麥克風的選擇

先聽我一句，不管你怎麼在後製下苦工，能提高的音質都有限，想省時間的話，一定要捨得花錢買個好麥克風。

不要相信光華商場那些幾百塊錢麥克風的包裝怎麼摽榜高降噪，幾百塊價位的麥克風都一個樣：爛。要達到錄音室水準，你最少需要投資三張小朋友。這是最少，如果你希望聲音聽起來跟 DJ 一樣悅耳，六七張都不算多。

至於要買哪種麥克風？卡拉 OK 或主持人用的動圈式麥克風可以嗎？只要合用，當然沒什麼可以，實際上動圈式的聲音比較柔潤，最適合用來收錄人聲，不過那種麥克風通常沒有適合電腦的端口，你需要另外買個轉接頭，或是麥克風介面。


USBPre Microphone Interface for Computer Audio

麥克風介面本身就價格不菲了，所以我從來不建議業餘的電腦錄音設備採用動圈式，有一些大廠牌如 Blue 它們有專做中低階的 USB 麥克風，例如我自己購買的 Blue Snowball，價位在 $3600~4000 之間，電容式，含單一指向性和全指向性模式，是不錯的業餘錄音者選擇。

什麼是單一指向性、全指向性？

大部份的爛麥克風都是全指向性，意思是它錄音時對於全角度的靈敏性是相同的，什麼亂七八糟的噪音，像是你爸在隔壁房間沖馬桶的聲音都會錄進去。

單一指向只接收來自麥克風前方的聲音，演講者拿的手持麥克風或專業攝影機常配備的 Shotgun（槍型麥克風）就是這一類別。

動圈式和電容式有什麼區別？

動圈式麥克風因為含有線圈和磁鐵，不像電容式麥克風輕便，靈敏度較低，高低頻響應表現較差。優點是價格較便宜，聲音較為柔潤，適合用來收錄人聲。

電容式麥克風靈敏度較高，常用於高品質的錄音，像是吉他彈奏、複雜的環境音，都常用電容式麥克風。


除了評論＃6 以外，我的作品都是用 iPhone 的電話麥克風來錄的，電話麥克風的缺點就是通常偏高頻，低頻的聲音收不到，所以聲音聽起來會有點不夠渾厚、粗糙的感覺。這點可不可以通過後製改進？可以，但是有限，怎麼在有限程度內改進，我們在文章的後面會談。

iPhone 麥配合 Mac 電腦的好處是它自帶很厲害的降噪，所以我錄好的音訊幾乎完全不用降噪，只要稍微調 EQ 就可以用了。

但是除了買一把好麥克風、調 EQ、降噪以外，很多業餘錄音者常常忽略一個最重要的問題……

後製和音量控制

本篇文章選用 Mac 系統上 Soundtrack Pro 做示範

1. 絕對不要噴麥克風

如果你用的是爛麥克風，讀到爆破音的時候難免爆麥，沒有聽眾喜歡聽你爆麥。爆麥會在聲音波形裡造成瞬間飆高，一旦爆麥沒有軟體可以救得了，不過這種情況完全可以通過人為的技巧避免。我採用的方法是，把麥克風放在側邊來錄，避免直接把氣流吐上去，並且在讀爆破音時會特別注意控制音量。

2. 不要把呼氣、哈氣的聲音錄進去

呼吸的聲音跟爆麥一樣會令觀眾反感，所以也要竭力避免。但是，人總是要呼吸的啊，尤其像我念口白念得這麼快，難道完全沒換氣？

我當然有換氣，而且換氣的聲音其實被錄下來了，可是在混音前，我會一秒鐘、一秒鐘的認真檢查，把自己的呼吸聲刪掉。



如上圖所示，我把口白過程中所有細微的換氣聲音都直接刪除，所以觀眾聽到我念口白就像是完全不換氣。其實哪有人能做到這樣啊，科科科科...

3. 手動降噪



大多數音訊加工軟體都會提供降噪濾鏡，我是主張這功能要小心點用，不然聲音會變得很不自然。通常，寧可使用兩次的輕微降噪，也不要使用一次的過度降噪，據我自己的實驗是前者的效果比較好...

