Vocalist.org archive


From:  Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Date:  Tue Jan 29, 2002  2:53 pm
Subject:  CD/disc vs tape recorders in studios (was: i need recommendations)

Just a comment about the pros and cons of using cassette tape vs other
media (disc or DAT) in vocal studios.

While there are certainly great technical advantages to using digital
audio tape, CD-ROM, CD, minidisc, etc., I think you have to keep one thing
in mind: the purpose of the recording device in the vocal teacher's studio
is NOT so the vocal teacher can simply capture and retain the recordings
made there. It is so the STUDENT can take those recordings home and
continue to learn from them between lessons.

Given this, I would suggest that the fidelity of the medium is far less
important than the (1) universality; (2) reusability; (3) portability; (4)
cheapness of that medium.

You could, of course, canvass all your students and ask them whether they
care about whether you use a somewhat more arcane recording medium, like
minidisc or DAT, which they will be unlikely to be able to listen to
outside of your studio.

But I suspect you'd be far better off just sticking with the most
universal of the audio recording media - which is still standard cassette
tape. Students can either bring their own blanks (which is how most
teachers manage it), or you can provide blanks. With a good microphone,
you'll still get very good quality audio. ANd most of all, you will never
have to worry about your students not being able to USE the recordings you
make in the studio because they don't have a system on which they can play
them back.

Yes, of course most people have CD players - but I don't know if you
really want to get into the business of requiring your students to bring
blank CD-ROM discs to their lessons, and having to spend a few minutes at
the start of each lesson figuring outwhere on the disc the blank space
begins for appending the new lesson onto the disc after previous lessons
recorded there. Unless your intention is to get a CD-RW (vs. CD-ROM or
just CD) burner (and whether you want to invest in one that doesn't
require a PC to be attached to it for it to operate, i.e., one with a
built in computer), you won't be able to reuse the CDs once they are
"burned" to the first time. This makes them rather less practical as cheap
recording media than good old cassette tapes.

Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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