What do you guys use to record your OWN sounds

SIXTO · Post by **SIXTO** » Wed May 25, 2005 5:18 pm

I want to go record cars riding by.. birds.. etc.. what is a cheap way to do that with?????

Thanks

ejectorset · Post by **ejectorset** » Wed May 25, 2005 5:25 pm

i dont really do field recordings, but a ton of people on another forum i am on use minidisk recorders for that.

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Wed May 25, 2005 5:34 pm

Percussion stuff I have been using the same samples for about 4 years, always finding new ways of mangling them.

Everything else I synthesize myself. I have an Andromeda which I wiped all the presets for and have made my own sounds. But since that's stuck somewhere overseas at the moment, my last 3 tracks I've exclusively used a JP-8000 and my laptop for its sequencing and recording.

99% of the time I use Ableton built in effects, the only VST that I use is some freeware spectrum analyzer.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Wed May 25, 2005 5:36 pm

Rode NT3 mic and Echo Indigo IO with my laptop works the best for me.

David_T · Post by **David_T** » Wed May 25, 2005 5:45 pm

I use a Sony Hi-MD minidisc recorder with a Sony stereo T-mic.
Try http://www.minidisco.com

Sucks---I just noticed the price on the entry-level hiMD recorder went down about 50 bucks in just around 4 months rrrrhgh.

You'll need to think about a windscreen (you can put a big mic windscreen over both sides of the T-mic). Also, find the link from minidisco on the WAV conversion software from Sony.

But really, recording up to 8 hours per disc with an apparatus that fits inside a tiny camera case and runs on 1 AA battery and uploads to your computer via USB -- it doesn't get much better than that.

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Wed May 25, 2005 5:49 pm

I think I missed the point of the thread with my last reply.

These days I just record everything DI into an MBOX.

I had to record some vocals a few months ago, and in the past I used to use a Behringer B1 (or B2) but this time I was at a studio and ran a Neumann U47(i think it was that one) through an AVALON pre/compressor/eq with amazing results. The odd thing is, prior to that, the behringer sounded 'amazing' to me... I guess that was a big lesson in the whole "u cant polish a turd" saying..

anonymouse · Post by **anonymouse** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:09 pm

I melodyne voice and acoustic instruments recorded at random on minidisc, or just take the audio as it is.

HiMD is the dogs bollocks if you want to portably collect sound.

Most expressive "proper" instruments that I rely on are a rhodes stage 73 and a vintage les paul.

I am going to try synthing things up a bit later in the year, but I am in the process of rebuilding my studio 6,500 miles away. Will be surreal to have all my kit in another city.

David_T · Post by **David_T** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:10 pm

Cheaper way to go might be finding a secondhand minidisc recorder on ebay, but you have to make sure that it accepts a mic or line input.

Digital voice recorders (like business dictation recorders) are very poor quality sound even though they are cheaper. Flash-memory based field recorders are still at least $500, but that should go down (I hope).

rsagevik · Post by **rsagevik** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:34 pm

I`m planning to get one of these

looks great

ikeaboy · Post by **ikeaboy** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:35 pm

I have an Oktava MK319 at e130. Got it after some research into cheap mic's. Lovely rich sound but its made in Russia so it may come with some Chinese childrens fingers!

anonymouse · Post by **anonymouse** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:45 pm

rsagevik wrote:I`m planning to get one of these

looks great

don't know why you'd get one of those overpriced bricks. I've held one, and it is ugly.

Check out one one these

If you can find a compelling reason to get an R1 instead, I'd be interested to hear it.

smart1123 · Post by **smart1123** » Wed May 25, 2005 7:03 pm

I know no one can afford one but look at this

http://www.aaton.com/products/sound/cantar/index.php

kennerb · Post by **kennerb** » Wed May 25, 2005 7:05 pm

I invested a chunk of change into the Sony MD set up. It was great for a while until it broke in the 13th month that I owned it. I always babied it too. The most that I used it for besidesrecording was to bring it with me paragliding so I could listen to tunes while I fly. It never got banged around much though. The drawbacks for MD to me are the media (not cheap and can be damaged fairly easily) and the fact that there is no digital out. So you do this great field recording digitally and you have to transfer it to your computer through a headphone jack. Lame!!!!

I decided not to reinvest in MD and instead went another route. I found the Iriver flash media player. This thing is small, Has USB to transfer, can record at very high quality both as wav and mp3, and is built tough with NO moving parts. That means less noise and less to break. Oh and it runs off of 1 aa battery for many hours. It also has fm that you can record. I usually record with a small sony stereo mic which works good for most close range recordings. I always carry this thing around as moments to record come up often.

Here's the player that I have

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra ... p_795.aspx

Here's the mic

http://www.minidisco.com/ecm-ms907.html

rsagevik · Post by **rsagevik** » Wed May 25, 2005 8:03 pm

anonymouse wrote:If you can find a compelling reason to get an R1 instead, I'd be interested to hear it.

Good reasons for me would be that
I`ve already got a MD player.
The R1 has good built in microphones.
It has the option of no compression of the recorded sound (wav)
It can use the same storage media as my digital camera

The Marantz PMD660 would also be an alternative.. It`s got phantom power as well. A bit bulkier though.. but it can take larger cf cards[/b]

anonymouse · Post by **anonymouse** » Wed May 25, 2005 8:03 pm

my MD recorder lets you drop uncompressed wav recordings onto your PC as wav with the click of a button. A 1 GB disc costs $4 or less.

And MDs won't survive fire, acid baths or being stood on - but make CD look like wet tissue paper.

That Cantar thing looks like marriage material.

What is the price anyway?