Best way to record sound on a handheld device.

November 12, 2006 7:35 AM

What is the best way to record sound with with a portable, hand-held device in regards to sound quality and ease of use? Suggestions for equipment and technique please.

I am creating a sound-piece for an application to a sound production course. The theme is "my life" and my idea is to record one second from every hour of one day and splice it all together. I need something to record these seconds with.

The equipment options I am considering are dictaphone type device(tape or electronic?) or an mp3 player with recording function. Is there anything else I should consider? The other question is will an external mic make much difference?

In terms of technique I was basically planning to press record every hour and then at the end of the day transfer it to my PC and edit away. Any recomendations on basic sound editing software?

My criteria are;

Sound quality - I think that the idea and execution of the idea will be more important than the sound quality, but i would still like to do everything i can to make it sound as good as possible.

Ease of use - As i will be doing this on a work day and then hopefully out somewhere at night, I would prefer something that entails basically a one device, one button record process. As mentioned above I am not sure if a mic would be useful, but I think it would make the whole process a little more complex.

Price - I don't really want to spend too much (ie over $150 aus) but would consider all option as I could see myself using this kind of equipment in the future.

posted by lrobertjones to Technology (10 answers total)

Minidisc and I think the best recorder was the Sony R70. Seek on eBay and ye shall find.
posted by Rash at 7:54 AM on November 12, 2006

The professional solution will involve miking the source properly, and using a high quality recording device. For many years, the NAGRA-E was the tried and true recording solution to your request, and most people used a Sennheiser or AKG microphone as input. It's still a great package (except that audio tape is getting harder and harder to find), but today, people want the portability of digital audio recorders, and frankly, they are both cheaper, and less obtrusive, so they get a lot of use and recommendation from individual journalists who are looking for a non-techie way of recording interviews. Given that some of these devices are small enough to be placed as microphones would be, and that the pure digital ones have no moving parts that could contribute mechanical noise to the recording process, it's hard to argue with the logic that they are the right thing for most journalists.

A lot of people swear by the Sony PCM-D1, but it is way out of your price range. Something like the M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 might be more your speed.

But there will always be a soft spot in my old heart for a NAGRA-E and a Sennheiser 412.
posted by paulsc at 8:16 AM on November 12, 2006

Previously.
posted by mykescipark at 8:29 AM on November 12, 2006

Transom.org is all about making audio recording accessible to non-professionals. Their Tools page walks you through choices on mics, minidiscs, editing software, etc.
posted by vetiver at 9:28 AM on November 12, 2006

Seems like it's probably going to be out of your price range, but I think a device like the M-Audio Microtrack is probably the "right tool for the job."

That doesn't mean however, that there aren't other tools that will still work. At the bottom end of the price range are personal mini recorders designed for dictation. I use an Olympus one and it records speech pretty well. Since sound quality is really subjective, I think you'd want to play with one and see if it would work for you.

The model I have records natively to the "DSS" format, which is some proprietary Olympus (extremely compressed, lossy) thing, but their software will happily convert it out to AIFF. It has a 1/8" unbalanced stereo mic jack, and you would definitely want to use an external microphone with whatever solution you choose.

The other options that come to mind in the 'cheap' category are MiniDisc recorders, or using an old laptop with Audacity or other recording software.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:07 AM on November 12, 2006

Audacity will do the trick for editing.
posted by ludwig_van at 10:17 AM on November 12, 2006

Don't get the microtrack, if you choose to go that way (and it's a really good way to go) instead, get the Edirol R9, which has built-in mics, and is basically a self-contained Device That Does Exactly What You Want To Do and Does It Well.

Unfortunately it's a tad over 300$, but I doubt you'll regret it. Failing that, I also recommend a HI-MD minidisc recorder. I use the RH-10 and get phenomenal results.
posted by fake at 12:42 PM on November 12, 2006

Again, the r9 is everything you want in a single package - everything but the price. You may be able to find other, older recorders (like the r-1) cheaper on eBay.

With almost every other solution you need to buy a microphone, have some cables, a battery, special unloading software, blah blah.

I did buy a transcend branded MP3 player with a decent dictaphone. Have a look at those or the creative MuVo line, they're not *completely* awful. But they really don't compare to the R9.
posted by fake at 12:46 PM on November 12, 2006

I have a microtrack that I bought used, and am pretty happy with it. Good quality, works reliably.
posted by sdis at 2:29 PM on November 12, 2006

The microtrack does come with a small, but decent stereo mic that plugs in via 1/8in jack. I've had good luck with it, but, yeah, there are better (more expensive) recorders out there.

Lots of good info from the Vermont Folklife Center.
posted by imposster at 5:59 PM on November 12, 2006