Hi Sophia,
Portable recorder will not only limit on sound quality but greatly what and how it can be done in regards of SFX or any other location recording.
For professional productions, worry-free(ish) SFX,
It is really really needed to have the exact right kit for the job as no 'one item' can do all the tricks especially outdoors where the environmental factors step heavily into the play.
Environmental/Scene factors are: wind, RF, rain, room, snow, heat, humidity, talents.... etc.
Also feedback/monitoring/control of the recording plays big role.
Basic kit would include:
good external mic(s), shockmount/grip, bag, good headphones, gaffer tape, windshield along with a solid preamp+/ recorder that is capable of worry free, high sample rates, low noise, distortion free recordings.
Retakes can be costly or simply not doable and it is expected that the recordist and his/her gear delivers it in the first take. Talent(s) usually get frustrated very easily by technical issues and drives the recorder crazy too
Also portable recorder microphones are usually strictly 'cardioids' and these are not suitable for example non-loud-source distance micin' (tapers generally have loud sources but SFX in turn...) - imagine trying to recording alligators and stuff or other animals that easily get 'spooked away' if there is no time to silently 'crouch' in to be eaten by that very same alligator.
Also if you think on putting one to boom, portable recorders may or may not have remote control (zoom has but never tried it) and you would have to run long wire for headphones that contributes potentially into noise.
Other factor to consider as well is wind noise and these recorders are usually very sensitive buggers to any moving/wind etc... wind shields are pain with recorders
I recommend hiring the gear for the job - usually productions hire the gear - either from the recordist or from the usual suspects.
But not to let down anybody with portable recorder completely for SFX on budget - it's going to be pain but doable for some limited cases:
If you can get very close to the source, control the scene/env, with adequate wind/shock -shield/mount, your deliverable is not 192kHz, you and the producer can live with potential tradeoff in sound quality that potentially affects career progression by cutting the corners:
I've used Zoom H4n as a portable recorder at times with Rycote recorder shockmount kit (includes windjammer). The inputs of Zooms are garbage but internal mics are OK(ish) for close mic for low/no-budget stuff. Zoom does have excessive handling noise thus the rycote kit comes handy greatly reducing the handling noise (it includes clip for headphone cables too). I've thought about working on zepp for it as NZ is a bit windy
and yeah, we 'improvised' once for fun with Zoom H4n and hung it on a 'boom' while shooting a quick little test:
http://twitpic.com/2lg12k 'result':
http://www.vimeo.com/14995377 (went little overboard with my bad noise reduction/mixing skillz in edit..)
If the portable recorder is thought as 'first investment' and 'build later into it' it would be wise to think about inputs as well as most pro mixers/mics output balanced XLR and very few recorders have good balanced inputs (if any!) - usually LINE in is used with these as preamps tend to be horrible. Current crop (to my knowledge) of small recorders with both XLR input & LINE/headroom (w/o running attenuators/pads) seem to suffer from horrible onboard mics (and wise-versa) and unbalanced signal transfer is a big No in professional productions. If the sound from these recorders have to be matched with image, drift will become important too.
btw there was a new recorder called Roland R-26 that had quite many mics.. but I see these just as marketing gimmicks.... I rather hire and save for a good kit than buy again and again wrong equipment.
Topic: Specific Field Recorder Advice Plz (Read 2633 times)