Boss micro br for dslr shooting?

[thefilmaddict]

Several years ago I bought a boss micro br digital recorder. It's basically a small digital 4 track recorder that I used to record music on the go. Could I use this as a dslr audio recorder? Is the audio quality good enough? Would the audio sync in post with my Panasonic gh2 running in 1080 24p mode? Would audio drift on long clips? I would connect a shotgun mic to it. It has mini in, but I own a transformer and xlr to mini connector. Will that work? Thanks!

 

[Alex H.]

The lack of clear specs on this device are frustrating... but it looks as though it records in MP3. It is limited to 44.1kHz. So, to answer your question, I wouldn't advise it.

MP3 is not an acquisition format. It's a distribution format. Recording in MP3 means that you're going to need to upconvert to 48kHz WAV or AIFF, which will result in some artifacting and not a whole lot of latitude in audio post if you need to do any processing.

Further, this little device is very limited on inputs... 1/8" TRS mic/line in. So you'll still need to get an XLR converter or external mixer of some sort.

Side note: 24p doesn't matter. Audio does not know frame rate, only sample rate... which, for video, is 48kHz. You will experience drift any time you work with an audio recorder that is not synced to the same master clock as the camera. How much drift really depends on the device, not the format, and generally won't be an issue for short clips (under 10 minutes).

 

[skyy38]

Several years ago I bought a boss micro br digital recorder. It's basically a small digital 4 track recorder that I used to record music on the go. Could I use this as a dslr audio recorder? Is the audio quality good enough? Would the audio sync in post with my Panasonic gh2 running in 1080 24p mode? Would audio drift on long clips? I would connect a shotgun mic to it. It has mini in, but I own a transformer and xlr to mini connector. Will that work? Thanks!

The micro BR is probably going a little too low on the "low end but still good" scale. At the very least, I would get a Zoom H1 digital recorder. It does all the major sample rates ( including 48kHz ) all the way up to 24/96 but you'll be perfectly happy with 48kHZ, I'm sure.

As for sound quality, I'll put the Zoom H1 against anything in its class. Yeah, there is always talk about mic preamps and how good or not so good they are, but really, the final test is your ears.

Recorded with my Zoom H1 with little sweetening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceaAieNmGAU

A music sample is always good and yes, I DID use the mics (not line in, which is apparently impossible with the H1)
Again, very little done to this in post:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvwZLWjlokU&feature=relmfu

Nice thing about the H1 is the lack of menu diving-everything you need is on the outside of the unit so you don't have to "scratch around".