Topic: Anyone fool enough to accept this challenge?

[Songcatcher]

Hi All
I've been a member here awhile, but I mostly just check in when I'm looking for info and I rarely post.

I've been taping in some form or other since 1965, when I first got a 3" reel-to-reel for Christmas (I was eight years old). 1972 brought me into the cassette world and recording the King Biscuit Flower Hour off the radio. Through the 70's and 80's I had taper friends who recorded lots of Dead shows and whatever else came to town. I soon became spoiled by getting tapes of nearly every show I attended from my buddies. As my tastes began to diverge from that of my friends, I found it necessary to become a live music taper myself. I bought a DAT in 1994 and have continued with it until the present day. As everyone here (except me) knows, technology marches on. I am now faced with an antiquated and deceased recording system and not a clue as to how modern digital recorders work. In addition, I have few computer skills and do not presently have a computer at home. I've scanned a number of posts here trying to learn about things, but with a lack of basic understanding, there seems to be a large volume of material that's plainly over my head. It’s pretty intimidating. Here's where you come in.

Is there anyone here who has a great deal of knowledge (that qualifies everyone) and patience who would be willing to act as a mentor to bring me up to speed on modern day recording skills? I don't know what I could offer in return beyond hours of frustration and annoyance on your part (now there's a perk!) and probably some humorous stories to pass on to your taper friends about the faux pas I commit . I'd prefer to establish a one-on-one relationship and learn outside of,but in conjunction with this site.

I am into taping more as a music fanatic than as a gearhead. I am an insatiable record and cd collector and taping has grown out of that love affair. The hardest part of the transition to digital will be the lack of a physical master of the show.

Thanks to everyone here for all the information and tips you offer! The amount of knowledge and experience gathered here boggles the mind. You have helped me out many times in the past without ever knowing it.


Current rig:  Campbell's soup cans (classic square-seam bottom, not rounded-end cans) -> Billy Bob's bailing wire -> Silvertone wire recorder (functioning as preamp) -> Sony D8

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Everything is recorded to some sort of memory card or hard drive. Just think of that as your tape, except with no moving parts.

You WILL need a computer unless you don't mind buying a new card for every show you record. You CAN have a master copy of you shows, but that would require buying and storing all of those cards. Now that I think of it cards are getting to be so cheap you almost could buy a new one for every show. I don't know of anyone doing this though. It's much easier to just keep everything on your computer. It is really nice to have every show you've ever recorded available by clicking your mouse a few times.

Of course the downside of not having a master copy is that you run the risk of losing all of your recordings if you have a hard drive crash (all of your eggs in one basket). Because of this it is VERY IMPORTANT to have AT LEAST TWO COPIES of you recordings. Three would be better. I keep two identical hard drives in my computer and mirror them (i.e. both drives have the exact same thing on them, so if one dies I still have a backup copy). If you're really anal about not losing your masters then you'd also have an external hard drive that you can keep off site, so if there is a fire, tornado, theft, comet, etc you can retrieve the off site copy.

Basic rundown of the process of recording:

1. Have all the equipment you need (mics > preamp > recorder). Know how to use them.
2. Set up your gear at the show. Hit record. Set your levels. Break down. Go home.
3. At home: Transfer recording to computer (usually via USB cable). Edit recording in audio software (fades, eq'ing, etc). Track out recording (see: CD Wave). Convert WAV (your tracked audio) files to FLAC (see: Traders Little Helper). Optional: Burn tracked files to CD.
4. Playback your files. For FLAC files I use Foobar2000. It's free and will play back just about any file.
5. Optional: Seed your files via BitTorrent. Plenty of tutorials on how to do that. Google it.

Plenty of info here to expand on the above.

[acidjack]

The biggest frustration for you will no doubt be understanding the computer angle.  The actual boxes we use to tape now are very simple; they work more or less just like a D8.  You just need to use the right settings (WAV file, 24bit/48kHz, etc.) and you're good to go.  They're lighter and easier to power, too. 

I got back into taping in 2009 after not taping since 2000, so I missed a lot of the transition from physical media to cards.  The computer stuff at first is daunting. Where it used to be that the most important thing was to just get a tape made and set the levels right at the time, now all of your time is mostly on the back end.  Your levels at the show, within reason, matter very little, as long as you peak around -12dB or higher.

So basically, your front-end is the same.  Set up stand, connect mics to preamp, preamp to deck, hit record.  (Oh, or you can get a deck now that has decent internal preamps... though I guess the DA-P1 did too...)

AFTER that, it's:

1. Move WAV files from SD card in deck to computer.
2. Edit.  For this you need a program like Audacity or other editors. Some guys do little more than boosting the recording's levels to peak at -0.1dB, setting the recording to fade in/out and cutting the thing into tracks.  But with the computer, you can pretty much go nuts on EQ, decoding to M/S, adding reverb, adding various tube/tape effects, reducing peaks, reducing noise between songs, compression, etc. etc. etc.  My suggestion would be to at least start by just cutting tracks and amplifying to avoid massive annoyance.
3. Export.  Basically a part of "Edit", this means exporting the edited WAV file into individual tracks in the FLAC format.  Most people also like to still downsample to CD format (16bit/44.1kHz) even though they record at 24/48 or 24/96.  Software like Audacity can handle all of this in one step. It's not hard to do - just clicking a setting or two - but it takes time. 

