News
IBC 2009, HHB Stand 8.E54: The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics took place in Berlin in August and saw competitors from the home nation enjoying particular success. As a consequence, sports journalists from the local Berlin radio station ‘105.5 SPREERADIO’ were particularly busy recording interviews with winning athletes at the Champions Club, a venue in which competitors came together with representatives of top German and international sports, along with sponsors and guests from the fields of business, politics and the media.... Read more
With Red Nose Day just over a week away, HHB reports that the Comic Relief media team is using FlashMic Digital Recording Microphones to gather interviews from participating celebrities, members of the public, and from those whose lives are transformed by the work of Comic Relief.... Read more
For three months this summer, Icelandic journalist Guòmundur Gunnarsson interviewed more than 300 of his fellow countryman with a FlashMic for his radio program ‘Flækingur’.... Read more
HHB has shipped its 10,000th FlashMic. First launched at IBC three years ago, the innovative Digital Recording Microphone quickly caught the imagination of major broadcasters and news organisations around the world and is now the interview recorder of choice for journalists working in all areas of the media.... Read more
In an unsurpassed demonstration of its sound quality and ease of use, the HHB FlashMic has been used to compile an urban London soundtrack for an arts project executed by members of the public.... Read more
The Mark Twain Elementary School in Wheeling, Ohio is using the FlashMic to record lessons and projects for uploading to the Internet... Read more
Actor Jamie Foxx surprised everyone when he pulled out his FlashMic on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show and proceeded to tell the audience all about it.... Read more
The prestigious Syngenta ABSW Science Writers’ Awards took place at The Royal Society in London and saw New Voice category winner Anna Lacey delighted to receive her prize of a FlashMic Digital Recording Microphone from Mohit Bakaya, Commissioning Editor, BBC Radio 4.... Read more
Classic FM Magazine journalist Sarah Kirkup used the FlashMic to capture interviews with the stars of the classical music world at the Classical Brit Awards.... Read more
Building on a successful project at NAB earlier this year, UK-based media production company Eye-i is again using the FlashMic Digital Recording Microphone from HHB Communications to record podcasts at IBC.... Read more
Writer and director Scott Evans packed his HHB FlashMic when heading for The Shoot Out Boulder 24-Hour Filmmaking Festival, which pits participants against the clock to create a film, from story conception to final Foley, within 24 hours.... Read more
Technical
MANUALS
FlashMic English manual download PDF
Deutsches FlashMic Handbuch PDF
Manuel d'utilisation, français PDF
Manual de FlashMic en español PDF
How To Update FlashMic Firmware PDF
All available languages manual download (4.28MB) PDF
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is the difference between the DRM85 and DRM85-C FlashMic?
A. The difference between these two models is only that they have different microphone capsules. All other features are identical. The DRM85 has an omnidirectional capsule which means that it picks up sound in all directions equally. The DRM85-C has a capsule with a cardioid pattern which means that sound directly in front of the microphone will be recorded louder than sound at the sides of the microphone.
Q.What difference will there be in my recordings if I use the DRM85 or DRM85-C?
A. With the DRM85 the microphone can be held still in between the interviewer and interviewee and both voices will be recorded at the same relative level. If the microphone is pointed at the interviewee or interviewer the level will not change. (It will only change as the distance from the FlashMic to the speaker changers.) With the DRM85-C as the microphone is moved from pointing at the interviewer to pointing at the interviewee the level of the recorded sound will change. If the interviewer starts to move the microphone towards the interviewee while they are still speaking this will have the effect of the end of the question fading on the recording. For this reason we recommend the omnidirectional DRM85 for the inexperienced user. The DRM85-C is useful in very noisy environments as background noise from the sides of the microphone will be recorded at a lower level than with the DRM85 but for normal environments when speaking clearly close to the omnidirectional DRM85 microphone the voice will be much louder that the background noise anyway.
Q. What is the LI version for?
A. The DRM85LI and DRM85-CLI are the same as the standard FlashMics with the added feature of a line input. When the line input cable is not connected they work in exactly the same way as the standard FlashMics. When the line input cable is connected the microphone in the FlashMic is switched off and the recording is of the signal from the line input cable. This feature was added for the specific requirement of recording a feed at a press conference where it is not possible for the journalist to use their own microphone for the recording.
Q. How do I get the recordings onto my computer?
A. The FlashMic has a USB port. When this is connected to a computer, using a standard USB A-B cable (supplied), the FlashMic will appear as a ‘USB mass storage device’ in the same way that the a USB memory stick does. All of the recordings will be in a folder named ‘AUDIO’. Recordings can also be transferred to a computer using the FlashMic Manager Software which allows remaining or converting of the files as they are transferred.
Q. How long can a record for on the FlashMic?
A. The FlashMic has 1GB internal memory. Depending on the settings this memory can store a maximum of between 3 hours and 18 hours 25 minutes of recordings. See the ‘Recording Times’ page
Q. The FlashMic can record MP2 files. What are these and why does it not record MP3 files?
A. MP2 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer II) is widely used in broadcast and works very well on speech. MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III) is widely used in for compressing music files for use on the internet and with portable players. More information of MP2 can be found on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-1_Audio_Layer_II.
Q. I have been asked to send someone MP3 files. How do I convert my FlashMic recordings to MP3?
A. The FlashMic Manager software can be used to convert recordings to .mp3 files as they are transferred from the FlashMic to the computer.
Q. The FlashMic has 9 presets. Is there a way of storing more?
A. Presets are set up using the included FlashMic Manager software. This creates a ‘configuration file’ which contains up to 9 presets. These are then uploaded to the FlashMic. It is possible to save multiple configuration files on you computer each with a different set of 9 presets. These can then be opened an uploaded to a FlashMic when they are required.
Q. FlashMic Manager v5.4 does not run on Mac OS-X 10.5 (Leopard)
A. Please install v5.1 instead.
Q. mp3 file conversion does not complete on FlashMic Manager v5.1
A. This is a known problem on the Mac for OSX v10.4 and higher. If using OSX v10.4, please install FMM v5.4. Otherwise, please watch this site for an update.
Q. I have set the clock in my FlashMic from my PC but the time is different to the time on my PC?
A. Please upgrade to the new version 4 firmware and software the clock is then accurately updated
Q. The manual says that the FlashMic will turn off halfway through the firmware update process; this does not seem to happen! Does it matter?
A. No the new firmware update has its own re-start so the update happens without needing the halfway power up.
Q. When using DALET I cannot use the audio files straight from the FlashMic via USB?
A. If you have a problem in DALET with using the files direct from the FlashMic, copy the files to your workstation before accessing them.
Q. When using DALET the waveform display is incomplete, where is my audio?
A. The audio is OK it is just the waveform display, refresh the waveform display.
Q. I cannot play my MPEG files on my MAC (or PC)
A. Some systems cannot play MPEG files that have a .wav file extension although this is a correct implementation of MPEG encoded audio files, in the new version of FlashMic manager in the Download Audio Data from the DRM window, there is a new option to save MPEG encoded audio files as either .wav or .mp2 files - Please note this does not effect Linear files these are always saved as .wav
Q. Can I edit my presets (.cfg) files in any text editor?
A. It is not advisable to do this as there are limitations as to the characters that should be used, it would be possible to make a preset file non functional by editing it outside the FlashMic Manager software.
Q. I have tried to update my PC installation of FlashMic manager and I get an error message saying 'FlashMic Manager installation failed' - ' Failed to copy…….'
A. If this should happen please delete the previous version of FlashMic Manager you have installed on you PC, then the new version will install OK. This should not occur with version 4, please upgrade.