Can you recommend a portable audio recorder ? (not minidisc)

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 9:17 am

I need soemthing to capture good environmental sounds, you know like wind, traffic, crowd noises, birds, storms, waves, people chattering, airports etc

The target will be mainly web so the quality doesn't need to be great. Ideally it would record 128K MP3, or maybe I could get away with 22KHz wav.

It needs to be very small so I can carry it all the time - you never know when the good sounds will come along.

Ideally it would take either CFII cards or SD cards.

But I don't want Minidisc. Besides the fact that I don't like Sony gear (too many malfunctions over the years), I don't want yet another format - I have so many already.

Also something in MP3 or wav would be good so I could direct dump the file to my DAW. If I have to re-record again to wav through Soundforge then I can see that most of my files will never leave the minidisk (or tape etc).

I've looked at some of the "digital voice recorders" on the market, and they are pretty good except the audio quality is so poor. In most of them "high quality" mode is something like 6KHz !!

The mic is another issue. Either the inbuilt mic needs to be very good, or it must accept an external mic.

I think perhaps I'm asking a lot.

Anyone have any ideas ?

thanks

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 5:15 pm

one thing i can say for sure: inner built mic cannot be good, as it will ALWAYS get a lot of mechanical and handling noises of the unit, apart the fact that you are obliged to hold the unit, while some external mics can be clipped to the jacket or a bag...

if something like the iPod with mic existed would be the thing....but i'm not informed...

ciao

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 5:25 pm

I can't remember right now the exact name, but there is a Sony little casset recorder which is mainly used by journalists, this one is fantastic, it has a great sound. Hope this helps.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 5:28 pm

Upss, sorry, I didn't realise you don't like the Sony stuff...

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 7:37 pm

The market seems to be:

* MP3 recorders: quite new, not bad quality, but limited memory and quite expensive
* Mini tape recorders: (like the Sony Nestor mentions). There are quite a few brands and they look OK, but it would be nice to just be able to transfer and existing audio file rather than have to recapture the audio in SoundForge.
* Memo-takers: digital recorders, small and versatile, but with no external mic options and terrible audio uality.
* PDAs: Can record audio up to 16-bit 44KHz, but only from their cheap inbuilt mic ! And an Ipaq (which I have) is too delicate to survive robuest outdoor experiences.

... ? ...

Chill69 · Post by **Chill69** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 8:52 pm

Zoom has a small multi track recorder the size of a fat walkman (or a portable dat) that can record 3 mono tracks in WAV, 32khz, is saved on Flash Memory sticks, and runs off battery power. It has a TRS input on it for an external mic, and a small mixer. runs about 400 bucks or something like that, I believe it's called an MS4.

I was thinking about getting one for easy of use in upping ambient samples, but it's money i don't have at the moment. It sounds nicer than my Boss Sp-202.

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Sun Feb 16, 2003 8:36 am

The Olympus DM-1 has no moving parts so it has a much longer battery life, however the smart media cards are expensive and don't hold much. It is said to be a voice recorder but it is high quality. It's also smaller than a MD recorder. This is something I would love. Maybe next year *sigh*.

Other gear:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-b ... egory=home

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 1:10 pm

a bunch of tips, mp3s and some mics
http://www.sonicstudios.com/tips.htm
http://www.okmmicrophones.com/IE/okmhome.html
the okms can make stunning stereos

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 2:05 pm

Correct me if I am wrong but I think that type of microphone makes recordings that should only be played back via headphones.

ChrisWerner · Post by **ChrisWerner** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 6:27 am

An old topic but I have to roll it up.
Did you found something Spirit?
Today my OKM mics arrived after five months, they must had an horrible journey.
Thank you JoeKa, I have to mention that I haven´t believed that the package arrives me.

Now, I can buy my mini disc recorder or something else.
Again, any news or recommendations?

[ This Message was edited by: ChrisWerner on 2003-10-24 07:32 ]

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 8:57 am

No, still haven't found anything decent. Unless you want real hi-fo recordings then it seems to be the cheapest, most reliable way, with the most robust device and economic recording media, is ..... cassette tape !

I just don;t like minidisk. I don;t like Sony for a start, and I think minidisk is a niche technology which must very soon expire.

