Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

[Phantasmagoria]

Well, off late I've been giving some thought to upgrading from my crappy digital handheld recorder to maybe even buying an interface (Focusrite or something) and giving the 'computer recording' thing a go, but the problem is my heart's not in it (don't care for the idea of plugging into my comp to record for some reason), so I decided to get my old ZOOM MRS 1044 digital workstation out of the cupboard where it's mostly been laying since I bought it new in the early 2000's & set it up instead..just to see how that goes first..

First try: DI out from my Laboga The Beast 30 Plus head into the ZOOM MRS (used an onboard FX preset chain "warm" something -minus the drive..which came from my Laboga instead) as well as onboard drums & bass..

A stereo track for the rhythm (Laboga's Crunch channel) & two mono lead tracks (Laboga's Lead Channel) panned centre & a bit off to the left each. Finished it off with one of the Zoom's onboard mastering presets...and here's the result.



It's not bad but could be a lot better probably due to the single rhythm guitar track & crappy open E bass pattern/dry drum sound. Plus I actually managed to come across some great sounding presets for the leads (using the Laboga's drive + the Zooms onboard FX) but forgot where they were & ended up using other ones that were a bit too warm/muddy instead..

But eh..it's a start & I'll hopefully learn as/if I stick with it..

Any suggestions regarding mix tips etc are welcome.. especially any tips regarding panning or FX to liven up the drums/bass next time

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

So ... you will plug into that computer because it's labeled Zoom?
Put a Zoom badge on your PC in that case!

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

Ha, it looks cooler with all the sliders and knobs & stuff

Truth is ..it's more a case of me 'marking time' until I can hopefully drum up the will to get myself one of those Focusrite things & go all the way

Having said that, this is a sweet old unit with cool FX/features that's capable of decent mixes (when you get the hang of it..) and comparatively more intuitive (to me) than one of those DAWs everyone uses ..though the actual proceedures involved are probably a lot more tedious/time-consuming

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

Sorry bud, sounded like 2-4 songs playing at once to me

[El Dunco]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

Have you considered getting a custom, standalone studio computer? I had my tower purpose built for studio work so it's never connected to the internet and doesn't run any other applications that could drain its performance. My first recording device was a little Zoom MRS-8 with the SD cards.


Kamanda's right. It's very busy and clashing.

[trevorus]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

Sorry bud, sounded like 2-4 songs playing at once to me

That's kind of what I thought. It's kind of a mess and all over the place. It sounds like being in a guitar center first day after school's out.

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

Yeah it's all smudged together a bit (and maybe a bit sloppy ) ..BUT..I'm going to try and fix that..

The problem is the bass is just "bong..bong..bong" on open E ..& it's clashing with the guitar tracks which are all a bit muddy too. I'll redo the bass track this way:



That should help a bit, then I'll record another mono rhythm track, split the one I've recorded already to mono as well & pan both tracks hard L-R. Next I'll EQ the lead guitar tracks a bit, add some top end/shave off some bottom, maybe cut back on some reverb (I can still adjust the send/return FX)

Add some compression to the drums to make them livelier (or use another kit) . and use the "Clarify" or "stereo wide" mastering presets instead of "warm" (something..) that I used before..

That's the plan ..Lets see how it turns out..

@ Beer: Yeah...when I finally do get the interface..I've got an old PC (not too old) that i could probably hook it up to. It just needs a new hard drive. The processor's decent enough..so hopefully it'll work

[El Dunco]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

To my ears, one of the lower harmonies is just way out of whack with everything else going on. I'd just ditch it altogether.

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

Sounds ok to me? ..it's a bit too busy in places maybe ..but I'd say it's fine as far as timing & key go...

Anyway, I'll see how things sound when I've worked on/corrected the other stuff..

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

To me the drums and bass sound good at the beginning. It's a combination of things on the guitar:

1- The arrangement itself
2 - The tone. you really need to mic that guy up, or use a PC so you can run a speaker emulator on that DI out (or use VST's all together)

Take that backing track and just have one guitar track with it, let's start simple and build from there

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

Eh, the arrangement sounds fine to me but yeah, the tone does suck. The problem is the Laboga head has a speaker emulated output that's pretty dark/bassy..it's possible to get a decent tone out of it but the bass needs to stay below 3 for that & I forgot to turn it down..

I can mic it up next time..or DI and keep the bass low.

Anyway, I just finished V2...

did'nt really mess with the guitar tones or anything..just added (played) another rhythm guitar track & panned both tracks hard L-R then I panned the solo's about halfway each L-R (50%) & used a brighter mastering preset ("All-Pops") for the output... Lots more separation though the actual guitar tone still sucks cuz it's the same as before. Bass is the same too..I changed the drum patch & maybe the kit too.. I forget..



It's more open with more separation for sure...

I just think it's a matter of dialing in better tones to start with more than anything now. Pretty sure I could get some decent recordings going if I work with it some more..

[El Dunco]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

It's still not working for me man. At least one of those guitar tracks needs to either come down or go altogether, there's some potentially nice harmonies that's it's just obscuring and ruining. It's not all down to the production. It's simply too much.

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

Sounds tight to my ears dude. I mean, technically it fits...it's all in key, timing is'nt bad .. I know that's not everything & maybe it just does'nt sit right with you, but then I find myself tapping my feet to it

It's unorthodox in the sense there's an overall laid back CSNY vibe/melody & then there's alien robot shred thrown in everywhere as well so maybe not the most "niche" sound out there

Tastes apart, I've done a lot worse mix-wise & my guess is, with better tones this thing will probably produce some pretty decent recordings.

...at least way better than my current handheld recorder/looper combo

[El Dunco]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

Sounds tight to my ears dude. I mean, technically it fits...it's all in key, timing is'nt bad .. I know that's not everything & maybe it just does'nt sit right with you, but then I find myself tapping my feet to it

It's unorthodox in the sense there's an overall laid back CSNY vibe/melody & then there's alien robot shred thrown in everywhere as well so maybe not the most "niche" sound out there

Tastes apart, I've done a lot worse mix-wise & my guess is, with better tones this thing will probably produce some pretty decent recordings.

...at least way better than my current handheld recorder/looper combo

If you insist. I'm not the only person who thinks it doesn't sound right and I like your other stuff but this one just doesn't do it for me.

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ressurrected my old Zoom MRS 1044 Digital multitrack recorder..

Yeah, I know, no problem at all ..but it's just different strokes man, I can't fix something if I don't see what's broken...you may both be right..but I just can't see it.

If it's anything specific let me know where..

Here's another version with a different Mastering effect applied to the output ("Boost"). I think the guitars sound better ..exact same mix as the previous one though (Just to show the difference between mastering presets..)