Using my computer for a voice recording?

[tvrb]

Here's the situation:

For a few months now I've been thinking about recording my grandfather talk about WWII, traveling around the world, meeting my grandmother, being a veterinarian, family stuff, etc. (He's 90 but still sharp as a tack.)

The desired product:

I don't want to make a shit recording. I want it to be mediocre, at least. If I show it to my kids, can they enjoy that shit?

The Side note:

While traveling in French Polynesia last year someone stole my bag ...along with my IRiver H120. yes, the best digital recorder EVER is probably either in the trash or barely being functional to some island hippy (not that island hippies are bad, I quite enjoyed some of my time there).

The Limitations:

I don't want to spend a lot of money at all. I just read the non-MD Recorders thread, which notes that there are no good & cheap digital recorders available. But, if I'm recording my grandfather in a room in his house, is that shit really necessary? Can I use my computer with the line-in port and buy a mediocre external microphone?

I realize that this has jack shit to do with MiniDiscs. Apologies. I've come to this forum a few times and I respect your audio knowledges and wicked tech savvy. I'm hoping you can help me out. Would this work--what software is necessary? I can figure out a mic from the Affordable Mics thread.

Grazie,

~

tvrb

[srizvi1]

I don't see why going with your computer wouldn't work. I think a good recommendation might be getting a lav from

http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/. I bought a lav mic from here (though I've yet to use it because the opportunity hasn't presented itself).

I got this recommendation from sonyhdvinfo.com, in particular, this thread:

http://www.sonyhdvinfo.com/showthread.php?t=5300

[cornreaper]

Your PC is essentially a big digital recorder capable of PCM at 24bit/48kHz. For your needs, the only limitations would be the quality of mic input and the fact that Windows Sound Recorder limits you to 60 second recordings. You can pick up an iMic for around $30, which is basically just a pretty good USB soundcard much better then the onboard audio. There is tons of audio freeware out there too, most notably Audacity. That combined with the Giant Squid mic will net you a decent setup for ~$55.

Edited January 17, 2008 by cornreaper

[srizvi1]

Your PC is essentially a big digital recorder capable of PCM at 24bit/48kHz. For your needs, the only limitations would be the quality of mic input and the fact that Windows Sound Recorder limits you to 60 second recordings. You can pick up an iMic for around $30, which is basically just a pretty good USB soundcard much better then the onboard audio. There is tons of audio freeware out there too, most notably Audacity. That combined with the Giant Squid mic will net you a decent setup for ~$55.

Thanks for the comments back cornreaper.

Any ideas on what kind of sound the MacBook Pros are capable of recording with their sound cards? (I personally use a 15" 2.2ghz MBP Santa-Rosa and my wife uses a 15" 2.16ghz MBP C2D)

I have a Sony Minidisc MZ-RH1 and I usually record stand-up using this unit along with my Soundprofessionals.net's SP-BMC-2 Omnidirectional Stereo Microphones and the SP-SPSB-2 battery mic module.

I've posted some sample recordings in this thread I started on recording stand-up:

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=15910

One of the suggestions was from Guitarfxr in this post:

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?s=&am...st&p=120471

I noticed that the crowd was louder than you (on the MD file), which means that the mic wasnt close enough to the stage, If you want perfect audio of yur voice , put the MD in a pocket and use a Lapel mic ,then mix that audio with the stereo feild audio from the Camera , in iMovie(Im on a macbook) Just import the audio track as an extra or background track , lower the level (or raise,)of the Video track to matck the MD track then export the mix.

Good routine that was pretty funny . " 5 Tape VHS changer " ROTF

Couldnt have the whole vid could I ?

In the event that I wasn't recording with a camera, perhaps I could use his suggestion of using my Hi-MD w/ a lapel mic to get me and using my comp to get the crowd.

[Strungup]

did you ever get the 822?

