Yesterday I picked up a tiny mp3 player/voice recorder. Today I recorded some solo fiddle practice with it.
Now, it was cheap--80 bucks, American, including tax--so I knew that recording quality would be compromised, and was OK with that. (Hey, it's about the size of a cigarette lighter, and it records for hours, no tapes or discs involved--seemed like a good trade-off.)
But I did not expect that the distortion it adds to my fiddle would make the recording sound a lot like fiddle plus button box (or banjo, or mandolin, sometimes), heard over a cell phone maybe.
I swear it's true. Again, I'm not complaining about it, really , just thought it was interesting. Anybody else notice this with their mp3 recorder?
Well, it probably has the same kind of microphone and playback speaker as a cell phone. If you can transfer the file and play it through decent speakers, it might sound almost okay, in a through-the-keyhole sort of way.
Ah, but I did transfer the file to my computer and play it through decent speakers.
I think the "magic" is an EQ problem, where you get highs and sorta-lows without the midrange--so it ends up sounding kind of octave-split, the way an accordion sounds.
It is .wav file that is recorded, so I imagine it is highly compressed. And as you say, it is literally a pinhole microphone.
Like I said, I'm not complaining. It's definitely good enough to learn tunes from.
Is there a mic sensitivity setting? How about recording quality/recording time settings? I have a small Sony that records without distortion if the mic sens is set to low and I use a high quality record setting. Of course, with an external mic it's much better.
WAV files are uncompressed, generally, and therefore much larger than mp3s. It is possible to make a compressed WAV, but if you're recording under default settings on a little recorder which uses the WAV format you are most likely recording uncompressed audio. It seems that you have not purchased an mp3 recorder (which would record highly compressed audio) but rather a wav recorder.
i've recorded sessions on my mP3 player. it makes everything sound fuzzy. fiddle comes across the worst, and it doesn't like high notes on whistle either. but it was given to me by a friend, and its good enough to learn tunes from, so i can't complain
While I've never tried to record sessions or with much background noise I use my *slightly more expensive* creative muvo mp3 player and it works great, when they get old they tend to start distorting the higher ranges a bit more. But either way getting it onto the computer is key for learning for me, so I love it!
I like the Sony minidisc I got (myself!) for my birthday.... made a great clean recording of a concert we did in a church. I use the little stereo mike. It was clean as could be. We played in a church and there was a lot of reverb, still it was great.
I also was able to bring it into Audacity and edit it down and EQ it for near CD quality.
I got the MR10 I think it is (without looking at it) It was about $280 which included shipping from Ebay, new, not refurbed. They make another MR100 and the only difference is the display lights up....the one I have would be a bit hard to see in the dark, but I have a little penlight, I didn't think the light up display was worth another $100.
This one comes with the mike included, the real Sony one, so that alone is worth about $80 so I hear. The cheaper MD players do not. So this package is worth it I think. It takes GIG discs too, they hold tons of music, and new ones are just $7.00 anyway.
You can also use this model as a plug in hard drive and store data, photos, whatever....transfer files between computers. Each disc is a new hard drive. It has USB and the computer (I think just PCs though) recognize it as a drive. It will also use the regular discs if you have them.
Can't say enough good about this little machine! The sound is amazing. It records some strange format, but you convert to a wav. file on PC, very simple. After that you can make MP3s from them.
I bought a 1GB MP3 player and was really pleased with the recording quality - OK it's a bit fuzzy & not 44kHz, but it is definitely a great tool for recording yourself, listening and critiquing the way you play.
Dare I say it... also really great for sneaking into performances when you know there will be tunes you want to learn but won't remember from hearing once... The quality is not high enough for it to really be an issue for the performer I believe.
I recently bought an iRiver ifp-799 for around US$140. After much research, it seems this is the only affordable flash memory MP3 player (no hard drive) that is designed to use external microphones without needing an external preamp. Many have a "line-in" jack that is useful for line level inputs such as a CD player but to use an external mic you'll need an external mic preamp to boost the signal to line level.
