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| JanVigne |
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http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2012/Apr/Roundup_5_Hand_Held_Multitrack_Recorders_Reviewed.aspx?Page=1
Recording your own music references will be an interesting experiment for anyone involved in high end audio. Above is a review of five different pocket recorders, all of which have helped bring down the cost of making more-than-just-decent recordings with local talent at your favorite festival, club or coffee shop. Where the now-professionals such as Reference Recordings' Keith Johnson's earliest attempts at capturing the sounds which interested him involved hauling a "portable" reel to reel deck the size of a large suitcase out to remote locations, today's pocket recorders are exactly that, able to slip into a pocket and be ready to record within a minute's time. Until a few years ago a decent microphone would have cost the same amount as many of these pocket recorders do. With third world assembly and a growing interest by independent artists who cannot afford studio time these devices offer excellent microphones at a bargain basement price. All offer both real time and post-recording effects, editting, etc. which you can use with the device in your hand to ehance what you've captured. There are multiple freeware music workstations available on line which can further assist your post-recording work. The quality of recordings these devices can manage will put to shame any of the "basement tapes" you may have heard from well known artists such as Neil Young.
Even with the limitations of fixed microphone positions, the versatility of these pocket recorders will make up for many of the short comings. Additionally, being forced to work with limitations in absolute microphone positioning will make you think about what you are hearing on your major label recordings. The higher priced models can accept top quality mics and most even offer phantom power for top notch performance from mics well suited to be carried along to remote sites. A few recordings of your own will provide volumes of information about how recordings are made in a professional studio plus inform you of how your system responds to your own recordings. Knowing exactly what was available to the recordist is about as fine a way to understanding your own playback system as you can find.
I've used my Zoom H2 recorder on numerous occasions at the local library's and the museum's events. Of course, always ask permission before you do any recordings and don't expect any performance to be allowed if there are contractual obligations to be met. However, most local performers playing in caual settings will easily allow a non-obtrusive set up such as these recorders can offer. The recorders also allow for a line level input and you might just be able to plug right into the performers' mixer.
Highly recommended to anyone interested in audio.
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| dmitchell |
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That is really cool. I remember back in the day when I played in bands, we had to borrow or rent 4 track recorders just to get half decent quality basement recordings. 'Course that a long time ago.
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| N1ck |
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Those look cool. What is the pickup range like on yours Jan? In order to get quality recordings, or I should say, the best possible recording the unit can offer, what distance/range do you need to be in?
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| JanVigne |
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Obviously that depends on the recording you want to make. For most purposes let's stick with how you would approach a recording made within a confined space as opposed to an outdoor recording.
The mic capsules on the H2 are arranged in a basic "front/rear" configuration which allows for full four channel surround recording. Switching performed through the on screen menu allows you to select either front or rear or all mic capsules. There are simple faders to allow for some level changes in the four channel recording mode. This allows you to create a mostly front pick up pattern with varying degrees of rear ambience added. Unless you are using the recorder for immediate playback though, you'll be better off recording all four channels at normal (equal) levels and making your adjustments to the final balance between channels after the recording is complete. The more channels you use for recording, the shorter your record time on a single SD card. You can run the recorder either as a battery powered device or through a wall wart type of adapter. You can use four channels with the rear mics being ambience captures for room sounds if you prefer. After you've made the recording plugging the H@ into the inputs of a digital audio workstation (DAW freeware, try Krystal to begin) allows a remix from the raw files and you can control the amount of front to back or side to side perspective. Most DAW's have more than enough effects and control devices to make the recording workable on any level of playback you prefer. The H2 can upsample the original recording or record at CD quality 16 bit/44.1kHz. Of course, if you prefer, there are MP3 formats available but then you might as well just use the lousy mics on your smart phone or set up your iPod as a recorder. If you've recorded in four channel mode, you can fold the rear channels into the front for playback on a two channel system. This provides what would essentially be an omni-directional mic capsule sound. If you need to be a great distance from your sound source, omni-directional mics are seldom what you prefer to use but with the H2 and the various other pocket recorders plus a good DAW you have the flexibility to alter the mic capsule's apparent pick up pattern after the recording is complete.
