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A follow-up on my point about it being bass heavy...

 

I made this point, but I was referring to the Edirol (it was quite a few posts back!). And I was talking about recordings burnt to CD and played back. It makes for a very impressive organ sound, but any particular notes which boom sound extremely "boomy". I use a computer programme to tame it (Total Recorder) with some success. Is there a free or cheap PC Graphic Equalizer out there somewhere that I could try?

 

Stephen Barber

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It looks as though the R-09 is on the shopping list,

 

Check a certain well-known auction site, though. I bought mine there with a saving of about £75 on the RRP and about £50 cheaper than I could find it elsewhere. <_<

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I made this point, but I was referring to the Edirol (it was quite a few posts back!). And I was talking about recordings burnt to CD and played back. It makes for a very impressive organ sound, but any particular notes which boom sound extremely "boomy". I use a computer programme to tame it (Total Recorder) with some success. Is there a free or cheap PC Graphic Equalizer out there somewhere that I could try?

 

Stephen Barber

 

Have you listened to your boomy recordings on more than one piece of equipment? It may be the system you're playing it on.

 

Graphic equalizers tend to work alongside other programs. VST files work with many of the music editing programs and there are loads of equalizers in that format. I use Wavelab, which comes with one that is excellent.

 

Peter

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Have you listened to your boomy recordings on more than one piece of equipment? It may be the system you're playing it on.

 

Graphic equalizers tend to work alongside other programs. VST files work with many of the music editing programs and there are loads of equalizers in that format. I use Wavelab, which comes with one that is excellent.

 

Peter

 

Yes, I've listened on different hi-fi systems and also on the computer and on headphones. I have another microphone that I used to use with my old minidisc (Sony ECM-MS907) but I haven't compared the sound yet. I would guess that it would not be so good, and would be bass-light rather than bass-heavy. Any suggestions for reasonably-priced stereo microphones to use with the Edirol R09? They have to be connected via a mini-jack plug. It's probably not worth it?? (I think the Zoom H4 is better for use with external mics.).

 

I have a graphic Equalizer on my Total Recorder programme but I haven't yet played with it enough to achieve as good a result as just turning the bass down on my hi-fi.

 

Thanks for your response,

 

Stephen Barber

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Yes, I've listened on different hi-fi systems and also on the computer and on headphones. I have another microphone that I used to use with my old minidisc (Sony ECM-MS907) but I haven't compared the sound yet. I would guess that it would not be so good, and would be bass-light rather than bass-heavy. Any suggestions for reasonably-priced stereo microphones to use with the Edirol R09? They have to be connected via a mini-jack plug. It's probably not worth it?? (I think the Zoom H4 is better for use with external mics.).

 

I have a graphic Equalizer on my Total Recorder programme but I haven't yet played with it enough to achieve as good a result as just turning the bass down on my hi-fi.

 

Thanks for your response,

 

Stephen Barber

 

I use my Audio Technica AT825 stereo microphone. A pal spotted it on Ebay and I got it for £80, recommended retail being £300 ish. It's worth going for and these regularly come up on that site. I recorded and produced a private cd of a Polish instrument last year with excellent results.

 

Peter

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I recently recorded Graham barber at Armley ( he said I could) and after running through Sound forge 8 just to trim the ends etc, I burnt the disc and had it played back on a hi fi shops multi £1000 set up, result was astonishing, no bass boom, only the noises you get at a live recital. Quality at a small price. The added feature of the Zoom H2 is that it can record 4 seperate channels so can, with a bit of work, can be turned into a "surround" track, try here .how you do this , I am not too sure. I know one of our board members has quite a lot of experience in these matters and there is quite a lot written about it on the web. Obviously a quality mic, preamp and recorder will yield better results, but at a price, plus the H2 fits inside a jacket pocket.

Regards

Peter

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I recently recorded Graham barber at Armley ( he said I could) and after running through Sound forge 8 just to trim the ends etc, I burnt the disc and had it played back on a hi fi shops multi £1000 set up, result was astonishing, no bass boom, only the noises you get at a live recital. Quality at a small price. The added feature of the Zoom H2 is that it can record 4 seperate channels so can, with a bit of work, can be turned into a "surround" track, try here .how you do this , I am not too sure. I know one of our board members has quite a lot of experience in these matters and there is quite a lot written about it on the web. Obviously a quality mic, preamp and recorder will yield better results, but at a price, plus the H2 fits inside a jacket pocket.

Regards

Peter

 

Hi

 

I suggest reading up on the subject - there are various options for surround sound and ambiosonics (which are not the same thing).

 

I know that Peter Harrison recorded the sessions for the BIOS sound recordings in surround as well as stereo (the mp3's of the stereo versions are available on the NPOR web site - click on the "Sound Archives" tab to see what's available.

