I want to record a 2-hour interview and store the material in WAV
format. Eventually, the sound files will be incorporated into a DV AVI
using Adobe Premiere Pro.

My existing tools (prefer not to invest in anything new) are...

Softwa Sony Sound Forge 7 and Adobe Audition 1.5 available (not much
personal experience with either of these however).

Hardwa Shure SM58 microphone (alternatively clip-on Vivanco EM116
with pre-amp), Windows XP notebook with on-board sound card (mic
input), external firewire HDD drive 80GB

I intend to use the software to record the WAV files to the external
HDD.

(1) Would Sound Forge and Audition be equally appropriate for this
application? I don't know if either crashes when recording large WAV
files.

(2) Can anyone suggest suitable bit-depth and sample rate settings for
speech (mono recording)? I don't need CD quality but something a bit
better than VHS perhaps.

Any other tips?

At a push, I could record to audio cassette tape and convert to WAV
afterwards but this seems to add another layer of work and degredation
in quality.

Many thanks

wrote in message
ups.com...
I want to record a 2-hour interview and store the material in WAV
format. Eventually, the sound files will be incorporated into a DV AVI
using Adobe Premiere Pro.

My existing tools (prefer not to invest in anything new) are...

Softwa Sony Sound Forge 7 and Adobe Audition 1.5 available (not much
personal experience with either of these however).

Hardwa Shure SM58 microphone (alternatively clip-on Vivanco EM116
with pre-amp), Windows XP notebook with on-board sound card (mic
input), external firewire HDD drive 80GB

I intend to use the software to record the WAV files to the external
HDD.

(1) Would Sound Forge and Audition be equally appropriate for this
application? I don't know if either crashes when recording large WAV
files.

(2) Can anyone suggest suitable bit-depth and sample rate settings for
speech (mono recording)? I don't need CD quality but something a bit
better than VHS perhaps.

Any other tips?

At a push, I could record to audio cassette tape and convert to WAV
afterwards but this seems to add another layer of work and degredation
in quality.

Many thanks

Either software should be fine. (It has been a long time since I used Sound
Forge, so my advice may suck.) Do you want to record both the interviewee
and the interviewer? If so, you will be better off with an omni pattern
hand-held microphone, which will be much more forgiving than the SM58. I'm
assuming that the interviewer will point the mic alternately at him(her)self
and at the interviewee. If all you are interested in recording is the
interviewee, then the clip-on mic might be a better choice. I'm unfamiliar
with the model you cite. You'll have to be the judge of its quality. As
far as bit-depth--- 16 bit should be the minimum. 24-bit seems overkill for
this. Do some experiments to determine if a sample rate of 22 kHz meets
your sound quality requirements. Of course, you will have to upsample to
48kHz at some point to match the DV AVI standards of 16 bit/48kHz. Finally,
I would strongly urge you to save the audio file freqently during the
recording. Stuff goes wrong. It would be a shame to have the software or
computer crash toward the end of the interview losing everything. Just pick
your save times appropriately, when they take a drink of water, decide to
repeat a question and answer, etc. At each save I would create a new file:
Int 1, Int 2, etc.

Steve King

wrote:
I want to record a 2-hour interview and store the material in WAV
format.

My existing tools (prefer not to invest in anything new) are...
Softwa Sony Sound Forge 7 and Adobe Audition 1.5 available (not much
personal experience with either of these however).

Either one will do just fine.

Hardwa Shure SM58 microphone (alternatively clip-on Vivanco EM116
with pre-amp), Windows XP notebook with on-board sound card (mic
input), external firewire HDD drive 80GB

(1) Would Sound Forge and Audition be equally appropriate for this
application? I don't know if either crashes when recording large WAV
files.

There's a Windows limit of 2 GB for a WAV file (scholars differen on
the number, but not on that there's a size limit) A two-hour recording
at 16 bits, 44.1 kHz stereo is about 1.5 GB, so that's under the limit.
However, you can record mono if you're using a single mic for both the
interviewer and the subject. If you're using one mic for each, you
probably should record stereo. Just as a matter of practicality and
management of files, I'd recommend that you take a break to pee or
refill the coffee cups after about an hour, save that recording as a
file, and start a new file for the second hour.

(2) Can anyone suggest suitable bit-depth and sample rate settings for
speech (mono recording)? I don't need CD quality but something a bit
better than VHS perhaps.

You might as well go with 16-bit 44.1 kHz. Anything else might give you
problems or decisions you don't know how to make when working on the
DVD.

Any other tips?

