Digital Interviewing

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I have so had it with recording interviews, meetings and seminars with a minicassette recorder.

It's frustrating, time consuming and counter-productive, given my investment in Mac-based digital gear.



Question is, what do I replace it with?



If money was no object, I'd go with a Sony PCM-D1 , which is a great recorder with a crazy price.



I'd go with an iPod with the recorder attachments, but the new attachments for the 5G iPod were delayed from the spring to the summer and now the "end of summer" which really means the fall. I want to buy something fairly soon.



What I'm looking for is a recorder that either has a digital hard drive or records to CF or SD cards, I don't care which. I'd also like a recorder that has a good omnidirectional microphone and has a decent UI so I never have to wonder if the thing is really getting the conversation.



Anybody have any suggestions?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    frank777frank777 Posts: 5,839member
    Bump.



    No one here records interviews, seminars or business meetings?
  • Reply 2 of 5
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Well, let's see: $150 gets you the Olympus DS-2, review here



    44.1 sampling and a stereo mic in a micro-recorder. I think Olympus may have subsequently released similar models that do more, not sure. USB connectivity and plays well with the Mac.



    Next up from that are the compact flash recorders such as the M-Audio micro track, for around $400. It looks cool but a buddy says it's a little flaky.



    Edirol (Roland) had a thing called the R1 for around the same money, similar form factor, but it looks like they don't offer it anymore. Not sure.



    Actually, looking around the M1 seems to be about the only thing going in the category, except for the Sony, and the Nagra (Swiss high end pro-film location recording people) Ares-M. Knowing Nagra, it is surely an awesome little fellow, and half the price of the Sony.



    If it were me and I could squeeze out a few more bucks (over something like the M1), I would go with the Marantz PDM670 for $700.



    More of a "luggable" than the little micro things, but unless you really need something that you can carry in a pocket the bigger size makes it much easier to use and see what you're doing. It has a built in mic, but also has "real" XLR mic inputs.



    Marantz also makes a CD recorder in the same form factor for about the same price.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    frank777frank777 Posts: 5,839member
    Thanks for the help Adda.



    I saw an ad in the paper today for a Panasonic Voice Recorder (RR-US360) for only $49. bucks (Canadian!) I figured for that price it was worth a try.



    The audio quality is great, but the software in Windows only and it doesn't mount automatically on the Mac desktop.



    Why do those Windows guys make things so difficult? In fairness to Panasonic, the package did only give Windows specs so I knew there was a good chance it wouldn't work.



    Again, the sound quality is great and the lack of Mac USB is the only drawback.

    I guess I'll use my iMic to bring the recordings into the Mac until somebody writes a third party driver for it.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    regreg Posts: 832member
    I use to record meetings and used a Sony M-200mc . No background and used a DAT. We had the same problem of transferring it to the computer. We ended up using the audio out to the mic input for the mac. It was too time consuming to do it for more than a few of the meetings. Our company finally went with a pro solution for the meeting room. Let us know on what you decide and how it works. Also are you going to have multiple mics? That was a problem we had when it was just a long table with one mic.



    reg
  • Reply 5 of 5
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by reg

    I use to record meetings and used a Sony M-200mc . No background and used a DAT. We had the same problem of transferring it to the computer. We ended up using the audio out to the mic input for the mac. It was too time consuming to do it for more than a few of the meetings. Our company finally went with a pro solution for the meeting room. Let us know on what you decide and how it works. Also are you going to have multiple mics? That was a problem we had when it was just a long table with one mic.



    reg




    Multiple speakers around a table can be handled well with a PZM (pressure zone) type mic.



    They use a tiny gap between the mic element and a flat plate to pick up only in-phase sound, which means less reverberance and more clarity for off-axis speakers-- in other words they amount to a very omnidirectional mic without all the reflective hash. The bigger the "boundry" (flat surface on which the mic is positioned) the more omni it gets.



    They pretty much suck for live reinforcement work because they're fiends for feedback, but for recording they're a great tool.



    One or two of these along a table is all you need to pick everybody up.
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