Transition to Digital
Not long ago the cassette was the format of choice for home recording. But at the time of this writing, there are only five models left in production and only two companies continue to make them. It's likely the number of 4-track recorders available will continue to diminish because digital technology is available for the same price, and you get higher sound quality and added features. The end might be near for the cassette tape now that digital is here to stay.
Low-End Solutions
When you enter the digital recording market you instantly gain some nifty features. Built-in effects such as reverb, delay, and even guitar amplifier simulators are standard. The low-end digital recorders now record on compact flash or smart media cards. Compact flash and smart media are the memory modules originally used in digital cameras. They have now found their way into the home recording market.
For between $200 to $400 you can purchase a digital recorder. Zoom, Korg, Tascam, Boss, and Fostex are currently producing these types of machines. These low-end digital recorders let you play back anywhere from three to eight tracks at once. The built-in effects are a great addition. (But they won't sound as good as external effects processors.) The number of simultaneous inputs is usually small in this range, so don't expect to record more than two sources at once. If you plan to record track by track, all alone, that won't pose a problem for you.
One really neat feature that's showing up in these units is background drum and bass rhythm tracks. You tell the unit what style you want and how fast to play, and it creates the background music for you. And many of these units can run on battery power, making them great for taking with you to capture spur-of-the-moment ideas. Another feature that's showing up is an included USB cable for easy connectivity to a computer. You can use it to transfer the music to your computer and then burn a CD (if you have a burner).
With digital technology, the size of the storage or memory media determines how long your recordings can be. The more megabytes it has, the more music you'll be able to fit.
Of course, there are always some limitations. Some of the limitations of low-end digital recorders include:
Fewer inputs than a similarly priced cassette studio
Compact flash and smart media are more expensive than tapes
Fewer knobs to turn, giving less control
Editing on a small display screen
Mid-Range Solutions — Studio-in-a-Box
The next step on the ladder will take you up in price. Every jump in price means you gain something over the previous level, usually more inputs, better quality effects, and more support for multiple channel recordings. Hard-drive storage begins at around the $550 mark for our purposes and will top off at $1,000. At this level you start gaining more control over your sounds. The number of tracks you can play back is at least eight, and some models go higher, as high as sixteen. You also get into editing features at this level: the ability to move music around, cut and paste, and easily rearrange tracks. On many units you also find a built in CD burner. When you have finished your sessions, you can master to a CD. Small LCD screens are standard for accessing effect settings and editing the tracks.
Mid-priced hard-disk recorders (shown in FIGURE 4-2) can be purchased from Zoom, Tascam, Fostex, Korg, and Yamaha. Pay particular attention to the size of the hard drives. The bigger the disk, the more music you can store. Since the hard disks are buried inside the unit, once it's full, you have to finish the process and get the music off in order to record more. Compare models to see what's available. You can achieve very high quality results in this price range.
Top-of-the-Line Solutions
Units over $1,000 can be considered “top-of-the-line.” Prices can shoot as high as $4,000. This category consists of studios-in-a-box and standalone recorders.
What do you get in a top-of-the-line studio-in-a-box? More inputs, higher quality, larger hard drives, bigger LCD screens for editing, more tracks, and other fun toys. As you climb the price ladder you get extra toys, including motorized faders, external computer displays, mouse inputs for editing, and digital outputs for mastering to DAT.
FIGURE 4-2
Studio-in-a-box
Motorized faders let you record a mix as you go along. When you go to another part of the song, the fader remembers where the volume was at that point in the song and moves itself there. You can also “automate” a mix by recording the fader movements as you mix; they will play back by themselves.
Studios-in-a-box are serious systems, worthy of the name
Standalone digital recorders are units that only record audio. No mixing, no preamps, no effects, these units only record multitrack audio with professional quality. Why would you use these instead of an all-in-one studio? If you already own lots of outboard gear, tons of rack effects, and a mixer, then this might be for you. These systems are not for the first-time user! You will find these exact same units in professional studios all over the world. Popular units are made by Tascam, Alesis, Fostex, Akai, and Mackie. The quality of the recordings made on these is extremely high.
Although top-of-the-line solutions are beyond the scope of most home recording studios, it's good to know they exist!
