Stolen Tascam!!! Aaarghhh!!!!!

[gorillaonabike]

My DR100 plus mic has gone... boo... On the plus side, we had a spare kicking around and managed to capture most of the sound OK.

However, I've been thinking about upgrading and getting a nicer little recorder. And maybe a nicer little mic as well. The criteria are that it must be portable, easy enough to use on set both outdoors and indoors, will record to something pretty straightforward and give a better quality of recording than a Tascam DR100. I was thinking of maybe doubling the budget.

On top of that, I'd be looking to get a mic, maybe a few months down the line (we already have a Sennheiser kicking around).

Any suggestions?

 

[Alcove Audio]

Well, that sucks!!!



There's the usual suspects - Fostex FR-2LE, Marantz PMD-661, Tascam HD-P2, Nagra ARES-ML4. Each has pros and cons. You may also want to consider the Tascam DR-680 and the Roland R-26, and possibly the Edirol R-44.

As far as mics there's the NTG-3, Sennheiser ME66 and Audio-Technica BP4073.

For hypercardioids there's the Audio Technica AT4053b, AKG SE-300B/CK93 and the Audix SCX1/HC.


I'm assuming that you already have all of the pertinent accessories; they go a long way helping to capture good sound.

 

[gorillaonabike]

Well, that sucks!!!



There's the usual suspects - Fostex FR-2LE, Marantz PMD-661, Tascam HD-P2, Nagra ARES-ML4. Each has pros and cons. You may also want to consider the Tascam DR-680 and the Roland R-26, and possibly the Edirol R-44.

As far as mics there's the NTG-3, Sennheiser ME66 and Audio-Technica BP4073.

For hypercardioids there's the Audio Technica AT4053b, AKG SE-300B/CK93 and the Audix SCX1/HC.


I'm assuming that you already have all of the pertinent accessories; they go a long way helping to capture good sound.

One of us already has the Sennheiser and it's a handy mic. I personally have a nice little boom, borrow a dead kitty every now and again (should buy my own, really...) and am working out sound. To be frank, I wanted a piece of kit to take the sound to the next level as the DR100 was nice but felt so limited.

Out of curiosity, off the top of your head, which of the above is likely to be the best pre-owned buy? I'm thinking of an ebay purchase.

 

[gorillaonabike]

Well, that sucks!!!



There's the usual suspects - Fostex FR-2LE, Marantz PMD-661, Tascam HD-P2, Nagra ARES-ML4. Each has pros and cons. You may also want to consider the Tascam DR-680 and the Roland R-26, and possibly the Edirol R-44.

As far as mics there's the NTG-3, Sennheiser ME66 and Audio-Technica BP4073.

For hypercardioids there's the Audio Technica AT4053b, AKG SE-300B/CK93 and the Audix SCX1/HC.


I'm assuming that you already have all of the pertinent accessories; they go a long way helping to capture good sound.

Out of curiosity, aside from the Edirol and Tascam DR 680, what would you go for? Also, how about a less portable solution? Would they be significantly cheaper?

 

[Alcove Audio]

You get what you pay for; buy cheap, get cheap.

Why would you want something less portable? EFP/ENG, especially at the low/no/mini/micro-budget indie level, is all about portability. And, if you're going for quality, it will be about the same price (as long as you already have a laptop) and much less convenient.

The PMD-661 is nice, I've used it a number of times, and the same with the HD-P2. The Fostex FR-2 is also nice, but I didn't like the hiss from the headphone pre-amp; it's not recorded, but then I'll never know if there's hiss from a source that I am recording that's being masked by the noisy headphones pre.

Lot's of my peers are very up on the Nagra, and it's on my list to try for my next major field recording trip.

 

[brunerww]

g.o.a.b. - you may also want to look at the Korgs - I'm looking at the camera mountable 24-bit/192kHz MR-2 ($499 at Amazon) or the larger, but still mobile, MR-1000 ($999 refurb'd at Guitar Center - minus a 4.9% discount if you get it at Guitar Center through Big Crumbs). The MR-2 records to SDHC up to 32GB, while the MR-1000 records to a 40GB internal hard drive.

- Both feature 1 bit/5.6MHz(!) recording.

- The MR-1000 has XLRs, the MR-2 does not.

- I have had a hard time finding another 24-bit/192kHz recorder at this price.

A couple of reviews:

MR-2: http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/recording/mr2-high-resolution-mobile-recorder-278719/review

MR-1000: http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/...ders/hard-disk-recorders/mr-1000-20872/review

Hope this is helpful,

Bill

 

[gorillaonabike]

You get what you pay for; buy cheap, get cheap.

Why would you want something less portable? EFP/ENG, especially at the low/no/mini/micro-budget indie level, is all about portability. And, if you're going for quality, it will be about the same price (as long as you already have a laptop) and much less convenient.

The PMD-661 is nice, I've used it a number of times, and the same with the HD-P2. The Fostex FR-2 is also nice, but I didn't like the hiss from the headphone pre-amp; it's not recorded, but then I'll never know if there's hiss from a source that I am recording that's being masked by the noisy headphones pre.

Lot's of my peers are very up on the Nagra, and it's on my list to try for my next major field recording trip.

The reason for not needing portability is in the last couple of shoots, portability was not an issue. If we need to go portable, I could probably get my hands on a DR100.

Therefore, I was wondering if a less portable solution would be less expensive. Equally, I was wondering if a similarly priced, less portable solution would be less expensive. If a £600 GBP recorder is significantly better than another £600 GBP recorder but is less portable, then I will go for the less portable option.