Voice recording

[Pete Porchos]

Good evening.

I've skipped through this forum and the FAQs looking for an answer to my question, but have found nothing, so now I have to trouble you with it.

I'm out of date, I know.

I used to use a wonderful Sony Professional wm-d6c cassette recorder. Fantastic quality. Sadly the record button doesn't function properly now.

I read onto tape, but often make mistakes. I used to just rewind and repair.

I have been looking at the Sony MZ RH1. Can I with this, or any MD recorder, go back and repair a mistake like I used to with my old cassette player?

Thanks,

Pete

[A440]

It's a different procedure, but the results are similar. On minidisc you can make Track marks, which are silent and gapless. You can also delete the track marks with a button on the unit. And you can delete tracks through the edit menu on the unit or with the unit connected to the PC and SonicStage.

You would play back your track up to the point where you made a mistake and push the Track button to put a track mark before it--which would make your error a new track. Then you could delete the error track and start recording from the end. Or you could leave the error track, start a new take, and delete the error track later.

Or to put it another way.

You are recording Track 01. You goof. At the end of the usuable part of Track 01 you put a track mark. Then you have Track 01 and Track 02. You can delete Track 02, and when you start recording again you'd begin with Track 02. Or, when you start recording again you would automatically begin with Track 03, and you could delete Track 02 later.

Each track gets uploaded separately, but can then be Combined with SonicStage (under Edit). Or you can remove track marks on the player before uploading.

This is assuming you know when you've made the mistake. But you can also record patches later and insert them in any order.

[Pete Porchos]

Hello A440,

Thanks very much for your reply. Very clear and I understand well now the procedure.

I have been investigating Audacity editor. I assume the software that comes with a machine such as this top of the range Sony is similar to Audacity.

When I bought my Sony professional Walkman WM-D6C in 1988 I thought the sound quality was fantastic. Perhaps its quality has deteriorated over the years, of perhaps I am fussier these days, but there seems to be more hiss than I judge acceptable. I take it that there is no equivalent nuisance sound with digital recording.

Pete

[A440]

Digital should give you higher quality than your cassette--especially if you were getting tape hiss from re-recording on cassettes. However, digital will also give you a nice clear recording of nuisances like noise from your microphone and noise from the preamp--which are usually at a low enough level not to be a problem. Look in the Gallery (Live Recordings) and download some things to hear what MD recording sounds like.

SonicStage is not really sound editing software. It will upload and download tracks to the unit and combine or divide tracks, but that's about it. It intends to be more like music player/library software--like iTunes or Winamp--than a sound editor. (Not that anyone not under compulsion would make it their main music player.) SonicStage, Simple Burner (for transferring CDs to MD) and their Mac equivalents are all that's supplied with the unit.

For EQ, other effects and serious editing, Audacity or a paid recording program is necessary. Personally, I have Audacity and the pro-quality Adobe Audition, and I use Audacity all the time because it has all the functions I need.

[Pete Porchos]

Thanks again A440 for your reply.

I went and listened to Bruce Hornsby. I was surprised how good the quality was.

I haven't looked any further for spoken word, which is, I guess, where you will hear more of what you don't want. Don't have time just at the moment. I'll be back tomorrow.

Pete

[A440]

I'm sure you understand that I don't mean to say the quality is anything like bad. It's the opposite problem: The quality is so good that tiny defects that were masked by the cassette recorder could be revealed by the MD. But if your mic sounded good enough with your voice on a cassette, it should sound even better on MD. You can reveal the MD's defects by trying to record extremely quiet sounds--distant birdcalls, that sort of thing. Recording your own voice, close to the mic in a quiet room, you should be very pleased.

[Pete Porchos]

Yes, I know what you mean about the quality. I jsut wanted to hear the spoken word or something similar. I am sure MD is far superior to anything I had done previously.

I now know what Sonic stage is. Thanks.

Another question - if you plug an MD into the USB, does it just recognise it as a drive? (I realise you have to install the drivers)

If I have time this afternoon I will try and find something else to listen to from the downloads.

Pete

[A440]

Windows XP (and Macs, too) will recognize the unit as a hard drive. Windows 98 needs a driver, and I'm not sure about Windows 2000.

However, it's simply a storage drive. All music files for playback or uploading have to go through SonicStage.

For spoken word, here's a podcast recorded on minidisc by MDCF member milomind.

http://www.destructomundo.com/

[Pete Porchos]

Hello again A440.

Thank you for that link. I have downloaded it, put it on my ipod and listened. It’s good. You can hear where the silences have been introduced as pauses.

So now I am thinking about what to get.

I know what I don’t want.

1. anything with a proprietary battery.

