Really Basic Stuff

[c.prettyman]

I need some really basic advice - The situation is this, I need to get some decent recordings of my kids put together and burned to CD, or copied to tape, to send to some out of town, elderly, and infirmed relatives. Mostly what I will be recording is solo piano all played in the middle couple octaves - my son may be better than average at this, but he's still just six, and he's not ready to debut at Carnegie Hall, yet. anyway, it may seem like overkill to do anything more than call his grandmother and hold up the phone while he plays, but I figure, if I'm going to do it, I may as well do it right. So - I need some really basic suggestions on what I need for a microphone(s), etc. I have a pretty good computer, but it is set up as a graphics machine, so it may need a better sound card, and I probably don't have anything special in the way of audio software. I do have a CD burner, but for one of the aged aunts, I'd still need to record to a casette tape.

Any and all suggestions, hints, and advice are welcome
Thanks

 

[Jagular]

Sounds like a worthwhile endeavor to me. Just watch out. Before you know it you will get the urge to buy more and more equipment

For what you are doing, most likely, you can use the soundcard that is in your computer. As long as it has a line-in jack on it you should be ready to go. It won't sound as good as a better card, but it will work just fine (coming from a reformed Soundblaster user ). I suspect for what you are describing above, this will be adequate. But of course as your kids get better, and start figuring out they like recording themselves, you will need to get better equipment (warning shot #2 )

If you are recording a piano, it would probably be best to get two mics and record it in stereo. Although I suppose you could use just one mic and record it mono too. Probably small diameter condensors. I'll let someone else recommend mics, but you can get some pretty decent mics for not a whole lot of $.

Then you would probably want a preamp. The M-Audio Audiobuddy works pretty well for about $80.

Then you would probably want some recording software. N-tracks is cheap and a lot of folks use it successfully.

You could probably get going on this for less than $300. Of course there are a lot of options. It just depends what you will be doing down the road. Maybe a few more specifics of what you will be recording and what kind of soundcard you have would help too.

Good luck

 

[OnTheBlackRock]

simple way...

go out and get a analog four track recorder... tascam MKII works great. get a shure sm57 or shure sm58 mic (both are great for all around recording)

you wont need a preamp just the mic, a mic cable, the four track, and headphones and thats a good start... the four track will already have a cassette bay in it already (you can use that for you aunt) then from the LINE OUT on the tascam four track get an RCA left/right male cable to a 1/8 male then pull up the sound recorder built in on your computer hook up the tascam through the line in and record it into a sound file then burn it... simple as that.... i honestly dont think you need any software or pre amps especially since who your recording is 6 years old....

 

[c.prettyman]

Re: simple way...

go out and get a analog four track recorder... tascam MKII works great. get a shure sm57 or shure sm58 mic (both are great for all around recording)

I was looking through TASCAMs product line, and it looks like there are three different products with MKII in ther name.

One of them, the Porta02 MKII looks like a great starting point, except that the input options are limited to 1/4" jacks. I found it for sale online for $189, with a "Starter kit" that consists of a pair of headphones, a tape and a "general purpose" microphone. I suspect that the mic, like most one-size-fits-all products is pretty cruddy. But, it could be a perfectly good starting point, and then I could see how badly the "get more gear" fever hits. Since I already have that with my other hobbies, I suspect it will be bad.

There are also the 414 MKII and the 424 MKII - the difference seems to be more mixer channels, and more inputs. These cost about $100 or $200 more, respectively, and give me XLR Microphone jacks.

Which one were you talking about - this is beginning to look like the most straight forward approach, easily portable, and a starting point from which I can expand - but I would love to hear from people who have really used these.

 

[c.prettyman]

Sounds like a worthwhile endeavor to me. Just watch out. Before you know it you will get the urge to buy more and more equipment

Oh, I can easily see myself in a new equipment fever, I have that problem already. OnTheBlackRock suggested an analog approach that seems like a very simple and cost effective starting point. On the other hand, I am generally computer oriented, so throwing a USB device on my machine is a comfortable approach.

Microphones are a big issue - I think it is safe to assume that any microphone that is thrown into a package is going to be the bottom of the barrel quality level. The Shure microphones that were suggested sound great when I read their description, but they were pushing my budget. Has anyone had any experience with Marshall's MXL603's for recording piano? A pair of them (with shock mounts) can be obtained for $199. This seems like a more reasonable entry level price.

Remember that I am a toal novice at this, so lets see if I am missing anything - no matter how basic.

I know I need at least one microphone, preferably two. I need a stand, and either a stereo bar or a second stand if I have two mics. I need at at least one cable for each mic - long enough to reach from wherever I put the mic stands to wherever I put the pre-amp, or the analog recorder. and I'll need power - either via the USB device, or just regular wall power for the analog recorder. Is there anything else I need? Don't assume that it was so obvious that I simply didn't mention it.

 

[Bass Master "K"]

Microphones are a big issue - I think it is safe to assume that any microphone that is thrown into a package is going to be the bottom of the barrel quality level. The Shure microphones that were suggested sound great when I read their description, but they were pushing my budget. Has anyone had any experience with Marshall's MXL603's for recording piano? A pair of them (with shock mounts) can be obtained for $199. This seems like a more reasonable entry level price.

If you have a Guitar Center near you, or you order from musicians friend the Sure SM58's recommended to you are only $99 a piece and they are a really good workhorse mic. Oktava makes small condensor mics that you can also get for $99 a piece but then you have to deal with preamps. It sounds like you are approaching all this in a very intelligent and thought out way. I am sure everything will work out fine for you. Good luck!