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K-Bat · Dec 3, 2004, 01:18 AM

I need your help! I'll be conducting many interviews over the next two weeks during my research trip. Instead of using a traditional tape recorder, I thought I'd try digital recording this time. So I borrowed a microphone (PZM microphone by Realistic, it says) and a DAT recorder for this purpose, but it occurred to me that I might be able to directly record on my PB (15" 1.5 ghz running 10.3.6) by just using the microphone, bypassing the DAT recorder. But, how do I do it? Two specific issues:

I inserted the microphone cable into the audio in, but it seems the audio input level is extremely low. I found this out in the Sound Preference window's audio level meter. It doesn't show any sound level unless I tap the microphone rather hard with my hand...my voice doesn't get picked up at all. Am I missing something? This is my first issue.

The second issue is, I have no idea which program to use. I heard that Office 2004 has an audio recording function, but I'm still using Office v. X. Is there a free program good for this kind of use (simple voice recording)?

I'll be leaving for my interview trip on Sunday, so I'd appreciate quick responses! Thanks in advance!

Mohammed Al-Sabah · Dec 3, 2004, 02:46 AM

it can be done, but you should use the old way for now, untill your used to rec via your PB, u dont wanna screw up in the middle of the intrview.. plus from what i know it takes alot of space doing that. i hope you have enough MB's on your HD.. there are alot of Software recorders out there that save it directy as MP3. a simple one out there that i have used alot is "Audio Recorder" give it a shot,

about the sound lvl, chk the mic that may be your problem.

hope this helps

farmerjnz · Dec 3, 2004, 08:15 AM

u may want to try a different mic,perhaps a condensor mic that runs on a battery. its possible that pb's mic amp isn't powerful enough to drive your microphone.

fisherKing · Dec 3, 2004, 08:43 AM

it's probably more practical to record everything to the dat machine, then transfer the files (at the least, thru the audio port) to an audio program on the mac, and edit there.

check out "sound" at versiontracker; lots of shareware apps for audio recording & editing (which of course you could try with your mic).

K-Bat · Dec 3, 2004, 10:59 AM

Thanks everyone for useful ideas and comments. I'll probably screw up recording as one of you suggests if I go out with my shakey skill in digital recording. Thanks everyone for useful ideas and comments. I'll probably screw up recording as one of you suggests if I go out with my shakey skill in digital recording. Meanwhile, I discovered that the PB picks up great sound if I put the DAT recorder between the mic and recorder. I'm not running a DAT tape, recording directly to internal HD with a program I downloaded (Audio In). Considering the fact that I have to watch two batteries (PB's and the DAT recorders') all the time, I don't know if this is a good set up. But the sound quality is really astonishing.

I hate the conventional transcriber and wish I can do everything on my PB, but at this point, I'm not really sure...any other suggestions will be appreciated!

fisherKing · Dec 3, 2004, 12:27 PM

the dat machine is just being a preamp for the mic.
try imic ;
think it's about $40.
small, can plug your mic in there, then into a usb port on the mac.
voila! audio in, usable level.

good luck!

SeSawaya · Dec 3, 2004, 02:33 PM

for a easy quick fix, try recording directly into iMovie. Once each part is done, extract the audio from the file and the save as a QT. Then you can save it as a actual audio file using QT.

Nothing else is needed.

just another option

Kent

fisherKing · Dec 3, 2004, 02:42 PM

Originally posted by SeSawaya:
for a easy quick fix, try recording directly into iMovie. Once each part is done, extract the audio from the file and the save as a QT. Then you can save it as a actual audio file using QT.

Nothing else is needed.

just another option

Kent

yes, but make sure you have quicktime pro (or another app) to edit.

K-Bat · Dec 3, 2004, 05:07 PM

I appreciate all your help. I've been experimenting with different options but haven't settled on a good setup. What's puzzling me is why this microphone (PZM) doesn't work with my PB. Recording voice seems to be such a simple thing compared to all other things the PB is capable of, natively. The mic has a battery box (two AAA's) in the middle of the cable. It just fails to get good sound levels. So it seems at this point that I should either use the mic and the DAT machine, or use an analog recorder. But after listening to the sound quality of the digital setup, it's kinda hard to go back.

indigoimac · Dec 3, 2004, 06:42 PM

I did this w/ an ibook using the internal mic which I must say was quite good except it picked up the hd read and writes, oh well. I used audacity and I just selected the input and off I went, it does record to aiff but at least you can do everything in the same app and it will let you export to just about any format.

Just my 2 cents