The Holy Grail of Digital Recording

I’ve had countless conversations with clients about their frustration with portable digital audio recorders relating to cost, setup, reliability, lack of technical support, difficult operation, poor audio quality, etc. As a result I’ve discovered one thing: Portable digital audio recorders aren’t quite ready for primetime for capturing preservation minded content. However, I’ve found a so-called “Holy Grail” solution that, while not perfect, solves many of the issues currently faced by users and potential buyers of portable digital recorders: Direct-to-Hard Drive, software based recording using Adobe Audition or a similar application.

Portable digital audio recorders all share limitations on how much content they can store. Even once the recording part of a project is complete, the audio files on the recorder have to be transferred to a computer which is an extra step. Yes, there are recorders utilizing flash type memory cards (like a digital camera) and other media that simplify the transfer process, but still require the investment of time and money to keep track of all of the memory chips, purchasing new ones, and/or copying files to your computer. By recording directly to your computer’s hard drive using software, you save time and money by eliminating the transfer step. After all, the less time spent between recording an interview and actually reviewing, transcribing, and using the content, the better.

If you’ve already spent many hours scouring digital audio recording device specifications and reading online user reviews, you are likely feeling sticker shock, dissatisfaction, or utter confusion about what specific digital recorder best meets your needs. There are recorders available for as little as $30 to $1000+ having just as many options and features. Some recorders are handheld and utilize proprietary (not recommended) audio formats and some are just as bulky as a cassette recorder and record more commonly used digital audio formats. Generally speaking, smaller and cheaper recorders aren’t really intended for capturing high quality audio. Larger, more expensive recorders are capable of high quality audio recording, but your shoulder and wallet may suffer. Regardless, your goals in choosing a digital recording solution should be based on audio quality, cost, ease of use, flexibility, and a number other factors. Here is a quick breakdown of factors comparing use of a standalone digital recorder to software-based recording with Adobe Audition:

Cost

If you were going to purchase a portable digital audio recorder offering the same audio quality as using Adobe Audition, you would have to spend upwards of $800! Even then purchase of additional software will be required if you wish to edit the audio or burn CDs. While smaller handheld digital recorders can be purchased for substantially less, they just don’t offer audio quality or features that preservation minded recording demands. Audition can be purchased for around $300 and will add very robust recording, editing, manipulation, CD Burning, and more to your existing laptop or computer – serious bang-for-your-buck.

Computer Requirements & Recording Capacity

Standalone digital recorders are compatible with almost any Windows PC and many are MAC compatible as well. Regardless, you will need a USB or Firewire port on your computer to connect the recorder to via a cable. Adobe Audition eliminates this, but typically requires greater processing power, memory, and storage. I work from a Dell Latitude D505 laptop on a daily basis with Audition which runs flawlessly. I have a 30GB hard drive and keep approximately 12GB available for recording and working with audio files. Any new laptop or desktop computer purchased in the past 2-3 years should run Adobe Audition just fine.

If you are considering purchasing a laptop to run Adobe Audition, I strongly advise getting the biggest hard drive you can afford. This way you can store more audio content. Here’s why: An hour of uncompressed audio recorded in stereo at 48KHz/16 bit requires approximately 660MB of data storage. At slightly lower “CD-Quality” 44.1/16 bit quality stereo uncompressed audio file requires approximately 606MB of data storage. On my laptop with 12GB available I can store approximately 16 hours of CD-Quality audio and have approximately 3GB left as working room for editing those files. If I had a 30GB of available storage I could keep approximately 40 hours of uncompressed stereo audio at 44.1KHz/16 bit! If you were using a standalone digital recorder that could record uncompressed digital audio to a 2GB Flash memory card (the largest widely available) you would only be able to store approximately 3 hours worth of uncompressed 44.1KHz/16 bit digital audio.

I’ve also used Adobe Audition installed on a PC running Windows XP with a 500MHz processor and 128MB of RAM with few problems. It took longer to process files but never crashed.

