Home Recording ???

[LesD]

Am interested in trying some home recording in our family room and have been looking at Tascam's DR40 handheld portable digital recorder. I am "GUESSING" that I could set the recording unit in front of my amp (Victoria 5112), play softly (Gretsch 6122-1959), and hopefully get a fairly decent representation. I would then like to be able to load the song files on our home computer and email songs to friends/relatives and also burn the songs to CD. I'm open to any and all suggestions as the only time I ever recorded music was when I played 5-string banjo with a bluegrass group in the mid 70's, and that was reel-to-reel recording in a large church!

[rgervais]

Hi LesD,

If you have an iphone, invest $2.99 in the PureAudio app. This is a fantastic recording app that can handle anything from voice quality to CD quality (according to the manufacturer), depending on the settings. The attached mp3 is of my friend Raymond, noodling on my 6122-1959 this summer. I had the iphone on the coffee table in the living room about 5 feet in front of the amp, using the CD quality setting. I think Raymond sounds pretty decent considering he had not touched an electric guitar for over 10 years. Best $2.99 I ever spent on recording equipment.

Roger

[LesD]

Roger,

Did not realize the iPhone would record! I do not have one as of yet but my youngest son and daughter-in-law both have iPhones so I will ask them about the recording app. The quality of your friends recording sounds great! $2.99 sure beats $75.00 - $200.00!! Thanks for the tip.

LesD

[Roger Pratt]

Hi Les.........If you have a PC then you can dwnload a free program named Audacity and do some very easy and good recording from your computer. Take a look at it....it's free!

[LesD]

Roger,

Sounds like another great low cost option. All I would have to do is buy a computer mic and become familiar with the software. I talked with a "quote/un-quote" recording expert with a large retail music company yesterday and he recommended two (2) mics at the amp (a Sure 57 and Royer R121 @ $1400.00) and recorder ($660.00 - $1300.00 range) plus mic stands, cabling and software. He said this is the only way I would realize the true sound of my Victoria amp! If that's the case, my pocketbook will not allow me to record!!! I really was in hopes that one of the handheld digital recorders would work (could also use it for recording duties other than music) but he said the mics on the handheld units are too sensitive for quality recording.

Thank you for your post,

LesD

[thumbslinger]

With those handhelds... it's true that the mic's are really sensitive...but one way you can really improve the recorded sound is by 'sound proofing the mic'.... find a cardboard box you can cut a hole in, set it over the device or just get the device stable inside, stuff a pillow or blanket or towel/s all around the inside behind and around the device w/o covering the actual mics of course and you'll be amazed at how it works.

We got one of those Harlan Hogen portabooth's for v.o. work at the office. Same principal, just a little nicer looking!

http://www.harlanhogan.com/portaboothArticle.shtml

[RandeDager]

Roger, I've tried recording with Audacity. It sounded like garbage, but I think it wasn't the fault of the software. I'm holding out for a Mac.

[BillB]

There's a relatively inexpensive recording software called Reaper that is supposed to be very good. I have it, but I haven't had a chance to really learn how to use it. What little bit I did sounded kind of bad, but that was because my playing wasn't very good. However, I feel pretty sure that it's a great deal for only $60.
Here's a link:

http://www.reaper.fm/

Bill B.

[RandeDager]

Hi Bill,

Reaper is the program that Roger Hardin uses. However, that doesn't solve the hardware issue. I've learned the hard way that even the best software in the world, without regard to hardware, doesn't solve the problem.

[BillB]

Hey Rande,
I was thinking that I heard about Reaper here on the Chetboard. Yeah, it's about time for you to upgrade. Apparently, there are a lot of people using Reaper with PCs as opposed to Apple. Although, the price difference is not as big of a gap as it used to be, you can still save some costs. I'm still using an Compaq/HP desktop that I've had since early '04. Reaper actually works pretty well on this old thing, but I'm strongly considering something newer in the next few months. I really need to take some time and learn the program, but I've been a bit lazy music-wise.

Take Care!
Bill