This recent splurge of forumite's self recorded work has made me want to do a bit of the same. So, keep in mind that I've only within the past few years started playing again after way too many years with the guitars stashed in the closet, and that playing now is pretty limited to church and a summer in the park jam. I'm way out of touch with recording equipment and the likes. Want to keep it simple and inexpensive, don't need anything elaborate, just something to fool around with and maybe do a few guitar and mandolin tracks. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Rich
Riverbend if you have an ipad you can buy an adapter and record in Garageband :coffee
Check out Musicians Friend and see what Zoom they are offering now. I use an older Zoom 2 and noticed that Roger used a Zoom 4 for some of his songs. I don't know if the newer ones have extra tracking, but these are not very expensive and can get you started.
Others here are like professors when it comes to recording, so they should give you more advice.
It just depends so much on your budget and your expectations. What kind of end result are you looking for? Demo quality? Studio quality. What kind of mics will you be using? Best to do a bit of research first. The first, I thought, good recorder I bought was my Boss BR-8 and it is a pretty cool little unit. However, it records onto 100 meg zip discs which I soon discovered are expensive, have too little memory and are getting hard to find. The next year, Roland came out with the the BR-1200 which records on an internal hard drive and allows you to burn your tracks directly onto a built in CD. Big improvement. I did like the ease of use and quality of the Roland unit, however, and I've upgraded to the BR-1600. I would sell the BR-8 but I have all these masters on zip discs which will only play on, you guessed it, my BR-8. :arrow
For quick, easy recordings with very little set up, I use a Roland Edirol R-09, about the size of an electric razor. If something pops into my head or I make something up on the spot and I don't want to forget it, it is extremely handy and the results sound surprisingly good for such a little device. I recorded a living room concert last year by Alan Fraser and it was great for that too. Just set it at the back of the room and hit record. No multi tracking ability though.
To some extent, everything out there these days is pretty good, especially compared to the old cassette multitrack machines.
Audio only with overdubs? I use a Tascam DP-004. Old school layout and function and the onboard mics are ok. If you ever used an old 4 track cassette machine, it'll be a natural. You should be able to find one used for under $100. There is also a Tascam app for iPad that is similar... and similarly easy to use. You'll probably want a better mic though. For audio and video I use a Zoom Q3. I don't do overdubs with it. Again, used around $100.
Hmmm... not much help.
Ed
as an add-on, agreeing with Duck... the sky's the limit depending on what your expectations are.
Thanks for the kind replies. I'm not an Apple guy, so no "I" anything, but thanks. Checked Musicians Friend and it seems the latest and greatest Zoom is the 6-H2 or something...in the $350 range. Looked at a few of the Tascams and they seemed like a possible good fit, as did the Zoom. Ducktrapper made an excellent point with his "what are your expectations" comment, and also brought something to light for me. First the light: I am always noodling, it seems, always playing with melodies and chord formations and progressions and occasionally stumble onto something I really like, something unique to my ears. So then I play it often and try it different ways and try and grow it into a real song form. And then I eventually noodle something else or whatever but it seems that some of those old tunes are harder and harder to remember if it's been a while. Just today I was playing for a bit in between moving all the new snow around and remembered some old tune and seriously struggled to recreate it. So something easy to use, and easy to store the files, would be a priority of expectation. I'm liking the small & portable ones I've reviewed. Overall I'm not looking for studio or demo quality, I have friends with those capabilities (though not nearby). Just a toy to start, maybe a couple hundred bucks tops at this point. Less is always better.
My Zoom H2n does a fine job of recording stuff. Its real simple and it sounds great.
Do your homework. No need to buy more "features" than you need.
I've had a Tascam DP-01FX for many years - it's VERY easy to use and works great. Any recording I've posted is using that - an inexpensive but great Behringer C2 on the guitars, and a Blue Encore 200 on the vocals. All was purchased used for under 200.00.
Hard to go wrong.
Found this on Amazon and seems like a nice package: http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-Recorder-Bundle-Control-8-Inch-/dp/B002XF0Q7M/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1420638573&sr=8-3&keywords=zoom+h4n+remote
I'm still a little confused by the track capabilities...this one mentions "simultaneous". What's actually involved in recording and merging, say, two or three tracks of guitar and/or mandolin?