 

I've yet to try sourround recording, other than headphone-only "dummy head" recordings.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

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... ambiosonics ...

As one of the modest number of people active in this field, I feel bound to correct the spelling: ambisonics. Otherwise there can be confusion with an unrelated but interesting technique known as ambiophonics - a way of playing stereo with the speakers very close, applying crosstalk cancellation to the feeds.

 

I have a website on the subject of recording ambisonically, in which I also write about using the Zoom H2 to generate ambisonic B-format - but the technique I describe there isn't yet working as I hoped...

 

Paul

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As one of the modest number of people active in this field, I feel bound to correct the spelling: ambisonics. Otherwise there can be confusion with an unrelated but interesting technique known as ambiophonics - a way of playing stereo with the speakers very close, applying crosstalk cancellation to the feeds.

 

I have a website on the subject of recording ambisonically, in which I also write about using the Zoom H2 to generate ambisonic B-format - but the technique I describe there isn't yet working as I hoped...

 

Paul

 

Hi

 

Sorry for the mis-spelling - I wasn't sure and obviously guessed wrong. I've bookmarked your web site to take a look at when time allows.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

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Guest Hector5

Thanks to all of you for your discussions about recording devices. This has spurred me on to buying the Marantz PMD620 Recorder. Frankly it's brilliant, and the fact that it can take high capacity cards (even to 1 Terabyte) means that there's no pratting around changing discs etc for length cathedral evensongs or concerts.

 

There is always something rather too beguiling about some of the discussions on the board involving CDs, gadgets, music etc - I always end up considerably poorer, but much much happier!!!!

 

Hector

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  • 3 weeks later...

Quite a few people have recommended the Edirol R-09. A few colleagues have bought these and rated them very highly, but they get much better results with an external stereo condenser microphone such as the Rode NT4 X/Y.

 

This is basically a standard condenser mic with 2 electrets set at 90 degrees, they aren't cheap - about £200, but well worth adding in the future. Our LEA supplier 'Dawsons Music' was doing a package of Edirol, Rode, Mini boom mic stand, and decent headphones for £445.

 

DT

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with the permission of the organist I recently recorded in Liverpool Met, and after "a bit of fiddling" came out with a marvelous recording, even tho the Met is difficult to record in. I also tried the 96.000khz setting at Hessle Parish Church (again With permision) and it was stunning to say the least, better than my old Sony dat and stereo mic from yesteryear

regards

Peter

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...the H4 is wellworth looking at. This has balanced combined XLR and jack mic inputs. Both units feature optional level limiting and compression on manual level recording and can record in various WAV and MP3 formats. Wav 44.1 Kbits/sec format will transfer directly to CD.

 

John R

 

Thanks for the last sentence; I think it has just answered a question for me. :unsure:

I have a H4 which I use simply to place down the church/hall while I'm rehearsing, to check balances, etc. The recordings always sound very good through my headphones, even with the minimal thought I give to the H4 inbuilt mic placement!

Last week I decided to keep a couple of these recordings, just for myself, and so burnt them to CD. One is OK, but the other has an audible distortion or 'hiss' on it, not constantly, only when there is any organ sound. The other is fine, very good, infact. :lol: The latter was recorded at wav 44.1KHz, the recording with the 'hiss' at 48KHz.

For those of us who understand very little about these things can anyone explain it, please?

And, can the 48KHz recording be converted so that it will burn to CD without the 'hiss'?

Thanks!

P.

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Thanks for the last sentence; I think it has just answered a question for me. :unsure:

I have a H4 which I use simply to place down the church/hall while I'm rehearsing, to check balances, etc. The recordings always sound very good through my headphones, even with the minimal thought I give to the H4 inbuilt mic placement!

Last week I decided to keep a couple of these recordings, just for myself, and so burnt them to CD. One is OK, but the other has an audible distortion or 'hiss' on it, not constantly, only when there is any organ sound. The other is fine, very good, infact. :lol: The latter was recorded at wav 44.1KHz, the recording with the 'hiss' at 48KHz.

For those of us who understand very little about these things can anyone explain it, please?

And, can the 48KHz recording be converted so that it will burn to CD without the 'hiss'?

Thanks!

P.

 

CD-audio is 16 bit at 44100kHz - you need to 'downsample' the 48kHz recording in order to get in to CD-audio. Audacity (mentioned here before) can do this for you (import the audio, change the project rate in the left under corner and export the audio as .wav).

 

I've read on forums that the zoom's may produce a very (very) weak distortion in the signal; for me this was a reason not to buy one (because I somehow always manage to 'get' that and be irritated). Just wondering if users here have found it?

