Recording on the fly: Digitial Recorders?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

Recording on the fly: Digitial Recorders?

Just wondering what people have found for a solution for recording sets live. Right now it’s one of my bigger issues and I just don’t end up recording any of my live sets.

I mix externally with an SL1 box, so I don’t have the ability to just record in the SSL software. Usually when I’m at home I just run a cable from the mixer’s record out to the input on my computer, and have Ableton going and recording at the same time. Honestly I want to get an SL4 in the future, but it’s not something I’m looking at right away.

Running a lot of software programs is not something I really want to push live at a gig though. I’d much rather just have a small portable digital recorder to hook up to the record out on the mixer, and not have it eating up computer resources at all. It’s just something I’m probably a bit overly worried about, but the last thing I want is latency when playing live, or any random spikes.

Does anyone have any suggestions for portable digital recorders that they have used?

I’ve been looking around, but it seems almost all portable recorders have the live / drum / guitar musician in mind, and not just a simple recording tool. I mean hell, I could use a walkman, but figure digital would be the way to go.

Any advice would be great :slight_smile:

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Good topic and question. I wonder if there’s a quality smart phone / tablet app that’ll do the job.

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Maybe this

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I use a Zoom H4n everywhere. It records at very high quality and has two XLR / 1/4" inputs on the bottom.

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Tascam make a range of recorders at different price points, similar to the Zoom H4n.

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In my experience, Zoom kit is reasonably priced and very reliable.

We have just gotten a Tascam unit in at work but I haven’t tried it yet. I’m not a huge Tascam fan in general and the unit feels a bit flakey. I have also had HORRENDOUS problems with tascam drivers (not that it would necessarily be an issue in this application).

I am looking at getting something similar myself and leaning towards: http://bluemic.com/mikey_digital/ Clearly you need to use an iphone or ipad so if you don’t use one this is a no go. BTW this mic has the line in too. Here’s a video review from the lads over at digitaldjtips:

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There seem to be complaints about the Mikey from all sorts of users over on Amazon.

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There’s all kinds of complaints about Traktor on here too :smiley:

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Which is probably why the OP wants a reliable hardware solution, and the Mikey doesn’t look too reliable from the reviews.

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Zoom H1 is an affordable option but build quality is not great (mainly plastic) on the other hand the H4N is an amazing quality digital recorder used by many professional film makers so that’s defiantly an option as well

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I too can vouch for the zoom h4n from personal experience, that is what I use and I have no complaints whatsoever. Definitely recommend it to anyone in the market for a standalone recorder.

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theres a amzon furfilled seller selling the mikey for 35 brand new… worth the punt if it dont work you can just send it back…

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B003Z8WHDC/ref=sr_1_2_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1370281241&sr=8-2&keywords=Mikey+Digital&condition=new

i actually just bought one from the same seller but used (like new) for £25 :slight_smile:

does anyone know what the best lighting to 30pin cable to get?? will the cheap £1 wires work???

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I use a Tascam (DR-40) and I love it, both for capturing live sound and recording direct off a board. has both a pair of xlrs and an 1/8th inch input.

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I do video production as a day job and used to use the H4N for my audio but I’ve actually just started using my iPhone with the iRig Pre and the FiRe2 app. Audio quality is perfect and it’s got Dropbox integration and everything. Might be a worthwhile, relatively cheap option.

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The iRig Pre looks like it’s exclusively for mono microphone input, rather than the stereo line inputs you’d need for recording a set.

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Ah, yeah, you’re right. My bad.