Bypass your computer's internal audio hardware and use an outboard
interface. Something modesl like a TASCAM US-122 will let you control
the record level with a real knob, give you a headphone monitor if you
want to check quality before you get started, and will accommodate your
SM58 as well as just about any "pro" mic without adapters. The SM58
wouldn't be my choice for such an interview since it tends to sound
pretty think unless it's very close to the speaker's mouth, but there
are so many choices that I would be hesitatnt to recommend anything
without knowing that you had a budget and how the interview will be
conducted.

Audition should work fine. If mono, then be sure to choose mono, and maybe
22 kHz sample rate. That will make the total file size of a 2-hour
interview equal to the 30-minute audio files that I record all the time.

As you've no doubt learned already, computer microphones are different from
tape recorder or PA microphones. You'll need a preamp (into the line-in
input) if you use the latter type of microphone, which is what I recommend
doing.

Just a thought, if you are going to be synching the audio with the
video in Premiere, would it be best to record the audio as 48khz 16bit?
This is something I have wondered about in the past, will the synching
start to drift over a period of time if the original is not recorded as
48khz?

-Andrew V. Romero

If you record 16 bit, 48kHz, you won't have to convert it for video -- one
extra step saved. Record in stereo if you have a separate mic for the
interviewer.

Audition has a useful featu if it crashes, you don't usually lose what
you've already recorded. Their "resume session" gets you back where you
were, and you can save the file and get going again.

I concur with Mike suggestion that you schedule in a bathroom break an hour
into the interview, save the file and start a new one.

Peace,
Paul

Paul Stamler wrote:
If you record 16 bit, 48kHz, you won't have to convert it for video -- one
extra step saved.

I knew there was a good reason for 48 kHz in there somewhere. Thanks
for reminding us.

Mike Rivers wrote:
Paul Stamler wrote:
If you record 16 bit, 48kHz, you won't have to convert it for video
-- one extra step saved.

I knew there was a good reason for 48 kHz in there somewhere. Thanks
for reminding us.

If using a decent app for the video, it wouldn't matter ( Vegas ;-) )

geoff

wrote:
I want to record a 2-hour interview and store the material in WAV
format. Eventually, the sound files will be incorporated into a DV AVI
using Adobe Premiere Pro.

Don't know that clip-on, but it may be easier to talk into for long periods
than a hand-held or stand mic. If 'interactive interview', you may need two
individual mics, or a central omni mic. Otherwise there will be infuriating
handling noises all through.


(1) Would Sound Forge and Audition be equally appropriate for this
application? I don't know if either crashes when recording large WAV
files.

They should be equally capable. But are both limited to a max WAV filesize
of 2GB. This should not be a problem for you for 2 hours, especially at
mono.

(2) Can anyone suggest suitable bit-depth and sample rate settings for
speech (mono recording)? I don't need CD quality but something a bit
better than VHS perhaps.

I suggest that 32KHz should be adequate, but experiment and see. If you use
Sony Vegas to edit your video, the source audio can be any bitdepth or
sample rate, can't remember about Premiere.

Any other tips?

Also check laptop noise issue when running off battery versus running off
mains ( PSU bazz ?) especially if using an onboard (yuk) soundcard or
USB/FireWire laptop-powered interface.


At a push, I could record to audio cassette tape and convert to WAV
afterwards but this seems to add another layer of work and degredation
in quality.

For sure !

geoff

"Geoff@home" wrote in message
...
Mike Rivers wrote:
Paul Stamler wrote:
If you record 16 bit, 48kHz, you won't have to convert it for video
-- one extra step saved.

I knew there was a good reason for 48 kHz in there somewhere. Thanks
for reminding us.

If using a decent app for the video, it wouldn't matter ( Vegas ;-) )

Might not make much difference in quality (although I have yet to hear a
sample rate conversion that wasn't audible), but why set yourself the extra
work when storage space is so cheap?

Peace,
Paul

Prior to all quality concerns of sample rate, microphone handling noise
and similar issues you should DEFINITELY avoid the "mic in" of your
laptop soundcard. In almost any model it's buzzing like a bee hive!

Even "line in" is not clean usually. As suggested by others and strongly
emphasised by me: buy borrow or s**** an external USB/Firewire device
with decent inputs and XLR plugs.

Good luck!
:-J

16 bit, 48000Hz to sync with the video.

That's a top tip. Thank you.


Paul Stamler wrote:
If you record 16 bit, 48kHz, you won't have to convert it for video -- one
extra step saved. Record in stereo if you have a separate mic for the
interviewer.

