Mr. Foxen Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 What's a good for the money sort of thing for recording casually, I've seen the jobs with two mics sticking out of them, look appealing, but pretty clueless on such things. Need to get something for note taking purposes. If they turn out reasonable enough for demos, that would be ideal. being able to interface with fancier stuff would be a bonus if I score some nice mics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 (edited) I just use a cheapo stereo USB mic stright into the laptop. Sometimes we use an iPhone wrapped in a coat! I think Zoom make a fairly inexpensive 2 track digi recorder with a built in mic too. Edit: There's a few of [url="http://www.andertons.co.uk/pocket-recorders/pid12369/cid734/tascam-gtr1-portable-recorder-for-guitarists.asp"]these[/url] sort of things around... Is that what you're after? I'd imagine they are all pretty similar in terms of features and compatibility. Edited October 4, 2012 by brensabre79 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mog Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 The Zoom H2N is a handy piece of kit. Personally I go with a Boss Micro BR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I've got a Boss BR600. On-board mics are a little patchy, but plug in a couple and it's great. As a bonus we tracked everything for our recent demos on it before dropping everything onto a PC. Cracking bit of kit, easy to use etc. The only downside is that the maximum CF card size is stupid small, but this hasn't been an issue (yet). P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booooooom Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 (edited) Zoom H2 user here. Used it to record band rehearsals and songwriting sessions for about 18 months with great results. The only minor issues have nothing to do with the sound but it does feel lightweight (its a lot lighter than it looks), the screen is small and the gain switch is similar to the on/off switch which isn't great in dim lighting conditions - I accidentally set it to high once which resulted in the recording sounded like it'd been recorded in a crisp packet! Keep the gain set to low, stick it in the middle of the room with both pairs of mics on and it records a fairly loud five piece band really well with a good stereo image and with clear definition of the various instruments and vocals. I really haven't explored its full potential and I don't have any comparative experience of similar products but I'd recommend the H2. Edited October 4, 2012 by Booooooom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinynorman Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I've got a Line6 Backtrack +Mic. The standard Backtrack is only really useful for 1 instrument, but the +mic version has a built in microphone. Basically you switch it on and it starts and stops recording based on how much noise it hears, and saves each section as a wave file. Needs to be placed carefully to get reasonable balance, but I've got pretty good results from rehearsals and gigs. Mono, but only cost me about £30 on eBay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I have a Zoom H4n, and its superb. For the money the mics are fine & the mic pres are pretty good, I can record with the two onboard mics, and two more mics at the same time - which trumps all the rest of the devices in an instant for me. Even just using the onboard mics the results can be staggeringly good. Highly recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 The Zoom H4 is superb but Mr. Foxen pointed out that he's clueless in these matters. That means that he may hit the same problem as me ... the H4 is sometimes just TOO clever. For sheer simplciity, you can't beat the Zoom H2, and it's cheaper too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 I'll learn my way round what I get, jsut want to start out right. Watching ebay to snag a good price on one of these Zoom jobs then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneandfive Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Until I get something better, my i-phone is doing a sterling job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrenleepoole Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I'm a user of both the Zoom H1 and H2, both exceptional bits of kit for very little money. I also use a Tascam iM2 on my iPhone when required. Again, a great bit of kit for very little money. For simple uses like recording jam sessions, gigs or quick jotting down of ideas, the Zoom devices will excel in that department. The Tascam for the iPhone is great when I need to quickly get an idea down or record something of interest out in the field. Provided it's not a massively long track, it's a great go to solution when you have nothing else to hand. I also have the Boss Micro BR, and have never really got on with it. Maybe it's time to go back to it and try again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sté Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Zoom H2 here. perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 How about [url="http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/recording/2-track-recording/alesis-twotrack-portable-handheld-recorder.html"]this one[/url]. Simple to use and £20 off! at the moment... