How do i use my new equipment?

[ISABELLE]

Hi everybody, I am new to this forum and I have just bought a Tascam DR-05X recorder.
You folks are gonna hate me but it is WAY above my head. I bought it to take to music concerts (by putting it in a shirt breast pocket) and record the gigs. I have tried it out by recording the TV, my voice and my car's music system and the quality is not good!! In fact it's piss-poor.
I am totally green about sound recording and have NO idea what the settings mean, never mind what to set them on. Can anybody advise me please what to set the "Rec Setting" options at (Format, Sample, Size, Low Cut, Pre Rec, Auto Tone, Tone Secs, Tone Vol, Mode amd Level). The manual is a total waste of time and gives no information.
Do I also have to change any 'I/O' settings. Again the manual says nothing, but I assume this to mean 'Input/Output'?
I couldn't afford £100 plus for a recorder to take with me to concerts which is why I plumped for the DR-05X (& after reading reviews which were generally positive) ................................... but have I bought a crock of sh*t which is totally unsuited to my needs?

 

[-mjk-]

Hi @ISABELLE and welcome to the Tascam Forums. Wow, you just asked for a course in recording engineering! It's unlikely that someone from the Forum will be able to answer every single question and address every issue, so I suggest that you begin with YouTube University and see if any of those videos can help you get started. After you become familiar with the recorder you can post more specific questions and maybe someone can help you.

 

[ISABELLE]

Utter piece of crap. Have now set up a return with Amazon and I will now have to look at other recorders.
Will now leave this group, which, apart from one reply (which was no good as the youtube reviewers assume you already have sound knowledge) was a total waste of time.
Thanks for nothing.

 

[dctdct]

Interesting people out there, indeed...

 

[shredd]

Interesting people out there, indeed...

"Interesting" is an immeasurably generous and kind euphamism...

 

[-mjk-]

Utter piece of crap. Have now set up a return with Amazon and I will now have to look at other recorders.
Will now leave this group, which, apart from one reply (which was no good as the youtube reviewers assume you already have sound knowledge) was a total waste of time.
Thanks for nothing.

I'm not here to educate you. Why don't you send an email to Bob Clearmountain and ask for his help for free? Be sure and update us on how that goes.

You folks are gonna hate me but it is WAY above my head.

Seems like you ended up hating us because no one can school you on recording engineering.

I bought it to take to music concerts (by putting it in a shirt breast pocket) and record the gigs.

Ahhh, you're a bootlegger! No one will miss you. Buh-bye!

 

[Arjan P]

I will now have to look at other recorders.

That would be the best thing indeed. LOOK at recorders, don't touch.
Good riddance anyway..