Originally posted by Marc Cooreman:
I think i use my reliable HHB Pro portable dat recorder
The one with the mic pre built into it? Cool. Problem solved. Next? hehe. :)

Or would i also take my Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro as a preamp or can i leave it at home and do all the preamp (& compressing) later ?
Umm... Then it wouldn't be PRE-amping, would it? The point of using a mic pre is to raise the level to match optimally with whatever device it's being sent into. (And to provide the proper impedance, and phantom power when needed, but that's getting a little advanced.) If you don't get the proper level to DAT, you will end up with a noisy recording. Cranking the gain up later will increase the same amount of noise as signal.

And what compression do you use fo vocal only : I have a Finalizer plus, & still waiting for a trail-to-compare between the Behringer Tube Composer & the Fat1 from TLA ! Or should i try the RNC also ?
Plugs : Drawmer Dynamics TDM & yeah , also waitin' to try the new Bombfactory TDM plugs! What about the LA-2A from BF for vocals??
What do you guys think ?
Marc

Any one of them should work just fine.

Good luck.

I'd stay away from the SM58 and use a good condenser mic. Also, do you want room ambience on the tape? maybe some soundproofing might be useful (I know plenty of voiceovers who use a blanket over their heads for ISDN session work to damp ambience) Finally, for a relaxation tape, use as little EQ and compression as possible - only enough to correct imbalances and not enough to colour the sound.

Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot both,
but what's a good condenser mic ?
Being on a budget for the moment i mean

I'm afraid a question like that will get you as many opinions as there are microphones in your price range. This is one of those things you just have to experiment with until you find one that you like. Hopefully your local music store has the ability to demo a range of mics for you and won't mind doing so since they know they are guaranteed a sale.