Topic: General question for taping live hard rock shows

[PsychoPimpKiller]

I am friends with a local band in the Pittsburgh area and they allow me to tape their shows. I have a portable MZ-N505 minidisc recorder that I just recently used to record through the soundboard. The quality is excellent but the only problem is that they played in a small club and the only thing that went through the soundboard was the keyboards and vocals. The minidisc recorder does not have  powered mic input so if i was to use a mic, I would have to have a battery powering the mic. I am looking for some advice on a portable (possibly stealthable) device that I could do their shows with from now on, and maybe some other concerts for some major acts if i could sneak it in. I only want to record major acts for my own personal enjoyment. I would, however, like to have a good quality show for the local bands' so that I could make a copy for them as well as for my self. I've looked into the Edirol R-09 and the Olympus LS-10 and a few others. I have heard some various recordings from some of these recordings and I cannot decide. I don't want someone else to make up my mind for me but I want to be well informed before I shell out around $400 for a piece of equipment. Any suggestions and comments will be greatly appreciated.

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I am friends with a local band in the Pittsburgh area and they allow me to tape their shows. I have a portable MZ-N505 minidisc recorder that I just recently used to record through the soundboard. The quality is excellent but the only problem is that they played in a small club and the only thing that went through the soundboard was the keyboards and vocals. The minidisc recorder does not have  powered mic input so if i was to use a mic, I would have to have a battery powering the mic. I am looking for some advice on a portable (possibly stealthable) device that I could do their shows with from now on, and maybe some other concerts for some major acts if i could sneak it in. I only want to record major acts for my own personal enjoyment. I would, however, like to have a good quality show for the local bands' so that I could make a copy for them as well as for my self. I've looked into the Edirol R-09 and the Olympus LS-10 and a few others. I have heard some various recordings from some of these recordings and I cannot decide. I don't want someone else to make up my mind for me but I want to be well informed before I shell out around $400 for a piece of equipment. Any suggestions and comments will be greatly appreciated.

One option if you don't want to get rid of the MD recorder (or don't have the cash to get a full new rig) would be to get a pre-amp/battery box and a set of Church Audio mics (or similar small "stealthable" mics), maybe $250 after your done, I havn't looked at gear prices lately in that market segment. That would get you up and running and feeding the recorder a signal. If you've got the cash, then any of the new pocket 24bit recorders from edirol or tascam are great little devices in the $250-350 range. There is another (very recent) discussion on here about pocket 24bit recorders, I don't have the link handy, but if you look you should be able to find it easily enough. Best of luck, take care.

[taperwheeler]

I would agree that you should upgrade to decent mini mics and a good pre.  Think you'll be happier in the long run.  Look at Sound Pro's and especially Church Audio.  Look in the retail section.