I'm waiting for the new breed of cross-function SD-card based devices. I think Panasonic have been selling a few: theyy record video and high-quality audio onto SD cards....

Since I don;t have a mini-DV videocamera either (still lurching along with my VHS-C and a Canon Ixus@320x240 ), I hope to also skip a whole generation of poirtable technology as well.

I'm just waiting for the devices to get a little more mature....

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 3:55 pm

I too need something like that... but can't afford it for the moment.

I agree with you about minidisk Spirit, it has never gone too far anyway. I know it records with a good enough quality.

A friend of mine in Germany uses it as its main source of recording. He does experimental atmospheric music. He told me he can achieve good results, but minidisck its not yet perfect.

There is also another way, and is to get close to the journalist world, I know they have many different special recording machines that work with battery, perhaps a little more expensive than expected, but it could be a good investment for a professional.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 4:26 pm

the 'best' journalism dictation machines, in other words those which perform best in autmated speach recognition have a totally messed up frequency response for our musical ears.
But they perform extremely well for the machine listening

they kind of emphasize the 'block structure' of spoken words.
Only frequencies contributing to that process are kept, anything else is eliminated.
A friendly Philips engineer once told me about that when I was looking for a 'good' sound entry device for PC speach recognition for a non-techie friend.

cheers, Tom

appended: obviously journalists don't use only dictation machines, so my focus was a bit too narrow.
Nestor was the right track with journalism 'tapes'

http://www.buergermedien.de/tecrarep.htm
it's in german, but Chris probably won't mind

[ This Message was edited by: astroman on 2003-10-24 18:01 ]

Thalamus · Post by **Thalamus** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 6:29 pm

Hi Spirit,

I've owned a Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 (20 GB HD) ( http://www.nomadworld.com ) for over a year now. I'm completely satisfied with it.

Besides the cool fact that I have my whole CD collection + private music + pc files in my inner pocket for like 22 continous OPERATIONAL hours, and have the possibility to connect any pc and mac and download/upload files, it sounds very very nice.

I have also been out there in the wild to record strange stuff. It performed flawless. I feels very "sturdy", don't know if it's the right word for "It's will stand dropping on the floor, like 50 times, at least"?

Only thing I dislike is that on windows you have to use Creative File Manager, which sucks bit time. It should be like: connect...bzzz...wow A new drive turned up in my computer. Don't know why they messed this one up.

It has:

USB 1.1 and FIREWIRE connection

Analog/Digital input, 98dB SNR Playback

11 hours standard battery time (operational time), can be expanded to 22.

Can record MP3 realtime upto 256kbps, and wav upto 48/16. (playback wma too)

Upto 40 GB space

Offers 5.1 output

Has a +12 db digital mic-pre. (well, better bring that batterypowered condenser)

Good luck out there in the jungle...

wavelength · Post by **wavelength** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 3:16 am

http://www.maycom.nl/main.html <<<maybe?

ChrisWerner · Post by **ChrisWerner** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 4:26 am

A friend of mine from the radio offered me a mini dic recorder for testing, I will be off for recordings in the "jungle" next week to test it.
Also he told me about those jukeboxes and I think I´ll go for one of them.
The HandHeldRecorder seems to be a good solution too, thank you for these links, wavelength and Noah.

eliam · Post by **eliam** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 11:50 am

I read on the gearslutz forums that some old movie reel recorders were very good in terms of quality. They're mono though. I think some people recommended the Nagra III with great praise.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 1:27 pm

yeah, the Nagras have a great reputation, but that's solid quality in the true sense of the word. Not exactly portable...

The OKM mics absolutely require a stereo mic input. That's what makes them sound so real - I once heard some very impressive demo tracks on a CD.

cheers, Tom

[ This Message was edited by: astroman on 2003-10-25 14:28 ]

ChrisWerner · Post by **ChrisWerner** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 3:31 am

Hey Tom, I can absolutly recommend the OKMs they sound fantastic. I´ve to visit the Externsteine soon, let us make a date because you are not far away from them.
Thank you all for the support.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 6:29 am

... you must have something on your mind when visting that dark, foggy part of the forest in November...

Tom