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregBass Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 I would recommend the Line 6 Backtrack with mic - simple to configure using preset settings. It records my loudish rock band at gig levels with no over-recording at all. If you want to hear some stuff recorded at rehearsals and gigs, drop me a line and I'll send you a link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 I'm another for the iPhone as a jam recording device. A couple of friends have the Zoom H2 & they do a nice job too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Or go the whole hog and get an RME UCX an RME OctaMic II and an iPhone and record 8 tracks at once.... Might bust the budget a bit, but it will sound very very nice indeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumperbob 2002 Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Zoom H2- brilliabt for recording practices, gigs even. Great quality piece of kit and strong- fallen to the ground a few times and still very reliable. Very simple to use and records just the same as the human ear. Tend to place mine at the very top of our p a speakers- picks up the band and also the audience. press record and forget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTB Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Interesting to see folk using their iPhone for this. I've just got an HTC One which has 20g on board storage plus 28g cloud which would seem ideal for this. Is there an Android app that I could use for recording? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 (edited) <PEDANTMODE> Strictly speaking the H2 (and all of these devices) dont sound or record like the human ear. To do so the mics would need to be about 17cm apart (which equates to about 0.5ms of delay), and short of a faux stereo head mic, or a Jecklin disk to add to seperation due to the meat and skull between them the closest you can get is an ORTF array which is to say the mics would need to be a matched pair of cardiod mics placed at an angle of 110 degrees from each other. The coincident, or very near coincident pair of mics on all these devices are too close together to provide any stereo info based upon phase and time delay clues, instead they only use the difference iin level between the mics to provide stereo. On the plus side the do collapse to mono with virtually no phase artifacts at all. All of which will be revealked in the next Blog posts on recording rooms </PEDANTMODE> Sorry, I'll get me coat.... Edited October 12, 2012 by 51m0n Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 [quote name='PTB' timestamp='1350037243' post='1833757'] . Is there an Android app that I could use for recording? [/quote] Voice Recorder. The mic in my HTC Desire craps out at high volumes but is useful as a notebook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTB Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 [quote name='bremen' timestamp='1350037638' post='1833766'] Voice Recorder. The mic in my HTC Desire craps out at high volumes but is useful as a notebook. [/quote] Thanks Bremen. I will experiment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Picking up on the "human ear" theme, one thing you need to be clear about is that handheld recorders won't allow you to [i][b]feel [/b][/i]the sound. Whenever I play back a recording from my H2 or Q3 (or in the old days my H4) the bass sounds relatively weedy, certainly not as good as it sounded at the time. Most of the difference is that you can [i][b]feel [/b][/i]the bass at a gig, and that "whump" doesn't really get picked up by the tiny mic capsules in a handheld. The recording still sounds absolutely fine to most listeners and easily good enough to go on your band's website ( http://www.junkyarddogslondon.co.uk/audio.html ), but if you're the bass player - like what I am - then you'll be permanently complaining about it. The other thing with handhelds is that placement can be absolutely critical. There's one pub we play where the only practical place to put the recorder is a curtain pole above an archway - about 10' up in the air. At that pub the recorder gets a fabulous recording of the vocals (which go through the pole-mounted PA tops and are pointed more-or-less directly at the recorder) but precious little bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Errr, not so from my H4n, its entirely dependant upon what you are listening to the playback on for a start, and how loud, in order to move the same amount of air, such that you 'feel the whump', then you need to be moving the same amount of air on playback. At a guess I would think your hifi doesnt produce quite as much SPL as your band perhaps? There is absolutely nothing at all to suggest that a small diaphragm condensor or electret will struggle with low frequency sound. Thats why measurement mics are all SDCs - because they are more accurate at all frequencies. In fact the mics you have on those devices are all cardioid (omni doesnt work in coincident pairs) and as such they all to a greater or lesser extent develop more bass the closer to the source they are. Furthermore do you put your head right where the device is to find the spot you want to record from, or do you just tend to put it in the middle of the room? The mics will only pick up what they 'hear', place them in a big bass null (due to room acoustics) and you will get severely attenuated bass frequencies on the recording. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 +1 to what 5im0n says. Plus, its never going to be a studio quality production, but you can certainly give it a helping hand if you run it through a home studio with a couple of plug-ins. Compression and Eq for starters. This is what you'd do if you were recording a proper session rather than just a pub gig - even a live room recording with a stereo pair at the front would go through some post production... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinynorman Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 With the Bactrack if anything I'm getting too much bass, it's some of the cymbals that sound thin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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