Hello Everyone,

I am new hear, and despite studying music technology to degree-level and having recorded as a semi-professional musican for nearly 20 years I consider myself quite the nove, and so ask for some guidance on an upcoming project of mine.

Please read on...

I will be travelling to India in late October 2011 and wish to do some field recording (rather than just take photos) whilst there. I am a huge fan of the old field recordings of World musics and admire greatly the pioneering sound recorders of the day.

I ask for advice on the best small, robust, easy to use and which provides the best quality hand held gear to achieve such means. I really shouldn't spend more than a few hundred on this as it is just as a hobby (unless the results are really good and I would upgrade!)

I have longer term plans to record in three-dimensions which I won't go into now.

In short, can people recommend the best equipment which will fit neatly into a bulging rucksack to capture ambience as I travel across the country to provide others with a glimpse of what I heard.

With thanks,

Jon Mitchell

Have a look at the Thomann website, they have sound clips to listen to for a lot of stuff, the field recorders each seem to have a recording of an 'acoustic band' a 'funk band', 'nature' and 'ambience'. That should give you somewhere to start comparing quality.

Don't think you can go far wrong with the Zoom H4n though. You can also plug your own mics into that, and it has phantom power.

You will really enjoy India, I went there for 6 weeks working a few years ago and it was a great experience.

I also went out in late October, so I can warn you that you will be there in the height of the dry season. In the 6 weeks I was there we had 2mm of rain, and that was in one shower. Dust will be a big issue, so whatever you choose I would recommend at least one fluffy windscreen, but ideally two so you can give one a thorough wash and rinse and let it dry while you are using the other.

One of the things I love about India is that they never miss an excuse to party. You could be anywhere and a couple of drummers turn up to celebrate something or other, and before you know it everyone is out dancing.

There is also a good chance that your visit will coincide with Diwali which falls on 26th October this year. The festival starts 2 weeks before Diwali itself and builds up to the big event, so there will be a lot to see and do. There are plenty of Diwali Season parties over those two weeks, and if you get out and meet lots of ordinary people you will receive plenty of invites.

Away from the major cities all the action is in the shopping malls. As well as shops, all the main clubs, bars, cinemas, and restaurants are generally inside the malls. It's well worth trying a few nightclubs, Indian popular music is definitely worth a listen too. And while you are there, buy yourself some CD's, you won't find them easily when you return to the west.

If you can, budget to bring back a few instruments. I bought a nice professional set of Tabla for my brother and a Harmonium for myself.

And one final piece of advice that will save you a fortune. Take an unlocked mobile phone with you and talk someone in the hotel to visiting the Mall with you to purchase a local pay as you go SIM card. They offer 2 or 3 month SIMS, and the rate for calling the UK is about 6p a minute, a LOT cheaper than roaming charges for your UK SIM card.

Other than that, be prepared to barter, keep a smile on your face, and enjoy the experience. I'm just sorry I can't afford to join you, I really would go back without a 2nd thought, it's a wonderful place to visit.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

There are lots of stereo hand helds these days and nearly all provide very good quality recordings
Personally I use the Olympus LS10 or 11's
They are a little dearer than the competition but they are very robust with a metal body, mics are good and recording quality is excellent

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Matt
www.krcollective.org

Quote Jon Mitchell:

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Hello Everyone,

I am new hear, and despite studying music technology to degree-level and having recorded as a semi-professional musican for nearly 20 years I consider myself quite the nove, and so ask for some guidance on an upcoming project of mine.

Please read on...

I will be travelling to India in late October 2011 and wish to do some field recording (rather than just take photos) whilst there. I am a huge fan of the old field recordings of World musics and admire greatly the pioneering sound recorders of the day.

I ask for advice on the best small, robust, easy to use and which provides the best quality hand held gear to achieve such means. I really shouldn't spend more than a few hundred on this as it is just as a hobby (unless the results are really good and I would upgrade!)

I have longer term plans to record in three-dimensions which I won't go into now.

