Mobile recording on the cheap

[DavidK]

My room sucks, I cant record here. I'm frightened, hold me

I played at a church on Xmas eve that sounded amazing, it gave me the idea of doing my acoustic violin tracks there and synths/electric violins in my house. Whats the cheapest way to do this??

I need:

2 mono tracks I assume: one for the clicktrack prerecorded stuff, one for the violin. I am guessing this doesnt exist, that I have to go mimimum 4 track? I even though about: bringing a discman and headphones, having the prerecorded stuff on IT, that way I could get away with a twotrack if its cheaper. I dont even know what a minidisc is, should I???

Phantom power

About 2 hours of recording time. I wont edit anything, just play all the time. I will record the song many times on one track, keep doing it and edit at home.

I record at 24bit/44 at home, I assume I need 24 bit???

I have seen lil stuff like Zoom and fostex stuff, will this work well?

The other options I have thought about:

A. Luggin my computer to somewhere like this church and spending a whole day.
B. Renting studio time

Studio time might be interesting. I am broke with medical bills so we are talkin only a few hours. Part of the "fun" of the hobby of home recording for me is learning how to do it, but I dont know if a lil Zoom doodad will really sound acceptable. I am looking for prosumer sound, I know my expectations and limitations.

Any ideas kids??? Thanks

PS did I mention CHEAP?

 

[HomeMadeHitShow]

Not exactly to specs but I can recommend a Zoom PS04 (or PS02 if you can fine one).

PS04 is a handheld 4 track recorder with an excellent built in mic, tons of effects and removable cards for recording.

Downsides, the recording is 31250khz not the usual 44,100 though I doubt you can tell the difference.

PS04 is currently around $199, not sure if you can still get the 2 track version.

Zoom beats Fostex in my opinion for
1) Smaller
2) Better effects
3) even though it's 4 track you can actually record 40

All my songs are PS04
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=314739

A great forum
http://www.2090.org/zoom/bbs/index.php

PS04 Product
http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/ps04/index.php

 

[leddy]

I have a rack case with a Yamaha MG mixer for preamps and phantom power supply, and a Tascam 788 which can record 6 tracks at once at 24-bit. The Tascam sits on a pull-out shelf so you can use horizontal gear in a vertical rack. Set-up is quick. Everything is already set to go, I just plug in the mics and set levels. I go home, burn the tracks to CD's and load them into my PC for mixing. I could add additional tracks in Cubase if I wanted to. I set up one treated room in the house for mixing. I don't really track in my house except on occaision. I look for good sounding rooms elsewhere and go there.

A used 788 runs about $300-$400 and the Yamaha runs $200. It works well for what I do.

 

[DavidK]

Thanks for the responses, and for reminding me that I am an idiot:

I bought a YamahaMG 48 hours ago Geez Louise, I am halfway there with Phantom power and pres. I bought it to use as a keyboard mixer, are the pres good? I guess I could get off my lazy butt and try them

OK, I will start over:

I am looking for a portable recorder The tascam sounds good but is a lil pricey for poor folk. I am thinking 200, maybe I am not being realistic. I THINK I could do it on a two-track if I had the prerecorded stuff on my discman, would that work???

I dont think I need overdubbing or virtual tracks, perhaps I am kidding myself. If I could record maybe two hours of music, I could get 15 takes to edit with.