MAC OSX Field Recording setups??

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jrathkopf
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MAC OSX Field Recording setups??

Post by jrathkopf » Sun Aug 08, 2004 7:58 pm

i am gonna start trying to make field recordings. i cant figure out what the best portable recorder would be... i cant afford super expensive setups. i have been thinking either mindisc or harddisk recorder...
does anyone here import field recordings into mac with OSX???

buzzcock
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Post by buzzcock » Sun Aug 08, 2004 11:18 pm

I assume by "field" you mean sound effects and natural ambience type stuff.

Here's what I like to do.

READ a book or two on field recording/ recording for Film and ENG.

Take your laptop. Get a portable analog to digital converter, Like the Apogee mini-me. Get a stereo rig of some high quality mikes designed for wear and tear, Sennheisers, Scheops condensers whatever.
Record right into your favorite software (such as Live).

Have fun.

Bring an umbrella.

No laptop? Portable DAT or Minidisk would work (or you could get a used Nagra). Keep in mind you would have to transfer the sound to your computer (either analog or digital) in real time.

If you don't care about sound quality, just use one of those voice recorder thingies that transfer via USB, or your cool bluetooth mobile phone.

jrathkopf
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Post by jrathkopf » Sun Aug 08, 2004 11:53 pm

what about those nomad jukebox things???i am interested in good sound quality.. i have read conflicting opinions on the compression of minidisc recordings, although size and pricewise it seems the most attractive... how do minidisc sound compared to harddisc based recorders(such as the nomad?)
i want an external recorder that is small enough in size that i can record things on the sly; less time to setup and less obtrusiveness so as to be able to record settings in which people would not be as aware of me recording ...

smutek
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Post by smutek » Mon Aug 09, 2004 2:45 am

buzzcock wrote:Take your laptop. Get a portable analog to digital converter, Like the Apogee mini-me. Get a stereo rig of some high quality mikes designed for wear and tear, Sennheisers, Scheops condensers whatever.
Record right into your favorite software (such as Live).
Hey, why the a/d converter? Why not just run a line directly into the laptop and record into live?

PookyNMR
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Post by PookyNMR » Mon Aug 09, 2004 3:41 am

For good feild recordings you'll need some decent mics. I would suggest a matched pair of some sort of small diaphram condenser mics. You'll also need a pre-amp for those mics. Then you'll need a A/D converter / interface to get it into the computer.

I would suggest this:
MHLabs.com

They have some Mobile I/O units that are very powerful and designed specifically for this kind of thing. Pre-amps and converters in the same unit. Very handy. And they sound spectacular.

Nathan

Alex Reynolds
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Post by Alex Reynolds » Mon Aug 09, 2004 3:50 am

jrathkopf wrote:what about those nomad jukebox things???i am interested in good sound quality.. i have read conflicting opinions on the compression of minidisc recordings, although size and pricewise it seems the most attractive... how do minidisc sound compared to harddisc based recorders(such as the nomad?)
A lot of people moan about ATRAC but the current version sounds almost identical to 44.1 kHz (CD) quality, to my ears. You might use a hard disk recorder for higher bitrates (48k, 20-bit etc.) or ease of convenience (you don't have to transfer the Minidisc recording afterwards) but otherwise a portable Minidisc recorder and a decent mic are probably fine for most folks here.


bitmap
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Post by bitmap » Mon Aug 09, 2004 6:40 am

If you want to go with minidiscs, look at Minidisco.com they have a nice selection of mics and minidisc recorders...

if you want to use a powerbook, i use Peak and a stereo mic.
http://dustbreeding.com
http://www.unrecnow.com
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Jonathan Binns
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Post by Jonathan Binns » Mon Aug 09, 2004 4:46 pm

I would be happy to be proven wrong, but I thought Minidisc players are incompatible with OSX ( the USB connection is not read?)

Either way, before buying I would read this whole thread, in macmusic.org :
(In the Agora forum, search for "Mini Disc Recorder Suggestions?")

I believe Apple and Sony will not be happy bedfellows anytime soon.

j.
Tibook 867/768--OS 10.3.4--828MKII--Live 4.01

Alex Reynolds
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Post by Alex Reynolds » Mon Aug 09, 2004 5:12 pm

Sony and Apple do not get along, but MD players are incompatible with Windows as well, as far as getting your ATRAC recording into a file. You can move stuff over USB but you'll get a Sony-DRMed file that you can't really use.

You'd have to use the analog output to do a dub, or use a more expensive rack MD player that has a digital output, from which you can strip the serial copy bit.

-Alex

bitmap
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netMD vs. Mac

Post by bitmap » Mon Aug 09, 2004 6:18 pm

You'd think that some clever Mac person would do us a favor and write some code to enable us to use a Mac + NetMD.
anyone?
http://dustbreeding.com
http://www.unrecnow.com
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Alex Reynolds
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Post by Alex Reynolds » Mon Aug 09, 2004 6:27 pm

There is an open source project working on this, but the missing component (for Linux and Mac) is a library to decode the ATRAC format. Sony has this locked up. DMCA laws prevent programmers from being able to write an open source library that would decode ATRAC.

Without this decryption library, all the project can do is control play/stop/pause/etc. via NetMD/USB commands.

Some links, if you're interested:

http://www.sorted.org/~pete/Xmd/
http://libnetmd.sourceforge.net/

-Alex

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