One thing I’m just starting to realize through our training is that tonnes of people seem to buy a digital recorder and then plug an external microphone into it. In most instances this is almost entirely pointless. It will generally result in worse audio.
On that note I noticed that Yasuyoshi Chiba was recording with a new digital recorder. Its a Roland R-05, which is like a baby version of the Edirol R-09, which I use.
The great news is that I think the R-05 is actually a better recorder. It costs considerably less and picks up voices beautifully from distance. The built in microphones produce incredible pro quality field recordings.
So if you are a photographer thinking about investing in sound, I seriously recommend that you take a look.
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Woo! I’ve had that Edirol on permanent search on eBay and they always go for more pennies than I have in the piggy bank. Thank you!
I’m looking into buying an audio recorder with dual XLR inputs to plug external mics in. My logic is that I can use the mics I’ve acquired for video purposes – lapel mics, rifle mics (my beloved 416) etc. I’m wondering why you think this would result in worse sound than the onboard microphones? My thinking is that I’d like to choose the right microphone for the sound, and this would include the onboard mic at times, but at other times, I’d like different sound from other mics. Interesting post, especially as I’m on the verge of buying a digital audio recorder at the moment…
Hi Christine, the little recorders are designed bottom up with the internal mic in mind. There are one’s will XLR inputs, which of course are designed with an external one in mind. Someone had a TASCAM on one of our courses the other day. It was awesome, though I didn’t test it with an external microphone.
I’m curious too. Why do you think using an external mic will ‘…generally result in worse audio’?
Yes, it’s the Tascam with XLR inputs that I have my eye on. I figure the audio input has a lot to do with quality, bound to get better sound from XLR inputs than a minjack. It also has an omni- and bi-directional mics onboard but from what I read the omni-directional mic is not worth using. Unfortunately can’t use the onboard mic & XLR mic to record to two tracks at the same time (same as most HDV cameras) but can record two XLR sources at the same time. It costs about $300 in the US, so not much more than the Roland. Pretty much made up my mind to buy and give it a try…
As I say someone was using it on my last course and the sound was terrific … also it feels really well built.
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I went to buy a couple of these Rolands for MSF yesterday, but decided against it as they don’t do the case like with the r09. We need them to be able to last in dirty, dusty, sandy conditions… Shame…..