Countryman and iRiver

A

Anx

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What is the shortest/best configuration to get a Countryman EMW and iRiver iFP-895 to work together?

I've considered a couple of components, but would love to hear peoples thoughts on the relative worth of a particular approach. I should also say I'm not married to the iRiver, it's just convienient to work with at the moment. My ultimate target is to have this be as small/portable as possible, so I can easily have the person mic'd up move around without any difficulty.

There are a variety of units the kick the levels up from mic to line, such as this one - not sure if it's worth doing, or could just as easily be accomplished by whatever powers the mic:

http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/gs/gs-batterybox.html

This unit obviously helps bridge between wireless/wired configurations, but I don't know if there's a better/smaller unit:

http://www.equipmentemporium.com/mark_3_lav_pwr.htm

Any thoughts or links to other equipment to consider would be greatly appreciated!
 
God I hate to even start on this but FIRST you need to define what you want to do. Feeding a mic into a line level input is BS. A mic level is like a thousandth of a line level so for get that if quality is anywhere in the picture. So are you trying to feed a mic into a line level input? If you are then you need a mic preamp. What do you want to acomplish? If it's portable recording I would say save the iRiver for your music and but one of the Zoom flash recorders. They by all reports sound very good and for $200 your set to go. (the list is $299 but I have had two different people tell me they payed $200). I need my few pieces of silver for the mortgage at the moment or I would have bought one already.
 
I actually am planning on buying the Zoom - I'm just waiting to see how the H2 does vs. the current H4, since I would prefer to have the smaller form factor. Of course, the H2 won't be released (supposedly) for at least another month, and I have something I need to shoot before then.

What got me going on the iRiver as a possible short-term solution was this article:

http://www.videouniversity.com/iriver.shtml

So my hope was that I could get a decent compact recording device for $40 until the H2 is available that is digital, compact and easy to hide on someone.
The way I plan to use this is to have the person who needs to be mic'd up have this somewhere on their person. It needs to be small enough that they can move around without any problems - in particular getting in and out of a car or other vehicles.

The iRivier has the option for either line in or mic - I wasn't planning on feeding the wrong type in, I just was pointing out the option was there to do either. In the article I think they mention that the mic pre in the thing is somewhat noise, which is why I thought using the line in might be a better option. Ultimately, if it works, this will probably stay in the mix with my audio gear, since I have more mic's than recorders, and I could use it in other places where I need a compact setup.

Thanks for the response, hopefully this sheds some light on what I'm trying to do - I appreciate any advice you can give me.
 
I looked at the iRiver as an alternative to my DAT (before all the flash recorders came out). For what I wanted it for it wasn't a good choice, for what your doing it might be. It doesn't look like the H2 is much smaller than the H4 but? The mic in is probably not very good, but if you go in line you will need some sort of preamp to get any decent signal level. Also a line level is a lower impedance input than a mic input and that may do some strange things to your signal. You could get a mic pre from RADIO DESIGN LABS. They are very small and quite quiet, but they are a wired solution so you would have to connect the wiring. You might also just say the noise is the cost of this setup and go mic in. If you do some tests and set an optimum level and probably use a little NR on the file I suspect it will be OK, not great. In that case I would probably also get a mic, or mic set (since the iRiver probably always records stereo) that is designed to use the consumer power that the iRiver probably puts out on it's mic in. This is NOT 48V Phantom power but a completely different kind of mic powering. If I remember correctly it is sort of similar to "T" power. Which brings up the point that if you try to use a mic that is not wired to use this kind of power you might damage it. The adapter box you linked to probably blocks the consumer power so that would be a way around it. I used to (still do occasionally) use a portable Mini Disk recorder with a pair of Lavs from Radio Shack to pick up ambiance's in places I can't get away with bringing a rig into. It works OK. They aren't the best but with a little care they fit in well and it was that or nothing. Now that I have developed my invisibility shield, I can go almost anywhere with my rig so the MD isn't getting much use but it did work.
 
From what I've read, the H2 is slightly larger than 1/2 the size of the H4 - plus I think it is also not a thick. Of course, that comes at the cost of the XLR inputs, but I would rather give up the inputs to get the size down.

That being said, if I can't easily get the Countryman to a line or mic level, then it may almost be best to just go with an H4 and not waste anymore time on it.

What's you 'invisible shield'? Sounds interesting... :)
 
I have an Edirol R-09 recorder and it will accept a Tram TR-50 lav mic that has been wired to fit a Sennheiser G2 wireless system.

Simply plug the Tram's 3.5mm mini-plug into the mic input on the R-09, and it works GREAT! You can even adjust the level up nd down. NOW, the 'sound' is a different story. We're not talking about a high-dollar pre-amp here---- but still, if I HAD to use this configuration for some reason, it would work.

-Vic
 
Hmmm, by that logic, then it might be safe to assume that the Countryman EMW wired for a G2 wireless might work as well, eh?

How big a difference do you find between using the Edirol - is it night and day, or it it more subtle? If it's night and day, then I might as well just throw a $40 lav on it and make sure my good lav's are XLR or similar.

Have you ever had a chance to play with the Countryman EMW? Any thoughts on the main differences between the two? For me, everyone seems to feel that the Countryman products are very good, and their support seems to be outstanding (lots of stories about them going the extra mile).

Thanks for the feedback!
 
Anx said:
What's you 'invisible shield'? Sounds interesting... :)
Click to expand...

Ah, a reference to "Soap", a show few will remember.

Practically, I have found that if you don't look like people expect you to look while recording you become just one of the crowd. Setting your levels and having a make-believe cel phone conversation works pretty well. I used a satchel bag (soft briefcase with a shoulder strap) with the mic strapped on and aimed backward and "iPod" earphones and I recorded hours of BG's and conversations in Grand Central Station and a bunch of other very public places with out ever getting bugged. You can even hold a microphone and be wearing earphones and if you look bored enough and like your not paying attention you can get away with murder, or recording anyway.
 
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