Archive for November 2011
Inbound Call Center Pricing
Having a call center is fast becoming a necessity for any business. Whether you are a one-man business operating at home or a multinational company spanning across the globe, having a call center can help boost your business immensely.
A call center provides many advantages and benefits. Chief among these is the advantage of having a customer service representative that can communicate with your customers and prospects. Employing a call center is like having a workforce that can represent your company around the clock.
In the past, getting a call center service was unfeasible, especially for small- or medium-scale businesses. But now, as Internet telephony technologies advance and healthy competition between call center service companies grows, call center services are now within reach of even the smallest companies. Many now offer reliable and professional call center services at affordable prices.
If you are planning to employ the services of a call center to handle inbound orders and other functions, there are a variety of choices available for you. Dedicate time and effort to research and evaluate the options you have. Most call centers will offer competitive prices. A simple search on the Internet will yield a number of call centers, most of them offering affordable prices.
When you have narrowed down your shortlist of call centers, evaluate them carefully in terms of the quality of calls and competence and professionalism of the operators. Evaluating the kind of services these call centers provide is very important since a poor call center experience will definitely turn off your customers. If you are seriously considering getting a call center service and incorporating it into your business, now is the right time to do so. Find the call center solution that will provide your company with a service level that will definitely enhance your business.
On This Day – September 11th – World Trade Center Attacked
Early in the Morning on September 11th, 2001 Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations attacked the United States by hijacking two commercial Boeing 767 airplanes and flew them into the two World Trade Centers in New York City. On the morning of tragedy and confusion, many people were trying to figure out what was happening. When the first plane hit the North tower of the World Trade Center, many thought it was an accidental plane crash but then speculations of an attack on America was confirmed when another plane hit the other World Trade Center tower and the Pentagon. It was revealed that a Saudi Arabian Islamic extremist named Osama Bin Laden and a terrorist group named Al Qaeda had planned and carried through with the terrorist attack.
As millions of people watched on television and listened on the radio, two two towers collapsed from damage to their infrastructures. This attack was the first major attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor which happened on December 7th, 1941. This attacked also rivaled the death toll of Pearl Harbor. Over 3,000 men, women and children lost their lives on the morning of September 11th. Soon after the attack the Bush administration went to war with Afghanistan and the created the “War on Terror”. In this War on Terror, Suddam Hussein was considered a threat to the world and in 2003 America went to war with Iraq. The war has been very controversial because Osama Bin Laden was never caught and he fled Afghanistan while many troops were moved to Iraq. View a picture from the World Trade Center attack
Recording Guitar – How to Mic a Guitar Amp
In the last decade, there have been great advances in guitar related technology, particularly in the areas of amp, cabinet and stomp-box simulation. In the past, a great guitar sound was reliant on having a solid amp, a quality microphone and a decent studio or room. These days, with a simulation unit such as a Line6 pod, and a PC,you can digitally record a convincing guitar sound in your own bedroom. This has been a God-send to musicians who don’t have the money to acquire an expensive amp, or don’t have a studio to be able to crank that amp to the kinds of volume needed to capture a classic guitar tone. Although this approach produces a very realistic replication of a guitar amp, the purists will always insist on the superior warmth and presence of sound physically blasted out of a speaker.
When it comes to miking a guitar amp, there are quite a few slightly different approaches. It is standard practice to use a dynamic microphone. Dynamic microphones are robust, cheap, do not require a separate power source and are great for close proximity miking. This is because they can can handle the high sound pressure levels blasting out from the speaker. 2 of the most commonly used dynamic mic models are the Shure 57 and the Sennheiser MD421. Condenser microphones on the other hand are sensitive, expensive and need a power source. These are also very useful for recording guitars, but it is more common to set them farther back, away from the amp so they can capture the sound and ambiance of the room. Guitar amp cabinets are composed of different numbers of speakers, usually 1,2 or 4. The speakers themselves may all sound slightly different, so it’s worth experimenting by listening to the sound of each speaker miked separately.
These are the most commonly used techniques in miking guitar amps:
1. Using a single dynamic mike close to the speaker.
The microphone is placed facing directly at the speakers center, so that it is almost touching the grille cloth. Keeping it at that proximity, the mike can then be moved along the radius of the speaker, from the center to the edge. Varying where along the radius the mic is placed, will affect the tonality of the recorded sound. Placing it in the middle will result in a bright, punchy sound, whilst the closer the mic gets to the edge, the darker the tonality produced.
2. Using a single dynamic mike, 6 – 12 inches from the speaker.
Use the same technique described in the first example, but position the mike further away to capture room ambiance. This will also result in a more developed sound.
3. Using multiple close dynamic mics.
Recording the amp with different mics and blending the sound will result in more dynamic, richer tone. A good idea is to try placing one dynamic mic dead-center to a speaker and another on the edge. You could also try putting mics across multiple speakers if you have a cabinet with more than the single speaker. It’s also worth tilting one of the mics slightly off-axis, as this will give another variation to the sound.
4. Combination close and distant mics
If you own a decent condenser microphone this method is ideal. Place the dynamic mic(s) close to the amp as described in the example above. With the more powerful and sensitive condenser, position it anywhere from 6 inches to a few feet away. It will probably take some experimentation to find the best result. With the separate signals you can then choose to blend them or keep them on separate tracks.
5. Front and Back miking of open-backed combo amps
Place a dynamic close as described in method 1 or 2. Then place a condenser a small distance behind the amp as opposed to in front as described in the previous example. It’s usual to blend the 2 sounds, but keep in mind that this is an advanced technique, and it can introduce phase issues which take some audio engineering skill to deal with.
When recording your guitar sound, it’s best to try to record as “dry” as possible. The reason for this is that once the guitar signal has been recorded with the effect, it’s impossible to remove it. You could be in a situation where the guitar track is recorded with an effect and then in the final mix-down, the track doesn’t fit in with the rest of the instruments. Of course this does assume that you have the outboard equipment and ability to add quality effects to the final mix. But it is a good concept to keep in mind and most rudimentary recording set-ups feature some kind of effects send channel. This basically means that you can plug your dry recorded guitar track into an external stomp-box or effects unit and re-record the result to a new track. It gives you much more control over the finished product.