Recording band practice?

[Louie_W]

Looking for a cheap (ish) way to record our practices to hear how we sound and to remember songs. None of us are massive computer geeks so nothing too complicated ha! So do you guys know or use anything tht helps?

[Noosh]

well, unless you want to spend a ton of money and mic everything, which i dont think you want pro sounding recordings for what you wanna do anyways right now, i would just go buy a mic, and just sit it somewhere in the room [experiment with where in the room gets a decent mix] and just record into a cheap [or free] recording program. its not great quality, but it works. my guitarist has some sort of condenser mic that was like a couple hundred bucks [i know its not the cheapest but] and we recorded it into my protools and it was suprsingly very good quality.

[()smoke()]

tascam dr-1 @ $300 sounds flat out great

others like the zoom h2 @ $200

if you're looking for really cheap and not interested in good sound quality, $50 buys a digital voice recorder, which i used before i bought my tascam for the exact same purpose, just to get the basic song structure down so i could chart it out and learn it at home--but the microphones on the voice recorders will usually clip with a full band unless you set it far away

[Vynns]

Originally Posted by ()smoke()

the zoom h2 @ $200

+1

I got myself one of these a few weeks ago. Buying a recorder is not as sexy as buying a bass or an effectpedal, but it's one of the best investments in your music you can make, IMO/IME. I can recommend one of these.

[DWBass]

Zoom H2

[BB75]

my old band used to just set up a video camera in the corner of the room and let it roll.

[etoncrow]

I have run an old Zoom MRS-8 out of the practice PA record output with really good results.

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by BB75

my old band used to just set up a video camera in the corner of the room and let it roll.

+1

Many video cameras have an external mic input so you can improve the sound quality with a decent mic.

Another great way to record cheaply is to get a video player/recorder and hook a mic up to the audio in jack.

Also, you can get 2,4,6,8 hour video tapes cheap.

Someone you know must have an old video camera/recorder sitting in the closet unused. Probably on many entertainment centers collecting dust next to the DVD player.

Or maybe get a DVD recorder and use the audio input.

[Gubna]

I used to use a tape recorder - and even now, those tapes still sound good.

my old singer recently was telling me how glad that I taped all the shows and rehearsals because, in some cases, there were songs that weren't recorded - and those tapes are the only record of them.

I use an Olympus WS-320M Digital Voice Recorder which was about $100 (last year) that works alright when recording full band - if it's far away from the band. I know it doesn't work too well if the music is too loud as it will clip out - but it's great for getting song ideas down - and is USB.

[awakefie]

I have a Boss BR-600 (about $350 - http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com...der?sku=241151).

It has stereo mics built in that aren't bad. I can hook it to the external out on the sound board (make sure everyone's micd).

It runs on AC or battery (AAs).

It records to Compact Flash (San Disk Ultras are what I use) up to 1 GB (will store lots of stuff using only the stereo mics). I have like 3 cards I bought on eBay for $20 each. It comes with a 128 MB card.

It also lets you bounce and master up to 8 tracks (each with 8 virtual tracks).

I has a USB export to go to a laptop. It exports WAV and AIFF.

I've got mine hooked into some M-Audio Studio Pro 3 speakers ($99 http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com...ors?sku=603709 and they sound great. But basically it has RC outs that are compatible with any powered speaker.

Hope this helps.

[von buck]

Originally Posted by Gubna

I used to use a tape recorder - and even now, those tapes still sound good.

i play with a guy who just uses an old boom box he got out of the junk someplace. Not great quality, but then it's only to remember what we did, not for publc consumption.

Andy

[()smoke()]

Originally Posted by von buck

i play with a guy who just uses an old boom box he got out of the junk someplace. Not great quality, but then it's only to remember what we did, not for publc consumption.

Andy

yep, until this year, all my ideas were recorded onto cassette tape via a small grade-school-classroom-type cassete recorder with a built-in speaker...honestly, it works great for capturing ideas while solo--just limited by the mic for the whole band

[Chris Hodges]

My trombone player was recently given a Creative mp3 player (I think it's a Zen) and has been using the voice recorder to record us. If you put a towel over it, it comes out pretty good. Definately good enough to throw into SoundForge or something and get a pretty good copy. Then you can transfer it via USB and email or burn it. I looked up the Zens and they are pretty inexpensive. here is the link.

[Louie_W]

cheers guys some great suggestions good to see ppl have not forgotten the old tape recorders!! plus i have seen bands use video recorders to record and completley forgot so thts cool i will also look into the flashier ideas at a later point!