另外如果你用的是 3000 元以上價位的單一指向性麥克風，則基本不需要用到降噪。

4. EQ 調節

EQ 調節有很多妙用，可以過濾掉高頻或低頻的環境噪音，調得好甚至可以在一定程度改變人聲的音質。

這邊有一篇關於樂器調整 EQ 不同頻段的說明我也不知道精確度多少不過勉強參考啦：

50hz，這是我們常用的最低頻段，這個頻段就是你在的廳外聽到的強勁的地鼓聲的最重要的頻段，也是能夠讓人為之起舞的頻點。通過對它適當的提升，你將得到令人振奮的地鼓聲音。但是，一定要將人聲裡面所有的50hz左右的聲音都切掉，因為那一定是噴麥的聲音。

70～100hz，這是我們獲得渾厚有力的BASS的必要頻點，同時，也是需要將人聲切除的頻點。記住，BASS和地鼓不要提升相同的頻點，否則地鼓會被掩沒掉的。

200～400hz，這個頻段有如下幾個主要用途，首先是軍鼓的木質感聲音頻段；其次，這是消除人聲髒的感覺的頻段；第三，對於吉它，提升這個頻段將會使聲音變的溫暖；第四、對於察和PERCUSSION，衰減這個頻段可以增加他們的清脆感。其中，在250hz這個頻點，對地鼓作適當的增益，可以使地鼓聽起來不那麼沉重，很多清流行音樂中這樣使用。

400～800hz，調整這個頻段，可以獲得更加清晰的BASS，並且可以使通鼓變得更加溫暖。另外，通過增益或衰減這個頻段內的某些頻點，可以調整吉它音色的薄厚程度。

800～1khz，這個頻段可以用來調整人聲的「結實」程度，或者用於增強地鼓的敲擊感，比較適用與舞曲的地鼓。

1k～3khz，這個頻段是一個「堅硬」的頻段。其中，1.5k~2.5k的提升可以增加吉它或BASS的「鋒利」的感覺；在2～3k略作衰減，將會使人聲變得更加平滑、流暢，否則，有些人的聲音聽起來唱歌象打架，你可以利用這樣的處理來平息演唱者的怒氣！反過來，在這個頻段進行提升也會增加人聲或者鋼琴的鋒利程度。呵呵。總的來說，這個頻段通常被成為噪聲頻段，太多的話，會使整個音樂亂成一團，但在某種樂器上適當的使用，會使這種樂器脫穎而出。

3k～6khz，聲音在3k的時候，還是堅硬的，那麼，不用我說，大家也知道該作什麼了吧。至於6k，提升這個頻點可以提升人聲的清晰度，或者讓吉它的聲音更華麗。

6k～10khz，這個頻段可以增加聲音的「甜美」感覺。並且增加聲音的空氣感，呼吸感。並可增加吉它的清脆聲音（但要注意，一定不要過量使用）。PERCUSSION、軍鼓和大察都可以在這個頻段裡得到聲音的美化。並且，絃樂和某些的合成器綜合音色，可以在這個頻段得到聲音的「刀刃」的感覺（我實在不知道該怎麼形容這樣的聲音）。

10k～16khz，提升這個頻段會使人聲更加華麗，並且能夠提升大察和PERCUSSION的最尖的那個部分。但是，需要注意的是，你一定要首先確認這個頻段內是有聲音存在的，否則的話，你所增加的肯定是噪聲。呵呵。

總體而言，人聲在 400-1.2k 之間，男女的頻段也是不同的，所以如果你有留意 audio editor 的 presets 就會發現，男女有不同的 presets。

囧星人的聲音比較中性，處理起來不能光用 presets，通常我把中間段的地方壓下去，高和低頻的部份再拉起來，如下圖：



不過自從用了好貴的麥克風以後，感覺音質還原得還不錯，我就沒有再費心去調整啦！


5. 音量壓縮

這裡！是最重要的部份！

特別注意，就算你用一把垃圾麥克風、亂噴麥也好、聲音跟人妖一樣也好，也絕對不能忘記做這一步！

剛錄完的音訊，音量可能過大或過小，也有忽大、忽小聲的問題，你一定要記得用 compressor 去把音量弄平均，而且確保全段音訊絕對不要超過 0db（最簡單的辨識方法就是 Metre 那邊有沒有紅色）。

超過 0db 的波形會被切斷，變成嘶嘶的雜音，絕對不能讓這種波形存在。



如上圖，一邊把 Gain 往上提，把人聲提到遊走於 -15db~0db 的狀態（可以一邊調整，一邊監視自己的聲音），一邊減少 Compressor Threshold 的數值，就像是把波形給壓平，使它分佈得更平均。但也要同時注意，如果 Threshold 太小有可能把噪音擴大。

用爛麥就算了，如果你沒有用 compressor 去控制整體音量，只能說明你非常不專業，成品聽起來有多恐怖我就不說了。




6. 再檢查一次

做到這，你差不多也該聽自己的聲音聽到想吐了，不要著急，最後起碼還要再檢查一次。套用 Render 以後，從頭到尾聽一遍，確認音量 OK、EQ OK、噪音處理 OK，你的人聲處理終於完成了。

不過... 我們還沒開始混音啊！（大哭）

背景音樂、音效在旁邊苦候已久，我們在下一篇才要學習怎樣把這些東西搞在一起。

(繼續閱讀...)

