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Recording comments of adjudicators
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:37 pm
by dfear
With cassette tapes becoming more and more scarce, my area is looking for ways to go digital at our local large group festival.
Is there anybody out in tubenet land that has experience with digitally recorded comments? How did the festival manage it? What equipment was used? What were the positives and negatives?
Any and all useful comments are welcomed, all others will be laughed at and used accordingly!
Happy Spring!
Re: Recording comments of adjudicators
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 7:58 pm
by Carroll
As a matter of fact, our local band and orchestra association just started using digital recorders, dumping the SD cards to a computer, and copying the files to a USB thumb drive/mp3 player. The USB drive/mp3 player was only a few bucks with earbud headphones included. We have to give the player/drives back, but we can listen on the bus and dump the files to our own computers when we get home. Most of the guys liked it - the old codgers don't like anything.
Re: Recording comments of adjudicators
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:37 pm
by Carroll
Joe,
I agree that getting the hardware back is a little bit of a hassle... but hearing the comments on the way home is VERY important to a lot of band directors. We also have a choice of returning the device or paying the $12 to keep it.
I will pass along the idea of an online file, I like it a lot!
Re: Recording comments of adjudicators
Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 10:57 am
by JCalkin
LJV wrote:Why not dump to a computer and burn a CD?
Small file and little time involved?
This is what we have gone to this year.
We have two(!) digital recorders per adjudicator, and when one band is done, the recorder goes to a student helper to be put onto PC and burned to a CD. Meanwhile the adjudicator is using the second recorder for the next band. No waiting, and the directors get the comments before their band leaves after their performance.
Re: Recording comments of adjudicators
Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 5:05 am
by dwaskew
LJV wrote:Why not dump to a computer and burn a CD?
At two marching shows I judged last year, that's exactly what happened. We had 3 olympus digital voice recorders (don't remember model #) each, and rotated one in for download, had one to use, and one spare in case something happened.
In talking with the BD in charge of the 1st one I did, they bought like 20+ of them, in bulk and paid around $30 a piece.
I liked it (small, lightweight, etc.) and apparently so did the BD's. they got 1 cd (instead of 6-7 cassettes) and everyone seemed pleased.
Makes sense!
(also makes it so judges are very careful in how they craft the tape--since it's all digital it can wind up anywhere in short order!)
Re: Recording comments of adjudicators
Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 10:40 am
by jacojdm
Beginning this year, the Ohio Music Educators Association moved from cassette tapes to SD recorders. All performing ensembles provide an SD card for each of the adjudicators (3 for concert band or orchestra, 9 for marching band. The adjudicators provide their own SD recorder. Most adjudicators use the Zoom H4 or H4n, but some others (including the H2, the Olympus, Tascam, etc.). In this case, the directors end up with their own SD cards from each judge. Bring 'em home, transfer the MP3 to the computer, and the card is empty for the next Adjudicated Event.
At the events which I attended this year, there didn't seem to be any issues, other than a director who forgot to bring her cards. The host school, having foresight, bought a supply of extra cards, and sold three to this offending director.
Re: Recording comments of adjudicators
Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 12:12 pm
by Carroll
jacojdm wrote:Beginning this year, the Ohio Music Educators Association moved from cassette tapes to SD recorders. All performing ensembles provide an SD card for each of the adjudicators (3 for concert band or orchestra, 9 for marching band. The adjudicators provide their own SD recorder. Most adjudicators use the Zoom H4 or H4n, but some others (including the H2, the Olympus, Tascam, etc.). In this case, the directors end up with their own SD cards from each judge. Bring 'em home, transfer the MP3 to the computer, and the card is empty for the next Adjudicated Event.
At the events which I attended this year, there didn't seem to be any issues, other than a director who forgot to bring her cards. The host school, having foresight, bought a supply of extra cards, and sold three to this offending director.
Before this year, did the performing ensembles provide cassette tapes for the adjudicators? We struggled with this detail while planning our own digital migration. We decided it was better to provide the SD cards and transfer data than to chance the scenario above... 100 times! I thought we were getting CD recordings, but was pleasantly surprised by the tiny mp3 players.
Re: Recording comments of adjudicators
Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 10:57 am
by dfear
Thanks for the discussion. We have mentioned most of the points seen here in our own meetings and I'm excited to here what is working and what seems to be struggling. Have there been any horror stories yet?
I was surprised to see where the adjudicators were responsible for bringing there own recording device. Has there ever been an issue where an adjudicator didn't own a recording device? I can see where operator error would be greatly reduced in using your own equipment and I like that aspect of it, but just curious...
Re: Recording comments of adjudicators
Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:22 pm
by jacojdm
Carroll wrote:Before this year, did the performing ensembles provide cassette tapes for the adjudicators?
No. The tapes were provided by the OMEA and the host school. Tape recorders were the responsibility of the adjudicators.