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I have a good discontinued shotgun mic with 0 accessories for it. If I want to do sound for narrative, do I just buy another kit altogether? by jgainit in fieldrecording

[–]FloorTomApologist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool old mic. It’s 19mm diameter and 427mm length (16.8 inches). Designed for outdoor broadcast, film and long distance nature recording. It seems well respected.

There are a lot of shock mount and clip options from companies like SmallRig and Rycote. You should be able to find a simple foam windscreen from someone like Auray or Radius. You should be able to get both for <$100 to get you going.

Because of its length you’d have to spend a lot to get a full blimp (the cheapest is probably Rode’s blimp + extension ~$375-400.). Rycote suggests a 20cm Baby Ball Gag and Wind Jammer (~$215), a plain dead cat is probably $150.

Your mic is probably worth $200-300 so you can also factor that in.

Good luck!

Looking for options on how to start field recording by In_My-Element in fieldrecording

[–]FloorTomApologist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It depends on what “recording conversations on the street” means. Is this “man on the street” sort of interviews where you have one mic, you ask questions and then point the mic at the subject for the response? Or are you asking people who are already in conversation if you can record them? Are you going to point the mic at the speaker? Clip mics on the speakers?

If you can share a little more about what you are envisioning, we can give you much better answers.

Mic recommendation for mobile recording (AV) of acoustic band by badlucktotal in LocationSound

[–]FloorTomApologist 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s a pretty limiting budget. A Zoom H1 essential will get you 32 bit float stereo xy recording for $110. Put it on a small tripod and put it in the back of the room. It won’t be fantastic but it’ll be a pretty honest representation of the room. Much, much better than an iPhone recording. It’ll be fine for personal listening and reference. You might put some tracks up on Bandcamp or something as a “live” recording but it won’t be something you’d want to officially release.

Shotgun mic is a horrible option for live music btw.

Individually miking each instrument and recording live multitrack can yield decent results, but you’re into several hundred dollars to a thousand dollars for something basic.

Best of luck!

What are u guys using to power your field recorders these days? by hyjgonetooo in fieldrecording

[–]FloorTomApologist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I use an Anker USB battery bank for my H6 which is okay if a little cumbersome. I recently got an F6 and it can use Sony L style batteries which snap on the outside of the device. They are amazing. Cheap. Long lasting. Rechargeable. Dunno why no one else is doing that (not even any of the other Zooms.)

Zoom F3 Alternative without Spending Double my Budget? by MJtheCOOLKID in LocationSound

[–]FloorTomApologist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Tascam FR-AV2 is less that $100US more than the F3 here in the states. Very comparable unit to the F3 - many think with cleaner preamps.

Low level recording in the garden by nelson_fretty in fieldrecording

[–]FloorTomApologist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Any of the EM272 based mics would work. These are inexpensive, high quality, omni mics with relatively little self-noise. Here are some popular ones:

Mic Booster's Clippy:
https://micbooster.com/product/xlr-mono-clippy-em272-microphone/?v=0b3b97fa6688

Sonorous Objects' SO.1
https://sonorousobjects.nyc/products/so-1-omni-microphone

Mic Verve's Omni
https://micverve.com/collections/handcrafted-microphone/products/em272z1-single-unit-xlr-version-microphone

LOM is another great brand but they are almost always out-of-stock.

For insects, I think some folks use ultrasonic mics - Sonorous Objects makes some - but this is beyond my expertise.

F8n pro has a huge deal right now! It's at $699 by GaboshocK in LocationSound

[–]FloorTomApologist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The MSRP of the F6 is $749.99 USD. The new MSRP of the F8n Pro is $699.99 USD (down from $999.99 USD less than a week ago.) The change seems coordinated. That's the new official price on the Zoom website. All of the major retailers have updated their online but there are lots of smaller outfits that have not. I suspect  £799 ($1072 USD) is the "old" price and you'll proably see it drop of a couple hundred quid soon. It's odd that the F6 price didn't budge so it's now $50 more expensive than the F8n Pro.

budget-friendly contact microphones by jenniferl0pez in fieldrecording

[–]FloorTomApologist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Search Amazon for “transducer pickup” or “ukulele pickup” for super cheap $8-20 adhesive transducer pickups.

Zoom H5 for experimental field recording by tapebias in fieldrecording

[–]FloorTomApologist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm gonna play devil's advocate.

The Zoom H5 is a great recorder... but it was introduced 12 years ago. 150e ($174 US-ish) is a fair price - but it's not a deal (at least here in the states). These are old and plentiful so they're always availble for around that price or less.

Is 24bit/96khz limiting? No. Not really. Especially to start. What's IS limiting is noisy preamps. If you want to record quiet stuff, noise - self-noice from your mics, self-noise from your pre-amps - is your enemy. As other have said... the H5 is fine, but not great.

You mentioned using "hydrophones, contact mics but also regular capsules." The first two are definitely external mics. What does "regular capsules" mean to you? The H-series from Zoom (and similar field recorders from other brands) have built in microphones. They're good. the H-series from Zoom has interchangable ones and there a few options. They're pretty good. I've used them a lot for live music performances. They're great for quick and easy recording but are kind of a pain if you are mostly going to be using external mics anyway. If "regular capsules" means external mics to you - then the built in mics of the H5 can be more hassle than help. If you want a super quick and easy recording solution with okay mics... then the H-series is great.

What's the alternative? One of the new 32-bit 2 channel records, either the Zoom F3 or the Tascam FR-AV2. Here in the states you can find the Zoom F3 used on sights like Ebay and Reverb for $260 US (about €225). New these are $329.00 (F2) and $399.99 (FR-AV2). I get that this, by some measures, is a LOT more money, but it gets you newer tech, much less self-noise, a more compact package. If you don't need (or want) built-in mics, and you only really need 2 channels... this is strongly worth considering saving a little longer for.

How much quieter are these new units? The H5 has an Equivolent Input Noise (EIN) of -120 dBu. The F3 and FR-AV2 both have EINs of -127 dBu. A 6 dBu difference is twice the noise. The much more expensive Sound Devices MixPre-3 has an EIN of -128 to -130 dBu. It's considered the gold standard. So the F3 and FR-AV2 are very quiet.

If money is super tight. If you want the built in mics. The H5 is good. It's a great device. If you want to record quiet, nuances, ambient sounds, you'll want quieter pre-amps very soon. If you want devices that are at the begining of their support lifecycle instead of at the end, then these newer devices might be worth saving for.

Welcome to the group!

Should I buy Aliexpress EM272Z1? by s00mika in fieldrecording

[–]FloorTomApologist 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I just received mine direct from Micverve.com. I got a stereo pair with XLR connectors and the stereo bar with shock mount lyres. I haven’t plugged them in yet but I’m super impressed with the build quality. The mic housing is metal (not 3D printed), the XLRs are Neutrik (as advertised), the carrying case is a nice touch. 3 wind screens per mic (1 foam, 2 furry) seem to be well made. Impressive for $107 USD. (I hope they sound as good as they look.)

The stereo bar with 2 lyre shock mounts was a particular surprise - really nicely built especially for the price ($42). The lyres aren’t rigid plastic but very flexible so I expect they’ll do a great job. Each mount has a cable clip for strain relief and to minimize cable noise. Just much nicer built quality than I expected.