Using a digital voice recorder to record rehearsals?

[dhagler]

Greetings LGM Family,

After nearly 4 years of using a standard cassette recorder to record rehearsals, I think the time has come to upgrade.

Please share your experiences with using a digital voice recorder:
1. What brand and model do you use?
2. What are the pros and cons of that particular model?
3. How does it do with recording lower frequencies?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

[under13]

I use a casio exilim digital camera.

Pros: Its also a still + video camera, Good sound quality, even at high volumes. small file sizes, Good battery life, and its rechargable

Cons: it records in wav, not MP3

I'm not sure if the new models have a voice recorder, so you wll have to verify that

PM me ur email and I can send you a sample of recording...

Now I did my an olympus recorder for like $40...and it was crap

[DWBass]

I use a Zoom H2. It records in wav or mp3 and handles low frequencies very well. I haven't found any cons other than it's iffy with certain brands of SD cards especially higher capacity ones (4gb+). 2gn cards will still get you a ton of recording time and I really have no use for anything higher. 2gb cards can be had for cheap these days and I have about 10 of them! I'd post a recording but it is of the secular nature but if anyone wants to hear a recording, PM me.

[chrismc101]

Had a Sony digital recorder, but I justuse my iPhone now. It had a digital recorder on it. Crispy CLEAR...

[under13]

I use a Zoom H2. It records in wav or mp3 and handles low frequencies very well. I haven't found any cons other than it's iffy with certain brands of SD cards especially higher capacity ones (4gb+). 2gn cards will still get you a ton of recording time and I really have no use for anything higher. 2gb cards can be had for cheap these days and I have about 10 of them! I'd post a recording but it is of the secular nature but if anyone wants to hear a recording, PM me.

I think I may get that one

[malthumb]

I use a Zoom H2. It records in wav or mp3 and handles low frequencies very well. .....

Ditto!

In addition to the quality of the recordings, I really like the easy interface with my computers, both PC and iMac.  I like the SurroundSound recording feature.  They may over-play it a bit in the claims, but it does allow you to record to the front of the H2 only or to record from both the front and back.  I'll try to post a clip from a recent rehearsal or service.

[BassbyGrace]

Dont remember what model mine is, but its an Olympus recorder that part of it comes off and reveals a USB so you can plug the recorder into your computer.  Its no where near a Zoom, but for 30 bucks it works quite well and picks up ALOT.  If I get the spare loot, I will upgrade to a Zoom H2 though.  Great quality and alot of features.

[malthumb]

...I'll try to post a clip from a recent rehearsal or service.

Here's a rehearsal. It's pretty raw in some parts, 'cause we were still experimenting with the arrangements on "Stir Up The Gift". It does give a good example of the range of the H2. The drummer and I were in the same area. The keyboard was about 20 ft from us. The vocalists were probably the same distance away but in a different direction. You can even here one of the vocalists dealing with her kid's nose issues.

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/media/displayimage.php?album=422&pos=22

And this one is from a service. In this case, the H2 is sitting on top of my speaker cab, near the keyboards and about 5' in front of the drums. The vocalists are about 50' away and off to the left. The guitarist is about 10' off to the right.

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/media/displayimage.php?album=422&pos=10

[dhagler]

Many thanks for all the responses. The Zoom H2 is an impressive instrument but more costly than I want to invest in this endeavor.  I am researching digital voice recorders with USB connectivity in hopes of finding something under $30.

[under13]

Many thanks for all the responses. The Zoom H2 is an impressive instrument but more costly than I want to invest in this endeavor.  I am researching digital voice recorders with USB connectivity in hopes of finding something under $30.

Good luck with that. maybe you can find something on craigslist, like a minidisc recorder, otherwise you are better off with the tape recorder in terms of sound quality, 

[craigory]

I was considering the TASCAM DR1 digital recorder. Seems kinda pricey, but I like TASCAM. What do you think?

[malthumb]

I was considering the TASCAM DR1 digital recorder. Seems kinda pricey, but I like TASCAM. What do you think?

