Comments on: The Best Digital Voice Recorders for Quality, Bombproof Audio Recording

By: Sarah Johnson

Sarah Johnson — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 11:45:58 +0000

Hi, I am looking for podcast equipment for in studio and on the go. How would two sets of headphones and two microphones go into a digital recorder? Would you need a specific digital recorder or is there a specific adapter?

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 17 May 2019 21:22:55 +0000

Hi, Just to see if anyone can help me – looking for a good podcast recording device that can help me to record my podcast with my friend. Condition are we both need to be at different location and not in same room, Clear Mic, reduced background noise, Its like we are talking to each on a phone. Please if someone can just paste 3-5 website URL to check would be great

By: Tony Woolf

Tony Woolf — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 00:02:00 +0000

The aged H4N is stil going and can made great recordings. But I’ve found some limitations. No real criticism that the H4N isn’t good at doing things it was never designed for, but it can be useful to know when choosing.
1. Mine (like much eqjuipment of that age) is susceptible to cellphone interference. If a nearby cellphone isn’t in use there are just occasional clicks, but if you try to make or receive a call it can be quite a bad buzz. Interviewing someone who has a phone set on silent could be a problem if they receive a call.
2. The manual is incorrect on the battery-saving stamina mode. It says you can record MP3, but in stamina mode the recording mode menu vanishes, so all you can use is WAV 16 bit 44.1 kHz. So you can have long battery life or very long recordings on the SD card but not both at the same time.
3. A recording is not properly saved until you press the stop button. So if the battery runs out during a long recording you will lose the lot without warning.
4. It’s far from ideal for doing interviews using the built-in mics, unless you have another person to operate it. That’s because you can’t see the screen if one of the mics is pointing towards your face. It’s also susceptible to handling noise so it needs to be on a tripod.
5. One of the ways it shows its age is that it takes a minute and a half to start up. No chance of grabbing a recording of something unexpected if the record’s switched off.
For a lot of uses, none of these things matter so don’t let me put you off too much; it is still basically a good recorder.

By: IOHANAN

IOHANAN — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 00:59:00 +0000

Hi.
I own the Sony ICP PX312. My question is: is the preamps in this recorded good enough to use a mic like a Rode Videomic or do I need to get the Videomic Pro because of the +20. People told me bad preamps require a +20 db to get good audio. Is this the case?

Thanks.

By: James Golovoc

James Golovoc — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 12:57:00 +0000

I had been using an app for recording my podcasts, but since switching to a digital voice recorder I’m really noticing the better audio. I would say that they are definitely worth it, and you can find some that are pretty cheap. I actually went for an Olympus model that has been great, I’d definitely recommend it. It was the Olympus WS-853 and I got it from http://www.onedirect.co.uk

Hope this helps!

By: Richard PERRY

Richard PERRY — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 13:06:00 +0000

All solid recommendations. But I’m curious why there is no mention of the Tascam DR-100mkII. I could never get good levels from the Zoom with dynamic mics.

By: Matthew McLean

Matthew McLean — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 12:50:00 +0000

In reply to Lucas. Hi Lucas, you might get a better sound quality by using a lav mic as your 'built-in' option.

By: Lucas

Lucas — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 02:29:00 +0000

Colin I have the H4N and normally when I go out on interviews I just plug my two cardioid mics in and get to it, but every now and then I have an interview and it would be helpful to use the built-in mic as well as the two cardioids using phantom to interview two people at a time. My main issue though is mixing the three channels without everything sounding terrible. Do you have any advice on using some of the multichannel settings to make recording this way better, or should I just buy a lap mic and forget about it? I hope that makes sense. Thanks!

By: Matthew McLean

Matthew McLean — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 12:54:00 +0000

In reply to Atavius Nelson.

An XLR splitter is ideal for this purpose yes – the one downside is that both mics running into it are recording on the same audio track though, so it’ll give you a little less flexibility in the editing process. A Zoom H6 would give you more input options, but obviously that’s adding a fair bit to the price, as you’ve mentioned.

By: Atavius Nelson

Atavius Nelson — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 18:19:00 +0000

Question: I want to do a podcast with 3 hosts. Can i purchase a Zoom H4n and just use a XLR splitter in one of the inputs to get 3 mics to work instead of just 2? If not does anyone know of an alternate way less than $200?