Diego Stocco is a California-based sound designer and musician with a professional resume no one can sneeze at. When he's not designing sound for TV, film or video games, he's setting pianos on fire or making music from sand. Just to get started.

No matter how crazy you get with the sound source, you need to capture it effectively and accurately. Below, Stocco gives us some insight into his favored methods and tools.

I've been using the Edirol R-4 for some years and it's an incredible portable recorder. When it came out, its price was just a fraction of other 4 track devices. Initially I had doubts about the chassis, which is made out of plastic. I thought it was going to get damaged very easily. After 4 years and outdoor sessions in a wide variety of conditions, including rain, it still works fine and looks good.

Stocco Using the R-4 to Record a Drying Rack

There is only one negative note, which might have been fixed in the new models: If the batteries are going down and you connect the power plug, the machine shuts down and doesn't save the file that was recording.

Recently I bought also the R-09HR because I wanted a more portable solution. It's a nice device that I can keep with me all the time, and record things as I go. I used it when I recorded the beat on the sand for Music from Sand.

I also found this little device very useful in preliminary tests for new projects. Before setting up a larger rig, I can use the R-09HR to do a quick "exploration" of sounds coming from different angles of the instrument or object. I did this for "Music from a Tree" as well. A few days before recording the actual track, I used it to find ideas for sounds that later I recorded with a more dedicated technique.

If I could ask for an improvement, I'd ask for a faster start up time. The unit takes quite some time to be ready, and in some cases, when there's a real-time and non-repeatable audio events, I'd like to have it ready faster.

Overall my experience with these recorders has been positive and I look forward to their next generation.

All images courtesy of Diego Stocco.