here's the order of events... 1) i need a portable but great tape recorder, prefer something in the neighborhood of 1 pound if possible and usable (i'm a singer and need to learn how i sound when performing) 2) two voice instructors seem to successfully use models of the "sony professional walkman", so i fished about on the web and found the Sony WMD6C Walkman which seemed to match what they had 3) i ordered it online 4) while trying to find the AC adaptor i stumbled across your site and wished i had found it before ordering the tape recorder.

i have ordered your book! but it is a special order and will get to me some time in november.

in the meantime, with my apologies and at the risk of wasting your time, should i let this order of the Sony WMD6C Walkman go through? have you tested it? is it a decent box?

thanks much- lyn p.

-- Lyn Pratt (lyn.pratt@oracle.com), October 04, 2001

Answers

Thanks for your confidence in ordering the book. When you get it, please be sure to try the specific exercises suggested in it. They are tried and true!

The wmd6c is indeed the "pro walkman." If you have heard other singers and yourself on it, you can judge for yourself. I would not have recommended it because of its unstable pitch, which I would guess would affect your perception of your vibrato and your pitch stability. The specs that relate to this--"wow & flutter"--don't relate very well to perception. The Pro Walkman's W&F specs are quite good; but to the ear, it doesn't sound very stable.

Whatever recorder you may use, a crucial element is the microphone. You don't mention what mike the instructors used. Good mikes are expensive, but I'm now prototyping an inexpensive mike specifically for musicians to use in practice sessions and lessons. See my posts on the subject on the forum devoted to my book, http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=To%20Hear%20Ourselv e s%20As%20Others%20Hear%20Us . And by the way, please continue posting to that forum instead of this one.

The book is available immediately direct from the publisher MMB Music (800) 543-3771. ISBN is 0-918812-87-9.

As you'll see from the book, Sony makes another casssette machine, the TC-D5M, which is at a different level of quality. It's bigger, but still very portable; and it costs more (about $700 street price); but it's very stable and has good mike preamps built in.

Any digital recorder will have essentially zero pitch instability; but at the cost of sonic coarseness that may leave you hating how you sound on recording. A better digital day is almost here, but not yet.

-- James Boyk (boyk@cco.caltech.edu), October 04, 2001.