Audition has a useful featu if it crashes, you don't usually lose what
you've already recorded. Their "resume session" gets you back where you
were, and you can save the file and get going again.

I concur with Mike suggestion that you schedule in a bathroom break an hour
into the interview, save the file and start a new one.

Peace,
Paul

"Paul Stamler" wrote in message
...
If you record 16 bit, 48kHz, you won't have to convert it for video -- one
extra step saved. Record in stereo if you have a separate mic for the
interviewer.

And if you don't, buy one.

Audition has a useful featu if it crashes, you don't usually lose what
you've already recorded. Their "resume session" gets you back where you
were, and you can save the file and get going again.

As does Sound Forge and most other good software.

I concur with Mike suggestion that you schedule in a bathroom break an
hour
into the interview, save the file and start a new one.

I do that when I change DV tape anyway.

MrT.

"Paul Stamler" wrote in message
...
Might not make much difference in quality (although I have yet to hear a
sample rate conversion that wasn't audible),

Really? I haven't heard SRC problems for many years, unless someone has done
something particularly stupid of course.

MrT.

whatever you do especially if it uses a computer, and the recording is
important..

plan for a way to be making a simultaneous fail safe backup recording
to minidisc or something

Mark

Paul Stamler wrote:
"Geoff@home" wrote in message
...
Mike Rivers wrote:
Paul Stamler wrote:
If you record 16 bit, 48kHz, you won't have to convert it for video
-- one extra step saved.

I knew there was a good reason for 48 kHz in there somewhere. Thanks
for reminding us.

If using a decent app for the video, it wouldn't matter ( Vegas ;-)
)

Might not make much difference in quality (although I have yet to
hear a sample rate conversion that wasn't audible), but why set
yourself the extra work when storage space is so cheap?

Don't think potential extremely subtle SRC artifacts ( I can't hear them)
are a factor here. Filesize is a potential factor though.

However a bathroom break while start a new file anyway.....

geoff

Using an external audio interface seems like an excellent idea. Thanks
for that advice!

The US-122 does have mic PreAmps! I´m not sure about that small Vivanco mic,
but you might think about a second SM58 - if you don´t want to buy one, it
should not be too big trouble to borrow one from a friend or rent one from a
PA rental service for little money.
One of my friends had the US-122 for a while, since he explicitly wanted a
mobile interface, and couldn´t get it working properly on 2 desktop
computers. I don´t remember clearly, what the problem exactly was, but it
seems to be somewhat picky about the USB implementation on the mainboard.
Thus, it would be a good idea to get one in advance and check, if it works
with your notebook. The hardware is of good and stable quality, only the
software side seems to be

Sorry, I don´t have experience with the M-Audio MobilePre. According to the
specs, the US-122 seems more flexible, as it supports up to 24bit and 44,1
khz + 48 khz opposed to 16bit and 48 khz in the MobilePre.
My friend now has one of the M-Audio Oxygen USB keyboards with built-in mic
PreAmp and this works well with his new PC system (about 2 months old
now)...


Good luck with your recording,

Phil

Anyone have any experience trying to synch audio other than 48khz with
vide? To me it seems like the audio would start to drift from the
video since it wasn't recorded at the right sampling rate. I am not
exactly sure how computers change the sampling rate, but i assume it as
to add "frames" or what ever the audio equipvalent of frames is to the
wave file, so it seems this would make the audio drift out of synch
over a period of time. I haven't tried this yet , but next time I do
video I was going to try recording at a rate of 44.1khz, and wasn't
sure if I should expect problems with synching.

Thanks for any tips,
Andrew

writes:

I want to record a 2-hour interview and store the material in WAV
format. Eventually, the sound files will be incorporated into a DV AVI
using Adobe Premiere Pro.

My existing tools (prefer not to invest in anything new) are...

Softwa Sony Sound Forge 7 and Adobe Audition 1.5 available (not much
personal experience with either of these however).

Hardwa Shure SM58 microphone (alternatively clip-on Vivanco EM116
with pre-amp), Windows XP notebook with on-board sound card (mic
input), external firewire HDD drive 80GB


One note. Check the compatibility of the microphones you have
and the notebook on-board sound card.

Basically the sound car microphone inputs are designed for
those cheap multimedia microphones in mind. Usually they
are not direcly compatible with other microphones, or do
not work well with them.

Usually different kind of electret microphones can be wired
to PC sound card in a way or another and work acceptably.
Needed wirign depends on used microphone.

Usually the dynamic microphones when wired to PC soundcard
mic input give you very low (unuseably low soudn level
and noisy). Shure SM58 microphone is a dynamic microphone.
Shure SM58 is a good microphone for PA applications, but
not not suitable to be used directly with many PC sound cards.

