Portable Recorder + Preamp + mic?

[IM863]

Hi, long time reader of these forums, but finally taking the plunge into the boards to ask for some advice. There are lots of separate topics on portable recorders and preamps, but after a wealth of research it occurred to me that to put together a decent field recording rig on a budget, it would be better to buy the cheapest solid state recorder available (with digital inputs) and augment that with a decent preamp (with digital outs). Does this sound like a viable approach? Seems to make more sense than buying a recorder that only does some things well, and others not so much.

My budget is around £600, although about £150 of that will probably go on an AT825. So, obviously I'll need two channels on the preamp, with combi connectors. What are my options? Which cheap recorders have digital ins, and which preamps would you recommend that are in my price range?



Thanks,

Keith

[Pier]

What kind of recording are you planning to do?

Field recording for film/tv/sound effects?
Interviews?
Location recording?
Music recording in garages?

There aren't many alternatives for a portable preamp that works on batteries and delivers good sound. The only one I know is this preamp + converter from core sound:

Core Sound — Mic2496 V2

It's not cheap... and then you need somewhere to record the signal. You could use a maudio microtrack, which has spdif. Or some zoom with spdif.

Then the mic...

[IM863]

It'll be mostly field recording work, to be used as material for compositions. I'm most concerned about dynamic range and being able to record quiet sounds without having to worry about noise too much. I want decent convertors too, so I'm really trying to find a way to have my cake and eat it. The microtrack can be got for around £150, so say £300 - £400 for a 2 channel preamp + convertor? What about a portable power supply would that give me any more options?

I've been using my Uni's AT825 for the last month and found it to be useful enough, so I'll probably start with one of those. I also have a pair of contact mics which have balanced jacks, so I need the combi connectors.

[IM863]

That Core Sound does look interesting. The freq range is impressive, would offer a lot of creative possibilities if I had the mics to make use of it. That's kind of what I'm after - something solid that will allow me to concentrate on building up a decent collection of mics at a later date. Do you have much experience with it?

[IM863]

Bumping my budget to £600 tops. Looking at the Mini Me and the Sound Devices USBPre. Can the USBPre be used in this way?

[GuySonic]

As another choice of system not yet mentioned, I have many worldwide located composer/sound designer customers using my company's headworn HRTF mics with portable preamp and/or directly into suitable portable (mostly now) flash card audio recorder.

Best and most compact field system recently surfaced with introduction of ultra preamp-quiet Sony PCM-M10 recorder also allowing direct no-compromised powering of the DSM microphones. These mics are available with headband windscreen proving usable in up to 50 MPH winds.

Sony M10 deck is discussed at length in technical terms in my posts at thread: Sony PCM-M10 (Part 2)

Also there's a picture http://www.sonicstudios.com/M10combo_med.jpg
of M10 deck+mic not postable in this GS discussion a few screens down the linked page.

Hundereds of ambient and EFX sounds recorded with this HRTF mic at: Sonic Studios MP3 Page 1 with Ambient Stereo-Surround Composer, Nature Sounds, Musicology Recordings