Acoustic Guitar: Multitrack Minds

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Multitrack Minds
Musicians who want to record at home have more options than ever before. If setting up a complicated computer-based studio doesn't sound like your idea of fun, check out a self-contained digital multi track. Today's units are more capable than ever; here we help you identify the features most important for capturing acoustic guitar.

By Rik Elswit

When I began recording, in the 1970s, it was still done pretty much the way Robert Johnson did it: First you sold your soul to a record company; then you’d go into a room (where strangers would peer at you from behind a glass wall) and attempt to play your best, never forgetting that you were going deeper in debt to the record company with each passing minute.

The desktop recording revolution of the 1990s brought high-quality music production into the home, and it’s now possible to make quality recordings without the pressure and expense of studios. The glass wall and strangers are gone, too. You can work alone, at your own pace. The only big question is whether to use a home computer or a stand-alone digital recorder—which is also a computer, but one dedicated to a single purpose. There were more of these devices available a few years ago, but the competition and the ubiquity of the home computer have thinned the market. What’s left are a few companies making solid, mature products that have been shaped by years of user feedback, and that have all the features of the personal computer-based systems.

WHY STAND-ALONE?
A stand-alone recorder offers much to the acoustic guitarist. You don’t have to modify it or navigate the maze of peripherals, software, and compatibility issues. It provides a one-stop solution, and, since it’s portable, you can record wherever you feel most comfortable playing, which may not be the same place where you do your taxes or surf the Web. And rather than dealing with a number of boxes connected by a rat’s nest of cabling, you get a clean setup with less distraction.

Stand-alone recorders are designed to look and operate like tape recorders, so anybody who’s had some experience with a cassette four-track (or even a home stereo’s cassette deck) already knows the basics: Plug in a mic, arm a track, hit Record, and play. But instead of recording onto audiotape, your music is stored on a hard disk or a removable media card like the ones used by digital cameras. And, as with any digital recording system, you get cut-and-paste editing and digital effects. But, unlike a tape machine, you don’t have to wait for it to rewind.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Acoustic musicians have specific needs that may lead them to choose a recording setup different from the kind someone who is producing a rock or hip-hop project might select. Many of these recorders will include the ability to provide the sounds of classic amplifier/speaker/mic combinations and effects that are used primarily for electric guitars, and most even include the ability to generate backing tracks, from simple drum loops to complete band arrangements. This is the kind of thing that an acoustic rock guitarist will love, but that may make the solo fingerstylist or bluegrass purist run screaming. Your primary concern will most likely be to get the most pleasing representation of your guitar sound. The following discussion, therefore, focuses on audio quality and the power to shape sound through EQ.

AUDIO SPECS What most acoustic guitarists will want to do is record CDs, and the CD quality standard is 16 bits, with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. The greater the bit rate, the wider the dynamic range; the higher the sampling rate, the better the overall sonic accuracy, especially in the high frequencies.

Even the entry-level recorders, like the palm-sized Zoom PS04 or the Korg PXR4, outperform the old cassette multitracks, recording at 16 bits and sampling at a little over 30 kHz. Many of the more advanced units record at 24 bits/96 kHz, which is quickly becoming the new standard, and which is better than CD quality. You might wonder why you should bother, since you’ll be mastering to 16 bits anyway, but the higher specs are a nod to the future (when media like SACD, DVD audio, and who-knows-what other high-end formats come into popular use), and many engineers feel that keeping the higher resolution during processing and mixing affects the outcome positively even after the audio is converted to CD.

NUMBER OF INPUTS & TRACKS
In choosing a stand-alone recorder, you’ll want to think about how many tracks you’ll be recording at once. A guitarist working alone will need fewer inputs than someone recording a whole band. If you plan to record your guitar using a pickup, then one input is really all you need, but in many cases, you’ll want to record using a stereo pair of microphones. Any recorder currently made will handle this, but if you plan to record your guitar in stereo plus add a vocal mic, you’ll need not only three inputs but also the ability to record on three tracks at once, routing each input to a separate track. Smaller, less expensive units, such as the Korg D4 ($399 list/$350 street) or the Boss BR-600 ($499 list/$400 street), may have four or eight faders (and total recording tracks) but only one or two microphone inputs, which are reassigned to the various tracks as needed.

If you’re recording a group, you’ll need to consider a unit with more inputs and the ability to record on four or even eight tracks simultaneously. But adding inputs also means adding preamps to the unit’s mixer section, which raises the price considerably, and you should look hard at whether this is where you want to spend your money.

