Tell me about your budget location recording setup!

[airheadwd]

Tell me how you all set up a cheap on location rig for recording chamber, small ensembles and even small bands!

I am looking for a setup that is affordable and available! I already have my mics (Karma K10's and a pair of samsons) now all I need is a rig that will accommodate.

From power conditioners, mixers (if needed), mic pres, recorders... anything that will enable me to record sufficiently. Also include some rough prices. I have a low budget but nothing solid right now, for I will be picking away at a setup, not blowing it all on one place.

so let 'er rip, show me what is good for a cheap price!!

-Aaron

[Corran]

I made a thread a few months ago for budget rigs. I have a couple suggestions for simple 2-track and also 8-track rigs for cheap: Remote Recording Rigs for < $1000 - a beginner's guide

So that might help.

[airheadwd]

right on my friend. This is a great thread. I will definitely use this for my research! Now, is it recommended at all to buy a mixer for the mics with a decent mic pre (i.e. a yamaha C series mixer)? or is it more efficient and less costly to buy a handy recorder? I am trying to base my setup close to what I am working with in college.

-power conditioner
-mic pre (8 i/o)
-i think a tascam CD burner
-alesis hard disk recorder

i guess we dont really have a mixer either, but i guess it could be essential but i'd only be recording stereo and not much more than that. the only downside is that my recording device will only be stereo so any adjustments as far as bumping up single instruments or sections is quite hard.

anyway, thanks for the thread, it will really help me out (aside from the few questions i have)

[Corran]

I started myself with a mixer and then recorded the stereo outs to a laptop. I quickly upgraded to a multitrack recorder (Korg D888) for 8 track inputs. Made life 100x easier (and safer than a laptop in my opinion).

Personally, a decent CD recorder still is almost as expensive as some of the cheapest multitrack recorders. Rather than riding faders all concert I prefer to just multitrack and do that in post. Besides, monitoring on headphones often isn't the same as listening to it on speakers the next day.

You mentioned an Alesis harddisk recorder. I of course can't recommend enough the HD24, which I upgraded to in December. It's wonderful. You can get the standard version for <$1000 on ebay if you shop carefully. I was lucky and the the XR for $1000.

Rather than a power conditioner get a decent UPS. Cheap PCs are usually nothing more than a rackmountable surge protecter anyway.

[airheadwd]

the D888 looks like something I would like to pick up, however, $500 may be a little much for me, but i am sure, for the capabilities, i cant find anything as good. Is there anything comparable at a cheaper price that has CDR capabilities? maybe less inputs or something. Thanks!

[Corran]

D888s can go for a lot cheaper on ebay right now actually.

[NorseHorse]

The D888s go used on eBay for $350ish. Even $300.

There really aren't many/any four channel units in your price range, and you might grow out of the two-channels units pretty fast. However, I started out with a Tascam DP-01FX and they make a version that includes a CD-burner too. You might want to try that.

However, must of us here really value editing the audio on a computer after-the-fact, and we just burn CDs from the computer.

[Fran Guidry]

The new Zoom H4n can record two tracks on the built-in mics while also recording two external mics. It has XLR connections and 48v phantom.

I did some comparisons for my Home Brewed Music blog:

Homebrewed Music &minus; First look at the Zoom H4n

Fran

[GrafRay]

Homebrewed Music &minus; First look at the Zoom H4n

Here are some comparisons with sound examples. I think h4n is too much noisy. There are lots of noise in recording