Recommended headphones 2024

Buying headphones is confusing since there are dozens of manufacturers and hundreds of models. The popular style brands (e.g. Beats) promoted to the mass public are consistently over-priced, badly made, and terrible-sounding. The high-price models promoted to audiophiles cost far more than you need to spend.

This article is for people who record, mix, and compose music. It's for listeners who need to hear what their music actually sounds like, without embellishment or false augmentation. For you my decades of experience will come in handy!

Günther Berkus and I

It would be presumptuous for me to call Günther Berkus a friend, but he was sometimes a collaborator (in live improvisations) and our paths crossed regularly. On meeting we'd talked passionately about various music technologies. Indeed, for several years our techniques ran in parallel, for example our explorations of Max/MSP. 

When Berkus (as he preferred to be called) began work using the voice of W.S. Burroughs (released in 2014 as Pay Back Your Stolen Colours), I referred back to my own generative exercises using Burroughs texts, conducted in the nineties. And by coincidence I was simultaneously revisiting the voice as sonic material for The Absence of Baudrillard. In such ways our interests threaded.

Comparing Vintage 28mm Lenses: Revisited

Three months ago I compared five vintage 28mm lenses. Based on those results I've obtained one new lens and dug up an old M42 from my archives. Here are the lenses in today's comparison, with their official designations:

• smc PENTAX 1:2 28mm 
• smc PENTAX 1:3.5/28
• SMC PENTAX-A 28mm f/2.8
• Vivitar Series 1 28mm 1:1.9 VMC Auto Wide Angle
• Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 28mm f/2.8 

Pentax-K 28mm F3.5 under review

I didn't exactly need another 28mm lens. If you doubt that statement you can read my previous comparison of this focal length, or jog over to the Great Vivitar 28mm Bestiary. Yep, I own dozens. Nonetheless, here I am with my latest purchase, the "smc PENTAX 1:3.5/28" (to give the formal name). In this article I will provide an overview of the lens and present some photographs. 

On lens hype... and a bargain vintage set

I write a lot of blog articles in reaction to external stimuli, even if this is not immediately obvious. People ask me questions in the pub or on Facebook. I need to explain something in detail to my students. A topic required documentation before I myself forget what I already know. 

This post is in reaction to those YouTube videos fronted by some egotistical talking head who pretends to be a photography expert, discovering, as if struck with a bolt from above, the merits of some old system. You know the type. They use phrases like "game-changer" and "GOAT". 

This tendency leads to particular lenses shooting up in price beyond all reason. Let me provide a few examples of over-hyped gear, before suggesting a set of vintage lenses that won't kill your bank account. 

Field recorders in 2024

I am a trained audio engineer who wrote extensively on field recorders over many years. You can access these articles from my field recording landing page. Two years ago I provided a detailed summary of the state of the art in portable field recording devices. This article brings my research up to date for 2024. 

First, download the PDF that charts every available portable field recorder priced at under a grand. I also include a table of defunct models for historical comparison.

Where is the perfect EDC bag?

For years I have been on the search for the perfect every-day carry (EDC) bag for a camera plus one lens and a few small personal items (e.g. headphones). I will explain my goals and describe the bags that I currently own. Maybe you can help me find something better?

Which SD card?

SD memory cards are used for everything from mobile phones, field recorders, still cameras, and video cameras. The most common question is... which SD card should I buy? This article will decode all of the designations and provide simple answers.

Comparing vintage 28mm lenses

I love the 28mm field of view and wanted to update my insights now that I've returned to using a full-frame camera. Here I will compare five different 28mm film-era lenses, namely:

• smc PENTAX 1:2 28mm (1976) 
• Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 28mm f/2.8 (1978) for Contax-Yashica mount
• Kino Precision Kiron 28mm f/2 MC (1981)
• Vivitar 28mm 1:2.0 MC Close Focus (1983) made by Komine
• SMC PENTAX-A 28mm f/2.8 (1984)

This article is the result of months of work shooting in real-world scenarios and staged tests. Hopefully of interest to other photographers... like you!

Which audio production gear? (Robin Edition)

This article follows on my declaration of principles found in "Does your gear matter" located here. As a third-level teacher and trained audio engineer, I am often in a position to recommend audio gear to electronic music composers and producers. In this article I will set out a minimal threshold for professional audio production.