From what I've seen it's very similar in terms of specs, with the Zoom H2.  Probably a little nicer, since it comes with rechargeable lithium batteries.  If they were the same price, I's probably go for the TASCAM.  Prices I've seen have the Zoom at $169.99 and the TASCAM at $209.99.  For that differences, I'd go for the Zoom.

[DWBass]

From what I've seen, the Zoom is bigger than most of the other brands and uses regular batteries. Here's my thing, if you're out in the field and your internal battery dies in the middle of an important recording, you're out of luck. I prefer electronics that use replaceable batteries (except iPods of course). Just my preference. The other brands are all nice and can fit in your pocket. Nice they come with 1gb or higher SD cards as well but you do get a lot of accessories with the Zoom H2. Not sure what comes with the other brands! I can't wait to see the next generation H2. They've already updated the H4 to the H4n.

[phbrown]

I use my laptop.

I plug my laptop mic input to the headphone jack on my mixer.

I use audacity to record. Then I have the ability to burn it to CD which I then hand out to the choir members after practice so they can listen to it wherever they feel like.

[phbrown]

I use my laptop.

I plug my laptop mic input to the headphone jack on my mixer.

I use audacity to record. Then I have the ability to burn it to CD which I then hand out to the choir members after practice so they can listen to it wherever they feel like.

Pros:
I forgot to add that audacity is free.
If you already own a laptop you can save money there.
No need to worry about hard drive space.
The ability to manipulate the audio using audacity.
If you have enough mic inputs on your laptop you could in theory record vocals, bass, keyboard, and drums separately and then combine them using audacity.
The ability to share is greatly enhanced because of the many formats you can output to.
No need to worry about USB compability.
If you don't have a headphone jack to plug into you could just plug a microphone into your laptop and use that.
You can add additional things such as a click track to the song.
The ability to save all your rehersals and then plug your laptop into your bass amp and play it back so everyone can hear how something was done 2 months ago!



Cons:
Laptops are a lot larger and heavier.
Battery life is not as good as a hand held recorder.
Depending on your soundcard you could run into a high pitch hiss sound in the recording. ( I have this problem when it is recording a lot of silence)
If the input is too hot (Loud) you could mess up your soundcard on your laptop.
Audacity can be intimdating. If that is the case just use windows sound recorder.



Assumption: I assume the laptop is a windows computer. (I don't like Macs, and Linux may even be a better option because of the multitude of free software.)

[under13]

I use my laptop.

I plug my laptop mic input to the headphone jack on my mixer.

I use audacity to record. Then I have the ability to burn it to CD which I then hand out to the choir members after practice so they can listen to it wherever they feel like.

Why not just send it as an MP3 in an email, rather than burn cds??

[phbrown]

Why not just send it as an MP3 in an email, rather than burn cds??

 ... That would work and it would be cheaper!!! I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

I know I will still have to make CD's for a few of the older members who don't really understand email as much.

But thanks for the idea.

[dhagler]

I have a laptop but taking it to rehearsals seems cumbersome. Your mileage may vary. One of my group members uses an RCA digital recorder to record rehearsals. His particular model allows him to save the sound files in .voc format, but the included software converts the files to .wav, which he then e-mails to us.  The sound quality is not the best, but it is enough to be able to hear what's going on and have something to practice against. So I will probably go that route. It is definitely a step up from my $20 portable cassette recorder. The Zoom H2 looks like a great product but the cost is much more than I choose to spend. I bought a Line 6 TonePort UX2 last year and have barely used it so, for the moment, my needs are very spartan and can be met for mininal expense.

Thanks to everyone who responded.

[DWBass]

I think the main idea is portability! Laptops are cool (I have a fully loaded recording studio on mine) but again, in the field, you're limited to the internal battery and most laptops have about an (realistic) hours worth of battery time!

[under13]

I think the main idea is portability! Laptops are cool (I have a fully loaded recording studio on mine) but again, in the field, you're limited to the internal battery and most laptops have about an (realistic) hours worth of battery time!

take your power supply with you.