A test post with video and text, to see ease of use.

After 3 session last week I finally started feeling good on the board again. Rusty, but feeling solid again. Here’s a little clip of something I do on my street board too. I call it “slide to spin shove-it”. Backside 180 slide into a fakie 360 with a 180 shove-it at the end. I like to do them rolling fairly fast. It’s a high percentage trick for me. I usually make it. Not too complex. You just have to let it flow.

Today is Tuesday. The weather is back to rainy crap, but at least I got a few session in. I’m excited for the rest of the year in skating.

[flowplayer src=”https://www.concretelunch.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/slidetospinshoveit.mp4″]

[fvplayer src=”https://www.concretelunch.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CarvingEndOvers.mov” width=”1920″ height=”1080″]

This is my weekend to work, so I was off a half day today, and I’m off all day tomorrow. I got a lot of my trip prep done today, and will finish tomorrow.

I got in a good session today at 7pm. Skated pretty well. Had a good time. I’m feeling good. Body feels limber, agile, and strong, if a little bit heavy.

Worked on my rolling finger flip today. Not that many of the old guys do these. I haven’t done them in about a year, frankly because I’m lazy and they require a lot of effort. However, since they are a trick that gives a lot of old dudes trouble, and since I can do them, I’ve decided to practice the hell out of mine so it is on lock for these contests.  Today I spent 30 minutes on terrible attempts and bad landings, but then got the foot placement and timing worked out and made some good ones. I need to go a bit faster, but that will come. A good, solid finger flip is the main thing. Smooth. Even if a bit slow. Good landings. That is what I go for.

Tony Gale? Top bloke, that one.

In Numero Tres, I begin with an interview I did about a year ago with Greg Stubbs, at the no-longer-permission pool Electric Larry Land.

Then we move on to a longer interview with English transplants to the Dallas skateboarding scene, Tracy Weller and Mark Abrook.

Tracy is sponsored by and has a model on Entropy Skateboards. Mark has his own brewing company, Abrook Ales.

A big thanks to both guys from coming over and sitting down with me!

Music in the episode:

Intro – Don’t Worry, He Was Going to Die Anyway, by Deep Snapper
Clip going into Weller/Abrook Interview — the Sex Pistols – Anarchy in the UK
Outro – Whiskey and Pliers – Deep Snapper

You can subscribe to this podcast via iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-concrete-lunch-podcast/id613956284

If you use some other pod-catching software, the Podcast feed URL is:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/concretelunch

…the TASCAM DR-40 4-Track Portable Digital Recorder. I was looking for an extremely portable solution for getting good quality interview tracks without lugging my laptop around. This device has ports on bottom with which I can attach my two Audix OM2 mics. Without going into too much detail, the device has several recording settings, some of which use only the external mics (rather than the two built-in mics) to create a stereo recording. One mic for me, one for my guest. The Tascam saves all the files as high-quality WAV files. I’ll probably use Audacity to combine the voice tracks into Mono for the podcast.  There’s a built-in preamp, phantom power if you use a condenser microphone, etc, etc, etc.  And man, this thing is simple to use. Very very easy to learn.

It can be a little confusing and frustrating just learning as you go, the way I do. Below are some sample sound files, recorded with various pieces of equipment.

Audio Technica AT2020USB Cardioid Studio Condenser Microphone, samples recorded into Audacity, using a pop-filter (only one mic, even with Stereo recording).

1. Recorded in Stereo, 16-bit WAV file.
2. Recorded in Mono, 16-bit WAV file.

Tascam DR-40 Test Samples: I’m extremely impressed by the sound quality from the DR-40. A few notes. I am using Audix OM2 mics for the external microphones. They are not condenser mics. I tend to speak kind of softly, and thus the samples using the external mics sound a bit softer. Really nice sound, but just not as loud. The built-in mics sound fantastic. I’m really surprised that they sound so good. However, when you are using the internal mics, they tend to pick up the sound of your hands moving on the recorder, which is annoying. Not really sure how to get around this…used soft gloves? Are my hands too hard?

So I think that for recording interviews, I’ll probably stick with the idea of using the two external mics, plugged into the DR-40, and just speak a bit louder and bump the input volume up a bit.

1. Mono,external mic, input volume 70
2. Mono, internal mics, input volume 70
3. Stereo, external mics, input volume 70
4. 4 channel mode – file 1 – the external mics 
5. 4 channel mode – file 2 – what the internal mics recorded while I was speaking into the external mics. The mics were actually pointed away from me. (in 4 channel mode, the device produces two WAV files).

More internal mic tests…

1.  Another internal mic test – gets a nice sound, but as mentioned the noise of my hands on the device is very annoying.
2. Additional Test – input volume 60, about 1.5 feet from my mouth, tight position.
3. Additional Test – same as above, but mics on wide pattern.
4. Additional Test – back to tight pattern, device close to mouth. Very good sound quality, but again the noise from handling the device is apparent.

Now, many would cite the old notion that you can put a pretty dress on a pig, but it is still a pig, and thus this film will just crash and burn. But apparently it is a well made, humorous film, and uses a high level of sophistication to put forth the same old creationist inaccuracies and nonsense. Note — I use the term “sophisticated” in the sense of “sophisticated propoganda”.

Skeptic Magazine also has some additional information on the web. Get informed.