Need Equipment Purchasing Advice For Recording Soundfx

[leiavoia]

Greetings everyone, i am brand new here.

I have been programming a computer game for the last 10 months. I am a one-man army doing the art, programming, sound, and anything else the project requires. I just recently got the sound/music code working and had a lot of fun scouring the internet for sound effects to add to the game. I also discovered Audacity and it's even more fun. I got some raw material recorded by someone of GameDev.net that i played with and i've been inspired to get me feet wet with audio recording.

Anyway, MD and a mic seem like the way to go for recording game sound effects. I would like to go all over the place and record anything interesting to me and come home and mix the snot out of it on the computer. Sounds like fun!

I need equipment though and i have absolutely no idea what to get in terms of brands or models. I am an audio newbie so please talk to me like all i know how to do is push PLAY on a CD player.

I know that, since i am not recording long sessions (like a show), i do NOT need Hi-MD (as i understand it), but am not opposed to it. I also don't need an ultra high quality mic. A simple one will do. Something small is prefered in case i want to actually take it to a show or whatever. A mic i can easily port around and hand-hold is what i'm looking for.

What brand/type MD should i get? What mic? Money is not a serious issue, but i'm a natural born scrooge so i'll probably hunt these things down on ebay or craigslist.org.

Thank you very much for your advice. I'm glad i found this forum!

[dex Otaku]

The best reasons to consider HiMD are the ability to upload your recordings digitally [no generation loss], and the ability to record directly in uncompressed linear PCM [meaning, again, no generation loss].

It sounds to me as though you'd be most interested in using a format like MD or HiMD exactly as I usually do - as an intermediary format only. I do not -store- anything on these discs, I simply record, upload, and erase. Oh, and back up and edit, of course.

If you just need a starter rig, I'd consider a MZ-NHF800 or an MZ-NH900. I have the NH700 myself, which is basically the same as the NHF800 without a radio. Take a look on http://www.minidisc.org and stroll around the equipment browser for an idea of what the various models are.

You'll be wanting to make sure that whatever you pick up has the following features, whether it's MD/HiMD or not:

* a microphone input with plug-in power [powers condenser mics]

* a line input [just in case you need it]

* manual record-level controls [an absolute requirement for serious recording]

* a decent AGC [auto-levelling] for when it's appropriate to use

* the ability to mark tracks manually [it is more useful than it sounds]

* a clear and readable record-level metre

* uses commonly available batteries that you can find literally anywhere for cheap

* control over mic sensitivity

Things to look for that are great to have but not an absolute necessity for everyone:

* PCM recording

* the ability to either upload digitally or copy digitally by optical or coax

* cheap removable media that are common and easy to find in most areas

There are a number of things I could add to both lists, but these are the most important ones coming to mind at the moment.

As far as a mic goes, for foley [sound effects recording] work I would suggest using a M/S stereo microphone. This is a compromise solution that I'd say is a good place to start.

Sound reasoning behind this is: [no pun intended]

* you can record stereo ambience quite well with them

* they can mix down to a true mono signal

* the "M" microphone element is directional, so a mono mixdown will usually give you a fairly "tight" recording that rejects sounds other than what you want to record

Basically, M/S stereo mics tend to be the most versatile, IMO, in terms of being able to make both mono and stereo recordings with the same mic.

Sony makes one called the ECM-MS907 which I have used for sound effects recording, and it works well. There are other mics out there that are of higher quality that can be found for the same amount of money, though; http://www.soundprofessionals.com has some models you might be interested in, including a 'copy' of the MS907 that outperforms it, though to be honest I'm not certain whether it's actually an M/S stereo mic or not [they don't actually specify].

I would avoid using "binaural" microphones for sound effects recording. They work great for ambience, great for bootlegging, and they can even be used as two clip-ons to record, say, two people during an interview; they are almost all omnidirectional though, which makes them [again, IMO] ill-suited for recording sound effects outside of a tightly-controlled environment [they simply pick up too much background sound to be really useful for this purpose].

Cheers.

[leiavoia]

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.

The best reasons to consider HiMD are the ability to upload your recordings digitally [no generation loss], and the ability to record directly in uncompressed linear PCM [meaning, again, no generation loss].

Does this require some special Windows-only software? Is it possible to simply plug the USB in and have it show up as a drive like a flash drive or card reader?

I do like the option of having an uncompressed format. I guess it all hangs on how i get it from MD->PC and what software it is going to take to do so.

Thanks again.

[dex Otaku]

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.

Does this require some special Windows-only software? Is it possible to simply plug the USB in and have it show up as a drive like a flash drive or card reader?

I do like the option of having an uncompressed format. I guess it all hangs on how i get it from MD->PC and what software it is going to take to do so.

←

This is what I was talking about when I said "living with restrictions" ..

The uploading and downloading of audio to/from HiMD can only be done with Sony's SonicStage. It's PC-only, and Windows-only.

While HiMD does work as a USB mass-storage device, using audio with it is not a matter of drag & drop.

I bought my HiMD fully understanding that there would be restrictions on what software could be used with it, &c. Since I was very limited budget-wise, it was the only choice available that would allow PCM recording in the price range I could afford, and I went for it.

If you require drag & drop use, or the ability to transfer tracks in the clear with linux or a mac, HiMD is clearly not for you.

If you are willing to accept that you have to use SonicStage under Windows, and can adapt to the limitations imposed by this [mostly as relate to digital rights management] then I would consider it as an option at the very least.

Poke around the HiMD forum a bit, and, especially, skim the HiMD info subforum .. there's some extra info there on how transfers are done.

In any case, good luck with your venture.

Cheers.