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Which portable recorder

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  • 10-07-2015 5:47pm
    #1
    eman66
    Closed Accounts Posts: 602 ✭✭✭


    I'm looking for a portable recorder to record classical music. It would be mostly chamber music in a hall or church, organ and classical singing in a church, and opera and chamber orchestras in a theatre.

    It was looking like one of the Zoom models at first but reading further maybe the praise they get is not entirely justified.

    Anyone use a portable recorder and are you happy with its performance?


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    #2
    TroutMask
    Registered Users Posts: 743 ✭✭✭TroutMask


    ZOOMs are OK. When I say OK, I mean adequate, satisfactory. They have issues that could make them unsuitable for recording classical music: the pre-amp noise floor can be quite high; they have issues with dynamic range; once they are up on a stand, the controls are inaccessible. Maybe the newer ones are better, I'm not sure. I was given choral live tracks recorded on ZOOMs a couple of years ago and asked to mix them for a CD–I ended up having to run all of the tracks through a CEDAR system to get rid of the noise.
    I see ZOOMs more as a suited for recording pop/rock/sonic environments on the fly. For classical, perhaps consider a more hi-end recorder: better pres and capsules, better conversion.......?


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    #3
    greenpilot
    Registered Users Posts: 1,657 ✭✭✭greenpilot


    TroutMask wrote: »
    ZOOMs are OK. When I say OK, I mean adequate, satisfactory. They have issues that could make them unsuitable for recording classical music: the pre-amp noise floor can be quite high; they have issues with dynamic range; once they are up on a stand, the controls are inaccessible. Maybe the newer ones are better, I'm not sure. I was given choral live tracks recorded on ZOOMs a couple of years ago and asked to mix them for a CD–I ended up having to run all of the tracks through a CEDAR system to get rid of the noise.
    I see ZOOMs more as a suited for recording pop/rock/sonic environments on the fly. For classical, perhaps consider a more hi-end recorder: better pres and capsules, better conversion.......?

    I use the zoom h4n with the accessory kit with remote control, hot shoe, wind jammers etc. Does pretty damn good.


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    #4
    eman66
    Closed Accounts Posts: 602 ✭✭✭eman66


    TroutMask wrote: »
    ...For classical, perhaps consider a more hi-end recorder: better pres and capsules, better conversion.......?
    Would you have any suggestions? And I don't know what pres and capsules are! :o


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    #5
    eman66
    Closed Accounts Posts: 602 ✭✭✭eman66


    greenpilot wrote: »
    I use the zoom h4n with the accessory kit with remote control, hot shoe, wind jammers etc. Does pretty damn good.
    That's good to hear. Ever do any classical? Be worried about the noise mentioned as levels will often get low.


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    #6
    godfrey
    Registered Users Posts: 415 ✭✭godfrey


    The preamps aren't a problem if using the built-in mics or external mics with a reasonably high output level, eg; most condensor mics. For dynamic mics, the noise floor may well be unacceptable, especially given the wide dynamic range of classical music. One shouldn't use dynamic mics for this anyway.

    As with all recordings, use the best quality format available to you. In this case 44.1k sample rate (48k if you're working with video) and only use .wav. Any other (mp3) is reducing your quality needlessly and it can never be recovered.

    g
    eman66 wrote: »
    I'm looking for a portable recorder to record classical music. It would be mostly chamber music in a hall or church, organ and classical singing in a church, and opera and chamber orchestras in a theatre.

    It was looking like one of the Zoom models at first but reading further maybe the praise they get is not entirely justified.

    Anyone use a portable recorder and are you happy with its performance?


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    #7
    TroutMask
    Registered Users Posts: 743 ✭✭✭TroutMask


    eman66 wrote: »
    Would you have any suggestions? And I don't know what pres and capsules are! :o

    Sorry!
    pres = preamps. Capsules= the microphone elements–the assembly containing the electret microphone and its associated circuitry.

    For this spec, it depends what you are doing; if you plan on releasing the recordings, you might want to consider a more hi-end machine, or even a system with discrete components.


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    #8
    eman66
    Closed Accounts Posts: 602 ✭✭✭eman66


    Leaning towards a Sony PCM-M10

    Anyone know if it's missing anything?


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    #9
    TroutMask
    Registered Users Posts: 743 ✭✭✭TroutMask


    No XLRs, only an issue if you plan to hook up external mics. What is the intention for the mixes–just for playing back, or do you plan to release the takes as albums? Because if the latter is the case, you probably might want to think about a more elaborate rig.


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    #10
    eman66
    Closed Accounts Posts: 602 ✭✭✭eman66


    TroutMask wrote: »
    No XLRs, only an issue if you plan to hook up external mics. What is the intention for the mixes–just for playing back, or do you plan to release the takes as albums? Because if the latter is the case, you probably might want to think about a more elaborate rig.
    The original intention was to record for the web. Knowing me, I'll get the bug and want to do more.


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    #11
    eman66
    Closed Accounts Posts: 602 ✭✭✭eman66


    Could that be a big loss, no XLR connections?

    I am a trainee, beginner, newbie, apprentice. :)


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    #12
    TroutMask
    Registered Users Posts: 743 ✭✭✭TroutMask


    eman66 wrote: »
    The original intention was to record for the web. Knowing me, I'll get the bug and want to do more.

    If you're recording for the web = XLRs unnecessary
    If you want to make records = XLRs necessary (usually)

    Get the Sony for now. When you want to make records, buy a bigger recorder with XLRs + some nice mics, cables & stands


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