H Series Live Recording Guide v1.0

[framesaver]

Originally Posted by queenieformule

My question(I know you are saying Damn when is she getting to it?) is this, if I lower my Mic volume and increase my bits to a higher rate, will I get an improved recording?

Simple answer: Yes (up to a point)

Like chris just said, primarily try and use a higher bitrate. You will get around:

3 hours 20 mins @ 128k
100 mins @ 256k
80 mins @ 320k

before you have to start a new file - Use at least 128k, but if you can go for one of the highest settings.

I really do think you'd be better going with any sort of external mic however - even one of the desktop PC mics (ultra cheap) will do a better job than the internal one, which is plagued by the HD-spin noise (which you probably didn't get too often due to running at 64k) and will overload at the drop of a hat. Using the AGC will only give you strange volume dynamics in your final recording and will sound pretty weird. I'm not 100% sure the 3xx is the same as the 1xx here, but lowering the mic volume in the settings has no effect on the gain applied to the internal mic, so there'd be no point adjusting that.

So like I said, if you want to tape music, you really do have to run some kind of external mic, which will allow you to adjust the gain level, and which (in theory) should be a little less sensitive to overload than the internal one. I recorded several gigs in my early days with a PC mic, with surprisingly good results.

Hope that helps.




EDIT: Just noticed that this thread has now had over 10,000 views. *gets behind bar* Drinks on the house!

[christopherw]

I'll have two please

[queenieformule]

Thanks alot! It did help! I will start shopping around and see how far I can get my money to stretch for that ext mic. Enjoy your drinks...you earned them!

[queenieformule]

Ok Chris, thanks for the tips...I will just have to test them out. I never heard my drive at all that I know of...but I don't know if it was other things that I was hearing and could not hear that issue above everything else. I would rate the entire recording at a 65 the best being a 100. But that is just me personally. I will have to figure out how to download a snippit for ya'll to hear...as long as I have everybody's promise and cross your heart that you will not fall to the ground laughing or pointing or anything like that...lol I am teasing.

[WristBandMan]

heyhey

finally back at MisticRiver!
and
i've finally got around to using the recording function of my H140.
I'm currently using it for recording lectures.

I've tested both using internal mic & external mic (the stock one).

For internal mic case, I receive a satisfactory volume level with it.
The background noise is not a problem for me since the class quiets down once the lecture starts.
But, the hard disc spin is kinda annoying since it comes up pretty often.
using 192kbps MP3, it comes up every 2 minutes.

For external mic case, the harddisc spin sound is eliminated -- but i needed to crank up the volume considerably when playing back the recorded lecture.

Any hints to rectify this problem I'm having?
Basically I want the volume level of recording with external mic, but without the hdd spin noise.
so i guess i should make it easy for those who are gonna answer this by posing these questions:

1. If using external mic to record, can we control the volume level recorded somehow? For example, if i put the volume up then recording, and if i put the volume to 20 then recording, will there be difference in the volume level when playing back?
(nope, pls don't tell me to get 3rd party mic, cause i'm stingy heheh, and please don't ask me to stick the mic on the lecturer's collar haha)

2. What kbps of mp3 is good enough for lecture recording? I I realized 192 is defintely wasteful... so, from the faq, does 64kbps works well enough?
If for Q1 the answer is "no, the volume recorded is the same", then if recording with lower kbps will the hdd spin noise become less frequent?

Thanks for your time to read & answer this!

[framesaver]

Originally Posted by WristBandMan

Any hints to rectify this problem I'm having?
Basically I want the volume level of recording with external mic, but without the hdd spin noise.
so i guess i should make it easy for those who are gonna answer this by posing these questions:

1. If using external mic to record, can we control the volume level recorded somehow? For example, if i put the volume up then recording, and if i put the volume to 20 then recording, will there be difference in the volume level when playing back?
(nope, pls don't tell me to get 3rd party mic, cause i'm stingy heheh, and please don't ask me to stick the mic on the lecturer's collar haha)

2. What kbps of mp3 is good enough for lecture recording? I I realized 192 is defintely wasteful... so, from the faq, does 64kbps works well enough?
If for Q1 the answer is "no, the volume recorded is the same", then if recording with lower kbps will the hdd spin noise become less frequent?

Thanks for your time to read & answer this!

1. Simple enough, yes - There's an option in the settings to increase the gain of the external mic: settings > record > ext. mic volume > slider between 0 & 20

For lectures you'd probably want to run that fairly high (15+) - This will drastically improve the levels at which you're recording.

2. For lectures, 64kbps is probably all you'll need.

[WristBandMan]

Originally Posted by framesaver

1. Simple enough, yes - There's an option in the settings to increase the gain of the external mic: settings > record > ext. mic volume > slider between 0 & 20

For lectures you'd probably want to run that fairly high (15+) - This will drastically improve the levels at which you're recording.

2. For lectures, 64kbps is probably all you'll need.

Thanks~! --After checking, I found out that it was already on 16 -- there something called AGC there.. will disabling that help~?

[HiredGoon]

Hey, I'm new to recording, and originally brought the H320 to record demos of my music. Mine came with the bundled external mic, and I've been using that for the past few months and have been impressed with its quality. It doesn't sound professional, but definately credible.

