Learn to Play Recorder

Lesson 89: Performance Preparation, Part 4 — Recording Techniques

  • Make a good recording of yourself with consumer equipment.
  • Place the microphone where the recorder actually sounds best, not where it is convenient.

A recording outlives the performance. Make it worth the survival.

Most learners record themselves badly without realising it, then conclude they sound worse than they do. This lesson is the basics of making a recording good enough to trust.

Equipment

A modern phone records well enough to evaluate your playing; the microphone matters less than the placement.

  • Handheld recorder (Zoom H4, Tascam DR-40) — ~$150–200; much better dynamic range.
  • Condenser pair into an interface — ~$500; for serious recital archives.

Upgrade only when you can hear what is missing in your current recordings.

Microphone placement

Sound radiates mostly from the tone holes, not the bell.

  • Distance: 1.5–2 metres — closer captures breath noise, further loses presence.
  • Height: head height when playing, not bell level.
  • Angle: aimed at the tone holes.
  • Position: in front, slightly off to one side.

Make a thirty-second test recording and adjust until it matches what you hear in the room.

Room

The room matters more than the microphone: the recorder wants moderate reverb — hardwood floors and bare walls, a small church or wood-panelled room. Carpeted bedrooms sound flat; concrete stairwells obscure detail.

Takes

  • Multiple takes — at least three; the third is usually better than the first.
  • Do not stop mid-piece for mistakes — finish the take.
  • Listen briefly between takes — only to confirm the recording worked.
  • Choose later — pick the best take the next day, with fresh ears.

Listening back

Put the score away, listen straight through twice, mark issues, build a fix list.

Now play these

Record one program piece three times using the guidance above; listen back the next day and note which take is best and why.

When you have made a recording of one program piece that you would let a friend hear unedited, with placement and room you have deliberately chosen, and a take-evaluation discipline you have used at least once, move on to Lesson 90.