Recording audio

[perth]

I've been looking for some sort of portable setup to be able to record sound. Bird calls, ambient noises, just whatever happens to strike me as an interesting noise. I originally thought that a minidisc player / recorder would be ideal for this, but Sony's DRM obsession seems to take them out of the running. I want to be able to upload the sounds to a computer, which apparently MD won't do unless the sound came from that computer in the first place.

So I'm kind of at a loss regarding where to go next. I want to be able to record the sound at higher quality than mp3, but I also don't want to lug around a ton of equipment to do it. Any suggestions? Am I biting off more than I can chew?

[Happy Monkey]

I've done it with my digital camera, and then separated out the audio track. For higher quality, perhaps a digital camcorder with a microphone jack would work. Or is that too big?

[perth]

Probably not too big, just way too expensive. I think I would rather have something devoted to audio only.

I suppose I could record to the minidisc, plug the minidisc into the line-in jack on the system, and record that way. I imagine that would get around the copy-protection. I don't know if that causes any loss to quality though.

[Troubleshooter]

How much do you want to spend. Bird calls don't require much frequency range.

Is this close to useful?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...4&Sku=O38-1032

[perth]

Well, it might sound kind of dumb, but I just want to collect sound. Bird calls are just an example.

I'm looking for something I can hook up different types of microphones to (directional, etc.). So I'm looking for something basically along the lines of a minidisc recored, only minus the DRM.

[Kitsune]

but Sony's DRM obsession seems to take them out of the running

Don't use Sony -- buy a Sharp MD. I've been using mine to record sounds off the street and it works quite well. One really neat trick is to purchase some cheap condensor mics from Radio Shack and solder them in place of the speakers in a set of headphones. Make sure they are facing outwards and have some kind of foam for wind protection and you've accomplished two things: 1) no one notices you are recording and 2) when played back, you can close your eyes and it seems as if you are re-living the experience because the microphone placement and seperation is exactly the same as your ears. Its creepy in how well it re-creates the environment audiably.

The only issue is that my Sharp MD-80 is old and doesn't permit the "drag and drop" of today's MDs. But since I don't do very much recording, I just plug it in to the audio-in on the PC, hit "play" on the MD, and record using the standard software on the PC.

[Elspode]

http://www.tascam.com/product_info.php?pid=274

Pocket digital multitrack recorder with effects...if this can't do it, it isn't worth doing.

[Kitsune]

Ways to use MiniDiscs. The page is also good for information on the various manufacturers.

Edit: Note that Sony MDs do not permit you to adjust the recording level once you've started. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but once you actually start recording "in the wild" it sucks big time.

[perth]

Thanks all for the responses.

I'm gonna try to find a Sharp MD player for a decent price. The mighty Ebay doesn't seem to have any of the model Kitsune mentioned (MD-80), but I imagine other models are going to have similar features. They're more expensive than I expected, but I'll do some shopping around. Should be fun.

[Bitman]

What's wrong with a plain ol' tape recorder? Dirt cheap, portable, and durable.

At the other extreme, you could get an Archos Recorder, and let it run for days.