recording console help

monfoodoo · April 5th, 2008, 02:56 AM

can anybody reccomend a recording decent console for $300 to $350 for home use.I have a drummer,songwriter friend who is looking and i,m trying give him some help on this.

StuH · April 5th, 2008, 05:55 AM

Is he looking for:
- a portable multi track recording unit?
- a mixer that he can plug into his computer to record through a pc/mac?
- an audio interface other than a mixer that he can plug into his computer to record through a pc/mac?

Tim Armstrong · April 5th, 2008, 09:17 AM

Stu asked all the questions I was gonna...

Cheers, Tim

monfoodoo · April 5th, 2008, 12:37 PM

a portable multi track recording unit.Such as the TASCAM DP-02CF.I,m just not up on this sorta thing.

tboy · April 5th, 2008, 01:00 PM

For analog, still seems the Mackie stuff is hard to beat in the low dollar range.

RomanS · April 5th, 2008, 02:36 PM

How many tracks?
If 2 (for recording) + 2 (for playing back) is enough, point him to the Zoom H4 - I love mine, very practical, no matter whether used as a mulit-tracker, live recorder (it has 2 very good on-board mics), or headphone practice amp (it has a couple of onboard amp models - which sound way better than eg. a VAmp2, effects, etc.).

beep.click · April 5th, 2008, 04:58 PM

Monfoodoo --

Tascam, Zoom, Roland (Boss) -- at that price range, they're going to be very similar, and all will be pretty good.

I'm not that excited about recording to Compact Flash cards, like the model you mention; I prefer a hard drive. Then again, a hard drive is more delicate...

The biggest thing to research, IMO, is how to get your songs OFF of the recorder, and on to a computer. You'll want that so you can do editing, make CDs, etc. Ideally, the recorder will connect to the computer via USB, and it will let you bring your work over as separate ".WAV" files.

If it's strictly "home use," has your friend thought about just recording on a laptop or desktop computer?

StuH · April 6th, 2008, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beep.click

Monfoodoo --

Tascam, Zoom, Roland (Boss) -- at that price range, they're going to be very similar, and all will be pretty good.

I'm not that excited about recording to Compact Flash cards, like the model you mention; I prefer a hard drive. Then again, a hard drive is more delicate...

The biggest thing to research, IMO, is how to get your songs OFF of the recorder, and on to a computer. You'll want that so you can do editing, make CDs, etc. Ideally, the recorder will connect to the computer via USB, and it will let you bring your work over as separate ".WAV" files.

If it's strictly "home use," has your friend thought about just recording on a laptop or desktop computer?

This is a real good post.
I highly doubt for under 300 clams you'll end up with a unit with cd burner or hard drive unless it's a second hand machine so researching how to get the media in a useable form is really important.

I've been using a Zoom MRS 8 with alot of success and has been a great purchase. SD card with no usb so it's a a matter of putting it into a card reader on my pc, downloading a software utility from zoom that converts the MRS 8 files into mp3 or wav files.

For 300 and under I don't think there really is a unit that would shine head over heels above another and really the choices are pretty limited to probably half a dozen models.

monfoodoo · April 6th, 2008, 02:03 AM

if he is not going to be moving it around i,d say a harddrive would be the way to go or to an external.Then off to pc.

April 5th, 2008, 02:56 AM	#1 (permalink)
monfoodoo Tele-Meister Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: baltimore,md Age: 53 Posts: 400	recording console help can anybody reccomend a recording decent console for $300 to $350 for home use.I have a drummer,songwriter friend who is looking and i,m trying give him some help on this.

April 5th, 2008, 05:55 AM	#2 (permalink)
StuH Tele-Afflicted Join Date: May 2006 Location: Yukon, Canada Age: 38 Posts: 1,480 12 Photos	Is he looking for: - a portable multi track recording unit? - a mixer that he can plug into his computer to record through a pc/mac? - an audio interface other than a mixer that he can plug into his computer to record through a pc/mac? __________________ My music page http://www.soundclick.com/bands/defa...?bandID=561926

April 5th, 2008, 09:17 AM	#3 (permalink)
Tim Armstrong Moderator Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Berlin, Maryland, USA Age: 49 Posts: 9,659	Stu asked all the questions I was gonna... Cheers, Tim __________________ http://www.moodswingers.org

April 5th, 2008, 02:36 PM	#6 (permalink)
RomanS Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Vienna, Austria Age: 36 Posts: 2,876 14 Photos	How many tracks? If 2 (for recording) + 2 (for playing back) is enough, point him to the Zoom H4 - I love mine, very practical, no matter whether used as a mulit-tracker, live recorder (it has 2 very good on-board mics), or headphone practice amp (it has a couple of onboard amp models - which sound way better than eg. a VAmp2, effects, etc.). __________________ http://www.pbase.com/romans http://www.myspace.com/romans212

April 5th, 2008, 04:58 PM	#7 (permalink)
beep.click Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: California Age: 49 Posts: 1,963	Monfoodoo -- Tascam, Zoom, Roland (Boss) -- at that price range, they're going to be very similar, and all will be pretty good. I'm not that excited about recording to Compact Flash cards, like the model you mention; I prefer a hard drive. Then again, a hard drive is more delicate... The biggest thing to research, IMO, is how to get your songs OFF of the recorder, and on to a computer. You'll want that so you can do editing, make CDs, etc. Ideally, the recorder will connect to the computer via USB, and it will let you bring your work over as separate ".WAV" files. If it's strictly "home use," has your friend thought about just recording on a laptop or desktop computer? __________________ "It looked like a giant green gum drop to me."

April 5th, 2008, 12:37 PM	#4 (permalink)
monfoodoo Tele-Meister Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: baltimore,md Age: 53 Posts: 400	a portable multi track recording unit.Such as the TASCAM DP-02CF.I,m just not up on this sorta thing.

April 5th, 2008, 01:00 PM	#5 (permalink)
tboy Tele-Holic Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Chicago Area Posts: 662 7 Photos	For analog, still seems the Mackie stuff is hard to beat in the low dollar range.

April 6th, 2008, 02:03 AM	#9 (permalink)
monfoodoo Tele-Meister Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: baltimore,md Age: 53 Posts: 400	if he is not going to be moving it around i,d say a harddrive would be the way to go or to an external.Then off to pc.