Author Archives: Jeff Towne

Bio:

Jeff started in radio in the late 1970s at his high school's 10-watt FM station, and continued in college at the University of Pennsylvania's WXPN. For over 20 years, Jeff has been producing interviews for radio, at first with a Marantz cassette recorder and a four-track reel-to-reel tape recorder, and now on digital recorders and computer editing systems. In his more than ten years with Echoes (the nightly music program distributed on over 160 PRI affiliates where Jeff is co-producer, engineer and webmaster) he has done extensive remote recording of interviews and musical performances, produced short-form documentary-style features, and prepared shows for uplink on the public radio satellite system and web distribution.

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Voice Recording in the Home Studio

May 22 2013

Everything you'd want to know about how to record professional-sounding narration when you don't have access to a studio. From independent producer Yowei Shaw and Transom's Tool Guy, Jeff Towne.

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Tascam DR-100mkII

December 2012

Jeff Towne reviews two recent digital audio recorders we’ve been eyeing: the Tascam DR-100mkII and the Olympus LS-100. For the needs of radio producers, one recorder gets a very positive review. The other doesn’t. Jeff will give you the whole story, with photos, sound files, etc.

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Olympus LS-100

December 2012

Jeff Towne reviews two recent digital audio recorders we’ve been eyeing: the Olympus LS-100 and the Tascam DR-100mkII. For the needs of radio producers, one recorder gets a very positive review. The other doesn’t. Jeff will give you the whole story, with photos, sound files, etc.

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Barrett recording a rodeo cowboy at the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale, Montana

Field Gear: Good, Better, Best

October 2012

What you really want to know is: WHAT GEAR SHOULD I BUY… right? We have finally compiled our assessments into dollar-determined good, better, best-ness. There are links to our in-depth reviews and to actually buy the stuff, or at least put it in your Cart and dream. Check it out.

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What Gear Should I Get?

August 2012 | by Jeff Towne

Transom's TOOLS editor Jeff Towne takes a crack at answering the persistent question, what gear should I get?

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Pro Tools 10

June 2012

Jeff Towne has done his typically thorough job evaluating the latest version of Pro Tools —Pro Tools v10. It’s chock full of insider tips and tricks just for the radio crowd. Check it out.

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Setting Up a Small Recording Studio UPDATE

February 2012

An update of one of our most popular features ever – Jeff Towne’s primer on setting up a small recording studio. It covers computer and software selection, the requisite hardware, along with equipment recommendations in various price ranges and pretty much everything you need on this topic, all in one place.

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Tascam DR-40

December 2011

Transom is always searching for the ideal field recording devices at the lowest cost. Our TOOLS Editor Jeff Towne just reviewed the new Tascam DR-40 and says, “At last! The recorder we’ve been waiting for! Well, almost…” Read all about it.

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Sony PCM-M10

September 2011

Transom is featuring another of Jeff’s ongoing series of affordable gear tests, this time, the Sony PCM-M10. It fills a niche somewhere between smartphone and professional recorder. Read on for a complete rundown on all the features, with photos, comparison chart, and audio tests.

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Hindenburg Journalist Update

September 2011

The audio producing software, Hindenburg Journalist has a bunch of new features. Jeff Towne runs them down for you, complete with illustrations and his customary hand-holding. This is the application we’ll be using at our upcoming Transom Story Workshop, so we’ll have more to report after that, but right now, we’re liking it.

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