I’m off my schedule. After moving my primary publication efforts from the old Google-platformed blog and Google ad-infested YouTube to Substack and seeing that this change greatly simplified my writing life, I determined to contribute here weekly, and twice weekly on the memoQuickies Substack, which I started as a separate publication to handle a wealth of tutorial material for memoQ TMS that would otherwise overwhelm what I intend to be a usually more general take on the language services sector and its issues.
Not only has this new platform relieved me of some technical headaches to compose and present written words, and to share video and audio creations, it has revived a motivation hampered by the decline of numerous media that have been communication mainstays for me for more than a decade and a half.
But as we travel long distances on roads real and professional, some periodic maintenance is advised to keep things running smoothly. I do that reluctantly with the battered old Hyundai that carries me over ill-maintained Portuguese roads, because the alternative of replacing it and dealing with Portugal’s high, illegal luxury taxation appalls me, but I am even more reluctant to do that with my computer equipment, because, well, decades of experience have taught me that it’s usually best to fiddle little with a system that works. Until it doesn’t that is.
Some software is like a virtual hand grenade. Microsoft Teams falls into that category. Since I expanded my use of it to accommodate some clients and colleagues who consider it part of their useful infrastructure, my own working infrastructure has seemed more like a house of cards in a gentle, but intensifying breeze. And CCleaner. My God. What a tool to kill system performance with its suggestions of improvement.
But the knockout blow came from my old production partner, TechSmith Camtasia. Since my friend Uli at LSP.net gave me a spare license for it over a decade ago, I’ve used it to produce most of the teaching videos I’ve prepared and posted in many places, as well as a lot of other video. I’m not very good with the software (as some of you remind me occasionally), but it is patient with my ignorance and lets me create serviceable results to share without stealing an entirely unreasonable share of my time.
Well, until two weeks ago that is. Of a sudden, each recording with its integrated toolset, each MP4 imported from elsewhere was greeted with a message that the audio track could not be played. And imported video showed only a black screen. All on a laptop I’ve used for several years.
Many hours were spent in mail exchange and chat with the technical support crew of TechSmith, who still have provided nothing more than a by-the-script catalog of possibilities unrelated to my actual problem. Nice fellows, but if I’m up at 3:30 a.m. chatting with them, it’s not because I enjoy the company.
Pressure continued to build, as I needed a working video editor to prepare for next Thursday’s talk on memoQ quality assurance (see below, space is still available for the free presentation as one might expect for a scary topic like that) and a new format for my Regex Assistant course that I’ll start this month, September. So, reluctantly, I literally dusted off an older laptop and began the painful process of upgrading the software I need on it.
And then the discovery that the integrated microphone produced a storm of static, with few words to be discerned. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem for someone who owns at least a dozen different microphones for various purposes, as well as a good number of headsets with integrated microphones, but as luck would have it with missing clamp pieces, chargers disappeared into unknown boxes and stowed in one residence or another, there actually wasn’t anything usable at my current work table.
So I went shopping. On a Sunday. In this secular age that’s not such a big deal, but the choices and shop hours are a little more limited, and in my part of rural Portugal, there’s really only one choice. But I got lucky.
For a bit under €70, I found two pieces of equipment that are unexpectedly well suited to solve several problems for me. And perhaps these, or something like them, might be helpful to some of you.
The desktop microphone
I have a Blue Yeti, which I only learned to use properly a decade after I bought it, but it’s heavy as a large brick, and I managed to lose critical parts of two mounts for it. It’s really an excellent USB microphone, but I worry about it being destroyed accidentally by a few persons who feel compelled to rearrange my work table every week, and I worry too about dropping it on my foot and breaking something. Not the microphone.
It’s somewhat curious that most of the time when I’m in equipment trouble, the best solution for my needs turns out to be gaming equipment. I was very skeptical that the Mantis GXT 232 for less than €30 with a desk stand (with integrated shock mount!) and pop filter would be much good, but I think it’s OK. Judge for yourself on the next few videos I publish, or hear the results now in a YouTube unboxing review I found, which is boring as heck but demonstrates the sound quality well enough. It’s lightweight, easy to carry in my pack, and it’ll be fine for the webinar later this week as well. And the results for speech recognition are as good as anything else I’ve got if I don’t look too far away. It’s worth considering if you have similar needs. I had hoped that the unboxing video would show me what the rubber ring was for, but it seems that guy doesn’t know either. I’m using it like a rubber band to stabilize the pop filter position. The USB cable is integrated with the microphone, so if it wears out I’m screwed, but you can’t have it all for so little money.
Update: I figured out what that extra rubber ring is for. It seems to be a replacement for the elements of the shock mount in case one breaks. That’s helpful… if I don’t lose it.
Those awesome ear buds.
I hate earbuds and earsets, actually. maybe because I’m too much of a skinflint to drop twice the price of a night out in a Michelin restaurant to get something really good. Or maybe it’s because everything I spend less than €30 on breaks within a month. And the pricier Plantronics Voyager earpiece I have doesn’t stay in place very well, though it does keep my head from overheating if I dictate on an Alentejo summer day.
The constant playbacks I do while editing video and sound recordings drive my companheira bats, so I usually put on a headset for her sake, and I used the same headset to overcome insomnia many a night by listening to bowdlerized versions of the works of Jules Verne in Spanish for children. But those aren’t very comfortable if you toss and turn while asleep. So when I saw those JLAB Go Sport+ earbuds, I thought… hmmmmm. And thirty-five hours of playtime is twice what I had with my old JBL noise canceling headphones.
They’re perfect. So far. More expensive in the local shop (€39) than I see them online (about $30), but I don’t care. They’re comfortable. They don’t fall off. The sound is good. And I can still hear other things going on nearby, which given all the animal emergencies lately is a good thing.
These are earbuds to fall asleep with. Which I did, listening to Farnsworth’s Classical English Rhetoric. And when I got up the next morning to deal with a dog who urgently needed to go out, it was about ten minutes before I realized I was still wearing the things. Highly, highly recommended. So far. Ask me in a month if they still work.
Back to work!
So I’m in production mode once again at last. And I think that microphone will even be good enough to use for the voiceovers on a US Civil War diary project that has been delayed for months while I sort out other technical matters that will probably mean getting a new scanner before long.
All this hassle of the past two weeks has been a useful reminder that periodic assessments of the state of one’s equipment are important. Since my decision to retire from large volume commercial translation about fifteen months ago (a decision which actually took about a year to implement), I haven’t paid as much attention to my working tools as I’ve been accustomed to do. The Camtasia problem on that other computer remains unsolved, but my old habit of keeping at least three backup computers around (five currently, yes I’m paranoid) ultimately gave me a needed alternative, but neglecting the lesser equipment cost me a lot of unnecessary time.
Never assume that technology will play nice.
I'm curious: who are the people who feel compelled to rearrange your working desk? I have kids who keep stacking drawings and notes (mostly sweet notes, I'll concede that) on top of my work piles. I had to get a locker to keep the important stuff away from them. No place is safe anymore at home!