Simple digital rehearsal recording setup???

I've been looking on and off for a quick, moderate quality, recording system for rehearsal. for those times when I want to remember how that new song went, the feel, the changes etc... I came close when I bought, then returned an olympus DS-2 stereo voice dictation recorder. up to about 100db it sounds GREAT!!! then distorts. I returned it before my return ran out and before I could try an external stereo microphone. the recording time was about an hour in HQ stereo mode.

I'm looking into some larger similar priced olympus like the WS-200s (4hours capacity) and the WS-300m (8hours!!!) all about $100 new.

Any other $100 ideas???

I figure I NEED to use a less sensitive external microphone, stereo preferred. Maybe in the <$50 range.

ANY SUGGESTIONS??

Thanks

 

Well, santa (my friend matt), was very good to me and I got an Olympus WS-320m




35 hours of the highest quality setting, 100-15,000hz, 8-10hour battery life, usb plug built in.

My testing so far has revealed to me that it would not make a great "bootleg" recorder as the tonal characteristics change too much as the volume gets higher and higher, but my main concern was: can I record my band practice with one unit (no extra microphones, wires or headphones) and have low distortion and good decernabiliy of melody.

I've recorded my bass rig, my churches live band (about 8ft from the acoustic drummer) AND FIREWORKS (JUST a few minutes ago, we had midnight fire works (professional) in the neighborhood) I have yet to use it in the EXACT band situation that I'm in, but that will happen thursday.

but so far so good!!!

 

do you know how loud your band plays? our band plays about 100-105 dBc, not dba, dbc measures 20-20k, dba measures 500-20k roughly. anyway I think the olympus ws-300m, 310 and 320m will take 110 db-c comfortably.

like I said in my previous post the sound can become compressed, lose some bass definition, but it is still dicernable.

I'll give a report tomorrow. this will be the FIRST time in a full band situation. I'll try and retake some dbc readings.

this is what I use...



$50 at radio shack. I don't know how accurate it is I was just curious about ballpark figures.

 

Well, I've tried the recorder WITH the band. I had the unit on top of my bass rack which sits on top of my two aguilar cabs. I had the top (where the jacks are) facing out into the room. I also set the recorder on a small washcloth towel. (don't forget to bring a towel! -towely) so it didn't rattle against the skb plastic top.

I put my db meter on my music stand (about 3 feet from amp) The meter was reading just under 100 dbC "C" that is. during practice I experimented with the db meter ON the rack where the recorder is and it read several (about 4-5 db) higher, I think due to vibrations in the rack.

There are some slight, I mean SLIGHT, overload distortions here and there on the recording. it might even be digital compression or conversion during complex passages. but in general I can hear what I'm playing, the keys, vocals drums.

AGAIN, THIS IS IN NO WAY CAPABLE OF clear, uncompressed, unadulterated sound, but it seems to be good enough for me to hear and understand how certain songs were performed. This unit IS BETTER than the Olympus DS-2 that I tried.

If you play in a "oh, my god, this is way to loud!" kinda band you might steer clear of this for a selfcontained recording system. MAYBE IT WOULD SOUND BETTER WITH an EXTERNAL dynamic mic. this unit does have a 1/8" stereo mic input.

I'll update if I try other mics. I have tried a $20 apex stereo tbar mic, the internals sounded better. and I also tried a cheap sound blaster dynamic hand held mic: bassy and low tolerance for volumes above 95 dbC.

 

I'm currently in process of trying a sony ecm-ds70p microphone. at the volumes that seemed o.k. for the internal microphones caused distortion with the sony, but on some advice from another forum I put a short radio shack headphone volume control in between the mic and the input on the olympus. this has reduced the distortion to almost nonexistant.

I have not tried this sony/headphone control/olympus setup with the band, but that will happen thursday!!! looks promising!

 

UPDATE: I DO NOT recomend the olympus ws-300 series recorders unless this is all you can afford. after getting an edirol R-09 recorder that BLOWS AWAY the olympus I have changed my mind. the olympus is VERY compresses and thin sounding and a person would be better off saving up their money for the edirol.

the edirol r-09 IS NOT perfect ,but it is a great rehearsal recording device WITH A 2GB card. about $75 extra. I record 44.1/16bit for pretty good quality, about 3 hours of time before I have to transfere to my computer.

I say its not perfect because you need headphones or stereo for playback and it can't record really soft delicate sounds, I mean like subtle nuances of very very soft music. there is some his, but if the music is talking loud or more it will be fine for practice or rough analysis.

I may try to post some clips for the curious, although the clips will be mp3 it WILL NOT reflect the best possible quality from the unit....

m.