1. 看完一部作品之前，不要先決定是否要評論它，不然你會喪失很多樂趣。找目標要從已經看完一段時間的作品裡找，評論之前再看一遍，有助於總結觀點，也能讓剪輯工作更有效率。（非常重要）

2. 一定要懂得犧牲部份的想法。不要長篇大論，玩弄華麗辭藻、太哲學的話沒有必要出現在影片裡，你文學造詣再好也沒必要展示出來，那些話只會讓觀眾覺得沉悶。像是深入的分析，除非你玩口說真的玩到出神入化，能讓別人有興趣聽下去，不然大可不必。我稿子寫到 5000~7000 字左右，修稿後差不多在 2000~3000 字。寫稿時間為 4~12 小時不等。

3. 我沒有辦法一口氣寫完，因為靈感是慢慢找到的，有時候走著、吃著、玩著，就突然想到一個梗，然後就打開電腦記下來，寫到最後再把拼湊好的文章理順、狠下心來把沉悶的東西剔除。我是這樣做，也建議你最好慢慢地寫，因為口說講究含金量，一天之內寫完的東西會有很多疏漏。

4. 做剪輯前把素材收集好。一邊盯著文字稿，一邊構思要出現什麼畫面，這個環節可以很輕鬆，也可以很費力，費力一點的話，每秒鐘都出現新的梗，觀眾的反應也會比較好，但作者自己很累。我通常會計算時間，依照句子的長度來決定要切多少畫面。

5. 悶著頭做評論，只會做出愈來愈悶的東西。要適時去放鬆、玩樂，不只看動畫，去讀書、看電影、打電動，吸收多元的知識。Youtube 上受歡迎的非全職的 reviewer 像是 gigguk，他跟其他 reviewer 的最大區別是什麼？——低產。他 3 年才做了 20 幾部評論，但是觀眾願意等待，因為「慢工出細活」。

(繼續閱讀...)

You can use many words to describe Madoka Magica, and the two-part word "genre-breaking" is a good example. When first announced to the general public, Production Studio Shaft released several trailers for this show that made it out to be a cute slice-of-life magical girl anime. And since the main staff comes from Hidamari Sketch, a moe show, people were easily misleaded. And it wasn't until the first minute of episode 1 we were actually shown what we were getting into.

Madoka Magica is basically a deconstruction of Magical Girl Genre. It's not about the main character Madoka and her tales as a magical girl, but rather a tale about more magical girls: what exactly they are. Taking a step back for a moment, deconstruction is basically when you take a common plot element, in this case it's magical girls, and pull all the elements apart before putting it right back together generally in a real world scenario. Let's look at the examples of typical magical girl shows. The situation is that you have a cute animal Luna, who appears to a young girl Usagi, and ??? her a magical power with which she can use to defeat evil and save the world. Fairly straight forward. Now, Card Capture Sakura, after opening a book releasing all the magical power of the Kuro Card upon the world, cute little animal thing Kuro ??? Sakura the power to re-capture all the Kuro Cards before the cards have bound the world. Still with me? Good. So in this vein you will think that Madoka Magica would be about a cute animal QB who appears to young girl Madoka and gives her magical power which she can use to fight these evils witches to save the world, right? Well, yes and no. The show does do that, but it does a lot more than that.

Let's ask the question about the whole situation that the others just can't or won't. Let's think like who is this QB? Where is he come from? Why is he appearing before Madoka? What does it want? Where do the witches come from? What do they want? Why do they want to destroy the world? What drives all of these girls to form a contract with QB to get magical power in the first place? Is it because it happens to be the wrong place at the wrong time? Or do they just feel obligated to do so?

And above all, if you live in this world long enough, you probably have realized by now that nothing is ever free. The only thing that is guaranteed in your life are death and taxes. So what is it in this realistic world that these girl have to give up in their lives that allows them to get this power to ???? a ????. Because ???? QB just snaps in it like "Boom! Now you have magical power, hah hah hah!" Because life dosen't really work like that.

As a good anime would say, "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is the First Law of Equivalent Exchange." And THAT, ladies and Gentlemen, it's the ???? version of what Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is about. And it's freaking glorious.

It's just the way the show puts it together, how at the end of the day the plot comes full circle, that took away what we assumed about Magical girl genre, and turning on pre-consumptions up-side-down before tossing them down the stairs while pointing and laughing at us.

