Voice recording

[Chesnutt]

Can you give me some advice? I am looking for the ultimate combination of microphone, sound card, pre-amp/mixer (?) and software that will flawlessly record conversations in digital format. Some of the people may be as 20 feet from the mic while others will be 2 - 3 feet away. I need something that will give clear, crisp reproduction without background noise. There will be only one mic and it won't be in the middle. I want to save the conversations in a compressed mode (possibly mp3 or mp3pro?) that will be suitable for placing on cd's. Thanks.

I am a lawyer and this is for legal purposes.

Charles Chesnutt
Chesnutt@Chapter7-11.com

 

[Angie]

Cedar makes processing gear that may reduce background noise during recording. Though, I'm not sure background noise could be eliminated completely at 20 feet way. You'll want to use a PZM or Boundry mic, possibly hanging on a wall. But there will still be room noise. There are a number of software programs that will reduce noise after recording. CoolEdit 2000 would be a good all around choice. It also has MP3 conversion. A little Mackie 1202 would be a good mixer to run the mic through. Others can probably help you better with soundcards. I don't know what's all available.

 

[Gidge]

for flawless recording, I wouldnt recommend a PC setup...a small standalone digital recorder with a few sm57's.....how many $$$$ are you looking to spend?

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

You are contradicting yourself in several places....

...You cannot have "flawless" recordings and at the same time use a compressed recording format. The ATRAC compression process degrades the sound.

...There is no such thing as not having any background noise unless you plan to record these conversations in an anechonic chamber.

...Recording conversations at a close distance with the same clarity as a far distance is not possible without more than one mic.

...Also - there is no such thing as a 'flawless' recording...

You'll need to decide where to adjust your expectations before we can talk about various gear possibilities.

Bruce

 

[Gidge]

Bruce, Bruce, Bruce....I think you lost something in the English/Canadian translation, eh.....

he doesnt want a flawless recording....he wants to flawlessly record....I could be wrong (usually am) but I just thinks he wants the recording to go off without a hitch (blue screen of death)....

I just dont understand why there can only be one mic.....If you use a dynamic mic, the further away sources may not be picked up well....if you use a condenser, youll pick up toilets flushing 3 rooms away.....

Id say a 4 track digital recorder with 4 sm57's positioned strategically amongst the room depending on the situation.....

damn Canadians.....

 

[Alchemist3k]

May I ask is this for a courtroom scenario? If it is I would be inclinded to go with the boundary mic thing if you were an experienced user but in reality gidge's reply seems most appropriate. You surely dont want to spend a small fortune just to record people's voices?

A small multitracker (you could pick up on of the smaller Roland VS Studio models second hand on Ebay for not too much) with a couple of mics strategically posistioned around the room should be more than adequate because I assume that you are not on the budget of a TV studio...

Perhaps if you could elaborate on what it is for...