Some people (especially Windows users) use multiple programs for this stuff - Audacity or something else for editing, CDWave to cut into tracks, and then Trader's Little Helper to do the downsample and FLAC and to make a "checksum" file which is how people now verify that a digital recording is unaltered from the original. 

4. Listen.  FLAC can be listened to on a variety of computer players such as Foobar for Windows, WinAmp for Windows or Cog for Mac.  They can also be burned to CD, of course.  For listening on the go, you either need a portable that plays FLACs, or use a program to change the FLACs into MP3 (lossy, but sound pretty darn good these days at the higher bit rates) or, for Apple iPhone/iPod users, ALAC (lossless Apple compression scheme)

5. Upload.  If you want to share the recordings the main way to do it is a BitTorrent site like bt.etree.org (for bands that allow taping) or DIME or Trader's Den (for bands that maybe don't), or uploading to the Live Music Archive.  I'll call all of that "Lesson 2" and let someone else take over on that end of things

[bhadella]

Songcatcher,

There are tons of us TapersSection freaks out there!  Many of us would love to coach someone local thru this process.  I'd suggest posting within the "Team Boards" for your region if someone would be willing to help.

[BlingFree]

For several years I was an active admin at shnflac.net (which qualifies me as fool enough) and I've spent a lot of time helping "old heads" modernize. You're welcome to PM me for my phone number. No doubt you don't live too far from someone who will pee their pants just to see your stash.. not to mention help you organize, transfer and modernize.

Songcatcher,
I'd suggest posting within the "Team Boards" for your region if someone would be willing to help.

Excellent first step.

Here's a link.. http://taperssection.com/index.php?board=35.0

[OOK]

Some have offered some good advise already.

Just don't be intimidated, as hard as it may seem at first you will find the phrase repeating through your head...wow this is easier than ever...don't know hay i didn't make the change sooner!  You can PM me with any questions any time....

OOK

[Songcatcher]

Thanks to everyone for the tips and encouragement!

I've been poking around the site quite a bit in the last few days. I've been looking at the Tascam DR100 MKII,and it looks like I understand a good amount of the features. Special thanks to tonedeaf for such an in-depth play-by-play review. I really like the ability to adjust the gain on either channel independently. Can anyone think of a good reason not to begin with this deck? It looks pretty user-friendly for the novice.

I'm seeing them for just under $300 on Amazon,which includes shipping. Is that a reasonable price, or would it be better to buy elsewhere. Anyplace that sells them also offer service should it be needed?

[BlingFree]

B&H has the for $255 shipped. It says something different when you first go there but look for the  "click for current price" link. Almost bought one the other day but decided to use my loaner preamp instead for predictability. Don't want to take new gear on a 5 day taping mission.

[Songcatcher]

Thanks for the tip on B&H.

Ignorant newbie digital guy question #1:

Is there a usb -> coax cable available where I could digitally send the recording I make on the DR100 to my Tascam CDRW900SL cd burner as a safety backup while I learn about computer-related recording? That would help keep me in my comfort zone during the learning process. Nothing worse than making the effort to record a show and then screwing it up later. Tried a couple searches on the cable page,but didn't come up with a definitive answer.

[eman]

Nope the USB is just a way for the computer to get the files off of the Tascam, not for the Tascam to put them on the computer. You may be able to go coax out on that but I don't think so. Analog out is the most likely way to do what you want.

[ScoobieKW]

Thanks for the tip on B&H.

Ignorant newbie digital guy question #1:

Is there a usb -> coax cable available where I could digitally send the recording I make on the DR100 to my Tascam CDRW900SL cd burner as a safety backup while I learn about computer-related recording? That would help keep me in my comfort zone during the learning process. Nothing worse than making the effort to record a show and then screwing it up later. Tried a couple searches on the cable page,but didn't come up with a definitive answer.

I highly doubt it, the usb cable that connects to modern flash recorders allows you to treat the recorder as an external hard drive. your files are then available as WAV files.

What you can do, is get the Squeezebox Touch by Logitech.
http://www.logitech.com/speakers-audio/wireless-music-systems/devices/5745

It works either with a computer or more importantly for you in standalone mode. Plug in an external hard drive (your recorder) and it will output coax.

[BlingFree]

You will likely want a DVD burner if not just buy an external hard drive. Not many shows I record clock in under 1gb so CD is a bad way to go. My personal route if I have the money would be dr100mkii to PC's hard drive then to an external. I don't have the $ so I back up to DVD for now. That will all change shortly.

Don't hesitate to PM if you need help.

[Songcatcher]

The deed is done. Tascam DR100MKII coming from B&H. Procrastination worked in my favor as the price dropped a little to $249. I feel like I'm at the crest of a roller coaster.

[bhadella]

Thanks for the tip on B&H.

Ignorant newbie digital guy question #1:

Is there a usb -> coax cable available where I could digitally send the recording I make on the DR100 to my Tascam CDRW900SL cd burner as a safety backup while I learn about computer-related recording? That would help keep me in my comfort zone during the learning process. Nothing worse than making the effort to record a show and then screwing it up later. Tried a couple searches on the cable page,but didn't come up with a definitive answer.

You can connect the DR100 via the 1/8 Line Out to your external cd burners analog RCA input.   Not ideal (you end up with and digital to analog and analog to digital conversion) but it will allow you to make a preliminary backup copy.  You will find that transferring to a computer and your CD with it will be easier than using a stand alone burner. 

[chrisnubar]

I thought I was the only one here with a wire recorder! haha