Thinking of selling my MBR

[jjl5590]

Hi guys,

So i've only had my MBR for a couple of weeks and i'm kinda dissapointed. I mainly bought it to record myself playing bass, and band rehersals, so everything else was kind of an extra.
When I was buying it, it was between the MBR or the Zoom H4. The guy in the shop said the MBR was better because it had much more functions, which it does, but I just dont really use the functions. Its too complicated for me. I just wanted something that I could use to make good quality recordings. The guy in the shop said the MBR's built-in mic was very good, but I find the songs that are recorded using it to be very quiet (even on the highest sensitivity setting) and very bassy, and generally not that great quality. If I use the line-in to record my bass, the quality is actually pretty impressive, but this isn't much use when trying to record the band.
The MBR also eats up batteries like nothing i've ever seen! It will run a couple of AA's down in about 1 or 2 hours of use. The headphone-out is also pretty quiet when listening to songs.
So yeah, I'm thinking I should have spend a bit extra on the Zoom H4, sacrificing the extra features on the MBR for the quality mic that is on the Zoom.

Anyway I'd love to hear your insight.
Cheers!

[Ferryman_1957]

Haven't done any live recording, but listen to these guys:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=930416&content=songinfo&songID=7396610

This was recorded straight into the MBR. Whewhoiscalledj gave some info about it here:

http://microrecorders.org/community/getting-started/t1676/0/

I don't know the Zoom but a buddy bought one and immediately regretted it when he heard what I was doing with the MBR.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Blooby]

I believe most (if not all) of the issues you mention would be resolved with some extra tinkering.  I have recorded live rehearsals with the built-in mic with excellent results.  You may have to play with the position of the BR as well as the band mix, but it can be done and done well.

I never have my headphones turned up the entire way because it's plenty loud.  Not sure what to say to that.

And while you may say that it's complicated, the extra bells and whistles would probably serve you well down the road.  If I'm not mistaken, the Zoom doesn't have drum patterns, an invaluable practice tool. You can slow down MP3s and play over those as well (even looping spots).

I suggest you stick with it.  There is a great community here to help you over the non-intuitive glitches.

Peace.

Blooby

[jjl5590]

cool thanks for the quick replies. I may just keep the MBR after all.
Tell me this though, if i purchase this: http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/40064-boss-ba-cs10-stereo-microphone-for-micro-br.html/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=base
will the recording quality then be as good as the Zoom H4?


Many thanks

[hewhoiscalledj]

Quiet? There's got to be something wrong here because the built in condenser mic is very sensitive and quite loud. The problem I ran into was that it couldn't handle the loudness of my own 4 piece band playing in the garage; although I've figured out how to remedy that (more on that later...)

From my own experience (1.5 yrs with the MBR) I can sympathize with the fact that it took me a very long time to wrap my head around the features and techniques of using this wonderful little machine. Did I say a very long time? It wasn't until I started researching and learning about digital multi-track recording that it all started making sense. Its funny, but the biggest advantage of the MicroBR is also it's biggest dis-advantage... it's tiny which means it's portable but it's also got very few buttons which leads to some seemingly endless menu scrolling. This gets easier with time as it was actually designed quite well; so before too long, and with some practice, using the MBR starts to feel very natural.

With that said, try these tips to improve the sound from the built-in mic (keep in mind, the quality is very similar to any other recorder in it's class, including the Zoom H4.)

1.   Set the sensitivity level properly so you are getting the hottest signal possible (based on the track level meter) without getting the OVER indicator. In a live band setting with a psychotic drummer, I tend to have my sensitivity set around -3 or -4.
2.   Try recording without any added effects, with the exception of possibly the Limiter (this cuts off all signals exceeding a set level; usually set at -1 or 0) The use of compression and EQ is valuable, but initially very confusing. Recording without effects allows you to add them in later and experiment with different settings.
3.   Experiment as much as possible with the placement of the recorder; contrary to what your instincts may say, it will not necessarily be in the middle of the room and quite possibly in one of the corners.
4.   If it's still too quiet, then I'll be a monkey's uncle, but in the Effects menu you can add INPUT gain and OUTPUT gain to your recording to taste. Shouldn't be necessary though.

I hope you aren't judging the loudness of the recording based entirely off of listening from the MBR. It can play much much louder from a true stereo system, or even from your computer. The MBR wasn't designed as a typical music player so the playback level isn't quite as amped up as it would be from a stereo system. Anyway, I hope that helps...


In response to your question about the Boss mic, I would think that it does improve the sound somewhat because it's a stereo mic... That means recording to a stereo or 2 tracks. I've heard recordings on the H2, and pound for pound, it's not any different sonically from the MBR. What matters more is the technique used on tracking, mixing and mastering...

check out this website: http://www.tweakheadz.com  there are some very good comparissons in THE GUIDE between many of the small digital recorders. Good Luck!

[dragonshade]

I went shopping for the Zoom H4 because a friend had one. Before I bought though I did a lot of research. In review after review people beat up on the zoom for it's loss of high frequency signal. Do yourself a favor and check into this. Yes, the mics look nice, and are "patterned" better than the MBR, but what does it matter if the machine does not reproduce/record as fully as it should. Aside from that it sounds like you want a digital tape recorder in essence which both will do, but the MBR is a true portable recording studio. Of course you will have to grow into this, but it is better to have option of doing it. Recording practice is great, but man you can do a CD quality recording in the MBR with your band members provided you teach yourself how to use this little wonder. I cannot even tell you how glad I am that I was turned away from the zoom, and sold on this instead.

[Wiley]

I also was considering the Zoom and I found this site and listened to what everyone was doing.  Therefore I bought the mbr.  I have no regrets yet.  There is a ton of help at this site.  I am still relatively new but am finding my way around through the controls.  It takes a few weeks. I have only done one live recording.  And no it wasn't the best.  But I didn't have time to mess with where to situate the br either.  I am looking forward to summer and campground sing alongs to see how it does.  Really think hard before you buy.

[Flash Harry]

I bought mine on a whim, it's been the best thing I have bought.

Persevere with it. It will yield great rewards. have a look at Pedro's (the admin's) videos as tutorials and there is a stack of stuff on 64Guitars posts, he is the fount of all MBR knowledge.

So far, I have found only two real limitations, the lack of a drum editor which makes the drum patterns normally quite predictable, although there are some drum sequencing stars on Microrecorders, and a track mute function, you have to turn the track down to zero to mute it, which is a bit clunky.
It would be nice to have a punch in/punch out footswitch too, but that's not essential.

Everything else becomes second nature quite quickly and recording is simple and effective. Quality far exceeds anything else I have used that has this flexibility and you can plug the output of your mixer desk, if you have one, straight into it.

Keep it. Get used to it. That's my two pen'orth

[hewhoiscalledj]

I'd also like to suggest the Audio Technica Pro24 x/y stereo mic as a better substitute for those funky little boss or sony stereo mics. I've posted about it in the recording forum. It vastly improved my sound without really having to tweak anything else. Goes for around $65 or so online and Guitar Center will match prices so...

[Greeny]

I feel your pain - I had it for the first week of ownership. I really regretted not spending the extra to buy a BR-600. But the tutorials on here put me straight. Now the BR is my little box of joy. You have to work at it, but it's worth it. Before you do anything, listen to the stuff on the 'post your work' thread. You'll see just what it's capable of...