Portable Digital Voice Recorders for a Singer? 44
Geek Singer asks: "I've had classical singing lessons for a while now and managed to advance to a level where hearing my own lessons is important for developing my skills. Here in Europe many singers use MiniDisc recorders. As a geek I think that MD recorders are DRM-encumbered, clumsy, slow and obsolete. Especially moving the recordings into my computer can get very troublesome due to nasty restrictions cast by Sony. For these reasons I need to have something else than a MD recorder. There are various portable MP3 players that have a voice recording capability, but I've found none that have all the properties I need: low price, good recording quality, line-in recording, excellent battery life, a good interface, support for Linux or Mac OS X and enough space for tens of hours of decent quality voice recordings or a slot for an exchangeable memory card. I've already checked numerous manufacturers including iRiver. Their players are great, except that the HD-models are too expensive and the flash-based models don't have a memory card slot. What portable digital voice recorders do you suggest?"
This is not a task for a portable device... (Score:1)
Re:This is not a task for a portable device... (Score:1)
Re:This is not a task for a portable device... (Score:2)
Re:This is not a task for a portable device... (Score:1)
I just don't know how helpful it is to respond to an Ask Slashdot requesting advice on a low price portable with "Don't use a portable" or "Use a laptop".
Re:This is not a task for a portable device... (Score:2)
That's what's nice about Ask Slashdot: some people will give you the blaringly obvious answer (suck it up and use a MD recorder), and others will give you a slightly different take on
Re:This is not a task for a portable device... (Score:2)
A used laptop with a few G of HD isn't that bad.
Re:This is not a task for a portable device... (Score:2)
The downside of nearly every computer... (Score:5, Informative)
Yes there are silent pc's available. You can even find them with shielded sound cards. They are not going to be under $300 however, unless you want to build your own, including building your own shielding around that sound card. If you are using a PC with a hard drive, you have a power supply fan, the processor fan, the hard drive, and possibly both a video card fan and a bios fan that are all going to introduce background noise into your recordings.
Most laptops today have a fan in them, and I don't know anyone interested in computers today who would consider the internal microphone of a laptop for any recording beyond very rare sampling.
Before you suggest using an external mic and headphones, remember that there really isn't a laptop out there with a shielded audio system in it. As a result it is invariably going to pick up electrical noise from components within the computer.
The last option I would consider is a USB based sound system. Not because I don't trust the quality, but because of the fact that once you add the price of one to your computer, (laptop or otherwise) you could have picked up a profesional grade digital recorder, and been done with it.
One other thing to take into consideration is the 'setup' and 'teardown' time involved. If you go to a teacher, paying for a 50 min lesson, you are not going to want to spend a significant portion of those 50 min setting up a computer or laptop to start recording your lesson, and your instructor is not going to be pleased if your setup and teardown (especially if you are carrying around mics and stands) eats into some other student's lesson time. Likewise for practice rooms if you need to practice, and can not live with an electronic keyboard in your dorm, appartment or other living arangements.
If you do go with an MD recorder, and a mic, with an optical connection to a PC that allows you to transfer cleanly, I recomend pre-testing your equipment, or at least finding out if all will work within the return time of whomever you are buying the stuff from. My own MD recorder has a very hit or miss pattern with the various mics I have tried with it. At best I can recognize my voice with the volume cranked all the way up. Occasionally I may even be able to recognize what I was saying at the time. Fortunately I don't need to record with it, as I have other options available. (none of them direct to digital, but my erquirements are not as high.)
I wish you better luck.
-Rusty
Korg PXR-4 (Score:3, Informative)
You can even plug it into your monitor out and record crap at your shows. Korg Pandora PX-4: 299 [musiciansfriend.com]
Re:Korg PXR-4 (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Korg PXR-4 (Score:2)
I wouldn't call MPEG "proprietary"
Re:Korg PXR-4 (Score:1)
Minidisc-players with USB can only transfer files with that USB from the PC to the player (so it's ok to download stuff from internet and play it on the minidisc, but not to record your own sound/music/words).
Mp3-players (as mentioned in another reaction) often offer voice-recording, but always with built-in microphone, not with a mic-input. Some have line inputs, but then you need a mic-amplifier...
This Korg costs more, but I can probably use it for more t
Re:Korg PXR-4 (Score:4, Informative)
That said, MD, while annoying with its DRM and inability to transfer digitally to the computer, does have a lot of uses. When comparing it to your other options, consider it a kick-ass alternative to a microcassette recorder or other portable cassette recorder. There's only the realtime, analog-out to the computer, but the recording quality is much better than most other options out there.
Alex.
Re:Korg PXR-4 (Score:3, Informative)
Go with MiniDisc (Score:4, Informative)
The main issue with the IC recorders was with regards to poor recording quality. I know that the local public radio uses MiniDisc recorders for their recording needs.
Re:Go with MiniDisc (Score:1)
Re:Go with MiniDisc (Score:4, Informative)
DAT? (Score:3, Informative)
They've been the benchmark for non-compressed portable audio recording for years.
