professioal on the go recording?

[ezb]

I'm from a journalism background and hope to both podcast and sell radio pieces while I do some travelling in the fall.

Has anybody stumbled onto some professional recording gear that isn't gigantic?

Specifically, I would be looking for something with XLR inputs and a VU meter.

I know lots of radio people use their minidiscs but....meh...doesn't seem like the best rig.

[F7sound]

Marantz makes a "Professional" solid state recorder (compact flash cards I think) that has XLR/phantom power inputs. No VUs, however. It can record WAVs w/no compression and I think it runs on 6AAs. It's smaller comared to a portaDAT with an external mixer of years past. The unit costs about $699.

Now, you could also go iRiver, which Best Buy has on SALE for $179 (that's the 1GB version BTW). It's consumer all the way, but... sound quality is good enough for podcasting and radio too.


Michael Oster
F7 Sound and Vision
http://www.F7sound.com
my podcasts - http://www.F7sound.com/podcasts.htm
my blog - http://michaeloster.blogspot.com

[ezb]

Now, you could also go iRiver, ... sound quality is good enough for podcasting and radio too.


Do you find there's any problems capturing good audio levels without being able to monitor them as you record?

[F7sound]

Now, you could also go iRiver, ... sound quality is good enough for podcasting and radio too.


Do you find there's any problems capturing good audio levels without being able to monitor them as you record?

I did a couple of "quick records" at various levels and focused in on something that works pretty much all the time with the mics that I use. When you shut off the iRiver it keeps its settings which is great. The whole thing with the iRiver is that it's ultra-portable, records very quickly, and has good sound quality. I carry the ****ed thing everywhere and record whenever I want to.

Michael Oster
F7 Sound and Vision
http://www.F7sound.com
my podcasts - http://www.F7sound.com/podcasts.htm
my blog - http://michaeloster.blogspot.com

[gozar]

I just bought an iRiver 795 for portable recordings, but if I had the money I would've looked at the Edirol R-1 (http://www.edirol.com/products/info/r1.html). It doesn't have XLR input, but it does have one mic and one line-in inputs, and it appears to be pretty small. It's around $400 though.

[jeffoest]

I just bought the 899 (I think that's it) from Best Buy for $179. I'm going to get a binaural mic for it from Sound Professional but I did have a couple of questions

1) while I really had no intention of using the internal mic, I find that for some reason it seems very sensitive and not designed for vocal recording - I was pretty far away from it (say 3 feet) and talking in a normal voice. I transferred the file to Audition and found that it was clipping all over the place. You can't control the input volume of the voice input. Like I said, no biggee - it just struck me as kind of weird - same experience as others?

2) for 'interview' type of recording can I just use my existing dynamic mics (I have a Shure SM58 and a Sennheiser MD421) if I buy a XLR->1/8" cord? Or is there something more complex I need to do?

[Craig]

You can't control the input volume of the voice input.
Jeff, do you have the automatic gain control on? Go into the Control menu, select VOICE RECORDING MODE, and turn on AGC. That should take care of the clipping problems, although it does seem strange that you're experiencing them with the iRiver so far away.

Craig

[jeffoest]

Craig - thanks for responding. Yea - I tried it with both the AGC off and AGC on and got similar results (in terms of clipping).

[Craig]

I'd contact iRiver, or see if you can exchange it at Best Buy. My 795 definitely doesn't do that.

Craig

[F7sound]

I also had the clipping issue with my 899. Once I switched the AGC on, everything was fine. I primarily use external mics with my iRiver though.


Michael Oster
F7 Sound and Vision
http://www.F7sound.com
my podcasts - http://www.F7sound.com/podcasts.htm
my blog - http://michaeloster.blogspot.com

[Craig]

I primarily use external mics with my iRiver though.
Ditto. If you want to stay ultra-portable, consider using one of these:

http://www.reactivesounds.com/rp1.php

Craig

[Cookiepuss]

I would say get a Nomad Jukebox 3 from eBay or elsewhere.

http://www.nomadworld.com/products/jukebox3/

They are the standard for non-DAT live show recording since you can record to WAV. Plus they have large capacity with good controls and monitoring (to a degree). Sound quality is perfect. They are on eBay for around $150.

;)

[pdadave]

Another option to consider is Minidisk. Great quality recordings, the discs are real cheap, and the player/recorders are good priced and small. Obviously you won't get an XLR input, but still something to consider.

[yaz]

we need a cheap way to do interviews on the street, because we have some shortbus riders that we don't want to bring in the house, but we would like to put them on the show...anyone have a cheap, decent idea to reach these window lickers?

[Cookiepuss]

we need a cheap way to do interviews on the street, because we have some shortbus riders that we don't want to bring in the house, but we would like to put them on the show...anyone have a cheap, decent idea to reach these window lickers?

I'd say the cheapest is go to Radio Shack. Buy a cheap cassette recorder (normal size tapes) and a few good quality tapes (60min). Then record the interviews and use a dual 1/8" cord to record from the cassette to your computer using line-in. You can clean up the sound quality using Audacity or other "noise removal" tools in your audio editing app. If you need a cheap mic that sounds good look at the Sony F-V100. They have them at Best Buy for $10. That way you could loose the whole rig and only be out like $20. ;)

Might want to invest in a big fat windscreen to catch any slobber etc. so another $2.00. Sometimes I think the tape recording sound is fitting for some things. It adds character.

[yaz]

man, i never thought of just doing it on tape, we were thinking about going with a digital voice recorder because bibb is a geek and it would be an excuse to buy something semi-costly, but thanks for the tip...maybe next week we'll have the bike-retard on our show...

[Cookiepuss]

Oh. . ."semi-costly" would just be a recordable minidisc from eBay. For the size and sound quality it can't be beat. Plus you have a physical master which there is a lot to be said for.

[yaz]

i like the cookiepuss...