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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

considering getting a recorder, what should I buy...? (2 Viewers)

he he he - I am so rubbish at shopping!

After reading more reviews, watching some videos and listening to sample recordings I decided that the h4n was the one for me. I then saw a used Tascam dr-100mkII on eBay and bid on that, but didn't win it. Started to feel that the Zoom was more than I would need to perhaps the much cheaper Tascam dr-05 was the way to go instead. Lots more reading done and yet more audio samples listened too and I was more confused that ever. The Tascam will clearly do what I am initially wanting it to do, however the Zoom is a bit more future proof (I don't think I will need anymore than it offers in the foreseeable future) and will be good when my kids want performances recording... now to reconvene myself that it is worth the extra money. Once I've done that I need to order it quick before I get distracted and confused again (made the mistake of also looking at the Zoom H5 and the Tascam dr-40 too).

If you don't buy one, you'll never record anything ;-)

To me, you're overthinking this. You may well be able to hear the difference between the different recorders - but you'll only ever know about that if you buy them all. The spec of the recorder is actually a pretty small part of the overall equation, in terms of getting decent recordings. The proximity and volume of the bird, the amount of wind, the amount of background noise, the type of mic, and the time you spend learning how to clean up recordings in Audacity are all more important than buying the right recorder. I do a lot of recording next to a sewage works - and the best recorder in the world is still going to pick up the hum of the machinery, the vehicles coming and going, the wind rustling through the leaves, people yelling at their dogs etc etc.
 
I agree. I have a zoom h2n, it's old now, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. I use it during overhead migration.
When I hear a call, and play back later to analyse what it was, it often picks up several calls from the bird before and after the single call I heard! That's good enough for me!

So buy one with decent reviews on here, in your budget, and enjoy
 
Truth be told, I transitioned from tape to solid state memory in January 2009. The recorder still works, I have a full set of microphones that go with it and it still gets used.

It has its limitations which is why I bought the Oly LS-11 a few years later in 2012.

A year later te LS-11s pre-amps could not be stretched to get the quality of sound I wanted out of a shotgun mic I was using on a project, so along came the Sony PCM M10.

XLR connections are far less fragile in the field than 3.5 mm trs connectors and a balanced signal audio cable gives a stronger signal and is far less prone to external electrical interference in some locations, hence the Tascam DR-40 and so the arms race continued as I hit problems with what I had.

The LS-11 still actually meets most of my needs after 7 years and the only reason I now use its newer Olympus (easily replaced) siblings on a day to day basis as is that there is nothing currently available that suits me as well if anything happened to it.

Peter's Zoom H2N has pretty unique features for recording ambient bird song, it has an built in array of microphones that can give you a selection of recording fields including 360 degree coverage - there is no shortage of good recorders out there that we havn't looked at.

So with a field of excellent runners - all on form, but with different strengths and weaknesses - which one will you back?
 
If you don't buy one, you'll never record anything ;-)

Agreed. I spent too much time looking and going round in circles.
I've gone for the budget option now, sold my old Zoom H1 and got the Tascam DR-05 as a starter kit. I hope a good solution at £71. I'll test it for the next few months and during autumn vismig and see how it works out. Can always upgrade in future

Also got an Audiomoth device as a nocmig starter kit for the garden. Almost more excited about that one !
 
I have the DR-05 and have been using it for a couple of years now. No complaints - it’s worked faultlessly. I use mine for remote recording - sealed in a sandwich box with a microphone attached to the box. Considering that it’s being left out in all weathers over extended periods - it’s proving to be a tough little machine.

Just a heads up - if you decide to add a powerbank or USB external battery to extend battery life - you may have the same issue that I have had. The DR-05 draws very little current - even with the display illuminated permanently and power to the mic turned on. Of the several “smart” powerbanks I’ve tried they turn themselves off long before they’re depleted as the current drawn is so low it fools them into acting as if the device is fully charged (sometimes within a few seconds!) I finally found one that doesn’t do that - link here

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072HR211P/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_zR1aDbF6P06R2

I should say that the result is that I’m now able to get almost 72 hours continuous recording with the machine unattended (with a decent pair of AA batteries on board too).
 
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Also got an Audiomoth device as a nocmig starter kit for the garden. Almost more excited about that one !

Just reread your post and the Audiomoth looks really interesting - maybe worth a thread detailing it’s use and results - is anyone else on BF using one I wonder?
 
Just reread your post and the Audiomoth looks really interesting - maybe worth a thread detailing it’s use and results - is anyone else on BF using one I wonder?

I ordered one via the ongoing group get, so will have to wait for a little while to get my hand on it and test it. I don't think it will be able to compete with the more serious set ups but size, cost and very low power consumption look very attractive to start off with. Brief review below

https://nocmig.com/audiomoth/
 
Decision made and recorder ordered. Went for the Zoom h4n in the end so hopefully will get my head round it (and Audacity) and end up with some half decent recordings in time.
 
Great stuff - hope you have a lot of fun with it. If nothing else, recording birds has made me much better at listening to them. I use the Zoom, and audacity, so happy to answer any questions.
 
