<p>My ds16 (cello) did a practice recording last nite. He sounded pretty good to me live with a few out of tune notes. I recorded with my Samsung fone. We both listened to it and it was awful.lol. My son is understandably upset. Is it possible for the recording to play back out of tune but sound fine live? I didn't think I had this bad of an ear. The positive side are his fast sections are sounding great. Even his Bach which sounded beautiful live sounded terrible on his double stops.</p>
<p>Also. We are recording at the church. Should he try to practice a few times before we record? He mostly plays in our basement and I’m sure it will sound much different there.</p>
<p>Definitely practice in the church. It will sound different - probably better! Are you going to record it with your phone? and did you play it back on the phone speaker? The speaker is probably not that good.</p>
<p>I would definitely suggest purchasing some kind of a better recorder, such as a Zoom. What is this recording for? A phone is never going to give you the kind of quality you need for pre-screenings or audio recordings for summer programs.</p>
<p>Definitely not using my phone. It was used for convenience and to hear my son’s progress and to get him used to playing the concerto straight through versus problem areas. It is for summer camp auditions. It did sound better on my van’s stereo when hooked through blue tooth.</p>
<p>Clarimom what is a zoom? We need to video it for scholarship consideration at Interlochen. The next ones do not require it. Would our Sony video camera be sufficient? We are not using a piano. I have time to purchase different equipment so any advice is appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>My daughter has a Zoom Q2 or Q3 (I forget which ) and it’s served her well for summer program auditions. I see there is now a Q4 out. Google them and you’ll see–they have much finer sound quality than regular video cameras.</p>
<p>(Although all her college prescreens were made with our home-quality video cam and they were fine.) But the Zoom, which she purchased later, is very small and compact and easily interfaces with the computer.</p>
<p>S used the Zoom Q3HD for all video recordings (pre-screening and summer). It has very nice sound. There is also an audio only recorder which I believe is the H2. I believe there are newer versions out of each now, but both of these have served him well for the last 3 years.</p>
<p>Yes, I think that’s the same one my daughter has. The video quality isn’t fabulous, but it’s fine. The sound is excellent.</p>
<p>DS received a zoom Q2 HD for Christmas and loves it so far. The sound is excellent and he, as a non tech person, finds it easy to use, load video, clip a long video into segments etc. Be sure to plug it in for power, though. It is a kind of a battery hog and we learned the hard way but fortunately in a non critical moment that if the battery dies then you plug it in for power it can mess with the capture/recall of whatever you recorded during that session.</p>
<p>He is still experimenting with the best placement and settings to capture what he wants which is a great reason to get one early for recording next year. I read enough last minute recording horror stories on these threads to have learned that.</p>
<p>He really likes it for recording practice sessions and gigs to listen back to how things went.</p>
<p>the zoom recorders are great, sound great and are portable. We also did the prescreen for my son on one. His entire studio is required to have them. They must record every lesson they take and watch it.</p>
<p>My daughter (maybe this is a little ocd!) records all her lessons on the zoom, too, and boy do they eat up her hard drive. :)</p>
<p>Another option?</p>
<p>We have an older Zoom (no video) and it works great for audio. We haven’t used the new Zoom Q4 so that might be the best option for video&audio recordings.</p>
<p>For our son’s recent prescreens we hired a professional to do the audio recordings. Unfortunately, the professional we used was not set up to do any video but several of the schools required video. So we used this Apogee mic that works with iPads or iPhones and recorded video/audio at the exact same time side-by-side with the professional. I think the cost is under $200.</p>
<p>[MiC</a> by Apogee - The first studio-quality microphone for GarageBand on iPad, iPhone and Mac](<a href=“http://apogeedigital.com/products/mic.php]MiC”>http://apogeedigital.com/products/mic.php)</p>
<p>We assumed that the audio recordings done with the professional equipment/setup would sound much better. We were pleasantly surprised when we listened to the video recordings done with our iPad and this mic. They sounded very comparable to the professional audio recordings. </p>
<p>Maybe an option for you if you are an apple user:)</p>
<p>Another vote here for the Zoom. We have the Q3HD and it is wonderful for audio and does the job for video. Just remember to put new batteries in before recording and have some spares around.</p>
<p>My daughter uses Zoom H-2 audio and it has worked wonderfully. I know you want a video version but just to vouch for the brand…</p>
<p>Ok. Do I have to order the zoom online? Or where else can I buy it?</p>
<p>Another vote for the Zoom. We have a Zoom Q3 (not HD). The sound quality is great. The video quality - not so much, especially in low light like in a performance hall. So, we don’t use it to record performances (phone actually works better). But it is great for recording auditions.</p>