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G'DAE
Apr-01-2004, 10:37pm
I'd like to know if somone could help direct me to find a quick & easy way of recording. Used to be able to buy a cassette deck with an external mike. Try to find one now.There must be a way to use the computer to in an economical way to record for pleasure use? Please help if you can. Thanx.

Bluemando
Apr-02-2004, 5:35am
Guitar Tracks Pro is the software that i use. About $100 at guitar center. It has pretty much everything you need to do some pretty impressive recording with a really cheesy recording set-up. I only use the el-cheapo mic that came with the computer, but it sounds pretty darn good. It also has effects you can use like fruity loops to make bass lines or drum tracks.

G'DAE
Apr-02-2004, 9:04am
Thanks! Sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. I'll check it out.

mcmando
Apr-02-2004, 9:26am
If portability is required, you could try a minidisk recorder. Sony makes one with a built in mic and small speakers, but most units are headphones only. Watch out for the "Walkman" type units-- many only have a line input and no internal mic, so recording by mic would require a preamp.

mrbook
Apr-02-2004, 11:34am
After using a Marantz cassette recorder for years, I switched to minidiscs - but instead of a portable recorder, I bought a regular component-size model. Mine was $80 used on eBay, plus a tiny portable player with headphones that I actually use a lot. To get microphones in, I added a small Behringer mixer that can mix up to four mics (with phantom power for condensers).
I also hook it up to the tape outs on our mixer when we play. Later, I break the recording up into individual tracks, cut out the tuning and some of the talk, and transfer the finished product to CDs or tape for the band. We can never seem to get in a studio, but put together a CD taken from our shows that way. I do a lot on the computer, but don't seem to be getting far with recording on it. A few years ago, I also bought the last couple cassette decks I saw with microphone inputs, but rarely use them.

PCypert
Apr-02-2004, 2:05pm
NTracks I believe will run you about 60 dollars to register and has more of the features than Cakewalk. Swing by http://homerecording.com/bbs and browse around. It will quickly turn into a lot more money than you first thought though...just to forwarn you.

Paul

plunkett5
Apr-02-2004, 2:19pm
Mrbook, How do you do the transfer from minidisc to CD?

WJF
Apr-02-2004, 4:08pm
I'm a minidisk neophyte so I'm not sure about this but ...

I thought it to be true that minidisk players (at least those from SONY) only record in ATRAC format. If this is true you might want to rethink using one as this format is extremely "lossy" and doesn't lend itself well to being converted into other formats (WAV, MP3) that you could then use to burn a "real" audio CD from.

Like I said, I may have this wrong but it's something you'd probably want to look into.

Hope this helps ...

mrbook
Apr-03-2004, 12:12pm
I transfer from minidisc to CD with a digital cable from the minidisc deck to my Aiwa CD recorder (another component in my stereo system). You get a digital master copy on CD, which you can then copy as many times as you want to other CDs. There is no protection involved (like copies of commercial CDs) because it is originally an analog recording from the microphones or from the mixer. Just like recording on tape, which I understand, but editing the minidiscs is much easier.

I shouldn't admit it, but I really messed up a break on one song recently - I divided the song up, erased my break, combined the two ends, and was lucky enough to match it so you couldn't tell the break was there (the song was too long, anyway). You can erase the wrong track if you're not careful, and if you do that, it's lost.

I don't know about converting to other formats, but I have seen that quite a few live albums have been recorded originally on portable minidisc recorders. I decided on the larger deck mainly because the controls are bigger, and I wouldn't have to fumble around in the dark while we are playing. It works for us as a good basic system. I look at computer or separate digital recording systems and see too many choices, many of which seem to be obsolete by the next catalog I get in the mail. This seems to work until I can figure out what I really want to do.