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I direct a school orchestra, and want to make recordings for the kids of their concerts. Currently, I have a superscope CD recorder and want to upgrade my mics and get a mixer involved.

What could I get for under $1500 to make good recordings of my orchestra.

I figure that I will add in the future, but for now, just keep the mics on a stand out in front of the audience.

Comments

Boswell Mon, 09/03/2007 - 02:19

Rode NT4 stereo microphone, Zoom H4 recorder, tall microphone stand, 2 long XLR cables, spare SD memory cards. Lot of change from $1500. You don't need to get a mixer involved at this stage, especially if you envisage microphone positions "out front of the audience". After the concert, you plug the H4 into a computer, edit the 2-track file using Audacity (free) or other low-cost audio software, write the file to disk and then burn to CD. Easy. You can get quite acceptable results this way, but a great deal depends on the acoustics of the hall and where you position the microphone.

When you are ready for multi-microphone recording, the best route would be a multi-channel FireWire pre-amplifier connected to a laptop computer to give you multi-track recordings. You then mix using software in the computer. You would need good monitor speakers either now or later.