@first poster : a small mixer (Tapco has a very nice small mixer single mic channel that will drive a high enough level for the Macbook )

and the recording will be as good as you make it . Audacity is a FREE piece of recording software that works VERY well on Mac.

but , the only caveat is since your recording the Old Man , he will have stories to tell , that means TIME is involved , Time means Filesize BIG Files

So you would need Huge amounts of Hardrive space

My Suggestion , since you will need some ability to move around or record at dufferent times ( He may start the story at the coffee table , or the kitchen table , or the Park ( that is a GOOD place for storytelling ) a little mobility would be nice

You dont want a bunch of cables , and have to set things up , (" Hold on Dad , let me hook up the mixer , start the computer , and uh , setup the software , ..oh yeah have to find the mic , crap wheres the cable , awww Sh&^& the dog got it , ...COME BACK HERE YOU MANGY MUTT !!!!! )

you get my point , and since you dont wanna go MD , I would suggest the Zoom H2 in the case , as it will record in MP3 format and has Built in Mics , so you can keep the file sizes down , and record anywhere anytime , I would think at the coffee shop or at Hardees ( where all the other War birds will be hanging out at breakfast , I used to go and just listen , sit 1 table over drink my coffee and just listen )

I can definately see the need to capture in this case as I also listen and at that time if I would have had the Zoom I would have that to share with my kid , even though they werent my relatives , they were the witnesses , first hand , of a great many changes to this worlds stage. That is worth keeping .

bottom line

Zoom H2

http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h2/

By the way I have one myself and use it often , even though my main choice is MD and a very nice mic.

Edited January 17, 2008 by Guitarfxr

[srizvi1]

did you ever get the 822?

...

Not yet Guitarfxr, but I'm still planning to. I haven't had a full need for it, but this year I'm hoping to do a short film (or short films) with some of my friends so I know for that I will need it.

I dragged my feet in my Minidisc purchase too, but did finally do it. So don't worry, your advice won't go down in vain.

Edited January 17, 2008 by srizvi1

[ratbagradio]

I do podcasts and frankly I hate recording at the computer as it can be so distracting and a source of a lot of sound floor noise. I always record away from the PC if I can.

I suspect that your 90 y/o grand dad won't relax at an interface like that. So lapel mics and a long lead plug in is a way to proceed preferably to a separate and independent recording device (although if the mic leads are long enough you can put a laptop pc to the side and that won;t distract your relative).

The other great advantage using a Hi MD is that it has automatic gain and that will be ideal to secure a quality recoding regardless how various the guy's volume and cadence. BUT MD files can be an editing pain has they are served up in dribs and drabs which you have to merge together.

Big drawback.

I now record on my MD and then re-record direct as line in on Audacity. That way I have the audio in the can and can select what I want fed into the re-record.You pay a quality price but not by much.

Also you need to decide what you want to do with the recordings -- how you want to package and share them. On a CD? If they are on a MD disc they are very secure and always high quality. Storing them as WAV in a computer is a lot of space -- but squishing them down to Mp3 format makes for easy sharing across the web. (The smaller the file the less the quality).

My preference would be this: get yourself a blog(eg: Blogger -- best for multimedia) or website. Dedicate it to your grand dad and do the full package there: images plus audio -- presented as mp3 file snippets. If you use blog your relatives etc can subscribe to the site and get fresh audio each time you publish an edit.

See http://www.studsterkel.org/Studs Terkel's site for inspiration.

[tvrb]

Hi,

Thank you SO much for the great responses and apologies for this tardy reply-- my log-in didn't work and I just now figured out how to get a new pw ;_;

Good thoughts on mobility and such, but I really think grandpa would be fine to tell stories over the dinner table and in the living room in his chair. ... meaning a computer would be fine as long as it can provide decent enough quality. ... so how would $55 audacity+imic (on my ibm/lenovo t42 1.6GHz pentium M 1GB RAM laptop) compare to the $200 zoom H2. I am hesitant to order expensive equipment as this is the only recording I expect to do in the near future. That said, I want it to be decent quality that I can be proud of and show off to relatives.

I have 40GB of free space on my laptop - and if I decide i need more space I will bring an external hdd.

per the mic, this $25 omni-directional would work well? I expect to ask him questions, but I don't expect for them to be integral to the stories he will tell.

http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/gs/gs-mono1.htm

Great idea to create a blog/website for sharing. thanks for all the help!!

[cornreaper]

I wouldn't worry about hard drive space. 1 gig is good for about an hour and a half of CD-quality WAV, so your drive would fill up at 60 hours or so. That's a lot of story tellin'! Your laptop specs are otherwise fine for capturing audio.

I have 3 of the giant squids and I think they sound pretty good. The cables only come up to 5' long, so you might want to get an extension cable, or maybe email Darren at GS and ask if you can get a custom length, so your grandfather isn't practically tethered to the pc.