--
Tomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/)
Take a look at my electronics web links and documents at
http://www.epanorama.net/

wrote:

Anyone have any experience trying to synch audio other than 48khz
with vide? To me it seems like the audio would start to drift from
the video since it wasn't recorded at the right sampling rate.
I am not exactly sure how computers change the sampling rate, but i
assume it as to add "frames" or what ever the audio equipvalent of
frames is to the wave file, so it seems this would make the audio
drift out of synch over a period of time. I haven't tried this yet,
but next time I do video I was going to try recording at a rate of
44.1khz, and wasn't sure if I should expect problems with synching.



A second is always exactly one second long, whether you sample the audio
44100 times during that period or 48000 times. You're altering the
contents of the file, not the speed of time.

Any drift will be the result of separate devices each running on their
own crystal with no common reference, but it will be so slight as to be
insignificant. You can always tighten up at any edit point if you need
to anyway.

If you're marrying the audio to picture it's going to have to wind up at
48K at some point, so you might as well just record it that way from the
git go.

--
"It CAN'T be too loud... some of the red lights aren't even on yet!"
- Lorin David Schultz
in the control room
making even bad news sound good

(Remove spamblock to reply)

wrote:
Anyone have any experience trying to synch audio other than 48khz with
vide? To me it seems like the audio would start to drift from the
video since it wasn't recorded at the right sampling rate. I am not
exactly sure how computers change the sampling rate, but i assume it
as to add "frames" or what ever the audio equipvalent of frames is to
the wave file, so it seems this would make the audio drift out of
synch over a period of time. I haven't tried this yet , but next
time I do video I was going to try recording at a rate of 44.1khz,
and wasn't sure if I should expect problems with synching.


In Vegas, which is a preminent video editing app as well as audio
multitracker/mixer, you can mix and match any audio file-types, sampling
rates, and bit-depths as you wish, as audio tracks. These are converted
on-the-fly in realtime, without SRC artifacts ( the quality level is
selectable should CPU horsepower be lacking).

Of course this relates to audio added to the video after the fact. If you
have slippy AV from the video, that will be a problem even if same sample
rate, if not locked somehow.

geoff

Philipp Wachtel wrote:
The US-122 does have mic PreAmps!

The US-122 doesn't have a 1/8 in. mic input jack though, whereas the
MobilePre does. I thought (mistakenly perhaps) that the 1/4 in. jacks
on the US-122 were for low impedance (200 ohm) microphones and I wasn't
sure if I could simply connect the 1/8 in. plug from my clip-on Vivanco
microphone (1K impedance) through an adaptor into the 1/4 in. jack.

One of my friends had the US-122 for a while, since he explicitly wanted a
mobile interface, and couldn´t get it working properly on 2 desktop
computers. I don´t remember clearly, what the problem exactly was, butit
seems to be somewhat picky about the USB implementation on the mainboard.

My notebook p.c. is 5 years old (Dell Inspiron, Windows 2000, 512MB
RAM) and I wonder whether it's "man enough" for either the US-122 or
MobilePre. As an alternative to an external USB interface, I might
simply get a preamp (so that I can connect the Vivanco into the pc's
line input) and live with the hiss.

Good luck with your recording,

Appreciate your comments, Phil.

Philipp Wachtel wrote:
The US-122 does have mic PreAmps!

The US-122 doesn't have a 1/8 in. mic input jack though,

You might buy or make a simple adaptor from 1/8" jack to XLR male, if you
really want to use the small Vivanco electret. There adaptors for 1/4" to
XLR, so it´s worth a try to look for one with 1/8" jack.

MobilePre does. I thought (mistakenly perhaps) that the 1/4 in. jacks
on the US-122 were for low impedance (200 ohm) microphones and I
wasn't sure if I could simply connect the 1/8 in. plug from my
clip-on Vivanco microphone (1K impedance) through an adaptor into the
1/4 in. jack.

The impedance match might be a problem, though. If you have the spare parts
around to make an adaptor as described above, put them together and try, how
it works.
Anyway, the better choice would probably be to get a second mic from the
"XLR category".

My notebook p.c. is 5 years old (Dell Inspiron, Windows 2000, 512MB
RAM) and I wonder whether it's "man enough" for either the US-122 or
MobilePre.

