| StoreTags: field, recording, recorders, microphones
Author: nagrom on March 20 2007 Viewed 3067 times. 9 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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In light of the budget field-recorder explosion of late, I'd like to ask your opinion.
I just sold my MD and I'm planning on purchasing a solid-state recorder.
Though Mini-Disc worked fine (especially when Hi-MD came out), there were the usual annoyances: bad interfaces, clicky motor noise, low quality jacks+pre-amps, and insufficient metering+dynamics control.
An overview of the currently available models: link
At this point, the Zoom H4 seems to be the best bet. I can't find detailed information about the microphones, but people seem to think they're "really good!" At least they're bigger and more strategically placed than the other models'.
That's the selling point for me. Microphone quality. I'd really like to avoid, at all costs, having to carry around two separate entities connected by a cable.
From what I've read, the microphones/sound-quality of the Edirol R-09 isn't on par with the H4, despite the unit being apparently of higher quality. Can anybody vouch for this?
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03/20/07
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ignatius
i've seen the zoom. seems a little plasticy but still quite sturdy and i was told it sounds good and is pretty simple to use. the onboard mics work well too apparently. but you can of course plug any mic into it. haven't seen the others.
03/20/07
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sprouts
have you looked into the Zoom H2, which is a smaller, cheaper version of the H4?
it just previewed at NAMM so it may not be available for purchase at this point in time.
03/20/07
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jogn
I really dig my H4. It sure beats lugging an out dated MD player and a mic. The only downside is the ease at which the H4 mics get overloaded on high gain settings by low frequency sounds. The other downside is the wind muffler being a pain in the ass to stay on. Other than that, surreptitious recording is a little difficult.
03/20/07
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nagrom
Yeah, the H2 looks promising, but I'd almost prefer a more chunky unit. Because of its size/price, I'm half-assuming that it won't be of as high-quality.
03/20/07
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skab
don't get the m-audio microtrack. i did - it's a pain. takes ages to boot up (almost 40 seconds), the TRS inputs are not really suitable for field recording (they don't grip the plug tightly enough). it doesn't seem to be able to record in mono, and it doesn't output the correct phantom power voltage. i'll be switching to the zoom as soon as i get some ca$h
03/20/07
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skab
also - i know you don't want to carry separate mics, but only using the onboard mics - whatever their quality - will limit the type of field recording you're able to do. the reason you see sound recordists lugging around huge boom mics on shock-proof mounts with phallic windshields on them is that it's the only real way to get a focused, well-balanced recording with minimal background noise. if the shop you're going to buy from will let you, try connecting a cheap ($150) condenser mic to your chosen recorder and record the sound of yourself tapping on something resonant like a cheap door. then compare it with a recording of the same sound made using only the internal microphones. this is why "pro" field recoreders have suddenly become so cheap, most users either use a crappy electret mic, the slightly less crappy internal mic, or a direct line in, so the manufacturers are able to cut costs by putting in low-quality mics and pre-amps.
03/20/07
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Adjective
i have the r-09, i'm real pleased, but then i'm used to headphone mics + MD, so my opinion doesn't really count on the subject.
only complaint so far is that it doesn't come with any sort of windscreen for the internals, though i've seen an online retailer (Sweetwater) has a reference to one and a notify list, i guess it's coming soon. i carved one out of foam that works ok though.
i left it sitting at the top of the stairs while my friend spoke with his mom, her voice is awesome and funny
link
and here's some generic rain
link (right-click save as, googlepages always cuts it off early if streamed)
i didn't go with microtrack because it uses a battery pack i'm not sure what the deal is with that, when it runs out are you stuck for a couple hours until it's recharged? though i didn't really look into how much an extra battery pack might run me, maybe it's not so bad. and the boot time i heard was a bit long, as mentioned above (though i didn't think it was as long as 40 seconds, wow)
the H4 is supposed to have really nice internal mics and doubles as a sound interface for a computer which is kind of cool, i think you can even use the internal effects from your comp. i didn't go with it because i heard it felt incredibly cheap and that a lot of the features were buried too deep in the menus requiring 2-hand operation. it's also a bit bigger than the microtrack and r-09. but other than that most people seem pleased with that one
03/20/07
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lunatinker
link
i have noticed the portland music company has the reduced pricing i wanted to see on the front page now.
good news for field-recorders! maybe the prices drop in other locales too?
03/20/07
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nagrom
luna: those are the same prices available everywhere.
03/20/07
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breakscience
I've been thinking about this lately as well. Dropping all the downloaded samples and junk, and just going all field samples for projects...no more sample library, collecting sounds...blah blah. The H4's specs look nice, and at a decent price.
03/20/07
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Adjective
breakscience, definitely do that. you'd be amazed how much music you can pull out of a garage or objects laying on your desk.
i started a track in Renoise that was comprised of only 24 bit / 48khz samples from the R-09, i almost didn't want to stack any of sounds because they were all so detailed and clean. that's mostly how i use it, i listen for kicks, snares, hats, toms in objects i find laying around and then bang on them from every angle
fun stuff.
03/20/07
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lunatinker
totally breakscience. now .... all i need is a recorders. doh!
03/20/07
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nokxev
I know the H4 can double as a soundcard, but can you plug a guitar into it and record straight to computer? Also, hows the latency? This would come in quite handy when I'm not using my fireface. I could sell my R09 and get the H4. cheers.
03/20/07
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nokxev
link
this guy has a review and samples of the H4, microtrack and r09
from the h4 review
that_guy_from_the_link said: "Not only can you record via the H4 to the DAW of your choice, you can use either the internal mics or mic/line inputs with phantom power. Because the H4 will run off USB bus power, you can toss it in your laptop bag for a truly portable recording rig (Figures 5 and 6). This is extremely cool.
As with four track mode, you can't take advantage of all the audio file resolutions; in this case only 44.1 and 48kHz at 16 bits."
03/20/07
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nokxev
thx 4 linky dood 
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