voice and music recorder

[zoobie]

Guess what?
I'm going to try a few outdoor weddings this year and need a recorder
I don't want to invest much in case I don't like it
...and a lapel mic for the groom that goes to the recorder in his jacket
I'm thinking the lapel mic is probably the most important here...I may also use it to record a musician or whatnot

how do on the cheap?

thx

[stantheman1976]

For the lapel mic either the Giant Squid omni lapel or Microphone Madness omni lapel. I have both and can recommend either. The GS is $30 shipped. The MM is about $50 shipped. For recorders the Zoom H2 is less than $200 and has the added bonus of built in mics you can use for other applications. I got mine for exactly $200 with a 4GB card. At 44.1KHz/16 bit quality about 6 hours of recording time. The only drawback I've found is that the file size when recording is limited to 2GB because of FAT32 and when it splits it stops recording, writes the file, then starts again. So you lose about 20-30 seconds. If you're willing to go for something used you can get the iRiver H120/140 or H320/340 recorders off eBay. They are getting rare though. The 20 and 40 represents storage in GB. The 1XX series is monochrome display and has a digital input. The 3XX is color and has only analog input. Using the lapel mics that won't make any difference. You will need to put Rockbox firmware on the iRivers because the stock firmware sucks for recording. The iRivers also has a 2GB file limit but with Rockbox it will make a seamless split so if you're recording something extremely long you'll just have to put the files together is any editor and you won't lose any of the event.

If you want a sample visit my Myspace page. There is a clip from a wedding I filmed of the ceremony and some of the reception. The audio from the ceremony of the bride, groom, and minister is from a GS lapel mic hooked to the groom running into a Sound Professionals preamp and iRiver H120 that was in the groom's pocket.

http://www.myspace.com/stantheman1976

http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/gs/gs-mono1.htm
http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmlaplapstyl.htm
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230217289188

[zoobie]

200 bucks?
how about a little tape recorder with mic in?

[stantheman1976]

The only tape recorder you'll find cheap is microcassette or a digital voice recorder that only takes a true mono mic and does not record at a high resolution so it will not sound very good.

[zoobie]

I'm looking at a microcassette in front of me that's hardly been used
those iRivers were mentioned in threads here 3 years ago on a search
was hoping something newer and more efficient had developed
still waiting for the cheapest route with reasonable audio
thx for the mic recommendation

[stantheman1976]

Plenty has developed but nothing as cheap as you are wanting. The iRivers are still one of the best for price vs. performance and still being used today by a lot of people who record live music. I have the H120 and it's one of the best things I own.

[zoobie]

do you think a Giant Squid omni lapel or Microphone Madness omni lapel will work with an ipod?
Apple's selling them refurbished for $39 with free shipping
thx

[stantheman1976]

iPods were not meant to be recording devices. They do not have line or mic inputs that I know of.

[zoobie]

sure they do
voice recorders with mic input
but after researching, they don't work so well and only take certain cheapo mics
minidisc with one of those quality lapel mics would be cool

[zoobie]

another reason:

iPod’s firmware restricts record quality to 8kHz, 16 bit mono WAV files

I wonder how well those digital voice recorders work...looks like it's between those and the minidisc recorders
Like I said...I don't want to invest much initially
a hundred bucks, tops