Singer seeking sound recording advice!

[brunnhilde540]

I am a complete no0b when it comes to recording devices and classical singing so please don't devour my soul! That being said, I have read a ton of threads on here and all contain great advice that I have already learned so much from with hopes to learn even more.

I am a soprano with a large voice (don't run away screaming just yet! ) studying at the college level. I've recently made a lot of vocal progress and have been able to finally get my voice to open up and be free, but along with such good news comes the bad. Because I have a large voice and having worked extensively on it, I am now at the point where my old voice recorder(an Olympus WS-300M) that I use to record my lessons no longer provides me with an accurate portrayal of what I am doing in my lessons.(I doubt it did from the beginning!) It simply can't handle the volume that I produce while singing especially when singing high notes.

I was wondering if you guys could possibly recommend some digital recording devices that would be able to provide me with a better sound quality that I could use for lessons but maybe also a multi-tasker that could also be used for occasional school recitals? I was looking at the Zoom H4n but I'm not sure how that would react to a large voice...keep in mind too that I am a college student so try to stay realistic budget wise a.k.a no more than 300.

Just to give you guys some reference to what space I use for lessons, it's just your basic living room type of set up. The floors are carpeted, there are wall decorations furniture, a piano and a lot of bookshelves to soak up sound. The space is not like a recital hall although it does allows the voice to ring nicely at a quiet/normal volume level, anything past a certain decibel and of course the curse of having a big voice in a small space sets in!

I really am interested in learning more about recording and especially acoustics. It's amazing to me how many different aspects effect sound and they way we perceive it! Not even just outside in the room but also for a singer inside our own heads! It's simply fascinating and I have the utmost respect for anyone willing to devote time and energy trying to figure out all the different things that go into creating a certain sound in a certain space. Our jobs aren't as different as a lot of singers would like to believe.

Any how...I'd appreciate any feedback or even just a nudge in the right direction. Thanks!

[DCtoDaylight]

Ah, I've actually borrowed one of those Olympus recorders from my office on occasion to do trial recordings when scoping out new halls. They actually don't do a bad job, but you'll get *much* better results from any handheld that's actually designed for music recording.

The better handhelds are designed to handle anything from a solo guitar to a full-on rock and roll band, although you'll need to get the hang of setting record levels. In other words, you generally can't just set the thing down and hit record and have the machine do all the work - you'll need to manually set the sensitivity of the recorder at an appropriate level for the room you're in, the piece you're singing, the distance from the mic, etc.

Fortunately, since you're doing a lot of your work in the same space, you should be able to find a level setting that works well and just use that as your default. When you go out to record a recital or something, you'll need to do a little testing and watch the meters in order to set the level, but if you have any interest at all in the recording process (and it sounds like you do), you'll get a feel for this. With the quality of today's digital recording, level-setting is a LOT more forgiving than it used to be.

All that said, you might look at the Olympus LS-10 or Tascam DR-1, which would both be around $300....there's also the Zoom H4n. You can look for opinions here, and there's also a lot of useful info at this dealer site, including audio samples of all the different recorders.

Portable Recording Solutions for People Who Care About Sound. WingfieldAudio.com.

This is a little sacreligious here, but don't be afraid to shop on the basis of ease of use as well as sound quality. Anything in this price range will be passable sound-wise for what you're doing, and a user interface that you find easy to work with will help you get the most out of the recorder every time you use it and avoid dumb errors (though you will probably, like all of us, make a few of those along the way as you're getting the hang of your equipment and the process!).

Good luck, with the purchase and your studies!

[boojum]

I'd suggest a Zoom. The H4 is at ~$150. The H2 comes in ~$300. They would both do the job. They are not pro gear but they can do a good "student" job and have lots of fans using them.

[brunnhilde540]

Thanks for all the advice guys! :) I'll definitely check in to all of the mentioned equipment.