The ifp-799 also has an internal mic and an automatic gain control which I think are the key ingredients. Most of these devices are designed for making lo-fi voice recordings and NOT decent music recordings. However, the ifp-799 does a decent job with the internal mic and a much better job with external mics (depending on the quality of the external mics of course).
I have used a program called Polderbits (http://www.polderbits.com/) that allows a Windows computer to record in WAV format and convert to MP3. There is a free trial period ($30 license) and it worked for me to record an audio cassette tape recording from a composer's concert. I subsequently
ran it through Audacity (free Win & Mac) and greatly improved the sound quality by removing audience noises (coughing, etc.)
So you already have a very powerful recording studio at your disposal with most computers, there is even free software that help you make professional quality recordings!
magical mp3 recorder
magical mp3 recorder
Yesterday I picked up a tiny mp3 player/voice recorder. Today I recorded some solo fiddle practice with it.
Now, it was cheap--80 bucks, American, including tax--so I knew that recording quality would be compromised, and was OK with that. (Hey, it's about the size of a cigarette lighter, and it records for hours, no tapes or discs involved--seemed like a good trade-off.)
But I did not expect that the distortion it adds to my fiddle would make the recording sound a lot like fiddle plus button box (or banjo, or mandolin, sometimes), heard over a cell phone maybe.
I swear it's true. Again, I'm not complaining about it, really , just thought it was interesting. Anybody else notice this with their mp3 recorder?
# Posted on March 11th 2006 by John Galt
Re: magical mp3 recorder
Well, it probably has the same kind of microphone and playback speaker as a cell phone. If you can transfer the file and play it through decent speakers, it might sound almost okay, in a through-the-keyhole sort of way.
# Posted on March 11th 2006 by Bob himself
Re: magical mp3 recorder
Ah, but I did transfer the file to my computer and play it through decent speakers.
I think the "magic" is an EQ problem, where you get highs and sorta-lows without the midrange--so it ends up sounding kind of octave-split, the way an accordion sounds.
It is .wav file that is recorded, so I imagine it is highly compressed. And as you say, it is literally a pinhole microphone.
Like I said, I'm not complaining. It's definitely good enough to learn tunes from.
# Posted on March 11th 2006 by John Galt
Re: magical mp3 recorder
Is there a mic sensitivity setting? How about recording quality/recording time settings? I have a small Sony that records without distortion if the mic sens is set to low and I use a high quality record setting. Of course, with an external mic it's much better.
# Posted on March 11th 2006 by frchristo
Re: magical mp3 recorder
Nope, no options for mic sensitivity or recording quality. No jack for an external mic either.
It's a sansa m230, for the record (heh heh).
Voice recorder, yes. Useful for learning tunes, sure. But not hi-fi, that's for certain.
# Posted on March 11th 2006 by John Galt
Re: magical mp3 recorder
WAV files are uncompressed, generally, and therefore much larger than mp3s. It is possible to make a compressed WAV, but if you're recording under default settings on a little recorder which uses the WAV format you are most likely recording uncompressed audio. It seems that you have not purchased an mp3 recorder (which would record highly compressed audio) but rather a wav recorder.
# Posted on March 11th 2006 by f
Re: magical mp3 recorder
...perhaps you meant WMA, or DRM WMA format rather than WAV... I'm just making general observations and such. Wheee
# Posted on March 11th 2006 by f
Re: magical mp3 recorder
It plays mp3 and wma formats, but the files created by the recorder are named vorc001.wav, vorc002.wav etc.
A 51-minute recording made a 12MB *.wav file.
So I guess it's an mp3 player, but a WAV recorder.
Whatever--the point is, don't expect home-studio quality recordings from a cheap mp3 player/WAV recorder.
# Posted on March 11th 2006 by John Galt
Re: magical mp3 recorder
http://www.expansys.com/zoompic.asp?type=item&code=130056
Is this the item,
seems like a cool cheap gadget
# Posted on March 11th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: magical mp3 recorder
Yep, that's the one.
