I have been debating for a long time whether or not I should send a Sony PCM-D50 field recorder to be repaired by Sony. I’ve been using this gadget for years and it had been one of my favorite tools. In the context of using the device out of doors, as it is intended to be used, it has developed a few problems that are quite irritating. Recordings are filled with clicking static when the device is in any kind of motion, like in an automobile or even just me walking. And the power switch is problematic. Sometimes it takes four or five tries just to turn the thing on. I guess it’s lucky I can record at all, but having to keep the device stationary is a drag, not to mention a potential warning sign of future troubles.
Keeping the device stationary is no problem for my latest pursuit, which involves sitting at the piano and talking into a microphone. But, you know, it’s a field recorder. I’d like to be able to take it into the field again.
My gripes about the device are pretty petty. It takes several seconds to start up, and I find navigating the screens to be an annoying bore. I also think the file naming convention could be more nuanced. It names them by datestamp and incremented numbers: 170725_00.WAV, 170725_01.WAV, 170725_02.WAV, etc. First of all the date stamps should use the full year and not just the last 2 digits. But it could also replace the 2-digit increments to something more granular, like a pair of timestamps showing what time the recording started and ended: 20170725_083000-090000.WAV might be the name of a file recorded today between 8:30 and 9:00AM.
I also wish it was possible to geotag the .WAV files with in-recording latitude and longitude coordinates. I don’t know how much interest there is in such a feature, or how many scenarios where this would be of any value are even possible. But dynamically mapping a sound file recorded while in motion could be interesting.
The cost of getting the PCM-D50 fixed could end up being as much as I paid for it brand-new. I called Sony about a year ago and they quoted me a flat rate of $300 for the repair. I called again yesterday and that rate has changed. Now for them to even look at it and provide an estimate comes with a mandatory fee of $135. After that they charge $135 an hour. I think I paid $650 for the thing.
I emailed TeaneckService@am.sony.com yesterday and described the symptoms, thinking they could respond to my email with a cost estimate just from my description. They politely ignored me. I don’t particularly want to spend $135 just for the privilege of their consideration. I should have gone with the $300 flat rate when that was an option.
I might not have considered this before but the newer model, the PCM–D100, is starting to look good to me. It’s more expensive, but it looks like I could get it at 0% financing and pay for it over a year. I haven’t paid for anything on a payment plan in a very long time. Doing so (successfully) is supposed to be a good thing for your credit rating. My rating is basically perfect, which seems like an irony considering I don’t have any money.
Today I used the PCM-D50 to document a noise so unbelievably loud it forced me to leave this apartment. I did not have the presence of mind to see what was causing that noise. I just got the hell out of here. I was shaking and had some trouble walking straight for the first few steps of my escape. That’s the kind of effect noise can have on me. It’s like it attacks me.
I start to wonder if my misophonia is getting worse with age.
That’s quite funny. For the first draft of this story I spoke these words and converted them to text using speech recognition software. The software thought “misophonia” was “me so phony a”. Is the software trying to tell me something?
Anyway, I had a little mishap a couple of weeks ago where I hit my head. It’s better now. But in the first two or three days after it happened I had to ask if it was possible my misophonia actually got worse for a little while, and if the head injury was to blame. I could barely stand the sound of AM radio in particular. I never thought anything of it but something about the timbre suddenly felt sharp and metallic in a most unpleasant way. It does not seem to bother me now.
But then I remember that I’ve always been like that. Sharp noises brutally disrupt what little serenity lurks in my soul. What interested me about the field recorder in the first place was its ability to capture the world of sound that surrounds us. I wanted to capture it and understand it. I’ve since learned there is a small cottage industry of sorts in collecting urban and natural soundscapes. In researching some of this I made the slightly amusing discovery that a person I knew in grade school and who still lives in Tampa has been involved in field recording and studio sound production for a long time. Although when I was down in Tampa last time I think I heard he had moved on to another profession. Still, who knew a kindred spirit from grade school was out doing the same stuff as I?
Here is the noise that forced me from my abode:
I’m not even sure this recording does justice to how obnoxiously loud that noise was. But it’s nothing compared to the steam valve explosion from January. That sounded apocalyptic. I stepped outside and heard an utter avalanche of noise deflecting off the façade of the six-story building across the street. It was a mix of urgent alarm and sun-like brightness with maybe a little bit of joy somewhere in the cacophony. That’s a sound I wish I could have captured, but it came and went too quickly for me to have my wits about me to go back inside and grab the field recorder. Still, I could have at least just used my phone.
That noise was indescribable. It sounded like massive alien spacecraft was landing, not that I have any idea what that would sound like. It completely filled the air, making this giant city suddenly feel quite small. That sound could have crushed us all. And it was scary because it wasn’t until later that night I had any idea what caused it. It was on a local neighborhood discussion forum where somebody informed us that a steam valve on the Upper East Side had blown up, causing a hell of a lot of noise but otherwise no cause for concern.
I have been posting audio to Soundcloud blissfully unaware of the rumors that the business is about to shut down. That would be very painful for me. Part of the reason I have been happy to pay for SC was because I had some vaguely ridiculous notion that sending them money might help provide some kind of guarantee that the business would stay alive, if only for my sake. Now it sounds like they need $70 million. I don’t have $70 million, and I do not know anyone who does.
I don’t know what rumors to believe. They laid off 173 people, leading me to ask why the hell they had so many people working there in the first place.
Some of the coverage was a bit whiny, or rather it gave priority to some folks who might be labeled whiners. Some people are complaining that they got fired from the job at Soundcloud one week after they were hired, or before they even started. I know that sucks but that’s just the way the world works sometimes. It happened at Time Warner a number of times. I don’t know about one week but I knew people who were sacked after maybe a month or two. They never should have been hired in the first place, but I guess that’s just easy for me to say. Still, that’s just the way of the world sometimes. Upper management, believe it or not, does not always know what it is doing.
My first real job in New York was at a big cosmetics company. I started as a temporary word processor and after a couple of months was offered the permanent job. I never can forget that conversation with the hiring manager. It took me a long time to understand what she meant when she kept repeating to me that this was a “good company”. I didn’t say anything but all I could think was “any company that would hire me sounds like a good company”.
What she meant was that it’s a well-run company as far as human resources and upper management treating its employees well. They don’t screw over their employees like so many other companies do. And she was correct. It was a Good Company™.
As impressed as I had been with Soundcloud in my earliest usage I’ve come to think of it as kind of a spammy dead end. Any time I post anything I automatically get spam messages and follows from garbage accounts, and that is just about all I get. I had no expectation of gaining any quantity of followers there. I just wanted a safe place for certain audio pieces. I don’t even pay attention to the follows and the messages anymore.
