Mic that records to sd card advice please

[durian]

I've seen a number of microphones that record directly to an sd card and am considering buying a couple for my students to use instead of me having to sit at cubase for what is often a two minute voice over. I'm not sure I'd use one of these things for anything serious, or am I mistaken?

Do you have any experience of these devices? Do you find one that's a pain or really good?

How are these things with levels? I doubt you can see any level meter while using it, I'd hate the idea of auto level.

Thoughts and advice welcome, I am not intending to dump cubase, but for quick voice work are they any good?

[bruce]

It's not in the conventional "microphone format", but digital recorders things like the Zoom H4n are really rather good.... and you can use external mics if you want.

[the kid]

H2 and H4 is what we used to use for voiceovers/ assessments, they worked great.

[durian]

1410458331[/url]' post='507152']

It's not in the conventional "microphone format", but digital recorders things like the Zoom H4n are really rather good.... and you can use external mics if you want.

 

Our students have access to those from our library, but that takes a trip out of the theatre, queue up and then ask me how to use the thing,what I'm after is something instant that I can hand to a student to make a quick simple voice record, push a button, talk, remove card dump the wav in audacity/qlab for playback

Also, with the zoom things, which I do think are amazing, ours come with a bag and wires and sd cards on a separate sign out.

To hand a student a mic with a simple record button, job done.

 

1410458646[/url]' post='507153']

H2 and H4 is what we used to use for voiceovers/ assessments, they worked great.

 

I always suggest our zoom machines for anything serious, I'm looking for a simpler device for quick try out stuff which we do a lot of.

[bruce]

Not sure I understand what you're looking for. What you've described is a Zoom H2 etc, without the bag of gubbins....

 

Maybe the HHB Flashmic is closer to what you're looking for, although it's not SD card. Press the button, record your audio, plug it into computer USB, pull audio into whatever app you are using. But apart from it being in a "microphone format", it's just another digital recorder :)

 

http://www.hhb.co.uk/flashmic/

[BigYinUK]

@bruce

 

Following your link it seems that "The HHB FlashMic has now been discontinued - The Yellowtec iXm Digital Recording Microphone is a suitable alternative"

 

and that this new bit of kit does indeed use SD media!

 

Maybe just what the OP requires?

 

Regards

[pete10uk]

You can't get simpler than a zoom. I have used the H4n for awhile, as said it's perfect for what you need.

 

Perhaps buy one for your own use and don't go through the sigh out malarkey. No need for any cables if you have a set of batteries. Press the red button, talk, red button again and then remove the card, hey presto.

[durian]

As the thread title suggests....

I'm looking for opinions on something like the yellowtech mic bit that's 900 euros!

I don't want a zoom or similar, I want a traditional microphone with an sd card

If you have experience with these specific devices I'd be grateful to hear you opinions

Please do not reply with more sd recorders like the zoom

Many thanks

Yellowtech

 

[sam.spoons]

After a brief bit of internet research I think the Yellotech is the only one out there (there was an HHB Flashmic but it's been discontinued for a good while) so f that's what you want (and I'd agree they it is probably the best solution to your problem, but at a significant price difference over the Zoom or iPhone recording paradigm).

 

What course are your students studying? If it has an audio tech module or is radio/tv journalism based I'd be giving them whatever basic gear you have to hand as that's what they'll encounter in the real world more often than not http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif. They'll nearly all have a smart phone so, unless audio quality is a priority (and an iPhone can produce decent recordings given a bit of basic knowledge).........

[Oldradiohand]

How about a USB mic? Record straight into audacity on a laptop, transfer via datastick if required.

[durian]

I bought the Samson USB mic before summer thinking that same thing.

It is very difficult to get a signal out of it, one MacBook, one G5, one Xeon Mac, core i5 windows 8 and an Ubuntu rig, it didn't produce satisfactory results for speech.

It may be great for a vocalist singing, but speech is drowned out with hiss.A quick google showed me I'm not the only one with USB mic level problems

 

apple phones seem to produce recordings on the left channel only so that requires extra processing to get two channel audio for a stereo system.

I don't have one, but all the recordings my students bring me made with iPhones are all on the left channel when played out of q lab or audacity produces a mono track which then needs copying to a track panned right and the original recording panned left Wtf.

[MarkPAman]

Zoom H2. For the non technical, I can't really see how it could be easier unless you do if for them. I've written a " how to drag your file off" guide that's printed on a label stuck to the back - it's only two or three lines long but most people don't need it. I lend them out to just about anybody who asks, and the only people who have problems are the ones who can't turn their computer on either.

 

H4 is better for quality, but it's not so simple to use. I've had a lovely recording of a singing teacher and a pianist discussing which scale to record next, with the machine stopping just before each "take". Somehow they got record and ready the wrong way around. The H2 has no ready mode.

[TomHoward]

Another happy user Zoom without any of the issues you're describing, and they are fine for vocals and close mic voiceovers. They have a level indicator, and you can monitor recording with a pair of headphones as well.

 

We use the Zoom h1 (we have about 4 of them) for recording voiceovers, ambient and samples. The Auto level actually works fine for most applications including short voiceovers as it seems to average over a longer period of time but is not good for classical/orchestral as it tends to iron out the dynamics that are part of the performance.

 

Goes straight onto MiniSD do you can pull it out and put it in an adaptor. Another great thing about the h1 is that all the settings are on physical switches on the outside of the unit - no menu items - so you can initialise the thing and demonstrate settings to end user without even turning it on.

 

The operation of the h1 is as simple as the mic you linked to, has monitoring and is around £70 new.

[revbobuk]

How about one of these! http://www.primaryict.co.uk/resources/tts/primaryict/ettmicb-250px.jpg Could be just what you are after...

 

Forgot to add the link

[Shez]

I bought the Samson USB mic before summer thinking that same thing.

It is very difficult to get a signal out of it, one MacBook, one G5, one Xeon Mac, core i5 windows 8 and an Ubuntu rig, it didn't produce satisfactory results for speech.

It may be great for a vocalist singing, but speech is drowned out with hiss.A quick google showed me I'm not the only one with USB mic level problems

I bought one of those several years ago. Back then, with XP, you had to install a little utility which let you adjust the preamp gain, HPF frequency etc. That was retired as supposedly being unnecessary with Win7 as the adjustments should be available in the normal windows mixer. Off the top of my head, I can't remember exactly how to do it but you can certainly record decent quality voiceovers with it without noise issues. I'll post back if I have a chance to have a look at it again.