Looking for a simple recording setup

[Taylorplayer]

As mentioned above, I'm also using GarageBand. It's not hard to learn or use, and it seems to record pretty decent as well. I'm just using a simple little "clip-on" mic I bought from Radio Shack. I filled off the "teeth" on the clip, and covered both sides with some protective tape. I clip it on the sound hole, and run that straight into the mic input on the Mac. I'm up and running in no time.

Hope this helps!

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by steamfurnace

I've been having fun and great results with the Boss Micro BR.

One other REALLY cool thing about the Micro BR is that it is a GREAT tool for transcribing tunes by ear. Most devices that offer this slow-down feature only do 50% of normal speed at best. The MicroBR goes down to 25% and is very listenable even at that low rate. This is something I have never seen anybody post about. The MicroBR does looping very easily, so in addition to being able to slow down any MP3, it can loop on a section and that is very intuitive to use. It uses SD cards on which you can record and/or stuff MP3s to listen to. So you could transcribe some tune or part of a tune, record yourself playing it, and then compare the two.

I know that software can do this stuff very well, but I just don't really like using a computer for my musical activities. The MicroBR is decent for recording, as the previous poster said, but it is also a GREAT tool for transcribing. So you really get two very decent things for the money. Plus, it is fairly decent builtin effects. You can use the factory presets or tweak these to your own taste and save them in the user effect space. It is really easy to get around on this thing to do all that.

For us guitar players, this thing is a really decent "Swiss Army knife". Also, it has a built-in mic, so if you don't want to plug your guitar into it directly, you can just listen to it through the built-in mic (assuming an acoustic guitar).

The input, if you do want to plug in your guitar, has a 1 meg ohm input impedance, so you can plug in directly with a K & K pickup equipped instrument. I do it with my Cargo and get excellent results without having to use a separate preamp, EQ, or anything. I just setup a user effect that has those adjustements. I mention my Cargo because it was really a bit of a hassle to tame those strong mid range frequencies that are peculiar to the Cargo with K & K pickups. So this little device is very good at EQ'ing and working with acoustic instruments.

The one negative thing is that it goes through batteries. You only get a few hours out of a set of 2 AA batteries, but you can use the "wall wart" power supply with it.

Tony

[Brent Hutto]

Not trying to be difficult but I used to own a MicroBR and while it is a Swiss Army knife, a lot of the "blades" involve electric guitar effects.

If you're really averse to anything involving a computer the MicroBR will definitely slow down MP3's but doing slowdown, looping and so forth on it for transcription and learning is really terribly crude compared to a decent (and cheap) software solution. Same for the Tascam and other hardware slowdown devices, the algorithms they use are just woefully choppy and artifact-ridden.

In the end, I needed something better than the little built-in mono microphone for recording and couldn't bear the awful sounding slowdown and fiddly buttons so I got a dedicated digital recorder (Sony PCM-D50) and Transcribe (tm) software for my computer. If you don't need the electric-guitar stuff it would be hard to recommend the MicroBR over the alternatives.

[tbeltrans]

Regarding the MicroBR vs software, yes I agree that software is better at this task of slowing down recordings. Maybe because I have doing this for a long time with much more crude setups, the MicroBR seems to work very, very well for me. I find that it is really quite listenable even at the 25% of normal speed slow down rate. For those who did not do this sort of thing with a turntable at 16 RPM or a reel-to-reel at half speed, the MicroBR may not sound good.

However, for a person with a limited budget who wants a small simple recorder, this is an added bonus of the MicroBR that may influence the decision. All these little recorders seem to do a decent job of recording (not compared to a decent quality studio, but really decent nonetheless), so any of them would suffice.

Regarding effects on the MicroBR, I agree that most are for electric guitar. But I found a couple that work very well for acoustic, and I was easily able to get a very decent EQ that allowed me to hear my Cargo with K & K pickups against the recording very clearly.

If a person wants to spend very little money for recording, then I think that some of the software mentioned in this thread would be the way to go, since clearly the OP has a computer of some kind to post here. If the OP is intending to purchase one of these little recorders, then the slow down feature is an added bonus. I had a Tascam GT-1 for a while, and found the MicroBR to be more flexible and useful overall.

As for being adverse to anything that involves a computer, I am a software engineer with over 20 years experience and simply don't really care to use a computer for my musical activities (maybe because I deal with computer stuff all day, I don't really know). Somebody in this thread mentioned the Tascam 2488 Neo. I have one of those and it is decent enough too for recording. I consider the MicroBR more as a practice tool than for serious recording, though it does as good a job as anything else in its class PLUS the transcribing tool functionality. A lot of good music has been recorded on this 2488 series from Tascam, and there are other products out there like that on the market. Of course, Reaper on a decent equipped PC will be more flexible and probably better all around, but there are people who still prefer dedicated hardware and I am one of them.

Edit again: By the way, I also own a copy of Transcribe and it is very good software (I have both the Linux and Windows versions), but find myself going to the MicroBR all the time these days. It is just a matter of how one likes to work.

So, good points all around, but in context of where I am coming from, I believe my post still stands.

Tony

[Andyrondack]

Originally Posted by ecw21

Hey all...I was thinking of recording a few things here and there and I was just wondering what a simple recording program might be.
I'm such a newbie when it comes to recording that I'm not even sure what I need.

Mostly it would just be me recording a few guitar songs for my own purposes. Just a way of marking progress and hearing my playing more objectively.