The only secure way to check that out, would be a test. Do you maybe know
someone, who has either one? Then, you could borrow it for a test.
My friend had an AthlonXP1800+, 512 MB RAM, nforce2 mainboard and now a
3,4 ? 64bit Pentium + Intel 915 chipset, 1 or 2 GB RAM - that both the
US-122 didn´t work properly on.
Generally, consider upgrading to Windows XP - runs much smoother for DAW
stuff than Win2000...

As an alternative to an external USB interface, I might
simply get a preamp (so that I can connect the Vivanco into the pc's
line input) and live with the hiss.

Either a preamp - preferrably a stereo one or two mono preamps - or a small
mixer with 2 mic channels. For example, the one of the small Behringer
mixers (with XLR and 1/4" jacks) would probably be sufficient and
additionally enable you to EQ the sound a little before entering the onboard
soundcard.
Simply pan both mics hard, so you get mic1=ch1 and mic2=ch2 to get 2 mono
signal through the main outs.
This should work in any case and also save you money compared to a USB sound
device. On the downside, the sound quality will be worse - but perhaps even
sufficient for the job.
And there´s the chance of "mixing" the files after the recording is done...
Here goes as well, try and see, if you can get a small pre or mixer to check
in advance, how it sounds.
BTW: did you use the notebook´s Line-In for recording before?

Whatever way you choose, good luck! ;-)


Phil

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 11:02:24 -0500, Mike Rivers wrote
(in article om):

think

Ah, the perfect blend of thick and thin!

Ty

-- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
stuff are at www.tyford.com

"Mr.T" wrote ...
"Paul Stamler" wrote ...
Might not make much difference in quality (although I have
yet to hear a sample rate conversion that wasn't audible),

Really? I haven't heard SRC problems for many years, unless
someone has done something particularly stupid of course.

Depends on the program material, how critical it is, how you
are listening to it ($1000 monitors vs. a 3-inch TV speaker),
etc. etc. etc.

If you can make the choice when recording, there is no good
reason to rely on SRC when you aren't forced to.

rrstudio2 wrote ...
Anyone have any experience trying to synch audio other
than 48khz with vide?

Yes, I do. It doesn't really matter whether it is 44.1 or 48K
sample rate. The problems remain the same. Not to say that
they are *significant* problems in many/most cases.

To me it seems like the audio would start to drift from the
video since it wasn't recorded at the right sampling rate.

The recordings will drift simply because of the nature of the
crystals used in all modern electronic equipment. Even the
inexpensive ones are rather good, but NONE are perfect, even
the most expensive. Unless your camcorder and audio
recorder are both synced to the National Institute of Standards
or to the GPS satellite constellation, they will drift apart
over time. (Connecting them to each other is actually the
more practical and preferred method of synchronization. :-)

In practice, for short (10 minutes or less) shots, I wouldn't
worry about sync(*). In modern non-linear editing methods,
it is pretty easy to sync an audio track to the matching video.
And even for long-form (30-60-90 minute) recordings, it
is no big deal to diddle the video and/or audio tracks to
pull them back into sync every few minutes in modern
NLE systems.

(*) I don't worry about sync when using MY equipment which
I know and have used before. I would surely not go into a
situation with untried equipment. Always run a test of your
rig, preferably under similar conditions (like outdoors in the
cold, etc.) before assuming that your camcorder and sound
recorder are behaving themselves.

I am not exactly sure how computers change the sampling
rate, but i assume it as to add "frames" or what ever the
audio equipvalent of frames is to the wave file,

Something like that.

so it seems this would make the audio drift out of synch
over a period of time.

Actually computer diddling with the sample rate, etc is
usually used to bring different tracks *back into sync*
when other factors have made them drift. Even big
multi-million dollar Hollywood productions have this
problem sometimes and computers are used to slide the
tracks back into sync with the picture.

I haven't tried this yet , but next time I do video I was
going to try recording at a rate of 44.1khz, and wasn't
sure if I should expect problems with synching.

I do both audio and video production. If the end product
is going to be audio (CDs, etc.) then I select 44.1 as the
sample rate. If I am recording audio for video, I select
48K simply to avoid any possible conversion artifacts.

Sync problems are a separate issue and have nothing to
do with the audio sampling rate. Both the 44.1K and the
48K sample rates are controlled by the *same* crystal
reference in the recorder.

wrote ...
My other microphone (Vivanco EM 116) is an inexpensive,
omnidirectional
electret condenser clip-on, which is useful in certain situations. It
is battery-powered and has 1K output impedance and mono 1/8 in jack. I
see that the US-122 does not have a 1/8 in. MIC input whereas a
similar
product, MAudio's MobilePre (http://tinyurl.com/jfvq9), does have a
microphone preamp.

