Portable Recorders

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Comment by Terry Angelli on June 4, 2011 at 4:57pm

Ooops! I forgot that I added a "flange" effect to No Expectations.

Comment by Terry Angelli on June 4, 2011 at 4:48pm

Great answer Fran!

I use my Zoom H2 for rough recordings of myself as well as my buddy and I when we jam.

If a recorded performance is decent I export it to my Mac and edit it in GarageBand which is included software for the Mac. I don't go crazy with editing because it is too time consuming. All I do is add some reverb so the sound isn't too dry and very few other effects. GarageBand is a simple easy way to edit this type of audio files. If your on a PC "Audicity" is a free program that is similar to GB. I downloaded the Mac version but have yet to work with it very much, no spare time to learn how to use it since I have GB.

If you go to my page (Terry Angelli) I just posted the Rolling Stones "No Expectations" that I did with my buddy. It is not a great performance but I tweaked the song as follows: Reverb overall, thin "radio" sound at the start and audio goes from left to full stereo and the "full" sound. This took all of an hour in GB and the opportunity to learn from both playing, recording and tweaking mistakes. And it's FUN.

That is the thing for me, fun. The recording process can get very cumbersome and time consuming which I have little patience nor time for either.

Invest in a small recorder, it will help you learn when you playback and as you progress you can fool around with tweaking for a better sound.

BTW, the two other songs I have on my page were tweaked in GB as well. Both were live recordings and lacked fidelity and dynamics. A little tweak improved them to where they were much more listenable.

Have fun and ask away as we all share on this page.

Terry

Comment by Fran Guidry on June 4, 2011 at 1:16am

Recording is useful for capturing lessons, self-critiquing, saving ideas when composing or arranging, and for making clips to share with the internet community.

 

True stereo means "solid" - an audio image of a position in space. A well recorded stereo clip might give a sense of the room where the recording took place (or might give an illusion of doing so). Two channels are also used to combine different parts of the guitar's tonality, or to create an enormous sounding guitar.

 

Recording using an attached device is (sniff) generally considered a last resort rather than a first direction. Recording gear of all kinds has gone up in quality and down in price to an astonishing degree, so excellent mics, preamps, and digital converters are all around us. Garage Band is a piece of software, not a recording device or interface. It will work with any audio device that is compatible with your Mac.

 

The Q3HD has a relatively wonderful audio subsystem, relative to other video cameras under $2000, that is. But its video is comparable to pocket cameras that cost much less than the price of the Q. Zoom has done a nice job of making a niche product instead of a Flip clone.

 

The quality/distance question is pretty hard to answer - it depends on what image is desired, the audible character of the room, the volume of the source, and whether post processing is an option. I've had fun using REAPER digital audio software to enhance the audio I captured with the Q3HD, for instance.

 

The zoom function in the Q3HD is digital, that is, it's the same as blowing up the image in post production.

 

My Homebrewed Music blog has a few articles about the Q3HD and comparisons to a couple of other cameras. I've also posted some videos on my YouTube channel with audio and video from the Q.

 

I must admit I'm mystified by folks who plug in their acoustic guitars to hear them at home. I wonder if the practice inhibits the development of good acoustic tone, which is one of the most subtly difficult aspects of playing.

 

