Recording the vocals .... somewhere else

[robca]

I guess there are plenty of home recordists out there in the same position as me ... able to do the programming and DI side of recording at home, but having to go to a studio to put down the vocals, saxophones, and other stuff that you can't get away with recording at low volume or through headphones.

I want a convenient way of taking a rough mix of a track to a studio, recording the vocals or WHY, and taking them back home to put back into the mix.

I am considering a few options..

1) Brand X Digital Audio Player/Recorder..

Pros: Cheap, light, is an MP3 player
Cons: Most record to MP3, mini-jack in, budget recording curcuitry, need to play rough mix from separate media

2) M-Audio Microtrack

Pros: Excellent recording quality, Phantom power (i.e. don't need a mixer)
Cons: Costs about $500 including CF Card, need to play rough mix from separate media

3) Korg D-4

Pros: Highly portable, Cheap, 4 tracks - can take rough mix on same media
Cons: Records to MPEG1 Layer 2 compressed 16bit/32khz

Questions:

i. I want to be able to release reasonably polished demos from this set up. Would the Korg D-4's compression and lower bit rate take much away from my vocal tracks?

ii. What is working well for other HR people in this situation?

Many thanks in Advance,
-Rob

[Fishybob]

Cd... This can be played through desk to singers headphones.



Get the new tracks shoved on another CD... mix back into arrangement at home.

[Cloneboy Studio]

Why not mix the track down on your computer and drop it to a CD so the studio can import it to their recorder? It's FREE and honestly better than the above described methods.

We see projects like this frequently.

[Fishybob]

Do you not find it difficult to mix the vocal into a pre-mixed song? I would have thought that without eqing the other instruments to make 'a hole' the vocals would just sit on top.

[tourettes5139]

I believe that the CD is only for reference, just so that that vocals will line up correctly, be in the right key, blah, blah, blah, and then you can put the vocal track back into your program along with all the other tracks that you have done (before mixdown!) and then you do the mix.

edit: oops, my bad, fishybob. You already saw (and wrote about) that, I thought you were the original poster.

[robca]

Thanks for the responses. The vocalist will monitor the track from a stereo mix, so yes I am a bit concerned about not being able to tweak the mix for them. But I think I can work on that over time.

Sorry for not being clear, but I will be using cheap downtime rates at rehearsal studios or vocal booths attached to them. There won't be any digital recording gear there.

I'd like to just turn up, quickly set up the backing track and monitor headphones, plug a mic in and record. Ideally I'd grab the track to something that I can copy as data to the PC, rather than have to re-record later... that's why I like the options above.

-Rob

[Adam P]

The studio should be able to give you copies of your vocal tracks as data files burnt to a CD, so that you can just pop the CD into your computer and import the vocal tracks into your software.

Edit: I missed the part of no digital medium at the studios. Why not just bring your PC?

[robca]

My PC is not mobile. I need something I can fit in a day pack.

[treymonfauntre]

so you're just recording somewhere else basically? and you want to bring the least amount of equipment with you?

[robca]

You got it!