I don't know anything about the sound quality of either product.

The "sound quality" will be affected *MUCH* more by the
microphones and how you use them than by the mic preamps
or the computer interfaces, etc.

Note that you can likely use a mini-to-1/4-inch phone plug
adapter to connect your little clip-on mic to most any of
those mic/instrument inputs.

wrote:

I thought (mistakenly perhaps) that the 1/4 in. jacks
on the US-122 were for low impedance (200 ohm) microphones

No, they're for high impedance guitar pickups. Actually, they're not so
high impedance, but they are designed for something with a higher
output level than your microphone, so they wouldn't do well as mic
inputs. Whack off the plug and replace it with an XLR.

One of my friends had the US-122 for a while, since he explicitly wanted a
mobile interface, and couldn´t get it working properly on 2 desktop
computers. I don´t remember clearly, what the problem exactly was, but it
seems to be somewhat picky about the USB implementation on the mainboard.

I reviewed the US-122 in Recording Magazine and it worked fine with the
two computers that I tried it with. The only problem I had with it was
with the phantom power when using it with my laptop. Turning on the
phantom power switch after it's plugged into the USB port (which is the
way you're supposed to do it) apparently drags down the supply voltage
on the USB port momentarily, which causes the US-122 to go off line.
Then you have to unplug the USB cable and plug it in again to get it to
reset itself. These things can get fussy about the USB chipset in your
computer and sometimes you can't tell if there's a problem until you
try. That's why dealers cheerfully take returns.

You can determine what USB chip your computer uses by right-clicking on
the My Computer icon, selecting Manage, then Device Manager, and
looking at the USB controller. I have a Dell Opticplex desktop that's
probably about the same age as your laptop that reports itself as Intel
82801AA. My Dell Inspiron desktop, which might be a notch later than
yours has an Intel 82801CA/CAB chip. And other than the phantom power
issue, both worked with the US-122.

My notebook p.c. is 5 years old (Dell Inspiron, Windows 2000, 512MB
RAM) and I wonder whether it's "man enough" for either the US-122 or
MobilePre.

I'd think so, but make sure you have enough disk space. Yours probably
has a 20 GB drive, and probably 4200 RPM, That's plenty of cojones for
2 tracks, but 16-bit 48 kHz stereo recording eats about 11 megabytes
per minute.

wrote ...

The US-122 doesn't have a 1/8 in. mic input jack though,
whereas the MobilePre does.

Note that the 1/8 in mic input on the MobilePre is *STEREO*
which precludes using it for the two separate microphones
you would need to do an interview properly.

I thought (mistakenly perhaps) that the 1/4 in. jacks on the
US-122 were for low impedance (200 ohm) microphones

1/4 in jacks are usually for high-impedance "instrument"
inputs.

and I wasn't sure if I could simply connect the 1/8 in. plug
from my clip-on Vivanco microphone (1K impedance)
through an adaptor into the 1/4 in. jack.

I would think that would work just fine. A low-impedance
source into a high-impedance input should be no problem.
The only potential issue might be that high-impedance inputs
are usually more sensitive, but I wouldn't anticipate an issue
in this situation.

One of my friends had the US-122 for a while, since
he explicitly wanted a mobile interface, and couldn´t
get it working properly on 2 desktop computers. I don´t
remember clearly, what the problem exactly was, but it
seems to be somewhat picky about the USB implementation
on the mainboard.

That appears to be the case with most/all USB audio
interface products. It may be that USB2 is less problematic
because of its higher speed(?)

My notebook p.c. is 5 years old (Dell Inspiron, Windows
2000, 512MB RAM) and I wonder whether it's "man enough"
for either the US-122 or MobilePre.

That is rather a sexist remark, don't you think? :-) Certainly
I would not buy anything I couldn't return if it does not play
nicely with your notebook PC.

As an alternative to an external USB interface, I might
simply get a preamp (so that I can connect the Vivanco
into the pc's line input) and live with the hiss.

Oh, I would NOT do that! You can certainly find a USB
audio product that will play with your notebook PC!
Besides, many (most?) notebook PCs do *NOT* have
line inputs. Only (mono) cheap/noisy mic inputs.

writes:
I want to record a 2-hour interview and store the
material in WAV format.

Never put all your eggs on one basket. Do you have that
saying in your part of the world? I start feeling anxious
after 30 minutes until I can close and save the audio file.
Besides, in many cases there are other factors like max
file size, etc, which prevent recordings of much over 1
hour. Not a good idea in any case. Take a break. Close
the file and make sure it is safely stored before resuming.