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CD-audio is 16 bit at 44100kHz - you need to 'downsample' the 48kHz recording in order to get in to CD-audio. Audacity (mentioned here before) can do this for you (import the audio, change the project rate in the left under corner and export the audio as .wav).

 

I've read on forums that the zoom's may produce a very (very) weak distortion in the signal; for me this was a reason not to buy one (because I somehow always manage to 'get' that and be irritated). Just wondering if users here have found it?

 

Thank you, brilliant! The file is exporting as wav as I type. :lol:

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I have never had a problem with any hiss, (yet.) I use the ZOOM H2 and use the medium setting for the input level and recording level set at 95. I expermented with the higher 96.000khz 24 bit sampling, but the recording time was reduced to 70 minutes as compared to the 3 hours at 44.1 at a recital at hessle (Hull) last week, and after editing/normalizing in Soundforge 8 it saved the edits at the default setting of 44.1, but it did drop the sound level a bit. Quality wise, there was a marked difference listening through headphones. So will try it out on the nice small :blink: willis at liverpool on monday ( with permision of course) Check THIS out

Regards

Peter

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I have never had a problem with any hiss, (yet.) I use the ZOOM H2 and use the medium setting for the input level and recording level set at 95. I expermented with the higher 96.000khz 24 bit sampling, but the recording time was reduced to 70 minutes as compared to the 3 hours at 44.1 at a recital at hessle (Hull) last week, and after editing/normalizing in Soundforge 8 it saved the edits at the default setting of 44.1, but it did drop the sound level a bit. Quality wise, there was a marked difference listening through headphones. So will try it out on the nice small :blink: willis at liverpool on monday ( with permision of course) Check THIS out

Regards

Peter

 

Yes, I only get the 'hiss' on CD, and that's now cured by me putting what I have through Audacity and remembering :wacko: to record at 44100KHz if I want it to end up on CD in the future!!

Sitting in my hotel room listening to my rehearsal at Rochdale Town Hall last week through headphones directly from the Zoom was very, very good quality. The 32' Open Wood sounded amazing. It also sounded great through the car stereo on the way home!! :P

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Can anyone with a H2 help - recording my front room digital - on playback there was a general 'bubbling' effect (no it isn't the instrument before anyone gets a 'dig' in!) - am I setting something wrong?

 

AJJ

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Can anyone with a H2 help - recording my front room digital - on playback there was a general 'bubbling' effect (no it isn't the instrument before anyone gets a 'dig' in!) - am I setting something wrong?

 

AJJ

 

Hi

 

Two possible things spring to mind - 10. the recording level is too high, causing the machine to mute briefly. Meters on digital machines should NEVER hit the red - it runs out of digital numbers at that point.

 

Or 2 - applicable mainly to recording in mp3 mode or similar - I've noticed similar artifacts on string sounds (and applause) on low bit-rate mp3 - could that be the issue?

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

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Hi

 

Two possible things spring to mind - 10. the recording level is too high, causing the machine to mute briefly. Meters on digital machines should NEVER hit the red - it runs out of digital numbers at that point.

 

Or 2 - applicable mainly to recording in mp3 mode or similar - I've noticed similar artifacts on string sounds (and applause) on low bit-rate mp3 - could that be the issue?

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

 

Thanks Tony - 'will investigate.

 

AJJ

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I wonder if anyone on this thread has experience of the non-portable CF recorders? We are hoping to install a permanent recording system into the organ loft at Worcester - should be a great bonus for visiting choirs amongst many others - and are seriously considering the Tascam SS-CDR 1 which will record either to CD or to CF for editing on a computer. It looks a great bit of kit, but would welcome any first-hand experience in this area.

 

As part of this setup, we are also considering a pair of AKG Perception 400 multi-pattern mics.....while a pair of 414s would be ideal, they are just too expensive for our budget. There are precious few reviews of these mics around, so perhaps someone here has experience.

 

Best wishes,

 

Adrian

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I wonder if anyone on this thread has experience of the non-portable CF recorders? We are hoping to install a permanent recording system into the organ loft at Worcester - should be a great bonus for visiting choirs amongst many others - and are seriously considering the Tascam SS-CDR 1 which will record either to CD or to CF for editing on a computer. It looks a great bit of kit, but would welcome any first-hand experience in this area.

 

As part of this setup, we are also considering a pair of AKG Perception 400 multi-pattern mics.....while a pair of 414s would be ideal, they are just too expensive for our budget. There are precious few reviews of these mics around, so perhaps someone here has experience.

 

Best wishes,

 

Adrian

 

Why not getting HQ omni mics (Neumann/DPA/Schoeps)? spending so much on organs should enable a 3k euro for this ....

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