Home recording without a computer..?

[Garnett]

I record with a Boss Br 900 and I mic my amps with a sm57. I do all guitar and bass this way and add drums in with a drum machine. Outside of the drums, it actually sounds good as I have high quality amps. I know I could be doing a lot more with a computer but I'm not too good with them. Does anybody else record like this, or am I that out of date..?

Cheers!

 

[jammybastard]

I record with a Boss Br 900 and I mic my amps with a sm57. I do all guitar and bass this way and add drums in with a drum machine. Outside of the drums, it actually sounds good as I have high quality amps. I know I could be doing a lot more with a computer but I'm not too good with them. Does anybody else record like this, or am I that out of date..?

Cheers!

Sure. Out of date? Who decides that?
It's all about what works for you and accomplishes your goals.
I still have a Tascam 424 four track cassette recorder from 1990 that I use from time to time.
Also got an iPad and a MacBook Pro.
I use them depending on what goal I'm trying to accomplish.

I know a lot of guys who still use the Roland VS-880 multitrack units as well as the Boss BR-1600.
They are easy to use and have a very unique sound.

Tame Impala's a very popular psychedelic band from Australia that currently use the BR1600.
Their first 2 records were recorded on a 1600 and they use them on tour
because they rely on the 1600s pitch shift effect for their guitar sound.
I'd say that's a pretty good endorsement.

 

[Garnett]

Thanks for the reply Jammy-. Funny you mention the BR1600 , that's what I plan to "update" to soon. The handy feature is downloading straight to the CD. The trick I have learned is to get the sound you want with your amp/guitar and don't mess with it after recording. Mic placement, different amps, guitars..it's fun. Just layer guitars, bass, and try to get a good crisp drum track. BTW the. CDs come out pretty good!

 

[Scott Whigham]

Those units are excellent for what they do - they make recording simpler. If there are still manufacturers making them and they still sell, then no you are not out of date. But if the unit you like/want/own has been discontinued, that should tell you something...

http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--BOSBR1600CD

That said, lots of new Flash-based hard drive recorders are out there and they are definitely not out of date.

 

[Bigbob63]

Well I still use a Yamaha AW1600 and a Zoom R16 for recording my band. I use 7 to 8 inputs at once so these units are cheaper to buy for this purpose. I would think it would cost me far more to get a reasonable specked lap top and a 8 in usb unterface to do the same. When the recording is done I do download the tracks to my desktop pc and mix via cubase I do not know if you can download the tracks to a pc from the boss but it would be an introduction to using a pc if you can and get a starter program to edit with. Having said that there are some useful editing tools on the stand alone recorders certainly I could do a good mix on my Yamaha it is just easier on the pc for finding the begging of tracks cutting out unwanted noise etc due to the graphical interface on a computer compared with the small lcd display on the recorder.

 

[DanR]

My first foray into digital recording was with the Boss BR-8. I was happy with the unit and ultimately put in a bigger capacity zip drive (250MB). The most limiting factor to me was the track count. I do the one man band thing including drums so I wanted more tracks. I was ready to move up to a computer set up in '08 but before I took the plunge, I found a used Korg D1600 on Ebay and I've been using that ever since. If and when that dies, I will go the computer route. But at the moment, I don't feel limited in the least with what I have.