I'm looking into buying a new external lapel mic. Just as a guide, what are the specs I should look for in a good mic. My price max is US$50.00. How much better would this : http://www.microphonemadness.com/pro...laplapstyl.htm be than the bundled ext mic?

Sorry for being such a n00b, I look forward to hopefully contributing to this part of MisticRiver someday

Goony

[framesaver]

Well the first thing you'll want if you're recording music is a stereo mic - So the one you've posted is out. You could either go for these:



http://www.microphonemadness.com/pro...minbinster.htm (seperate mics so more flexible in their application) or these:



http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cg...tem/SP-SPSM-15

or the Skytronic mic referred to in the original part of the guide.

[mattdowning]

Hi All,

I've done a bit of field recording with my H140 using two different mics. The first is the Audio Technica ATR25, which costs around £40 and the second is a pair of home-made binaural mics.

I made the binaural set using the Panasonic WM-61A mic capsule, which is a tiny little mic (6mm) used in several of the sets which are commercially available, including the basic Core-Sound set. The specs are very good - with a ruler-flat frequency response. Noise is a bit higher than most good studio mics, but it's not a problem for recording a band, or gathering sound effects (like I do).

The really amazing thing about these mics is they cost less than £1 each, although the only place I found to buy them was http://www.digikey.com where there's a £30 fee for small orders, so it's worth buying a lot.

I chopped the ears off a pair of old headphones and soldered the mics to the exposed wires. If you're okay with a soldering iron, it's a really simple job. I also mounted the capsules in a short section of metal tubing for protection, but it's not necessary to do so.

There's not a lot more to explain, but a google search for "WM-61A" and "WM61A" will yield loads of DIY sites for these mics.

Cheers,
Matt

[DeadMan]

What's the point of high quality recording guides if there is this audio glitch on the iHp140's people keep going on about (HDD or something causing an audible skip in recording?)?

[framesaver]

Originally Posted by DeadMan

What's the point of high quality recording guides if there is this audio glitch on the iHp140's people keep going on about (HDD or something causing an audible skip in recording?)?

Well that's a little harsh - And it's not a 'skip' persay - It's a click that can be removed with the right tools. If you hold tight for a couple of days, a recording of mine is currently being approved for posting on archive.org - Then you'll see why some people like to use the iRiver as a recording deck.

Details here: http://www.archive.org/audio/etree-d...b.php?id=21992


And matt, thanks for the info on the home-made binaurals.

[DeadMan]

How frequent is the click?

[framesaver]

Originally Posted by DeadMan

How frequent is the click?

From the original guide posts:

H Series Live Recording Guide v1.0

[toolmanwill]

sweet Geoff, i can't wait to hear how the ihp's perform, all old links to samples on other posts are dead. I'll get my 1st real chance to record on April 23rd, i'm tapin Alicia Keys at Radio City Music Hall. can't wait!!

[framesaver]

For will et al. - The details of this show are now on this thread:

Show taped with H140 - Download from the Live Music Archive

Enjoy!

[rubadub]

The yoga em-8 mic is on sale in maplin at the moment.
€16 in ireland
£10 in the uk

[Direwolf]

Originally Posted by framesaver

Well that's a little harsh - And it's not a 'skip' persay - It's a click that can be removed with the right tools.

What tools, and how do you remove it? I do a lot of live recording with my H140 and would love to get rid of that click click click.

[dashford]

Just wanted to report that I returned last week from a major music festival in Scotland, where I recorded dozens of hours of WAV files on my H140. The results are, in a word, astonishing.

I used the custom-made eyeglass "croakie" mount available from soundprofessionals.c om. It uses a pair of Audio Technica AT350 omni-directional microphones. I had the mics tucked just in front of my ears (as opposed to all the way up to the lenses), so they're essentially unnoticable. Setting the mic level midway at 10 was fine for most all types of venues except churches (actually a cathedral), where I bumped it up to 12. Beautiful stereo, very clear recordings. I'll never settle for less now.

[framesaver]

Originally Posted by Direwolf

What tools, and how do you remove it? I do a lot of live recording with my H140 and would love to get rid of that click click click.

Cool Edit's 'Pop and Click Remover', or the commercial plugin for it - 'ClickFix'. The latter is much quicker, but both do a good job at making the click inaudible.

[christopherw]

Yes, that's alright - but it's manipulating the audio outside the original waveform, which is something I try to avoid. It blurs the preceding frames before the problem area of the waveform (and those after the problem) into the affected area to produce the treated result. It's very useful if there's no other way of getting the audio again - but then, I wouldn't use the iRiver for any recordings where audio fidelity is an absolute must-have, as the player's Analogue-to-Digital converter seems to just ignore lots of lower-frequency bass, which ruins the sound of any good quality recording (especially bass-reliant music such as Drum & Bass). One of the most disappointing letdowns for me, unfortunately I don't have a deck with an optical output so I can't see if a straight-digital recording would bypass the bass problem AND the click problem =/ Anybody else out there tried recording using direct optical connection, and they don't get any clicking or loss of bass?