Just getting started

[cwk]

I'm a school band director who would like to record my groups in the classroom. I have some equipment but I have little experience. All I need to do is record a sample of rehearsal and play it back for students either right away or the next day. This is concert band so no elec. instruments here, just clarinets and tubas and such. I've invstigated mini disk digital recording but I could really use some advice. Type of equip, brand & model . . ? I don't need professional souding CD's, just something accurate that I can play back immediately.

[tubesrawsom]

In that case how about a tape recorder with an internal mic? Everyone has those plus you will save tons.

[Dogbreath]

You mentioned that you have some equipment...whatta you have?

On a scale of 1-10, what level of quality would you be satisfied with. It makes a difference on what to do.
Like maybe just a couple of room mics to capture overall and call it good? Or something that you can mix later on meaning more mics, inputs, pres etc.

My video camera actually has a pretty good mic. Most of them have some sort of connection for computers that you could burn a cd from. That may be an option for you too.

Just a few thoughts...

[littledog]

Some of those new compact flash drive recorders by M-Audio and other manufacturers are pretty sweet for what you need. They usually come with a decent built in stereo mic, and some let you use external mics as well. It's pretty much set it down and turn it on and forget about it. Many record at up to 24 bits and sound surprisingly good. And the price is dropping.