good portable voice recorder to use when shooting

[greymalkin]

I was originally going to try and pair a wireless mic receiver I got with a transmitter, but decided maybe I should just look into getting a decent portable digital audio recorder.

I'll be doing another wedding video (hopefully my last :P) and this location has no PA system. Since the wireless MIC usually serves a dual purpose of going through the PA I thought I could probably get away with just hooking a lapel mic to the person doing the ceremony and recording the audio feed onto a simple pocket sized digital audio recorder.

I know some of the voice recorders give garbage quality so I dont' want to go that route..I just want something that will be sensitive enough to pick up what the 3 main "characters" are saying in decent enough quality to use in the video.

So mainly I'm just looking for suggestions at this point...

I'll be shooting with a Canon HF10 and another of similar quality. I've been figuring out it's mic settings but will not trust it since this will be outside and who knows what the wind conditions might be.

thanks!

[greymalkin]

bumping myself as I completely changed the title and subject of this thread :P.

[filmboss80]

What's your budget? Check out the Zoom H4.

[greymalkin]

filmboss..that looks awesome!

I see theres also an h2 out. It's probably only a one time thing as I've pretty much "retired" from doing these things..I just said long ago I'd do this guys wedding if he ever got married :P. Since I only need it for that event, I'll see if theres a local shop that has one I can rent for a few days! I've seen them as low as $10 a day to rent, but it's on the other side of the country .

dlv

[filmboss80]

I think the H2 only records mp3, whereas you can get DAT wav files out of the H4. My H4 has been an extremely handy portable field recorder, and with xlr inputs, I can use any mics I desire.

[dLee]

Hooking up a lapel mike to only one of the three people you need to hear probably won't work very well - unless you've discovered something workable.

Ditto on the Zoom H4. Good quality even from the built-in (on?) stereo mics.

[RustyStainless]

I bought a Sony ICD-PX820 an it works very well, only about $49.95 from Sony online. I looked at H4s and all the recorders in that category but they are bulky because of their on board stereo mics. The Sony is tiny in comparision. It has stereo input so you can hook up a stereo lapel. Check out my set up here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVJ-gHbmDoY

[filmboss80]

I bought a Sony ICD-PX820 an it works very well, only about $49.95 from Sony online. I looked at H4s and all the recorders in that category but they are bulky because of their on board stereo mics. The Sony is tiny in comparision. It has stereo input so you can hook up a stereo lapel. Check out my set up here: (link removed)

You must be joking. This is the digital equivalent of a microcassette recorder--fine for making voice notes but not for production. Records mp3 (not DAT-quality wav files) and has no XLR mic inputs whatsoever. The OP, who posted the question nearly 9 months ago, was looking for something a step above.

[RustyStainless]

You must be joking. This is the digital equivalent of a microcassette recorder--fine for making voice notes but not for production. Records mp3 (not DAT-quality wav files) and has no XLR mic inputs whatsoever. The OP, who posted the question nearly 9 months ago, was looking for something a step above.[/QUOTE]

No I'm NOT joking. He said he had looked at the H2 - thats MP3 - so obviously he had NOT been looking for something a step above that. He said was pretty much retired, that usually means "I don't want to spend a lot of money because I won't get a return on it". You don't buy a Zoom H4 for a one off job, and a wedding at that!
The fact that the post is 9 months, or 5 years, has nothing to do with it. These posts will be researched for years. My response was for those who will look here for the years to come.