Catskills week - digital recorder

matahari_1946 · Post by **matahari_1946** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:12 pm

I'm going to be attending the Irish week in the Catskills next month. Can anyone suggest a digital recorder to take with me? I don't have one so I'd like to know what others like. Thanks!

*Edited for spelling

Feadoggie · Post by **Feadoggie** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:36 pm

matahari_1946 wrote:Can anyone suggest a digital recorder to take with me? I don't have one so I'd like to know what others like.

You have a wealth of choices. In the past I have used cassette recorders and digital voice recorders. The casstte recorder worked well but was cumbersome. The digital voice recorder was meant for transcription and the microphones didn't do an adequate job of capturing the sound across a room. I would suggest one of the many hand-held digital recorders currently available. Edirol makes the R-09. Zoom offers the H-4 and H-2 handycorders. Olympus offers the LS-10. Tascam has the DR-1. Sony provides the PCM-D50 and others. Marantz has the PDM620. I am sure I have left some out too. These all have good microphones and more features than most people would use. All will give you good results. Prices range from under $200 on up. I have a Zoom H-2 and am happy with it so far.

Feadoggie

plunk111 · Post by **plunk111** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:20 pm

I highly recommend the Zoom H4. It's even nicer with the new firmware update. Feadoggie - if you haven't installed the new software (and it's available for the H2), do it! Lots of new features...

Pat

Feadoggie · Post by **Feadoggie** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:35 pm

plunk111 wrote:Feadoggie - if you haven't installed the new software (and it's available for the H2), do it! Lots of new features...

Thanks Pat! I will look into that.

Feadoggie

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:46 pm

Mark Nelson, a folk musician who dabbles in a wide variety of traditions, has some good in-depth reviews of a bunch of handheld digital recorders here:

http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/pub/tag_general/112

Just scroll down and look for all the reviews by Mark Nelson.

Really it depends on whether you want good sound quality or just a useable record of what you heard. If it's the latter you can get away with a cheap dictaphone-type recorder, but otherwise check out Mark's reviews.

malanstevenson · Post by **malanstevenson** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:55 pm

Hiya Tiff,

Dani had a Zoom H2 at the Salt Lake Piping Club tionol this weekend, and from what she said it really does the business: http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2007/0 ... rder.html

See you soon,
Mark

matahari_1946 · Post by **matahari_1946** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:01 pm

Thanks, all, for your suggestions. Mark, I saw Dani's recorder but didn't realize that was a Zoom. This is why I'm asking about recorders. Since I didn't think I was going to be participating in the workshops this weekend I didn't bother finding a recorder. But now I'm kicking myself cause I missed recording all that great stuff Liz was throwing out there, not to mention the great stuff I couldn't be there for. I won't make that same mistake next month!

They both suggested I record some good sessions as well. Has anyone recorded a session with either Zoom? What did you think?

mahanpots · Post by **mahanpots** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:01 pm

plunk111 wrote:I highly recommend the Zoom H4. It's even nicer with the new firmware update. Feadoggie - if you haven't installed the new software (and it's available for the H2), do it! Lots of new features...

Pat

Where do I go online for the firmware update?

Thanks,

Michael

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:16 am

mahanpots wrote:Where do I go online for the firmware update?

H4 update / H2 update. I think my H4 is on 2.1 instead of 2.2, but either way, the crazy thing is that with the 2.x firmware it can handle SD cards bigger than 2GB. As soon as I find a good price I'm springing for a 8GB or 16GB card....

andyras2 · Post by **andyras2** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:33 am

Does anyone have examples of recordings from sessions on the Zoom 4, I'm kindof toying with this one myself, not not sure if it will performa any better with background noise than my current tools, N95 and Archos Fm20.

I'd like to hear the quality of a session type environment.

Thanks

andy

mahanpots · Post by **mahanpots** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:45 am

andyras2 wrote:Does anyone have examples of recordings from sessions on the Zoom 4, I'm kindof toying with this one myself, not not sure if it will performa any better with background noise than my current tools, N95 and Archos Fm20.

I'd like to hear the quality of a session type environment.

Thanks

andy

Pittsboro session clips Recorded on H4

Michael

matahari_1946 · Post by **matahari_1946** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:53 am

Thanks Michael! That's just what I was looking for. Sounds great!

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:21 pm

mahanpots wrote:
andyras2 wrote:Does anyone have examples of recordings from sessions on the Zoom 4, I'm kindof toying with this one myself, not not sure if it will performa any better with background noise than my current tools, N95 and Archos Fm20.

I'd like to hear the quality of a session type environment.
Pittsboro session clips Recorded on H4

Surely that can't be a very noisy session? I mean, I'm a big fan of my H4, and it makes great recordings, but I'd be really shocked if I could make a recording at our session and the background noise level was that low... I would expect a very faithful recording of a very noisy environment.

andyras1 · Post by **andyras1** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:43 pm

Thanks Michael,

My current recordings pick up a lot of noise in the background making it difficult to pick out 'tricky' parts in the tunes.

Andy

mahanpots · Post by **mahanpots** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:57 pm

The "Pittsboro session" wasn't a noisy session. It was held outside that day and not a lot of folks listening and milling about outside.

Michael