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I have settled on purchasing an Iriver hard drive MP3 player, and I am planning on using it to record myself playing. It comes with an internal mic (which I assume will not be good enough), and also an external mic, but am not too confident of this mic either.

Can anyone recommend a good quality mic that will successfully pick up the tuba register?

I bought the iriver h120, and I am very happy with it. I was planning, like you, on buying a mic to use with it, but when I tried out the little condenser mic that it came with, I was very surprised to find that it wasn't bad. I ended up just using the mic that it came with. It is not great, but it's good enough for recording myself practicing and bootlegging concerts. That little thing actually picks up bass really well. The first thing I recorded with my new toy was an orchestra concert of A Children's Guide to the Orchestra, and both me and my teacher were impressed with the quality of sound from this setup.

So, if you want really good sound, you will probably still buy a better mic, but give the little one that comes with the iriver a try before you buy something else. I expected it to be crap, but it turned out to be decent.

Congratulations on buying the iriver. I think you will be very happy with it. If you have any questions about the iriver, feel free to send me an e-mail.

Thanks for the tip! I am actually looking into the Iriver H340. I am not sure if the recording is the same for both models or not. Additional advicewould be great!

Thanks,

Looking at the iriver website, it doesn't seem like the h340 comes with a mic, so that point is moot. Too bad!

Another thing- the speed of the USB 2.0 connection is AMAZING! No exaggeration: a whole CD of music goes from your computer to the iriver in about 5 seconds flat. I didn't believe it at first, so I tested it by yanking the cord out after a few seconds, and sure enough, the whole CD was there for listening. Just amazing. Wow.

I am not sure of your situation, but are you sure you want to spend an extra $100 to get the 40 gig instead of the 20 gig version? For a reference, my 20 gig player has my entire collection of somewhere around 110 CD's plus a few hours of recorded concerts, and is barely 3/4 full. That's plenty for me.

As I said before, I will be purchasing the H340 - which is the 40 gig player. Also, being in Japan, I will be purchaing the International version of the player, which DOES come with an external mic, along with a lot of other accessories which are not included in the US version! So, now that I have been more clear, my question still stands.

Check out:

www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com

I've been using the oak stereo mini microphone with the 5 ft cable power supply for the past couple of months with my minidisc and have been very satisfied. With the separate power supply, you can run the cable through the line in jack (instead of the mic jack).

FWIW, I also know that Alan Baer has recommended this equipment here.

Cheers!

tubalamb wrote:Check out:

www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com

Which of their powered mics would be best for recording tuba? Would bassroll off be bad for tuba?

I really cannot answer as to which of their powered mics are best for tuba . . I've only used the oak stereo mini-mic. I planning to get the omni-directional stereo mics next to try and compare. The cardioid stereo starts to roll off the low frequencies at 100 Hz, so I will probably get both of the omnis before I mess around with the cardioids.

As far as the sound goes, I like the Oak mic bettter than any of the Sony microphones I've tried. IMO, its a more natural representative of my sound during playback. The next mic I would probably buy after these is the Audio Technica minidisc mic (I don't remember the make off the top of my head.) The advantage Giant Squid has over the Audio Technica is affordability . . . you can get a decent mic set up for under $100.

I don't have the power cable with the bass roll off, but I am curious to try it. If you go to the FAQ section of the website, he mentions that the bass rolloff helps with recording in more boomy rooms.

Cheers!