Korg, for example, has two units geared toward those two different approaches. The D888 ($800 list/$699 street) has eight mic preamps, will record eight tracks at once, and can be used as a stand-alone mixer. Clearly, this machine was designed with the live recording of a small group in mind. Their more expensive D1200mkII ($1,250 list/$849 street), however, was designed for the solo songwriter, and while having 12 tracks, has only two mic inputs—perfect for one person working alone, adding one track at a time. It features an easy setup mode (including prebuilt setups for guitar, bass, and microphone) that automatically routes the signal path through the appropriate effects, and it will record at either 16 bits or the much higher 24 bits.

PHANTOM POWER
Any time you record acoustic music, the quality of your microphones is critical, with condenser mics being the first choice in most situations (due to their accuracy). Although some condenser mics can run off a battery, most require phantom power to operate, making this an important feature for your recorder. All of the higher-end units include this; many low-end units don’t, but the Fostex MR-8HD ($599 list/$400 street) is a welcome surprise in this regard.

EQ
Because an acoustic instrument doesn’t have the built-in tone controls often found on electronic instruments, having good EQ built into your recorder can be important, especially if you plan to take your project all the way to the mastering stage. All digital recorders have some type of EQ, but some go beyond the basics with sweepable-midrange controls or parametric EQ, which lets you select a specific frequency to cut or boost in an effort to optimize the sound. This is where the higher-end units really shine, and recorders such as Yamaha AW1600 ($800 list/$699 street) and the KORG D1200mkII offer the kind of EQ that, just a few years ago, would have been available only on digital mixing consoles costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

MAKING CONNECTIONS
One of the greatest improvements that all-in-one recorders have seen in recent years has come in their ability to connect with other digital equipment. At the simplest level, this may be an S/PDIF port, which moves audio (in digital form) in and out of the recorder. You’ll find this kind of connector on many DAT machines, CD players and recorders, and computer sound cards. But the best computer hookups are USB or USB 2.0, which allow you to connect the unit to your PC or Mac in order to back up your songs or load them into any audio software for further tweaking. These features also make it easy to share your songs with other members of your band or send them to that hot session player in Nashville you’ve hired to add a smokin’ guitar solo to your track. Some of the high-end Roland VS-series units even allow you to plug in a computer monitor, allowing you a much better visual representation of your tracks for editing than what the typically small built-in display can do.

EDITING CAPABILITIES
Even the smallest and least expensive digital recorders have editing capabilities that we would have killed for back in the analog days, where you had to cut actual tape with a razor blade and splice it back together. With digital editing, you can locate an edit with microscopic precision and cut it out with ease. Or you can copy a piece of music and repeat it in different places in the song. It’s like having an audio word processor. You only have to get the groove to a chorus right once, and then you can copy it to all the relevant locations. And punching in a correction is much easier than in analog recording. You can find the location of the punch, set the locators, and have the machine automatically go in and out of Record at exactly the right places.

VIRTUAL TRACKS
With most digital recorders, the number of faders you see doesn’t actually correspond to the number of tracks they can play back, so don’t make any assumptions based on looks alone. As a matter of fact, many units can record more tracks than they play back at the same time—a feature called virtual tracks. Each fader can have from four to 16 takes “under” it, and you can choose which take to use. Even if all you do is record solo guitar, having lots of available tracks can be a great feature. For example, you may want to record many takes of the same tune and edit them together later for a “perfect” take, in which case you might end up using 20 or more tracks (which, if you’re recording in stereo, would only be ten takes)—and that’s without overdubbing lots of other instruments.

EFFECTS
Almost all digital recorders include built-in effects. However, if you’re recording acoustic music, your idea of what’s important is probably different from that of someone who wants to record a Metallica tribute. Reverb is perhaps the most important effect for most acoustic productions, so make sure that the unit you’re considering doesn’t downplay this feature. (And this is where you really get what you pay for. A good stand-alone reverb or high-end computer plug-in can cost $1,000 or more, so you can’t expect a $500 recorder to give you a cathedral in a box. However, the reverbs on the higher-end recorders can be quite lush and spacious.) Most processors also include effects such as delay and chorus, which can be nice for “sweetening” certain tracks. And if you also dabble in electric guitar, features such as amp modeling could come in handy.

If you’re a vocalist, the harmonizer and pitch-correction patches found in all the Boss recorders can clean up and sweeten weak parts in your vocal tracks. Some of us have spent a lot more time working on our guitar chops, leaving vocals as kind of an afterthought until we hear them back. Pitch correction has saved recordings by more multiplatinum singers than the industry would like you to know about—and it could save yours, too.

MASTERING
If all you’re looking to do is make some casual recordings for yourself and your friends, your mastering needs are probably fairly basic. Still, it’s a good idea to consider how you’re going to listen to your finished masterpiece, as you’ll have to somehow get the music out of the recorder and into a format that you can listen to—on your home stereo or in your car—or upload to your website. There is often a different polish required for each format. Many of the recorders have mastering modes—such as the Mastering Toolkit in all of the Boss units—with preset templates for different kinds of music. If you’re not sure how to use a multiband compressor or what the proper EQ would be for a given situation, you can dial up a preset and tweak it from there.

