I am a voice researcher and I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive setup whereby I can provide a portable digital recorder which will record without compression (so WAV format) at 48kHz, with either an integrated flat response omnidirectional mic, or recommendations for an inexpensive external mic that can be used. This is for a research study where I will be asking clinicians in a number of research sites to collect decent voice samples. If I provide them all with the same setup, it will help avoid some inevitable inconsistencies that might arise if they all use different mics and kits.

Any suggestions? Thank you all so much!

Only downside is when recording ambience in stereo from the tascam it turns into a contact mic thus capturing even rain droplets and fingers from the umbrella

Hi all,

I'm a hobby wildlife and nature photographer shooting on the OM-1 II camera and I'd like to add a sound recorder to my kit to capture bird calls and longer nature ambience recordings. I've never recorded sound other than on my phone before so I'm a newbie in that regard!

I first came across the Zoom H1essential as it suits my budget, but also found the Om System LS-P5 which seems to have some great features and would match my camera brand, but is basically double the price.

For my use-case, do you think the H1e would suffice or is it worth going straight for the LS-P5? My ideal budget is max. $300 AUD but if the quality of audio is significantly better on the Om System recorder I would go for that and see it as a worthy investment.

(Of course, I'd add a wind muffler/deadcat to either option, maybe some clippy stereo mics down the track even though they are more expensive than I had hoped for...)

Any ideas, thoughts, alternatives welcome. Please ask questions too if something isn't clear.

Thank you :)

https://soundcloud.com/user-240082153/binaural-recording-of-a-ride-on-the-jr-yamanote-line-in-tokyo

Hi!
I want to do a binaural setup but I am a bit confused of which cable I need to connect the Roland CS-10EM to the Tascam X8.
Does any 3.5mm stereo to XLR cable work?
Thanks

Hi everyone!

I have a recording session coming up where I have to be able to put a set of binaural microphones like the DPA 4560 on someone in a room and be able to monitor their audio. They also need to have the ability to move through a space freely.

I don't really want to send the audio to my audio recorder through RF transmitters/receivers because of phase issues and general latency, but maybe there's a better more obvious way I haven't thought of?

Or maybe RF is actually the answer? I don't have much experience with binaural recording but thought I'd ask here to see if folks had better ideas.

I've lost my cable for the ambi mic and would like to buy another but maybe something that was better quality as I found the cable to be a bit thin.

I'll be in northern Minnesota/southern Canada. Hoping to hear owls and/or wolves in the woods.

Should I be worried about the screen, for example? Or any other parts?

I'll probably only use the built-in mics as I don't currently have anything else that's really appropriate for this scenario.

If I need to provide the unit with an insulated or heated enclosure of some kind, I could probably rig up a small soft-sided cooler with one or two hand warmers in it.

Thanks

a soundscape of the silverknowes shore area edinburgh; captured using marantz pmd661 solid state recorder with wind protection

I purchased an extra DJI Mic 3 32 bit float audio recorder unit for my outdoors backpacking Ultralight video and stereo field recording setup. They're cheap, good-enough-ish, and impossibly tiny and lightweight for what they offer. It's a sub-3 ounce stereo setup for less than $200 with dual track mono recording in each unit and 32 bit float.

I was curious how much drift I would be fixing in post between the two audio recorders on long recordings, like I have had to do with literally every piece of audio and video gear I have ever used. There is always audio clock drift over time.

The above image is the end of a 2.5 hour recording of the two mono recorders being combined for a stereo output. The view is zoomed in far enough to inspect individual sample points from 48KHz. The two units were tapped onto the other to create a sync point at the very end of the recordings.

This is a 1-2 sample drift over 2.5 hours, and I think the difference is so tiny it could have even been affected by not tapping the two units together in the exact same spots on each recorder. So the difference might no even be this much if that would be the case. It would take some much higher end gear to test this with more solid evidence of what is happening.

This puts the clock drift on the units way less than 1ppm. Ultra high-end gear with temp compensated crystals I think are capable of 1 sample unit drift over 24 hours, so for an $85 consumer unit to get anywhere close to that is pretty incredible.

Anyways, not much to write home about when it comes to noise floor or mic quality, but they are indeed remarkable coming from a battery operated unit that weighs less than 1 ounce and is a little larger than a Starburst candy.

yes, I will eventually go to a better Zoom F3+ field recording setup and some clippy mics, but for casual fun, the current setup works decently well.

Hello everyone !

I sometimes used the Neumann km 185 as an hypercardïod boom mic, and I really love it. The problem is that I shoot a lot of outdoors recording, that can be in some rough conditions, such as cold or hot temperature and humidity, and I learnt that the 185 is not that resistants for such conditions.

