Device to record audio / video of my ideas while playing?

[voyage]

Hi, messing around on guitar I sometimes discover a good idea for a melody, and I would like to record it before it dissolves, both the audio and a video so I can remember the idea later. Does one have to use a computer with a camera and microphone? Or is there some handy device that could do it?
Thank you very much.

[Hep To The Jive]

Hi, messing around on guitar I sometimes discover a good idea for a melody, and I would like to record it before it dissolves, both the audio and a video so I can remember the idea later. Does one have to use a computer with a camera and microphone? Or is there some handy device that could do it?
Thank you very much.

Your phone?

[voyage]

Well, that's an idea. I was thinking of something dedicated that could remain in place where I play so it's always there and at the touch of a button I could record. With a phone I'd have to figure some way to mount or position it in place. Not really what I'm envisioning but I guess a good fall back just in case. Thank you for the suggestion.

[AllanAllen]

I lean my phone on a coffee mug. It doesn’t have to be elegant.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

There are some excellent, small, self-contained digital recorders that do exactly that. Look at the $100 Minolta MN4KP1 -

[voyage]

That looks interesting. I'll go find a YouTube video about it, and see what format it records in. Thank you much.

[Bobby Timmons]

I have a dedicated laptop rig that I always leave in place for Open Studio Pro zoom classes with my audio interface for audio and an overhead cam for my keyboard that records in high quality. I also use it to record my audio only soundcloud clips. I'm not a big video guy but if I needed a quick n dirty video recording method I would just set up an existing other device like phone or laptop. The laptop holds the camera in place easily simply by being in the folding face of the screen. I don't know why you'd spend money for another quick n dirty device. Either use a quick n dirty device that you already have for free or go high quality. But you can do what you want.

Just joined Open Studio pro

[voyage]

Well I do have a spare Mac. But I need to buy some kind of camera since it's not a laptop and doesn't include a camera, as well as some kind of microphone. I thought there might be a device that could do it all. I'm still Researching the Minolta from the previous post.

[enalnitram]

I use voice memo on my iphone, and I usually sing them. It happens when I'm driving, when I wake up in the middle the night, iow, all the time. I always do it that way, because it's easy and I want to get it down as close to the moment that the ideas arrive, as possible. I can't always count on having a guitar or a pc present.

[Christian Miller]

Voice memo on a modern iPhone is pretty good


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jim Soloway]

Zoom has made bunches of them over the years or you can buy a cheap used phone and mount it permanently on a cheap tripod.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Zoom has made bunches of them over the years or you can buy a cheap used phone and mount it permanently on a cheap tripod.

True enough, and they're very good. But the cheapest Zoom video cam currently available is twice the price of the Minolta and a lot more complicated. The OP says he wants a "handy device" for informal capture of ideas, and this $100 little box is certainly that. I think I'd probably go with the Zoom because I'd use it at gigs as well as at home. But as a handy quick video recording device at home, the Minolta is a great buy.

The Zoom is a much nicer device and the extra $100 is well worth it if you need the advantages it offers. It has decent stereo mic capsules on it plus HDMI out. It records audio as WAVs, but I don't know the audio format for the Minolta because their literature doesn't include this spec. Both do 4k video, and I suspect that any difference in video quality will probably not be important to the OP based on the original question.

[voyage]

You're right, I don't need super high quality just to store my ideas. Do you know if the zoom can record directly into the computer? Thank you

[AllanAllen]

If you're going to pair it with a computer, I would just get a $20 webcam. The zoom is expensive because of the portability.

Amazon.com

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

You're right, I don't need super high quality just to store my ideas. Do you know if the zoom can record directly into the computer? Thank you

Yes it can. You can use either of them as a webcam. Of course if you’re going to do that, a simple webcam is a whole lot cheaper, and pretty much all of them have mics now. The advantage of a portable recorder with built in mics is that it’s self contained, so you don’t need a computer to record your playing - and you can use it anywhere. A camera connected to your computer limits how far from it you can be.

[sgosnell]

I would use one of my old phones. I have some that work, but just collect dust. Not the latest and greatest by any means, but they do record video/audio. Not pro quality, but good enough for what you want. I would mount one of those using a cheap mount from eBay or wherever, and just leave it on, connected to USB power, recording app open, and be done with it cheaply. But I suppose not everyone still has an old phone on hand. Maybe they get tossed, dunno. But I like to keep a working spare on hand, just in case. Fortune favors the prepared.

[Jimmy blue note]

I had one of those things called a Flip. For the reason you cite. Over the years, cameras got smaller, handier and more expensive. Meanwhile phone cameras got even better, did more and essentially put mini cameras out of the picture.
Have you seen how many really good demos have been done on smart phones? And it's right there in your hands and will be wherever you go.

You can get a little stand if you want to buy something. I've got a lot of gear. I use the phone cuz it's there when the inspiration comes.

[Jim Soloway]

True enough, and they're very good. But the cheapest Zoom video cam currently available is twice the price of the Minolta and a lot more complicated. The OP says he wants a "handy device" for informal capture of ideas, and this $100 little box is certainly that. I think I'd probably go with the Zoom because I'd use it at gigs as well as at home. But as a handy quick video recording device at home, the Minolta is a great buy.

The Zoom is a much nicer device and the extra $100 is well worth it if you need the advantages it offers. It has decent stereo mic capsules on it plus HDMI out. It records audio as WAVs, but I don't know the audio format for the Minolta because their literature doesn't include this spec. Both do 4k video, and I suspect that any difference in video quality will probably not be important to the OP based on the original question.

They've been around so long I just assumed they would be much less on the used market. I was definitely wrong.

[fep]

Imo, it's pretty hard to beat a computer for audio recording, user interface, and file organization.

I have a practice template in my DAW (Reaper). I pretty much always play thru my PC using amp sims and monitoring with headphones so as not to disturb the household/neighborhood. I'm always just one mouse click away from recording something. I can't imagine anything more convenient than that. Bits that I want to keep I just save with a new name and file it away in a folder called "songwriting ideas to work on".

I have a better than average webcam for video recording. That's a couple of extra mouse clicks to open and press record using OBS which I have already formatted to link to Reaper using ReaStream. I don't video record my music ideas though, but I could. I video record when I want to post something on YouTube.

My better than average webcam: Amazon.com

Here's a video with my setup (Reaper, amp sim, OBS, Razer Kiyo Pro Webcam). Select 1080p as that is how I recorded it.

[Jim Soloway]

Imo, it's pretty hard to beat a computer for audio recording, user interface, and file organization.

I have a practice template in my DAW (Reaper). I pretty much always play thru my PC using amp sims and monitoring with headphones so as not to disturb the household/neighborhood. I'm always just one mouse click away from recording something. I can't imagine anything more convenient than that. Bits that I want to keep I just save with a new name and file it away in a folder called "songwriting ideas to work on".

I have a better than average webcam for video recording. That's a couple of extra mouse clicks to open and press record using OBS which I have already formatted to link to Reaper using ReaStream. I don't video record my music ideas though, but I could. I video record when I want to post something on YouTube.

My better than average webcam: Amazon.com

Here's a video with my setup (Reaper, amp sim, OBS, Razer Kiyo Pro Webcam). Select 1080p as that is how I recorded it.

The Yamaha sounds great. What are you using for your amp sims?

[fep]

Hi Jim,

The amp sim is one of Amplitube's amp sims. I'm not positive which one but probably my go to which is "American Vintage B". I believe that's based on a Fender Bassman.

[Navdeep_Singh]

iPhone + AudiGo mics (no latency, pretty good sound, no need to physically connect to the phone, audio is captured on the mic and automatically synchs to video, can then easily overdub and add both post audio processing (reverb, etc) and also added images and videos.)

Can record anywhere, no added power supply, interfaces, connectors needed. Here I am at the UC Davis arboretum.

Navdeep Singh | #Testing #audigolabs #imrprovisacao #ucdavisarboretum | Instagram

[voyage]

Now that looks very interesting. I do have an iPad and I think they can record video and then it would sync with the audio coming from this device. The sound quality is really nice in your video, certainly good enough for my needs. I'm going to look into this some more. Very nice playing by the way.

[stevo58]

An advantage to the Zooms (and probably the Minolta, I don’t know) - you can use them as an audio interface. So you could use it with Reaper for multitracking.

I have an H2N and the mics are surprisingly good. Not as good as my AKGs and Beyers, but pretty good. It’s also easy to do stereo and x/y recording, if that’s interesting.

[Mark M.]

I’m very happy with the Audigo mic that interfaces with my iPhone. The sound is very good:

Audigo

Here’s a sample of the Audigo mic placed in front of my Henriksen Blu 10. The backing track is also blutoothed trough the amp. Please excuse the playing.