recording "in the field" - DAT?

  • Thread starter Thread starter greasergrrl
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greasergrrl

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I would like to record my band while we are practicing - no fancy stuff or multitracking, i just want to be able to hear things reasonably well so that we can critique ourselves later (fun, fun ;). I have used cheapo walkman recorders in the past, but the one i have now doesn't automatically adjust the levels so it totally blows it out which isn't too useful.

I have a MACKIE PA mixer so I can output into the recorder from there.

I've seen cool old vintage recorders on ebay - like this one
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1256360662
but for that money (they usually end up selling for $200+) should I just invest in a DAT recorder? And where can you buy these things now - do they make them anymore?

Product recommendations welcome.

Thanks! I really enjoy this board.
 
Minidisc!

I have a portable minidisc player I use to record rehearsals and gigs with (with a sony ECM-MS907 stereo mic), and it sounds pretty damn good to my ears (if the performance is good that is :) )
There's been a large debate on rec.audio.pro about DAT vs MD...Some say DAT is better because of uncompressed sound, longer tapes yada-yada-yada but I still prefer minidisc ;)
Of course it works fine for recording straight from the mixer as well, as long as you set the levels on the MD right...
 
BTW I used to have a cheapo walkman with a cheapo mic as well and the sound I get now with my Sharp MD and sony mic is miles away...
 
dat tapes

cool - what kind of minidisc recorder do you have?

how long are minidiscs and how long are dat tapes?

thanks for your reply!
 
I've got an old model :)

I have a Sharp MD-MT 20 which I've been using daily for 2 years now and it's never let me down.
Minidiscs run up to 80mn (though 74mn is standard). I think DAT tapes can run up to 120mn. With the latest generation of Minidisc players, you can double the recording time (160mn!) by further compressing the data but I'm not sure if it sounds good...
 
don't know about the mic

It's a binaural mic (the two mics are placed right where your ears are, like headphones). they should give a good stereo image, but I don't know about the quality of the mics...I really recommend the sony ECM-MS907 stereo mic, it's designed especially for MD recording and sounds really good (and should cost less than a 100$)
Anyway that Sharp MD's looks killer! :)
 
sound professionals

never mind, the sound professionals site is way cool! i found out all i need to learn there i think. awesome.
 
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