<p>Hello, I'm a junior in high school and I play the flute. I was thinking about buying a webcam or a microphone to record myself playing, but I want to make sure that the audio isn't terrible as it sometimes is with higher pitches. Do you have any suggestions?</p>
<p>Ideally I would be able to connect it to my computer, my budget is under $100. Thanks!</p>
<p>Do you have any relatives that might help you out with this a bit? The H2 & H4 zoom recorders (the more expensive has video) are super awesome in terms of recording quality and you’d get good use out of it for several years, I suspect, including once you’re at college. Unfortunately, they’re not super inexpensive, but it would be worth having everyone who buys you a birthday gift go in on, etc. I often find that spending a little more on the front end helps avoid a redundant purchase (which in the end, costs more…)</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for the speedy reply! Are there any other brands perhaps aren’t as well known that perform just as well for a lower price? I’m still not sure whether I want to go into music, and spending at least $150 (the price of the H2) for a dedicated microphone is hard for me to justify. I’m thinking of maybe getting an H1 and attaching it to use as a mic onto my current camcorder, since it’s around $80. What are your opinions on the tascam dr07?</p>
<p>In the ~$100 price range, the Blue Microphones Snowball may be of interest. I would be hesitant about using a webcam to make an audition video, but one may be OK if you just want to record yourself for your own or your teacher’s observation of your technique.</p>
<p>I think you might find that the noise level on the built-in mic on the Tascam could be problematic for a wind instrument, but I’m half deaf, so who knows 
I do know my son looked at it and personally preferred the H2, but he likely uses it in different ways than you would (eg as four channel, jacked into a lot of gear, with external mics etc.) Also, that doesn’t solve the video issue.
If you are looking to make pre-screening recordings, you may wish to talk to your audio tech folks (if you have any) at your HS or ask your band leader for recommendations. You do want to ensure the effort reflects your talent, so maybe the money spent BUYING something would be better spent hiring a local tech geek for same.</p>
<p>We have a blue snowball (bought originally for podcasts) and an H2. Both work as USB mics for the computer (which has built in iSight.) The H2 has a much better sound recording music.</p>
<p>OriginalPoster - what is your goal for the recordings?</p>
<p>Are you trying to record yourself so that you can play back and hear yourself? </p>
<p>Or are you trying to record yourself to send recordings to prospective teachers, colleges, or summer opportunities?</p>
<p>I agree, it depends on what you want to use it for, if it is for your own use, a decent microphone plugged into the PC would work. If you are thinking of recording stuff to submit, for example, to music festivals or for screening, I would recommend going with a recorder like the H2 or equivalent, they are really strong recording. Last I checked, the Zoom H2 had come way down in price and wasn’t much more then your 100 buck limit, at one point I saw it on sale for 125…might be worth looking into. </p>
<p>I am not familiar directly with the H1 (which is 100 bucks), but the mic configuration looks like it is the same as on the Zoom Q3HD, which I recently bought, and the sound quality is really, really good. If the H1 uses the same configuration as the Q3 I have, it isn’t as configurable as the H2, but it does have decent sound. </p>
<p>Nice part is the H1 and the H2 can be used as a microphone, if you wish to use that with a webcam to video chat with someone. </p>
<p>One note to anyone recording, if you go with a straight mic, get a USB one, don’t get a mic that plugs into the audio in on the pc, especially on the front panel. There are wires that connect from the port on the box to the motherboard (most people seem to use the built in sound on the MB, it is a bit different with a soundcard) and it generates noise, internally the USB is shielded. </p>
<p>My recommendation would be if you can swing the extra 40 bucks or so, go with the H2, but if what I suspect is correct, that the H1 uses the same audio/mic as the Q3HD I have, then it can do a decent job.</p>
<p>We added a relatively nice microphone (<$75) to our camcorder and that worked well. We now have a Zoom Q3HD that is simple to use and the audio and video are great. However, in any of these cases, you have to spend some time getting the best sound and proper format. If you need to submit the recordings, don’t wait until the last minute to figure it out.</p>
<p>Someone wanted my son to accompany him on the piano for a vocal audition CD. It was last minute and required a marathon session just to get the right format on a CD that would work on any computer. Many places warn you to check the CD on another computer before sending it out.</p>
<p>For the Q3HD, there is also the problem that the files are huge. We were preparing some videos for his Interlochen audition, but they now want the files to be uploaded. That was fine until we found out that the limit was 60MB. Just one of our files was 160MB. It took quite a while finding a utility that would allow us to lower the size without killing the audio. In the end, the video was reduced beyond what we wanted just to save the audio. It might have worked better to make the recording at a lower resolution, but I’m not sure that would have gotten them below the cutoff. I had this image of so many families desperately searching the web for audio and video format converters on Jan 31st.</p>