Handheld recorders any good??

[classic]

I am planing to do some outdoor sound recording.

I just want to know, if this handheld sound recorders are usefull for that task and if the quality is good enough.

Or are there other affordable ways to record outdoor sounds that have better quality.

May be this micros you can buy for modern handys do the same job.

Any experience that anybody can share with me.

Thanks a lot
classic

[Mushy Mushy]

Yes.

[mztk]

i don't have a dedicated portable recorder, i have a Boss
microBR, which has an onboard mic or you can use a plugin mic, and it
seems pretty sensitive - and there's a noise suppressor onboard. don't
know if this would be sufficient quality for you - but if you consider also
that it is mutlitrack with usb export, SD card memory, input/record, track,
and master fx stages, can serve as a guitar/mic pre-amp with something
like 90 user-editable fx presets, combinations of the usual fx, a decent
guitar etc. tuner..what else...you can fit it in a pocket, runs on 2xAA batteries
for a fair while, easy to use- you send tracks/mixdowns to pc via usb to a program
that exports wavs. not full wav recording, it is one of roland adaptive algorithms,
the best quality is probably ok - it's a great little gadget; don't know what the
later one is like: more memory/features. i wish mine had midi sync.

[Shy]

Sony PCM-D1 is the only good handheld recorder. Any other handheld recorder, including PCM-D50, is crap. That is, if you actually care about sound quality (and noise). And I mean D1 is also much better than D50 with external mics. It has much higher quality preamps. I've used some decent handheld recorders, and I still have a Roland R-1 (which has much better sound quality than all their newer handheld recorders), but they're all toys.

If you want one of those stand-alone field recorders, the best products by far are by Sound Devices. An Edirol R-44 with the Doug Oade preamp upgrade may be an excellent cheaper option. A PCM-D1 can be close to those in sound quality, but it doesn't sound as good / crisp / detailed, and although it has by far the least noise of all handheld recorders, it's nothing in comparison to those, but with certain environments and/or mics it may not matter.

My preference for high quality field recording is a little (with 13-inch or less screen), thin and light laptop and a USB bus-powered audio interface with excellent preamps (see Babyface) in a small messenger bag or backpack, to which whatever stereo mic I prefer is connected. If you must have quick access to stop/start recording, there are various smartphone apps that control a sequencer (Cubase, Logic, Pro Tools etc.) via Bluetooth. Use a tripod when needed. That's it.

[Mushy Mushy]

Depends how serious you are and your desire quality.
An iPhone and a mic attachment works wonders as well.

Much cheaper too - assuming you already have the phone.

[masterhiggins]

Been extremely happy with my sony pcm-m10. The self noise of the preamps is quieter than anything I've used.

-Sam

[pdxindy]

The conditions in which you are recording matter much more than the equipment.

[Uncle E]

Has anyone used the IK Multimedia iRig Pre?

http://www.jrrshop.com/ik-multimedia-ir ... os-devices

I have the one from Griffin (which looks almost identical to the iRig Pre) and it's absolute crap, a complete waste of money even at its low price.

[masterhiggins]

Has anyone used the IK Multimedia iRig Pre?

http://www.jrrshop.com/ik-multimedia-ir ... os-devices

I have the one from Griffin (which looks almost identical to the iRig Pre) and it's absolute crap, a complete waste of money even at its low price.

Yes. It too is absolute crap. Built like a cheap garage door opener and the gain knob is hard to adjust because there's no grip on it. I returned it immediately.

-Sam

[Mister Natural]

I've gotten one of these for my iPhone & have to say, it works and sounds fantastic

http://www.jrrshop.com/tascam-im2-micro ... for-iphone

peace