In short, can people recommend the best equipment which will fit neatly into a bulging rucksack to capture ambience as I travel across the country to provide others with a glimpse of what I heard.

With thanks,

Jon Mitchell

---

You can probably do better than the little Zoom machines. But I don't think you'll do better in something poocket-sized, robust, with nothing additional to plug in, and which you therefore WILL have with you when a recording opportunity arises.

It's the same reason that all the really unforgettable photographs of your life were taken on your 'phone, not on your Nikon :-)

Quote Jon Mitchell:

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I ask for advice on the best small, robust, easy to use and which provides the best quality hand held gear to achieve such means.

---

There are lots of hand-held solid-state digital recorders about these days, and they are all pretty good. Choice really comes down to budget, and essential features. If you think you're going to want to use 'proper' microphones at some point, then something with XLR mic inputs and phantom power would be a sensible investment -- but at a greater cost than a machine with built-in mics and mini-jac sockets. No doubt size and battery type/life are also issues to consider.

The Zoom is a great little recorder -- but there are many others and most have been reviewed in the mag already -- and those reviews are available free on line, of course.

Personally, I use an Olympus LS11 which provides remarkable quality and convenience. It's the size of a small dictaphone with a couple of decent mics built in at the front and is very quick and easy to use with very good battery life (and standard AA batteries). Easy to carry in a pocket and whip out when something interesting is happening, and you can record to the internal memory or an internally located SD memory card of many GigaBytes.

I have a Rycote fluffy windjammer windshield to protect the internal mics, which makes recording out of doors trouble-free in terms of wind noise.

If you're into binaural recording, then something like the Soundman OKM kits are excellent and ug into the mini-jack stereo external mic input. There are several models to choose from:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/soundman_okmii.htm .... for example.

Hope that helps

hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

Another vote for the Olympus LS10/11 here. This site has some interesting audio samples of several hand held recorders Samples

SOS ran a review recently on the Rycote kit for hand held recorders which includes a lyre mount and fluffy - a good investment for your application.

Bob

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www.bickerton.co.nz

I'm sure I'll be picked up on this if I've misrepresented the case, but with only two mikes you won't get full 360 degree directional encoding. What you can get with a dummy head (yours in this instance, say with a pair of tie-clip mikes clipped to the arms of your raybans) is the acoustic interference from your head being there. So there will be clues, at least. Binaural recordings are usually fairly impressive anyway, so I wouldn't worry too much about total spatial capture.

If you have anything that takes a lot of setting up you'll miss things you wanted to record. Even mono's better than nowt.

+1 for the Zoom H4N. I've been using mine for quite a while and never regretted it for a moment.

Definitely worth getting a dead cat, and I also picked up a very cheap lyre mount, so shop around for a bargain.

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Quote The Elf:

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+1 for the Zoom H4N. I've been using mine for quite a while and never regretted it for a moment.

Definitely worth getting a dead cat, and I also picked up a very cheap lyre mount, so shop around for a bargain.

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+1 for the Zoom H4N.

In fact, I suspect I could type in The Elf's reply verbatim, as this is exactly what I think as well (even down to getting the dead cat and a very cheap lyre mount - thanks for the tip-off Elfy! )


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

+1 for Olympus LS11, cats and lyre will extend versatility to more field settings. As Hugh said, great battery life (AAx2) and you can carry it around in your pocket even when you are not carrying your backpack.

Hi Jon

i thought i would just mention this as a slight aside but it was the answer i needed after a few years of trying traditional binaural in ear mics.

Roland CS-10EM - They are basically headphones to monitor your recordings with the mics built into the outer shell>

Probably best G*&&le it if you are interested!

Kenny

It might be worth checking the date of the original post - hopefully Jon's absence means he's been captivated by the charms of India and he's spent the last 9 months filling memory cards with binaural sounds.

James.

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JRP Music - Audio Mastering and Restoration.
http://www.jrpmusic.net

Edited by James Perrett (24/07/12 08:54 AM)