Tascam DR-05x or Zoom H1n or something else?

[DenjiDen]

Being aware of the limitations of the deck and focusing on getting the best out of it:

-Make sure there are no effects on. You don't want the low cut, auto level or anything else turned on.
- Location is key. Get as close to a speaker stack as possible as the omni mics are not great at a distance. (yeah, not easy with assigned seats).
- I'd record at 24/96 which will help out if you are going to boost/edit in post-production with programs like Reaper or Audicity.
- Where are your sound levels peaking? I typically run them hot (peaking around -6 to -3) to capture everything I possibly can.

Just my thoughts.

All of that is turned off, however my Tone Volume is -18dB with the Level being at -48dB

I record at 24/96 by default since I can, so hopefully my old recordings can be saved with some TLC.

I believe my sound levels peak -12dB as there seems to be a little marker at -12dB. I don't know how I'd change it as I don't remember setting it there.

I apologize for any confusion, I am completely new to audio equipment/taping so I'm playing with this a bit blind.

[oldpink]

I'm sure that a more experienced taper could do a better job with his setting than I do with my DR-07, but mine has a nice feature of having a red LED come on when the volume gain is up at distortion level, which makes it very easy for me to dial down the gain just a smidge below distortion level without having to look at the LCD screen, particularly useful in the normally darkened venue.
I'm assuming that the DR-05x has a similar feature.

[MrFender]

I'm sure that a more experienced taper could do a better job with his setting than I do with my DR-07, but mine has a nice feature of having a red LED come on when the volume gain is up at distortion level, which makes it very easy for me to dial down the gain just a smidge below distortion level without having to look at the LCD screen, particularly useful in the normally darkened venue.
I'm assuming that the DR-05x has a similar feature.

On the DR05, when recording, push the + or - buttons to adjust the gain. Use the opening act or pre-show noise to experiment/get a feel on where the sound will be for the majority of the show then adjust as necessary once they get going. I set it just a little below and adjust up once they are fully up and playing. The lower volume at the start can adjust be adjusted in post production but if it's distorted there's not much you can do other than accept it.

As I noted, I run mine as high as I can without maxing it out (aka brickwalling). There's nothing wrong with momentarily hitting the top as long as it's not staying there.

[oldpink]

On the DR05, when recording, push the + or - buttons to adjust the gain. Use the opening act or pre-show noise to experiment/get a feel on where the sound will be for the majority of the show then adjust as necessary once they get going. I set it just a little below and adjust up once they are fully up and playing. The lower volume at the start can adjust be adjusted in post production but if it's distorted there's not much you can do other than accept it.

As I noted, I run mine as high as I can without maxing it out (aka brickwalling). There's nothing wrong with momentarily hitting the top as long as it's not staying there.

That's it exactly, even though mine is a bit older.
As I said, I'm well aware that there are plenty of folks here and elsewhere who would be better able to get the most out of the DR-07 tuning various other settings and using external mics and positioning it just right, but then probably many of them would have one of the higher-res recorders widely available now.
I'll be toting mine with me when I see NMSoS once more in October.

[MrFender]

Location is probably the most important part of getting a good recording. You can have thousand dollar mics but if they're the wrong cap/type/location/etc in the wrong setting, they're not going to sound very good either (although they will have a lot more "slop" factor built in). I've used a DR22wl internals to get some very nice recordings and some not so nice ones (rain in the mics does not help anything). I just recorded a show using Roland R07 internals that came out nicely as I was in the balcony in front of the overhead speaker stack. Anywhere else would probably have been terrible. Location, location, location.

[Beechwoods]

Agreed on how important location is. What kind of music and venues have you been recording in, and where from in the room?

[oldpink]

Agreed on how important location is. What kind of music and venues have you been recording in, and where from in the room?

My recording of NMSoS from 2019 was almost centered and approximately midway back in the Old National Centre Murat Theatre in Indianapolis, IN, a venue with a capacity of 2500.
I was very pleased with the results.

[DenjiDen]

Agreed on how important location is. What kind of music and venues have you been recording in, and where from in the room?

The first show I taped was a metal show (The Trinity Of Terror Tour, if I recall) my friend dragged me to, it was free test fodder, the venue was Appalachian Wireless Arena. That's probably the best out of the 3 because they were much louder than a typical rock show so even with my manual level adjuster at 0-2 I was able to get something akin to the Crackers recorder. I sat in the furthest back area of the arena, about 5 rows below the speakers (Section 212 I believe)

The 2nd show was a soft-prog/mathrock band called Covet my girlfriend at the time liked, at the Exit-In Music Bar in Nashville. I didn't change the settings on my Tascam besides bumping the manual level to 5-10. We were maybe 12-15 ft away from the band, about 4-5 rows of standing people back. The show sounded somewhat distant but the instruments were all properly represented, the vocals however are very distant (ala Stockholm 1967) which was fine at the time since they're a mostly instrumental group.

The most recent show was Kraftwerk at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Keeping the same levels as Covet, it's the worst of the three. It's equivalent to the 1980-08-08 audience recorder that's been circulated for ages. I not-so affectionately call it The Ghosts Of Kraftwerk for said reason. I was positioned at Section 4. Row X, Seat 1.

Most of my seating arrangements should have been fine, as I've tried to sit where it seems most good sounding bootlegs are recorded. I think it's my Tone & Level settings causing me to record too soft/cold but I'm not sure 100%.

[WorldmanOne]

Agreed on how important location is. What kind of music and venues have you been recording in, and where from in the room?

On the recent European leg of Mason's tour, I recorded in an auditorium using a Tascam DR-O7X connected to an external mic (A sony ECM-719) that I attached to a Cap (Purchased at the gig ). I was sitting in the 7 row in the floor seat and that turned out great. Just bringing the mics up to head heights gives a lot to the sound. It's definitely something I'd recommend to everyone and that means that you can have your Tascam (Or other recording devices) resting safely in your pocket without it being spotted.

I'm gonna try this setup for some stadium gigs this summer. Hopefully, I'll have similar results with those gigs.

[WorldmanOne]

The most recent show was Kraftwerk at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Keeping the same levels as Covet, it's the worst of the three. It's equivalent to the 1980-08-08 audience recorder that's been circulated for ages. I not-so affectionately call it The Ghosts Of Kraftwerk for said reason. I was positioned at Section 4. Row X, Seat 1.

Ah man, that really sucks!
I was hoping to see your Kraftwerk bootleg popping up here soon always nice to see some new addition to the 2022 tour with bangers such as Tango.
Hope you at least manage to snag a copy of the limited edition Nashville poster