2. anything with a proprietary USB cable (the end which goes into the device)

And as for what I do want.

1. it must record mp3.

2. it must have software which I can use on windows me.

As an aside. That Bruce Hornsby I listened to, how would that have been recorded? I mean, where would the mic have been?

Edited October 31, 2006 by Pete Porchos

[Pete Porchos]

Well, over the past week or so I have been doing some research.

I have looked carefully at the Sony MZ RH1. I don't think it is for me. Because it has proprietory batteries. I suspect it also has a proprietory USB cable. I sent an email to the sony tech department and their help was decidedly unhelpful. Being a technical dept they were unable to comment on the USB connections.

I can see the benefit of being able to record a lengthy mass of material onto media such as MD, but I think that I don't necessarily need to record very long passages.

For this reason, the Edirol R09, which uses flash memory, has caught my attention, and this is where I am now at.

[A440]

The USB is not proprietary. It's the same one that comes with most digital cameras and PDAs, USB to mini-USB. I think I have about six of them that came with various devices.

The battery is proprietary, but it can be found for about $20 on eBay. Still an annoyance.

As you probably know, minidisc doesn't record to mp3, but uploaded files can be converted to mp3 with Hi-MD Renderer.

The Edirol might well be better for your uses. I do think the track marking function on MD is extremely useful, and I'm not sure if the Edirol has an equivalent. You'll also end up paying a bit more for the Edirol because you'll have to buy extra flash memory.

If you do choose the Edirol instead. please report back here on what you think of it. For all I know, that might be my next gadget too.

[Pete Porchos]

Hello there A440,

Thanks very much for your reply.

I am pleased to know that the USB on the Sony is standard. I bought a Sony Cybershot camera many years ago. It has a proprietory USB cable, which I lost. Of course they are obtainable, but not so easily. The standard ones are obtainable in any electrical shop, and of course, like you, there are probably two or three lying around already.

It's the same with the batteries. I tried hard to flatten the infolithium battery in the camera every time (by using a slide show), but it still deteriorated quite quickly. I also found it irritating having to carry a charger round with me on holiday. The ideal situation would be a machine which used both re-chargeable and standard AA batteries, and which would charge the batteries when attached to USB a la iPod, or perhaps a machine which uses both kinds of batery and has an external charger which charges the batteries while they are still in the machine. (I've got an mp3 CD player like this, it's very convenient)

I am thinking about your other comments.

I hope you have a nice day.

Pete

[bobt]

You could also try an NH700 or NH800, they use AA batteries.

Good luck on your quest

Bob

[Pete Porchos]

Good evening Bob,

Thank you for your advice.

I have been thinking about batteries. I went to batteries thread in a subforum here. I was pleased to see another member unhappy about proprietary cables, batteries, chargers and the like. As far as I am concerned it is a must to have standard items. With my Sony camera I'm irritated by the USB cable, the battery, the charger and and the memory stick, which has not only been 'upgraded' to pro/super pro etc but also is difficult to find a reader for. So I am determined not to make the same mistake again.

But back to batteries. I would be happy, on reconsidering, with standard AA power. The machine doesn't need to have a built-in charger. So you have helped me there. Thanks.

Pete

[Pete Porchos]

I've been looking at ads for the NH700. A couple of places, including Amazon uk, (I am in England) are out of stock. One store has one for £299, and another for £109.99.

It looks as if it isn't being sold here for very much longer.

[King Ghidora]

There are a couple of places still selling NH700's in North America. At least there were a month or so ago. The links I had don't seem to be working right now. Maybe they no longer have them.

[A440]

Here it is at Minidisc Access.

http://www.minidiscaccess.com/item.html?PRID=1553220

£299 is a ridiculous rip-off price--you're better off with the RH1. £109 isn't too bad.

The relevant differences for you between the NH700 and RH1 are that the NH700 takes an AA battery rather than the proprietary gumpstick and, if you want to record with Manual Volume (which you may not for voice recording--AGC could be better), it won't hold that setting--you need to go through menus. Otherwise, you still get PCM quality, uploading, etc. If you do get one, make sure to use the current SonicStage rather than the disc that comes with it.

For longtime MD users, of course, the great thing about the RH1 is that it uploads old MD recordings, and nothing else does. But that doesn't matter to you.

You're right that the NH700 is disappearing. The ones that are still around and affordable, like this one, come from a close-out Sony Australia had when the 2005 models came in, and smart retailers snapped them up. You may need a different AC adapter, but don't worry about it--for recording, you will always want to use battery power anyway because recording with AC creates a hum. A standard 3V adapter will power the unit, but batteries run for so long that I have never bothered to plug in the AC adapter since I got my NHF800 two years ago.