:cheers:Hello All…
I’m relatively new to the taper scene, and desire to learn as much as I can from all of you. My desired outcome is something most here would probably find a bit unusual.
What I mean is that I want to start taping live performances, but with the end result being decent quality but not striving for anything approaching sonic perfection. This is due to the following reasons…
- I wish to document the “experience” over sonic clarity. It’s more important to me to have a record of the overall “feel” of sessions in lieu of anything approaching sonic perfection. Crowd noise, etc. is actually ok with me, as it would add to the unique characteristics of that particular session. But… I don’t want total garbage either, wishing to strike a balance between some modicum of performance, but retain overall experience of sessions.
- Due to my age (fast approaching 60), and some past accident, my hearing ain’t in the best shape. I have approx. 30% hearing loss in my left ear, to say nothing of what would be considered normal age-related loss in overall range.
- I don’t want to “break the bank” on gear either. It doesn’t make sense to me to commit to multiple thousands of dollars, given my aforementioned desired outcome.
This being stated, here is a list of gear I’ve been looking into, keeping in mind that recording will always be ‘stealthy”, and take place in small to medium sized venues at sometimes relatively high SPL (nothing crazy, think normal rock type shows).
Setup 1 - cheap and dirty
iPhone X with Apogee MetaRecorder and Sennheiser Ambeo Binaural headset (like the idea of having mics and monitoring capability in the same form factor). Also adding Shure MV88+ for a “non-stealthy”, but more flexible option.
Setup 2 - mid tier
Roland r-07 with Roland cs-10em binaural headset (again, same form factor for mics and monitoring) - could also utilize battery box from setup 3, below, for louder venues.
Setup 3 - a bit more
Roland r-07 with mics and battery box from audioreality.com. I realize similar offerings available from Church Audio and Sound Professionals are considered higher caliber, but don’t think the extra expense is warranted, in my particular situation. In this setup, monitoring would take place using a medium quality IEM plugged into r-07 headphone jack.
Setup 4 - Tops (for me)
Zoom F3 with matched pair of condensers (TBD, but nothing too pricey - $100 to $200 range for the pair)
My plan is to purchase all gear mentioned above, therefore having 5 different setup options available to me for different opportunities.
I welcome all your expert advice, thanks in advance.