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how to record your playing (equipment)

hi all!

how do you guys make recordings for the purpose of listening to yourself? so i don't mean real professional recordings.

what equipment do you use?

would this work?: https://www.cherub.cn/eproducts/prodetail.php?proid=192

by ayolt on 07/24/2006, 10:29

There are 16 comments, leave a comment.

i don't know if this product works well, it's not available here in france.
but i have ordered an edirol r09, which is a great tool for recording :
https://www.musiciansbuy.com/edirol_r09_wavmp3_recorder_r09.html#tabs
i can't wait it arrives !!

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by groyann on 07/24/2006, 10:53

yeah groyann! i heard about that one too... but do you know what to expect?? can it realle record acoustic piano's in good (=usable) quality? i mean 400 euro's is a big sum of money!!

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by ayolt on 07/24/2006, 11:40

do you know of any recording samples made with the edirol r09?

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by ayolt on 07/24/2006, 11:48

no, i don't.
i'll do samples of my yamaha grand when i receive my edirol.

a friend of mine uses a microtrack 24/96, and the quality is really good.

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by groyann on 07/26/2006, 02:45

haha! you have all wasted your money!! if you want a reasonable recording, use a mini disc player and a cheap small condenser mic, and copy it straight into a free great programme called audacity, its off the source forge website, its the best free programme ever, stop wasting money and get audacity!

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by jazz jasper on 07/26/2006, 05:13

hi jazz jasper,
did you try a recording solution like the ones we are talking about ?
does your recording solution really sound as good ?

i had a look at md solutions, but md with an mic entry + condenser mic is quite as expensive as an edirol or a microtrack, isn't it ?

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by groyann on 07/26/2006, 06:38

if your purpose is simply to record your practicing, i would like to suggest a somewhat unusual solution---get yourself a guitar looping pedal such as the jamman. hands down, this is the most useful practicing tool ever. i just place it on the ground right next to the normal piano pedals. if i want to record myself, i just tap my foot and start playing. when done, i'll tap again and immediately hear what i just recorded. plus, it's useful for other things as well. for instance, if i want to practice improvising in some weird key, i'll just tap the pedal, play an appropriate bassline, tap again and presto--i'm jamming. this is also useful for working out specific parts of tunes, etc.

as an added bonus, the pedal also has a usb port to plug into a computer. if you do that, you can pull anything you recorded off as a wav file, or alternatively, you can load the pedal with new loops.

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by signal11 on 07/26/2006, 11:22

m, i like that idea signal. been too long since weve stolen a guitar technology. yep that is a good idea. i am going to try that one.

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by Mike on 07/26/2006, 20:44

yow signal. that would only work woth a digital piano?? i want to record my acoustic piano

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by ayolt on 07/27/2006, 16:10

no, i actually use the looping pedal with my grand piano (acoustic).    my basic setup is as follows:  looping pedal, a small cheap mixer, two microphones, and a monitor speaker.   one of the microphones is placed in the piano.  the other microphone is on a stand next to the piano.  i plug the microphones into the mixer and hook the looping pedal in as an effect send.  the monitor is placed such that i can hear it clearly while playing, but also in a way that avoids feedback (e.g., you don't point it at either of the mics).

all of this might sound kind of complicated, and i will admit that it makes my piano setup look kind of scary (like a mad scientist).  however, as far as i'm concerned, it's completely worth the benefits i get out of it (besides, i couldn't care less what my piano space looks like---i'm there to practice).

now, about that second microphone... one of the things you can do with a looping pedal is overdub parts onto things you've already recorded.   so, let's say you've just looped some kind of bass-line.  using that second microphone, i will often add a rhythm section by simply playing some hand-percussion instruments next to the mic (latin shaker, clave sticks, cowbell, hand-claps, etc.).  since i'm working on a lot of latin music right now, this obviously turns out to be fairly useful.

one thing i wanted to add---modern looping pedals are much more capable than you might think.  the jamman as it comes out of the box can record something like 25 minutes of audio and can store 99 loops in its internal memory.  if you upgrade the memory card (it's just a compact flash), you can store more than 6 hours of audio on the pedal.  if you wanted, you could probably load it up with more than enough stuff for an entire gig ;-).

hope this helps.

LJP Like

by signal11 on 07/27/2006, 17:18

i just bought an edirol r-09 a few weeks ago. love it. it's compact, portable, easy to use [just push the button and record], and the playback quality is great. if you remember the old days of recording a piano on cassette tape and the sound quaility you got, this blows it away. at the moment, i'm using it to record piano lessons i take. the first thing i did was to upgrade the memory card to 2g [bought thru amazon.com]. with this card it'll allow you to record at 16 bit/44.1khz for about 3 hours. granted, the unit is a little on the pricey side, but, all things considered, it's the solution that works best for me.

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by Eighty-Eight on 07/28/2006, 06:40

thanks for sharing your opinion.
i should receive my r09 today.

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by groyann on 07/31/2006, 02:22

i received it, and am very happy of it. it's exactely what i was looking for for a while !
i recorded my grand, and the sound is good.
a good product.

LJP Like

by groyann on 08/03/2006, 10:43

what settings did you use to record your grand? did you need to buy a larger capacity memory card yet? 64 mb doesn't cut it.

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by Eighty-Eight on 08/04/2006, 06:04

i bought an 1gb card. and i encode in mp3 320kpb/s, 48khz.
and i put the recorder on the sheet stand of my grand.

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by groyann on 08/04/2006, 06:37

groyann: could you put some files online? i am very interested.

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by ayolt on 08/04/2006, 07:48

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how to record your playing (equipment)

There are 16 comments, leave a comment.

by groyann on 07/24/2006, 10:53

by ayolt on 07/24/2006, 11:40

by ayolt on 07/24/2006, 11:48

by groyann on 07/26/2006, 02:45

by jazz jasper on 07/26/2006, 05:13

by groyann on 07/26/2006, 06:38

by signal11 on 07/26/2006, 11:22

by Mike on 07/26/2006, 20:44

by ayolt on 07/27/2006, 16:10

by signal11 on 07/27/2006, 17:18

by Eighty-Eight on 07/28/2006, 06:40

by groyann on 07/31/2006, 02:22

by groyann on 08/03/2006, 10:43

by Eighty-Eight on 08/04/2006, 06:04

by groyann on 08/04/2006, 06:37

by ayolt on 08/04/2006, 07:48

Reply to Thread

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how to record your playing (equipment)

There are 16 comments, leave a comment.

by groyann on 07/24/2006, 10:53

by ayolt on 07/24/2006, 11:40

by ayolt on 07/24/2006, 11:48

by groyann on 07/26/2006, 02:45

by jazz jasper on 07/26/2006, 05:13

by groyann on 07/26/2006, 06:38

by signal11 on 07/26/2006, 11:22

by Mike on 07/26/2006, 20:44

by ayolt on 07/27/2006, 16:10

by signal11 on 07/27/2006, 17:18

by Eighty-Eight on 07/28/2006, 06:40

by groyann on 07/31/2006, 02:22

by groyann on 08/03/2006, 10:43

by Eighty-Eight on 08/04/2006, 06:04

by groyann on 08/04/2006, 06:37

by ayolt on 08/04/2006, 07:48

Reply to Thread

Jazz Piano Notebook Series

"Latinesque"

LJP Jazz Piano Blogs

Most Recent Discussions

Articles

Top Sheetmusic Picks

Jazz piano education is cool.

Rock on. Follow your passion.

Sign In