Generation PRX

Equipment: Good and expensive vs. crappy and cheap

So say hypothetically the youth radio project you work with comes upon enough money to buy 10 new recorders. Would you buy the newest fanciest $500 dollar recorder, like the Sony PCM-D50? Or knowing that people are prone to misplace things, would you buy less expensive but not nearly as awesome equipment and squirrel the extra money away to replace misplaced items?

I'm asking because I got some money and I want to get new stuff for YNN, because our fleet of minidisc recorders are dropping like flies. It makes sense to go with a digital recorder so that we don't have to load sound analog anymore, but I'm not sure if spending $500 bucks on a recorder is the most practical idea when I know it will be banging around in various students' backpacks and used at the lunch table at school. At the same time I want YNN producers to have access to equipment that works well that will give them good quality sound without too much hassle.

So do I go the $500 route or do I go for something cheaper and crappier?

Have you had experience with an affordable digital recorder that produces good sound quality with various kinds of microphones and without too much handling noise?

Any thoughts, experience, suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Tennessee

Tags: equipment

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Permalink Reply by The Detroit Broadcasting Company on November 13, 2007 at 5:10pm: my suggestion is middle of the road approach. In my experience you're not going to get something digital for less than 300 dollars, but its a well spent 300 dollars. check out the M Audio Micro track 24/96. its small and lightweight. How it will take lunchtable wear and tear, i don't know...

good sound , lots of input options easy to read montior.
But i've got one and it serves me well. It's reviewed on transom.org in the tools space if you want more info.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by sarah levine on November 13, 2007 at 9:23pm: We just got a Zoom H4 recorder that I'm experimenting with. It was $300 -- it's digital, has internal stereo mic, has good reputation. The sound seems pretty good as I'm recording -- I THINK comparable to Sony minidiscs that I've been using, BUT haven't yet figured out how to get sound TO computer from --haven't installed proper software, i think. Anyone else been using these?

I do agree that it's time to move away from minidiscs which break and break and break.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kaari Pitkin on January 10, 2008 at 3:56pm: Here are my thoughts about the Zoom - use the internal mic (on medium or high setting) but in mono. I tried the stereo function and the sounds just ended up being distracing/overwhelming. Also, when you take off the wind screen, you'll get a visual of which way the little mics are positioned, that's helpful when you think about where to place your mic.

External mics, even condenser mics w/ their own power, wound up sounding small because of a weak pre-amp--like a lot of these digital recorders.

Good luck!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sarah on February 5, 2008 at 11:30am: a digital recorder that all of the students at columbia college in chicago use ist he Edirol digital recorder for $300. You can find some on ebay for cheaper. but this has professional quality, easy to use but you still have to make sure not to lose it or smash it on the concrete. I recorded a live music show then ended up playing the track on the air ...quality was that good. on the other hand using it for private interviews works to you dont even need an external mic.; ▶ Reply to This