"Stephen Cheung" wrote in message
om...
Hi all,

I am new to this group and have a few questions regarding recording my
own piano CD using my computer.

It is actually my dad, who have played the piano for 40 years, wants
to produce some CD as presents to his friends. Last night I tried to
use my computer to record his performance. Quality is acceptable, but
I have a few questions:

1) I used only a very cheap microphone to do the recording and it is
connected to the "mic" input of the sound card. The recorded sound
always seems too low unless I amplify it using a sound software. Is
there any other good way to do this?

My suggestion would be to get a decent microphone and a small mixer with
microphone inputs. Hook the mics into the mixer, and the mixer into the line
input of the sound card. The mixer should have some gain circuitry that can
be adjusted to bring the volume level up to where you want it. It might also
have a headphone output, which might allow for easier monitoring, etc.
Additionally, you could experiment with using multiple mics.

The 'mic' input on a sound card is generally a no-no for any sort of even
semi-serious recording, for various reasons.

I'd also suggest, if you haven't already, searching around on the web for a
guide on micing pianos. You could be losing volume and dynamics from poor
placement of the mic as well.

Finally, assuming you're using Windows, check the recording properties of
the volume applet and make sure that your 'mic' input is set to its max
volume and no other inputs are selected. If there's a master recording
volume, kick that up too.

2) Should I borrow a Mini Disc recorder from my friends to do the
recording, and transfer the data into the computer later? How to do
this? How is the sound quality?

The MD recorder might not be a bad idea, depending on whether your computer
has a digital optical input compatible with the output the MD recorder
presumbly has.

Recording into a computer can be something of a pain. The computer itself
presents a lot of noise, both of the audible and EMI/RFI variety. So when
you record into the computer, your mic not only picks up the background
noise of hard drives and fans, but the sound card picks up a lot of
interference from inside the computer as well, and both of these will likely
be audible on the recording (especially if you're having to boost the volume
of the recording in software). One way to work around this is to use
something like a MD recorder, and then transfer your recording digitally to
the computer over an optical link. The MD recorder is hopefully less noisy
to begin with, and the digital transfer over the optical connection should
be pretty clean as well. This of course would require a sound card with a
compatible digital input, though.


3) After the recording, I would need to save the file. The software
allows me to save in too many formats, and I don't know which one
should be using if I were to put it on to a CD and let most CD players
to play them. Should I save it in wav format? Which wav format is
right (there are 8 or 10 wav formats!!) I only tried to save them as
mp3, since that is the only format the CD burning software would
recognise to convert into CD audio. I tried a few wav format but the
CD software ("Ahead Nero", actually) couldn't recognise them at all.

Yes, wav would be best. I think the 44.1 kHz 16-bit stereo PCM format is
what Nero would look for, though I'm not really sure.

If you're burning to CD, avoid saving anything as an MP3, as there will be a
reduction in quality.


4) Further to question 3, the first experimental CD I made could only
be played in my mini-hi-fi that has specified as "CD/RW playback". How
can I make it so that it could be played in even normal CD players?

I would assume that you didn't close the disk when you were finished
recording. There should be an option for that. Something along the lines of
"Close this disk? Closing the disk will prevent you from adding further
tracks or erasing data." Something along those lines anyway. Probably best
to check the Nero help.

That said, some CD players are just bitchy about playing any sort of
home-burnt CD


Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!

Stephen