SceneMaster Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Hi, I don’t know much about multi track recorders… I have used one once… but could someone explain exactly what one is, ok it records sound onto a media and the track number is the amount of inputs which are then recorded separately onto the media at the same time allowing them to be kept in sync but also be split up at a later date… is this right? Ok, apart from the above a friend of mine wants to buy a 8 track or 6 track (preferably 8) for around £200 is there one out there which is good for this or are they just unless cheap and nasty stuff for this price range. He only has between £200 and £300 so he wants the best he can get for this (in know you can’t get the best in the world for this price range but what is the best there is out there?)… It is to record a rock band (his)… and he wants CD but would mini disk or HDD versions be cheaper? Ok, as you can tell I am way out of my technical knowledge here but could anyone give me any advice? Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 go to www.soundonsound.co.uk - all you want to know. you're right on the nail. digital recording usually in blocks of 8. record all at once, or just selected tracks - all in sync all cd quality. Mind you, many people now buy a dedicated audio card or external module and then use their mac or pc. this may be better if on a tight budget. depends if you need to record more than two channels at once.My pc can do 16 in/16 out my dedicated multitrack 24/24. what does your mate actually want to do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SceneMaster Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 go to www.soundonsound.co.uk - all you want to know. you're right on the nail. digital recording usually in blocks of 8. record all at once, or just selected tracks - all in sync all cd quality. Mind you, many people now buy a dedicated audio card or external module and then use their mac or pc. this may be better if on a tight budget. depends if you need to record more than two channels at once.My pc can do 16 in/16 out my dedicated multitrack 24/24. what does your mate actually want to do?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> He wants to record his band all at the same time in live situations… and then split the tracks up… for editing at a later date… but he also wants to record parts of the band on their own when doing studio releases and then mixing it together on a PC once he has the tracks… he is low budget but doesn’t want a PC type set up… I have told him the £200 - £300 items won’t be like the best quality in the world but should be ok… not bad quality anyway… School have a 4 track recorder which wasn’t that expensive and is Sony so something along those lines but 8 track and about £200 - £300 ish although as close to the £200 as possible as this is his limit really but I don’t think he will get anything good for this… is it easier to use CD rather than MD although I presume you won’t be able to just re record over CD like you can with mini disk… which is cheaper… Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 a second hand md8 or similar may be available at the price you want to pay - BUT, the disks are more expensive and transfering to a pc for editing is not so easy. Recording onto md or CD isn't really the problem. The snag he'll find is that with only 8 tracks available how will he mic it up? kick,snare, O/H won't give a rock sound, and spill will be amajor headache. Even if he gets the tracksinto a pc to edit, his options will be very limited. Live recording is severely compromised by small stages!p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smeggie Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 use another mixer to send subs? not so easy to edit then, but have stereo drums and then play with the rest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 the problem with submixing the drums down to stereo is that unless you've got a quiet room to monitor in, the drums leak through the cans and the mix won't be right - the snare seems to get through. Far better to reduce the mic count and increase separation. depends a lot on the type of sound you want to get - sub-mixing by guesswork is a problem whatever happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Some Bloke Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Just to take this section separately: ... he also wants to record parts of the band on their own when doing studio releases and then mixing it together on a PC once he has the tracks… <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ... this will be much easier to assign tracks, because he can record the drums on 6 tracks (e.g. kick, snare, hi-hats, toms, 2 x overheads) then bounce those down to the other 2 tracks as a stereo mix. When he's happy with the mix of the drums he can then re-use the first 6 tracks for the other instruments and vocals. He could even use those 6 for just instruments (e.g. bass, 2 x guitar, stereo keyboards, sax) then mix all the instruments (including the drums) down to PC or mini-disc, transfer them back onto 2 tracks of the 8 track (I'd recommend starting a new 'song' so you still have the first multitrack recording) and add 6 tracks of vocals. Digital studio work means you can just keep on going as long as you like without losing quality. Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Scenemaster says he wants to record the band live, and edit later. Two options. Bounce - but don't forget you can't bounce in digital unless you have a digital mixer. If you bounce in analogue then it will get worse every generation. Nowadays, there's no reason to do this when cheap pc systems can do the job quite cheaply. After all, if you only need stereo, then with windows 98 and protools free yopu can do the job for not a lot. Plenty of software available at modest prices that can mix. A bit more and you get fx and gizmos galore. other potential snags are getting the audio data into the pc. If you have an 8 tr machine second hand on e-bay or whatever - you can use the onboard facilities, but getting the tracks out to a pc is more difficult. Some have the 8 tracks on a light-pipe if you have suitable interfaces, but others let you burn tracks to a CD, then you import this. Not remotely suitable for every job.Cheap digital multi-tracks can also bugger you up by only allowing 2 tracks to be recorded at a time - make sure you check before parting with cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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