Recommendations For Audio Editing Software

[Tony Newnham]

Hi!

 

Have you tried the non-computer route? The small minidisc recorders are wonderful for recording but editing is nigh impossible as you say. But the "hi-fi seperates" stack units are excellent in this regard allowing placement of edit and cut points to within 1/80th second. From memory Sony are better than Sharp in this regard. They are easily and cheaply available on Ebay and function brilliantly, enabling one to cut the recording before the first audience clap, etc. They normally have a digital output, usually coax as well as optical.

 

Again cheaply on Ebay one can get audio CD recorders - the only problem being the availability of audio discs nowadays - and one can transcribe the digital signal straight onto CD. One can then make copies of the audio CD on your computer or import and process the files without relying on the quality or otherwise of the sound card. If necessary one can process further, but this is rarely necessary.

 

However, on one occasion we had a guest appearance of an amazing performer, Jong-Gyung Park, who when she played Liszt you could have been mistaken for believing that the Great Master was there, himself. Sadly I had not anticipated Liszt and the level was incorrectly set causing horrible distortion. My nephew gave me a copy of Coolpro2 for the computer, now sadly unsupported, and this filled in the missing peaks on the imported audio file. If anyone wants to hear the result I can point you privately to the MP3 directory. The result was truly remarkable.

 

Best wishes, Spottedmetal

 

Hi

 

I have a couple of Minidisc "seperates" - but I find that editting on them is crude and slow (I was used to 1/4 inch tapes and razor blades professionally!). The biggest problem I find on MD is that cross fades and fad in/out can't be committed to the disc. Hence my preference for a laptop with an external sound card (I need to get a better one as soon as I can afford it, but that's another issue!).

 

I also have a stand alone CD recorder - the "Pro" ones don't require the special audio discs (mine works quite happily on normal CD-R's - but I do buy them from a reputable pro-audio supplier.

 

I worked in radio production of a number of years, so I have a pretty good idea of what's around.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

[Peter Allison]

A friend of mine uses a tascam DAP1 with just a pair of oldish Tandy PZM's. the results are really excellent, infact he has used them to record 2 cd's for a noted organist. (one of the albums got a glowing review in an organ journal) He edits on Sounforge, vesion 4 or 5. I used a Calrec Soundfield to record Simon Lindley in Durham Cathedral (for personal use only and with permissions) a while ago, and the PZM's gave just as good recording, although the soundfield was been experimented with at the time ( no excuses tho)

Regards

Peter

[Tony Newnham]

A friend of mine uses a tascam DAP1 with just a pair of oldish Tandy PZM's. the results are really excellent, infact he has used them to record 2 cd's for a noted organist. (one of the albums got a glowing review in an organ journal) He edits on Sounforge, vesion 4 or 5. I used a Calrec Soundfield to record Simon Lindley in Durham Cathedral (for personal use only and with permissions) a while ago, and the PZM's gave just as good recording, although the soundfield was been experimented with at the time ( no excuses tho)

Regards

Peter

 

Hi

 

Apart from slightly high self-noise, the late lamented Tandy PZM's were incredible mics for the price - especially if modified to give a balanced output (a very simple job). I have one - I'd like to get another to make a pair, but as far as I know they're no longer available (at least not this side of the pond).

 

With care - and on a large enough surface that the bass response isn't compromised - they do produce very good recordings.

 

I'd love to get my hands on a Soundfield rig, but have never had the opportunity (and I'm not likely to find enough money to buy one)

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

[heva]

To get cheap mic's you might look/try a pair of Naiant mic's.

Haven't used them myself, but at the price they're well worth a try.

 

On linux (which I use), apart from Audacity, you also have Cinelerra for audio and/or video editing. And you can create redbook compliant cd's from your edited files with a simple application named GCDmaster.

 

All for free.

[pwhodges]

I'd love to get my hands on a Soundfield rig, but have never had the opportunity (and I'm not likely to find enough money to buy one)

Consider the $999* Core Sound TetraMic instead; the frequency response of the B-format signals is (on the basis of example measurements I have seen) considerably flatter than current mics from SoundField. I am in the process of writing an informal review of it, which will probably be complete in a week or so.

 

Paul

 

* a bit more with the necessary cables etc, of course.

[Tony Newnham]

Consider the $999* Core Sound TetraMic instead; the frequency response of the B-format signals is (on the basis of example measurements I have seen) considerably flatter than current mics from SoundField. I am in the process of writing an informal review of it, which will probably be complete in a week or so.

 

Paul

 

* a bit more with the necessary cables etc, of course.

 

Hi

 

And, from a quick look at the web page, quite a bit more for the pre-amo/decoder box. Still way more than I can consider spending for quite a while. If I find a bit of spare time, I may well try and get a couple of decent cardiod capacitors mics and experiment with Mid-Side-Rear-Mid tequniques for surround. Trouble is, there's just too much else to do!

 

Thanks for the link.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony