Freesound Forums

I want to incorporate samples of sound that I find in my daily life into my digital music, but I'm unsure of what kind of microphone to purchase. I'm entirely new to this business, but I do know that I require the following from the microphone I purchase: portability, stereo recording, and high WAV resolution.

I've heard the incredible sounds that many of you post to this site, and I'm inspired to follow in your footsteps, as it were, and do a little bit of "life-sampling" of my own. I wish to record diverse sounds, from city streets to spaghetti noodles breaking, to conversations and garbage truck beeps. Not sure if one mic can do all those things well, though.

ANY input would be highly appreciated.

Requiemshark

What recorder will you be using, does it have phantom power or PiP ? What sort of budget?

And, if you do not have a recorder yet, start simple with eg. A Zoom h1 for under €100. Make yourself a windscreen. Look on youtube for diy (do it your self).
I did start this way. Results search klankbeeld zoom h1.
Hpoe this helps a bit.

BTW wecome here

Thanks so much for the responses! I do not have a recorder; in fact, I don't even know what that is. I have a home studio in which I've recorded music using two cheap condenser mics and an audio buddy pre-amp, so that's about the limits of of my knowledge when it comes to microphones.

My budget is somewhere in the range of $300. Since I'm just starting out, I'd like to ease my way into things before I go off half-cocked and buy the nicest thing that's out there.

Is it necessary to have a recorder and mic, or are there some that have both? Obviously, I would like to have fairly decent quality sounds, so if I must get a recorder in order to achieve that goal, I will.

Also, thanks for the warm welcome! I can't wait to get into this stuff. Everyday I walk around and I'm haunted by beautiful sounds that I cannot capture yet.

Hi requiemshark,

Well if you realy will be mobile (outdoor) with recording and you have 300 dollars to spend than look around first.
When you want to record outdoors a recorder with build-in mics. A sony pcm m10 is a great recorder. $ 200-250.
A good windscreen to protect the mics from wind-noise outdoors is about & 15 and 60 .

The sony pcm m10 is better than the 'zoom h1'

A zoom h2n is good to.

I think it is smart to search on the internet first on these recorders before spending money.

there are reviews search on review and than the brand of the recorder.
look at the freesound forum (type the recorder)
examples of recordings search on the sounds in freesound, search on type of the recorder.

These are my tips. Good luck.

Hope others will help you

does anybody know anything about the Tascam DR-40? I've been looking at that and the Zoom H4n, not sure which to go with.

Is the recording quality of the DR-40 good enough for nature recordings?

Have a look here

http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm

For pre-amp noise comparisons

Also

http://www.avisoft.com/app_audiorecording.htm

Where you will find links to help you make a choice, When you see a recorder that you think might be suitable, search on freesound and listen.

These things also should come with a health warning because recording can become quite addictive.

Have fun !

PS

Almost forgot, have a look in resources here

http://www.wildlife-sound.org

thanks for the links! Very helpful. I totally feel you about becoming addicted. Pretty sure that will happen. I'm already addicted to listening, so recording is just the next step in the addiction process.

Marantz PMD-661

Hey Vondes - Didn't use it but good friend of mine does.
I checked there is 7 days free trial... I don't know.. sorry for can help you more.

There is actually a need for another android app for recording? If so: check the open source alternatives first

goingnowhereeatingthings wrote:
There is actually a need for another android app for recording? If so: check the open source alternatives first

Part of me thinks vondes' post is just one of the many spam bots this forum seems to attract: no sounds uploaded; only a forum post with a link to another website; and on occasion, their profile 'Home Page' link set up as the same spam they posted in the forum post.