Easy recorder

[RobinG]

Hi there
Probably this is well trodden territory, but we are looking for something simple that we can use at band practice which will quickly and easily record and playback our songs so we can figure out what we did wrong. It would also be useful to be able to copy onto a usb drive or suchlike so that we could all take the songs home and listen more carefully in the week between practices.

Oh, yes and of course price is a major issue!

Any ideas or experiences welcome
Best
Robin

[John Bertotti]

Do any of you have a laptop? I ask because I used a Blue Snowballl and it worked great plugged right into the usb of the laptop and into logic express. The snowball is 99$ and there are numerous programs to record to that are free or inexpensive. Garage Band is good if you have a mac. I used this setup into GB and hated it but found out I was placing the mic all wrong now it sounds great.

I bought mine at a mom and pop one years ago for the same price.
I also see Blue has a new usb mic called a snowflake coming out. I stopped using this set up for practice as now I use a BR-600 when I travel. I am a hack so YMMV!

Blue mics (http://www.bluemic.com/)http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[fatt-dad]

get a Zoom H2

[RobinG]

I have been using a laptop, but am getting fed up with having to plug it in, wait for it to warm up and then start the software...which is why I want something really simple! On the PC I use an ancient pc microphone which cost about 2 euros and it works fine for what we need. We have even put recordings from this on the myspace site (after suitable treatment with Audacity).[/I][I]

[Bob Wiegers]

Zoom H2, all the way. if you're concerned about price, there's really no better option for what you're wanting to do, in my opinion. love it!

[John Bertotti]

I agree with everyone else then. The Zoom H2 is the next least expensive I know of and it sounds good and is small. I think the micro BR is a little more expensive then the zoom and also sounds good. I love my BR-600 and the 600 and 900 have a couple nice little utilities that make it handier like a wav converter and a rhythm editor. There are a couple files you can put on a usb key, thumb drive, and the rhythm editor will works as a standalone. Have fun.

[TonyP]

I don't know Robin, everything is a tradeoff. I use my laptop for just that, and yeah, it's a lot of stuff, but it's cheap. I also invested in a good case that holds all my laptop stuff, cords, outboard cd burner, mobilepre, powersupply's etc, so everything is in one case. It only cost me $20(an electricians tool case). And I get good results and don't have convert from one format to another. A friend gave me some cheap powered pc speakers, and yeah, it adds to the amount of stuff, but we can hear, realtime a fair approximation of what we have. The snowball sure sounds like a cheap way to go to upgrade. Gotta know the H2 is a couple hundred $'s.....YMMV.

[JHo]

Another vote here for the H2. Not only does it work well as a field recorder, but it doubles as a USB mic, which is nice if you ever want to record straight out a laptop or desktop computer. It's a lot of recorder for the price, I got mine for $175 shipped off our favorite auction site.

[johnM]

H2 ALL THE WAY

[Walter Newton]

The H2 would be my first choice, but if $200 is too much for you to spend you might look at a digital voice recorder - the Olympus WS110 (http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1321) has a USB connection, stereo mic, records in WMA format and goes for about $70 - might be enough for your purposes, I have a cheaper Olympus model which works fine for basic stuff like recording lessons etc.

[Don Christy]

I would recommend either a Zoom H2 or Zoom H4. I have both and both are great. If you want a good 4-track field recorder that's also an interface for a computer for an instrument or mic (including phatom power) good with the H4. If you prefer a slightly smaller field recorder with great features and cheaper, go for the H2.
YMMV
Don

[earthsave]

I would recommend either a Zoom H2 or Zoom H4. I have both and both are great. If you want a good 4-track field recorder that's also an interface for a computer for an instrument or mic (including phatom power) good with the H4. If you prefer a slightly smaller field recorder with great features and cheaper, go for the H2.
YMMV
Don
Neat device. I found a decent description and video demo here for those that might be interested. Video Demo of Zoom H2 (http://www.audiolines.com/Zoom-H2-p-18906.html)

[John Bertotti]

Hey RobinG let us know what you wind up doing. Always interesting to hear what others are doing. Thanks

[RobinG]

Still haven't decided. THe Zoom sounds great, but is quite a bit of money and I am in Europe. I'll be in the US this summer, so if the Euro keeps strong I'll have a look. May also try getting a better mic for the laptop: I'm happy with the results we get with our primitive system, but as you have to tape the microphone to a vase or similar it can be a pain! I'd be worried about the music overdriving one of those voice recorders - I have something like that on my phone and the mandolin is too much for it!
R

[latentaudio]

Why not try to pick up a used Sony Mini Disc recorder on ebay? Kind of like the 2000's version of a cassette recorder. That said, you probably could pick up a decent 4 track cassette recorder on ebay as well.

[RobinG]

Well last night we got excellent sound from the existing setup. It's a pain to get started, but the results are fine and it doesn't cost $170 For the technically minded I'll give you some details:

Microphone: 1998 computer microphone - it's grey and quite small and cost something like 5 bucks at the time
set up: sonically treated clothes drying rack - plastic not metal. Microphone attached at harmonic centre using wood (not plastic) clothes peg. Drying rack set at medium height. Kids ejected from room. Players stand around drying rack (which doubles as music stand)
Recording: Sound forge 6,0
Treatment: select 'normalise' then save

If anyone would like to hear the results, or needs advice in reproducing this setup, please don't hesitate to ask me!
Best
Robin

[TonyP]

Congrates Robin for resisting EAS! I'm always up for using what is already around. Not all have a laptop. One thing I did was get a m-audio mobilepre off of ebay(the guy thought it was broken, got it for $35, turned out the power LED was just burned out, score, touchdown! ) I use the mobilepre for a lot of stuff, recording(it has phantom power and it runs off the usb) as a headphone amp, and as a way to get signal to my studio monitors on my pc. I also use it sometimes to run my analysis program when we gig to check the system. It's small too and fits in the case for the laptop. The software is stable, and simple and it works with my recording programs. It would allow you to use you PA mics with your laptop. YMMV.

[RobinG]

thanks
even better is that the laptop belongs to work - not mine at all!
R

[jim_n_virginia]

another vote for the H2. band practice was the main reason I bought mine. I record, burn to cd after uploading to computer.

You can record on the laptop but with the directional mics (4 of them) there is no way you are going to get the sound out off the laptop that you would get with the H2

Before I got the H2 I used to use a small digital recorder and while it was very handy and small the sound quality was awful.

[TonyP]

With about what you would have in a H2 you could get either one of the omni 'puter mics, or a mobile pre, and a switchable pattern mic. I use my 4050 in the middle of the room, set on omni, and it works really well, but that's more than the H2. I don't know what it's like to convert files on the H2, but converting from minidisc was no fun. All because the software was a mess. I guess whatever works, and it sounds like Robin has found THE cheapest way to get it done.

[mando.player]

The H2 and H4 require no converting. You plug it into the USB port and drag the WAV or MP3 file on to your desktop.

I've got an H4 and a computer based recording setup. In my opinion, the H4 is much more convenient to record myself. The H4 makes recording multiple takes dead easy. Push stop, push record and it makes a new file. When you have a 10 or 12 takes http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif, you can pick the one you like best.

I also like that it stays out of the way when you're playing. Computer based is recording has it's advantages, but simplicity isn't one of them.

[Gail Hester]

H2 or H4, both are very easy to use. I've been using an H4 to record my husband’s rehearsals but the H2 would be sufficient. It is easy to playback and listen to with headphones or download files to your computer.