Handheld Recorders

[ralphbsz]

I looked into this for a while. Obviously, the real battle is the microphone; any digital recorder should be able to handle the rest. In our case, we wanted to also be able to record video (with a teenage son in the house, you have to be able to record things like rugby games, school honor roll ceremonies, and most importantly his school band concerts). So I decided that the camcorder will have to do double duty as an audio recorder.

The ability to record video means that I need an external microphone (the mics in camcorders are horrible, in particular at low frequencies). And recording things like tuba + piano duo, or a band concert, requires stereo for a satisfying listening experience. So I looked for an external mic that has reasonable specs, in particular good low-frequency response, and is self-amplified (because a camcorder won't supply phantom power, and I don't want to have yet a third item to schlepp around). After some searching, I found a reasonable compromise: the Rode Stereo VideoMic. If you turn the rumble filter off, it goes down to 40Hz (although it starts dropping at 100Hz), and it is small enough that you can strap it to the camcorder and take it to a school band concert and don't look like a geek. For the camcorder, I went with a pretty generic Canon (making sure that the model has both external mic input and headphone output). Combine that with decent headphones, and you can review the recordings right from the camcorder, or you can upload them to the computer and listen to them there. And for reviewing tuba practice, you can even record with the shutter closed on the camcorder, then there is no distracting video, and the files are smaller.

This solution isn't dirt cheap (camcorder + microphone adds up to nearly $600, less now that the Canon camcorder is on sale at Costco), but it had adequate sound quality, and kills several birds with one stone.

[opus37]

The Tascam IM-2 works with the iPhone 4, but for the 5 or 6 you are out of luck. The new Apple connector makes it obsolete and now it isn't made anymore. You can still get one cheap of Ebay, but then you have to figure out a conversion from the 30 pin to the new connector. I'm not sure that will work. With that said, Zoom has a few versions of their mike that have the right connector. Has anyone tried one of these new external mikes for iPhone?

[MartyNeilan]

I had an H2 about 5 years ago, and it worked quite well. When I was done with the project I was working on, I sold it. I have been very dissatisfied with the iPhone's built-in mic, but I have the newer lightning connector on my work iPhone that is incompatible with the Tascam. I just purchased a used Blue Mikey off eBay for less than half price and will see how that works with tuba.

[nobody]

Throw some compression on the solo part to isolate what matters most -- your "World Class Tone"

Man! I need me some of this "World Class Tone"!