XLR VS 1/4" MICS AND WHAT RECORDER SHOULD I USE?

[Ricoinats]

I'm back. I want to record 2 other people and myself in an interview, send it to my computer and ultimately burn to CD with CD quality. I have a Sony PMR-R300 DAT recorder and a Shure M267 mixer as well as Extigy external sound card. I was told that the Fostex MR8 is too much for what I need and I just discovered that the PMR-R300 only has a coaxial R & L input as well as optical, neither of which can be used by the Shure's XLR outputs. I want to use three seperate mics (that's why I bought the mixer) but if I sent it down to the recorder from the M267 using just one XLR output do the recorder still recognize three seperate tracks or do I have to send it down using three XLR outputs? Any suggestions what SIMPLE RECORDING DEVICE I can use for what I thought was a simple task? I would like to utilize the Shure M267 but don't care if I don't use the Sony. Also, and I know I've asked this 10 times already, but if I only have one ouptut from the Extigy to the computer (no-matter what recorder I use) and I had used three seperate mics and even three seperate outputs to the recorder, do I still get multiple tracks on the computer or is it just one (because I only used one output from Extigy)? Also, does it really matter if it is only one track? Can't I still edit all three voices if they are on one track? Please help!! Please.

 

[crankz1]

If the Extigy only has one stereo output to the computer (could be in the form of two physical jacks ... left and right or one stereo jack) then all you are capable of recording is two individual track simultaneously.
To get individual tracks, you need to supply individual signals. One XLR will only supply one signal. All three inputs could be mixed to one output, but this doesn't give you separate tracks for each mic. To get that you would need an interface with at least three inputs. If it isn't necessary for you to have three separate tracks, you could run the three mics through a mixer and send the output of the mixer to the input of the soundcard. Just make sure you have equal levels for the mics in the mix.

 

[Ricoinats]

So if it goes from Extigy to the computer in just one line then is there no difference if I used three seperate mics for recording or just shared one? Thanks for your feedback, it's starting to make sence.

 

[crankz1]

Correct .... the mixer is essentially mixing the the three mics to one output.

 

[radiorickm]

im back too

i answered you questions over on your first post, HIGHLY recommending the mr-8. i think that you may be confued on some terminolgy that is getting in your way.

you keep on saying you want each voice recorded on a track, and then burn them onto cd.

well, you can only burn 2 tracks onto cd. period. unless you get into 5.1 surround sound mastering (which i doubt you want to do).

so i guess, we need to ask some questions to clear things up in your mind.

why is it you think that all 3 voices HAVE to be on separate tracks. Do you understand the differene between "tracks" and input channels.

also, what type of editing are you going to try and do??

i would really like to try and help you out with this. it is really simple, you are making it harder that it has to be.

if you wanted to chat, you can PM me here or catch me on yahoo : radiorickm

 

[Ricoinats]

I don't know the difference between tracks and input channels. I also don't know what I can edit with the computer. I was going to try to figure that out once I had all the correct equipment. I would at least have to cut out the dead time, etc. but as far as the quality and how to achieve the best sounding results I havn't a clue. You're absolutely correct, I am making this harder on myself. In fact, I'm so clueless that I had to Google "PM" to figure out what that means.... needless to say I don't know how to do that. I would kick myself in the ass for you if I could but for now if you could try to explain to me (like you were talking to a 4 year old) what equipment you suggest to simply sit down with a couple of people, record our conversation and later send it to my computer for "editing" and then burn to CD it would really take a load off my shoulders. I guess I should know the difference between tracks and inut channels as well....Thanks for being so helpful. This forum is so great!

 

[radiorickm]

well, i'm bored, so here i go

first off, let me say i have spent several years in broadcasting and many more years doing PA.

lets say this is what you want:
you want to record 3 people talking. you will want to control the volume level of each microphone separately, because one of the othere people is a loudmouth and they talk real loud. the other one talks soft. SO you will need to adjust each one separately. so far so good.

You do this by using a mixer. it process, then combines the signals. as an added benefet of most mixers, you have other controls like equalizers, to shape the sound and make it sound just like you want it. this is probably what you meant by editing it. The mixer combines all the sources (you are using 3, but it could just as easily be 33) into an OUTPUT signal. This is usually a STEREO OUT.

just a primer here......mono and stereo MONO which stands for monaural (mono means ONE) is one single sourse of audio. AM radio signals are (99%) MONO signals. STEREO, on the other hand is made up of TWO signals. The left, and the right. Most of the time, there are overlapping things on the stereo signal, such as the vocal track of a song. The device used to "move things around in the stereo image" is the pan control, which you will find on your mixer probably just above the main volume slider. FM radio, CD's, MP3's are all stereo sources, in that they have a distinct left channel audio and right channel audio.

