Hi,

I'm hoping to do some home recording on my PC in the near future but the one thing that's worrying me is vocals. Whilst I can play guitar or keyboards quite happily in my flat, I have an extremely loud voice and I don't want to do my neighbour's heads in by singing all day.

So, I'm looking for the following device...

A small digital recording device which I can use inside my car (well out of the way of my neighbours), which is either battery powered or (better still!) powered by a car lighter and can be used to recored reasonably high quality vocals and can then be added to my computer's hard drive when I get home.

So, my question is simply this...

Does such a device exist and if so what's it called?

I realise that this is not the most professional way to record, but I'm really just doing all this as part of a hobby.

Thanks

PS- this is my first post of the forum for about five years. I was a regular visitor back in the late 90's and it's good to see that that the Synthzone site is still going strong! Congrats Nigel!

[This message has been edited by Equalizer2 (edited 08-04-2006).]

Just go to your local music store and inquire about portable DAWs and digital recorders etc. Also, you would still need a good mic. A PZM perhaps because you really don't want to pick up any ambient noises along with your vocals. Get a nice note going and somebody drives by with their car radio cranked up.

-ED-

You might consider an alternative and stay in your home.

And this is no joke, I did it ages ago for the same reason and it worked brilliant;

Just built a multiplex cabinet big enough, and use piano hinge's for the connection of the sides and the top.
This way you can very easy put it away after using and it doesn't use much space.
Use your fantasy.
Very cheap and maybe an hour work.

Fred

forgot to mention,
You also need some bolts to lock the connection top and sides to avoid accidents.



[This message has been edited by freddynl (edited 08-11-2006).]

That's a real good idea Fred. That would be my choice also. Building a vocal cabinet is a great way to go. Makes much better sense than trying to record a vocal in a car. It makes perfect sense to have a vocal booth where you can do as many takes as you want without bugging the neighbours plus it keeps out outside sounds from leaking into your vocal recordings.


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 08-12-2006).]

Agreed. Recording inside the cab of an automobile is no bueno. I believe we covered home vocal recording a while back, however, I could not find it. The vocal cabinet should work OK. If you want to get great results you might try putting sound bat on the walls of a closet. Sound bat is expensive though and the equivelant of it is two layers of commercial R21 insulation, and one layer on top of non foil R19. Go to a construction site for these scrap pieces. Use gloves. Staple it to cover the walls and cieling and put a carpet down. I doubt they would hear you if you sang with a megaphone then!

But, just in case you are still looking for an answer to your original question about small digital recorders... here are 2 very good ones, and rather pricey.
Fostex FR2
and Sound Devices 722

These both have XLR jacks for microphones I do believe, and very quiet preamps.

For a cheaper route, the Edirol R-01 or R-09 is probably your best bet. Although these don't have XLR jacks, but rather 8th inch mini jacks, and their preamps are a bit noisier. However, they both have line in jacks so you could hook up an external quieter preamp if you need to.