Topic: Which Portable Recording machine ?

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Yeah but the rode uses electronic EQ to lower the self-noise.  I believe it shifts the noise to a different frequency, but I forget the particulars.  Just don't think you're going to get a freelunch from a cheap mass produced mic.

[dlh]

Yeah but the rode uses electronic EQ to lower the self-noise.  I believe it shifts the noise to a different frequency, but I forget the particulars.  Just don't think you're going to get a freelunch from a cheap mass produced mic.

Thanks, didn't know that.
Dave

[dogmusic]

Thanks guys,
My initial use for this item, is ambient outdoor / wildlife / nature recording, in stereo.
As I want a pretty good separation, I want to use external mic's - set apart.

For the moment, that needs to be my main objective.

I am imagining that lots of time will be quite quiet,,,, maybe the odd owl call, possibly bat sonar, insects etc, so I don't want to record loads of background machine noise/hiss etc.

I also need to take the interface into account – have read that some recorders have bad connections. Snow good buying anything that will only pick up arc’ing, clicking,,,, or nothing at all.

Of course,,,,, the recorder is only the beginning,,,,,,

Not sure how far out in the country you'll be situated, but my experience has been lately that there is so much ambient white noise in the environment, that you'd be hard put to tell what was mic-recorder noise and what is just in the air.

Any chance you are close to a store where you can try out the recorders?

[furkin]

Thanks all for your help & advice.  It's well appreciated.

As I'm not 100% certain of what I'm doing,,,, or even if it will just be a flash in the pan,,,, I have to start somewhere, that won't break the bank.

It looks like I'll be going for the Tascam 05. I'll probably order one over the weekend, gives a bit more time for input.    What should come in the box (size/type of SD etc) ?   Where do you guys in the UK buy this sort of stuff ?

I'll be treating this as a learning curve, and if I get into it, or want to take it further, then i'll have a bit of experience to call on.

For the time being, I'll try it with its internal mic's & see how I get on.

Cheers

F

[dogmusic]

Thanks all for your help & advice.  It's well appreciated.

As I'm not 100% certain of what I'm doing,,,, or even if it will just be a flash in the pan,,,, I have to start somewhere, that won't break the bank.

It looks like I'll be going for the Tascam 05. I'll probably order one over the weekend, gives a bit more time for input.    What should come in the box (size/type of SD etc) ?   Where do you guys in the UK buy this sort of stuff ?

I'll be treating this as a learning curve, and if I get into it, or want to take it further, then i'll have a bit of experience to call on.

For the time being, I'll try it with its internal mic's & see how I get on.

Cheers

F

Sounds like a good choice. I think you'll really enjoy it and be quite happy with your recordings.

Perhaps Amazon UK might be a good way to purchase online (£73.32):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tascam-DR-05-Solid-State-Recorder/dp/B004OA6JW0

The unit comes with a 2 GB micro SD memory card, and you can get larger ones very cheaply on eBay.

Here's a link to the owner's manual:

http://tascam.com/content/downloads/products/558/e_dr-05_om_va.pdf

Good luck!

[Fried Chicken Boy]

Cool.  Keep us posted on how it goes for you, furkin. 

[furkin]

oh well,,, done it.

Ordered the Tascam DR-05 from Amazon.

Also ordered a 16gb Micro-SD from Play @ £14.99.  May not be the cheapest, but s'posed to be Class 10.

Am hoping to record the sea shore - hence stereo.   I want to try catching:
1/  each end of a small wave/ripple
2/  'follow' one along the beach,,,,,, from mic to mic (speaker to speaker) type of thing. (Taboo by Arthur Lyman was great for this - way back in the 50's !?)

Can't add more until I see how separate the mics record.

thanks again

F

[dogmusic]

Am hoping to record the sea shore - hence stereo.   I want to try catching:
1/  each end of a small wave/ripple
2/  'follow' one along the beach,,,,,, from mic to mic (speaker to speaker) type of thing. (Taboo by Arthur Lyman was great for this - way back in the 50's !?)

Record at FORMAT: WAV 24 bit and SAMPLE: 96k [page 43 & 44 of the manual]  and leave the record input level at zero [page 48].

Besides getting the best possible quality, by recording at 24/96, you can raise the track levels later (in a computer program if you wish) without raising the noise level.

The DR05's record input level only changes the input digitally, which you'd be better off doing later (if necessary).

Change the input level of your waves recording by changing your distance from the source. (Careful not to get it wet!)

[furkin]

Thanks for the figures DM.  Have copied them for future use.

Am quite looking forward to it now.

F

[furkin]

The machine arrived a couple of days ago, so am - slowly - getting used to it around the home.   
There's a lot to take in as a complete newbie to Digital Recording.

The new Micro SD arrived today.  I was about to format it, but note that the DR-05's 2gb one is formatted to FAT.   Will the 05 only run as FAT ?  The rest of my gear runs on the better NTFS, as do my other SD cards & USB sticks. 

cheers

[Fried Chicken Boy]

Put the SD card in the DR-05 and have the recorder format it.  You should always format the card by way of the recorder, not in your computer.  If the recorder wants to format to FAT (as opposed to FAT32 or NTFS), allow it to and don't mess with it.  You are less likely to have issues with it (reading, writing, etc), which could result in it not working properly when you need it to.

Regarding the bit depth and sample rate you choose to record to, the aforementioned 24-bit is good as it will allow you to raise levels in post without raising noise too much.  However, the 96kHz is overkill, personally speaking and IMHO.  48kHz (DVD-quality) or 44.1 (CD-quality) should be plenty good enough for your purposes.  Unless you're planning to sync the audio you capture to hi-def video or critically listen to it on the most revealing of playback systems, stick with the lower resolutions and you'll get more recording time on your SD card.  Your ears probably can't tell the difference either. 

[hi and lo]

Put the SD card in the DR-05 and have the recorder format it.  You should always format the card by way of the recorder, not in your computer.

Great advice! Just to add to this, not only should you format only the card in the device with which it will be used, but you should do this everytime you plan to record (assuming you can transfer the old files). It is not a good idea to delete files to free up space; you must format completely for the card to perform as expected.

[moooose]

The machine arrived a couple of days ago, so am - slowly - getting used to it around the home.   

A couple of posts ago you were talking about next step, i. e. building mics based on inexpensive caps.
When you are ready to do that, I suggest you to consider Primo caps instead of Panasonic WM 61, especially if your goal is recording nature sounds. Primo caps are quieter (ca. 14 dB self noise) and better but still inexpensive.

[furkin]

A couple of posts ago you were talking about next step, i. e. building mics based on inexpensive caps.
When you are ready to do that, I suggest you to consider Primo caps instead of Panasonic WM 61, especially if your goal is recording nature sounds. Primo caps are quieter (ca. 14 dB self noise) and better but still inexpensive.

Thanks for the info,
any particular model please ?

[moooose]

The model is EM-172. You can get the caps in UK from FEL (http://www.felmicamps.co.uk/products/felconnectorsand.html) for £ 10 each.
If you like to listen to a sample, the "mistral" recording on my soundcloud page (http://soundcloud.com/moooose) has been taken with a pair of DIY mics based on those caps. Imho for the price they perform really well.