#520 - 07/24/01 02:21 PM
Suggest a Cheap All-In-One Solution
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Special_K
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A friend (Police Officer) wants to record to a PC so that interviews may be burned to CD's. Ease of use is going to be important to avoid a long learning curve.
I was thinking the Roland UA-30 might be good since I have seen it bundled with Cool Edit Pro LE software for under $200. I thing USB is best so it can be switched to other computers/laptops for portability.
I am not sure if anything is available under $200 that can accept 2 mic inputs without a preamp.
Dave
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#521 - 07/24/01 03:18 PM
Re: Suggest a Cheap All-In-One Solution
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Tedster
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If he just wants to record interviews...I think you can use Cool Edit (not Cool Edit Pro) like for free or something. He probably doesn't need all the features of the Pro version.
Problems...IMHO police should use tape. It's possible to do cut and pastes with that computer stuff that if I were a lawyer, I wouldn't let my client be interviewed with it...
Example:
"Did you kill Mr. Mulligan?"
"I haven't killed anyone. I don't even know who Mr. Mulligan is."
After a quick edit...
"Did you kill Mr. Mulligan?"
"I killed Mr. Mulligan."
That's some scary shit IMHO...
_________________________
"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine...(WAH WAH WAH WAHHH!)"
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#522 - 07/24/01 03:55 PM
Re: Suggest a Cheap All-In-One Solution
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c1131@hotmail.com
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I agree if he wants to burn to cd's get a stand alone unit, seems like that would be awful tempting to edit out what you didnt want heard, although I guess if your gonna do it you'll find away. btw I am not judging this officer but the system in general. 
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#523 - 07/24/01 03:56 PM
Re: Suggest a Cheap All-In-One Solution
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robb.
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didn't YES already do that in '76 with 2" tape and some razor blades?
_________________________
modernlull, indie rock from the dirty city of detroit.
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#524 - 07/24/01 04:07 PM
Re: Suggest a Cheap All-In-One Solution
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Dylan
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Yes, I've often wondered about how a digital media format would hold up in court. Even if you used a digital format that time stamped the recording, there is no way to insure that the recording was unedited, since you could very well have edited everything before hand on a PC and then bounced it back to a new peice of media. It seems that the best way for the officer to insure that his recording was not tampered with is to record to a format like Minidisc or DAT then put the media in an envelope that is signed with time and date by another witness. Then, the envelope couldn't be opened until the court date to ensure that the media wasn't tampered with. But then again, maybe the courts aren't savvy with what's possible with digital editing ;-). Either way, it's scary to know how easy it would be to edit someone's conversation to work against someone. My drummer is a cop by day, so I'll ask him for his input.
-Dylan
This message has been edited by Dylan Walters on 07-24-2001 at 01:09 PM
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#525 - 07/24/01 04:48 PM
Re: Suggest a Cheap All-In-One Solution
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miroslav
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Well...just recording to tape doesn't make it edit-proof...or don't you "digital-only" folks realize that?
Besides, this forum isn't the place to answer "legal issues"...is it? But...that wasn't the original question anyway.
So...you want basic audio recording in a PC and then burn to CD...all with a small/no learning curve...right?
Something like the basic Windows Sound Recorder that is already installed on your PC,...just plug in a microphone and hit record,...but I don't think you have control over the initial length...it defaults at 60 secs, but you can keep adding to the soundfile.
But there are other freeware/shareware recorders. I am assuming that you only want to record narrative voice...and it should really be only one track...not a multitrack recorder with editing/mixing capabilities...
There are simple solutions...or you can get real deep, but I don't see the need for that.
Check out this site for available software.
http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/
_________________________
miroslav - miroslavmusic.com"Just because it happened to you, it doesn't mean it's important."
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#526 - 07/24/01 06:23 PM
Re: Suggest a Cheap All-In-One Solution
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GY
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I did some clandestine recording for an LA area undercover team. It consisted of 2 wireless units to a Sony D-7 DAT machine. I would hand over the DATs and sign something. I wish I had kept some copies of these documents. I believe that no matter what format evidence in collected on/with, it will hold up in court as long as it follows that department's "chain of evidence" rules. Things change. Have your friend check with his evidence dept.
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#527 - 07/24/01 08:48 PM
Re: Suggest a Cheap All-In-One Solution
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Special_K
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Loc: Alexandria,VA,UNITED STATES
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I am an Apple user so am not so familiar with software for recording inherent to Windows (IBM compatibles). My friend didn't seem to think there was anything in their system. Miroslav's suggestion about freeware/shareware could be a good one.
I was suggesting USB as something that should hook up to any PC. USB is so common on all PC's that it should obviate the need for a certain sound card among multiple computers ... even if they end up buying an Apple
The discussion about proper handling of evidence is pertinent for some of the reasons mentioned above, but I did not intend that to be the subject of my post. As long as specific evidence handling procedures are in place and are carefully monitored and verified (i.e. - signed/witnessed), I believe digital media would be useable in court but I have not done any research on this subject.
I'm sure that tapes will continue to be used as well. Therefore, it would be helful to be able to play to and/or from tapes which the UA-30 can also handle through the RCA connectors.
I double checked and Syntrillium's "Cool Edit Pro LE" and BIAS's Peak LE were bundled with the UA-30 for $198 while I have seen the UA-30 alone for only $20 less. I think is worth $20 extra to get some software with it in order to simplify installation, especially if needed on multiple systems assuming that the instructions are useful
Tedster's comment about Cool Edit is true (I think it is free) but I am guessing that the bundled LE (limited edition) versions may be set up so that they are limited in use to the UA-30 functions and require even less set up time.
Dave
This message has been edited by Special_K on 07-24-2001 at 06:13 PM
This message has been edited by Special_K on 07-25-2001 at 12:09 AM
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#528 - 07/25/01 11:41 AM
Re: Suggest a Cheap All-In-One Solution
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film@fsc.edu
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Why don't you just get a standalone CD burner with RCA inputs and burn at 1x?
You can send your tape outs from your mixer right into the CD burner...
Dan Roth
Otitis Media
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#529 - 07/25/01 12:05 PM
Re: Suggest a Cheap All-In-One Solution
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d gauss
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how about a really fast court reporter/stenographer who only writes 1's and zero's?
-d. gauss
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#530 - 07/25/01 02:14 PM
Re: Suggest a Cheap All-In-One Solution
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NYC Drew
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Something like a TASCAM CDRW-700 or
see
http://www.tascam.com/products/cd_recorders/cd_rw4u.cfm
Less hassle than a PC/MAC and you can burn on the fly..
NYC Drew
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