Recording on the cheap to get gigs

[JC87]

Looking to spend $200 max. I'm not looking for anything to make a polished record. Would like an all in one solution. The idea is like "Hey book us, we got songs. Hear listen"

I just need something that will be able to record something, we can give to clubs that shows we have songs and we can play.

We would be doing the recordings live, we are are a quiet band but use amps. Think folk/singer song writer, Drums use brushes and use little cymbals with only a ride when a cymbal is played.

Thinking the Tascam DR-40x or the Zoom H4n - something in that vein but please let me know if something cheaper would work, or even if I stretch by budget by $50 to a $75 makes a world of difference.

 

[seamonkey]

I have to ask because many people spend a lot of money on cell phones.
What cell phone do you have?
Just keeping mind that Grammy Award nominated recordings have been done on an iPhone. Android phones have also been known to produce sparkling results.

 

[JC87]

Samsung Galaxy s23 ultra. If that is capable I'll use that.

Any mic you recommend to add on? Or you think the phone itself is fine.

 

[seamonkey]

Samsung Galaxy s23

Try the built-in mics first.
If you are using the voice app, and not another app, try setting the voice recorder to high quality.
How to record audio on the Samsung phone voice recorder app | Samsung UK
Your model may have additional settings, so check Samsung S23 docs.

 

[JC87]

Try the built-in mics first.
If you are using the voice app, and not another app, try setting the voice recorder to high quality.
How to record audio on the Samsung phone voice recorder app | Samsung UK
Your model may have additional settings, so check Samsung S23 docs.

Thanks! Appreciate the help!

 

[bwildt]

I would record our rehearsals with a Tascam DR-05, a little recorder with built-in mics. The results were good. They didn't sound like a polished, highly compressed studio recording, but it sounded like the live recordings they were. I liked using these as examples of how we would sound at a gig-- an honest recording as opposed to multi-tracks or overdubs.

If your band can spend a little time to get a good room mix and then behave themselves to keep those settings, The results can be good. Playing a little softer is better than being too loud because loud can excite room acoustics and standing waves, leading to some frequencies becoming too boomy. I would then take the recordings and run them through my Reaper DAW to tweak some eq (usually just a little more low frequency push and a little more "sheen" in the upper vocal range) and add a little reverb.

 

[JC87]

I would record our rehearsals with a Tascam DR-05, a little recorder with built-in mics. The results were good. They didn't sound like a polished, highly compressed studio recording, but it sounded like the live recordings they were. I liked using these as examples of how we would sound at a gig-- an honest recording as opposed to multi-tracks or overdubs.

If your band can spend a little time to get a good room mix and then behave themselves to keep those settings, The results can be good. Playing a little softer is better than being too loud because loud can excite room acoustics and standing waves, leading to some frequencies becoming too boomy. I would then take the recordings and run them through my Reaper DAW to tweak some eq (usually just a little more low frequency push and a little more "sheen" in the upper vocal range) and add a little reverb.

Appreciate it!

 

[buldog5151bass]

I don't think studio-like audio is what you need. The venue owners will only be listening for a minute at most in most cases. IMO decent video is more important in most cases. They want to see the presentation.

 

[arbiterusa]

"Hey book us, we got songs. Hear listen"

Just a hint: you should record yourselves so you know what you sound like. That being said, I have NEVER - not in almost forty years of doing this - gotten a gig from anyone with an audio recording.

YouTube is a different story. Video can be really helpful.

 

[Cristo]

We were recording rehearsals just to capture spontaneous jam ideas using a zoom H1N, and it was OK for that purpose. The recordings weren't for outside consumption so we didn't bother much with adjusting levels and recorder positioning to get the mix just right. It might work for you though, and those are so inexpensive it could be worth a shot if the phones don't work out. I wouldn't be surprised though if the recording quality of some phones has matched or surpassed such a unit by now.

If you are already using a mixing board during rehearsal then you would do much better to work with recordings of individual tracks, even if you don't want to put in the effort to "make the album. Of course, that depends a lot on what equipment you already have. We use a mixing board that records audio from every input and we can then download it to a PC.

Something like the zoom recorder can give a reasonable recording, and it is easy enough to experiment with where you position it, which greatly affects the resulting recording. You can then take the resulting audio file and do a little massaging in some software like Audacity, which is free!

 

[Jefus]

Shure makes some great mics for phones. I had the MV88 for awhile and it did fine even with loud-ish rock bands.

Other options:

1. See if the local college has a recording studio. Sometimes students are looking for bands to record and they get school credit for it.

2. See if there's some "up-and-coming" producer in your area that's looking for bands to record so they can flesh out their demo reel.

3. Check the library to see what you can check out from them. Here in Sac we actually have a music library, MusicLandria, that will loan out gear.