How good are digital voice recorders?

by IP_SEC 21 Replies latest social entertainment

  • IP_SEC
    IP_SEC

    Has anyone used the digital voice recorders on the market? How good is the sound quality. Can they be used to record a clear sound from like a coat pocket or sumthin? Does anyone have a brand or model suggestion?

  • prophecor
    prophecor

    You joining the ranks of the CIA there IPSEC ? They would go great getting that secret info from the inside! WINK, WINK, NUDGE, NUDGE!!!

  • kls
    kls

    IP , maybe if you have a Radio Shack in your area they could help you out with what you will need this for or any Electronics place in your area.

  • DannyHaszard
    DannyHaszard
  • catchthis
    catchthis

    I've got three different mechanisms to record voice and one of them beats all. Comparing my tape vs. digital recorder, the tape beats it easily. I had thought the digital one would be a great replacement for the tape recorder, but the quality sucked. It is easy to transfer the voice content to the computer though(my tape recorder doesn't even have a line output). But I don't use the digital one anymore. Now, I use a software program that works nicely on my PDA(winmobile03) called Resco Audio. It can record with various settings including recording directly as an MP3 file. I could record an entire 3-day assembly on my 1-gig SD storage card with plenty of room left over. And the sound quality is excellent. It also records well through clothing(trait of the PDA's built-in mic). You could also plug in a wired microphone if you had to for better pickup.

    I'd say if you have a PDA, use the Resco utility. Otherwise, check out some tape recorders that have line outputs to be able to dump into your computer....if that is what you are looking to do.

  • Elsewhere
    Elsewhere

    I have a little digital recorder and my experince with it is that you will need to be withen five feet of the voice you are recording. Also, many digital recorders have different recording quality settings... make sure you use the highest quality setting.

  • DannyHaszard
    DannyHaszard

    Heads up! Micro cassetes usually have to be uploaded and dubed onto a standard full size to get volume on a big machine to play to a jury.You want it to sound with real clarity and not mushy. The sony clear voice 'pressman' full size tape standard cassette recorder $35.00 i have 5 this is what journalist and reporters use for good reason

    Click to enlarge

    SONY TCM-210DV Standard Cassette Voice Recorder

    Sony TCM-210DV Standard Cassette Voice Recorder

    Trust me,Danny

  • Nathan Natas
    Nathan Natas

    One trick I have used from time to time was to use a VCR (video cassette recorder) for audio recording. The big appeal of doing this is that you can get up to 8 hours of continuous sound on one T160 tape.

    it's not easily concealable, though.

    After taking a quick look at what was on the market, I bought a SONY ICD ST-25 a couple of months ago. I was fascinated that this tiny* little thing could record for just over ELEVEN AND A HALF HOURS!

    Well , it can, but that's in "LP" mode and the sound quality is hardly optimum.

    In SP mode it will record for 4.33 hours, and in ST mode it will record for 85 minutes.

    The sound quality in ST mode is impressive. It has jacks for external microphones if you don't want to use the internal mike, a jack for headphones and a jack for an AC/DC supply, and a USB port.

    It comes with a USB cable and software for transferring the digital recording to your computer.

    If you have a copy of CoolEdit2000 or something similar, you can manipulate the sound quality as required.

    It is generally better to avoid sound levels so high that they "clip" - record at half volume and use a digital sound editor to Normalize the sound back up to 99-100% or so.

    CoolEdit is no longer available - it was bought by Adobe. It is a pretty nice product.

    *tiny: 70 grams with 2 AAA batteries, 102mm x 45mm x 13mm

  • MegaDude
    MegaDude

    I use an IRiver digital recorder in my job. It's about the size of my thumb and it records beautifully. But I understand most digital players will do a good job of recording such as an Ipod.

    Agree with Elsewhere that you need to adjust the sound quality recording level to highest.

    The Iriver is small enough you could tape it somewhere and it would be unnoticed.

  • IP_SEC
    IP_SEC

    Mega, Is that the iriver N10 series? That looks perfect.

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