I could not have put it better Walt, Long live Portadisk :-)
Martyn
http://www.naturesound.org <http://www.naturesound.org/>
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From: Walter Knapp
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2003 3:51 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] DAT, MD or similar recording equipment
From: "branchlinesplus" <>
>
> I want to branch out into specialist recording of nature to use in
> conjunction with video editing. I use Final Cut pro for this and want
> to buy a good quality sound recording device and a reasonable
> microphone. I did a fair bit of this many years ago, but am out of
> touch with the technology (although I am still in touch with
> computing technology.) The HHB Portadisc sounds quite good, but I
> have read a review that background noise on low level recordings is
> not too good. Is this the best thing to buy or is there better?
> Should I go DAT or solid state. Don't want to spend more than about
> 1000 GBP. Also what type of microphone?
I've heard occasional references like this about the Portadisc. But, I
use one extensively. And my mics are the Telinga Pro 5 with DAT Stereo
Element, or various stereo setups using Sennheiser MKH mics. All top
end, very low noise mics, which will expose any noise from your pre. The
Portadisc matches them well as far as self noise, I generally will hear
the self noise of these quiet mics before any from the Portadisc. Which
makes me wonder if the reports are from people who don't understand that
all components have self noise and are using noisy mics. Or trying to
push mics outside their design parameters. This is common with shotgun
mics where folks will apply excessive gain trying to pick up sound from
farther away than the mics can do well. That combo almost always results
in lots of unwanted background noise. A lot of it simply sounds that are
in the environment. If you crank the Portadisc's gain to the top peg
doing this sort of thing you can find some self noise from it. But it
will be mixed with the mic self noise and all kinds of environmental noises.
Note that the Portadisc is a portable field recorder, it can be beaten
by studio equipment easily. But if you limit yourself to what's
available in field recorders, it's stands up very well indeed. A real
recordist's recorder, in my opinion the best MD field recorder. A lot of
studio types seem to never get the distinction that the demands on a
field recorder are different.
I don't think the currently available portable DATs are near as good as
the Portadisc. You are much more likely to need a add on pre with them.
DAT is going away fairly quickly. They have the disadvantage for nature
recording of being very sensitive to environmental conditions,
especially heat or humidity. The recording is not archival, must be
backed up right away to be safe, while MD is a MO optical disk, and very
safe and durable.
Solid state is new, and when you look at media costs can be considerably
more expensive. Many people get starry eyed about it, but the test of a
recorder is not in how fast you can transfer the recording when you get
back. I've not seen a lot of serious testing of the front ends of these
recorders. I have seen reports that the newer models are plastic and
look lightly built. I'd like to see a lot more actual field use reports
on them. Taking the same look, things like how's the pre doing, how
reliable they are under field conditions.
The Portadisc would do a really good job for you, but with your money
limitations it's not going to leave a lot for mics. It's a little hard
to advise about mics without knowing what you plan to record. The
primary division in nature recording is between call recording and
ambiance recording, and those two ways result in quite different mic
demands. And if you are worrying about the self noise of a Portadisc you
are into going with the quietest mics, which are not cheap. I happen to
like the Sennheiser MKH series used either with a modified SASS housing
or in M/S configurations. Or, for distance and call recording, the
Telinga stereo parabolic. I only record in stereo. But MKH are very
expensive mics, even if you get them used off ebay as I do.
You can get some idea of the Portadisc's and my mic's capabilities and
what they look like from some samples I have up:
http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/mic_samples.html
http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/my_mod_sass.html
http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/my_ms_setups.html
Those are mostly samples done just after I started using the SASS & M/S
mics. Probably don't represent the ultimate best from them.
Walt
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