My only real experience recording goes back 25 years and having a friend with some fairly sophisticated equipment record a demo for myself and a friend's duo. Before that it was laughably playing around with two cassette decks, hoping they played and recorded at the same speed! Yep...been a while! Doing plenty of due diligence, still over my head much of the time.
Quote from: Riverbend on January 07, 2015, 09:09:51 AM
! Yep...been a while! Doing plenty of due diligence, still over my head much of the time.
I'm right there with you, and that's why I've opted and stayed with what I have for several years now.
I do the main guitar and vocal part by "arming" two tracks, then simply monitor what I've recorded in headphones while I add harmonies and any additional guitar parts on separate tracks. With the Tascam, everything is right in front of you, no massive learning curve......
You could get a half decent USB mic like a Blue Snowball(under $100) and then download free software like http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Audacity is a great free program and it has built in effects like delay, chorus, reverb....etc.
Thanks Denis...you've offered me a new avenue that's definitely got possibilities. I found a Blue usb mic, brand new, for around $50 online, and I'm planning on downloading the free software. Love that shareware stuff!
Quote from: Riverbend on January 07, 2015, 12:03:20 PM
Thanks Denis...you've offered me a new avenue that's definitely got possibilities. I found a Blue usb mic, brand new, for around $50 online, and I'm planning on downloading the free software. Love that shareware stuff!
As shareware goes, Audacity is pretty cool and the sound quality is good, clean. Multitracking, effects, everything you need to get started. $50 for a Blue USB mic is a good deal. A friend of mine has one and she can go cardioid, figure 8 or omnidirectional. Very cool!
Good luck and let us hear your recordings when you've got some finished.
I've found that trying to record directly into a computer just doesn't work for me. For one, the computer is in another room and two the mouse is hard to use with a guitar in hand. Personally, I would need someone else to operate the computer while I played and sang. I prefer just being able to (quietly) reach over and touch record, stop or play. The BR's also come with a foot switch for stopping and starting.
The BR1600 looks like a pretty nice piece of equipment. I found a couple on ebay for $300-400. Lots of parts and pieces, hard drive upgrade stuff, storage cases, etc., as well. Must be lots of them in use, which speaks volumes. Kind of waffling at this point between going small and simple at first with an eye towards upgrading down the road, and going all in now. But I do know a whole lot more about this subject now than I did earlier today! Thanks everyone for your responses and insight. Much appreciated! S'why I love this forum... :+1:
Quote from: Riverbend on January 07, 2015, 03:49:27 PM
The BR1600 looks like a pretty nice piece of equipment. I found a couple on ebay for $300-400. Lots of parts and pieces, hard drive upgrade stuff, storage cases, etc., as well. Must be lots of them in use, which speaks volumes. Kind of waffling at this point between going small and simple at first with an eye towards upgrading down the road, and going all in now. But I do know a whole lot more about this subject now than I did earlier today! Thanks everyone for your responses and insight. Much appreciated! S'why I love this forum... :+1:
I bought a used one from eBay for $400.00. Works great. 40 gig memory. 16 tracks. Easy enough to use but it turns out that it does way more than I use it for. A little more complicated than first meets the eye. I sent for a DVD to explain how to get the most out of it. Helped immensely. :thumb
For something small and portable I use Boss Micro BR BR80 (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BR80)
Sounds fine, super easy to use for casual recording and has built-in backing tracks for playing along.
Quote from: ST on January 07, 2015, 04:20:55 PM
For something small and portable I use Boss Micro BR BR80 (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BR80)
Sounds fine, super easy to use for casual recording and has built-in backing tracks for playing along.
Oh crikey! I want one! I'm using one of these and that looks so much better.
http://www.rolandus.com/products/details/757
So, reinforcing what I said earlier about another truth to buying recording equipment. The thing they come out with
next year will have you kicking yourself for whatever you buy
this year. :arrow
Which Blue mic did you get? At least one of the "ball" mics from them is an electret condenser mix. Most of their higher end mics are excellent.
Be wary of very low priced TASCAM products sold as new. These are usually discontinued products because they don't work and TASCAM is unloading them. I have personal experience with the US-800 and got it for a song, but it was unbelievably buggy and TASCAM would not provide real tech support. Go for TASCAM products that have a solid multi-year sales history. They have no official company support forum.
