Digital Voice Recorder (1 Viewer)

Hi,

I'm thinking about purchasing a small digital voice recorder (as is found in office supply stores) to capture bird song while in the field.

The idea is to then download the recodings in order to work on my identification skills.

Anybody have any experience with these small hand held recorders?

Are they sensitive enough for the job?

Is stereo recording important?

Any models better than others?

Thanks for any input.

rw

Mini recorders are not sensitive enough to capture bird calls and songs. Their microphone is non-directional so you pick loads of sounds that you weren't even aware of at the time. I tried with both tape and digital mini recorders with no major success. To get anything worth listening to later you need a directional mike which means specialist gear unfortunately.

I received one made by Olympus as a gift from my sister in law last Xmas which I've been using one for recording sightings as I wander around to be later entered into my bird log. Anything special I still use a notebook for but it's a handy device.

It's amazing the clarity of calls it picks up for such a tiny device, but perhaps isn't suitable for what you're looking for. Mind you it's enough to convince the pet budgie and distract the Saprrowhawks that visit the garden

It picks up the bird calls clearly enough but also any wind noise. Certainly suitable for your own use to identify a call from it, but maybe not the best for say posting a demo clip on a website for use of others for ID purposes.

It's an Olympus VN-120 digitasl voice recorder.

IanF said:

I received one made by Olympus as a gift from my sister in law last Xmas which I've been using one for recording sightings as I wander around to be later entered into my bird log. Anything special I still use a notebook for but it's a handy device.

Click to expand...

Yes, I've been using one of those as a notebook and diary myself for a few months and very useful they are for that. Like Ian's, mine picks up some songs and calls clearly enough, but it depends what quality you're wanting. It's inevitably poor compared to a recorder designed for the job.

I also use an Olympus(PearlcorderJ500) which is a micro-cassette, for taking field notes.

I've also used it successfully for recording (unknown) bird song, to be researched later.
Provided there is little extraneous noise, then it works quite effectively.

Thanks for the tips. That gives me a good place to start.

rw

Grousemore said:

I also use an Olympus(PearlcorderJ500) which is a micro-cassette, for taking field notes.

I've also used it successfully for recording (unknown) bird song, to be researched later.
Provided there is little extraneous noise, then it works quite effectively.

Click to expand...

You should also think about a minidisc recorder. They are quite cheap now (especially on eBay) and with a suutable mike would be great. Loads of journalists use them and they make broadcast quality recordings on them.

sound advice

I just wanted to say that the problem here isn't necessarily the recording device so much as the microphone. Omni-directional microphones without wind protection might work sometimes in some cases, like shrill birds when there is no wind in a quiet location. On the the other hand, digital recording is what it is today. Most birding websites are happy to use the compressed MP3 format, so the recording device itself is probably going to be just fine for most uses on the web, and heads above old cassette based devices or reel-to reel stereo analog tapes. Sure there are better formats than MP3 available on professional recording devices, but if you can find a directional or parabolic mic, even a cheap Chinese import (some are around US$ 30-99) you can probably do a lot with it with a very compact device, on a very low budget and then move up to something better if you reach the limits of what you can do with the equipment.