Hi, I've just bought the Tascam DR-05 and would like some advice from those who use one. I have read a few threads to to try and understand what settings I should be using.
I have my settings on
Wav 16 bit and 44.1k
Size 2g
Low cut - 120 hz
Auto tone -off
Tone secs 1 sec
Tone Vol - -18dB
Mode - off
Level - -48db

I have to admit I don't know what half of these make an and would appreciate some advice on what see tongs I should be using for nocmig and general recording when out in the field.
Also I see that I can buy an expensive power supply for plugging in to a socket at home when I'm nocmiging. It looks that same as a mobile phone charger plug. Can I use one of those?
Thanks
Andy
 
"I have to admit I don't know what half of these make an and would appreciate some advice on what see tongs I should be using for nocmig and general recording when out in the field"
Whoops crap typing. I meant to say
I don't know what half of these mean and would appreciate some advice on what settings I should be using
 
At the moment I don't have one of these to hand so am a bit limited on any testing of what really happens, but:

Auto tone - is sometimes referred to as Slate tone. One use is to simplify synchronising sound recorded on the DR05 to the video camera it is connected to. My guess is is that you are not doing that and the second use is for marking points on a file so you can index them easily. As you have set Mode off I am guessing that you arn't doing this either so you can ignore any of the last 5 settings you have listed altogether.

Size 2G means that the file size maxes out at 2 gigabytes which is the max on this recorder and is the default anyway - so this doesn't need to be touched either.

Recording at 16 bit 44.1kHz means that you are recording at the equivalent of a commercial CD which is more than good enough for most puposes.

Low cut means that you are not recording any sounds with frequencies below 120Hz - cuts out a lot of unwanted noise, but you may wish to compare the resoults with other settings.

You havn't mentioned your actual recording settings, so I am assuming you will be using manual, probably at max, with Limiter on.

Quite frankly if you point your microphones skywards with these settings you will have some idea of what, if anything you need to change, once you record something.

My memory is that the USB connector on the side of the DR05 is not the same as many modern phone charger connections, but is capable of taking current from a USB port on a computer, so any suitable 5v USB charging device sounds a possibility - clearly I cannot recommend it as you are probably invalidating your warranty by trying it, but you are probably on ther right lines.

The DR05 comes from the manufacturer set up to work with simple defaults that suit the majority of people. The best advice is to use it and then start tweaking. Your headphones will give you a very good idea if your volume is high enough etc. while you are recording. If you don't use your headphones you stand the risk of listining to several hours of hiss hoping to hear something.

If I can find a DR05 I might be a bit more use, but in the meantime - plug in your phones and see how you get on. A few rehearsals before anything important needs recording is usually pretty vital.
 
iveljay is right - the DR05 needs a connecting cable with a mini B (or mini USB) to power it. I’ve recorded for many weeks using a basic tablet charger and one of these leads with no issue. I’ve used three different chargers with no problems (these are the chargers that came with various tablets - just with the different lead plugged in).

I haven’t changed the settings much on my DR05 since I first set it up - but I’ll have a look tomorrow and check them out.
 
Thanks for your quick replies. I have checked it with the phone charger with it and it works, I just wanted some advice as when looking on the web it sounded like I needed a special expensive plug. I will just use the settings I have and the play with it a bit.
Again thanks
 
However, when using phone chargers, not all of them are created equal. Good ones aren't expensive anyway.

Many crappy ones have poor electrical isolation (ie, they are outright dangerous) and/or are unable to supply a reliable and stable current.

A good bet (and cheap) are official Raspberry Pi power supplies. They can supply 2 A reliably and as far as I know the design has been checked for safety.
 
Question: how would the new Olympus Ls-p4 compare to the older but reputed ls-11, especially considering recording quality for bird calls (faint nocmig ones too)?
 
Recording at 16 bit 44.1kHz means that you are recording at the equivalent of a commercial CD which is more than good enough for most puposes.

Well, one point is true, a sample rate of 44.1 kHz and bit depth of 16 bit will deliver a sound "more than good enough", if your signal likewise was "more than good enough".

When recording faint bird calls from a distance, you have to raise gain, normalize and / or apply some further postprocessing steps to make even poor results useful.

The effectiveness of those postprocessing steps depends on the amount of information your recording delivers. These facts in mind you should raise the bit depth to 24 or even 32 bit to avoid clipping and distortions in the processed results.
 
A couple of points, firstly, most hand held recorders including the DR05 can only go to 24 bit. The second being that if you are looking for increasing your resolution you also have headroom on the sample rate.

Either way, we are talking about folks starting out in audio and for many playing with the simplest audio tools is a bit trial and error, the learning curve seems quite steep. My advice is always the same - experiment with files recorded at both resolutions, when you can honestly say that you have the technical skills to tell the difference there is no argument - you should record at 24 bit. Until then you just have to have more storagefor the bigger files. If you want to play safe always record at 24, though in my case I rarely need it. Other folks do things differently to me and that is fine. The main thing is to determine what works best for you.

On another point I will try and do a runoff between an LS-P4 and an LS-11 in the next few days. Probably an academic exercise for most folks these days, but I am interested in the result myself. With the recent foul weather its going to be a case of coordinating my spare time with an opportunity to record something other than heavy rain or howling wind.

About the last time I was looking at comparing the LS-11 with the LS-14, the forerunner of the LS-P4, was back in 2014 and all the online data from that era is no longer online. My memory was that there was little real difference and the only small handheld that I tested that was quantifiably better than the LS-11 for recording birdsong via a shotgun was my Sony as it had far better pre-amps. My guess is that comparing an LS-11 against a LS-P4 using their inbuilt microphones will show little difference, but it will be nice to be proved wrong. We shall see.
 
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