Newbie - opera singer

[vnicolosi]

Hello,

First off this is an awesome forum!

Okay I am a professional opera singer looking to invest in a portable minidisc player/recorder. Suggestions?

My goal is to make recordings of opera rehearsals for later study / marketing purposes. The recordings need to be good quality but they don't have to be wow amazing quality. Portable is a must since I travel so much and will often have to leave the recorder somewhere in the hall to record while I am working. Hall sizes will range from small rooms with piano accompaniment (for lessons / coachings) to three thousand seat auditoriums with full orchestra & chorus. I know I know - that sounds nuts, but most singers I have seen leave their minidiscs on the stage itself to record those rehearsals.

Also would appreciate suggestions for microphones.

Thank you thank you thankyou

Your friendly local minidisc ignoramus.

[Christopher]

Why not wow amazing quality? With Minidisc, it's quite possible. Welcome to the forums. :happy:

What's your maximum budget [how about for unit, and then for mic]?

[vnicolosi]

Why not maximum? Because I am SO sure I can't afford it!!

Right now I am scouring the Ebay auctions - look for something under $100 dollars. Then I will hunt out the microphone!

Do you still respect me??

Ignoramus.

[aeriyn]

Erk.

Under $100? That might be difficult.

If I were you I'd check out older models that people may not want as much, e.g. R900, N1.

You can also use a unit without a mic jack by plugging a small preamp into the line-in and use that in conjunction with the microphones.

That could allow you to get something like an N505 or an N510 (I've seen N510s at wal-mart on clearance for 40 bucks... I should really go grab one).

You should check that out. :happy:

[vnicolosi]

<You can also use a unit without a mic jack by plugging a small preamp into the line-in and use that in conjunction with the microphones>

Very clever! I hadn't thought of that!

Actually right now I am looking at the MZ-R700 models. Auctions are pretty good though of course I have to settle for an older one - but if it does a good job.

Any suggestions for a microphone type?

[aeriyn]

Any suggestions for a microphone type?

Personally I'm not really recording experienced. I've done a bunch of small minor recordings, and have recorded things for my own purposes, but I'm not a big scary recording person like dex Otaku. :rasp:

I use a soundpro sp-cmc2 dual point mic for the few recordings I've made. Personally I think it works well, but I'm sure there are many, many better things out there than my mics.

You should really ask either dex or A440. They are big recordists and know much more about this than I do. :happy:

[dex Otaku]

Big scary recording person? Me?

I'm a hack, really.

As far as a mic recommendation goes - The omnidirectional mics used for "stealth" recording rigs are actually quite good in that they're exactly the type often used as lavelier mics in the broadcast industry.

Getting a simple pair of omni condensors such as those produced by Reactive Sounds [who have a presence of their own on this forum] or Sound Professionals would give you something good for general-purpose location recording, whether that be pinned to your shirt to capture the sound of your own voice, for recording concerts you attend, recording interviews, or whatever else you can think of.

They're usually highly sensitive, and they're omnidirectional [they pick up sound from all directions equally well] so they can be placed almost anywhere.

They also won't break the bank at under $100US for a pair of quality mics, or even a single mic if you're not interested in ever making stereo recordings.

I would try to find a unit with a mic input for your purposes, though. If you're trying to keep costs down, it's much easier to deal with a single unit that cost $150 on ebay than it is to deal with having to power a recorder and preamp [which costs additional money] for something that I'm imagining you want to keep as uncomplicated as possible.

Cheers.

[vnicolosi]

Ha! I have to laugh 'cause this stuff must seem so simple to you guys but I had to reread your email four times before I got the general gist . . . :laugh:

But your ideas sound good. Thanks for taking the time to write them down for me. These omni directional condensors - could I just plug those into a mike jack on my MD or would I have to get something else to go with them?

Also, can any old MD make my minidisc recording into a CD? Or can only certain MD's do that?

Finally, do I need special software to plug my MD into my Dell or will any CD burner program recognize the MD once I plug in the USB cable?

Muchos thanks

[aeriyn]

Getting MD music off the MD and onto CD is something of a pain in the ass.

With normal MD, you really have to either get it out analog line-out to your sound card (in realtime unfortunately) which degrades quality, or buy an MD deck with an optical line out that you can connect to your sound card and acquire digital signal from (expensive, and still realtime).

Hi-MD, however, can play over USB so you can make a direct recording from USB using Audacity (free) or Total Recorder ($15). Still realtime, at least until Sony releases the Wave Converter and you can actually make use of uploaded tracks.

Also, all Hi-MD units except for the very lowest-end model (MZ-NH600D) have microphone jacks.

Since you're on a budget, I'd suggest an NH700. It may not be the prettiest thing around, but it has a mic jack, it can offer 100% digital replication of your music from MD to PC to wherever (only the slow way though, at least until Sony releases this Wave Converter thingy) and it can record in uncompressed linear PCM.

Also uses normal AA formfactor batteries which I find that I like in a unit used primarily for recording. When I make recordings with my old R900, I don't always check to make sure my NiMH gumstick is juiced up and ready to go... :sleep: So the ability to use AA batteries (in my case with the detachable battery case) is often quite time-saving.

There are countless threads on this forum about the process of getting your recordings to a place where they can be used easily, but these are the basics as I see them.

If you're going to do a lot of recording, I'd suggest Hi-MD primarily for 1) all-digital replication of recording (and eventually USB uploading, one day if sony is telling the truth) and 2) linear PCM recording with no loss of quality at all.