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| | | Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 05/09/2007 18:36:14
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| Hi, I am a classical musician. I want to make basic CD's of our choir of 9 voices in a Church. I also want to record some songs of my own, where I will be singing harmonies, and playing different instruments, so I want to multi track.
I have no idea what equipment is best. I have been told that a decent microphone is essential, but do I use it with MP3 recorders, or a portable multi track recorder? sorry to be so thick on the subject, but I am overwhelmed with technical jargon, and don't want to buy the wrong stuff.
Please help!!! |
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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 05/08/2008 07:04:57
Posts: 49, Visits: 113 |
| Computer-based multitrack recording is all very well, but for ease of use and a 'one box to transport which does everything' approach I would recommend a hard disk multitracker. If you are recording a choir (and especially if there are accompanying musicians) then being able to record four tracks simultaniously is a minimum and eight tracks simultaniously is much better (2 tracks for choir in stereo, 1 or 2 tracks for soloists, 1 track for solo piano accompaniment and 2 for audience applause in stereo is an example).
My choice about 3 or 4 years ago was the Zoom 1608 and it has given me great service. The present-day equivalent is the Zoom HD16CD, which iMuso sell
http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=ST00636
Beware of descriptions of '8-track recorders' that play back 8 tracks but only record 2 or 4 tracks simultaniously. It's the number of tracks that can be recorded simultaniously that counts.
If you are serious about quality, then MP3 recording is not good enough. You need to record your sounds uncompressed and MP3 is a compressed format - fine for listening on tiny plastic speakers or earplugs, but not good enough for a choir which has a big dynamic range.
For recording a choir, or for your own vocals, large-diaphragm capacitor mics are best. These days you don't have to pay a lot - do a search for Rode - the NT1A, for example, is excellent and iMuso are currently doing it with a free pop filter
Ray Liffen
Intec Services |
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iMuso Guitar Guy
Group: Administrators
Last Login: Yesterday @ 23:53:31
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| I'm just getting to grips with the Zoom HD16 - I'll post a review when I have some idea about the performance, I'm currently still reading the manual!
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The Man in the Jar |
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| | | Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 12/05/2008 20:19:15
Posts: 52, Visits: 13 |
| A church is not a particularly challenging environment for a laptop-based recording set-up, but as has been said, you should not skimp on microphones.
A stereo pair positioned in front of the group plus possibly some ambient mics would be good.
However, whenever I've recorded in a church there is always a healthy amount of outside noise (traffic, planes, etc), so plan on getting in close with the stereo pair.
If you are just recording a stereo pair, virtually every audio interface can do this, but if you are using good quality mics (I would suggest some good quality balanced condensers), some good AD converters are essential.
I would use a good quality laptop optimized for audio plus a good quality card.
www.daeitmasel.blogspot.com
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