Freesound Forums

So I finally landed a nice job that pays a lot of green, and therefore I can invest on something I alsways wanted to have and use: a nice mic and a portable recording device.

As a videographer, for a mic I decided to go with the RODE Videomic (www.rodemic.com/?pagename=Products&product=VideoMic) because I think it can be used both for camera and also handheld production (I hope).

For a portable recording device I was thinking something along the lines of a FLASH memory based recorder, a bit rugged, no so expensive, with balanced or unbalanced input (since i'm still confused about the terms, I think i don't matter, lol), ability to review/delete clips, recording to uncompressed WAV at least 48Khz or some other lossless format, no need for internal memory but able to take some 2 or 4GB cards (not micro-sd plz), rechargeable battery if possible but regular battery is fine too), with headphone monitor and maybe even graphical levels monitor ( to check peaks).

So.. what devices am I lookig for?

thanks!

Your mic output is unbalanced so you don't need a balanced input. If you anticipate using long mic cables > 10m or operate near professional video lighting with dimmers you may want to reconsider this else your choice is probably fine.

Recorders include the M-audio Microtrack (nasty nonstandard phantom power but this is not a feature you will use), Edirol R09 (noisy mic preamps), Zoom H4 (sometimes a whine on the mic input at low levels). If you want the best performance for the buck, don't underestimate the Sony RH01 HiMD recorder or a used HiMD from ebay but too many buyers blind themselves to HiMD because they think the CF recorders are cool. Your money, your choice

Next up are things like the Marantz PMD660, Fostex fr2le and the like. Or if you are really in the money a Sound Devices 702 but then you really ought to be using a better mic

As a general rule of thumb your mic should cost more than your recorder... what you don't capture at the input will never make it to the output. The good thing is that a good mic treated right will last a lot longer than your recorder which will become obsolescent in a couple of years. Things to watch for with the recorder are noisy preamp stages (hiss with quiet sounds) and easy overloading (distortion with loud sounds) or a control interface that you really hate.

thanks for the reply... it took me long enough to get back here (must work to make greens to get what I want )

so are you saying that the videomic is not such a good product to go around capturing sound effects?
That's what I am looking for really, to capture sound fx or every once in a while hook it up to the camcorder to get better sound (as you know, all in-camera mics are complete crap).

as far as the devices you mentioned... I was thinking something along the lines of $250 max I am no pro.
I will review some of them. thanks

Here is an article about microphones and everything to do with them. Hope it helps.
www.audiomecca.com/articles/Microphones-17