Taperssection.com

Gear / Technical Help => Post-Processing, Computer / Streaming / Internet Devices & Related Activity => Topic started by: eeyore5251976 on December 05, 2004, 01:08:13 PM

Title: what equipment, programs, and set up are used to record w/ a laptop?
Post by: eeyore5251976 on December 05, 2004, 01:08:13 PM

all the info i can get would be helpfull

Title: Re: what equipment, programs, and set up are used to record w/ a laptop?
Post by: F.O.Bean on December 05, 2004, 01:28:00 PM

those are very broad questuions,a nd there are mnay options, we need to know budget first and foremost

the seacrh function is you friend

http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/index.php?action=search;advanced

Title: Re: what equipment, programs, and set up are used to record w/ a laptop?
Post by: eeyore5251976 on December 05, 2004, 09:44:46 PM

i really have no idea what would be a good deal i'm could spent about $400 for mic stand and cables.  What program on the copmuter would you use to record shows and convert them.  I am famillier with mkw, flac files ect from trading and collecting shows.  I got this new laptop and figured i might as well use it for some fun stuff too.

Title: Re: what equipment, programs, and set up are used to record w/ a laptop?
Post by: mirth on December 05, 2004, 11:46:46 PM

cdwave is quasi-free software & works well for recording in the field.

For mics I'd suggest perhaps a pair of Superluxes, Studio Project C-4's, or AKG C1000s. ($200-$300/pair)

You will need a preamp that provides phantom power plus has a USB output so it can connect to the lappie... The obvious choice is an Edirol UA-5. You can find them new & used on eBay for right around $200. Around here they'll more often be in the $230+ range due to modifications that allow the UA-5 to be run without a computer attached.

If you're going to be recording the types of bands that usually have a couple tapers at the show then you may be better of getting a Vxpocket V2 or Vxpocket 440, provided your laptop has a PCMCIA interface, and just patch off of various people's sources. This will allow you to save a little money to start, plus you can get a sense of the kind of sound you like, which microphone brands/models, etc.

HTH,
Al

Title: Re: what equipment, programs, and set up are used to record w/ a laptop?
Post by: Tall Adam on December 05, 2004, 11:57:32 PM

i record with audacity (www.audacity.sourceforge.com) which is free and can be downloaded from that site. very basic and simple for recording. also free but less simple is Kristal (http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/index.php?section=news). this is modeled after a protools or cubase type multitrack recording program. advantages of kristal is it writes directly to wave (as the other not so free programs do as well) which audacity does not. This is a good thing to have incase your computer crashes, youll still have a recording up till that point. (audacity writes to a proprietary format which cannot be recreated after a crash, but with the newest version i havent had a single crash so i still trust audacity.)

as far as post production type stuff, i switch to Adobe Audition (formerly known as Cool Edit Pro) which costs about 150 (but i hear that it can be downloaded for free on something called torrent sites  ;)). i use audition for fade in/outs and resampling and dithering (24/96->16/44.1).

from there, i load the files into CDWav (http://etree.org/cdwave.html) which almost everyone here uses for tracking. very simple and also free. the newest version can export directly to FLAC which is a great tool as well. i always track the 16 bit files first and then save the cue sheets and use them to track the 24 bit afterwards (16 first so that they are split on sector boundaries for CD burning).

from there its all pretty much software that anyone whos traded shows digitally should know already.

also, i have a variety of other audio applications on here (2 cubases, some other free stuff) but i rarely use any of it other than audacity and audition. just like to stick with what i know, but i keep the others around incase something goes wrong in the other 2.

good luck, hope that helped. +t for laptop taping :-)

Title: Re: what equipment, programs, and set up are used to record w/ a laptop?
Post by: Tall Adam on December 06, 2004, 12:05:30 AM

Quote from: mirth on December 05, 2004, 11:46:46 PM

For mics I'd suggest perhaps a pair of Superluxes, Studio Project C-4's, or AKG C1000s. ($200-$300/pair)

my c1000s may be up for sale soon if you want c1000s. not sure yet though...

Title: Re: what equipment, programs, and set up are used to record w/ a laptop?
Post by: eeyore5251976 on December 06, 2004, 11:28:41 AM

thanks guys that helps alot I'm going to be asking santa(girlfriend) for some stuff for christmas and will probly have some mor questions as i get roling but thanks agian for giving me some info to get this thing rolling.

Title: Re: what equipment, programs, and set up are used to record w/ a laptop?
Post by: peeeper on December 11, 2004, 01:14:26 AM

Quote

(24/96->16/44.1)

GQJSP, what's your source?

Title: Re: what equipment, programs, and set up are used to record w/ a laptop?
Post by: Tall Adam on December 11, 2004, 01:40:51 AM

my usual header on info files looks like this:

Source: AKG C1000s (XY) > Edirol UA-5 (no mods) > IBM T41 (1.7g, P4 Centrino) > Audacity 1.2.2 (24/96) > WAV
Conversion:
   16-bit: CoolEdit 2000 (Fade in/out, 24/96>16/44.1, Shaped Gaussian Dither, Noise Shaping (44.1)) > CDWav > Flac Frontend 1.7.1 (level 5)
   24-bit: CoolEdit 2000 (Fade in/out) > CDWav > Flac Frontend 1.7.1 (level 5)


edit: CE2k is now Adobe Audition 1.5, i no longer use CE2k but theyre essentially the same

Title: Re: what equipment, programs, and set up are used to record w/ a laptop?
Post by: creekfreak on December 11, 2004, 09:04:22 AM

Wave Lab 5.0 rocks for recording on a lappie....I also use a m-audio firewire audiophile to get my V3 connected to the lappie