Recording sound

[jnight]

Hello all

I am wanting to make a digital slide show documenting the farming community where I work. I am trying to tape interviews with them. Following advice from Jeff Evans I have purchased a mini disc recorder Sony

MZ-NH1 and a good Sony mic. to go with it. Software Sonic Stage came with it to upload from the HiMD disc

to the pc. I then learnt I needed a WAV converter. Also this would only work, I read, if I have SonicStage 2.1 or higher. It coming with only version 2.0, I downloaded the latest 3.3 from the Sony web site.

Now the WAV converter, when I try to run it, keeps telling me I need SonicStage 2.2 or later which is frustrating when it is sitting there on the desktop. I am wondering if the WAV converter won't work because the computer isn't up to it. It suggests Pentium II 400MHz or higher. I am not technically minded about the computer. My system says it has AMD Athlon processor with 900 MHz, 256 MB of RAM. I am getting a new computer in the near future but is this really the problem?

Is there an easier solution? Joe Webb mentioned something about Audio Clening Lab or Music Studio from Magix. What are these?

I am trying to keep good quality sound without too much compresion. Who would have thought it so difficult to make a recording suitable for PTE. PLEASE HELP

jeannight

[Ken Cox]

Jean

will the mini disk play sound from the computer disk drive

if yes

see

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

download the free windows version

do a search on forum for details re audicity -- guido describes an extra you may need

on audicity screen there should be a record what you hear or similar words

when you get it done

save as mp3 with name of your choice and location

that should get you started

ken

[jnight]

Hello Ken

If I plug the mini disc into the USB port and access it that way the files that are there are not able to be opened. The computer says something like it does not recognize this tpye of file. They are HI-MD IND files.

I have AudioGrabber and Audacity on my pc which I have used before to edit music from CDs without problem.

jeannight

It drives you crazy!

[Guest guru]

Jean, connect the ear output of the MZ-NH1 to the line input of the sound card. So you can record the sound as .wav, and then convert it to mp3.

[Ken Cox]

SEE

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000650057990/

http://www.minidisco.com/netmd-info.html

AND A FORUM

http://forums.designtechnica.com/showthread.php?t=4148

KEN

[jnight]

Hello again

and thanks again Ken for your time and energy but I think I've got there. I found a tutorial on Sony's site. With the new SonicStage 3.3 you don't seem to need a WAV converter any more. When bringing in the file from the mini disc. you have an opportunity to convert to WAV file straight away. Also there is now the capability of saving the files to my documents. So thats simlplified the whole thing. Whew!!

jeannight

[jevans]

Hi jeannight,

You seem to have the answers now, but just for general information here are som more comments. The latest Sonic stage software provides two types of file when you download from the minidisk to your hard drive : an .oma file(which is the sony minidisk format) and a .wav file which you can import directly into a sound editor. Previously you could only have the .oma file which needed to be converted. You can get a free .oma to .mpg converter here

Himdrender,

Another approach is one suggested by Ken in which you connect the earphone output socket to the line input of your computer and just play the minidisk and record the imcoming sound into your sound editor.

You do not mention what sound editor you have, but I recommend Audacity which is free. You also need a small add in to enable you to convert a file into .mp3 format. You can get Audacity here :

audacity

I use Adobe Audition 1.5 as a sound editor but it is very expensive and Audacity will do most of what you need.

Best of luck with your recording

Jeff Evans

[Ken Cox]

RIGHT ON JEAN

in layman's terms when all else fails

RTFM

but then that would take all the frustration out of it

ken

[jnight]

What's RTFM Ken?

Jean

[Ken Cox]

read the ______manual

email me off list and will send you

Internet Acronyms

ken

[ronwil]

........and that keeps us all guessing. TTFN

Ron [uK]

[davegee]

Hi Jeannight,

I have posted this elsewhere and previously:

If your Sony has an OPTICAL output, EDIROL make an OPTICAL to USB converter which will allow you to input directly into Audacity / Audition / EZCD Creator etc. in real time.

It is a simple matter to then to save as a WAV or convert to MP3.

If you intend to link more than one file together be sure to save as WAV file and create your linked file from a group of WAV files (not a group of MP3 files).

If you decide to go down this route I'll talk you through it and not provide you with links etc or rude suggestions.

DaveG

[jevans]

Hi Jeannight,

I have posted this elsewhere and previously:

If your Sony has an OPTICAL output, EDIROL make an OPTICAL to USB converter which will allow you to input directly into Audacity / Audition / EZCD Creator etc. in real time.

It is a simple matter to then to save as a WAV or convert to MP3.

If you intend to link more than one file together be sure to save as WAV file and create your linked file from a group of WAV files (not a group of MP3 files).

If you decide to go down this route I'll talk you through it and not provide you with links etc or rude suggestions.

DaveG

I would also be very interested in this solution daveg if you would not mind letting me know.

Jeff Evans

[davegee]

Hi Jeff,

The device I use is an EDIROL UA-1D which has apparently been superceded by the UA-1EX (more and better facilities).

More details can be found at: http://www.edirol.it/europe/details.asp?ct...&la=UK&code=409

The RRP is £69 but worth every penny if you have an optical output that you want to route into your laptop etc. It needs no external power supply - powered by USB. You will need an optical cable in addition which, if you don't already own one, will bump the price up by around £20.

Prices in the USA are probably 50% of what I quoted above - the price we have to pay for living here!

DaveG

[jevans]

Hi Jeff,

The device I use is an EDIROL UA-1D which has apparently been superceded by the UA-1EX (more and better facilities).

Hi DaveG, Thanks for response. The device you mention looks interesting and I might purchase one. However I note that on my minidisk, the optical connection socket appears to be "line in" only so I could not use this connection method to output recordings made on the minidisk to the computer which I think you were suggesting in your previous post.

Jeff Evans

[davegee]

Hi Jeff,

Yes, I did say "if your mini-disc has an optical output" - however the UA-1EX will also take normal line input (I think) to USB which is ideal in the case of laptops.

Check the spec before buying.

DaveG