You plan on recording this conversation. You record onto a recording medium. Now, you have a computer, but you also have the DAT as a recording medium. you could also have a cassette. The point here is that you only need to record onto ONE of them. FOr instance, you would plug the MIXER into your computer.

I assume (and i cant help you with too much on this) that you know how to actually record in the computer. Heres what happens. YOu control the sound going into the STEREO INPUT of the recording program. It records 2 TRACKS. a left track, and a right track. Now, if all of the PAN controls on your mixer are set dead center, LEFT and RIGHT will have the same information on it.

If you wanted to give the listener the IMPRESSION that you are in the middel of the room, and one person is on your left, and one on the right,you do this with the pan control. YOu would set your mike's pan to the center position. Set Mike 2's pan control at about the 3:00 position, and set mike 3's pan control to the 9:00 position. this would separate the two mike and make it sound like they were setting on different sides of the room.

When we talk about tracks, we are refering to the way things are recorded. IN a production studio, we want to have control over everything, just like you do. SO, we record each individual sound/insturment/vocal onto a track. A song is composed of many many tracks. Track 1&2 may be a stereo drum track, Track 3 a bass guitar, Track 4&5 a stereo lead guitar, track 6 a rythm guitar, track 7&8 a stereo keyboard, track 9 the lead vocal, and track 10 the bakup vocal.

Your computer will only record **two tracks** at a time (remember, left and right). They make devices that will record many tracks at a time. They make devices that will even attach to your computer to record many tracks at a time. Adding the capability to record numerous tracks simultaneously, costs lots of $$$$.

Once we have all of the sounds recorded onto tracks, we feed the signal (composed of all those tracks) back out to a MIXER. We process the sound there and send the sound (as a STEREO signal) to a MIXDOWN deck. THis is what you actually listen to. either in cassette, cd, or mp3 format.

SO, with that primer here's what you really need to do. and i apologise, i am not familiar with YOUR particular equpment, but i can look it up on the net if i need to.

You need to plug the microphones into the mixer. Listen to the mixer and adjust the sound to get what you want. Feed the mixer signal into the LINE IN of your card. Using your sound recorder (wave recorder, or what ever is on your computer) you record the sound coming in.

i hope this helps a little. if needed we can explain things one step at a time.

not so hard. just go mike -> mixer -> Line IN -> wave program

 

[crankz1]

I posted a few recommendations in your other thread along with a little mixer primer.
Radiorickm gave a good primer in this thread on the whole recording process. You may find some helpful information on computer recording at Audiominds.com . Just follow the links throughout the site and you will gain a greater understanding of the whole process.

 

[noisedude]

Don't re-post identical questions in different forums please ... hope you start to understand what it's all about. The problem is that because there is no real 'recording language', common everyday words get re-used in many different settings ... hence 'tracks' and 'tracks' may mean two totally different things

 

[Ricoinats]

Between Officer Ben and Noisedude I've learned not to ask questions in different forums and for that I'm SORRY! I'm going to take all that you have shared (especially grateful to Radiorickm for being so patient and detailed) and try to figure it all out whithout bothering anyone else. Thanks a lot everyone!!!

 

[crankz1]

I'm confused ....
What is wrong with asking the same question in multiple areas of the forum?
The way I see it .... not everyone reads the entire board, thus the answer to a question may be held by a member whom doesn't frequent the original posting area. Then we are left with a distraught member who feels nobody can help him. Now the members feelings get compounded by ridicule for "double posting".
Hey ... if I'm wrong .... smack me around like red headed step-child and put me in my place, but I fail to see the logic in this.
Logic would tell me to spread my questions to a larger audience in that I may gain a greater chance of finding the answers I need. The only drawback to this, that I can see, is I may need to check a few different places for a possible posting of a usable answer.

-Ken

 

[Ricoinats]

Thanks for saying that Ken. That's exactly what I was trying to do. It's hard enough to ask questions when your nervous about being put down but I do appreciate all the help from the kind of people who really like to help others. CrankZ1 and Radiorickm had been espeically helpful, patient and detailed and I learned a lot from you folks along with all the others who try to help. I'll read feedback from other people's questions for a while....Thanks!

 

[noisedude]

Well, for one thing it wastes bandwidth and if you've hung around this BBS for more than a few hours in total you'll know that it suffers from being too busy and too slow. I think it's up to people to decide which forums they read, not posters to decide what they are going to make everyone read by posting in half a dozen different boards.

That said, of course you should come back and ask more questions. Just be a little more patient in the asking ... they almost always get answered. Here's enough reading for a lifetime to keep you out of mischief :
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm