Audio Recording Device

AlanADale wrote on 4/9/2012, 2:45 AM

I'm going to be deliberately vague in the terminology that I use here because what I'm after may well be called by a number of different names in various countries.

What I'm after is a portable recording device (say something that the boss walks around with in the office and dictates notes for his secretary too) that fits well in the pocket, is reasonably priced and records in a format that is easily up-loadable to the PC for use in Vegas. I'm thinking that perhaps these devices have improved over the years and now use flash drives rather than tape.

I would like to be table to record narration whilst in the field that will either serve to be used directly or, more likely, for important note taking of images/video shot at the time.

Anyone actually use such a recording device or can recommend any particular manufacturer/model? Thanks.

Comments

John222 wrote on 4/9/2012, 5:15 AM

Handheld recorders.

I Have a Tascam DR-2d
http://tascam.com/applications/recording/handheld_recorder/

Then there's the Sony's
http://www.sylvansoftware.com/sony-digital-recorders.htm
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-audio/resource.latest.bbsccms-assets-cat-audio-solutions-pcmm10.shtml

I believe that the Tascam DR-5 is about a $100.

amendegw wrote on 4/9/2012, 11:14 AM

Zooms are nice as well: Zoom Handheld Audio Recorders

...Jerry

Former user wrote on 4/9/2012, 1:07 PM

Tascam and Zoom both have a nice line of digital portable recorders. They are about the size of the mini cassette recorders but a lot better quality. I have a Tascam DR-07. It uses SD cards and records either as MP3 or PCM.

Dave T2

Roberto65 wrote on 4/9/2012, 3:34 PM

Zoom audio/video recorders are quite good and the price is affordable.
I have the H4 and I am completely satisfied

big daddy wrote on 4/9/2012, 8:43 PM

If you have an android smartphone you can download the PCM Recorder Lite application and it turns the phone into a sound recorder. The recorded sessions are stored as wav files on the phone that can be imported into a pc for later listening and/or processing.

AlanADale wrote on 4/9/2012, 11:51 PM

Thanks for all your input guys.......much appreciated. Certainly a lot of variation there, both in terms of functionality as well as price, and kept me well occupied for a couple of hours yesterday. I'm going to revisit this theme once again this coming weekend when I have a bit more time and make more detailed comparisons before making my decision. I hadn't realised how things had moved on technologically wise with these things since the tape device I used to own.

ForumAdmin wrote on 4/10/2012, 10:50 AM

You may say I'm biased (and maybe so) but I use a Sony PCM-M10, and it is excellent. Very good sound quality, versatile, durable, and exceptional battery life. Highly recommended.

Paddy
SCS

AlanADale wrote on 4/10/2012, 4:10 PM

Well having read countless reviews this afternoon along with listening to sound files and taking cost into consideration, I have decided upon the Sony PCMM-10.
I'm lucky that where I live online sales allow for a 14 day no quibble return - no explanation necessary - which gives me some time to test it.
Thanks once again to all that have contributed, suggested various makes and provided suitable links. I am truly indebted. :-)

John222 wrote on 4/11/2012, 12:56 PM

The Sony M10 is as great recorder. But an advantage to the Tascam DR-2d is dual channel recording. For instance you can automatically record to a 2nd track attenuated several DB lower the the primary track. This can protect you from unexpected clipping since you have a 2nd copy recorderd at a lower volume. I know some of the zooms have dual track recording, but I'm not sure if you can automatically record the 2nd track with some selectable amount of attenuation.

The M10's main advantage is extremely long battery life and the line inputs can take a very hot signal from a mix board.

richard-amirault wrote on 4/12/2012, 4:41 PM

IMPORTANT: if you use this to record you voice "walking around" .. especially if you are outdoors .. get some sort of wind protection for your recorder.

Some are made of foam .. they are better than nothing, but the best are fur (often called a "dead cat")

Even if you don't plan on recording outdoors, these devices will help stop plosives from you talking too close to the mic. and give you a MUCH better recording.

MSmart wrote on 4/12/2012, 8:13 PM

Here's an interesting video (on another forum I participate) showing how much a "dead cat" can help. It was made using a prototype of the WindJacket from TheWindCutter for the Zoom H1.

http://www.camcorderuser.net/index.php/topic,792.msg7723.html#msg7723

AlanADale wrote on 4/13/2012, 1:32 AM

I've seem several run-over dead cats on my local roads of late. Next time I'll have to stop and take one home LOL.
Dead cat or not - pretty darn effective. Thanks for posting.