Field recording device (1 Viewer)

[RSJ]

Girlfriend is looking for something to do some field recordings with for college. Yer general conversations, sound, water, clicks, pops - arty stuff. Her college is telling her to get a mini-disk as it needs to be high quality, but they're showing up pretty expensive. Any suggestions of a cheap(ish) high quality alternative? Looking at this but it don't seem to be out yet and two hundred is still a little much.

 

[worthit]

thats about as cheap as you're gonna get

 

[Beanstalk]

If you have a laptop, check it for mic inputs...some of them have one.

Does the quality of sound have to be really good? If not, stick a few batteries in an old tape recorder and use that.

 

[RSJ]

If you have a laptop, check it for mic inputs...some of them have one.

Does the quality of sound have to be really good? If not, stick a few batteries in an old tape recorder and use that.

She has a laptop but it's a bit on the heavy side and she's not much for lifting stuff. We have some dictaphones but she was told the quality wouldn't be up to scratch. it's for a sort of installation thing with video and shit, so it'd need to be hiss and distortion free. Maybe that $200 thing is the way to go after all...

 

[Pantone247]

that Zoom thing at the NAMM isn't out yet, the article says they had a "non working model" so it could be a while

looking at thomann.de

http://www.thomann.de/gb/sony_hi_md_mz_rh1.htm

I like mini discs a lot, very portable, very very stable, If the recorder breaks at least your discs are still there and the information is still acsessable... them new machines give a lot of files format options too and USB could mean you could move files easily between the recorder and yr 'puter

http://www.thomann.de/gb/zoom_h_4.htm

This is the current Zoom model, got a good review in a recent Sound On Sound, seems to be lots of these coming out at the moment and I'd guess there'll be a price drop soon enough, but that model at 329 is the cheapest thomman have anyhow

If you have an ipod you could use one of these

http://www.expansys.ie/p.aspx?i=120292

but it's more a dictaphone thing and probably sounds like ass... my Creative Micro Photo has a microphone but it's more a "Memo to self.." type of deal...

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

Yeah, it ain't getting any cheaper, dude.

 

[Pantone247]

the minidisc could be used as your day to day walkman, and handles MP3s (albeit on discs) so looking at it that way it's alright, but the Zoom would hold a re-sale value better if she was only using for a certain period of time and then sold it

 

[RSJ]

We were looking at the sony MD's alright, but i remember the brother sorting out a load of music for a mate onto her sony MD and it gave him no end of grief with software. Can't remember the specifics, something like the CDs had to be ripped by the MD's software and not a third party thing. Obviously doesn't relate to the recording of sound, but if we were to run into trouble in the end using what we'd recorded because of the sony software, it'd be a pain.

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

Sony had a proprietary minidisc compression thing (ATRAC?) that didn't play nice with the other kids.
Might have been your Bro's trouble.

 

[Pantone247]

Sony had a proprietary minidisc compression thing (ATRAC?) that didn't play nice with the other kids.
Might have been your Bro's trouble.

yeah it's ATRAC, though the software they used to supply with the NetMDs was a f-ing nightmare, so many copycontrol devices that it rendered it almost unusable

I know since they've gone Hi-MD or whatever, they're aiming at a more pro-markets, so I'd read up anything you can about the useability/software before you dismiss it. They're offering MP3, Wavs, Atrac, as available media, so that indicates a far more flexible scenario

I was just thinking though, you may have to get a seperate stereo mic for the MD player, and that Zoom has two stereo condensors stuck right on there... worth considering if yr doing the sums

 

[SONYMEGADRIVE]

just place a contact mic on a tractor

ah ha ha ha ha ha ah ho ho ho ho ho ah ah ah ah ah ho ho ho ho

did you hear about the magik traktor? it turned into a field ha ha ha ha ho
ah ho ho ho ho ha

 

[the departed]

note to READYSTEADy..
apparantly blank minidiscs are really hard to come by now in shops.
but i guess thats not so bad as you buy things on the interweb.
also you can pick up perfect 2nd hand minidisc players for cheap.

 

[worthit]

i have a sony minidisc that i use for field recording. its one of the himd ones but the programme (sonic stage i think) was such a nightmare that i stopped using it altogether and now just stick regular minidiscs in it.

 

[ernesto]

sony software is gick. you could transfer the audio from an md to pc via a line-in port. i have loads of blank MDs i could throw your way if she goes down that route