Re:DAT? (Score:2)
My suggestion: (Score:2)
And get me one, too! :-)
Re:My suggestion: (Score:3, Insightful)
not quite the thing for him(judging from what he wrote into the article).
though I think he should just get a decent MD(keyword being a decent and decent meaning coming with usable connectors and without being limited intentionally too much).
I have no troubles with MD (Score:4, Informative)
On another note, I recently saw another sound designer use an Archos unit to record a grand piano. I provided the mics and mixer, he preferred to use his own recorder rather than my MD.
Re:I have no troubles with MD (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I have no troubles with MD (Score:2)
All the musicians I know (which I'll admit, isn't a huge number) use MD for ad-hoc recording. The recorders are cheap and durable; as are the discs. They are also so common in the UK that people don't bother trying
You Get What You Pay For (Score:3, Informative)
High end mindisc recorders [digitalaudioworks.com] allow digital dubbing, but not consumer models. An excellent source of information is here [minidisc.org].
By the way, minidisc does not use DRM, it just doesn't have a digital line out jack.
In broadcast circles a lot of people are moving to various flash media [sonicsense.com] units, and seem quite happy with them. These tend to be "pro" units, with XLR mic jacks and digital in and out.
You can also check out transom.org [transom.org] for advice on recorders.
Re:You Get What You Pay For (Score:1)
Um, no. I have several players with digital outs, both optical and copper. They work fine.
MD does have a rudimentary DRM, wherein you can only make a certain numbers of digital copies of media. This is encoded as two bits in the digital audio stream, and there are a _wide_ variety of devices to strip them out.
Fostex MR-8 (Score:4, Informative)
I got one for the same reason. It's very lovely, very feature rich, and still pretty simple to use. The only downside is the size (compared to an iPod). It's the same size as a 12" laptop, but thicker. With the manufacturer bag, it's easily portable (with mic, cable, and AC power supply). Of course it also runs on AA batteries, but it's hungry.
I first tried the iPod with the iTalk, but it couldn't auto-adjust the recording level quickly enough to keep from clipping horribly (a nasty digital trash clip) from piano and higher pitch voice.
Musician's Friend sells it for a good price, and they also sell some kits that include it, a mic, balanced cable, headphones, and other accessories. Just make sure you buy a Fostex certified memory card if you want to upgrade beyond the card they provide. It needs good, fast cards to do multi-track work.
Aren't there CD recorders out there? (Score:3, Interesting)
I had read somewhere that these were good to use for such a purpose, but that was a few years ago.
It's going to be bigger than a flash-based player, sure, but the convenience of winding up with a CD would be worth it.
Jon Acheson
my opinion. (Score:1)
Re:There goes my Karma (Score:1, Funny)
I am a tuba player with a working caps lock key, not a TUBAIST.
Re:There goes my Karma (Score:1, Insightful)
A vocalist might be someone who raps, bebops (think Fat Boys from the '80s), screams (think heavy metal), yodels, grunts, gurgles, burps, laughs, cries, hiccups, hoots, screeches, squawks, moans, barks, chirps, makes robot sounds, or does anything else with his vocal cords. If you want to lower your label to include the gutteral pos
Other iRiver HD models (Score:2, Informative)
Optical/analog in/out etc.
Re:Other iRiver HD models (Score:2)
It has lots of capability, but recording has some limitations. First, the record button has a lot of latency. Also, you can't adjust volume (but future firmware will change that. The internal mike sucks (no surprise). And the line in supports stereo mikes instead of mono mikes. Also, you'll need to buy a pre-amp.
Still, you can record mp3's of various qualities as well as WAV files. It currently sells for $380 on amazon, and by Christm
Whatever you end up using (Score:2)
Isn't 36 hours enough? (Score:2, Informative)
I eventually bought the iRiver iFP-395T as it began to stand out of the pack on my checklist.
The clincher was its ability to record *directly as mp3*.
Most other devices on the market record to wav format which is very VERY fat in comparison.
This means the 512Mb version can store about 36 hours of audio, which will probably outlast the battery itself for continuous recording.
It will also allow me plenty
Re:Isn't 36 hours enough? (Score:3, Informative)
Recording to wav is better if you want to listen to something w/o any compression artifacts. I would be willing to buy something with the capabilities of a Nomad Jukebox 3, but just in a smaller form factor. I've had one for about 1.5 years and it's great for recording concerts.
Hoe about a neuros? (Score:1)
I own a neuros and use it just about every day. A while back I saw some info on making digital recordings with the neuros on their forum. The line in on the neuros is unpowered and you would want a good powered mic with preamp.
Try taking a look at the forum [neurosaudio.com] yourself.
Palm/Pocket multitrackers (Score:2)
Some decent headphones wouldn't hurt, either. Add a decent microphone and you can do some serious work with this stuff!
Jukebox or similar (Score:2)
It records as a WAV file, uncompressed (so no ATRAC compression artefacts); it has USB, so I just plug it into my Mac and it appears in iTunes &c, so getting the data