Nice one. I have some similar Zoom ones for recording sounds. Sure beats lugging around a DAT recorder. The nice ones also act as a USB sound card so you can use a PC to record the mike. Don't discount the built in mike being useful. You can also mount them on a camera tripod (which, I would assume you have, Danoss) to get a better mike position (at least you can with the Zoom ones).
The Zoom H4n was certainly an attractive unit, but the extra features just weren't worth $100 to me. That extra money went into a couple of accessories to go along with it (short XLR cables, SD card, tabletop tripod (pictured), a windscreen) and even postage.
Acting as a USB soundcard is pretty sweet, the DR-40 doesn't do that, but the H4n does. I already have a MOTU firewire interface to do that at home, so it wasn't necessary. Totally worth the extra if I didn't. The H4n can also record from a 3.5mm jack, so if you want to be a sneaky smartarse and record calls on your mobile via this method using hands-free, you totally can.
I've tested the built in mics and they're quite good (
sound sample). They absolutely need a windscreen because talking anywhere near the mic creates wind noise. I'm not talking about P popping, but just gentle breath is enough to set it off. The windscreen cuts that out completely, of course.
On special? I've been looking for something to record at line-level for ages so I can get DJ sets on file, but they all tend to have something wrong with them that keeps me from buying them (usually the maximum input is woefully low for what I want). How much and where from?
And is it any good?
I got mine from
B&H Photo. I got it for $142, but it seems to have crept up to $155 which is still less than what it usually is at just under $200. I got the unit, a windscreen, 16GB SD card, pocket tripod and 2 short XLR cables and postage for $254.18 including the banks conversion fee.
For what I want to use it for, I think it's great. If you don't need the bells and whistles the Zoom H4n has, then it's great value for money. The sound sample above is just using the built in mics with a quick and dirt compressor thrown in which would have upped the noise floor a bit. It has line level input and can record 2 of them up to 24-bit/96kHz. The only specs I have seen for line level input are; Nominal input level: +4dBu, Maximum input level: +20dBu. I'm not sure if that helps, I know just enough to get myself into trouble.
Damn you Danoss! I bought two recorders last year, stop making me want to buy a new one.
I do think I need a mic for mine. It's not really a broadcast quality recorder but I'm pretty sure I could up it from useless turd with a decent mic for scrums. Which I rarely to ever go to, but still.
Haha, sorry! Maybe grab it or something like it and perhaps an Audio-Technica AT2035. They're a nice mic and they come with a shock mount too, which is nice.
Edit: I just re-read your post and that mic probably isn't what you're after, being side-address and all. Is a scrum like when the press crowd around players and coaches in those weekly NRL club interview things, shoving mics in their face? If it is, there are plenty of reasonably cheap ones that will do the job for you in those situations. I've seen plenty of people use iPhones in those, even something like the
Rode iXY might do the trick if you have one.
While we're talking recording pickups, I bought one of these just last week:
It's mostly to replace an old M-Audio Delta 66 (PCI) I've had forever. I wanted something to use on my laptop that had mic pres that had enough inputs to record shed jams and this one seemed pretty good for the money ($329 locally).
Nice one dude! Looks like a good price for it too.
I was looking at downgrading to something like that. More specifically the
MOTU 4pre. I'm currently running the
MOTU UltraLite mk3, but not the hybrid one, so FireWire only. I'd miss the DSPs from the Ultralite if I did, even though I don't use half of what it can do, it's a shame the 4pre doesn't have them.
