Pros: Low cost (under $300.00), easy to set up.

Cons: Limited flexibility in playback, less than stellar sound quality.

Hardware: Portable digital recorder, self-powered speakers.

Software: Variety of choices under $80.

Descriptions:
It’s been a long time since Sony stopped making Walkman Pro (if you are old enough to know what it is…). And until a few years ago, there were very few choices for affordable digital recorders. But today, a quick look at Sweetwater’s website finds nearly a dozen portable digital recorders that are under $300. Many of the major brands are represented in this category, including Sony, Tascam, Olympus, Edirol, M-Audio, Yamaha, and Zoom. I use Zoom H4 (CNET raves about the current version, H4n) and I’m very pleased with the sound quality. The unit has a very small and confusing control nob, and hard to push buttons that it took me a while to get used to. But the surprisingly clean sounding built-in microphones, and it’s small size more than make up for the shortcomings. The obvious advantage of these recorders is that they are perfect for field recoding. When you rent a hall to do a student recital, you’ll get a nice archival recording. When you have your own rehearsals away from home, you have means to record them. You can even produce respectable demo recordings out of these little devices. One thing to avoid in this category is the digital “voice” recorders. While some have higher fidelity than others, they are designed to record long conversations at a lower quality. You are not looking for commercial gear here, but you should find a unit that produces high enough sound quality to be useful in music making.

Self-powered speakers might sounds a bit intimidating. But if you have external speakers attached to your computer, you own them already. If you have a stereo set where you teach, with a few adapters, you should be able to plug in your recorder (and it sounds better). You can purchase one of those “computer speakers” at a local electronics (or office supply) store. They cannot compete against the “real” component speakers, but for most teaching purposes, those under-$100 speakers do a fine job. Load up your MP3 player (or iPod) with music played by your instrument/s and audition various speakers at the store. And make sure to stay away from 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound speakers. For our purposes, they are way overkill. What you need is either 2.0 (just two speakers) or 2.1 (two speakers and a subwoofer). Also, if you already own a hi-fi iPod speaker system, you can use it instead (any leftover Christmas gifts?).

Although this recorder/speaker combination works fine for most teaching situations, a computer adds so much more. For transferring sound files, burning CDs, or posting files on the internet, you can use the software that came with your computer (PC or Mac). But I highly recommend getting a dedicated music editing software, and learn to use it. It can help you trim (cutting out irrelevant conversation, etc.), clean up the sound, adjust volume, and add a little reverb. There are many free and commercial software available under $80. Many recorders comes with a “lite” version of a professional software (check the user manual). For both Windows and Mac, Audacity is a well-established free, open-source software. Open-source means the user community is constantly fixing things and adding functions to the software. As a result, Audacity boasts many useful filters that some of the low-cost commercial programs don’t have. However, because it is built by democracy, the product is not very polished and often unstable. If you are a Mac user, the built-in, GarageBand is plenty capable of making simple recordings. I use Freeverse Software’s Sound Studio ($79.99), and I enjoy using it. It is a simple, yet very versatile program. I don’t know enough about Windows sound editing software. Please speak with your local Windows guru (e.g. a geeky high school student) for recommendations.

Action Plan:
Step 1 – Shop around and purchase a digital recorder.
Step 2 – Record your lessons, get familiar with the equipment, then evaluate your own teaching style.
Step 3 – Decide whether you go further or not.
Step 4 – Shop around and purchase self-powered speakers.
Step 5 – Evaluate how the new equipment can be incorporated into your teaching routine.
Step 6 – Implement the new system.
Step 7 – Evaluate whether you want to hand out recorded sound files to students or not, if so, how.
Step 8 – Read the manual and learn to transfer audio files to your computer.
Step 9 – Learn to burn CD or how to setup a web-based distribution system (I’ll cover this in the future).
Step 10 – Implement the new system.