Many sound cards have a mic input.
With a mic plugged in, test out the record level then you can record directly into Vegas, or Sound Forge, Cool Edit etc.

I mean recording audio in the field.....where/while I'm recording video......not where my computer is. Mabee I just don't understand your reply? I need something like the video hard drive recorder that goes over your shoulder and hooks into the camera using firewire....but with audio instead.....

-Videomonster

There are several units that you can buy (check Video Cam magazines) that will allow you to connect two low impedence mics and serve a high impedence stereo output to your camera. This will get you better quality digital audio on your camera tape.

WhenI record musical events. What I try to get a board feed to a DAT or minicassette to record audio, then capture wave file into Vegas directly or into Sound Forge. Place wave file on Vegas timeline and sync using Excalibur. If it is a situation where I need mixed sound, I hook up two ADATs and record multi track, mix in Vegas or Cabase, master in Sound Forge, and place in Vegas for sound track.

Look at buying "Producing Great Sound for Digital Video" by Jay Rose (see Amazon.com). It's a fantastic book that can help you make an educated decision based on your needs.

Kevin.

You have a couple of options. Even if your DV camcorder could take audio in, DV Magazine recently said the audio quality was pretty poor, with a surprisingly high noise level. A lot of people use the Sony Minidisks, which deliver amazing audio quality for the price ($150). Yet another option is a portable CD burner, such as the one by Marantz ($500).

The latest twist comes in the form of the "Nomad Jukebox 3" device. This is a small portable recorder, based on a laptop hard drive like the Apple Ipod, that can record from a line-in connection. You'll need some sort of mixer to feed it. With rebates, you can get one for $200.

You can try to record using a laptop, but the audio quality coming in from the typical laptop's mic jack is horrible. There are PC cards you can buy that plug into a laptop and that deliver excellent audio quality, but they too are hundreds of dollars.

I have a MOTU 2400 for multitrack audio input/output. If you don't have a good audio card, perhaps the CD recorder would work well. You could just pop it into your cd input on your machine and instant waves. Also there are some mini recorders that use USB input.

Hi Videomonster,

The real question here is how much do you want to spend. Good field recorders start around $600.00. Personally I prefer DAT machines (especially the Tascam DA-P1), but that's just me. The things I would look for in a field recorder would be: a) Balanced XLR connectors b) A format that uses minimal compression c) A recorder that can accept a "long life" rechargeable battery - like those made by eco charge. If it's a portable hard disk recorder you're looking for, check out the offerings from . Of course, if you wanted to look into a more mature format, there's always DAT and Minidisk. For price vs. features, it's hard to beat the Tascam DA-P1 or HHB's PORTADISC Reporter’s Kit in their respective catagories. Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Shawn

I highly recommend looking into MiniDiscs. I own a Sony and it is great.
Check this page for lots of info.

http://www.minidisc.org/

If I was in the same situation, I'd probably go with the HHB MDP-500 or, if you're on a thighter budget, with some Sharp or Sony portable MD recorder (though no balanced input here AND be sure you have an input that is NOT just a USB input...) .
I'd get a good mic (probalby shotgun from Neumann (the "81") or, personnal second choice, Sennheiser).
Recording method: you roll sound, then cam. You then use a "clap", be it a real one or someone clapping hands in front of cam; you then can synch picture with sound easily when in editing room.

I'm waiting for the Marantz PMD-670 (due out in a couple of weeks) designed for field recording. It's a digital recorder--storing sound on CompactFlash cards. Records uncompressed wave files, broadcast wave files, mpeg2 and mpeg3. The best price I've found ($589) is at Mineroff's. You might want to check out Bayview Pro Audio. They include a free microphone.

Musiciansfriend.com has a bunch of portable recorders, from mini-disc to multi-track cassette to hard disk versions. All the suggestions posted earlier are great - mini discs are popular because of their fidelity and cost, but some don't like them. As above, devices using memory cards are starting to appear in a lot of catagories - these type of tools make for extremely fast trasfer speeds (if that matters) and small size.

Only suggestion I can add is to do a bit of research picking out a mic or mics, and whatever devices you need to go in between. I like musician's friend, but others favor b & h photo. Where the mixer mentioned above might come in is if the mic you choose needs phantom power or a preamp to connect to your recorder - unless you're using multiple mics of course - but that will vary according to what you buy. Beachtek is nice.

As pointed out by J. Rose in DV, not bad practice to keep your camera's mic on, so you have a way to sync audio in Vegas - then mute or delete that track in the timeline.

Sound recorded to mini-Discs is compressed. Whenever there is compression, there is loss of fidelity. That's why I've opted for the CompactFlash cards. It allows recording of uncompressed .wav files.

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For quick answers to your questions try the Search!

"Sound recorded to mini-Discs is compressed. Whenever there is compression, there is loss of fidelity. That's why I've opted for the CompactFlash cards. It allows recording of uncompressed .wav files."

That was my thinking originally, but then I read a piece by Jay Rose in DV where he did whatever tests in his studio and found the fidelity pretty much on a par with DATs. Enough so that he started using/recommending them if I recall. But then that was before memory devices were available.

Head over to the dv.com forums and ask him... he runs the audio one.