Shure MUSIC EDUCATORS Manual page 10

Most consumer-level tape recorders will not accept a microphone directly. A mixer
(see the next section) will be required to properly interface microphones with a
cassette deck. Certain models of professional level cassette recorders have
microphone inputs on them, but they are often considerably more expensive.
Minidisc
Introduced in the early 1990s, the minidisc format combines the ease of cassette
recording with near-CD quality results. Sound is digitally recorded onto a disk
smaller than a computer's floppy disk. Minidiscs also allow extensive editing of
the recorded material. Tracks can be moved, divided, combined, named, and
erased, tasks that are impossible with tape (unless you are really good with a
razor blade!) Consumer minidisc recorders are very similar to cassette recorders
in terms of their operation and audio interface, so any of the recording
techniques described above will apply to both formats.
PC-based Recording
With the price of hard disk storage continuing to plummet, PC-based recording
is quickly becoming a relatively inexpensive way to record high quality audio.
Computers are very useful for making multitrack recordings, which requires
several tracks of audio recorded and later combined into a stereo mix.
Unfortunately, a full discussion of multitrack recording techniques is beyond the
scope of this booklet. (For more information on multitrack recording, see the
Shure/Tascam publication "Microphones and Multitracks". This booklet also
introduces stand-alone multitrack recorders.)
Interfacing a microphone with a computer can be a tricky proposition. Most computer
sound cards have microphone inputs that are designed for low-cost "stick" micro-
phones that are only useful in voice recognition or internet telephony applications.
Better results are obtained with an interface that accepts professional microphones. A
computer recording interface that has microphone inputs will result in better sound
and less time spent fooling around with adapters.
Personal computers also offer an inexpensive way to produce CDs. By recording your
music into a computer, a CD recorder can take those files and "burn" them onto
a recordable CD. Even if the PC isn't used as the main recording device, the other
formats discussed above can easily be transferred into a computer. Stand-alone CD
recorders are also available, and work on basically the same principle.
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