digital audio recorders

[EvanP]

Michi,
Thanks. I think I have Audacity. I'll try that. I use Roxio for video editing, which has nice tools for audio editing, but it's very slow and cumbersome, especially for these large WAV files.

Evan

[bops]

I was not particularly impressed, however, with the editing software that came with the recorder. It seems to be tailored for burning CDs rather than editing the sound files.

SFAS is a great little editor... Far better than Audacity, IMHO. What are you trying to do? Maybe I can help.

[EvanP]

Thanks Bops!

I'm not doing anything fancy, just breaking up lesson recordings into sections/tracks and deleting portions that I don't want for practice. I'd also like to normalize levels on some recordings. Finally I'd like to down-convert to MP3 for smaller file storage.

After playing with the Sony software last night I'm getting a bit more proficient. At this point it seems comparable to the Audacity software (of course both are probably better with more than 15 minutes of trial and error).

[bops]

Ha, yeah man, I'm not a big fan of reading the Help file either, until I get stuck. But if you click on the Show Me How button, the tutorials will walk you through the basics. (In the interest of full disclosure, I work for the company that makes Sound Forge Audio Studio, so if I appear biased, I might be. But Sound Forge is definitely an industry standard because it's so damn intuitive. In fact, Forge was the original desktop audio editing application... Audio Studio is a consumer-level version of that.)

Most of the functions work very similarly to a word processor. Drag the mouse across the waveform to make a selection, then use the menu commands or keyboard shortcuts to apply effects, such as Normalization, Compression, etc. You can zoom in on the waveform by rolling the scroll wheel on your mouse forward (or use the up arrow on the keyboard). If you want to divide a file into smaller segments, I would recommend using markers or regions to indicate where each segment starts and stops. To insert a marker, hit M. To insert a region, first create a time selection, then hit R. Do this for each of your "songs". Double-click within the region to select it. Drag the selection to an empty/gray area of the workspace to paste the selection into a new file. Then choose Save as > MP3. Do this to save a longer recording as multiple MP3s. Let me know if there's anything you need help with.

[EvanP]

Bops,
Thanks. Intuitiveness is an important feature (to those of us above help and manuals).

Is there a way to micro adjust start and end points of the selection? That's one feature that Roxio has that's nice (you can use right and left arrows to adjust start/stop points).

Evan

[bops]

I usually zoom in and out quite frequently while editing. Enable Snapping to zero crossings (Options > Snapping > Zero crossings) if Audio Studio will let you do that (sorry, I don't have it installed on my home 'puter). This allows you to edit more efficiently.

So, if you want to fine-adjust a selection, hit either Home or End to send your cursor to the beginning or ending of the selection. Then hold Shift and use the arrow keys to increase or decrease the selection (by pixel). Shift + Alt + arrow will increase/decrease by a greater margin. Shift + Page up/Page down goes even further. Otherwise, like I said, just zoom in and grab the edge of the selection with your mouse and drag as far as you want. If you're zoomed in tight, you can make a fine adjustment.

What I usually do, to make the initial selection, is use the I/O keys on the keyboard (in/out). Place your edit cursor at the start of your desired selection and hit I. Move the cursor to the end and hit O. Voila, your selection. Hope this helps!

[EvanP]

Ok I'll give it a go editing the workshop this weekend. Thanks.

[James]

Just bought an ls-10.... yay

Seems to have 2 gigs internal memory.

Should I be considering more memory if I'm about to go to Mali for 2.5 weeks?

I'm thinking the internal mics will do for now?

[EvanP]

James,
Congrats on your new acquisition!

Memory is cheap, buy lots!

I think I paid $30 for a 16GB microSD. I've settled on 44.1kHz/320kbps for recording classes on my Sony, but if I was recording performances to archive and possible post, I'd be very tempted to do it in max resolution (which takes a lot of memory) and compress it after editing. I don't remember what the max memory is for the LS10, but if I were travelling to West Africa I'd buy two of the max-sized cards it would take, plus make sure I had a big hard drive on a laptop for frequent backups.

Also, I was going through batteries a bit faster than I wanted (I use the recorder to listen to loops during practice sessions, and my first set of alkalines died after three weeks). I picked up very high capacity rechargeable batteries (4 for ~$30). I have yet to drain the first pair after six weeks of moderate use. They might be a useful addition before your trip as well.

As an aside for others considering the Sony PCM-M10, Bop's Soundforge software has grown on me quite a bit. I can now easily do everything I need to do to archive rhythms from classes and workshops. Now if I could just figure out how to label the tracks in iTunes so they would be easier to find!

Evan

[bops]

Cool man! To add track names, etc, try View -> Metadata. (I think... not at my computer at the moment.

[michi]

Just bought an ls-10.... yay

Seems to have 2 gigs internal memory.

Should I be considering more memory if I'm about to go to Mali for 2.5 weeks?

Congrats on your purchase!

You get approximately 13.5 hours of recording time per GB if you use 320kbit/sec (very high quality). Might be wise to get an extra 4-8GB, just in case...[/quote]

I'm thinking the internal mics will do for now?

Definitely. Unless you are into commercial-quality production, the built-in mics are more than adequate.

Cheers,

Michi.