New To Recording

[Chuck Morel]

Hello everyone. I would like to get my feet wet with some live recordings. Would a rack mount casette or cd recorder be a starting point or is recording way to involved. My intentions are to record band practices as a learning tool. I would invite your thoughts. Thank you. Chuck Morel

[Jim Cohen]

A good option these days is a compact, portable mp3 recorder. Zoom makes pretty good ones for live recording in stereo. I have the H4 model but I think the H2 is the improved model (larger display and maybe a few other bells and whistles). Check them out.

[Russ Wever]

. . . mp3 recorder. Zoom makes pretty good ones . . .

Fyi, Zoom saves as .wav (uncompressed)
as well as .mp3 (compressed).
~Rw

[Chuck Morel]

Thanks guys for the info. I looked at these units on the pc and I was impressed with what I saw. What does the software do that comes with the unit, I could'nt get a clear picture of that. After loading what you recorded to the pc, does that enable you to burn it to a cd. Since everything I want to do hopefully will end up on a cd are there cd recorders that operate like the old casette recorders. Less steps for me is better. Im no wizzard on the computer.
Thanks again. Chuck M

[Jim Cohen]

Chuck, when I bought mine, about 3 years ago, it didn't come with any software; not sure if it does now or not. But basically you take the SD memory card out of the unit and stick it into the slot in your computer, then navigate to it (it should be recognized as a removable 'drive' by your computer), click on the folder on the card and see all the recorded files. Then copy and paste the files into another folder on your hard drive. You can then use any CD burning software to burn it to a CD. An easy one to use that comes with all PC's is Microsoft Windows Media Player. It has a burning function built in.

Hope that helps.
Jim

[Tony Prior]

Jim is correct, with units like the H2 Zoom there is no additional software, but you do need an MP3/Wav player on your PC. I personally use a Zoom H2 ( about $140) and a Tascam Dr-03 ( $50 on sale ) Battery life is approx 5 hours for each...

Then, you can download a very nice player for free from WINAMP


http://www.winamp.com/


Windows media player will also do the job...

regarding recording , if you use WAVE format, your files will be huge...MP3's will be much smaller and most likely will fit the purpose..I would suggest start by using MP3 / 128 which will be very reasonable to work with on the PC. Experiment with short songs with each of the record formats so you can hear for yourself ( or not ) the differences in quality. If the purpose is to record gigs or rehearsals.. MP3 /128 will fit the bill nicely...quite frankly I use this mode pretty much 100% of the time ! a typical band set 45/50 minutes is about 40 meg in size and to my ears sound pretty darn good...

good luck

t

[Chuck Morel]

Thanks Tony,my pc currently has windows media player which is ok. I'm looking in to the Zoom H2N. As I read theougt the specs the software included with the recorder is Steinbhergs wavelab LE.7 This is for mastering your recordings. This unit seems to have everything I need to get started. I will shop around and look for a used one as well. All the info I read was from zzounds. Thanks everyone for all the great feedback.
I would like to wish all of you a happy and healthy holliday season and the best new year ever..God Bless. Chuck M

[Clete Ritta]

...My intentions are to record band practices as a learning tool...

For live stereo recording, you cant go wrong with the Zoom H2 as previously recommended.

If you want more tracks (8 live, 16 mixdown) with built-in effects and overdub capabilities, the Zoom R16 is a great piece of gear for the price. It also serves as an audio interface with your PC and DAW software.

Clete

[Landon Roberson]

Like this one

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=237770