Recorder for playback (1 Viewer)

Hello this is my first post on this forum.

I have spent hours searching on this forum and others and am just as confused as when I started.

I just started recording birds with my iPhone and am surprised how much I enjoy it. My question is this... what equipment do I need for recording for the purpose of playback. I have a fixed budget <300$. Or maybe <400$ I can Id birds with my iPhone recording but it’s impossible to do playback as the volume of the bird calls is to low. I need something that makes a loud recording, loud enough for the birds to respond.

Next question... is this something that I can succeed at without an external mic? Which recoder has the best onboard mic that I can afford?

The recorders I’m looking at are the zoom h5 and the Olympus ls12

I would appreciate the advice of anyone who has been able to do successful playback

Welcome to the frustrating and wonderful world of audio.

The speakers in most digital recorders are either pitiful or missing altogether so you need something like the powered speakers described in the adjacent thread 'ipod speakers for playback'. These will amplify whatever you have recorded significantly depending on what you buy, they are battery powered.

In the UK the LS12 is under half the price of the Zoom H5, unfortunately I have not tested the Zoom but would suspect that there won't be too much of a difference in the strength of the recorded signals between the two using their inbuilt mics. Someone please correct me if there are H5 users out there who disagree. Neither will deafen you with volume from their inbuilt speaker.

Whether the inbuilt mics are good enough for what you are trying to record I cannot answer, however, if your iPhone recordings please you then the chances are they would be OK.

If this is the case then a few years ago folks were interfacing powered speakers to their iPhones, however I have no idea whether this is still practicable with modern iPhones, but if it is then you might be able to avoid the cost of a specialised recorder until the recording bug really bites.

https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=171800&highlight=iPhone

I'm sure someone out there may have a view.

So I’m super excited &#55357;&#56842; I was able to do successful playback today with iPhone recordings and a bose Bluetooth speaker. The app I use is voice recorder pro. I’m very pleased with the app, it has the options of naming your files and syncing them to Dropbox, it also has a noise booster to turn the volume of the file to a level useable for playback. As far as the quality of the recording goes it’s not the best, a lot of background noise and other noise, but I’m not looking for perfect audio but audio that is functional for my pourpose. The catbirds respond to them. The next test is to see if I can do sonographic analysis of my iPhone recordings.

I have decided to get the zoom h5 from what I have read it is a better piece of equipment then the Olympus. I’m recording catbirds and only a few of my recoding are acceptable for play back and I’m not sure if any of them are acceptable for sonographic analysis. The catbirds can be loud and close they can also be quiet and far away. I hope this piece of equipment will help me to get the quieter songs.

I’m downloading sonographic analysis software at I write this so I’ll let every one know how it goes.

One possible benefit of the H5 from your point of view is this:

https://www.amazon.com/Zoom-SSH-6-Shotgun-Microphone-Capsule/dp/B00SGDG8TU

Again untested by me but will help you to isolate the sounds you want to record from those you don't.

Before you get too carried away you will need something like this to cut down wind noise from your existing stereo mics.

https://www.amazon.com/Movo-WS-G9-Microphone-Windscreen-Recorders/dp/B01FVB3J0U/ref=pd_cp_267_4?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01FVB3J0U&pd_rd_r=92c12a71-6262-11e8-be6a-8d1e2201bf43&pd_rd_w=2QNsD&pd_rd_wg=DHA60&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=80460301815383741&pf_rd_r=MMKT4Y89ERC5AN6R3X1P&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=MMKT4Y89ERC5AN6R3X1Phttp://

The Zoom H5 is a serious bit of kit and is certainly capable of achieving excellent recordings of the kind you are looking for. Just be aware that there is a learning curve and sound recording can be a bit frustrating on occasions.

Anyway have fun and the Internet is full of helpful articles etc., and as you are (from memory) the first person on Birdforum to use an H5 I/we will be interested to hear how you get on.

So I have had the zoom h5 for a bout a month and. I. Figure it might be useful to others to write a mini review. To sum up its a great recorder that does the job I need and is better then then my iPhone ( which goes without saying)

So what purpose do I need this recorder for. It is my goal to produce publishable research by studying grey catbirds. I am recording them for the purpose of spectrographic analysis and playback experiment. So I need a piece of equipment that cords loud enough to do playback and I need something clear enough to produce usable spectrograph.

First of all I am able to preform these functions with my iPhone. But the problem is that I have to jump up the birds ass to get a good recording. This is not possible for manny birds and my recording is limited because because of how loud background noise is. On the other hand the h5 is very quiet and powerful recorder allowing me to get loud and clear recordings from distances impossible with my iPhone. Which translated to more data for my study which is a good thing.

I have already produced readable spectrograp h5. I have yet to do playback but so far most of them sound loud enough to be functional.

I have heard others describe their recorders a as goood as their ears. I think that the h5 is slightly better then my ears. I can hear things in the background through the recorder that I can’t with my ears and songs that a re far off sound close r And louder through the recorder

My big beef is I have to keep track of diefferent individual through the time stamp organizations which is impossible. With the time stamp organization of TheD audio files. I hav to use another app to keep track of. The time stamp and each individual. For example : 060718 110245 cat 11_2. I have to go through another app to link the time stamp of the file with second Recording of individual 11
But overall it’s an inconvenience but it is manageable

Another thing that I would like. To mentiom is. How simple a easy it is to use. I thought that it it would be a complex piece of equipment but I picked it up and wa making deceit r cording should vrty quickly the folder organizatiis simplemqand intuitive

In summery it’s an excellent piece of equipment and I f the audio doesn’t please you then you neeen drop several hundred more wand a shotgun mike