Having a built-in CD burner is by far the most convenient way to create a final master, and most midlevel to high-end recorders now offer this feature. However, some units, like the Fostex HR8-HD, can use an external CD burner, and another option is to copy your songs to a computer by way of a USB or FireWire port, then burn a CD on the computer. With recorders that use removable media such as Compact Flash cards, you can use a simple card reader that plugs into your computer to copy the data.

WHAT CAN I EXPECT?
You can make serious, fully professional recordings on these boxes; major-label releases have even been cut on them. One of the best examples is Yin Yang, a 1999 release (on Compass Records) by bassist Victor Wooten (of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones), which Wooten recorded on a Roland VS-series recorder while on tour. Similarly, fingerpickers Thom Bresh and Buster B. Jones cut their tour-de-force album, Guts and Steel (Solid Air Records) on a stand-alone recorder in Bresh’s living room. These units are capable of creating polished, professional products, but they really are instruments in their own right, and as with any instrument, time and practice will make the difference between mediocre and great. One of these recorders may be just what you need to get that CD out of your head and into the stereo.

WHAT’S AVAILABLE
A lot has happened since Roland’s 1997 introduction of its VS-880, which became a huge success, even though it had a street price of around $2,500, used a compressed-audio format, and didn’t have a built-in CD burner. A wide range of digital all-in-one multitracks are now available, from stunningly inexpensive units to high-end rigs with features that would have made major studio owners drool just a decade ago. Here are some highlights of the currently available crop:

1
ULTRA-COMPACT RECORDERS
With the proliferation of removable media such as Compact Flash, Smart Media, and SD cards in digital cameras, manufacturers have started using them for audio recorders as well. The results are some machines that are great for capturing ideas and recording basic demos. These units offer four or eight tracks and basic effects, and most have the ability to run on batteries, which can be great for remote operation.

FOUR-TRACKS
Korg PX4R ($500 list/$300 street)
Korg D4 ($399 list/$350 street)
Zoom PS-04 ($359.99 list/$200 street)

EIGHT-TRACKS
Boss BR600 ($449 list/$400 street)
Boss BR900 ($799 list/$700 street)
Zoom MRS-8 ($525 list/$300 street)

2
ENTRY-LEVEL HARD-DISK RECORDERS
If your aim is to use your recorder for more than a practice pad and to make basic demos, you’ll probably want to look at units with built-in hard disks. These units’ larger storage capacity allows you to keep more songs on the recorder before having to back up, and with an increase in price come better audio specs (most allow recording at 24 bits) and generally expanded features, such as included CD burners.

EIGHT-TRACKS
Fostex MR-8HD ($599 list/$400 street)
Tascam DP-01FX ($649 list/$450 street)
Korg D888 ($800 list/$699 street)
Zoom MRS-802BCD ($1,040.99 list/$600 street)

12-TRACKS
Boss BR-1200CD ($1,159 list/$1,000 street)
Korg D1200MkII ($1,250 list/$850 street)

3
HIGH-END HARD-DISK RECORDERS
All-in-one studios now top out with some incredibly capable machines, some of which cost $5,000 or more and are aimed primarily at pop music production, offering more features than a typical acoustic musician is going to require. However, several units go beyond what the entry-level recorders in the previous section have to offer, without costing
more than a vintage Martin. These rigs offer 16, 20, and 24 tracks, record at 24 bits, and many benefit from their manufacturers’ experience with high-end digital mixers, offering excellent EQ, effects, automation, etc.

16-TRACKS
Boss BR-1600CD ($1,595 list/$1,395 street)
Fostex VF160EX ($1,799 list/$800 street)
Korg D16XD ($2,600 list/$2,000 street)
Yamaha AW1600 ($1,499 list/$1,100 street)
Zoom MRS-1608CD ($1,399.99 list/$1,000 street)

20-TRACKS
Roland VS-2000CD ($1,999 list/$1,500 street)

24-TRACKS
Tascam 2488 ($1,249 list/$1,000 street)
Yamaha AW2400 ($2,699 list/$2,000 street)

MANUFACTURER CONTACTS

Fostex America, (310) 329-2960, www.fostex.com.

Korg USA, Inc., (631) 390-6500, www.korg.com.

Tascam, (323) 726-0303, www.tascam.com.

Roland Corporation US (Roland and Boss), (323) 890-3700, www.rolandus.com.

Yamaha Corporation of America, (714) 522-9011, www.yamaha.com.

Zoom (distributed by Samson Technologies Corp.), (631) 784-2200, www.samsontech.com.

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This article also appears in Acoustic Guitar, October 2006

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