need advice on digital voice recorder

[rhsiao]

Hi,

I'm looking for a digital voice recorder that allows me to transfer the .wav file easily into my computer's hard drive. Can anyone advise me what options (recorder models, types of media, method of transfer, etc.) are out there?

Thanks.

Robert

[JRR]

Robert:

I am sure there are people miles ahead of me as I have been digitally recording/mixing only for a few months.

I still use my tape deck to record narrations and then run the LINE OUT of my tape deck into the LINE IN of my computer's sound card and record using Acoustica MP3 Audio Mixer. While it is called MP3 Audio, it works with .wav files.

I record my music (off CDs) using Music Match.

I have only recently acquired Cool Edit 2000 with the Studio plug-in that will do much more, but I have not figured it all out yet. It will likely replace the above two softwares in due course for many functions.

In theory you should be able to record directly using the MIC LINE IN on your sound card once you find the necessary jacks etc etc

The use Cool Edit or Acoustica MP3 Audio Mixer to mix the sound files

Hope that helps a a little

Jim Robertson

[Guest guru]

Robert, unluckily I must agree with Jim... Why "unluckily"? Because paradoxally now we have super-hi-fi music sources and players (CD, SACD [super Audio CD] and Co.), but it's almost impossible, as far as I know, to find on the market a good digital live (i.e. from microphone) recorder.

You can find little digital and cheap solid-state voice recorders, but they sound with a phone fidelity. And you can find excellent DAT professional recorders, at prices from $1000-1200.

If you need a "good" recorder at a reasonable price... nothing to do. So, if your main interest is to record voices, you can (you must) buy a "decent" cassette recorder ($50-100). It sounds well enough to record voices and common sounds.

As for method to tranfer and edit these sounds, I agree totally with Jim. I too, even though I have on my machine professional sound editors, often use the little but very good, convenient (and easy) Mp3 Audio Mixer of Acoustica...

[Casey]

IT's a pity, isn't it? It seems like one of the key obstacles to creating your own "home audio studio" is the inavailability of affordable digital microphones. The gap between one of those little Logitech microphones and a serious microphone is HUGE and I haven't found anything there. I even went to a major audio hardware supplier to ask and they sort of looked at me like I was an idiot. They have analogue mics at an affordable quality/cost level, but not digital.

[RudiRe]

Casey,

the idea of a "digital microphone" is anachronistic utopia.

Microphones HAVE to be analog, due to their mechanical membrane technique.

I do have some microphones, which are beeing used in the film business for live action sound. Most of them are manufactured by Sennheiser and start at around $ 1500.

There is no such thing like a "digital microphone" and there never will be.

By the way, the sounds/effects/music, which they are recording, are analog as well.

[Ian]

Hello Robert

Unless you are planning to record your narration outside of the house, using a microphone plugged into the soundcard is the easiest way to get a digital sound recording of your voice.

You mentioned that you have Cool Edit. You can use your microphone to record directly into this, and will be able to see the wave file being built on-screen to get a visual guide for the best recording level. The microphone will inevitably pick up some "ambient noise" such as the computer fan etc, but you will be able to use Cool Edit to filter out the unwanted background and end up with a crystal clear audio file.

Ian

[Guest guru]

You can use your microphone...

In my opinion, this is not the best solution, Ian, because the "computer microphones" have a very poor quality, a very low sensitivity and are omnidirectional. It should be necessary to buy another mike (directional!), but you could to find one with the right jack, or with an adapter.

I think it's finally better to use a good old cassette recorder, more noiseless and more convenient.

Casey: what does "digital microphone" mean? Rudi is right... Since the human world is analog, even though all the signal processing is digital, both ends of a sound chain - microphones and speakers - must be analog. We cannot digitally speak, nor hear digital sounds...