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[Help] Which recording device for professional sample recordings?
Started June 21st, 2013 · 8 replies · Latest reply by matucha 11 years, 4 months ago
Hello everybody,
I compose music with my DAW, and I dig deeper everyday, to the point where now I want to use own samples.
I already have a very good soundcard and a AKG microphone for voice recordings, but I can't have that with me all the time.
I want to go out through nature, and record an animal, or a car sound, a door being closed etc.
With which device can I get a really good recording with good dynamics, sounding "rich"?
Are portable recording devices (around 200-300 $) good enough?
I want to use those recordings as samples, maybe looped, or just as a single sound.
I am very thankful for yoour help! 
Max
Sony D50 is "good enough".
Nagra Lino looks interesting as an option.
Some top of the line Olympus units get mentioned along the D50 too.
Tascam DR-100 mkII seems to fit that category too.
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I've recorded some sounds with D50 that are suprisingly good... low noise too. Though it has it's limits and sometimes you can clearly hear the cheap electret mics spiting harshness on you. Sometimes... It's very sensitive to wind/air currents... even some mild air-conditioning in a pub can ruing your take. So some kind of wind protection is important.
Samples... what do you mean by samples? It's so blured term nowadays.
If you mean things like snare hits, electronic guys mostly download something... but the source is often from some studio. Some of the studios use very expensive rooms/mics/preamps/eqs/compressors/fx/coloring devices to achieve what they want. But there are also many lowend studios that use some garbage (that sounds cool at times).
If some kind of field recording is what you're talking about... it's not so common. Bands usually record everything in the studio. Electronic producers tend to stick to all virtual instruments... That's the majority and then there is small crowd of experimenters who have some zoom or something better... whatever works.
you're right, it's a diificult word tu use ^^. with sample I mean recorded sounds of every lives surrounding.
I'm making a really fast track right now, kind of a racing-through-the-night-with-a-fast-car tune.
And I want to sample/record me walking to the car, open and close the door and start the engine.
Do you know the beginning of Michael Jackson's Speed Demon? It's an amazing loud engine starting, panning from left to right. Did they just rebuild that using synthesizers?
To my ears this sounds really realistic, so I wonder with which equipment they sampled this engine. They clearly didnt bring the car in the studio, right?
No that was probably recorded with some Nagra and Senneheiser MKH mics... the same as was used to record sound for movies at that time. Today to record car it's mostly some multi-mic setup with Sound Devices 788T or 702 with stereo mics. Sennheiser MKHs are still used often (though no mkh406 or 416 or 816... but MKH8020, 8040, 8050, 8060... or some Schoeps CMC6...).
Well placed D50 can do the job too if you're on budget and don't care for top-notch results. Perhaps you could even connect your studio mics to D50 and see if you get something better.