advice on portable field audio recorders

[cesarin]

Hey there lovely people



so i was wondering if any of you have enough experience or know something about portable field recorders.

the main purpose for this will be live concerts, mainly the metal genre...

right now i am using my cam to record sound, a panasonic x920, which does a pretty good job, but it's not meant for it, here some examples:


live outdoor concert, some 300 / 400 meters from the stage / right side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHkH8yFU2i4

live outdoor concert, some 400 / 500 meters from the stage / left side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvy3L33YaIM

live outdoor concert, some 20 / 30 meters from the stage / center right side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kj1_-vSWfk



live indoor concert, some 30 meters from the stage / left side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XU1E3LZ1k8

live indoor concert, some 60 meters from the stage / left side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbxRUgAExrY

live indoor concert, some 60 meters from the stage / center side:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOh1sUKQzrM


so i was talking with a friend and we found this site about the top 10 portable recorders...

http://www.wirerealm.com/guides/top-10-best-portable-recorders


in the end i liked the "Tascam DR-100MKII" which i am ready to buy, but i've had second thoughts lately... so better be sure before...

i also own a rode stereo video SVM mic, which i got for a fair price, and also thought i could use it with the tascam recorder since the mic doesn't need phantom power... or just use the tascam's mics...


the investment itself is not an issue, i'm ready to spend some 400€ on a portable recorder, perhaps more... but i do want to invest in something good.


so there you go... any thoughts on the matter ?


thank you so much

[Brainiac]

I cannot offer any advice on which particular model you should buy, but I'd recommend 3 things: If possible, plug into main sound board, plug into a power outlet and always monitor the sound.

Brainiac

[aedipuss]

brainiac is correct. unless you are plugged into the main sound board it won't matter what recorder you use because the crowd noise will be bad. the rode svm pro in powered +20db mode is almost as good as a separate audio recorder. it mostly bypasses the awful mic preamps most cams have.

[cesarin]

hey guys, thanks to both of you for your reply, regarding what brainiac says, well yeah, that would be ideal !!! then again it would defeat the purpose of being portable and become stationary, plus the fact organizers will hardly let me get close to any of their gear while in the concert hehe...

regarding the crowd noise, i totally don't mind that, it's impossible not to have it if you're not plugged to the soundboard, and even so, you'll always get some...

i want to have an external recorder to increase the chances of having a better sound quality other than the one produce by the camera mic.... like i could get someone to stay right in the middle of the venue to capture a better stereo sound, while i get close to get a nice viewing angle...