Advice on a basic set up

flogen

This may get a bit waffly.
Firstly, I need some advice on a mic. When recently recording a radio doc, I got a loan of a decent mic from college (can't remember name). For whatever reason my laptop would just bearly pick up on it, my MD player picked it up no problem so it wasn't a mic issue. Even when I recorded onto MD and then from MD onto PC (via the mic jack) I had the same problem. What was wierd was that my brothers crappy Philips mic that he bought cheap in Argos worked a treat, sound was fine. The only problem being the handle was plastic so it was noisy and the range was crap. So why wouldn't the good mic work? Was it some frequency issue? I'm not even sure what specs to post up for information, I think my sound card is an ALi Audio Wave, could be way off though! I recently got a small little usb device that had a mic and line in jack on it, I was wondering that if my regular mic jack wont work on good mics, would this do the trick?! I can't check at the moment because i don't have access to a decent mic.

Anyway, next up, getting the files I need onto PC. So far the best way I can transfer files is onto MD and then onto PC through the mic jack, which obviously can effect quality. I was going to get a belkin mic adaptor for my iPod, but apparently the quality is quite poor and only good for notes etc. I could record everything straight onto my laptop once my above problem was sorted, but this would be a bit more awkward than a ipod or MD player.

So any advice? And any tips on a decent but well priced mic for what I want (for podcasting and interviews).

Lump

Probably a pre-amp problem or something, ie the mic signal isn't getting amplified enough in the laptop. Most professional setup's will pre-amp the mic before going into the computer.

If you are serious about recording, you need to spend money!

John

flogen

Lump wrote:

Probably a pre-amp problem or something, ie the mic signal isn't getting amplified enough in the laptop. Most professional setup's will pre-amp the mic before going into the computer.

If you are serious about recording, you need to spend money!

John

so what does pre-ampping involve?
I would like to spend money but I don't have it at the moment, I know it's costly if you want a decent set up, I'm just trying to find as good a value as I can for what I want!

LeperKing

flogen wrote:

so what does pre-ampping involve?
I would like to spend money but I don't have it at the moment, I know it's costly if you want a decent set up, I'm just trying to find as good a value as I can for what I want!

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr04/articles/echoindigo.htm

That might sort the preamp issue, but you'll need to check the manufacturers page about that. The manual to your MD should say something about how it can preamp a mic connection.

LK

flogen

thanks for that, having a look around town today for some preamps.

As a matter of interest, would 16khz be good enough quality of a podcast? I know it's far from studio quality, but I'm not looking for crystal clear (the file would be compressed anyway) and I am on a budget. I've just seen a few digital dictaphones with mic jacks which would solve my problem!

Lump

I'd go 32K tbh at least.

John

flogen

Lump wrote:

I'd go 32K tbh at least.

John

Do you know of any device (not mic) that would allow me to record at this quality (or higher) and hook straight up to a PC (something like a digital dictaphone or recorder)?
My MD is a NetMD but it wont allow me to transfer from MD to PC, just PC to MD.

Lump

Any device other then a mic?! No.... You need some kind of a microphone, unless you mean a device that contains a mic, like my HD Mp3 player has a built in mic. Any mic will let you record at that quality, it's dependant on the settings of the recorder.....

John

flogen

no, I mean a recording device, forgetting about the mic for now.
I know any mic will let me record that quality but only if the actual recorder it is connected to is capable, so do you know of any good devices that will record at that level or higher? (digital devices)

Lump

Any.... Mini Disk, Mp3, Computer, DAT, AFAIK even Cassette will record at that quality.

John

flogen

and is there a way to transfer these files to PC without any trouble? I have a Sony NetMD with an optical line in. You cant transfer the files via USB (unless you know of a hack) so could I use an optical in port on a PC to transfer information at higher quality than having to resort to the mic in and headphone jack method instead?

Frank Rizzo

flogen wrote:

and is there a way to transfer these files to PC without any trouble? I have a Sony NetMD with an optical line in. You cant transfer the files via USB (unless you know of a hack) so could I use an optical in port on a PC to transfer information at higher quality than having to resort to the mic in and headphone jack method instead?

the simplest way to do this is line out of ur MD
and line in on ur sound card(spdif it if u got theses imputs on ur card), get a copy of soundforge and this will let u record audio into it........easy..

Guest

marantz PMD660 500bucks. its everything youre looking for. usb, good mic ins, and it records mp3 or wav files to compact flash. and any decent mic.
may be pricey but anything cheaper would have a significant decrease in sound quality.

tomMK1

Lump wrote:

I'd go 32K tbh at least.

John

16 khtz and 32 kbpm? arent they two different things? one is the sound frequency and the other is the data rate for streaming