What do you use for recording? (audio only)

[KC0LTV]

I currently use Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), a very nice piece of free (both in the sense of "free beer" and "free speech") software for Windows, Linux, and MacOS X, among other operating systems. It's a full-featured program designed for both recording and editing, with special effects and MIDI support and all, but for DXing I mainly appreciate the ability to record multiple "tracks". What I like to do when Es DXing especially is wait until an ID or something that could help me ID before I change the frequency, and then also create a new recording track in Audacity and name the old after the frequency that was at the end. I used Windows Sound Recorder before, but that's too much of a pain to be worth it.

[Russ-PA]

I've used Total Recorder for about 4 years now. The built-in job scheduler allows me to run half-hour or hour segments 24/7 for two tuners ( could do more if I needed to ). Variable record settings permit management of file type and size, program is easy to use and a great value - still priced under $20 for the Standard Edition. I use it for both AM and FM DX'ing.

For playback and editing I use either Power Audio Editor or Cool Edit 2000. These have large graphic displays which make locating Es or MS hits easier. If I really need to clean up a recording ( usually AM ) I use Cool Edit as it has more features to modify the audio result.

[KW4RZ]

Total Recorder for 3 years now in 1 hour files through the day and review with Wavepad which is freeware. No complaints with either one other than Wavepad seems to be a bit sensitive when you click on the displayed audio waveform while playing.. it has a tendency to highlight and lock on segments requiring to click again to get out of the highlighted segment. Lots of repetitious clicking.

[K3PHL]

As a newbie, I also use the Total Recorder and Wavepad combo recommended by Randy and Nick recording 24/7 into two tuners.

I also noticed the Wavepad issue of it playing a blip of audio from accidentally choosing a small segment when clicking with the mouse rather than choosing a marker point to play.

Total recorder stamps the ending date and time of the recording as the file name making it easy to log the time of clips pulled from them.

Unfortunately, I've had a couple top of the hour IDs play right at the hourly transition point of the files and parts were missed. Ever have that happen? Should I be splitting the files at :30 instead of :00?

[KW4RZ]

Whatever works. 10 minutes past is a good time too. Less chance of any ID's getting split into two files.

[Mike-CT]

I'm a little different. I record clips to cassette tape and then use Cooledit to edit the clip for posting. Very seldom to I let tape roll for the entire opening. Years ago I would.

[Russ-PA]

I have my half hour segments set to break at :55 and :56 respectively for each tuner. A by-product of this is that I can tell at a glance which tuner accounted for which recording since I let them auto-name. But the reason why I did that was because the TR Scheduler doesn't handle having two recordings beginning at exactly the same time.

I discovered I was having the problem of having entire half-hour recordings error. I discovered that I needed to leave at small break between the end of one recording and the next on each tuner because for some unknown reason, recordings don't always end exactly when they normally should.

So my recordings start at, say 20:56:00, and I run them to end at 21:25:55 in order to leave a 5 second buffer in between. So far I've not had to increase that.

[NickNJ]

I actually use the Audacity software, not Total Recorder. It doesn't have the scheduling features which would be cool, but it's what I've always used and it gets the job done for me, very easy to edit/copy/cut right in the software. And the price is right.

[Michael-NJ]

Cool Edit, Minidisc, and occasionally a video camera here.

[John Wilke K9RZZ]

Cool Edit on a dedicated 666mhz PC feeding a stereo amp (let that FM DX boom!). Just recently started playing with a Sony ICD-P620 voice recorder that records directly to MP3. So far I like it.

http://computergadgetnew.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/27279.jpg

[fldxer]

I use a Sony ICD-P210 digital voice recorder as my radio is not near the computer

[NickG]

I use a Tascam CD-RW900SL CD recorder to archive DX. I use Audacity to convert to mp3 and edit if I want to post a clip online.

From 1999 until the end of last year I used a Sony MDS-JB930 Minidisc recorder but MDs were getting harder to find and poor value compared to CD-Rs.