Tape recorders for use with the Whistle

Whistle
1

I’m planning to attend the Gaelic Roots ‘camp’ this summer and they recommend that you bring a small tape recorder to the classes.

Also, this past weekend I attended a session (at the Florida Tionol) and noticed several people had tape recorders.

Any recommendations on features, things you MUST have and anything to stay away from? Is an external microphone recommended?

I did a search and did not see that this topic has been covered in the past. If so, please point me in the right direction.

Thanks!
Gary

2

Forget tape recorders. Get a minidisc recorder instead, if you can. Better quality recording, more flexible, smaller, …
You can use the search function on the forum to find some old threads on the subject.

Good luck,
jb

3

I do love Mini Disc recorders… I’ve owned two. My current however is your basic GE tape recorder you can get from Walmart for $15. You don’t have to worry about someone spilling a drink on it or dropping it, etc… Then I “dump” it all onto my laptop for easy access. I would “dump” everything from my minidisc recorder as well anyway… I do have a great external mic (audio technica 822) but when it’s just a matter of remembering the way tunes go and not audio nirvana, I just use the internal…

:slight_smile:

4

i love my minidisc recorder. it eats batteries too much for it to be of any real use in recording if you’re not plugged into an outlet though. as for external mics. they will probably be of higher quality and easier to direct towards the sound source, so probably all in all better.

5

There has been some talk about minidisc recorders and there are a few threads. Here is one of 'em. http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=1029&forum=1

6

Newer minidisc recorders (as of about two years ago) are very good on battery life, my Sony gets something like 5 hours of record time and 10 hours of play on a single AA battery. I use NiMH rechargeables, works great. I’ve used this setup for many workshops and never had any issues with battery life.

Another possiblity is to use a direct to MP3 recorder like the RipFlash or RipFlash trio. I’ve pretty much complete converted over to using this for workshops, saves the time of having to capture all the audio for later conversion to CD or MP3 files. The newer units will work with standard microphones, the older units, like mine, require a preamplified mike, like those sold by the Sound Professionals, but the end quality is extremely good.

More info at:
http://www.pogoproducts.com/ripflash.html

Cheers,

Michael Eskin
http://www.michaeleskin.com

7

Michael, forgive the ignorance, but how long an MP3 can you record with one of those?

8

Thanks for all the info. You’ve given me several options to check out…so now I’m off to research MP3 and minidisc recorders. I’ll let you know what I decide.

Thanks again!
Gary

9

I’m partial to the good 'ole tape recorder myself. The one I have allows you to playback at various speeds so I find that option useful when learning the trickier bits of a tune. I don’t bother with an external mic but then I’m not looking for great sound quality either.

All the best,
Wes

10

The RipFlash I use has both internal memory and a slot for a SmartMedia card, so in theory, unlimited time. The unit has 128 MB internal, plus I have one 128 MB card, so doing the math for 128 kbit MP3 (16 kilobytes/sec):

256 Megabytes / (16 kilobytes/sec) = 16384 seconds = 4.55 hours

So about 4 1/2 hours in the current configuration, which has been enough to record all the tunes, and technique demo during the workshops I’ve attended. Of course if you’re willing to sacrifice a little quality you can go to 96 or 64 kbit and get more time. If you want to record every minute of every class, then minidisc is a better way to go, but generally, I find in classes, a lot of time is spent with students playing, mostly caucophony, so I just record the instructor demos and discussion.

The Ripflash runs on 2 AAA batteries. I use NiMH rechargeables, get about 3 hours use. I keep one extra set of batteries with me, recharge them overnight.

One thing though, at least on all the RipFlash units, the internal microphones are not very useful, you really need to use an external preamplified mike to get a high quality recording. The internal mikes are fine for grabbing a tune at a session, but the results generally aren’t better than a typical voice recorder, with the external mikes, the results are really quite good.

Once I have the workshop tunes/lectures captured, I transfer them to the PC using the RipFlash’s USB interface, there I can edit them, make audio CDs, slow the tunes down with ABCMus, etc. I don’t have to spend hours transferring MDs to the PC.

Cheers,

Michael



[ This Message was edited by: eskin on 2003-02-19 11:12 ]

11

This isn’t something you just go out and buy (well I couldn’t when I saved up for mine years ago) but I use my PDA with a reasonable, but not CD quality recording configuration, w/ 128 CF card and can get almost 6 hours out of it, and the built in mic is perfect.

Or I use a tape recorder w/ the external mic I use at home.

My 2 cents! :slight_smile:

Take care,
John