Sound Advice
 

Ok I like to grab sound independently via DAT using a soundman

my old faithful AIWA HD-S1 has packed up so Im in the market for a new DAT portable

preferably with balanced XLR inputs

whats out there? any recommendations?

Both Tascam and Sony make portable field recorders. What is your budget?

Jeff

hmm


DAT field recorders are very pricey so

I am seriously considering using my notebook to record sound

If I wire up a stereo mini jack as balanced 2tip 3ring and record stereo in SoundForge through the stereo mic input, I will have normal sound on left and inverted on right which I can later subtract from each other to get the 6db gain with noise cancellation,

plus if I run the notebook in mobile mode I will have four hours on the battery - thus up to four hours continuous recording at full bandwidth 48Khz with a nice big display

my notebook is very quiet from about 2 metres with the advantage of no scratchy sounds when input levels need adjustment

has anyone used their notebook for recording ?

any pitfalls I havent figured yet?

I purchased a Tascam DA-P1 recently, I think the extra cost will be worth it. I know it's not always the best but considering how durable these recorders are you might want to check out eBay for a used unit. Of course, take some time to talk with the owner before buying. But I see that a few have gone for around $600 or so on eBay, which is great considering they are $1500 retail (suggested price is at a ridiculous $2100). Then there is the Marantz CDR300 portable CD burner unit with XLR inputs at around $600 brand new. I've never recorded from a laptop, sorry...

Chris

the DA-P1 is a very desireable tool, but to be honest with you the more I experiment with my notebook the more I like the idea of recording direct to it.

I have done some soak tests and found that I can have Soundforge running with some real time DX plugins to give me multiband EQ and a warm compressor and reverb if I want it - all running to the hard drive live.

This of course cancels the need to grab DAT to the hard drive for later sync with the video so there is a workflow benefit too.

I think the deciding factor could well be who you record audio for and it's intended use. If everything is to be edited by you, on your computer, then a laptop has some distinct advantages as you have discovered. On the other hand, if the work is to be done on different computers or at a remote location, then you waste time dubbing DAT copies (you'd need to rent a DAT etc.) for your client.

Thanks Jeff

I suspect burning off a few CDs would be the way forward in such case, in 80 min chunks

sure would outperform dubbing DAT copies in realtime and a lot cheaper and more universally acceptable

I don't think the slight loss of audio quality would be noticeable.