Handheld digital recorders...

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Handheld digital recorders... was created by Fred Ginsburg

Hi Professor,

Hope your breaks going well. I'm in the market for a new digital recorder
and was wondering if you could give me some advice.

I work primarily in the documentary genre and so I would prefer a small
handheld digital recorder. I'm looking at both the Tascam DR-40 or Zoom
H4n? Both have 2 XLR inputs which puts them above most models in the
handheld category.

However, when I graduate I would like to work as a sound recordist on
independent sets. Can these recorders hold up to industry standard or is
their a glaring issue with them I should be aware of? Will I need to
purchase a separate recorder, such as the marantz, when working on
narrative films vs. documentaries?


Both units are very similar. The built-in mics, as good as they might be, are useless; you would not be using them to record production audio tracks since you would always be using one or two external mics directly (or line out from a mixer). Even though they are touted as 4-track, you are right to consider them as two-track. Recording specs are excellent. No timecode, however.

I have not used either of them, so one needs to play with them in your hand to see how the ergonomics go. How easy or difficult is it to control recording levels with the built-in meters and buttons? Some of the zoom models did not allow any mic level adjustments other than a fixed hi-med-lo 3-choice switch. But that may not apply to this newer model.

When you talk about going professional with the recorders, bear in mind that they are only two-track and non-timecode. So that would only be a back-up track of what you would be sending to a camcorder. It would be nice to own at least a four-track with timecode, such as an Edirol R4-Pro or Sound Devices 744T. Edirol is coming out with an 8-track timecode portable for around $2500. But that is a big chunk of change more than the two tracks!
Last edit: 11 years 4 months ago by Fred Ginsburg.
11 years 4 months ago #928

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