Next month I need to record various interviews, speeches, and lectures (in different locations: offices, classrooms… duration of around 15-20 minutes) with background noise and without it. Ultimately these audio files will be posted on a website. I am quite desperate since I have no experience whatsoever in this field so any advice will be welcomed and truly appreciated.
I need impeccable audio quality hence I think I will need a mic input for a wired lavalier (the speaker will have the device on him/her). There are so many options (olympus, sony, tascam, zoom) that it’s overwhelming.
By the way, my budget is around $150 including the accesories I might need.
Thanks in advance for all your recommendations!
I almost forgot to mention that I also want to use the digital voice recorder along with a video camcorder and then sync the audio with the video. So if you happen to know of a good video camcorder (preferebly pocket size and inexpensive) I’m all ears! I don’t care much about the quality of the video as much as I care about the audio.
The Zoom Q3 camcorder may be of interest - the picture quality is “ok for YouTube” but not much to write home about, but the sound quality is said to be exceptional for a camcorder. There’s no external mic socket which would be a problem in a noisy environment.
For better video quality there’s the Zoom Q3HD Camcorder but that’s more money. Again no external mic socket.
There’s loads of samples of these camcorders on YouTube.
For an audio only recorder there’s the Zoom H2 which is close to your price limit. This does have a socket for an external mic. though lapel mics are not good for noisy environments - you need to get a mic close to the person speaking, so a hand held mic is probably better.
I have seen videos recorded with the zoom Q3 and frankly the quality is quite poor (probably because is not HD). I am not looking for the best video quality since it is for interviews and as you pointed out is going to be posted on a website but I do need a better quality than the one deliver by the Q3. I was thinking of something like the Vado from Creative Labs [some people love it, others hate it and the latter is mainly due to the fact that this camcorder a lot of times doesn’t even turn on when just taken out of the box], the Flip from Cisco [athough, this company stopped manufacturing this video camcorder and that is a major problem], the ones from Kodak [again another woe, buying a product from a company that is in a bankruptcy process and its future doesn’t seem very bright], and so on…
As for the zoom Q3 HD that is a beuty, no doubts about it. Regrettably, it is way out of my budget!
Finally, in regard to the Zoom H2, I must say I have read some great reviews, it seems like everyone agrees that it is one of the best digital voice recorders. However, its price tag is in my price limit as you noticed hence I wouldn’t have any money for the other accesories I might need.
Is there any other digital voice recorder that is cheaper than the Zoom H2 but delivers a similar quality? Which noise-cancelling (lapel style) microphone would you recommend?
I wouldn’t recommend any lapel mic if the environment is noisy.
The purpose of a lapel mic is that it is discrete and once attached to the person there are no other worries about the microphone position. The down side is that they pick up lots of background noise because they will typically be far away from mouth, so they are only really suitable in a controlled environment. They’re good for a news desk in a studio, but lousy for an “on location” news reporter. If there is background noise you need either a hand held microphone that can be held close to the person speaking, or a good quality headset microphone, or a shotgun microphone.