PattiMichelle Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 Hi Everyone: I am looking for a good way to record live high fidelity, stereo audio for my singing group. I've an old Panasonic cassette recorder I'm using now and the fidelity is pretty limited. One nice thing it has is very good automatic gain control. I've tried a couple of digital "voice recorders" and the modern AGC allows clipping to occur as the dynamics of live voice are quite wide.Does anyone have suggestions of a good recorder? I've been looking at the Sony line and it looks good but there seems to be no way to evaluate the AGC of a unit. Also, are they all stereo microphone capable? That doesn't seem to be mentioned in specifications either. Do I have to purchase a separate equalizer/audio volume module to prevent clipping on loud parts?Thanks!!PattiMichelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickjr Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 Patti, I'm also in a singing group. I chose the Sony NH900, I'm 100% convinced that you couldn't get higher quality recorder. It also has the option of adding a AA battery to the rechargeable that the unit comes with.Of course you'd have to find a good microphone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgdimo Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 I mostly sing in the shower and in the car. But I too am thrilled with my NH900 and its ability to reproduce sound. Yes, you really do want to get microphones that are worthy of your machine. Hold on to your money for a while, browse these forums a lot, and I mean a lot--there's an unbelievable wealth of information here, and soon you'll end up with the best equipment your budget will allow that also suits your needs. Sorry I'm not linking you to specific threads that answer your questions. There's just too many and I don't have them at my fingertips. I would definitely suggest not to skimp on the mics, though.What are the circumstances of your singing group? Large, small, a cappela, accompanied? Big room, small room, outdoors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Hi Everyone: I am looking for a good way to record live high fidelity, stereo audio for my singing group. I've an old Panasonic cassette recorder I'm using now and the fidelity is pretty limited. One nice thing it has is very good automatic gain control. I've tried a couple of digital "voice recorders" and the modern AGC allows clipping to occur as the dynamics of live voice are quite wide.Does anyone have suggestions of a good recorder? I've been looking at the Sony line and it looks good but there seems to be no way to evaluate the AGC of a unit. Also, are they all stereo microphone capable? That doesn't seem to be mentioned in specifications either. Do I have to purchase a separate equalizer/audio volume module to prevent clipping on loud parts?←The current line of HiMDs actually have a pretty forgiving AGC that isn't too obviously turned on as long as your sound source isn't extremely loud.All MDs and HiMDs wthi mic inputs can accept stereo microphones.Careful mic positioning is more important than adding EQ or AGC, really. As long as you're at a distance where the sound pressure at the mic isn't so loud as to cause distortion [and of course, not so quiet as to be lost in noise], your recording should end up clean.What I would do for recording, say, an a capella group in a large and fairly damped room, would be to put the mic on a boom stand [any boom stand used for stage applications should be fine as long as the mic fits the clip], placing the stand maybe 2m away from the performers at a height about .5-.75m above the performers as a place to start.There are a lot of variables involved, but the best way to do this is really to just try different positions until you find what sounds best to you. Do remember that room acoustics play a huge part in the equation as well. Recording in a small room with painted walls will me much louder with the microphone at 2m from the performers than recording in a large room with curtains draped against the walls [damping material], for instance. It may sound daunting, but the truly easy way is simply to experiment until you find what works best. If you're interested in learning guidelines and principles of recording, you can get a better idea of what to expect in a given situation, but experimentation is pretty much always a requirement for something new, somewhere new. I'd suggest an NH900 or NHF800 [i'd take the 700 over it if it's available in your area, the only differences being no radio tuner and no virtual acoustics thing which is really a waste of time anyway]. I don't recommend the NH1 solely because it has no option to run with AA batteries, which is, IMO, a crucial point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lfymozart Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 dex Otaku IS PROFESSIONAL:)HOHO,JUST COMMENT:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 You're making me blush. I still think of myself more as a hack than a professional of any kind. That's why I suggest simply experimenting. If you experiment, you can find out the things that your equipment can do, as well as the things it's not even supposed to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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