deliver a great selection of production supplies.

Our primary involvement with wireless mics is as a battery supplier. That wasn’t always the case. For many years we operated a special events and sound equipment rental business, and wireless mics were a big part of what we did.

If you use wireless mics then you should pay close attention to legislation that is working its way through Congress. The Communications, Consumer’s Choice and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006 (S. 2686, H.R. 5252) could have a dramatic impact on you. Whether you use wireless every day on the concert stage, or once a week as a volunteer sound tech at your church, this law could complicate your life.

Implementation of this proposal would open up unassigned television broadcast channels to use by any number of unlicensed wireless devices. If you use UHF wireless mics, chances are your systems work in the UHF channel range between channel 50 and channel 70. This range will be available to lots of new devices and you won’t have any way of knowing when something new might begin operating on your same frequency. Battery failure will be the least of your worries!

FOH Magazine has taken the lead in organizing the pro sound community against this legislation. If you are concerned, here is a link to a letter that you can cut and paste, edit with your personal information, and send it to your congressman. The official comment period on this ends on March 2, 2007 so there isn’t mcuh time left for your voice to be heard.

Goodbuyguys.com is a collection of web sites (including buytape.com, buybattery.com, buymicstand.com, buyextensioncord.com, buyaflashlight.com and buywireties.com) designed to deliver a great selection of pro audio supplies.

One of the unfortunate aspects of expendable sales, is they create a lot of waste. Batteries are an important part of modern day life, but it does present a waste issue. Even recycleable batteries must be disposed of once they have expired.

The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) is in the business of recycling recharageable batteries and cell phones. Rechargeable batteries are commonly found in cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, camcorders, digital cameras, and remote control toys. The mission of the RBRC is to keep these batteries out of the solid waste stream while preserving natural resources. When you see a battery recycling bin in a retailer like Radio Shack or Circuit City, it is probably a part of the RBRC network. Participating retailers display this seal.

The rechargeable batteries that RBRC collects are sent to a state-of-the-art facility where they are recycled to reclaim reusable materials that are used in stainless steel production (nickel and iron) and to make new batteries (cadmium). This organization collects cell phones as well, and refurbishes them or recycles the material in an environmentally sound manner.

If you would like to sign up your organization to participate in the RBRC recycling network, here’s a link to the sign up page.