EQ Magazine - February 2008 - (Page 38) STALKING THE WILD by Bruce Bartlett How To Record Your Band with a Portable 2-Track Need a simple way to record a live gig? Try a portable stereo recorder. The process is easy, and the required gear can cost as little as $200. You can use a recorder with built-in microphones, or you can plug two mics (or a stereo mic) into a recorder. You’ll pick up the group as a whole from several feet away. The mics will capture not only the musicians, but also the room reverb and background noise. You could call it a documentary or “audio snapshot” recording. As you record, what you hear with headphones is what you get. There’s no mixing back in the studio. If you place the mics a few feet from a folk group or jazz group without a P .A. system, the sound can be quite good. But most bands use a P When .A. you record the band, you’re also recording the sound of the P speakers, so the mix you get .A. often depends on the house engineer’s skill. Also, the sound will be more distant and ambient than what you’d capture using several close-mic positions. The Gear You’ll need a portable digital recorder. These typically record onto a Compact Flash or a Secure Digital card or hard drive. You can record mp3 or uncompressed PCM wave files, and prices range from $200 to $2,000. Some examples are the Sony PCM-D1 and D50, Korg MR-1, Marantz PMD660/670/671, Korg MR-1, Edirol R-1 and R-09, M-Audio MicroTrack II, Zoom H4 and H2, and TASCAM HD-P2. Available mic connectors are XLR, 1/4" phone 38 EQ FEBRUARY 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com
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