Best entry level recording gear?

[CrabbMan]

With portable digital audio technology being so abundant these days, I would figure there is something smaller and cheaper than the DAT decks of 15 years ago. I haven't done any taping since like 2000, with my old minidisc recorder, so I'm totally out of the loop on what people are using these days. Can you get a decent rig for under, say, $300?

[Skradgee]

See if you can find a nice (used?) Edirol R09HR. Do you have mics?

[slunken]

as an inferior alternative to skradgee's advice

[BloodyCape]

http://www.adorama.com/SOPCMM10BK.html

[Skradgee]

Whoa. That Zoom recorder is nice.

[redbull]

Originally Posted by Skradgee

Whoa. That Zoom recorder is nice.

until you want to run an external mic into it

[Skradgee]

Why? You can hook up two external mics. It has phantom power.

[brendo_91]

http://www.rolandsystemsgroup.com/products/100093 is what i'm currently lusting after, in a portable recorder.

[slunken]

the only problems i've encountered is that its susceptible to handling noise when using the internal mics (makes sense) and it has a difficult/slow time recognizing any sd card larger than 8GB

[redbull]

Originally Posted by Skradgee

Why? You can hook up two external mics. It has phantom power.

iirc the preamps built-in gain and a/d are pretty bad compared to something like a DR-07, PCM-M10, LS-10, or R-09HR. they have one of the better internal mics though...

CrabbMan -- you should come visit us at taperssection.com! tons of knowledgeable people there, and tons of lightly used gear that goes for way under list price

[redbull]

Originally Posted by CrabbMan

Can you get a decent rig for under, say, $300?

Church audio mics - $115
Tascam Dr-07 - $90

leaves you $95 for a good preamp

[Shallowed]

Originally Posted by redbull

iirc the preamps built-in gain and a/d are pretty bad compared to something like a DR-07, PCM-M10, LS-10, or R-09HR. they have one of the better internal mics though...

Good to know, my dad has one of these and I was considering using it for recording shows.

[Shallowed]

Wait, not that one, but it is a Zoom recorder.

http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h2/

[soniclovenoize]

Originally Posted by Pasta of Muppet

Wait, not that one, but it is a Zoom recorder.

http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h2/

I have one of those, I love it, use it a lot. But I mainly use it for recording my own band practices and our gigs, not other bands' taping...

Note it has two separate pickup patterns, a 90 degree spread and a 180 spread... There's also a function that you can record all four at once to make a 4-channel recording. No multitrack option though, as well as no combo of it's own mics and external line-ins (it's one or the other). Also records to 96/24 if you want. Pop a 24 gig soundcard in it, and your good.

If you wanna know how it sounds, I recorded this show with it: http://archive.org/details/cspm2011-06-22

[Shallowed]

Originally Posted by soniclovenoize

If you wanna know how it sounds, I recorded this show with it: http://archive.org/details/cspm2011-06-22

Did you use external mics? I'll give it a listen later.

[soniclovenoize]

Originally Posted by Pasta of Muppet

Did you use external mics? I'll give it a listen later.

Yeah, it's the built in 180 degree spread (the rear set of mics).

Also, my new band, our demo was recorded live with the 4-channel option (even though I went and used compression and EQ in a DAW). http://soundcloud.com/soniclovenoize...-booking-demo/ The context is a little different than what you are looking for, but you can at least see the versatility of it.

[Shallowed]

NICE. Yeah my dad uses it a lot for his practices, it's got a decent sound for something that you just stick in the middle of the room. And of course some EQ and compression helps. I did a voiceover thing for him a week ago and that kind of thing was needed to get my voice (cough) to some degree of radio-announcer warmth.

[Pizza Club]

Originally Posted by redbull

Church audio mics - $115
Tascam Dr-07 - $90

leaves you $95 for a good preamp

What's the preamp doing? I know what they do in general, but why would I need one if I bought external mics? Babby's first recording gear!

I bought a Tascam DR-05 on a whim. I don't go to as many shows as I used to but I thought I could at least play with it. It was cheap enough where I didn't have to feel bad if I never used it.

[CrabbMan]

Originally Posted by redbull

Church audio mics - $115
Tascam Dr-07 - $90

leaves you $95 for a good preamp

So this leaves me to wonder, should I care about the performance of the built-in mics of these devices, or just buy external mics. And if am using external mics, is there much of a difference in the sound quality between the different recorders, or is it at that point just a matter of much they can record at a time?

[brendo_91]

yes there is a difference between the sound quality even using external mics... the built in preamps vary quite a bit.

[slunken]

bot deleted

[Skradgee]

IDK. I can't see valuing the preamp as one item over all the other features in a setup. I mean...I don't discount the importance of it. Obviously you don't want to have a really hissy recording from a terribly bad preamp, etc. but a lot of that comes down to personal preference and how people like to hear a recording, or just how one will work better for a particular project.

Yup.

[mercurial]

[mercurial]

[Cool As Ice Cream]

AUDSBD: when a member of the audience brings his own soundboard to the venue to record the gig

[slunken]

wuttup nagra

[mercurial]

you're probably going to want to get the shoulder strap