Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

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FMiguelez
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Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by FMiguelez »

Hello.

We have some experienced sound designers here, so I thought I'd ask:

I want some kind of professional portable digital audio recorder (or equivalent interface for an iPhone, if such thing exists), that I can use for:

- Recording my own ambience sounds and Foley.
For instance, the other day I felt stupid looking for a library sound of traffic in the city, when I could've simply gone out with my recorder, walk 60 meters, and record some of México's best offerings... the glorious and never-ending traffic!!! It's always there, so I could've gotten unique morning, noon and late-night versions!
I want to start building my own collection of ambience sounds.

- Easily recording/sampling any interesting sounds I find in random places.
The idea would be to have it with me most of the time, and be able to record with great quality and quickly, without much setup or fuzz.
I could then use these sounds in my music (some nice sampled percussion of me banging the elevator's wooden doors, with different "velocities" and enough for decent round-robin programming, etc.)

- It would obviously need to have a decent mechanism to download the raw audio into my computer.

- It must record regular stereo (M/S a good plus, maybe mono too) 16/24 48/44.1 WAV or, less preferably, AIFF audio files. But I'm not interested in vampire frequencies and I'm specially not inclined to pay premium for that!
The mics should be of nice quality.

- It should have some kind of file management facility to keep track of what's what.



If you've used or own something with those characteristics for any of my purposes, I'd like to know about it :)



I've been looking at these...
https://www.wirerealm.com/guides/top-10 ... -recorders

I see some have different mics and pattern configurations, and they point at different places.
What would be best for me?

Also, I'm concerned about how much unintended self-inflicted noise one causes with those recorders by the mere act of actively holding them in your hand? Is this a real issue with those recorders?


Hmmm....
Or I wonder if I should go into other direction and get some kind of comparable quality interface for my iPhone instead?
Is there such a thing, or is a dedicated device a better fit for my purposes?


Thank you for any recommendations or general thoughts!
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leigh
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by leigh »

I've had great success with this Zoom:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/H2N

I saw an NPR reporter using one and asked her about it. She said a lot of NPR reporters are using them.

I like the simple menu system, variable sample rate/bit depth and the easy-to-change SD card.

**Leigh

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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by stubbsonic »

I have an H2n and agree that it is a very impressive little recorder. It's versatile, too. It has M/S recording, and mono capability.

You connected it to your computer and select card reader mode. You can also select audio interface mode and it becomes a class-compliant audio source.

I'm not sure if the built-in mics are as hi-fi as you might want or need. But it does make an impressive quality of recording-- it even records high-rate MP3's directly. Uses SD cards and 2 AA batteries.

If you would like to hear an example of the kinds of sounds it makes, PM me and I'll email you some links.
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by dix »

The Sound Devices MixPre-3 looks incredible. Overkill for you possibly, but I'm told Sound Devices is the sht. They come highly recommended by friends doing production sound and field recording. This is the first thing they've ever made that I can almost afford! The pres in it alone may make it worthwhile - for field and studio. I have my eye on this and an Audio-Technica BP4025 stereo mic for field recording.

https://www.sounddevices.com/products/r ... s/mixpre-3
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

Zoom. Best one you can afford- or the next one up.
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by HCMarkus »

Anybody use their iPhone? It would seem to be a pretty handy way to capture field recordings if a decent mic/converter is available.
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by mikehalloran »

HCMarkus wrote:Anybody use their iPhone? It would seem to be a pretty handy way to capture field recordings if a decent mic/converter is available.
Yep. All three of these mics are M+S

Use the recording apps from the maker to access and control all the features of the mic and for latency-free monitoring.

Zoom iQ7
https://www.zoom-na.com/products/handy- ... ophone-ios

I also have a Shure M88. Great mic for iPhone with a headphone port but you can’t monitor on an iPhone 7 or later. The Zoom mics have headphone ports.
http://www.shure.com/americas/products/ ... microphone

And an iQ5 — discontinued but you can find NOS and used pretty cheap.
https://www.zoom-na.com/products/field- ... ophone-ios

I don’t know, the follow me home. I like the iQ7 the best.

If I need to use external mics, there’s my R24 — up to 8 channels simultaneously (6 phantom). Phantom power sucks battery life, though. Has a wall wart for external power. Max storage 32G (even on larger SD cards). 44.1/48kHz 16 or 24 bit.
https://www.zoom-na.com/products/produc ... er-sampler

I sold my R16 — only allowed two mics with phantom at a time. Not much less $$$ than the R24 but far fewer features. 44.1kHz only 16 or 24kHz
https://www.zoom-na.com/products/produc ... controller

The R16/24 are easy to find discounted on eBay.

I’ve owned a few Fostex field recorders. All sold or given away. Good riddance. Firmware issues got in the way.
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by mikehalloran »

I also have an iPod Touch 6. It and the 5 can take any of the Zoom or Shure mics with the lightening connector. I use it instead of my iPhone if setting it on a stand or tripod and walking away. I’m normally not monitoring when I use it but could if I wanted.

iOS has (or had) a 2 hour recording limit. The Zoom app creates a new recording after 2 hours and they butt together seamlessly. I’ve tried to find out if iOS 10 and 11 still have this limitation but haven’t found it.

iOS mics can use the Apple, TwistedWave, GB or any other recording app you want. If you do, you get the default setting of the mic only and can monitor input only (Zoom) instead of the mic settings.

