Stereo Field Recorders!

chemicalwinter · 26th November 2007

I'm looking to get a solid field recorder. Something that is stereo, has decent mics built on. and can be stuffed in a back pack easily. Whats out there and whats good?

synthoid · 26th November 2007

I've got a Sony PCM-D1, and although it's ridiculously expensive, it's ridiculously nice. Sounds great, very easy to use, built like a tank.
-synthoid

deda · 26th November 2007

A few of these are on sale on the GS secondhand classifieds and I recommened highly. I used one for 5 years with flawless results, regards ,,deda,,
No mikes built in but a good stereo mic is pretty cheap.

dropblacksky · 26th November 2007

Check out the Zoom H2....not as high end as the Sony mentioned above, but it's very good and has some cool features. The fact that you can record stereo front AND stereo back at the same time (allowing you to have 4 channels for surround or encode into one stereo mix) makes it undeniably cool...and at only $200 bucks, it's well worth it.

Kindred · 26th November 2007

I've got the M-audio Microtrack - no complaints here - great sound quality.

vernier · 26th November 2007

For not-so-serious, Zoom H2. For tracking something good, I like Nagra.

rufus13 · 26th November 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by deda

A few of these are on sale on the GS secondhand classifieds and I recommend highly. I used one for 5 years with flawless results, regards ,,deda,,
No mikes built in but a good stereo mic is pretty cheap.

These were great decks in the day. By now, the rechargable batteries don't hold a charge well, no service parts are available, DAT tape is expensive and awful, and you will record to 16 bits.

Edit: NEW DAT tape is expensive, but used and one-pass computer-grade DDS-2 in 60 and 90 Meter lengths (2 and 3 hours) is darn cheap. Tape is so cheap, that I'm not going to list my stash of one-pass computer tapes on e-bay. It's FS: at a Portland electronics surplus store -R5D3 in packages of 10 bulk-erased identical brand/length tapes in boxes with J cards for $12 per pack. I'm not taking the PayPal 3% and the FeePay 20% hit along with cost of collecting money and shipping. Sell locally and it's DONE. The Tascam DA-30mkII remains in mothballs for future customer tape playback attempts. No new DATs will be made by me.

The same form-factor deck is available as the HD-P2 deck, a Compact Flash card recorder, that uses 8xAA batteries and will record 24 bit/192KHz.

Even cheaper, units from Zoom, M-Audio, etc.

More expensive, and so nice, are Sound Devices recorders.

Cheers.

bcgood · 26th November 2007

Great, thanks Rufus, now I'm lusting after this baby.

702 Portable Audio Recorder | Sound Devices, LLC

Factory101 · 14th December 2007

The Sound Devices 702 is an excellent bit of kit; I'd recommend it for it's sound and build quality...it's great for fieldwork; it's quite small about the size of a thick paperback and fits easily into a rucksack...I made a carry pouch for it so I've got both hands free.

I use mine as a preamp through SPDIF into my desk too.

madsmix · 14th December 2007

Go for the ZOOM H4!

Ext XLR mic capability, 4 trk recording, runs on 2 AAs, cheap!
I'm on the verge of picking up one myself.

Other choices would be the new Korg MR1.
Great recorder that can do DSD (1 Bit). The only gripe being the internal rechargeable batt that can't be field replaced.

If I had a budget maybe I'll pick up the Korg MR1000 which is another beast altogether.

Cheers,

madsmix

26th November 2007	#1
chemicalwinter Gear Head Joined: Dec 2006 Posts: 41 Thread Starter	Stereo Field Recorders! I'm looking to get a solid field recorder. Something that is stereo, has decent mics built on. and can be stuffed in a back pack easily. Whats out there and whats good?

26th November 2007	#3
deda Lives for gear Joined: May 2005 Location: Ft. Worth, Texas Posts: 1,844	Tascam DA-P1 A few of these are on sale on the GS secondhand classifieds and I recommened highly. I used one for 5 years with flawless results, regards ,,deda,, No mikes built in but a good stereo mic is pretty cheap. Last edited by deda; 26th November 2007 at 02:01 AM.. Reason: Mic statement

26th November 2007	#8
bcgood Lives for gear Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 5,952	Great, thanks Rufus, now I'm lusting after this baby. 702 Portable Audio Recorder \| Sound Devices, LLC Attached Thumbnails __________________ bcgood

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26th November 2007	#2
synthoid Lives for gear Joined: May 2006 Posts: 2,795	I've got a Sony PCM-D1, and although it's ridiculously expensive, it's ridiculously nice. Sounds great, very easy to use, built like a tank. -synthoid

26th November 2007	#4
dropblacksky Gear addict Joined: Sep 2006 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 495	Check out the Zoom H2....not as high end as the Sony mentioned above, but it's very good and has some cool features. The fact that you can record stereo front AND stereo back at the same time (allowing you to have 4 channels for surround or encode into one stereo mix) makes it undeniably cool...and at only $200 bucks, it's well worth it.

26th November 2007	#5
Kindred Gear addict Joined: Jul 2007 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 308	I've got the M-audio Microtrack - no complaints here - great sound quality.

26th November 2007	#6
vernier Lives for gear Joined: Mar 2006 Posts: 6,130	For not-so-serious, Zoom H2. For tracking something good, I like Nagra.

14th December 2007	#9
Factory101 Gear maniac Joined: Dec 2007 Posts: 159	The Sound Devices 702 is an excellent bit of kit; I'd recommend it for it's sound and build quality...it's great for fieldwork; it's quite small about the size of a thick paperback and fits easily into a rucksack...I made a carry pouch for it so I've got both hands free. I use mine as a preamp through SPDIF into my desk too.

14th December 2007	#10
madsmix Gear interested Joined: Sep 2007 Location: Chennai, India Posts: 26	Go for the ZOOM H4! Ext XLR mic capability, 4 trk recording, runs on 2 AAs, cheap! I'm on the verge of picking up one myself. Other choices would be the new Korg MR1. Great recorder that can do DSD (1 Bit). The only gripe being the internal rechargeable batt that can't be field replaced. If I had a budget maybe I'll pick up the Korg MR1000 which is another beast altogether. Cheers, madsmix