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Advice on a voice recorder
I'm starting an archive project of long form interviews with locals in my area. Do any of y'all have advice on what might be the best handheld voice recorder that's high quality sound but small and discrete so my interviewees can forget that they're being recorded?
For portable recording, I've been very satisfied with my entry-level Zoom recorder (H1n). Here's their current lineup: https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/handheld-recorders/ and I guess the current model that is closest to the outdated one that I have is the H1essential. (Mine has a) Super sensitive mic that picks up just about as good as a human ear. Slap on something to deal with wind (examples (DuckDuckGo)), and you're good to go.
Unless you know ahead of time that there will be issues, I wouldn't worry about people being conscious that they're being recorded. I'd expect most people to get comfortable pretty quickly as the interview proceeds.
That all said, most modern phones do a fine job. Is there a reason you don't want to use that?
I dont want to fill my personal phone up with hours of interview material. I'd like to keep my personal files separate from this project and have it all on a dedicated device. Thank you for the suggestion!
A few questions because I just went through something similar and learned a lot. I am not an audio professional, just an enthusiastic hobbyist.
Do you have a budget in mind?
And also do you plan to do any sort of processing with the audio after you record it?
Will you record on location, like a field recording at people’s homes or similar?
Its a pretty low budget, a few hundred at most in equipment. I will be processing it after but minimally. On location recording either at people's houses or wherever they're most comfortable. Might be location changes depending on the person and their day.
I’ve used a lot of the above equipment and if I may chime in with an alternative: the Sony PCM-A10 is a wonderful bit of kit! The quality for what it is is fantastic and it’s quite reasonably priced, but the USP over something like the (also great) Tascam DR-40X or Zoom equivalent is the size. The PCM-A10 fits in the palm of your hand, so it’s perfect for your use case. It also functions as a slide-out USB flash drive so is very handy for retrieving your recordings in a moment, and is the only recorder I’ve used that can be remotely managed and controlled via Bluetooth on your smartphone if you wish, which I found quite handy.
The Zoom and Tascam models are great—I use the DR-40X incredibly often and can’t sing its praises enough—but I will admit that they’re hefty, being quite heavy and being about the size of my full outstretched hand. For the purposes you outline the PCM-A10 is just amazing, both in form factor and quality.
That looks like exactly what I want. Thank you for the suggestion!
I really hope that it comes in handy for you if you do go therefor! Best of luck with your project, can’t wait to hear more :)
I have a Tascam DR40 (https://tascam.com/us/product/dr-40x/ looks like they've got a new model) and an ancient DR100 (https://tascam.com/us/product/dr-100mkiii/ again, new model) kicking around the house and they've never failed me. I've also used the Zoom H1n before (I've been given a few as parts of kits before) and they certainly work...
So it's really what's your budget and can you find a good deal? Are you looking for a tripod mounted recorder or would wireless lavs meet the need? Are you capturing video and would an integrated solution meet the need better?
Just use your cell phone. Cell phones have pretty great quality microphones on them, and phones are mundane enough that it would be perfectly normal to have someone set it out on a table, for instance.
Alternatively, get some wireless lapel microphones. Once you get past the awkwardness of having one on you it's easy enough to forget they exist.
I'm not sure if that is true. I did some tests recently and its not the same. I suppose a phone is usable, but given the choice would rather use a dedicated microphone. Perhaps some smartphones are better than others, though.
Fair, I was assuming OP already had a pretty decent quality phone, which might not be the case. But I’ll stick with my lapel mic recommendation. They can be fairly cheap and they are used in many professional interviews.