Best small portable recorder with lavallier radio mic

A

Andrea189

Well-known member
Hello, I will travel alone with the main character of a documentary I am making and I'll have to take care of both video and sound recording. While I normally use a Sennheiser G2 connected to a PIX 220 recorder and a Nikon D7100 also connected to the PIX, for this trip I will also use a Blackmagic Pocket camera in some places where I want to look as a tourist walking around and taking pictures. I need some advice on a good small, portable recorder which can fit in my bag to connect the radio mic to. I have a Zoom H4N but I am not too fond of it. I have seen a used sony pcm-D1 for a reasonable price, is it any good? Do you have any suggestions on any other small recorder?

Thank you!

Andreas
 
"Do you have any suggestions on any other small recorder?"
- In what price range? At the high end, a Nagra or a Zaxcom recording transmitter. At the low end a Zoom H1, Lots of others in between, depending what features you need.
 
In handhelds I'm really happy with the DR-40.

Mine just survived getting soaked in a rainstorm. It was a stupid move on my part, I was recording these great crickets so I set it up on the deck and went in to just let it roll. When I came up from the basement I realized it was raining. Went out and figured it was tost. Literally there was water everywhere in the poor beast. Took batteries out and the card and shook water out. stood it at an angle and gave it a few days to dry out. When I powered it up again there is no sign it ever got soaked. I had to reset some things but that's all.

Not that I would recommend a repeat but if you are going to be in the field it's nice if the gear can hold up to mishaps.
 
Most recorders with XLRs are larger than their 3.5mm mic input counterparts. So if size is an absolute issue, another mic may be needed as well. (BWT, adapters are not recommended) The DR-40 is is a good recorder IMO as well.. relatively small but could be an issue for someone with tight fitting clothes.
 
Rick R said:
Most recorders with XLRs are larger than their 3.5mm mic input counterparts. So if size is an absolute issue, another mic may be needed as well. (BWT, adapters are not recommended) The DR-40 is is a good recorder IMO as well.. relatively small but could be an issue for someone with tight fitting clothes.
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Do you think that a Nagra Lino or SD could be a good choice, paired with a radio mic?
 
Nagra makes great gear.. at least they used too. I haven't used the newer digital recorders, I'm sure they're still well built and sound good though.
The Nagra Lino is 107 x 68 x 24 mm.. the Tascam DR40:155 x 70 x 35 mm... not a huge difference and Nagra is about 3x the price. (in USD)
The Zoom H1 is quite small and low cost.. (but.. it's a Zoom) The Zaxcom ZFR series recorders are smaller than all the above but about 10x the Zoom's price. The Zaxcom TRX900AA recording transmitter about 18x.
SD (Sound Devices) does not make a 'pocket' sized recorder...
... unless you happen to be Capt. Kangaroo. (sorry, most here will probably not know who this is)
 
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If you want something small that records good sound from a Sennheiser wireless mic system, then I would recommend either the Sony PCM-M10 or the Tascam DR-07 Mkii. The Tascam has directional mics that you can use to record an interview or voice-over, while the Sony has omni-directional mics that are useful to record ambient sound. Both of these recorders will also work well when recording directly from a Sennheiser G2 wireless system.
 
... unless you happen to be Capt. Kangaroo. (sorry, most here will probably not know who this is)

I'm locking up my carrots and tuning in Channel 1...
 
TheDingo said:
If you want something small that records good sound from a Sennheiser wireless mic system, then I would recommend either the Sony PCM-M10 or the Tascam DR-07 Mkii. .
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Thank you. I could then plug in a sanken COS 11 lavallier directly into the Sony, as I understand, and it would take power from the recorder. Is that correct?
 
Andrea189 said:
Thank you. I could then plug in a sanken COS 11 lavallier directly into the Sony, as I understand, and it would take power from the recorder. Is that correct?
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I own a Sanken COS-11 lav wired for my Sennheiser G3 system, but I've never tried this. As far as I know you can do this as long as you turn on mic power in the recorder. I have an Oscar Sound Tech OST lav wired with a regular 3.5mm plug that I plug directly into small recorders like my Sony PCM-M10, so I'm pretty sure the Sanken mic would work the same way.
 
TheDingo said:
If you want something small that records good sound from a Sennheiser wireless mic system, then I would recommend either the Sony PCM-M10 or the Tascam DR-07 Mkii. The Tascam has directional mics that you can use to record an interview or voice-over, while the Sony has omni-directional mics that are useful to record ambient sound. Both of these recorders will also work well when recording directly from a Sennheiser G2 wireless system.
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I had a DR07MKII and hated the noise level on it. Sold it and bought the PCM-M10. Huge difference. Cleaner than a DR100MKII also by a little bit.

I haven't tried any of Sony's other recorder's, but I imagine the PCM-D100 would be pretty awesome if one can do without the XLR.
 
CF01 said:
I had a DR07MKII and hated the noise level on it. Sold it and bought the PCM-M10. Huge difference. Cleaner than a DR100MKII also by a little bit.
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My experience has been the exact opposite. Years ago I bought the original DR07 recorder which was so absolutely horrible that I ended up giving it away. ...But last year I needed two small recorders to send to physicians to record their narration for a pharmaceutical project I was working on, so I tested a few new recorders and ended buying a couple of the DR07 Mkii recorders because they had a low noise-floor and fairly good directional mics. In tests the DR07 Mkii showed a noise-floor of -80 to -60 dB RMS depending on the amount of gain, where the Sony PCM-M10 has a noise-floor of -75 to -50 dB RMS depending on the amount of gain. ( I only use the Sony for LINE level recording because of how noisy it is )
 
TheDingo said:
I own a Sanken COS-11 lav wired for my Sennheiser G3 system, but I've never tried this. As far as I know you can do this as long as you turn on mic power in the recorder. I have an Oscar Sound Tech OST lav wired with a regular 3.5mm plug that I plug directly into small recorders like my Sony PCM-M10, so I'm pretty sure the Sanken mic would work the same way.
Click to expand...

Thank you!
 
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