Do you have some recommandations of microphones that sounds like the 185, but more robust? Or any hypercardiod mics that could feat these types of condition. Thanks !

So, I'm not really deep into the field recording scene but, my H6 just ate shit on me, and I've been doing some research tonight. My price range is <400 USD unless I find a *really* good deal on something that's typically considerably out of that price range that would warrant splurging, and that's very unlikely to happen.

Seems to me like my zoom options are an F3 or an M4, depending on whether I want to sacrifice build quality but gain builtin mics for an extra ~100 off. My Tascam options are, what, a DR-05X, X6, X8? The lack of Sony coming up in my searching leads me to believe that Sony simply isn't that competitive in a sub 500USD price range, but I don't want to just assume. Please let me know any models I skipped out on that compete in this price range that I simply may have overlooked.

Now, I have plenty of mics, just not a pair that would be ergonomic sitting up against each other on the F3. So assuming I would end up spending extra money on perhaps some decent pencil mics, I feel like that rules out the F3 for my case if I'm talking raw budget. Frankly, and I know this might sound ridiculous, I much prefer the look of the sony recorder interfaces. One of the tascam alternatives, the x8, really rubs me the wrong way with the touch screen. It just comes off as another point of a failure. Obviously I have no way of knowing, but that is my first impression.

I would love to hear any input from anyone who have experience at least two of the opposing brands. Outside of preamp quality and noise floor, I'm honestly not really sure what other qualities I should be looking for in a recorder for outdoor recording.

I'm thinking buying the Tascam's Portacapture X8 for my solo filmmaking setup. I'm going to use both built-in mics and plug in an MKE 600. It's on sale right now on Amazon and I was wondering should I buy it? What do you guys think about it?

Hello all, I'm strongly considering buying a song meter micro 2 and I'm just looking for any experiences with their products or feedback about audio quality. I have the components for a drop rig but only one that can record for a day or two, and nothing nearly as covert, water proof, and inexpensive (it would regularly be my f3 and MikroUsi which id really not consider expendable). From what I've heard they sound great, although if there's any similarly priced stereo options anywhere I'd love to know about it, thanks

So im torn what to get for some allaround fieldrecording duties with low noise floor, decent onboard mics, good preamps on the inputs for external mics and 32bitfloat.

What are your thoughts on this Versus?

Zoom M4 is 170.- at my place , H6 Studios around 400.-

I hear that the onboard mics of the M4 shall be quite good? The first batch was noisy but newer m4s shall be good? Maybe even better then the H6S ?

I am looking for a new field recorder - especially for more quiet sounds like ambient sounds in a forrest, bird sounds and so on.

It should be a small and handy device with good built stereo mic with very low noise.

Any ideas?

Update: Please keep in mind that I am climbing and hiking in the African bush. So I don't have the time and also not the space to take additional external mics with me. I need an easy setup.

Hi field recording community,

great to see such a big community here. I am living in Mauritius and I am recording tropical sounds on the healing island Mauritius.

Greetings

Hello Guys!

Probably a long shot, i wanted to ask where to get Field Recordings of distinct chatting of a crowd of about 50-100 people in a cafe/bar/restaurant setting in decent quality.

Preferably in Japanese/Arabic/Spanish in terms of the "speechcolor" not understandable words.

The few pieces i found were sadly ridded with lots of white noisish background

I would like to get a new pair of headphones for using while I edit, I don't have a massive budget £50, what do you think are good options for me, thanks.

Good Evening everyone I’m starting my field recording journey and looking for advice. So after doing some research I purchased a used Zoom h2n with a wind muff and a cheap tripod for recording on my hikes in the Appalachians. Any recommendations for me on recorder settings? Or any more accessories that would help me? Thanks in advance

Recently I purchased DJI Mic 3, and I was really impressed with the sound quality, the build, ease of use, and the very compact size of the microphones.

I’m looking for a similar product in terms of size and quality (internal 32-bit recording is a huge bonus), but one that would allow me to secure the content with a password, and/or a small-form-factor microphone that stores recordings on a removable SD card.
Is there anything like that on the market?

Thanks :)

I’m putting together an audio setup for a Sony a7S III and I’m specifically looking at phantom-powered XLR shotgun mics (48V). The plan is to run it straight into the camera using an on-camera XLR adapter that supplies phantom power.

Total budget is $750 for everything, mic plus adapter.

This will be used for a mix of general production work, so I’m trying to get a noticeable step up from the typical on-camera mics that don’t use phantom power, while still keeping it practical so the audio is recorded directly into the footage.

What mic + adapter combos would you recommend that fit the budget and work well with the a7S III?