Digital Recorders

[AKMG]

I think we've finally come to an agreement that we would just need a digital recorder to record, edit, and produce music. Of course, we do intend on actually editing it through Cubase, Cakewalk, etc. So I just need to know if a digital recorder is right for us? We'll probably be hooking up 8 mics or so [drums, bass, guitar, vocals], but most digital recorders don't feature that many mic outputs and was wondering what sort of hardware out there enabled us to do that?

I found a Boss BR8 and was wondering if that was a good buy/good for what I'm trying to do?

[7Plagues]

if you are needing 8 inputs, i would go for an 8 channel digital recorder and a 12 channel mixer..before i start, i record and play both guitar and drums.
ok, mic your entire drum kit and have those going into a 8 or 12 channel mixer..from the mixer, send all those drum tracks to track 7 and 8 on your recorder...you will have a fully micd drum kit on 2 tracks(left and right).on the digital recorder, this will leave 6 open tracks for anything...

this is how i record.i use a behringer 12 channel board..they are not expensive and are pretty nice..for digital recorders, i would recommend roland..you can get a nice VS890 on evilbay for under 400 bucks..for the drums, i would recommend micing the snare, bass drum, each individual tom and possibly 2 overheads....this will give you a pretty solid recording of your equipment..

[AKMG]

Well this is what I'm planning on getting... a Boss BR 8:



Looks like it only has one mic/midi input, so how would that work if I connect it to a mixer?


Also, do you have any suggestions as to good/decent quality digital studios/workstations that are fairly cheap? I don't feel like blowing $1000 on a digital studio, nor do I feel like throwing $600 into one. I'd say $550 tops.

[JESTER700]

Most "8 track" digital studios only allow 2 inputs at once (some may offer 4, I dunno). This is because GENERALLY you'll overdub many more tracks than you'll record at once and all those inputs cost $$.

To get 8 simultaneous inputs you'll need to step up to a 16 track recorder. The cheapest IIRC are the Fostex VR160 and Zoom MRS-1602. But those aren't perfect solutions out of the box - to get the data into PC you need to burn it to CD and then rip it in the PC (either machine), add a USB card (Zoom, for $200, IIRC), or lightpipe it 8 tracks at a time with the Fostex (so you need a PC lightpipe card).

[guitvai1]

My advice is not to waste your money on a digital recorder. Use Cubase or another PC program and do all your recording directly. A decent audio card with analog to digital converters will cost you only $150. I've already gone down your suggested path and regretted it. The computer makes the process much easier as you can see and edit your music on screen.

[AKMG]

So with a decent soundcard, I just hook up my mic to my laptop and I can record it all without a digital recording studio? We have multiple microphones, so how would I go about doing that simulatenously? Or would I have to record each instrument individually?

[elpingua]

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?...00&itemid=4895

Thats teh answer to your problems. 2 space rack unit with 8 connections in the back. Just ran that into your laptop and you have a mobile pro tools studio.

[JESTER700]

There's also Echo's Audiofire8 for half the price - $500.

But there is merit to the digital portastudio idea, too. It just depends on what your individual needs are.

[David McCarroll]

Originally Posted by elpingua

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?...00&itemid=4895

Thats teh answer to your problems. 2 space rack unit with 8 connections in the back. Just ran that into your laptop and you have a mobile pro tools studio.

Assuming this link is to the Digi 002, then yes, it is absolutely the best product on the market for its price - best of all, you work in ProTools - so if you want to, say, do final mixes or mastering at some other studio, you simply take a copy of your files in, load them into their rig and the song shows up on ProTools exactly like it does at your studio - can't recommend highlt enough! - of course you need a decent Mac (or if you are desperate a PC) as well, but then again you'd need that to play Doom and browse Jemsite anyway ........

[AKMG]

Thanks guys! I'm still slightly confused as to what to get, but I'm somewhat leaning towards the Echo.

[frankfalbo]

If you can get a lightpipe soundcard, then you can use a Fostex D-90 style HD recorder as both a standalone 8-track with 8 simultaneous recording tracks, OR slave it as an 8 channel input device through the lightpipe. That's what I do now. For mobile sessions I just record to the hard drive and transfer it in later. For studio sessions where I need more than 2 tracks at a time, I use it as a pass-through. Those can usually be had cheaply, and then it frees you up to buy a decent mixer and soundcard.

Depending on how much you want to do in the computer, you can even use the mixer simply for the mic inputs and send the line outs right to the Fostex or soundcard. Or you can use the board's EQ, etc.

[JESTER700]

Frank, I can do similar stuff with the VF-16 (the newer VF-160 is the same), plus it's a standalone machine. But I think the D series is 24 bit, no? The VF is 16 bit only. With the addition of a $200 Behringer preamp/lightpipe out unit, you can record 16 tracks at once with these.

...the options out there are staggering...

[AKMG]

Oh. So I can actually just use a mixer as the middle man? Plug my mics direct into the mixer, then link the mixer into a firewire or USB port?

I'm looking for the cheapest, simpliest, most mobile way to get the sound from my mics into my computer clearly and be able to edit it with ease.

[guitvai1]

Yes, that is exactly how I have mine set up. I'm using a Behringer 8 track mixer and plugging that into my M-Audio Audiophile soundcard. Cubase does the rest.

[AKMG]

Awesome, thanks! But is there any way to do that on a laptop? I don't think you can put in an Audiophile sound card into a laptop... lol