Muti-track recording

Hey, i have been looking for a muti-track recorder for a while now. I want one good enough to get some EP's of my bands stuff out there. So i need one that i can record, drums, guitar, bass, vocals, keys and that all stuff. I dont know what the good ones are. i have heard about the zoom mrs 1044. Can Someone please give me some information on gear that can do this for me? i really need to start getting my band going. Thanks alot

hey dude,
ha, i just got a multitrack recorder, so i'll help you out a bit. Me and the band went all around houston looking for recorders and getting advice. One recorder we found on music123.com was a zoom recorder for $413 and were shocked because of it's amazing specs (maybe it's the same one as you stated, i forgot). we took it to guitar center and asked specifically about the company zoom. we asked many, many people, and they all said the same thing: the quality of zoom is not good and has had many manufacturing problems. i don't know if that's true or not but i do not advise you to get that. they all told me to go for a boss recorder. well we got one for $545 and trust me, it's amazing! i think it's like boss 1080 or something but it can record any of those instruments you specified. hope this helps!

Im using a Korg D1600, it is totally cool !
Check it out:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=030406180124012217250242724728/search/g=rec/detail/base_id/79059

BTW the boss recorder only has 2 inputs, not much good for recording drums !!!

Zoom is very low quality, unfortunately you get what you pay for !

Tascam is good (generally). If you are on a budget the 424 mK 3 will do what you want though is analog and requires some experience to use.

If you want to do drums you will want a minimum of 8 tracks
i.e.
1) Click
2) Kick
3) Snare
4) Overhead L
5) Overhead R
6)toms
7)Bounce R
8)Bounce L
then
1) Drum bounce L
2) Drum bounce R
3) Backing Vox
4) Bass 1
5) Vox
6) Bass 2
7) Drums
8) Guitar

see what I mean !!!

16 tracks is much more fun !


[Edited by Dr_simon on 04-07-2003 at 05:47 PM]

thanks to both of you for posting, i'll check out some more. Ive been looking at 16 digital tracks...for like $899 at musicians friend. i'll check up on the ones mentioned, thansk again!

hey dr. simon, aren't you able to track down instead of use 8 tracks for just drums??

In short …yes ...but …... It involves using either a mixing desk (more expense) and going 6 or 8 to 2 channels, (which is OK) or bounce tracks down. Either way you are stuck with your original drum mix, which can cause problems later on.

It is also possible to plug everyone into a big desk and do the whole thing live "on the fly". This kind of defeats the object of the exercise (having 8 tracks)

I think Boss attempt to circumvent the problem by supplying a built in drum machine with their Zip disk recorder (make most drummers hurl violently )!

I'd try to think of how many channels you are likely to need for recording (Max simultaneous) and how many tracks for simultaneous playback. I generally record a click track and over dub the various instruments mixing down as I go. Consequently, even recording live drums you always have enough inputs and each track contains a "discreet" instrument or drum.

Another option is computer recording (using a laptop) but that is another story !!!

Hope this helps
S

Except for the portability issue, I can't see why anyone would buy a standalone unit. (especially for upwards of 900 bucks)
I can get 8 tracks and unlimited midi with Pro Tools Free and it was... FREE!!

I think it depends on the kit you have already got, I went standalone as I didn’t have a computer at the time. I also knew nothing about computer recording ! There are also other disadvantages with using a computer, like durability, incompatibility, monitor noise etc etc