Quote from: rockstar_not on January 07, 2015, 10:03:42 PM
Which Blue mic did you get? At least one of the "ball" mics from them is an electret condenser mix. Most of their higher end mics are excellent.
Be wary of very low priced TASCAM products sold as new. These are usually discontinued products because they don't work and TASCAM is unloading them. I have personal experience with the US-800 and got it for a song, but it was unbelievably buggy and TASCAM would not provide real tech support. Go for TASCAM products that have a solid multi-year sales history. They have no official company support forum.
Haven't ordered anything yet, but the Snowball I looked at was classified as a "cardioid omnidirectional condenser". I did download the Audacity shareware to have a look, plus watched a uTube tutorial. Still not 100% on anything, and I appreciate the heads-up on the Tascam issues.
Quote from: Riverbend on January 08, 2015, 05:05:10 AM
Haven't ordered anything yet, but the Snowball I looked at was classified as a "cardioid omnidirectional condenser". I did download the Audacity shareware to have a look, plus watched a uTube tutorial. Still not 100% on anything, and I appreciate the heads-up on the Tascam issues.
'cardioid omnidirectional' is an oxymoron.
Cardioid describes the response pattern that is heart-shaped; being more sensitive at the 'bottom' of the heart-shape.
Omnidirectional describes a response pattern that is less directional, with even sensitivity all-around.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar07/articles/micpatterns.htm
Perhaps that mic has a switchable pattern - there are many mics that do have this. The Yeti model from Blue is one example. Be wary of smaller diaphragm USB mics with under $100 price points. Some of them aren't instrument type condensers, but rather use electret capsules. The Yeti uses 3 different 14mm diameter capsules.
You would be better off getting a mic with a larger capsule like the Meteor from Blue, or a Samson C01U, AT2020USB, etc. Here's a list at Sweetwater:
http://www.sweetwater.com/c981--USB_Microphones/params=eyJmYWNldCI6eyJEaWFwaHJhZ20gU2l6ZSI6WyJNZWRpdW0gKDE2bW0tMThtbSkiLCJMYXJnZSAoMTltbSBhbmQgdXApIl19fQ
If you are unsure of whether you should get a USB mic, get one that has both USB and analog XLR connectors - then you can use it both directly into your computer, or for other audio-only purposes. That narrows the choices down a bit. I have a dynamic USB/XLR mic from Samson and I've used it both ways in the past.
Quote from: rockstar_not on January 09, 2015, 12:32:37 AM
'cardioid omnidirectional' is an oxymoron.
Perhaps that mic has a switchable pattern - there are many mics that do have this. The Yeti model from Blue is one example. Be wary of smaller diaphragm USB mics with under $100 price points. Some of them aren't instrument type condensers, but rather use electret capsules. The Yeti uses 3 different 14mm diameter capsules.
The one I looked at did have what was described as a switchable pattern as I recall. Three position switch on the back. But I do love a good oxymoron now and then, like "government intelligence"!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge! As is often the case, I'm learning how much learning I have to learn.
Pretty sure I'm going to eventually go with a Zoom H2n, and use the Audacity shareware for further processing. I just think it'll serve my intended, and fairly simple, purposes at this point. Small and portable, plus there's an accessories package for around $40 with all sorts of handy goodies. I can get this done for right around $200 for the H2n and the accessories, all new in the box. Thanks for all the "sound" advice! :humour:
The mics in those little Zooms are pretty nice. Using it with Audacity should yield some sweet recordings. You will be posting some results eventually I hope?
(http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p486/dpndn/20141226_162722_zpso42dba0a.jpg) (http://s1152.photobucket.com/user/dpndn/media/20141226_162722_zpso42dba0a.jpg.html)
I have the Zoom H2. I still don't know all the features yet, but Audacity sounds like something good to compliment the Zoom. I modified our camera Tri-pod to hold the Zoom right where it needs to be. You can see it in this picture.
Quote from: Denis on January 11, 2015, 09:19:13 AM
The mics in those little Zooms are pretty nice. Using it with Audacity should yield some sweet recordings. You will be posting some results eventually I hope?
I'll probably order it in February, then of course I'll have to polish things up a bit! But yep, I'm actually kind of anxious to record some stuff.