Home Recording Advice?

[sdre]

Hi, i'm looking to purchase a multitrack recorder as well as a mic to record my acoustic.

my budget for both would be no more than 500 bucks. i'm looking at the zoom msr 4, and the shure sm57. also any ideas where to get shure stuff?

i don't mind paying for 2nd hand as long as its usable. please help too. i'm looking to record at home in my room. i'm using a guild d4 acoustic and i hope to achieve somewhat ambient sounds mixed with acoustic. i would appreciate if the multitrack has a build in drum machine and a bass too, and should take "eat" effects from electric guitar as well.

thanks in advance.

 

[HaMLeT]

Hi there!
I think city music do sell multitrax recording below 500 bucks... :wink:

 

[seekz]

I recommend you try a higher end Zoom MRS, with phantom power
and a cheap condenser mic like the Behringer B-1.

That way you can do you acoustic recordings as well as vocals.
The sound would be definitely be more crisp and clean than a SM57.

 

[seekz]

Oh yeah, the MRS-4 recording resolution is also not say very good.
i think its only 31.25 kHz and records via a stupid Smart card. and the capacity they give you is prolly gona be less than 16 megs... yeah.. it may be a good all in one machine for people on the run, but i think acoustic guitar sounds deserve better treatment, I'm sure there are better ones than the MRS-4
Zoom has like a HUGE multi-tude of multitracks

 

[CooL_Evolution]

City Music sell do sell what you want. I recently bought a MRS-8 at $495.00 include a 128 SD card. 2 input and 8 tracks excluding Master. It has everything that you mention. I do not know whether the promotional price still on annot you can check with Bernard Ang from City Music.

 

[sdre]

wow thanks for the replies guys.

okay, yeah i'm looking to record more of acoustic soudns and electric gutiar sounds...

hey cool evolution, does the mrs-8 have a hook up to the mic? means no converter? cause i hear the mrs-4 doesn't have a direct connection to an external mike.

also thanks seekz. what would you reccomend? i don't wanna get thos ecrazy mega gig of harddisk recorder... looking like maybe the mrs-8 kinda stuff. also how much and where do i get the behringer condenser mike?

i just got back my guild, wonderful tone and sound. i got lotsa ideas that i wanna capture... thanks again.

 

[seekz]

well... i went to check out the zoom website.
It is indeed pretty good. the MRS8
it essentially has everything most people would need.
really high tech stuff man, got pitch correction, timestretching, reverse phrase and all sorts of funky edit functions.

The Behringer mic is really cheap and totally value for money.
you cant find large diagphram condenser for 160+ anywhere else.

But the sad thing about the MRS-8 is that there's no phantom power for the condenser to phunction. yeah... i think maybe the SM57 might still be a good choice. regarding the SM57 i'm just merely recommending it due to its great reputation.

To me, i dont really trust using dynamic mics to record acoustic guitars.

 

[seekz]

Its essentially a whole new generation altogether man, the MRS-8.

and i've checked the recording resolution is 44.1kHZ, CD quality.
so its pretty good stuff. With drums and bass tracks plus 128 MB card.
battery operation and its got a built in mic (not sure how good)

Its really an all in one.

Back in the days i owned a PS02 and a MRS-1044
now the mrs-8 is machiam like the 2 put together.

anyway you may consider the MRS802 also for the phantom power and added 20gig space and the even more powerful editing capabilities and tracks.

 

[sdre]

seekz, so great of you to share your knowledge.

ok whats this thing abt the phantom power?

also, i'm looking to record both acoustic and vocals through this same mike that i'm gonna get. cause my acoustic is not plugged too.

so behringer or shure sm57?

thanks once again so much

 

[seekz]

Get the behringer B-1 lah, its good enough for vocals. and definitley good enough for acoustics.

Condenser mics just need an extra 48 Volts of potential difference to function. I wouldnt know how to explain it but i sure can say condenser mics produces much cleaner and detailed recordings, so much that it can even capture the ambience of your room.

Well the MRS-8 may just lack a pre-amp with phantom power, so maybe you can go get a behringer ultra-tube pre-amp or just order an ART tube pre-amp on ebay, either which. you get a Tube pre-amp for your recording needs. and its cheap too. about 80 to 100 bucks only.

 

[sdre]

wow thanks. any idea where to get the mike? or even 2nd hand? thanks again