Topic: OLYMPUS DIGITAL VOICE RECORDER VN-1100PC - what can i do with it?

[theCro]

Hello. i've been working with thisthing, just him, without extra mic's for a year... and sound which  i record has lots of disortions and its too heavy..dunno how to say, too loud? yes thats the word...

so my question is HOW to make clear sounds with it and is this thing capable of recording concerts? i tried once and all what i got was noisy loud sh*t.. thanks! Help Please!

[flintstone]

The VN-1100PC is designed for voice recording.  The internal mic and preamp is too sensitive to record loud music.  The result will be lots of distortion and clipping.

There's no option for external mic, but I believe you might be able to record a line input from an external preamp and microphone(s) better suited to loud sounds.

The recorder uses CELP and ADPCM file format, two compression techniques designed for voice recording.  They're not popular for music recording.  Olympus probably has some software to help play these formats back on your PC. I think you'll have trouble playing back your recordings on other devices.

All these issues mean you are unlikely to get good results when recording music with the VN-1100PC.  It's a good machine for dictation, so you might be able to sell it and buy some recorder that would work better for music.

Flintstone

[theCro]

The VN-1100PC is designed for voice recording.  The internal mic and preamp is too sensitive to record loud music.  The result will be lots of distortion and clipping.

There's no option for external mic, but I believe you might be able to record a line input from an external preamp and microphone(s) better suited to loud sounds.

The recorder uses CELP and ADPCM file format, two compression techniques designed for voice recording.  They're not popular for music recording.  Olympus probably has some software to help play these formats back on your PC. I think you'll have trouble playing back your recordings on other devices.

All these issues mean you are unlikely to get good results when recording music with the VN-1100PC.  It's a good machine for dictation, so you might be able to sell it and buy some recorder that would work better for music.

Flintstone

ok, to make my voice recording better they recommended me this microphone: http://www.olympus-europa.com/consumer/2587_ME-12_Microphone.htm

they said it's for this device..what do you think about it? ps. thanks alot for your response

pss what else to buy for good concert recordings

[sunjan]

ok, to make my voice recording better they recommended me this microphone: http://www.olympus-europa.com/consumer/2587_ME-12_Microphone.htm

That looks like a mono mic, and you'd still be stuck with a compressed format recorder, which is pretty useless IMHO. You'd achieve better results with an old minidisc recorder for $30, so don't waste your money building your rig on the Olympus voice recorder.

Depending on your budget; if you have $350 to spare, I'd buy an Iriver H120 and a Church Combo (mics + preamp).
Sell the Olympus recorder and start saving up! ;-)