Microphone vs. Fieldrecorder

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Hello Folks!

You probably know how hungry an OT can be and I was thinking “What would be a good companion?” for the little fella.

The contenders are:
Sure SM57 vs. Tascam DR05
Microphone vs. Fieldrecorder

Both way around 100€, but I was wondering if a fieldrecorder could be compared to a mic when it come to voice recording. Not planning on singing, just recordings of speech like the endless jabbering from my gf. Voice recording is just an example.

Of course the fieldrecorder has the mobility-advantage and is stereo. I am just not sure if the sound quality is that much different at all?

What are your thoughts and experiences?

Andreas

#2

SM57 will work but sound terrible, it needs loads of gain. Consider a Rode M3 instead, it takes a 9V in the housing that supplies phantom and sounds much better with less gain requirement.

I would take the field recorder over a mic though. Being able to grab sounds when you’re out of the house and then use them as sample fodder in the OT is a lot of fun.

#3

A Field Recorders mics are used for much different purposes than an instrument mic like the shure. You would probably not want to use an instrument mic to record environments.

If you are only interested is capturing vocals very well then go for the mic. But imo a field recorder is going to offer you a lot more, in the event you can sacrifice some quality in vocal recordings.

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#4

#goals

#5

Do you already have a decent preamp? if not, and if you want to record ambience sounds, go for the field recorder.

The field recorder probably has two SDC mics in a XY configuration for capturing stereo sounds. Therefore, all the usual caveats of el cheapo SDC apply, overly bright high frequency response (recording tavlas etc will rip your ears off!), somewhat naff off-axis sound, and a sure capture of any unwanted noises like jackets rustling etc…

An SM57 OTOH, will perhaps offer a slightly mellower tone, and will pretty much only capture sound from its frontal area. You need to get this one close micd for most applications. And you need a healthy mic pre with enough clean gain to drive it (you can get a cloudlifter for adding ~23dB of gain though, just be mindful of the cabling!).

Pick your poison

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#6

the shure could be the better choice for voice recording, but i´d go with the sm58 then and to be honest i´d feel uncomfortable without any preamp.
you also should point the mic directly to the audio source.
advantage would be that you record much less of surround sounds that can ruin otherwise nice recordings.
sm 57 has been a standard (and still is) in pretty much every studio, no matter if homerecording or big pro studio.

the mics in most fieldrecorders pick up much more of the overall sound in an environment, are stereo etc…
propably the thing you have in mind i guess.
i also think that most (all?) field recorders can be used as mic only. just turn it on, connect the audio out to your OT for example and record there.

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#7

A field recorder and a sampler go together very well since you can take the field recorder out on the - ahem - field. It’s a much different experience to be able to record your GF spontaneously any time and place rather than having her sit down in front of a microphone/preamp/OT.

Much easier to set up for different types of recordings: a vocal sample for an interview then switching over for ambient sounds of differing types is easy once you get to know your recorder.

I’d also consider a Zoom H4 series recorder since it can take a line-in signal and double as a multitracker with some dated but usable effects, very nice when you want to mixdown a practice performance or whatevers.

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#8

Yeah you’re not going to go far in “capturing” (spontaneously) someone by asking them to sit down to record their endless jabbering.

Not far in any respect :wink:

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#9

…for now, the fieldrecorder is the way better choice…
but also have a look for the small zoom ones…they do better in this price segment…
a fieldrecorder is defenitly the right compaignon to hunt for ot’s endless hunger…anywhere u go…

and as long ur not a guitar player drivin’ amps to be miced…forget about the sm57 at all…
lowest level for catchin’ vocals is at least an sm 58…

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#10

with all due respect, SM57 and SM58 are pretty similar sounding mics. SM57 freq response is not tuned for vocals, but is a more “general purpose” voicing. Prtty sure you could make either sound like another with a lil EQuing.

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#11

Thanks for the replies so far!
I would use the mic with the pre-amps from a RME Fireface UC or an old allen & heath mix.
The portability of the fieldrecorder is def a big plus, but I wouldn’t shy away from having a long cable for the mic and record from a distant.

The field recorder probably has two SDC mics in a XY configuration for capturing stereo sounds. Therefore, all the usual caveats of el cheapo SDC apply, overly bright high frequency response (recording tavlas etc will rip your ears off!), somewhat naff off-axis sound, and a sure capture of any unwanted noises like jackets rustling etc…

An SM57 OTOH, will perhaps offer a slightly mellower tone, and will pretty much only capture sound from its frontal area. You need to get this one close micd for most applications. And you need a healthy mic pre with enough clean gain to drive it (you can get a cloudlifter for adding ~23dB of gain though, just be mindful of the cabling!).

That’s my concern about the two.
As mentioned above I have decent pre-amps at hand. I could also use the one from a Motu 828 MK2 which I only uses as an ADAT-expension for the RME. So enough options here :wink:

Many insights which I didn’t think about. I am not a guitar guy, so thanks @reeloy for the hint.

Funny how you guys pick the jabbering-thing :rofl:

#12

If you want to record from a distant point, you cannot really use a dynamic microphone. For that, you need a condenser mic. TV crews often use shotgun microphones which are a particular flavour of condenser mics, they work especially well due to high directionality, especially indoors.

For capturing ambiences, I love omni pattern LDCs… But I’m weird like that

#13

if you screw off the microphone basket (is that a word in englisch) of the SM58 it sounds pretty much the same like SM57

#14

IIRC both mics are based on the venerable Shure Super 55 unidyne design, so that would make sense.

#15

…believe me…a fieldrecorder will do the trick for u…no matter what u call good pre amps u got already…
ur just not aware of the fun a recording device can offer u, whereever, whenever…and what ot can do to all those happy little accidents u gonna stumble over, once u got something like that in ur pocket…

… instrument and vocal mics, dynamic ones or phantom power driven, are just a different approach…
it’s catching anything out of the blue or setting up properly each time u have to choose between first…

#16

Friend of mine just uses his phone for quick and dirty recordings - doesn’t sound half bad.

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#17

I own the Tascam dr 05 and I’m pretty happy with it. Good sound and enough settings to make decent recording.

One thing is that 05 has to be connected to headphones out because the audio is too hot for direct input from OT.

#18

Did the same when I wanted to sample a piano. It’s really a lot fun to layer find that the recording has many different noises from the surrounding as well. I couldn’t open the cover from the keyboard because there where things on it which I didn’t want to to move aside. The result was very interesting.

I think the fieldrecorder will be the better tool.
Thanks everyone for their insights!

#19

Just wanted to throw in a little suggestion for these small Lom USI microphones.

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#20

Is it though :slight_smile: