Recording Studio Equipment

Tunestudio works great, but realize it’s limitations. The recordings are made with the voice note app in the ipod and are mixed down to stereo. Additionally the usb interface mixes all inputs to stereo. For recording jam sessions or live performance ( for very long periods ) it is terrific. It’s easy to use, simple to set up and the mixer provides the functions you would expect from a device in this price range. Good product.

I’ve been recording four-instrument live performances with my MacBook Pro and Logic Express for a couple of years, using an M-audio FastTrack Pro 4 and a Behringer 802 mixer. Great control, but it was a lot of stuff to set up and get cabled, and goofing with the trackpad and on-screen controls was always a little tedious. And then exporting tracks to get iPod or CD rips was an extra post-production task.

The Belkin TuneStudio changes all that. A single box I can take to the gig, patch into the house audio or our own mics, and record everything without messing with a Powerbook perched precariously on a music stand putting out a ton of ghostly screen backlight. The TuneStudio is way more convenient, and although the recording quality drops from 24-bit 96 KHz to 16-bit 48 KHz, that’s plenty good enough for cutting CDs or iPod listening. (In fact, I can’t tell the difference, which makes me wonder if the M-Audio was really giving me 24-bit).

The build-quality is pretty nice for a box this cheap — a step up from the fit and finish of the Behringer and way cleaner audio than I was getting from the Behringer/M-audio combo. Pots are smooth but with minor fuzzing during motion — common in low-end mixers. The compressor is just plain wonderful — it’s great at preventing distortion yet affects overall ambience very little. Separate headphone and monitor volumes are super convenient too for live work.

I haven’t tried this hooked to a Mac yet, but I don’t intend to use it that way normally. It’s just refreshing to pull this one box out of a gig bag, plug in the inputs, and hit Record at the start of each set. Capacity will never be an issue — the 30GB 5G iPod I’m using holds 400 hours. Post gig I sync the thing with my Mac and it slurps the tracks into iTunes, where I can easily slice, dice, and burn to disk — or push to a web site or whatever. Way more convenient than Logic.

A few minor glitches: the “standby/recording” lights are three glaring white LEDs that I had to cover with black electrical tape (through which they shine with no problem but at least they’re not so overpowering in subdued stage lighting). A couple of the knobs’ center detents are off a notch. And as others have reported, the TuneStudio records only two tracks, despite having four inputs — even when connecting to a Mac via USB.

For studio work I’ll still use Logic, but my Macbook and its cable snarling interface entourage stays home from now on!

Sorry Librado, I couldn’t wait for your follow-up…

I bought the ProTrack for use exclusively with my 3G iPhone, and it works like a charm! As the previous reviewer indicated, yes, you will need to buy a recorder app, since the iPod application that comes with iPhone OS does not have the automatic voice memo feature that previous click-wheel iPods do. I’m using AudioFile Engineering’s FiRe app (short for “Field Recorder”, I guess), and it works with none of the hassles that the previous reviewer identified in the BIAS app. In addition to two more graphical sound level meters (which are better than the LED’s on the actual unit, IMO), FiRe also gives you a real time waveform display, three sample rates, and the ability to reposition the playhead. In fact, I actually learned about the Alesis ProTrack from AudioFile Engineering’s recommendation.

***THERE IS A CATCH, HOWEVER*** if you’re going to use this device with an iPhone: Alesis did not include a cover that will fit the iPhone. Besides protecting it from scratches, the cover serves to secure the iPod in the sled, and locks in place. Without the cover, your iPhone is held in place only by the strength of the dock connector. It may not be everyone’s aesthetic cup of tea, but a rubber band wrapped around the top of the phone and the ProTrack solves this perfectly. Just be aware of that before you buy.

As for build quality, the chassis is all plastic, and mostly hollow, transmitting a fair amount of handling noise while recording at higher gain settings. Otherwise, I have no complaints about the placement of switches.

Next, I’m going to score some XLR shotgun mics and see how well it does with phantom power.

Alesis Pro Track has served me up well, and I’m very satisfied with it’s overall performance, but…
Try to avoid at all costs to use it with an ipod touch.
First, you need to buy an application, adding about 5dlls to the cost, wich is not much untli
you try to use it.
The interface is the worst thing ever made by the human race, it makes a simple
process a hundred times more complicated, and it really hurts your work and it will make you cry blood… serioulsy… I mean it.

I tried many times to contact BIAS the company that makes this awful software, and I haven’t had an answer yet… not even confirmation of received mail.
So… IPOD TOUCH + ALESIS PRO TRACK…. its a no go… don’t even think you will outsmart the system, or
that you have that “special” thing that makes you unique and smarter than the rest, that thing that will
make you “get it right”. NO, you won’t.
BIAS software is a stepback in human evolution.

Now… if you use it with an IPOD NANO or IPOD CLASSIC…
ALESIS PRO TRACK, is the best recorder ever, heaven in a stick, the single solution to most of your
audio needs. ALESIS is the exact oposite of BIAS. ALESIS do care about their costumers, and have
delivered a great piece of hardware that will complete your recording studio or video production equipment.

Go and buy it, it is great, and does all it claims and more.

Just, for the love of your own sanity, never ever ever use it with the IPOD TOUCH. Ever.

Shortly after we began using the GoStudio, we noticed that it really drains batteries fast. Too fast. The owners manual refers to an optional “AC Power Supply” (Part #F8Z295-PWR) so I tried to order one. No such item could be found on the Belkin website – or anywhere else that Google can search.

By phone, Belkin Technical Support told me the part doesn’t exist (even though I got the part number from the manual and there is a clearly labeled jack for it to connect to). He referred me to Belkin Customer Support who told me the item does exist, but Belkin is not selling it yet. He recommended I use the specs listed in the back of the book to go find one myself.

I found a source on ebay that sells power supplies and ordered one with the same specs (+5VDC, 1A, etc.) from Hong Kong. After 3 weeks it finally came – but the plug doesn’t fit! Belkin Customer No-Service tells me to take it to a Radio Shack and try to find one with the same specs that will fit. No such luck.

Now, I am stuck with a Belkin GoStudio that drains batteries like Dracula drains blood – and Belkin won’t sell a power supply for it. I consider this extremely poor product support and will certainly never buy anything made by Belkin again.

I’ve been in film and video production for . . . well, when I started out, we were still using 16 millimeter film and recording sound on a Nagra tape recorder. One trick I learned was to tape record my research interviews with the same Nagra and microphone we’d use for the on-camera interview. By doing so, I could use the research interview as voice-over material to add to the on-camera bits.

Then things went digital. It was great for the camera crew: quality went ‘way up while cost and size went ‘way down. The only problem was that I suddenly couldn’t record audio anymore. Digital audio recorders just cost too much, or the ones that didn’t lacked professional features like XLR connectors and plug-in power. Meanwhile, in my pocket was an Apple iPod that could store hours of CD-quality audio. What I wanted was a recording interface that would let me plug my pro and pro-sumer stuff into the iPod–and wouldn’t require me to mortgage my house (especially since I live in an apartment).

The Belkin GoStudio does the job for me. It has two good built-in mikes for stereo recording, two combo connectors (XLR and quarter-inch) for external mikes, a stereo mini mike jack with plug-in power, on-board playback, and a bunch of other features that make it useful. Best of all, it lists for about $150 (US), and I’ve seen it on Amazon for under $100 (also US, of course). I’ve only had it a few weeks and I’ve used it to get good recordings of interviews, sound effects, and my own incoherent rambling that I call “thinking out loud.” I use an 5th generation iPod with a 30-gig drive, but it’s compatible with a number of iPods and Nanos, but not the iPhone. I know ’cause I tried it.

The GoStudio is not perfect. The biggest problem is that the built-in mikes pick up handling noise and even the whine of the iPod as it writes to the hard drive every few minutes. Others have also said that the GoStudio burns through its two AAA batteries pretty quickly. I haven’t had this problem yet because most of my recording is a few minutes here and there. More annoying is the need to keep a supply of AAA batteries handy, when most of my other stuff (GPS, MagLite, etc.) uses AAs.

But these problems aren’t hard to work around. Handling and drive noise can be circumvented by using external microphones and the tripod socket on the bottom of the GoStudio. There are few occasions when I’d use the built-in microphones anyway. As for extra power, the GoStudio has an auxiliary power port, so just take it down to Radio Shack and get a generic wall wart AC adapter. For portable recordings, it shouldn’t be too difficult to hack an external power supply for the aux port, or just carry extra AAA batteries.

I’m using the GoStudio to record research interviews for documentaries, “found” sound effects, and my guitar playing (which I wouldn’t exactly call “music”). One of these days, good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise, I’ll get a proper digital field recorder, but in the mean time the Belkin GoStudio is good enough for boot-strapping.

Blue Microphones Mikey iPod Recording Microphone with Speaker
The Blue Mikey uses a speaker/mic set up, which means the mic is a speaker and the speaker is a mic, one in the same, I question the “ability of all in one” type setups. you can achieve the same meathoud using regular headphones hooked up to your laptop/computer mic input, you won’t be able to use both “sides” of the headphone for a “stereo” mic but it does work, just for fun of course…

The slender design of the iTouch 3g makes hook up of the Blue Mikey unreliable as the mic tends to loose connection with the iTouch. Additionally the iTouch 3g’s headphone out is located next to the docking port making it impossible to monitor with headphones what is being recorded. I did hook the Blue Mikey up to the iPod 5g and found a good connection but again the headphone jack on the iPod 5g is next to the docking. Performing actual test recordings baring the headphone monitoring, I found not that great of stereo separation with the mic, not bad but not great. The iTouch 3g and iPod 5g do not have very good audio amps in them so don’t expect great sound when playing back through the Blue Mikey speaker/mic.

It’s really not Blue’s fault, but Apple officially disabled the method that the Mikey used to interact with recording programs for the iPhone 4. Long story short, it doesn’t work on the new iPhone, with no workarounds.