Topic: Edirol R-09 Sound Quality for Interviews, HELP! I'm a Newbie!

[Bardy]

I am trying to decide what to buy for CD Marketing Production.  Interviews, then add intro and outro with music under and edit in Audacity.  I am concerned about the Edirol R-09 internal mics being good enough for reproduction quality.  1000 copies are made and people listen on home or car stereo systems.  Can anybody help me?  Suggest another or which external mic to buy to use with this one?  It's gotta sound good folks!  I have read alot about the hissing being heard when recording soft sound, like interviews, but no problems with music.  I  DO NOT RECORD MUSIC!  Just voices talking.  HELP!  LOST IN DIGITAL LAND! (I was a DJ in analog days)
Thanks!  Bardy

[youngsbest]

I use the RO9 for market research interviews and it's absolutley fine.  I set it to acg, high gain and it sounds great with the internal mics.  No issues with hiss; picks up voices very clearly.  The only issues I have are when doing street interviews in bright sunshine, and it's hard to see the screen.  I have it sticking out of my shirt pocket and it records the interviewee perfectly.

[guysonic]

Wouldn't hurt to try R-09 internal mics to see if this works well enough for requirements.  If finding this too noisy, or handling noise of deck using the internal mics is too awkward or wanting a mic with wind noise protection, then external preamp/mic into R-09 will certainly work for most critical of requirements.

I do have an available upgrade solution with small external preamplifier for using your choice of regular handheld interview mic having a windscreen, or HRTF DSM baffled headworn type mic with windscreen for highest quality stereo-surround recording of voice and surrounding ambient to consider. 

Daylight OLED screen invisibility is a concern that is not easily fixed using the internal mics, but with deck inside special 'daylight viewcase' I've found, seeing the screen is not a problem.

See review of R-09 with viewcase and links to external preamp/DSM mics at: www.sonicstudios.com/r-09revw.htm

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[stevetoney]

I'm really impressed with the sound quality of the internal mics on the R-09.  WAAAAY better than your typical...say video camera mic.

If you do have to turn it up so much that hiss ever becomes an issue, I've had excellent success using Audition to filter the hiss out in post.  You choose a short passage of hiss as a sample, Audition samples the hiss and filters that out of the final recording, leaving only the good stuff.