I don’t know what previous discussion there has been on the forum regarding Obsidian, but it is not the same as RoamResearch and shouldn’t be grouped with “research” app’s. Obsidian is 100% a note-taking app and in no way attempts to be a clone of Roam, contrary to the comments of some out there.
Using Obsidian over the last few months, it has replaced any thoughts I’ve had of using Bear or Ulysses, etc. for note-taking and I have in the past used them all. Obsidian uses your nominated folder of markdown files, not a database of small data units that can be as easily manipulated and re-organised as blocks in Roam are.
You could use Obsidian for research, but it’s a note-taking app, whereas Roam is a better research app that you could use for note-taking… big difference.
After consuming MPU #546, Focused #103 on Systems, and Bookworm #68 (again) on Taking Smart Notes, I began considering how to better pull together my many reading notes in Apple Notes into a collection in DevonThink 3 Pro to possibly build a digital slip box. I discovered the share feature in Notes will allow me to send a single note to DT, but the are feature is greyed out/unavailable when multiple notes are selected. I’m not doing 400+ notes individually. Has anyone found a way to bulk transfer these notes to DT -and the bonus round would be getting DT to add tags from Notes.
So it’s a long time since I’ve used Live Scribe (I had one of the original ones which stopped being supported), but one of the best features for me was that you could record audio as well whilst taking notes and later you could go back and tap any point in your note and it would play the audio from when you were making the note. So, say you were following a lecturer explaining a concept or principle and your note didn’t make perfect sense when you looked back at it later, you could just ‘tap’, and hear what was being said at the time.
Notability has some similar audio features, although I’ve not used them so can’t really comment on any differences.
The text replacement multi-line sync tip in this episode was great. I am forced to use Outlook on iOS and am looking for a place to expand multiline text as a bandaid for TextExpander and getting multi-line support helps. To be clear, I am aware that TextExpander has an app on iOS, some mail clients do natively support it, and I can use the TE keyboard but, I just needed a simple solution for a couple multi-line text responses specifically in Outlook. Pasting the text into system preferences on the Mac worked as advertised.
Great episode. Regarding Stephen’s comments around the Yeti Blue microphone: I use this for videoconferencing and general recording and bought it at the time because I was under the impression that it was one of the “best” (and it happened to be on sale). Is there a better microphone that you’d recommend? I’m not a professional podcaster or broadcaster, but I am looking for good quality for calls, teleconferencing, and the occasional video voiceover. Thanks!
Hi @Patch! I am not an expert so I will defer to those more experienced. I suspect that for your use case, the blue yeti is fine (I have the same mic and use it for the same things). But, you might also be interested in this thread: Entry level Microphones for podcasting
Thanks, @Brad! That was a useful thread. I guess I’ll stick with the Yeti (which I have on a boom, by the way) until either my needs change or something better comes along.
One interesting note: I also have a Jabra wireless headset and I’ve been told by others on conference calls that the sound is better through my Jabra mic than the Yeti, which seems to be rather hollow or echo-ey . That may be an issue with my home office — I probably need to add some carpet and sound deadening materials.
My opinion for translating talk to podcast the Blue Yeti is excellent. If you not having problems keep using it. Typical problem with the mike is it’s sensitivity to sounds in the room. Example heater fans and traffic noise. Just depends on the environment.
I find that the attention paid to high quality mics doesn’t really translate to high quality podcasts. Content matters most; some of my favourite episodes across all my podcast listening have included people calling in on fuzzy phone lines.
Buying a fancy mic and XLR set-up before you’ve developed a good show with an audience might be like buying the best running shoes because you’ve decided to be a runner, even if you’ve never run a race.
In home scenarios it is nearly impossible to eliminate room interference entirely so the first best option is to be in the best room in the house - clap your hands, listening for flutter reflections, and choose the room with the least echoes.
Then treat the room. You don’t need to buy expensive pre-made acoustic treatments, but some kind of treatment may be necessary for superior sound. A friend of mine is an actor and voice actor in L.A. and in order for her to do remote auditions with the best sound quality she bought heavy moving blankets and made a fort baffle of them surrounding her in a small room, the blankets held up by heavy-duty stands (I think she borrowed some C-stands from somewhere).
If your recording isn’t live you can use audio plugins like Izotope RX, which have specific voice-related modules (RX has ‘Voice De-Noise’ and 'De-Reverb) which mitigates constant background noise.
Some electronics (refrigerators, hard drive, AC) impart noise too, so try to turn them off or get away from them.
Finally, GET CLOSE TO THE MIC. One reason the Jabra mic might sound better is because you’re closer to that mic. Bring the Yeti to nearly the same distance and you will probably find the audio quality to be much better.
Great tips. Thanks, @bowline! I’ve got some vacation time coming up next week and nowhere to go, so I’ll take up the project of sound deadening my room (and practicing bring the mic closer).
Thanks, @Brad. I might give that a try if I go for some high-quality video voiceovers. For my daily conference calls it might be a bit of overkill. I think I mainly need to get a rug over my hardwood floor and maybe put some more pillows around the room. It’s rather bare at the moment with just a wood desk and some shelves, which is probably contributing to the hollowness and echo.
I would suggest using a walkin closet if you have great sound characteristics but usually comes at a price of bad environment controls i. e. No Air Con
I was irritated by Davids explanation about the two pairs of AirPods. He said he doesn’t want the noise canceling all the time. But doesn’t he know he can switch to transparency mode really easy?
From someone who is similarly picky, I can say that the “transparency” mode isn’t anything like the awareness that regular AirPods’ lack of a seal provides. I often forget that my AirPods are in my ears when nothing is playing, which is never something I experienced with the Pros.