The included mic capsules on the H2 are more or less cardioid (heart shaped with minimal pickup to the rear of the capsule) patterns which would mean you need to treat them as you would any other cardioid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone Cardioids are very good for working more up close unless you care to have the side pattern of the pick up be included in your recording. When you see a performer on stage swallowing the microphone, it's probably a cardioid. The position of the capsules in the H2 are workable as a crossed cardioid pattern which is about ideal for general stereo work. Treating the H2 as a four channel surround recorder slightly alters the pattern of the capsules to avoid too much information from the sides vs front/rear. If you were to record a single instrument such as a guitar or a piano, you would prefer to have the recorder placed about 12-24 inches from the sound board for a close mic'd sound with some room sounds included which would place the playback of the instrument a foot or so behind your speakers' front plane. The further back you get from the source, the more room sound is captured and the further back from your speakers the image of the instrument will be placed. Sound diminishes at a rate of -6dB for each doubling of the distance from the source so your recording will reflect that lower input level which will, if you move too far back, begin to affect the tonal balance as the room sounds begin to overwhelm the sound source. While our ears can filter out those room sounds and make the appropriate adjustments as we listen to a live performance, a recorder only responds to what it is fed - including out of phase reflections. It has no "perception" filters so the sound quality will tend to become somewhat hollow and fluttery (due to comb filtering effects) if you move too far from the sound source.
I'm not after anything great with my recorder, I'm really just asking for permission to have a copy of the performance. And the performances at the library vary from single artists to twenty piece groups. For the larger groups a single pair of mics in the center of the stage will have somewhat uneven balance over the entire stage width though this is something you learn as you play with the recorder. For such a group setting the better idea is probably to pull back a few feet and capture everyone at more or less equal distance to the mic. I'm not asking the group to cater to my recordings. If I did I would ask them to close ranks around the recorder to even out the distance from each performer. Or, if you had permission in advance and some time to work, you could locate the single pair of mics on a boom above the stage. For a single performer, you can get as close as the situation allows.
The limitations of the fixed mic capsules is something you will learn to work with and no single pair of mics will be the best approach to every recording. But the various recorders all accept some type of external mic input which would allow you to play to your heart's content given the time to do a good set up. A fairly decent pair of condenser mics with battery power would run you another $100+. If you bought the recorder which offered phantom power to the mic, the quality of microphone you could use would be limited more by your budget than by the quality of the recorder.
If you'd like, get on line and you'll be able to find audio samples of each of the various recorders. Here's a sample of what the H2 can do;
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/recording-progress/93174-zoom-h2-soundclips-samples.html
That would be a fairly close mic'd set up.
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| N1ck |
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This is cool stuff Jan.
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| JanVigne |
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I think so. Yeah, you could spend the money on another cable but after three days with the cable you'll be bored and looking for another something to buy. And, in the end, your knowledge of how audio works won't change one iota while doing a few basic recordings will teach you immense amounts about audio, production, how sound travels, why an artist or an engineer might select a certain mic and position, etc. And, honestly, I simply can't believe the prices for the quality and amount of product you get from these pocket recorders.
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| N1ck |
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Yeah they are relatively cheap considering what you get and what they can do. I may pick one up in the near future. This area explodes with music festivals and local downtown talent all summer which I plan on seeing.
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| MW3 |
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This page is truncating several letters off of the end of each line in both IE9 and Chrome
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| dmitchell |
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What's your screen resolution set to?
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| MW3 |
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1366 X 768.
This is the only thread that is happening with.
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| dmitchell |
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Thanks for the info MW. I can reproduce it. Firefox wraps long URLS, Chrome and IE do not.
Will fix.
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