Digital recorders and edit softwere??

[s1120]

Ok... well I have been realy getting into my music for the last few months. Im real green. been playing about 5 years now, but have progressed slowly.[full time job, two young kids...you know the drill!] Well Im getting to the point that I want to start recording my guitar pratice sessions, as a learning tool. I see a lot of Digital recorders, but they are way more advanced, and pricy then I realy want/need at this time. When it comes to the tech stuff like this, I know almost NOTHING! Can anyone recomend a nice simple recorder that I can down load into my computer, and also some basic softwere to edit the music thats easy, and lower cost?

Any advice someone could give me would be awsome!!! Thanks

[s1120]

Sorry... Looks like I posted this in the wrong place. if a Mod would like to move it that would be great!


Anyways.... Does anyone know if something like this .... http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICD-PX820-Di ... roduct_top ........ would be passable for pratice session recordings?

[allanlummox]

I'd recommend just banging a usb mic into your computer and using http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ - which is free software.

[michaelm]

Dan's recommendation is right on the dot there.

Alternately, I started with a couple of cheap mics, a little mixer, a cable from mixer Line-Out to soundcard Line-In and Audacity. It works great. Audacity is all the sound software most home recording people will ever need.

Lately, I've been using a Tascam DR-07 portable digital recorder. The little built-in mics are unbelievable, operation is simple and I get CD quality sound out of it. No computer is needed, but if I want to edit any of my sound files or burn a CD, it's a simple USB hookup and once again I use Audacity.

HTH.

[birddog]

I was going to do Dan's suggestion after hearing about Audacity on this site. Made the download and have it on my computer. Didn't have a decent USB mic and before I could get one MF ran a Stupid Deal of the day on the Tascam DR 07 like Michael is talking about for $99.00 so I picked one up. I'm really diggin it. Can take the SD card out and pop it into my computer after recording, took it out and recorded some wildlife and birds and such.
Pretty cool, down loaded backing tracks on it and I can plug it into my amp and play along. Still playing with it and haven't recorded my playing yet. I can mount it to a tripod wich is cool.
Oh yeah, they are currently $129.00 I reccomend getting their no questions asked warranty as I did. I hastily put in in my back pocket one day and sat down. Cracked the screen and the unit wouldn't work. Yep it was replaced no questions asked and they sent me a shipping label and even paid the shipping.

[allanlummox]

Yea, Audacity's great - this summer, I had a licence problem with Cubase and wound up recording the voiceover for a Cable TV commercial in Audacity. It's harder to edit in - but sounds great. And their support forum is a great resource too.

[rossfloss]

My first recording setup was a cheap Behringer Xenyx 808 preamp interface. Then I used Kristal Audio Engine for the editing and production work. I've tried every free audio editing program I could find on the internet and by and large Kristal was the best.
http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

If you are trying to record an electric guitar amp I recommend getting a decent dynamic mic. One of the best dynamic mics of all time used by professional studios is the Shure SM57 which is priced at a modest 100 bucks. If you're trying to record vocals or acoustic guitar I recommend a condenser mic.

I've been recording for as long as I've played the guitar and one thing I can tell you with certainty is if you record everything at the right levels, equalize properly, and put high and low pass filters where necessary you can get very great sounding recordings even with cheap equipment.