Recording a concert by local choir
 

I may want to have a bash at making a recording of my wife's choir. I
realise it will not be remotely professional quality, but I hope I could do
better than a portable cassette deck!

I had in mind recording in two ways:
1. On my Sony Minidisc player
2. On my PC, creating a WAV file onto the hard disc, which I could later put
onto CD.

I have an old but decent (I think) pair of panasonic microphones which I
could experiment with. I assume I would stick them into my stereo amplifier
(circa 1975), and then feed the output into my Minidisc player and into the
sound card of the PC.

I know my home PC (Athlon 1400 processor) seems quite happy at making decent
WAV files, using Musicmatch software. I haven't tried yet with my work
laptop (Intel 900), and I don't know what software I would use on that.

Thanks for any (polite) suggestions, or any pointers to web sites that I
would find useful.

Steve

Recording a concert by local choir
 

steve wrote:

I may want to have a bash at making a recording of my wife's choir. I
realise it will not be remotely professional quality, but I hope I could
do better than a portable cassette deck!

I had in mind recording in two ways:
1. On my Sony Minidisc player
2. On my PC, creating a WAV file onto the hard disc, which I could later
put onto CD.

I have an old but decent (I think) pair of panasonic microphones which I
could experiment with. I assume I would stick them into my stereo
amplifier (circa 1975), and then feed the output into my Minidisc player
and into the sound card of the PC.

I know my home PC (Athlon 1400 processor) seems quite happy at making
decent
WAV files, using Musicmatch software. I haven't tried yet with my work
laptop (Intel 900), and I don't know what software I would use on that.

Thanks for any (polite) suggestions, or any pointers to web sites that I
would find useful.

Steve

I am not sure why you plan to go via the mini disk recorder to the PC unless
you intend to record on both just in case. However, as far as I can see
there are two potential weak links in your chain (and I have recorded a few
choirs in my time). The first is the microphones - do you know if they are
dynamic or electret types? What polar response do they have - cardioid or
omni. What is their frequency response. Are they low or high impedance
types? All these factors will affect the quality of the basic signal you
have to work with. The second potential weak link is the microphone
preamps on your 1975 hi-fi. These are not likely to be a particularly low
noise design and with a choir this is important as the mics need to be some
distance from the singers so the signal level is relatively small. if you
can achieve a decent signal level at low noise then recording on your
minidsik recorder will be fine. You can always transfer it later to your
PC and you avaoid having a noisy PC anywhere near the choir.

As for mic set up I usually use a crossed pair configuration at an angle of
110 degrees with the capsules about 8 inches apart. I built myself a
simple adaptor for this purpose out of two mic holders and a pice of
aluminium.

After you have doen the recording, you and the choir will notice two things.
First how different they sound from how they think they sound and second if
they hold any papers with the words on for example you will be amazed how
noisy they are.

HTH and good luck

Ian

Recording a concert by local choir
 

In article ,
steve wrote:
I have an old but decent (I think) pair of panasonic microphones which I
could experiment with. I assume I would stick them into my stereo
amplifier (circa 1975), and then feed the output into my Minidisc player
and into the sound card of the PC.

I'd be amazed if your stereo amplifier had mic inputs.

I know my home PC (Athlon 1400 processor) seems quite happy at making
decent WAV files, using Musicmatch software. I haven't tried yet with
my work laptop (Intel 900), and I don't know what software I would use
on that.

Thanks for any (polite) suggestions, or any pointers to web sites that I
would find useful.

I'd hire an SQN mixer for the day from any broadcast etc hire company.
This has decent mic amps that will accept/power near any type of mic, and
a very good limiter circuit which will prevent over mods, although you
need to set the levels so the limiter isn't working hard for the best
sound. Feed this to either the PC or the MiniDisc. The MiniDisc would be
my choice, given the quality of many PC sound cards.

Not knowing your mics, I'd probably hire a decent pair - or stereo one -
also.

--
*Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

Recording a concert by local choir
 

steve wrote:
I may want to have a bash at making a recording of my wife's choir. I
realise it will not be remotely professional quality, but I hope I
could do better than a portable cassette deck!

I had in mind recording in two ways:
1. On my Sony Minidisc player
2. On my PC, creating a WAV file onto the hard disc, which I could
later put onto CD.

I have an old but decent (I think) pair of panasonic microphones
which I could experiment with. I assume I would stick them into my
stereo amplifier (circa 1975), and then feed the output into my
Minidisc player and into the sound card of the PC.

I know my home PC (Athlon 1400 processor) seems quite happy at making
decent WAV files, using Musicmatch software. I haven't tried yet
with my work laptop (Intel 900), and I don't know what software I
would use on that.

Thanks for any (polite) suggestions, or any pointers to web sites
that I would find useful.

Steve

1) I have a portable cassette deck that can happily flatten any minidisc
recorder out there, ta very much (Sony TC153).

2) Where are you going to position the mics - can you fit them in on stage,
or will they be in the aisle?

3) How are you going to mount them - you can't spent the whole concert with
them on your lap y'kno.

4) Will the leads be long enough.

5) If it's the pc, the power cords are gonna be a pain, and the laptop WILL
flatten the batteries just at the good bit.

