Recording at Home

[Brooke]

I know there is a similar thread just below, but I think my situation is different enough to warrant a new post. Anyway, I want to record more at home for my own personal use, and perhaps to share on a music site or two. The people who use the sites are friends, so they will understand if it isn't studio quality, but I still want it to sound decent with no clipping. I have ProTools and FLStudio, so I can help the bitrate a little, but I would prefer the raw recording to be as good as possible.

My problem is that I have recently had a baby and really don't have the budget for decent equipment. I am currently recording onto my digital camera! The sound quality is surprisingly good, but I want a dedicated microphone. Can anyone suggest anything (highly) affordable that will give me a decent sound?

I also have an iRiver but the microphone is far too sensitive and several other MP3 players I can record onto.

[etgohomeok]

What is your budget for the mic? Give us a range.

If you use your computer, the software you should use is Audacity. It's free and open-source. I'm not sure what ProTools is, but as I recall, FLStudio is for making techno songs. Not quite what you want.

[Phineas]

I know there is a similar thread just below, but I think my situation is different enough to warrant a new post. Anyway, I want to record more at home for my own personal use, and perhaps to share on a music site or two. The people who use the sites are friends, so they will understand if it isn't studio quality, but I still want it to sound decent with no clipping. I have ProTools and FLStudio, so I can help the bitrate a little, but I would prefer the raw recording to be as good as possible.

My problem is that I have recently had a baby and really don't have the budget for decent equipment. I am currently recording onto my digital camera! The sound quality is surprisingly good, but I want a dedicated microphone. Can anyone suggest anything (highly) affordable that will give me a decent sound?

I also have an iRiver but the microphone is far too sensitive and several other MP3 players I can record onto.

If you have read the similar threads here, you can answer your own question. Frankly, all you would really need is a regular computer mic, and that would do the job. There are just too many different options to dictate the right one at ANY price range.

Having a DECENT sound is very subjective. First of all, if you want to use any mic other than one made for a computer, you will have to have a preamp or some sort of audio interface of some kind. This alone will cast you close to 60 - 100 US dollars. Past that, mics can cost from 10, to 10000 us dollars. There are some microphone that use USB, but even most of those are around $100usd.

With a little more suggestin, I may be able to recommend something, but not based on the information given so far.

@ETGOHOME

Protools is a popular multitrack audio package.

[flutegirl16]

I have a Zoom H2 Handy Recorder that I love. It has amazing sound quality. I think I paid about 200ish for it, so I dont know if that is in your price range or not.

[Phineas]

I have a Zoom H2 Handy Recorder that I love. It has amazing sound quality. I think I paid about 200ish for it, so I dont know if that is in your price range or not.

Yeah, I just bought one of those. It is a great recorder! However, I wish I would ha spent a little more and got the H4...lol Oh well.

Here is a link for the Zoom H2
http://www.samsontech.com/products/prod ... rodid=1916

Here is a link for the Zoom H4
http://www.samsontech.com/products/prod ... rodID=1901

Phineas

[pied_piper]

I bought a Tascam DR-1 about a year ago and it works great. It's on sale now too because it's being replaced by the DR-100.

DR-1:
http://www.tascam.com/products/dr-1.html
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=241890

DR-100:
http://www.tascam.com/products/dr-100.html
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=581557