A number of users, my daughters included, keep old iPhones, have new batteries installed and use them as iPod players and recorders. There are inexpensive iOS mics from Tascam, RØDE and others for older iPhones with 30 pin connectors—although long discontinued, easy to find NOS and used.
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by stubbsonic »

I would steer away from the idea of using your phone to record.

With a Zoom recorder (one with batteries) you have more reliable power-- and you won't have to worry about calls, etc. I have really appreciated having tons of space on my SD card, and though I have never needed it, having the ability to load a new card should I require more space is pretty ideal.

If you are really sold on using your phone or iOS device, consider getting a Zoom M/S mic, or a stereo pre where you can use a good quality M/S mic.

For me, the overwhelming advantage of the H2n is the fact that it has a VERY nice sounding M/S mic.

I have used the surround recording feature for a large trombone choir (in the round). I don't have a system to play it back on, but it is there for archival purposes.
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by mikehalloran »

I would steer away from the idea of using your phone to record.
I use mine frequently.
I have really appreciated having tons of space on my SD card, and though I have never needed it, having the ability to load a new card should I require more space is pretty ideal.
Zoom devices max out at 32G. Although they can read SDXC cards (mine can), they can't access more than 32G. Really, they should update the whole line—a 128G SDXC card is $70. There are times when you might want more and yes, you can swap out another. The maximum file size on all Zoom recorders is still 2G, last I checked.

My 7+ has about 72G of its 128G available. If a recording goes over 2 hours, the Zoom app automatically creates another.
With a Zoom recorder (one with batteries) you have more reliable power-
Huh? I see the new models have very good battery life but so does an iPhone.
and you won't have to worry about calls, etc
Airplane Mode — it's not just for travel.


Don't get me wrong. I like having a separate device available for recording and I have two, the iPod and the R24. As I already mentioned, if you're going to put it on a stand to record a live event or what have you, who wants to be without the phone? An iOS mic fits my shirt pocket, though, and I keep another in the car. You never know...

I don't know anyone with an H2N but a few friends have the larger H4, H4N or H4N PRO. They're great recorders and the H2N priced right. If that fits the bill, then it does. Find the tool that works.

Pardon me if I find the notion that an iPhone isn't well suited to be a bit silly. People are shooting feature films on them. This was shot on an iPhone 5S.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangerine_(film)
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by FMiguelez »

Great suggestions. Thank you all :)

And yes. The Zooms seem amazing. The H2N, and also this one, the h5:
https://www.zoom-na.com/products/field- ... y-recorder

Apparently you can even switch between LR Stereo and M/S by changing the capsules.
They all, dedicated recorders and iPhone attachments, seem to have more features than I had expected. Nice!
The disadvantage I see for using the iPhone for this is not being able to use it while recording (which doesn't sound like a terrible idea after all).

So I take it, any of those would be a great equivalent alternative to even actually micing say, a grand piano? Providing one finds a great sweet spot, I could obtain a great quality MS piano recording, yes?


It seems a very important consideration will have to be the ones with best microphones... I´ll see what I can find, but I haven't come across anything mentioning their mic frequency range/response specs.

So far, I'm quite liking the Zoom H5

leigh wrote:PS: I am writing this in Guanajuato!
Ha! Nice!
There are some nice places in Guanajuato. I bet you've been to San Miguel de Allende...
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by FMiguelez »

Oh, I see that with some of the bigger Zoom models (H5) you can even connect 2 additional high-quality mics, if the occasion warrants it...
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by mikehalloran »

FMiguelez wrote:Oh, I see that with some of the bigger Zoom models (H5) you can even connect 2 additional high-quality mics, if the occasion warrants it...
Same with the H4N and H4N Pro. Beware that phantom power plays hell with battery life, though. That's the reason for switchable 24/48V on some models. You can mitigate that with battery powered mics like the AKG C1000S and RøDE NT3 (I have a pair of each).

There is a limitation with all Zoom recorders as far as I know and it's that the maximum file size is 2G. You always have to be aware of this, especially when recording live events and/or at 96kHz.

https://www.zoom-na.com/products/field- ... y-recorder
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by bayswater »

HCMarkus wrote:Anybody use their iPhone? It would seem to be a pretty handy way to capture field recordings if a decent mic/converter is available.
If I knew I was going to record something, I probably wouldn't depend on an iPhone, but something came up last summer I wanted to record, and I used my iPhone. I was amazed at how good it was. The raw track needed a load of processing to get things nicely balanced, but it did work well. I wouldn't hesitate to use it again in a pinch.
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Re: Please recommend a great audio recorder for the field...

Post by mhschmieder »

Olympus also gets great reviews for actual quality delivered, and there's a new model that I saw mentioned maybe at SonicState this week, with three mics, but I don't have the link handy.

They use bitstream mode, like Korg, but I think they have an easier software interface and setup from what I've heard, with more compatibility.
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