Eventually, the sound files will be incorporated into a
DV AVI using Adobe Premiere Pro.

Not clear whether this is sound only, or whether you are
also shooting video?

My existing tools (prefer not to invest in anything new) are...

Softwa Sony Sound Forge 7 and Adobe Audition 1.5
available (not much personal experience with either of
these however).

Either of these, or even cheap-ware like Total Recorder or
free-ware like Audacity should be able to handle this with
no problems.

Hardwa Shure SM58 microphone (alternatively clip-on
Vivanco EM116 with pre-amp),

Not sure what kind of interviewing you are doing?
Sit-down in a nice quiet environment, or chasing after
a celebrity/scoundrel along noisy city streets?

Most calm sit-down interviews you see on TV are using
clip-on mics (one for each person). If you are interviewing
random people in the street, the SM58 might be OK. The
SM58 does not seem like a suitable microphone for an
interview in a studio-like environment, IMHO.

In my part of the world I can buy a second clip-on mic for
$50US which will make a very large improvement on
how both people in the interview sound (because of having
individual mics)

Nobody will hear the difference between using a free
software and using a $500 software for recording. But
everyone will hear the difference between using even
cheap mics up close vs. rock-vocal mics (like the SM58)
improperly.

Windows XP notebook with on-board sound card (mic
input), external firewire HDD drive 80GB

I would certainly de-frag the notebook hard drive and use
something like "End-it-All" to kill off all those pesky little
background processes Windows loves to run. Of course,
NEVER disable virus protection while a computer is
connected to the internet. But then you should NOT be
connected to the network while doing this kind of recording.

The sound sections of notebook computers are notoriously
terrible. I would never think of using them unless it was
my last choice.

CD-quality (44.1K sample rate) audio is only ~10MB per
minute. I would certainly try to record to the internal hard
drive rather than depending on an external drive in the
field. OTOH, backing up the file to another drive after you
close and save it is an excellent idea.

wrote:
Anyone have any experience trying to synch audio other than 48khz with
vide? To me it seems like the audio would start to drift from the
video since it wasn't recorded at the right sampling rate. I am not
exactly sure how computers change the sampling rate, but i assume it as
to add "frames" or what ever the audio equipvalent of frames is to the
wave file, so it seems this would make the audio drift out of synch
over a period of time. I haven't tried this yet , but next time I do
video I was going to try recording at a rate of 44.1khz, and wasn't
sure if I should expect problems with synching.

No. The SRC is fine... if you record at 44.1 and resample to 48, and the
resampling algorithm is any good, it still will remain tight.

Modern digital technology makes wild sound much, much easier to deal with.
After all, what you really care about is that you are recording and playing
back at exactly the same rate.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Philipp Wachtel wrote:
Philipp Wachtel wrote:
The US-122 does have mic PreAmps!

The US-122 doesn't have a 1/8 in. mic input jack though,

You might buy or make a simple adaptor from 1/8" jack to XLR male, if you
really want to use the small Vivanco electret. There adaptors for 1/4" to
XLR, so it´s worth a try to look for one with 1/8" jack.

It's not as simple as that. The crappy 1/8" electret mikes want what
Sony calls "plug-in power" which is a DC offset of a couple volts across
the mike input. It will not go directly into any standard balanced mike
input.

It's possible to build some circuitry that will allow you to connect it
up to a balanced input. The September 2001 issue of Recording has an
article that I wrote, detailing three different designs and listing the
advantages and disadvantages of each.

My personal feeling is that anything that requires plug-in power is best
avoided. But you can make it work.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Scott Dorsey wrote:

It's not as simple as that. The crappy 1/8" electret mikes want what
Sony calls "plug-in power" which is a DC offset of a couple volts across
the mike input. It will not go directly into any standard balanced mike
input.

The mic that the poster described has a battery, so no plug-in power is
required. I told him to cut off the mini plug and wire it to an XLR so
he can use a real mic input.

"Richard Crowley" wrote in message
...
"Mr.T" wrote ...
"Paul Stamler" wrote ...
Might not make much difference in quality (although I have
yet to hear a sample rate conversion that wasn't audible),

Really? I haven't heard SRC problems for many years, unless
someone has done something particularly stupid of course.

Depends on the program material, how critical it is, how you
are listening to it ($1000 monitors vs. a 3-inch TV speaker),
etc. etc. etc.

Not at all, since the current ability to do high quality SRC exceeds the
performance of the best speakers ever made.

MrT.

