Dictaphones & Field Recording

Just acquired an LS-14 and am pretty impressed with how it sounds.

Bumping an old thread but it is still relevant.  Is there anything new on the market I may have missed?

 

Currently looking at the tascam dr-40 or the zoom h2n, both similar prices. I can probably afford a little bit more if there is something else out there.

Stereo recording is my intended use, in industrial environments (indoor and outdoor) for a project I am planning.

The details for the tascam say that it can be powered externally by USB bus, so does anybody have any experiences of this?

I just wonder how long 3xAA batteries will last and if one of those external battery packs for mobile phones would give me a longer life. Hoping to take some long background industrial recordings, maybe a full 12 hour working day at a time. Will record to wav and stick in the 32gb card it can carry.

  On 1/23/2017 at 1:10 AM, Rotwang said:

Just acquired an LS-14 and am pretty impressed with how it sounds.

 

This does indeed look ideal, but new would be out of my budget range at present.  I will check e-bay for 2nd hand.

  On 2/26/2018 at 11:14 AM, fletcher said:

Hoping to take some long background industrial recordings, maybe a full 12 hour working day at a time. Will record to wav and stick in the 32gb card it can carry.

If you're doing super long recordings you may want to check what format SD card the recorder can read/write - If it's FAT32 (which it likely) you have a 4Gb per file maximum size limit

  On 2/26/2018 at 11:31 AM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 2/26/2018 at 11:14 AM, fletcher said:

Hoping to take some long background industrial recordings, maybe a full 12 hour working day at a time. Will record to wav and stick in the 32gb card it can carry.

If you're doing super long recordings you may want to check what format SD card the recorder can read/write - If it's FAT32 (which it likely) you have a 4Gb per file maximum size limit

 

 

 

Your suspicions are correct. I may need to record in mp3 for longer recordings.

 

Nicked from elsewhere:-

 

  Quote

 

The way to get around this (for like unattended recording - surveillance, nature, etc) is to choose the mp3 option. 2GB of 16/44/stereo/WAV is ~3hrs8min, but 2GB of 320kbps/stereo(16/44)/mp3 is 13 1/2 hours!

Edited February 26, 2018 by fletcher

If you dont need xlr inputs id say buy olympus ls-p2

  On 2/26/2018 at 1:41 PM, xox said:

If you dont need xlr inputs id say buy olympus ls-p2

 

This also looks good.

Found an ls-p1 on argos for £99.99 (which I conveniently have £100 of vouchers for) - looks similar in spec but not as good bass response or internal memory - no issue if I am using SD cards.

 

They also have an LS-12 for the same price.

Tempted to go for one of those and it will essentially cost me nothing.

If doesn't look like it's been updated for a couple of years but when I chose my field recorder back in the day (h2, about 10 years back) this site helped (looks like they have recordings from the older LS-10 & LS-11): https://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-sound-samples.html

One thing about the LS-14 is that it seems to run the batteries down even when not being used, so since I don't use it that often I have to take the batteries out between uses. This means having to reset the date every time if I want my files to be correctly timestamped. Dunno if this applies to all Olympus models.

  On 2/26/2018 at 6:20 PM, Rotwang said:

One thing about the LS-14 is that it seems to run the batteries down even when not being used, so since I don't use it that often I have to take the batteries out between uses. This means having to reset the date every time if I want my files to be correctly timestamped. Dunno if this applies to all Olympus models.

 

my olympus ls-11 does the same but afaik that's normal cause it uses power to remember set date/time, other settings and for prompt booting. two aa batteries last for about 3 weeks in off state. 

Edited February 26, 2018 by xox

p.s. 

the ls-11 is a really great recorder, best handheld-sine-xlr imo but it's been discontinued for some time now and you can hardly find a used one for a reasonable price these days. if it dies tomorrow id buy the ls-p2 without thinking

 

 

 

...which is small small

 

Edited February 26, 2018 by xox

Deion Sanders would be a great person to ask, too bad he's on here anymore. I could message him if someone wants to PM me

interesting thread.

 

I have an old Zoom H1 for field recordings but want to upgrade it. sound is ok but not great for really sharp percussive sounds.

 

A couple of years ago I did some recordings in a scrap yard, loads of clanging metal things, using my friend's Rode ixy mic plugged into an iPhone. The sound was amazing, crystal clear.

 

Looking out for a second hand Rode ixy now, or might buy one new, they are around €140.

Another noob quesion on these, still not purchased one but have had another few expenses come through....

 

 

Can the Olympus devices record from a line-in? So can I take the line-out from my mixer and record straight to .wav with them? This would make it a very handy tool with multiple uses for me.

  On 3/19/2018 at 12:12 PM, fletcher said:

Can the Olympus devices record from a line-in? So can I take the line-out from my mixer and record straight to .wav with them? This would make it a very handy tool with multiple uses for me.

it has an 1/8 jack input with a mic icon, dunno if in the menu you can change the source to line in though...

Edited March 19, 2018 by THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON

Thanks, yep I just found an online manual and you can record from a line-in source. Therefore, very handy if I also want to record live gigs / rehearsal sessions direct from a mixer.

  On 3/19/2018 at 3:04 PM, fletcher said:

very handy

indeed it is!

I ordered an LS-P1 and used my Argos voucher! Therefore cost me nothing. Huzzah.