Audio Recorders

That's a pretty open-ended question. Under what circumstances? Narrative? Doc? Reality? Do you have a field mixer, or are you plugging the mic straight in? Do you have a mixer/recordist to assist, or are you a one-man-band?

The DVX is perfectly capable of recording dialog. Some folks use double-system and record to both the camera and to an external recorder. On the other hand, if you're shooting with a DSLR, double-system is a must.
 
say that you are taking a wide shot and you have a a guy operating the boom mike for that shot. more than likely the boom operater is goig to have some type of recorder to capture the audio. what type of recorders are being used for this? (zoom h4n) ect.
 
bigmajik said:
say that you are taking a wide shot and you have a a guy operating the boom mike for that shot. more than likely the boom operater is goig to have some type of recorder to capture the audio.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. The type of shot (wide, close, etc.) has no bearing on the need for an external recorder. Again, the DVX is perfectly capable of recording dialog.

Also, a boom op does not, by definition, carry a recorder. On lower-budget productions, you may have an all-in-one sound person who operates the boom and mixer, and recorder if there is one. On high-budget productions, the boom op works in tandem with the sound mixer, and is usually wearing some sort of preamp with headphone return, or other headphone interface with the mixer.

For a one-man-band sound person working with a camera that has decent-to-good audio recording, most likely there's just a field mixer between the mic and the camera.

There are cases where a separate recording system is needed:
- Does the camera have sub-par audio circuits?
- Is there a need for the sound person to be free from cabling to the camera?
- Are there several mics in play that require more than two record tracks?

Now, wanting a recorder is much different from needing a recorder. If you simply want to get a recorder, which one depends entirely on you: your budget, your typical setup, whether or not you have a field mixer (and what type of mixer you have).

Budget is usually the first concern.

As for what's out there, well... there are folks who happily get by on a Zoom H4n, and it certainly can do the job for little cost. The Fostex FR2-LE costs more, but has better preamps. The TASCAM HD-P2 is even more expensive, but offers SMPTE TC sync (which can be handy, but isn't necessary and isn't available with the DVX). Edirol R-4, R-44, and R-44pro also have their fans in indi production. Sound Devices 7-series recorders are top-of-the-line, along with Zaxcom and Nagra... though SD is kind of ruling the market right now.

You might want to poke around the Audio forum here at DVXUser. It has lots of good info about recorders, as they are usually in discussion on a daily basis.
 
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