People who know things?
Sep. 25th, 2015 11:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livSo, practical advice sought:
A] Does anyone have any experience of making voice recordings? Podfics or reading poetry aloud to share digitally, that kind of thing? It doesn't need to be professional level or even close, but it needs to be good enough quality that the words can be heard relatively clearly. Ideally I don't want to buy a lot of equipment or spend hours doing audio processing, but I'm not sure what the minimum set-up is to achieve this. I mean, my computer has a reasonable basic mic which is good enough for things like voice calls. And I know a lot of my students use their smartphones to record tutorials and so on, and apparently that's good enough to be a revision aid. So I imagine this should be possible without major investment, but I don't know where to start.
Software recommendations especially appreciated! My desktop is Windows and my phone is Android, and my netbook is going to be Linux eventually but that's a topic for another day.
B] I'm in the process of buying a bike. I've talked to Colin at University Cycles, and he's super helpful and has offered to lend us a couple of bikes at the weekend so I can try them out. What should I be looking out for when I try the bikes? What questions should I be asking? Also, what equipment do I need? I'm thinking lights obviously, panniers, and a lock, presumably a D-lock. Anything else?
I don't expect to become a serious cyclist any time soon. I'm intending to use the bike just to potter about Cambridge, so if I can go slightly faster and with slightly less effort than walking, that's about all I'm after. One of the suggestions Colin made was a Dutch bike, which he said was solidly built and easy to maintain; definitely those features are more important to me than speed or being fantastically light or suitability for difficult off-road trails. I'm approximately convinced by the argument that cycle helmets aren't a good trade-off.
I'm not quite sure how best to judge the price point for a new bike. I would rather buy a second-hand, good quality bike than a cheap rubbish new one, but I'm not sure how much of a premium there actually is on new bikes; I suspect most people feel like me. And I'm certainly willing to pay a bit more upfront for a bike that is easy and pleasant for me to use. But equally, if it does happen that the bike becomes my major means of transport or I get excited about long distance rides, I can always sell my starter bike and buy something more specialist; I don't want to buy a very fancy vehicle off the bat though.
I'm probably not going to be a very self-sufficient sort of bike owner; I'll most likely take the bike to the shop for anything more complicated than a puncture. I do appreciate that there's no such thing as a magic, entropy-violating machine that keeps going forever with no effort, I just don't want to make bike maintenance my major hobby.
I know there was something else too, but it's gone out of my mind. Anyway, please express opinions!
A] Does anyone have any experience of making voice recordings? Podfics or reading poetry aloud to share digitally, that kind of thing? It doesn't need to be professional level or even close, but it needs to be good enough quality that the words can be heard relatively clearly. Ideally I don't want to buy a lot of equipment or spend hours doing audio processing, but I'm not sure what the minimum set-up is to achieve this. I mean, my computer has a reasonable basic mic which is good enough for things like voice calls. And I know a lot of my students use their smartphones to record tutorials and so on, and apparently that's good enough to be a revision aid. So I imagine this should be possible without major investment, but I don't know where to start.
Software recommendations especially appreciated! My desktop is Windows and my phone is Android, and my netbook is going to be Linux eventually but that's a topic for another day.
B] I'm in the process of buying a bike. I've talked to Colin at University Cycles, and he's super helpful and has offered to lend us a couple of bikes at the weekend so I can try them out. What should I be looking out for when I try the bikes? What questions should I be asking? Also, what equipment do I need? I'm thinking lights obviously, panniers, and a lock, presumably a D-lock. Anything else?
I don't expect to become a serious cyclist any time soon. I'm intending to use the bike just to potter about Cambridge, so if I can go slightly faster and with slightly less effort than walking, that's about all I'm after. One of the suggestions Colin made was a Dutch bike, which he said was solidly built and easy to maintain; definitely those features are more important to me than speed or being fantastically light or suitability for difficult off-road trails. I'm approximately convinced by the argument that cycle helmets aren't a good trade-off.
I'm not quite sure how best to judge the price point for a new bike. I would rather buy a second-hand, good quality bike than a cheap rubbish new one, but I'm not sure how much of a premium there actually is on new bikes; I suspect most people feel like me. And I'm certainly willing to pay a bit more upfront for a bike that is easy and pleasant for me to use. But equally, if it does happen that the bike becomes my major means of transport or I get excited about long distance rides, I can always sell my starter bike and buy something more specialist; I don't want to buy a very fancy vehicle off the bat though.
I'm probably not going to be a very self-sufficient sort of bike owner; I'll most likely take the bike to the shop for anything more complicated than a puncture. I do appreciate that there's no such thing as a magic, entropy-violating machine that keeps going forever with no effort, I just don't want to make bike maintenance my major hobby.
I know there was something else too, but it's gone out of my mind. Anyway, please express opinions!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-30 02:25 pm (UTC)When I was talking to the bike guy we agreed that I need few or no gears for Cambridge. And I definitely like the idea of a Dutch bike, I care more about reliable than light, and being able to carry things would be good.
I will see about dynamo lights; I don't think that's necessarily the deciding factor, as I can always get cheap battery lights and then upgrade to dynamo ones later, but I do like the idea of paying a bit more upfront and then not having to deal with batteries. Or lights which can be lost or stolen.
I am not sure I want to go to the hassle of a helmet that's disguised as a hat, but thank you for the tip.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-30 05:00 pm (UTC)More on lights:
Hub dynamos and the other kind (I don't remember what they are called) are different. The latter are cheaper, but as I understand it make the bike a lot harder to ride and wear out the front tyre faster.
If using a dynamo, a rear light with a built-in capacitor (aka a "standlight") is a good thing: it stays on when the bike is stationary, usually for two to four minutes, so long enough for most traffic lights. Front lights can come with this too, but on the grounds that you can see what's in front of you and you aren't moving, it's less important. (Nice to have though.)
It may be a good idea to get some very cheap small battery lights too and stash them somewhere on the bike (taping them to the underside of the saddle is a good option, maybe?) so that if your dynamo stops working you can get home legally. And I personally wouldn't want to be without the battery powered light that is fitted permanently to my rear mudguard, because I'm not going to notice the rear dynamo-powered light not working until I get off the bike. But as previously noted, I'm in London and there are tipper lorries around, so I take visibility fairly seriously (my normal complement of rear lights runs to 5 including the dynamo, plus a spare. Most people think this is excessive. The USB ones get charged as needed, the others are all fairly long-life and get new batteries every three months whether they need it or not, except in summer.)
Knog 'Blinder' USB-chargeable lights are a bit expensive, but attach to the bicycle very quickly and it's easy to angle the front ones down slightly to avoid blinding passing pedestrians. It's easy to put a D-ring lock through them once they're off the bicycle, in such a way that they can't be nicked without the attachment mechanism being destroyed. This also prevents them being lost in the bottom of a backpack or pannier (though attaching them to a strap -- using a carabiner clip or similar -- means you can see it if they accidentally get turned on.)
I am happy to risk having to push the bike home or go back for it the next day if I have a flat tyre but faced with the possibility of having to use a different form of transport for lack of lights, I'd rather have extra lights.