Fostex field recorder. Any other cheap recording methods?

Clint Nitkiewiz Hernandez

Clint Nitkiewiz Hernandez

Well-known member
Hows it going.

Im about to buy a fostx fr2-le field recorder, but thats a good $500.

Anyone know of any generic, maybee usb driven high quality recorder for under $300? Something I can buy at radio shack, best buy?

If not, guess expensive is the only way to go right?

I could record straight to the camera, but that may interfere with my steadycam and crane work i think.


I think I found a $300 recorder, does it do the basic stuff a fostex can do? Please advise.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...s_promot_widget
 
you have the budget for a steadicam and crane but not audio?
id rather hear good sound than watch a steadicam and or crane shot .
 
Last edited:
I agree with Matt. If your audio is crappy then it doesn't matter how good the visuals are, your movie will seem amateurish. My favorite argument that I like to give to people is a study that was made once. A group of people were given the same piece of film to watch with identical quality visuals. One of the pieces had good sound and the other crappy sound. The group of people thought that the movie with the good sound looked better! The picture quality was exactly the same.
 
Thanks guys.

Thanks guys.

Your right, my favorite sound design has to be in transformers and the new movie room 2119 or something like that, forgot the number, about that guy who is stuck in the hotel room. Wow when he turned deaf, the ringing, it was just incredible.

So what would some recommendations be for a good on set sound recorder as far as quality and sound cleanliness is concerned, least distortion, etc.. I plan on doing many shots with a steadycam, and moving around a lot. This is a feature by the way.

XLRs to the camera with a boom?
Fostex field recorder to the boom?
Wireless mic set?

Thanks.
 
You get what you pay for, there's no shortcut.
FR-2LE has good audio, it's worth the $500 for non-TC backup.
$500 is not expensive. $300 recorder is Cheap, and will sound Cheap.
 
There are plenty of cheap recorders out now that can record perfectly acceptable audio. $500 is certainly on the cheap side. Cheap means compromises. But you have the cart before the horse here.

Figure out a COMPLETE kit that will meet your total sound needs before spending one dime on equipment...but before even that decide WHO is going to record your audio. Find that person first and then build a budget & kit that you decide together will work.

Even if someone gave you a 744t, Cantar, or DEVA for free you still will not get good sound unless you have a complete understanding of how to get the sound from your actor's mouth, through the production chain, and out the movie theater's sound system. Good equipment must be married to good technique to obtain the results you are looking for.

We have stickies here that will get you started and from there read a book like Jay Rose's and visit various production audio web sites.

Once you understand what the pros and cons are of the various cheap recorder you can decide for yourself what is the best way to spend your money.

One way or the other, unless you are planning to be the sound engineer, you are going to have to bring someone else in to actual record the audio. The sooner you do this the better you and your wallet will be.

Good luck
 
For good sounding audio, you can either spend money up front or in post. A lot of people try to save money by getting cheap during the shoot and they end up paying way more in post to try to clean up the nasty production audio or with ADR.

I would read Wabbit's post above many times because he is absolutely right. The equipment, while important, is minor compared to the persons operating it.
 
One question for you Clint, are you doing the audio or someone else is recording it for you? It's understandable to have both a sound kit and a video kit, but doing both at the same time is hard! The suggestion of a Tascam HD-P2 would be the best solution because it has TC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top