Recording setup(s)

[FAP]

Trying to get back in the habit of recording noise again: having to both un-learn and re-learn many, many aspects of the process has me considering a future purchase of what will likely be a fairy expensive 4-8 track recorder-mixer, but before I go off the deep end with that route, I was curious what your thoughts may be.

In the mean time, I’m stuck with my Zoom H4N Pro, which isn’t a bad thing. My plan is to record in 4TRK mode to separate the tracks as much as possible. I’d have two mixers: one for the LINE-IN (L & R = two channels = two tracks) and the other for the EXT. MIC input (same principle, different jacks). Then I’d reduce the input levels on the Zoom below unity gain to get each track around -24dB max and monitor loud through headphones (the recording principle of “you can always turn the volume up later” finally makes sense to me).

And hopefully this early separation of elements will ultimately yield an easier, more nuanced degree of control in the mix. If nothing else, I’ll learn if it works or not.

So how do you record?
inb4 indeterminacy posts something about direct-to-tape, all levels in the red.

[Indeterminacy]

inb4 indeterminacy posts something about direct-to-tape, all levels in the red.

Well duh.
More later.

[crochambeau]

I've been primarily recording to a circa 1993 digital four track hard disk recorder (with a ZuluSCSI HDD emulator replacing the VERY noisy OEM SCSI drive). Recently I've been recording my live sets on two tracks, and then grabbing some of the previous sets playback as a sound source. Here we see the set I played last night depicted on track 3 & 4 while a set from earlier this month plays on 1 & 2. The LEDs seem uneven because this was a 13 second exposure:

This particular machine I picked up on facebook marketplace a few years back, I forget the cost - it was less than $100, as was the HDD emulator. I like it so much I bought another one on reverb. It's big though, as deep as it is wide.

I also deploy an old first gen Zoom H4, though that unit puts a periodic buzz down in the floor noise in tandem with the recording active LED, so it gets used less and less - mostly for sample gathering.

Tape is awesome and a joy to use as well, though there is a real expense for media baked into the process. Half inch open reel runs about $100 per, which can result in a half hour, or hour (or two) depending on speed, quarter inch isn't that much better in price. There's always cassette, all of these machines require maintenance and/or repair in my experience. But analog is a refreshing change of pace for anyone inundated with LLMs posing as AI in a rent seeking cloud based hell hole.

I like the Akai DR4-d because the interface is basically analog hardware in mature, and while you can do copy/edit shit on it that is more akin to DAW capability, it largely operates in the real time run in the room with nothing but hands and ears process.

[¾ dead]

Lately, it's just been doing single takes with my Zoom H6 in front of a Peavey 208 Backstage Chorus amp. The H6 is great. Super powerful. But I find it such a headache for multitracking, I can't even be fucked with using it for that. I also have a couple of Zoom R8's, but I found that I hate the interface and the weird time lag on the sliders so much that it's also nearly unusable for me. There's something I can't describe about it just that "sounds off", too. It's different from any other recording method I've used previously, and I just can't seem to gel with it.

Recently ordered an old Boss mixer. It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm hoping it'll be the solution to my problem of not having a good PC to multitrack with when doing floornoise (stupid eurorack junk took over the desktop, only have room for Death Metals on the cum-crusty carpet now)... it's a compact, probably-shit-sounding 8-channel stereo mixer with two FX sends, but it seems good for pedal/contact mic applications. I plan on using it to mix multiple sources in real time, recording in stereo to the R8. I feel like, if I can just devote the R8 to recording stereo multitracks, it might be a little less excruciating to work with. Time will tell.