Lifespan

As you may be aware, the portable digital audio player market is hot right now. Digital recorders and players utilize essentially the same technology which ties their markets together in my opinion. While digital recording itself has been around for over 10 years, truly portable, high quality digital audio recorders have not. As a result, manufacturers are jumping through hoops trying to “one-up” each other with the latest digital audio technology. The result is frequent release and fast aging for portable digital audio recorders and players. Individual manufacturers have barely worked out the kinks in one product already on the market before they release another. This means quick obsolescence, poor tech support, and really vague manuals for users to suffer through. Until the market settles down, mid to low-priced digital recorders continue to remain in a state of flux as far as support and lifespan.

On the other hand, digital audio editing tools and applications have been around for nearly a decade (if not longer). Cool Edit, from which Adobe Audition is based, was one of the first widely used applications to edit and capture digital audio originally intended for music applications. Adobe, well known for desktop publishing and graphic design applications has been encroaching on the multimedia editing arena for some time now. Adobe acquired the assets of Syntrillium Software, the developer of Cool Edit, in May 2003 and re-branded it as Audition in April 2004. Adobe is the developer of Photoshop which has been around since 1988 and was originally released for MAC right around the same time Windows 3.0 was released! (feel old yet?) Regardless, Adobe has made a name for itself in computer graphics design and multimedia. As a result, it is my opinion only that Audition will only improve and still be widely supported with time if it follows the same trend as many of Adobe’s other applications.

Setup

Many of our TAPE TRANSCRIPTION CENTER clients who have contacted me about their digital recorder issues, all share one thing in common: Configuring a portable digital audio recorder is a pain-in-the-you-know-what. The software and manuals bundled with these recorders are, in my opinion, poorly written to say the least. New users almost always have had to make at least one technical support call due to confusing and conflicting installation instructions. Convincing a portable recorder to communicate with a computer isn’t always simple. The device manufacturer will blame the operating system or computer manufacturer and vice-versa. I’ve heard of people returning these devices simply because of sheer frustration. I’ve never experienced any issues with installation or updates, of which there are few of when using Adobe Audition.

Maintenance

Aside from occasional software update, Audition requires no other maintenance. Updates are easily found on Adobe’s website and can be downloaded for free. Installation has, in my experience, been entirely hassle free. Standalone digital recorders often have three separate types of updates: Firmware updates that modify the programming on the ROM chips inside a digital recorder. Software updates provide fixes and improvements to certain functions of the bundled software often used for basic file management, conversion, etc. Driver updates provide fixes to the programming allowing your computer to communicate with a digital recorder. One of the biggest issues is that manufacturers often do a poor job of clearly instructing users how and in what order to install all of the available updates. On some manufacturer support websites these updates aren’t even readily available on the same page in any logical location.

Learning Curve

For beginners starting out with a standalone digital recorder (if they make it past the installation) find the software on their computers to be less than intuitive. Often, the accompanying documentation does nothing to ease ones mind. While it has been my experience that the basic record and play functions on a digital recorder are easily found and understood, the recording quality settings, digital audio format, microphone levels, and file management menus are very confusing and counterintuitive.

My experience with Adobe Audition has been completely the opposite. Recently a corporate executive client who, to put it gently, had limited knowledge of computers, needed to record some employee interviews digitally so we could receive his files electronically on a daily basis for quick transcription turnaround. I suggested he use Adobe Audition, which he immediately purchased. I asked him to call me once he was ready to walk through the installation. When he called he already had completed the installation on his own with no difficulty! After walking him though the basic layout of the application and a few settings, I had him comfortably recording digitally within an hour via telephone. In the end, the TAPE TRANSCRIPTION CENTER transcribed over 30, hour-long interviews, within 12 days without any technical glitches from Audition. My client had never done any formal recording whatsoever, let alone digitally.

Audio Quality

For those who know and understand all of the various details of basic audio production, there is no need to discuss the importance of audio quality. The actual “quality” of a recording is highly subjective to those with “untrained” ears. Many people won’t be able to distinguish the difference between a digital audio file recorded at 48KHz/16 bit with one recorded at 44.1KHz/16 bit – nor do they really care. However, even untrained ears can usually tell the difference between a high quality 48KHz/16bit and a compressed voice quality audio file at 32Khz/8bit. While more expensive standalone digital voice recorders can record high quality digital audio, most inexpensive digital voice recorders record at lower, voice quality sample rates and utilize compression to maximize storage capacity. These recorders are just fine for capturing personal voice notes and recording business meetings for reference use, but they were never intended to record high quality audio with preservation intent.

