Hi!
I stumbled across this forum today and just had to join - what a fantastic resource!
I'm a relatively decent classical pianist, and have tried many times over the years to make recordings for friends and family, but always given up before achieving anything I was happy with. I recently bought a digital PCM recorder (Olympus LS-14), and have been AMAZED at how far technology has come on in the last few years - these recordings don't sound *too* bad!
So, my interest has been re-ignited, and I'd love to give it another shot, but with half-decent kit. I'm just at a bit of a loss of what to get now everything's gone digital!
I already own a Behringer UB1832 FX-PRO analogue mixing desk, and a pair of Behringer B2-Pro condenser mics.
One of the major problems I had before, using these, was the whole recording level being too low, as otherwise it would distort at the piano's maximum volume. The Olympus' built-in "music limiter" setting really helps with this. Any ideas on how to combat it with "proper recording" would be appreciated. Would a light touch with a compressor work, do you think? Or should I just record digitally it at that lower level, and then rectify it in software?
Speaking of which, I'm just using the Audacity freeware at the moment. Any advice on not-too-expensive, suitable software would be most welcome.
I guess my queries boil down to:
Should I get a better quality A/D converter / recorder? It can't be ideal going from a mixing desk to a 3.5mm jack into the Olympus PCM recorder, can it?
Or should I just bite the bullet and buy a whole new digital mixing desk?
Would a compressor be useful for classical piano? I note that some digital mixing desks have simplified compressors included on the channels - I have no idea how good these are...
What DAW software would you recommend for simple classical piano use?
Any other ideas as to useful kit that exists nowadays would also be hugely appreciated.
I realise I'm asking a really open question here, so thanks for bearing with me! I'm happy to spend a few hundred dollars on anything that will really help.
Thanks ever so much )
I stumbled across this forum today and just had to join - what a fantastic resource!
I'm a relatively decent classical pianist, and have tried many times over the years to make recordings for friends and family, but always given up before achieving anything I was happy with. I recently bought a digital PCM recorder (Olympus LS-14), and have been AMAZED at how far technology has come on in the last few years - these recordings don't sound *too* bad!
So, my interest has been re-ignited, and I'd love to give it another shot, but with half-decent kit. I'm just at a bit of a loss of what to get now everything's gone digital!
I already own a Behringer UB1832 FX-PRO analogue mixing desk, and a pair of Behringer B2-Pro condenser mics.
One of the major problems I had before, using these, was the whole recording level being too low, as otherwise it would distort at the piano's maximum volume. The Olympus' built-in "music limiter" setting really helps with this. Any ideas on how to combat it with "proper recording" would be appreciated. Would a light touch with a compressor work, do you think? Or should I just record digitally it at that lower level, and then rectify it in software?
Speaking of which, I'm just using the Audacity freeware at the moment. Any advice on not-too-expensive, suitable software would be most welcome.
I guess my queries boil down to:
Should I get a better quality A/D converter / recorder? It can't be ideal going from a mixing desk to a 3.5mm jack into the Olympus PCM recorder, can it?
Or should I just bite the bullet and buy a whole new digital mixing desk?
Would a compressor be useful for classical piano? I note that some digital mixing desks have simplified compressors included on the channels - I have no idea how good these are...
What DAW software would you recommend for simple classical piano use?
Any other ideas as to useful kit that exists nowadays would also be hugely appreciated.
I realise I'm asking a really open question here, so thanks for bearing with me! I'm happy to spend a few hundred dollars on anything that will really help.
Thanks ever so much )