If you're interested, this was taken with my TC153 and a cheapo
audio-technica stereo mic meant for video recorders 10ft from the stage of a
small church in the centre aisle, on a camera tripod.

http://punter1.users.btopenworld.com..._Flat_Op77.mp3

Recording a concert by local choir
 

In article , steve
writes
I may want to have a bash at making a recording of my wife's choir. I
realise it will not be remotely professional quality, but I hope I could do
better than a portable cassette deck!

I had in mind recording in two ways:
1. On my Sony Minidisc player
2. On my PC, creating a WAV file onto the hard disc, which I could later put
onto CD.

I have an old but decent (I think) pair of panasonic microphones which I
could experiment with. I assume I would stick them into my stereo amplifier
(circa 1975), and then feed the output into my Minidisc player and into the
sound card of the PC.

I know my home PC (Athlon 1400 processor) seems quite happy at making decent
WAV files, using Musicmatch software. I haven't tried yet with my work
laptop (Intel 900), and I don't know what software I would use on that.

Thanks for any (polite) suggestions, or any pointers to web sites that I
would find useful.

Steve



Acquire an old REVOX tape machine and make sure its set up well, borrow
or hire the bast mic's you can lay hands on, and then revel in the sound
afterwards :-))
--
Tony Sayer

Recording a concert by local choir
 

Triffid wrote:



1) I have a portable cassette deck that can happily flatten any minidisc
recorder out there, ta very much (Sony TC153).



If you're interested, this was taken with my TC153 and a cheapo
audio-technica stereo mic meant for video recorders 10ft from the stage of
a small church in the centre aisle, on a camera tripod.


http://punter1.users.btopenworld.com..._Flat_Op77.mp3

Pity about the hiss and distortion though.

Ian

Recording a concert by local choir
 

Ian Bell wrote:
Triffid wrote:



1) I have a portable cassette deck that can happily flatten any
minidisc recorder out there, ta very much (Sony TC153).



If you're interested, this was taken with my TC153 and a cheapo
audio-technica stereo mic meant for video recorders 10ft from the
stage of a small church in the centre aisle, on a camera tripod.



http://punter1.users.btopenworld.com..._Flat_Op77.mp3

Pity about the hiss and distortion though.


Would that be hiss and distortion as in 'sex and violence'? There is some
hiss, but not a lot of distortion, and the point was that it's
representative of what you're likely to get if you just walk into a room
armed with a recorder rather than get the chance to set it up properly. I
think it sounds a bit thin, but that's cheapo mics for you.

Recording a concert by local choir
 

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 02:23:23 +0000 (UTC), "Triffid"
wrote:

1) I have a portable cassette deck that can happily flatten any minidisc
recorder out there, ta very much (Sony TC153).

2) Where are you going to position the mics - can you fit them in on stage,
or will they be in the aisle?

3) How are you going to mount them - you can't spent the whole concert with
them on your lap y'kno.

4) Will the leads be long enough.

5) If it's the pc, the power cords are gonna be a pain, and the laptop WILL
flatten the batteries just at the good bit.

If you're interested, this was taken with my TC153 and a cheapo
audio-technica stereo mic meant for video recorders 10ft from the stage of a
small church in the centre aisle, on a camera tripod.

http://punter1.users.btopenworld.com..._Flat_Op77.mp3

Terrible tape noise in the initial "silence", distortion on the first
forte passage. Not a terribly good advert for your system, I'm
afraid :-)

I'm going to continue to recommend the Rode NT4 stereo mic. Runs on
internal 9v battery or standard phantom power. 2 x XLR and stereo
minijack cables included. Along with a portable minidisk recorder
it's the ideal tool for this job.

Though the stereo mic that came with my minidisk recorder, a tiny
thing marked PC-62, runs a surprisingly close second.

Recording a concert by local choir
 

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 13:39:57 +0000 (UTC), "Triffid"
wrote:

Would that be hiss and distortion as in 'sex and violence'? There is some
hiss, but not a lot of distortion, and the point was that it's
representative of what you're likely to get if you just walk into a room
armed with a recorder rather than get the chance to set it up properly. I
think it sounds a bit thin, but that's cheapo mics for you.

I hear severe distortion on the louder passages - probably a simple
overload.

Recording a concert by local choir
 

Triffid wrote:

Ian Bell wrote:
Triffid wrote:



1) I have a portable cassette deck that can happily flatten any
minidisc recorder out there, ta very much (Sony TC153).



If you're interested, this was taken with my TC153 and a cheapo
audio-technica stereo mic meant for video recorders 10ft from the
stage of a small church in the centre aisle, on a camera tripod.




http://punter1.users.btopenworld.com..._Flat_Op77.mp3

Pity about the hiss and distortion though.


Would that be hiss and distortion as in 'sex and violence'? There is some
hiss, but not a lot of distortion, and the point was that it's
representative of what you're likely to get if you just walk into a room
armed with a recorder rather than get the chance to set it up properly. I
think it sounds a bit thin, but that's cheapo mics for you.

The hiss sounds like band limited Dolby hiss typical of cassette recorders.
the distortion could be from a number of sources but the tape itself is a
prime one. I think the only way your TC153 would flatten a minidsik
recorder is if it were dropped on it.

Ian