I feel very strongly that if one is recording preservation content such as an Oral History interview, one should use the best quality audio recording available to them for the price. Don’t sell yourself and your interviews short by going the route of the $100 voice recorder. With the exception of flexibility and ease of reuse, voice quality compressed digital audio files, in many cases, offer lower quality than analog cassette tapes. (See Analog vs. Digital Article) Adobe Audition is an inexpensive solution to record very high, near studio quality audio. It is important to note that much of the sound quality is dependant upon the use of good quality external microphones and the sound card in your computer. I’ve found the average sound card in a laptop to be more than adequate.

Management of Content

Managing your digital audio files is much easier with Adobe Audition. By recording directly to the hard drive of your computer, there is no need to transfer the files from an external device as you would if using a standalone digital recorder. This means no issues with connectivity, less time spent between recording the interview, reviewing, transcribing, and less opportunity for potential data loss. As stated previously, it can be very tedious and confusing to manage digital audio files directly on a standalone digital recorder due to confusing and unclear menus.

The basics of managing your audio files are no different than any other computer file such as a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet. You can organize your files in folders, rename, copy, and delete. Unlike document and spreadsheet files, typical digital audio files are substantially larger. This means you must monitor your available hard drive space if you are storing a large number of audio files on your computer. If you start running low on hard drive space you can burn your audio files to CD ROM or move them to an external hard drive for further storage.

Features

The average $200-$300 standalone digital voice recorder will only provide a way to record digital audio, a way to move the files from the recorder to a computer, and possibly a way to convert your files to one or two other digital audio formats that utilize compression. Remember, in order to reduce the size of digital audio files, compression is used resulting in some loss of quality. Adobe Audition and other similar applications provide a way to record uncompressed, high quality digital audio files directly to your hard drive…but this is only a start. Audition is a professional audio capture, editing, and manipulation tool. You may feel it is overkill; however you can spend the same amount of money and more for a standalone digital recorder with only a fraction of the features. So what if you only use the basic record, edit, and export features... Audition allows you to easily produce high quality audio files you can then edit and export for a plethora of uses.

Audition offers incredible control over playback of your audio files. You can see a meter that shows you the loudness of the audio file as you are playing it back. Another useful feature is being able to see a graphical representation of the entire digital audio file on a timeline with time counter. This makes jumping to any part of the recording incredibly fast and simple.

While many of the audio filters are intended for use in music applications, several of them are very useful for fixing your digital audio files. For example, if the recording is too soft, Audition can automatically adjust the loudness to an optimal level in a few seconds. Longer recordings may take up to a minute or so. Also, if for some reason your microphones were picking up a hum or buzz, Audition can remove that sound from your recording. Sometimes you may want to improve the overall clarity by reducing the bass, increasing midrange, or treble - no problem.

Summary

Finally you can consider abandoning your quest for a standalone recorder that will satisfy your need for good quality, ease of use, simple management of content. In my opinion, using Adobe Audition on a Windows-based (sorry MAC users) laptop will meet your budget, exceed your quality expectations, and have you recording digitally in less than an hour! Running Audition on a laptop will completely replace and exceed most basic features of any standalone digital recorder. For MAC users there are other comparable software packages available at generally higher costs.

At the TAPE TRANSCRIPTION CENTER, we receive hundreds of digital audio files every week for transcription. We use Adobe Audition to screen, convert, and clean up client files before transcribing. We also offer digitization and enhancement/restoration of analog recordings from cassette, reel-to-reel, and other formats. Adobe Audition handles all of this quite efficiently. If it can work for us, it can work for you. In the spirit of non-disclosure, I have no relationship with Adobe other than being a daily user of their software. If you are in the market for a digital recording solution I would strongly consider using Adobe Audition as an option.

If you want to try before you buy, Adobe offers a free, 30-day full-featured trial demo for download at:

http://www.adobe.com/products/tryadobe/main.jsp#product=92

You can get more information about Audition here:

http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/main.html

If you have any questions regarding this article, or how Audition might be used for your projects, transcription, or digitization of your analog content please feel free to contact me directly via telephone or email.

Ryan Robbins
Media Specialist
The Tape Transcription Center
129 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02108
www.ttctranscriptions.com
617-423-2151

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