The show is only twelve episodes long. In fact I've learned to more focused on the driven stories that are not bolt down by ??? and pointless side characters. Everyone and everything in the world of Madoka Magica serves for purpose, and has a reason to be there. There's very little time wasted anywhere with each episode adds to the overall arching storyline.

Now be warned, as I watch the first episode I would describe this show to people as a cross between Card Capture Sakura and Serial Experiments Lain as the show is very very dark. So now I finished the show I think it might be better to compare to something like Evangelion known be a twist of more cuteness than Evangelion, whatever, perhaps. It's definitely not something for young children, even grown men can shiver after seeing QB's blank stare. So despite the genre it's very mature and should be reviewed as such.

Now the animation of the show depends on which version you watch. Production Studio Shaft has a very bad habit of only finishing episodes only hours before they release on air, leading to rushed animations and sometimes less than detail lost. Luckily though they are nice enough to fix the mistakes later on official DVD and blue-ray releases. So if the show ever does come to North America we can be sure that we can be getting the much more pretty version, even if it means that the nightmare we view will be all the more real.

The start we have however add to the original thought this show would be just another slice-of-life anime with magical girl theme. As all the characters are drawn in similar styles to Shaft's other show Hidamari Sketch. It's very much moe. Though I think the style only adds to everything as it helps to contrast the show as the plot continues down in every way to nightmare tone.

With the music Madoka was scored by Yuki Kajiura, a fact that she was totally ??? people what the type of show Madoka was even before the first episode began. Kajiura is usually only attached to the shows that have very dark undertones. In fact a lot of the songs in the show share the similar style from previous what she has done. For example, the piece for Madoka titled "Trusting in Justice" which is a very vocal victory sounded piece, wouldn't have sounded bad if you replace it with similar sounds like "Mezame" from My-HiME or part from M12+13 of the Garden of Sinners. The similarities are not much a problem, it's just something that noticed, a nitpick but there's nothing that hampers the show anyway. I think it actually adds more than it takes way. Because even if you can't swap the sound between the shows, well, it's still music by Yuki Kajiura. I mean, come on, she's awesome.

For example, the ending song "Magia", is one of the best in the show. It's one of my favorite pieces that Yuki Kajiura has ever composed. It's so good that the creators happend to use it sometimes as a battle theme of a show as well as an ending theme. The animations of this ending however is a little lack of stuns. It's just a typical running style ending with the credits running on on side. Unskippable only for the music that plays over it.

The opening on the other hand, is another thing to contrast the series as a whole, as it's almost like who's made of entirely different show, a show that wasn't a deconstruction but fairly common magical girl anime. And it's only perfectly found out without being an amusing pretty animation is just by the end of the series things out of place. And so without further gilding the lily and with no more do, I give you the final verdict.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica follows the footsteps of anime like Evangelion, Tsubasa and .hack even if you can think about, and brutally deconstructs the aspects of magical girl genre, where it shines in its execution, setting up a seemingly harmless magical girl plot line with moe characters and then brutally tearing down you pre-consumption faster than you can see in Evangelion. It gives you characters with purposes and lets you get attention long enough so that you want them to succeed even if it seems less likely that they will do so with each passing episode.

Its shortcomings are minor but noticeable. Near the end the show which seems to be completely switch to tagness ??? swung on wind which may be jarring and it takes some time for the show to finally explain what the heck is going on, which some people seem to dislike. Also as time passes on, the noticeable lack of details of this animation becomes more apparent. Though to be fair the future releases will redefine this. Overall though I cannot recommend this show enough. Madoka Magica receives a very urgent watch recommendation from me and if you ever get it brought it to the west, I suggest you buy it, because it's worth every cent.

If you've already watched Madoka Magica, and are looking for more deconstruction anime, check out the mentioned title Evangelion and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. If you're in for more magical girl mood, have a look at Mahou Shoujo Lylyrical Nanoha. It's not as dark, but might serves just as well. And that, as they say, is that.

(繼續閱讀...)

這幅來自佛羅里達 Sarasota 市粉筆藝術嘉年華（Sarasota Chalk Festival）的街頭塗鴉藝術作品
是一個名為「行星街頭彩繪（Planet Streetpainting）」藝術組織的傑作。

這群來自荷蘭的創作者包括了 Leon Keer、Peter Westerink、Remko van Schaik、Ruben Poncia
等人，為了這個粉筆藝術嘉年華特別在街頭畫出這幅樂高 3D 街頭繪畫，
他們先以粉筆勾勒出樂高人物的主要線條，再慢慢一筆一畫地運用粉彩上色，
耗時數天的時間終於在昨天完成了。藝術總監 Leon Keer 向來喜歡以其作品揭示那些
我們較不熟悉的歷史事件或是當代社會問題。

(繼續閱讀...)