i'm looking for an affordable handheld decent quality portble recording option to capture sounds and samples spontaneously in the field which could be easily uploaded to my computer.
a friend reccomended minidisc w/ an external mic
does anyone do this? what do you reccomend? are their other options?
....
powerbook g4 550mhz, 10.2.6, live 2.1.1, reason 2.5
portable digital recording suggestions?
I'm eying the Zoom ps-02 for this ...
http://www.mbazzy.tk -
Mbazzy's "The dysfunctional playground, a scrapbook a bout the shape of useless things" now OUT on Retinascan - http://www.retinascan.de
Mbazzy's "The dysfunctional playground, a scrapbook a bout the shape of useless things" now OUT on Retinascan - http://www.retinascan.de
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Alex Reynolds
- Posts: 989
- Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2002 5:48 am
- Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Contact:
I use MiniDisc. As far as battery life and recording time goes, for the quality and sheer portability you get, MD can't easily be beat.
My only comment on this format is that transferring sound off any portable MD will be analog, unless you buy a rackmount or tabletop unit to go with it, so as to go digital.
Even then, you'll need to spend some scrilla if you do decide to transfer digitally and you want to defeat Sony's SCMS (Serial Copy Management System).
Nearest portable alternative to MD is DAT, which is a format as dead as doorknobs.
Though you can pick up used eqt on Ebay cheaply, DAT has a host of problems with drive head alignment, making transfer a bit of a voodoo art from drive to drive. Repairs can be frequent and expensive.
Sadly, MD as a mainstream format has past its window of opportunity in the US, mainly because of the digital rights management that made it unfriendly to users. Hard disk recording is starting to become a more viable option as the hardware shrinks and battery life increases.
Starting to hear a buzz that the next rev of Apple iPods is coming soon and will have a recording feature. Don't know about quality though. Quality of the recording would probably crippled in some way to keep the Big Five media conglomerates from putting the smack down.
In any case... I use a Sony MZ-N1 with ES 74 discs for portable recording and a rackmount Sony MDS-E10 for SCMS-bit free transfer to mixer, computer etc.
Good vendors for inexpensive pro MD equipment, discs and cabling are MiniDisco and B+H:
-- http://www.minidisco.com/
-- http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
I do not work for either company, just relaying personal experience.
The other part of your question deals with mics. Microphones are a whole other topic that I can't much speak about, but for this I happily use a Sony ECM-MS907.
It is a nice, tiny dynamic mic powered with a single AA battery. I like the sound level and quality and the size. I use it for musician interviews and for field recordings of crickets and birds -- natural ambience stuff.
It works fine for my needs, which are minimal. A small Gator box safely cradles my mic, MD Walkman, cabling and battery pack for travel.
If you're recording singing or orchestral performances etc. etc., your mic needs will probably differ.
Anyone want to comment on mics they've used for different situations?
-Alex
My only comment on this format is that transferring sound off any portable MD will be analog, unless you buy a rackmount or tabletop unit to go with it, so as to go digital.
Even then, you'll need to spend some scrilla if you do decide to transfer digitally and you want to defeat Sony's SCMS (Serial Copy Management System).
Nearest portable alternative to MD is DAT, which is a format as dead as doorknobs.
Though you can pick up used eqt on Ebay cheaply, DAT has a host of problems with drive head alignment, making transfer a bit of a voodoo art from drive to drive. Repairs can be frequent and expensive.
Sadly, MD as a mainstream format has past its window of opportunity in the US, mainly because of the digital rights management that made it unfriendly to users. Hard disk recording is starting to become a more viable option as the hardware shrinks and battery life increases.
Starting to hear a buzz that the next rev of Apple iPods is coming soon and will have a recording feature. Don't know about quality though. Quality of the recording would probably crippled in some way to keep the Big Five media conglomerates from putting the smack down.
In any case... I use a Sony MZ-N1 with ES 74 discs for portable recording and a rackmount Sony MDS-E10 for SCMS-bit free transfer to mixer, computer etc.
Good vendors for inexpensive pro MD equipment, discs and cabling are MiniDisco and B+H:
-- http://www.minidisco.com/
-- http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
I do not work for either company, just relaying personal experience.
The other part of your question deals with mics. Microphones are a whole other topic that I can't much speak about, but for this I happily use a Sony ECM-MS907.