Fran

Comment by Michael & Kody on June 3, 2011 at 11:35pm

Being new or making a 2nd motivated attempt at playing guitar, as now I'm retired an have more focus. Yet, Im ignorant about. The recording issues an wonder if we could discuss some basics, so I can get up to speed, some question may sound dumb but here goes:
What is the purpose, so you can rewind an listen to your mistakes, in order to improve?
Since a guitar is Mono, what an how does Steeo come into play? I have a Martin DC with 1/4 inch out an use a 5watt Vox portable & have access to Mac/Garage Band. But what conveys to stereo or 2 channels an why is t.hat important?
I also have a Martin D35. Make Note: Shubb (Capo) just came out with a small Mic enclosed in plastic that clamps to your sound hole an plugs into your amp or Mac/G/B 1/4 inch. It really is useful and sounds ok, allowing you to connect your otherwise Acoustic, non/elec to an amp or G/B to see if you want to spend the Big Bucks for an Anthem woody or other internalpre-amp. One fellow I know liked it so well, last week he paid the local shop to place the $10 Shubb Mic inside the hole, hardwired to a button out........ Look for the item, it's really handy, for $10 bucks, unbelievable!
I have been looking at the Q3HD, because the write up an description sound really cool for many uses. I am curious how Close you have to be to the subject to capture descent Video. Does it Zoom into the stage if your on the back row.......? 30 ft .? 100ft, 50yds. What's your experience. It sounds remarkable in the advertisements, why even mess with a Flip HD or STD cam? Here the Audio is heaven!

There you have it, my dumb questions........then, I get confused over the irony of having a high end Acoustic (earthy, natural) and complicating my life with all these electronic gadgets, turning my rainforest woody box ax into a head banger heavy metel squelching noise machine with peripherals..........Weird, I know......... Cause, actually, seems like I'm only trying to emulate the Tonal Quality of my Martin, not innondate myself with affects! But, I do like having the sound come back to me from across the room, I can here what I'm doing better........still, I'm not sure what the Recording gear is for and or Stereo, as apposed to Mono.......got some theory, thoughts or help understanding these comments an the desire for the peripheral? Maybe I just don't get it.....of course I'm open to anything that helps me become a better player with exceptional tone.......

Looking forward to some feedback, go easy on me, I'm fragile........Rock On!

Comment by Dan Hugen on May 29, 2011 at 6:01am

I use the Zoom Q3 it works good for what I do! You can upload straight to your youtube channel. I have 3 videos on this site you can look at. It is easy to use and very handy as a portable device. I paste the embed code from youtube to get them to acoustic guitar.

Comment by John Gundrum on March 15, 2011 at 8:14pm

I started a Cakewalk SONAR Users group to trade ideas, tips, techniques, shortcuts, ask questions, post how-tos & useful links & anything related to producing music or scoring video & games using Producer, Studio, Essential or previous versions of SONAR.

Comment by Terry Angelli on March 11, 2011 at 6:37pm

Thanks for the info! I was looking a little smaller in size and price. I'll ask the computer "geek" at work for his suggestions.

Comment by David Lesak on March 10, 2011 at 7:36pm

Hi Terry - At the moment I am just using a really cheap 40w bass combo with a 1x15 driver, but I usually use a Crate CPB150 Powerblock with a pair of vintage JBL monitors. But the truth is that the definition of the sound is apparent whatever amplification I use, obviously including headphones. The bass combo allows me to jam along with the tracks I have on the flash card of the H4n with a really nice warm tone and good bass response. The high frequency tone is really surprising compared to what my multi-FX processors can produce through the same amp. Yet is doesn't sound at all tinny or artificial.

Comment by Terry Angelli on March 10, 2011 at 7:00pm

David what are you using for speakers? I want to get a better set than the $15.00 ones I have. I'm asking because you mentioned "a crispness to the sound that I could not hear via my laptop setup".

Comment by David Lesak on March 5, 2011 at 1:29pm

Hi all. I would just like to inform the group that eventually I went for a H4n, and I must say that I really am impressed with the sound quality, even with pre-recorded mp3 files there is a crispness to the sound that I could not hear via my laptop setup. Not only that, but I have discovered that there is a way to monitor whatever is connected to the jack inputs while listening to the stereo tracks, which means that it becomes an invaluable tool for practicing. I presently only have a mono guitar amp, and this allows me to mix the input from the guitar with the recorded track and play along. The only thing I would like to be able to do now is record the mix between the existing stereo track and the new improvised track. Being a stereo track, I have no idea how to import that into the '4 track' section, as that was the first thing I tried. It was only be chance that I found that the source can be simultaneously monitored in stereo mode. I haven't yet tried physically copying stereo tracks into the four track folder, but somehow I don't think it is going to be that simple - any ideas anyone?

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