Mr.T MrT@home wrote:
"Richard Crowley" wrote in message
...
"Mr.T" wrote ...
"Paul Stamler" wrote ...
Might not make much difference in quality (although I have
yet to hear a sample rate conversion that wasn't audible),

Really? I haven't heard SRC problems for many years, unless
someone has done something particularly stupid of course.

Depends on the program material, how critical it is, how you
are listening to it ($1000 monitors vs. a 3-inch TV speaker),
etc. etc. etc.

Not at all, since the current ability to do high quality SRC exceeds the
performance of the best speakers ever made.

It should now be possible to do completely transparent SRC.

Unfortunately some of the implementations out there leave something
to be desired.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
It should now be possible to do completely transparent SRC.

Unfortunately some of the implementations out there leave something
to be desired.

Of course, but even some of the free ones leave nothing to be desired, so
there is no excuse for using broken ones.

Here's a simple test, resample a wave file to a higher bit rate and then
back again. Invert the phase and mix it with the original wave file.
If you are left with only silence, then there is not much going wrong is
there?

MrT.

On 3/22/06 9:29 PM, in article , "Scott Dorsey"
wrote:


It should now be possible to do completely transparent SRC.


You're right Scott, it SHOULD be. Unfortunately, in reality it's not that
easy. Folks should read some of the SRC discussions on the mastering forums!

I myself have been less than completely happy with the state of SRC in my
system. I use the Sadie SRC to up-sample to double the incoming rate (44 to
88, 48 to 96) and use an outboard Z-sys SRC to come back down to 44.1.

I'm always a tiny bit disappointed when I get back down to 44.1 after
working all day in 88/96.

My understanding is that the Weiss SRC unit, as well as their new SARACON
software SRC, are top notch. Of course there are also top-grade SRC's from
DCS and Lavry. All it takes is money!


Allen
--
Allen Corneau
Mastering Engineer
Essential Sound Mastering
www.esmastering.com

Allen Corneau wrote:

My understanding is that the Weiss SRC unit, as well as their new SARACON
software SRC, are top notch. Of course there are also top-grade SRC's from
DCS and Lavry. All it takes is money!

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to do it just as well in software,
if you're willing to wait a while and give up doing it in realtime.

The problem is that many of the SRC systems out there just use a simple
comb filter as their low-pass. Sometimes without using all that many poles
too. So downsampling invariably has a little bit of low-level aliasing
issue.

Many of the higher grade systems actually use FIR low-pass filters before
decimation. This takes a lot of computational power, but works very well
without any group delay.

When people are given the choice of doing things fast or doing them with
good audio quality, invariably they choose the speed.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Scott Dorsey schrieb:

Allen Corneau wrote:

My understanding is that the Weiss SRC unit, as well as their new SARACON
software SRC, are top notch. Of course there are also top-grade SRC's from
DCS and Lavry. All it takes is money!

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to do it just as well in software,
if you're willing to wait a while and give up doing it in realtime.

Well, the Saracon is faster than real time, like 2 to 4 times quicker.



The problem is that many of the SRC systems out there just use a simple
comb filter as their low-pass. Sometimes without using all that many poles
too. So downsampling invariably has a little bit of low-level aliasing
issue.

Many of the higher grade systems actually use FIR low-pass filters before
decimation. This takes a lot of computational power, but works very well
without any group delay.

When people are given the choice of doing things fast or doing them with
good audio quality, invariably they choose the speed.

With today's raw computing power this tradeoff is becoming less an
issue. Like Saracon, fast and high quality.

Daniel

"Allen Corneau" wrote in message
...
On 3/22/06 9:29 PM, in article , "Scott
Dorsey"
wrote:


It should now be possible to do completely transparent SRC.


You're right Scott, it SHOULD be. Unfortunately, in reality it's not that
easy. Folks should read some of the SRC discussions on the mastering
forums!

I myself have been less than completely happy with the state of SRC in my
system. I use the Sadie SRC to up-sample to double the incoming rate (44
to
88, 48 to 96) and use an outboard Z-sys SRC to come back down to 44.1.

I'm always a tiny bit disappointed when I get back down to 44.1 after
working all day in 88/96.

My understanding is that the Weiss SRC unit, as well as their new SARACON
software SRC, are top notch. Of course there are also top-grade SRC's from
DCS and Lavry. All it takes is money!


Allen
--
Allen Corneau
Mastering Engineer
Essential Sound Mastering
www.esmastering.com


How do the SRC Comparisons shown in this web site relate to real world
experience? For instance the results for Adobe Audition compared with Weiss
SFC-2 and SARACON?

http://src.infinitewave.ca/

Steve King