Recording Equipment
1) is a good microphone the most important piece, or does the recorder make a big difference? what is a good quality microphone for piano?
2) does anyone use recorders that write directly to cd-r's? what is a good brand. do mp3 recorders give really good sound quality?
3) does it matter to record in stereo instead of mono?
thank you for your help. any advice on recording with really good sound would be helpful.
There are no comments, leave a comment.
if you are really serious about recording, that means you want to record more than a live stereo track to master cd's or demos, i suggest you get a multitrack recorder that fits your budget.
i personally like the digital roaland vs series. they have 24bit sampling depth and 48khz rate. this gives you real professional studio quality recordings. they have build in effect units, and are really easy to use.
there are many to choose from, examples:
vs-840: 6 track recorder
vs-880vx: 8 track recorder
vs-880ex: 8 track recorder
vsr-890: 8 track recorder
vs-1680: 12 track recorder
vs-1880: 16 track recorder
vs-2480cd: 24 track recorder
i use the vs-880vx, i got it dirt cheap, 200$. i'ts great, has 8 tracks of recording, it can bounce all 8 tracks to one stereo track for 6 aditional tracks to be recorded, and so on. has 64 virtual tracks, which means you can record 8 different versions of each track. has automix functions, can be used live as a mixer/effects unit. it has two effect boards. coaxial sp-dif in and out, which makes it great to connect with my livedrive for computer mastering and burning. you can also hook up a plextor cd-r drive or extra harddrives via the onboard scsi controller. it can support an internal harddrive up to 4gb, which gives you like 1000+ minutes of recording time. the vs-2480 cd has an onboard cd-r drive, but this is in another price range 2500$+
if you are on a tight budget i can recommend the fostex r8 analog reel-to-reel recorder. it's also an 8 track recorder. this however doesn't have the functions and abilities that a digitial hd recorder has, but it has great sound.
things to stay away from are the fostex 4 track analog cassette recorders. theese are long outdated, and are only usable for practise or kids play imho.
i've also heard mixed review about the boss line of hd recorders, that they are not reliable in the long run. but never tried one so i can't really say if this is wrong or right.
there are also a lot of other good stuff out there.
cheers
doc-z
i think 2 of the most important things are the mics you use and the preamps. you could have a killer board, effects up the wazoo, etc., but it all comes down to what's going in really.
if you're really serious, check out external preamps like presonus and avalon. for recording a piano, two akg c414's work well. other good mics i recommend: neumann tlm103 (great for saxes, vocals...lots of stuff), and the at4050's. there are plenty others too.
i would always record a piano in stereo, drums, sometimes upright bass (lower and upper). most other things like horns really don't need stereo, but you can always toy around and try things. as they say, there's no right or wrong way to record!
Jazz Piano Notebook Series
Volume 1 of this educational jazz piano book contains 15 jazz piano exercises, tricks, and other interesting jazz piano techniques, voicings, grooves, and ideas Scot Ranney enjoys playing.
"Latinesque"
Volume 2 has 14 jazz piano exercises and tricks of the trade, and quite a bit of it is Calypso jazz piano related material, including some Monty Alexander and Michel Camilo style grooves. Jazz piano education is through the ears, but books like this can help.
Volume 3 contains 12 jazz piano exercises and explorations by the acclaimed jazz piano educator, pianist, author, and recording artist Tim Richards.
Tim wrote the well known "Exploring Jazz Piano" and "Improvising Blues Piano" books and has several others to his name.
Volume 4 is by Jeff Brent, a jazz pianist, composer, teacher, and author of "Modalogy" and other acclaimed jazz theory and education books. In this book Jeff shares detailed analysis of transcriptions of live performances. He covers everything from the shape of the songs to the tricks and licks he uses in improvised lines to the ideas behind his lush chord voicings.
Most Recent Discussions
Articles
Piano for Adoption Scam
Aprender Jazz en Piano
BEWARE: FREE BABY GRAND PIANO SCAM
Oh Tannenbaum for Jazz Piano
Volume 5 of the "Jazz Piano Notebook Series" is Available!
LearnJazzPiano.com File Downloads News
more...
Top Sheetmusic Picks
Jazzy Christmas Arrangements
Cocktail Piano
Best Songs Ever, 6th Edition
Christmas Medley
Moana Songbook
Late Night Jazz Piano
Jazz piano education is cool.
Rock on. Follow your passion.
Sign In
LearnJazzPiano.com Copyright © 1995-2024 by Scot Ranney • website software and design by scot's scripts
LearnJazzPiano.com is For Sale - Serious Inquiries Only