Tiny (thumb-sized, more or less) records for a long time, but the sound quality of the recording is poor--although usable for learning tunes.
If you're looking for something that records well enough to play for other people, you should probably get something else.
# Posted on March 11th 2006 by John Galt
Re: magical mp3 recorder
i've recorded sessions on my mP3 player. it makes everything sound fuzzy. fiddle comes across the worst, and it doesn't like high notes on whistle either. but it was given to me by a friend, and its good enough to learn tunes from, so i can't complain
: )
# Posted on March 11th 2006 by flisstle
Re: magical mp3 recorder
While I've never tried to record sessions or with much background noise I use my *slightly more expensive* creative muvo mp3 player and it works great, when they get old they tend to start distorting the higher ranges a bit more. But either way getting it onto the computer is key for learning for me, so I love it!
# Posted on March 12th 2006 by Sorcha12
Re: magical mp3 recorder
I like the Sony minidisc I got (myself!) for my birthday.... made a great clean recording of a concert we did in a church. I use the little stereo mike. It was clean as could be. We played in a church and there was a lot of reverb, still it was great.
I also was able to bring it into Audacity and edit it down and EQ it for near CD quality.
I got the MR10 I think it is (without looking at it) It was about $280 which included shipping from Ebay, new, not refurbed. They make another MR100 and the only difference is the display lights up....the one I have would be a bit hard to see in the dark, but I have a little penlight, I didn't think the light up display was worth another $100.
This one comes with the mike included, the real Sony one, so that alone is worth about $80 so I hear. The cheaper MD players do not. So this package is worth it I think. It takes GIG discs too, they hold tons of music, and new ones are just $7.00 anyway.
You can also use this model as a plug in hard drive and store data, photos, whatever....transfer files between computers. Each disc is a new hard drive. It has USB and the computer (I think just PCs though) recognize it as a drive. It will also use the regular discs if you have them.
Can't say enough good about this little machine! The sound is amazing. It records some strange format, but you convert to a wav. file on PC, very simple. After that you can make MP3s from them.
# Posted on March 12th 2006 by irisnevins
Re: magical mp3 recorder
I bought a 1GB MP3 player and was really pleased with the recording quality - OK it's a bit fuzzy & not 44kHz, but it is definitely a great tool for recording yourself, listening and critiquing the way you play.
Dare I say it... also really great for sneaking into performances when you know there will be tunes you want to learn but won't remember from hearing once... The quality is not high enough for it to really be an issue for the performer I believe.
# Posted on March 14th 2006 by Brown Creeper
Re: magical mp3 recorder
I recently bought an iRiver ifp-799 for around US$140. After much research, it seems this is the only affordable flash memory MP3 player (no hard drive) that is designed to use external microphones without needing an external preamp. Many have a "line-in" jack that is useful for line level inputs such as a CD player but to use an external mic you'll need an external mic preamp to boost the signal to line level.
The ifp-799 also has an internal mic and an automatic gain control which I think are the key ingredients. Most of these devices are designed for making lo-fi voice recordings and NOT decent music recordings. However, the ifp-799 does a decent job with the internal mic and a much better job with external mics (depending on the quality of the external mics of course).
# Posted on March 17th 2006 by snapper
Re: magical mp3 recorder - Try Polderbits software !
I have used a program called Polderbits (http://www.polderbits.com/) that allows a Windows computer to record in WAV format and convert to MP3. There is a free trial period ($30 license) and it worked for me to record an audio cassette tape recording from a composer's concert. I subsequently
ran it through Audacity (free Win & Mac) and greatly improved the sound quality by removing audience noises (coughing, etc.)
So you already have a very powerful recording studio at your disposal with most computers, there is even free software that help you make professional quality recordings!
# Posted on June 23rd 2006 by b0dhran
Re: magical mp3 recorder
Couldn't you just record it directly into Audacity?
# Posted on June 23rd 2006 by Bob himself