It is a nice, tiny dynamic mic powered with a single AA battery. I like the sound level and quality and the size. I use it for musician interviews and for field recordings of crickets and birds -- natural ambience stuff.
It works fine for my needs, which are minimal. A small Gator box safely cradles my mic, MD Walkman, cabling and battery pack for travel.
If you're recording singing or orchestral performances etc. etc., your mic needs will probably differ.
Anyone want to comment on mics they've used for different situations?
-Alex
Yes MD is the way to go..
I use a Sharp Mini Disc recorder because it offers variable recording levels which Sony does not.
I picked up a pair of stereo mics that I use to record my band's (and other) live shows and found sound. These sound great and are small and stealthy:
http://minidisco.com/sp-cmc8.html
I just bought this little mono mic this morning to have a smaller (and less expensive) setup to record noises at this year's Burningman the I am going to dump into live to make a sound collage portrait of this years event.. for performance at the end of the week.
http://minidisco.com/sp-mmm1.html
A great resource for minidisc info is:
http://www.minidisc.org
and minidisco.com is great place to buy if you are in the U.S.
Good luck
I use a Sharp Mini Disc recorder because it offers variable recording levels which Sony does not.
I picked up a pair of stereo mics that I use to record my band's (and other) live shows and found sound. These sound great and are small and stealthy:
http://minidisco.com/sp-cmc8.html
I just bought this little mono mic this morning to have a smaller (and less expensive) setup to record noises at this year's Burningman the I am going to dump into live to make a sound collage portrait of this years event.. for performance at the end of the week.
http://minidisco.com/sp-mmm1.html
A great resource for minidisc info is:
http://www.minidisc.org
and minidisco.com is great place to buy if you are in the U.S.
Good luck
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the dur
-
Alex Reynolds
- Posts: 989
- Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2002 5:48 am
- Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Contact:
Not really. There are "NetMD"-type portables, but the sound is in a format you can't use in Live, thanks to Sony's DRM mechanism.
You can get sound *in* but not out, digitally, either through TOSLink or USB via TOSLink.
If you have a portable, you either record out via analog or use a seperate MD player with a digital output.
There was an open source NetMD project awhile back but I don't think they were able to get past the main hurdle of cracking Sony's ATRAC compression scheme. I am certain if they ever made progress, Sony would sue under DMCA. More info here:
-- http://www.sorted.org/~pete/Xmd/
-- http://www.minidisco.com/netmd-info.html
A petition was put in:
-- http://www.minidisc.org/netmd_upload_pe ... cover.html
-Alex
You can get sound *in* but not out, digitally, either through TOSLink or USB via TOSLink.
If you have a portable, you either record out via analog or use a seperate MD player with a digital output.
There was an open source NetMD project awhile back but I don't think they were able to get past the main hurdle of cracking Sony's ATRAC compression scheme. I am certain if they ever made progress, Sony would sue under DMCA. More info here:
-- http://www.sorted.org/~pete/Xmd/
-- http://www.minidisco.com/netmd-info.html
A petition was put in:
-- http://www.minidisc.org/netmd_upload_pe ... cover.html
-Alex
I use core-sound's binaural mic
http://www.core-sound.com/mics.html
they are stealthy and sound great!
they have a low-cost version of their binaurals too which also is nice. I have their low-cost cardioid as well but haven't tried it yet!
I use the above with my sharp ms702 portable minidisc recorder.
-scotty
http://www.core-sound.com/mics.html
they are stealthy and sound great!
they have a low-cost version of their binaurals too which also is nice. I have their low-cost cardioid as well but haven't tried it yet!
I use the above with my sharp ms702 portable minidisc recorder.
-scotty
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pharmakonmtl
what's wrong with DAT?
portable recording... i;ve always loved the Tascam DAP-1.
great little machine with built-in stereo 48v phantom xlr mic pre's.
has S/PDIF and rca outs..
it simply kicks ass
keep in mind that you can record for longer (provided you have the battery power) with a DAT than with MD, i believe.
p.
great little machine with built-in stereo 48v phantom xlr mic pre's.
has S/PDIF and rca outs..
it simply kicks ass
keep in mind that you can record for longer (provided you have the battery power) with a DAT than with MD, i believe.
p.