An impossible audio challenge?

[no pain no fame]

Hi, I’ve made several short films over the last few years and now I’m working on my first long. I'm obsessed with recording. I'd film every moment of my life if I had the hard drive space but I don’t. But I could record all the audio. So here’s my plan. I want to lav myself and record every waking moment of my life for thirty days. A simple enough idea, but like most things in filmmaking it’s a pain in the ass to enact. But I want to try. I’m in a difficult part of my life where a lot of things are unsettled and are about to be resolved (work, family, friends and living situation.) And I want to make sure the mic is there when things start exploding and healing. So when I go to write about it all in six months I have the details saved on disk.

But to do this I’m going to have to buy some equipment.

So ideally I’m looking for:

1. a digital audio recorder that:
A. either uses cheap media (i.e. Hi-MD 1 gig discs) or has a huge storage capacity (like a 20 gig hard drive)
B. has a rechargeable battery that lasts 12 hours
C. has phantom powered xlr inputs.

2. a lav mic with an xlr connector.
3. All for under 1000 dollars.

Does this exist in a single unit?

Right now it looks like I’d run a countryman B6 xlr to a phantom power box that connects via an 1/8” plug into the minidisk. I’d use one disk a day logging as I went. (hopefully, the phantom power box can use rechargeable 9v, I’m looking at this one:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTPHANIII

This system might work but I’m worried that with the minidisk and Sony’s paranoid drm system. That I won’t be able to digitally transfer the days recordings and will be forced to use the analog out which would take another month transferring 1:1.

Also, how much of the room will the b6 hear and am I better off with another mic if I want to hear everyone talking to me? The quality doesn’t have to be great just good enough that I can hear what everyone’s saying. But I wouldn’t mind if it was great and I could use it in future projects.

Also, the M-audio Microtrack 24/96 might be the answer but it only gets 3 hours on a charge when phantom power is on. The tascam hd-p2 gets 5 hours off a charge, seven hours short of my average awake time.

Thanks ahead of time for any help and suggestions,

Jayson
www.oldchildprojects.com

 

[ScoobySounds]

I think creative labs do some cheap hard disc recorders

http://www.nomadworld.com/products/Jukebox3/

it has an analogue input. and i read somewhere that it can record uncompressed audio too, although it doesn't say there. choice of a 20Gb or 40Gb hard drive. probably about 10 hrs battery time.

just found one on ebay too
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Creative-Labs-Nomad-Jukebox-3_W0QQitemZ9707800279QQcategoryZ15058QQtcZphotoQQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

edit: Just spotted the ebay ad is a uk seller..
are you looking for something higher quality?

 

[vidled]

Impossible? No way! ;-)

Check these out: Marantz PDM660; Edirol R-09; M-Audio MicroTrack; Edirol R-1

All these would record 24 hrs on a small solid state card which you could dump onto a computer. Have some spares too; they are cheap nowadays.

You'd want to avoid all unnecessary extra boxes such as your suggested phantom power box, as that will just add weight and be cumbersome.
But DO add some external battery packs; most recorders will NOT run as long as their recording ability on one charge; so simply run it off an external battery; have a few of them, and charge the ones that you are not using.
We can make a battery pack for you if you like; shouldn't be too big or heavy to run one of these recorders for 24 hrs.
An omni-Lav mic would work well, although if you really want to do 24/7 recording; I'd possibly use two mics (for safety); one feeding each channel. You'd also want to be VERY familiar with the unit and the workflow BEFORE you start the project; so make sure you learn the unit's ins-and-outs...

ADDED:
Just thought about it some more: if you're REALLY serious about this project, and do have a budget of $1000; you could get TWO of the recorders mentioned above; several external battery packs; chargers; and lav mics. THAT way you can use the second recorder as a backup; to record while you're changing flash cards on the main recorder; and use it also to record events and persons that aren't super close to you, i.e. other people in a car; people in a different room; etc. Most [all?] recorders mentioned above have built in mics that are quite good; so the second recorder could simply be used with the built in mics.

 

[vidled]

The tascam hd-p2 gets 5 hours off a charge, seven hours short of my average awake time.

Wow, didn't see this before: you sleep for 12 hours/day???
:shocked:

 

[no pain no fame]

thanks for the suggestions,

The Marantz pmd660 looks like it could do what I'm looking for with an external battery pack. Vidled, the battery pack you're talking about, how big would one be to run the pmd660 for 12 hours between charges (with the phantom power on)?

and thanks scooby, the nomad jukebox 3 would work but it doesn't have the phantom power so I'd have to carry around the little phantom power box.

the thing I liked about the minidisc option is that if I'm feeling lazy at the end of the day I won't have to offload all my day's recordings to my computer. I could just put in a new disc and deal. and it wouldn't need anything else if I could find a lav mic that could draw it's power from it.

Also, vidled I like your idea about running two mics, one to each channel. and having one near my mouth and the other near my ear so i can record phone conversations too.

oh yeah and as for 12 hours of sleep, I think that's an over estimate. it's just that the recordings from 11:00pm to 3:00 am would mostly be the sound of mouse and keyboard clicks. So I'd be willing let those hours go unrecorded.

p.s. does anyone know how big 12 hours of medium quality audio files would be?

 

[vidled]

Vidled, the battery pack you're talking about, how big would one be to run the pmd660 for 12 hours between charges (with the phantom power on)?

It uses about 4W (would have to get better info for exact figures), so a 48Wh battery pack will last 12 hrs. That isn't that big at all. Smaller than the PMD660 anyway, maybe half the size.