I highly suggest reading online recording tutorials before buying anything. You need to understand some recording basics, it seems.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/mar95/firststudio1.html

There are a million things you wouldn't want to study about recording, but you still have to do it all. There is no short route, and it will take years to achieve even a decent result.

I'm just about to get one of those Zoom H4s, so I can post back when I get it and let you know how it goes.

thebige said:

Yeah. Why don't you do that. Tell us when you know how it goes.

Anything that applied in 1995 applies today, sound quality is still sound quality. That article discusses nothing about what you should use, you're just able to replace alot of hardware with software options today (which is not what you are suggesting, by the way). It was just one of the hundreds of pieces available on the net and I posted the tutorial from the most respected sound technology magazine around without paying attention to the year it was written.

Reading it now more thoroughly, yes it was indeed a crap article. I didn't think they'd have something that old on their site still today, I just quickly googled for it and checked out for some keywords. There are dozens of newer ones available though.

Yeah, sorry. Heartbeatocean. My mistake definitely. But I really don't understand why would you need a "portable" recorder if you're not intending to do field recordings. All you need for sketches these days is a home computer, a soundcard and a decent microphone (if you don't want to buy a condenser microphone then you won't need necessarily a preamplifier). You're not going to need a yet another box like the edirol or that am. zoom to record audio into if you're not intending to record outside your home. In fact, it would just make things stupidly clumsy.
[Edited 1/29/07 1:09am]

theAudience also recommends this:

> > D.R.K. (PC) - http://www.mxlmics.com/Co...ecord.html
> > D.R.K. (Mac) - http://www.mxlmics.com/Co...d-mac.html

thebige said:

Yeah. Why don't you do that. Tell us when you know how it goes.

Anything that applied in 1995 applies today, sound quality is still sound quality. That article discusses nothing about what you should use, you're just able to replace alot of hardware with software options today (which is not what you are suggesting, by the way). It was just one of the hundreds of pieces available on the net and I posted the tutorial from the most respected sound technology magazine around without paying attention to the year it was written.

Reading it now more thoroughly, yes it was indeed a crap article. I didn't think they'd have something that old on their site still today, I just quickly googled for it and checked out for some keywords. There are dozens of newer ones available though.

Yeah, sorry. Heartbeatocean. My mistake definitely. But I really don't understand why would you need a "portable" recorder if you're not intending to do field recordings. All you need for sketches these days is a home computer, a soundcard and a decent microphone (if you don't want to buy a condenser microphone then you won't need necessarily a preamplifier). You're not going to need a yet another box like the edirol or that am. zoom to record audio into if you're not intending to record outside your home. In fact, it would just make things stupidly clumsy.
[Edited 1/29/07 1:09am]

novabrkr said:

It's not my fault you gave a shite reply and I called you on it, don't get pissy with me! I think the plus side of the Zoom H4 is that you're not dependant on a cpu for recording, yet it works with a cpu and comes with Cubase LE software if you want to record to cpu. It has flexability. Maybe when I'm playing and coming up with ideas I'm at a friend's house, a rehearsal room, a room away from my cpu, etc. I can bring those ideas to the cpu without having to be where my cpu is to record. Maybe that's not what heartbeatocean needs, I don't know, but I was just throwing an opinion out there that attempted to be helpful, rather than your "it'll take you years" type of response, which frankly is not helpful at all. Plus, if you read his original post, he asked about something portable, hence my suggestion of a (gasp!) portable recorder.

Thanks for playing!

Adding this for your perusal: http://www.zoom.co.jp/eng.../index.php

I'd like a portable recorder to record sound effects in the field, other peoples voices, or anything that's not in my bedroom! I don't work with just music, but create radio dramas with all kinds of sounds. I also think it would be cool to have a little recorder to record ideas as they come when I'm not at home. My dilemma is getting something now that is quick and easy, but also good enough quality that I could use some of those sounds for the final product.

heartbeatocean said:

Okay, I just got confused because you also posted the audience recommedations and those were desktop items. That's why you want it to be "digital", you wouldn't even need an expensive soundcard with good A/D converters if the portable recorder would do the recording and then you'd just transfer it to the computer via USB (or similar), gotcha.

As far as the Edirol piece is considered I know few people who are using it for field recording needs (for instance an artist who sampled each individual piece of an orchestra at a concert hall and made experimental dance music out of the pieces at home), but the price might be a bit high when coupled with a decent microphone. I was quite close to getting one myself, but I'm still looking around I guess.

Thank you so much. Can you answer some questions about that, talmuzic?

So the microphone itself records? Or does the computer program capture the recording and the microphone is just getting the sound? What computer program do you use? Could that microphone be used with other recording devices besides the computer?

Have you used this?


Sorry about all the questions, I'm trying to figure this out. Looks like a great lead!