Looking for equipment suggestions.

Crafters of Light

Crafters of Light

Active member
I have been doing nature and scenic video as a hobby for the past three years and am looking to improve the captured audio of the surroundings I am recording. We are talking waterfalls, running rivers, waves lapping the shore, wind through trees, birds, squirrel chatter, etc. All the ambiance of a walk through the forest, desert or seashore. I am not recording any field dialog at this time other then "don't care" verbal slating for my shots.
The videos are edited with/to music and the scenic audio captured at the sites using Vegas Pro and Soundforge.
These get shared with family and friends and have been the cause of group camping trips to places people didn't know existed.

I am currently using a HMC40 with a Rode VideoPro mic, Zoom H2, Sony headphones for monitoring. I have a small second tripod I use for the H2. Serves as a small boom as well to get close to the water sounds and such. The H2 has done suprisingly well for these types of audio.

This setup has been serving me fairly well for over a year now and I would like to look at my options for something better.

Limitations include packing equipment in and out up to 5 miles one way (so far) on some pretty rough trails. So small size, light weight and decent battery life are high on the wish list. Something leaning towards the rugged side would be a plus. Budget right now around $800.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
 
A simple, but worthy, upgrade would be grabbing a Sony PCM-D50. The preamps are very quiet and great for nature recording, probably grab a redhead or rycote mini-windjammer for it as well.

For nature I generally consider clean preamps a must, in many cases even more than for dialog which limits your options a bit. Something like an Rode NT4 + blimp could be a nice way to spend your budget, then then you're left without high quality preamps.
 
I've done this very thing. When I need to be as compact and simple as possible, I like to use a high quality stereo mic, a very good recorder, very good wind protection, and a very good shock mount. I would usually use a boom pole as a monopod, since the mic attaches right to it, and it is extendable if I want to get a mic up into a tree to get baby birds in a bird's nest or, just get closer to leave getting blown around, or need to get the mic out over water, or something like that.
 
In looking at the suggestions so far I see I need to save a bit more. About the PCM-D50, I like what I have read about it so far but is there an equivalent unit that uses SDHC cards? Or is there a Memory stick Pro to SDHC adapter out there. As I have many SDHC cards already the thought of having to buy, and remember to take different memory media is a concern. Not that it's not doable.
By going to a better external mic is there a like model of the PCM-D50 that does not have the mics on board?
 
Personally I would rather deal with different cards than trying to make an adapter work in-field, but I don't specifically know of any adapters or equivalent products. As far as I know, Sony's handheld recorder lineup is a notch above everyone else SQ-wise.

If you want external mics, then you'll need something that can handle XLR input. You could run something like a MixPre-D into a PCM-M10 (cheaper, omni mics instead of the nicer X-Y of the D50), however then you've just got another piece of gear to worry about. Great for a film shoot where you want the mixing and output options, but a single recorder may be a better choice in your situation. FR2-LE and 702 that David mentioned are good options. Budget wise, if you want something between those I'd take a look at www.oade.com as they do preamp mods on several recorders to improve them. Heard good things about their work, but never used them myself.
 
I too think the Sony D-50 is a great recorder. It's got clean preamps, and that's VERY important for nature recording. Add to that the Rycote Portable recorder Audio Kit, and perhaps the Windcutter Wind Jacket that goes completely around the D-50, offering better wind protection than the simple wind jammer. If you want to step it up a lot more you can add the Rode NT4 stereo mic and a blimp. But as it is the D-50 with the WindCutter and the handling noise suppression you get with the portable recorder audio kit will take you a long way.
 
Great demos Chad. Thank you. In viewing Chad's vid, and several others, I noticed the D-50 was very directional, almost like a shotgun, as it was being turned away from the speaker. All that have mentioned the d-50 have me sold on getting one. Now for an added mic...
Several suggestions of using a Rode NT4 stereo mic in conjunction with the D-50 but my concern is that it would perform very similar.

Some of the recordings I like doing for background audio with the H2 is setting it up on a tripod, selecting all 4 mics getting 4 channels, and record to get 360 "room" audio. I would just sit quietly and let it capture 10 minutes or so at that location. With software I can convert the 4 channels to 5.1 surround. Some of the results have had friends veiwing the videos acutally look over their shoulder to see what was making the noise. When that happens I feel I have done something special.

What could I do/use with the suggested equipment that would allow me to get similar results? Or am I over analysing things?
 
You're over analyzing things.... The D-50 is a great stereo recorder. The Rode NT4 has better capsules than the D-50, so it may sound better than the D-50 alone. What's cool about the NT4 is that is not only runs on phantom power, but it also runs on one 9v battery. See, the D-50 does not have XLR inputs, so remember that when purchasing. It can't supply Phantom. That being said, the NT4 comes with both XLR cables as well as 3.5mm stereo - that the D-50 takes. But also know that mics don't perform as well running on batteries. They often become a bit less sensitive. Still the D-50 is a sa-weet recorder. You can feed it a signal from a MixPre with astounding results. The NT4 WILL fit in the Rode blimp to, which you should be using for nature.

5.1 audio? IMO not really worth the trouble for field recordings. That is something you use for big films, where you are manipulating every sound element and placing the sound where you want it. To do "in the field" 5.1 justice you would need some really good quality mics and a reason for the 5.1. I suppose nature stuff could be cool, but you would need at least a 4 track recorder, which the D-50 is not. If you are serious about 5.1 check out the Tascam DR-680 (800.00) with 6 analogue and 2 digital tracks. Then look into the Busman mod for the Dr-680 (300.00) which improves the already nice preamps to be dead silent for nature recording. Then you get 2 NT4 mics pointed in opposite directions to pick up surround. But then you've spent 2 grand on the 2 mics and the modded recorder.

It's all up to your budget. But back to the original D50. It's a nice stereo recorder. The mics are cardioid, and that means somewhat directional, but don't try to use any stereo mic for dialogue. Dialogue is for mono only, otherwise it loses focus and impact. All these hand held stereo recorders are for recording music really. The D-50 being one of the nicest ones, would serve you well for stereo nature as long as you have good wind protection, and the WindCutter is the best, since it completely surrounds the recorder.

That's about all I can say on the matter...
 
The only time 5.1 surround mics are useful is for broadcast, like sporting events, where it sounds like you are sitting right there in the stadium. I've done lots of sound effects recordings with lots of different people, some of whom have won oscars, and they've ALL told me that it is not worth recording in surround at all. You are better off just recording multiple channels and then panning them where you want them later on when you are mixing, which is what is done (assuming you are working with a DAW that has surround panning). You have more control that way. Another advantage is you aren't spending money on expensive surround sound mic'ing setups, AND if you have multiple microphones for when you want to do multi-channel recording, you have a better arsenal of microphones for when you only need one or two, so you aren't as limited.
 
Next question:
Sony PCM D-50 owners manual claims almost 2 hrs recording to 4GB at highest sampling rate. So I can figure out how many additional cards to get, is this what I would really see?
 
I only record at the 2 settings in bold. I find for most stuff 96k is overkill and you can't hear the difference. Maybe for orchestral music, or sound effects I plan on slowing down... But 44.1 is fine. No need to waste space unnecessarily.

44.1kHz 16-bit Recording Mode: 6 hours and 25 minutes;
44.1kHz 24-bit Recording Mode: 4 hours and 15 minutes;
48kHz 16-bit Recording Mode: 5 hours and 55 minutes;
48kHz 24-bit Recording Mode: 3 hours and 55 minutes;
96kHz 16-bit Recording Mode: 2 hours and 55 minutes;
96kHz 24-bit Recording Mode: 1 hour and 55 minutes
 
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