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John Hedger · 12th May 2008, 05:30 AM

Hello,

I haven't been active on here in a long time but have come back to do some research as I am serious about upgrading my recording gear. I am a musician...an electric blues guitarist and classical guitarist/lutenist and classical composer. I plan to mainly record myself - live gigs and recitals, plus some serious recordings of my own guitar compositions and lute arrangements. I am currently a guitar instructor at three small area colleges and have access to recording guitar in a really nice sounding chapel at one of these institutions pretty much whenever I want to use it.

My current gear consists of a Superscope PSD 300 cd recorder (records at 44.1k), a pair of Nady Ribbon RSM-2 ribbon mics running through a Great River MP2-NV. I have been using the auxillary input in the back of the Superscope recorder to bypass the onboard pre. This rig has worked pretty well except for one frustrating problem...especially for recording my blues band, as my current Superscope CD recorder often just quits recording randomly due to floor vibrations from the drums/bass,etc..It's very frustrating. I've even made a homespun shockmount for the whole recorder unit using bungy cords and it still goes into error mode repeatedly on some gigs.

My last gig at Brackins Blues Club in Maryville, TN nailed it for me. I couldn't even get one song to record without a REC Error. Setting the recorder further away from the stage was not really an option due to taking up table room or possibly having patrons slip over cords. I decided I have to upgrade into something new that won't quit on me.

So, being in a bit better financial shape than I was a few years ago and also wanting to do some serious classical recordings in the next few years with the idea of tracking my own CDs, I am looking to upgrade my current chinese mic pair to a Wes Dooley AEA R-88 stereo ribbon and upgrade my CD recorder to a Korg MR-1000...being also enamored by the idea of DSD recording but not being able to aford the $8,000 or so to purchase into a Genex 8 track DSD, which I have been aware of for some years.

So, how does the above rig, along with my current Great River pre sound to you all? Any alternative suggestions? For those of you who have experience with the Korg, is it fairly hassle free?

I had also been eyeballing the Sound Devices 702,722 and other mics such as the Coles ribbons, Schoeps, even looked at a SoundField system. The Royer R-122v's have enticed me quite alot but I'm not sure about them as location mics if they really need a couple of hours to warm up properly. Plus, my budget right now is comfortably around $3000 unless I go into debt, which I don't want to. I could possibly upgrade into other, more high end mics later on. The R-88 seems like a good choice to me right now.

Sorry for rambling on so long...I welcome any thoughts or suggestions....thanks, John Hedger

12th May 2008, 05:30 AM	#1
John Hedger Gear nut Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Lexington, KY Posts: 141	Looking to Upgrade my Recording Rig Hello, I haven't been active on here in a long time but have come back to do some research as I am serious about upgrading my recording gear. I am a musician...an electric blues guitarist and classical guitarist/lutenist and classical composer. I plan to mainly record myself - live gigs and recitals, plus some serious recordings of my own guitar compositions and lute arrangements. I am currently a guitar instructor at three small area colleges and have access to recording guitar in a really nice sounding chapel at one of these institutions pretty much whenever I want to use it. My current gear consists of a Superscope PSD 300 cd recorder (records at 44.1k), a pair of Nady Ribbon RSM-2 ribbon mics running through a Great River MP2-NV. I have been using the auxillary input in the back of the Superscope recorder to bypass the onboard pre. This rig has worked pretty well except for one frustrating problem...especially for recording my blues band, as my current Superscope CD recorder often just quits recording randomly due to floor vibrations from the drums/bass,etc..It's very frustrating. I've even made a homespun shockmount for the whole recorder unit using bungy cords and it still goes into error mode repeatedly on some gigs. My last gig at Brackins Blues Club in Maryville, TN nailed it for me. I couldn't even get one song to record without a REC Error. Setting the recorder further away from the stage was not really an option due to taking up table room or possibly having patrons slip over cords. I decided I have to upgrade into something new that won't quit on me. So, being in a bit better financial shape than I was a few years ago and also wanting to do some serious classical recordings in the next few years with the idea of tracking my own CDs, I am looking to upgrade my current chinese mic pair to a Wes Dooley AEA R-88 stereo ribbon and upgrade my CD recorder to a Korg MR-1000...being also enamored by the idea of DSD recording but not being able to aford the $8,000 or so to purchase into a Genex 8 track DSD, which I have been aware of for some years. So, how does the above rig, along with my current Great River pre sound to you all? Any alternative suggestions? For those of you who have experience with the Korg, is it fairly hassle free? I had also been eyeballing the Sound Devices 702,722 and other mics such as the Coles ribbons, Schoeps, even looked at a SoundField system. The Royer R-122v's have enticed me quite alot but I'm not sure about them as location mics if they really need a couple of hours to warm up properly. Plus, my budget right now is comfortably around $3000 unless I go into debt, which I don't want to. I could possibly upgrade into other, more high end mics later on. The R-88 seems like a good choice to me right now. Sorry for rambling on so long...I welcome any thoughts or suggestions....thanks, John Hedger __________________ "In the midst of Sassafras, many things will come to pass"...The BubblePuppy http://www.musicmaker.org/ http://www.johnnyroy.com http://cdbaby.com/cd/jroytubtones