How can I get started with a minimum number of gadgets, programs, etc. Any thoughts from you recording pros out there?

Thanks!

Eric

A digital recorder with xlr inputs and phantom power supply will meet your immediate needs and allow you to upgrade the system with external mics should you want to one day. If you have an iPhone I have heard others getting great sounding results from the phone and a small plug in mic.

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by Andyrondack

A digital recorder with xlr inputs and phantom power supply will meet your immediate needs and allow you to upgrade the system with external mics should you want to one day. If you have an iPhone I have heard others getting great sounding results from the phone and a small plug in mic.

Hi Andy,

The thread is a bit long in the tooth but I’ll play

My needs are very simple, one guitar, no overdubs and an occasional vocal.

I have a zoom h4n which is more than I need, and I don’t do much processing. Used a daw on my now deceased desktop for a while, but I’m now recording and making some videos on my iPad. The zoom can be used as an interface to access its mics but it is a bit fiddly and requires some extra hardware.

So I just accqured a Shure MV 51 which is plug and play into an iPhone or iPad. It has effects presets for spoken voice, acoustic instruments, loud music, singing and flat.

It couldn’t be easier to use, and I’m very happy with the sound for my purposes. After peering into the rabbit hole I’m happy to be back to a place that is more in keeping with my musical and technical skills

[jseth]

Through a "head's up" on this Forum, I picked up a Tascam DR-05 through Guitar Center, and it is an amazing little device!

Doesn't do multi-tracking, stereo condenser mics on the unit in a x pattern that are actually very good quality. External mics can be used. Limited EQ functions. Reasonably simple interface...

I use it to record just me and guitar... found a sweet spot in my littel home; it's the bathroom! Although small, I can put the DR-05 on a stand in the shower/tub, lift the shower curtains out of the way, perch on a stool so I can get close to the unit... and VOILA!

Great sound quality (remember to turn off the refrigerator!), and a nice little ~120 mml. delay/reverb effect form the space.

Brutally honest recordings... you only hear what you do... so there's that! I added a larger SD card for more space, although I've not come close to needing it. I have mine set for mono, high-res, and that uses less room than stereo.

After all was said and done, with discounts and coupons and rebates? The Tascam DR-05 cost me $29... and it does what I want it to do very well...

One caveat - you want to be pretty close to the thing to get the best recording, unless you like that "way over there" sound for acoustic guitars... I adjust the height and placement of the unit, depending upon what I'm playing/recording... if it's more fingerstyle with soft voice, I just balance between the guitar and vocal... pretty easy to get the hang of and do on the fly once you get a feel for it.

For a "Plug in and Play"-type, it's perfect... when I'm ready to do another record, I'll find someone I trust to be the engineer/recording tech. I learned from my first record that all the minutiae of the process is a HUGE distraction from where I need to be to play and sing my best...

[CASD57]

USB mic into your computer...using a DAW(Reaper is free) program or OBS studio(Free)
That would be the cheapest way

The next step-up- Audio Interface.. Like a Focusrite($150) a Microphone/s of your choice but a condenser is best...into the DAW or OBS Studiio

If you want movability ..One of the handheld Zoom or Digitech's works well I see the Zoom H1 on sale for $80 all the time

[raysachs]

If you want the cheapest solution, just use Garage Band on your iPad or iPhone with the built in mic. Or, for a little bit better quality, get a decent USB mic for $100 or so.

But if you want dead simple, check out a Spire Studio. It's a multi-track recorder, but paired with a phone or tablet (where the app lives), it's the easiest, simplest, most foolproof multi-track setup I've ever used. I find Garage Band overly complex personally. The Spire Studio is dead simple. It's not super powerful - there are a couple of features it doesn't have that I sort of wish it did. But overall, I have more fun and less hassle with it than any multi-track recording setup I've ever used. Good little built-in mic too, so you really don't need to buy anything but the basic unit and a decent set of corded headphones.

-Ray

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by raysachs

If you want the cheapest solution, just use Garage Band on your iPad or iPhone with the built in mic. Or, for a little bit better quality, get a decent USB mic for $100 or so.

But if you want dead simple, check out a Spire Studio. It's a multi-track recorder, but paired with a phone or tablet (where the app lives), it's the easiest, simplest, most foolproof multi-track setup I've ever used. I find Garage Band overly complex personally. The Spire Studio is dead simple. It's not super powerful - there are a couple of features it doesn't have that I sort of wish it did. But overall, I have more fun and less hassle with it than any multi-track recording setup I've ever used. Good little built-in mic too, so you really don't need to buy anything but the basic unit and a decent set of corded headphones.

-Ray

Let me second this endorsement of the Spire's built in mic plus whatever "secret sauce" the Izotope software in their app seem to apply by default to recordings. I have used a Zoom handheld for years for simple remote recording, and they work for that, but even the first few test recordings I did with a Spire sound better right out of the box.

Over in a couple of long threads I've posted my frustrations with the Spire for a particular workflow I was aiming for, but the recording quality for non-recording engineers focus of this thing is very good.

I'm unsure what the status of the product is however. Izotope's web page now says "Due to high demand and limited stock, Spire Studio may not currently be available in your area. We will update our retail channels for purchase once Spire Studio becomes available again." I got mine as demo/return from Sweetwater, and I suppose they may be available used or on places like Reverb or other sites, but the availability issue makes it hard to recommend right now.