What, a whole page devoted to recording devices? Surely not, I hear you cry! How nerdy! Well, nerdy it may be, but if you’re thinking of joining the choir, you’re going to need something to record rehearsals on.

We are all responsible for our own learning out of class, and without a recording device of some sort, it’s pretty difficult. There is a members only page on this site which contains recordings of most songs, plus lyrics, running orders for shows and so on, but, as is ever the way of things, this is hardly ever 100% complete, so having your own recording is the safest way to go about things.If you don’t already own something to record on, you may find this information useful in choosing the best option for you. Many people make use of simple cassette recorders, which you can buy for about £15. Not very sophisticated, maybe, but perfectly adequate. Only problem nowadays might be finding retailers of cassette tapes, as I think they’re getting harder to find.

Digital Recorders Some people go a little more upmarket and buy something like this Sony mp3 player. I haven’t used one, so can’t vouch for its user-friendliness, but am told that sometimes distortion is a problem on playback. However, it will produce MP3s, which, if you want to share recordings with your ‘tape-buddy’ by email, is a bonus. I hope to have review of one of these on this site soon. These types of recorders can cost anything from £30 to hundreds of pounds.

iPod

If you already own an MP3 player, like I did, you may be able to use it as a recording device too. Most of the Songlines rehearsal recordings which appear on this site are made on my iPod Classic. This iPod takes an external microphone like the Mcally that I use. Not all iPods will do voice memos (this is what you have to look out for). The following iPod models can create voice memos if you use an optional accessory:iPod classic (120 GB) iPod nano (4th generation)iPod nano (2nd generation) iPod (5th generation) (running iPod Software 1.1.2 or later) iPod with color display (running iPod Software 1.0 or later) iPod photo (running iPod Software 1.0 or later)iPod (Click Wheel) (running iPod Software 3.0 or later)iPod (dock connector) (running iPod Software 2.1 or later) Ipod Nanos are significantly cheaper (at about £107 rather than £175) than Classics (which is the model I have), so you needn’t splash out that much.I think it depends how you will use the device. If you only want it as a recorder, there are better (and more expensive) options out there, like the Edirol (see below). If you also want to use it as an MP3 player (which I do), then I doubt if you can really beat the iPod.

Edirol

I don’t use one of these, but several members of choir do, and I’m hoping one of them will provide a full review here soon. Suffice to say, they’re good, but expensive £280+)

Web-based recordings

When you join the choir you will be given the password to the page on this site that holds the current term’s recordings. If you register on this site, whenever I update the page I send out an email to let you know. If you don’t register, you won’t get the updates.