Portable Recorder

Introduction to portable recorder

First of all these portable recorders are also men made devices, these are very light in weight and the biggest advantage is that it can be taken anywhere.These are handheld devices with built in microphones  that pickup stereo sound and record it digitally either on internal memory or SD micro card or SDHC Crow cards which runs on normal battery powers. These devices gives you the opportunity to record mp3 format or even full audio files which takes more space. The image above is an example of a portable recorder,  There  are many other similarities such as different shapes, size and colors. 

The use of an audio portable recorder; 

These can be used for live music concerts, song demos, podcasts conferences or even nature recording, for example in Task 2 we have to record a) traffic noise which is similar to nature recording and b) we also have to record beach sound waves, which in this case its definitely a proper nature recording.  

This can also be used for the benefits of students, especially in large classes such as the University of Malta which holds up to nearly 100 students in each lecture room, apart from that if a lecture is highly important it makes obvious sens that by recording the lecture, when you go back to study you can listen to that once again.

These are also being used by Journalists even in Malta, since they are a great way of capturing interviews, anywhere and at anytime, for example the image below is a photo of an interview being recorded at the Malta Junior Eurovision song Contest by Radio International. As you can see two people are holding an audio portable recorder, along with a portable microphone since, this radio show streams live radio programs and also uploads full interview videos on YouTube. 

Different type and brands of portable recorders; -The prices of all these models range from under to 100 dollars to 230 dollars.

Tascam DR-03

This is perfectly design for students who want to record their lectures.  although this can capture all kind of sound source, this also features looping and also speed playback, which is a good feature if you want to take notes. It has a metronome and also a tuner which can be used for students who are into music. It records WAV or mp3 format up to 24-bit/48K Hz,  also it uses micro SD flash memory, and is built with a stereo condenser microphone. The price for this varies from 15 - 20 euros. 

 Alexis Palm Track 

This is also a hand held digital audio recorder like the one before, this model has features such as four microphones,  which gives you the option to record from each side which is very useful for conferences, small meeting discussions. One of the main feature about this is the menu section has user adjustable effects which allows user to revers, delay chorus type, mix, loop playback mode, pitch shift, voice cancelling mode and so on. These are expensive to buy. 

Zoom H1 Ultra portable digital Audio Recorder

This tiny portable recorder fits very good in your hand as you can see in the picture, similar to the ones above. This also feature XY position microphone on the front to capture great stereo sound with excellent depth of field with very high resolutions, these are great for live musical performance and so much more. These are also recommended to buy the whole package with it such as tripod, pocket, adapter USB cable and also a foam wind screen to cut down wind noise. The price for this is about 40 euros. 

                             Sony PCM - M10

This is a SONY brand portable recorder, its know for its low noise floor which has made this recorder of a good quality, these are used by sound musicians and professional people, apart from the memory SD Card slots, this Sony pcm-M10 also had 4 GB of internal flash memory, this device also comes with a remote which gives you more features such as pre-record function such as 5 seconds before, and also pitch control. This device also comes with Sound Forge Audio Studio software, that allows users to edit and master audio files on their computer. The price for this various from 100 euro upwards. 

Online shopping - Amazon - Portable recorders;

The video below gives more both general and in depth information about Portable recorders or also knows as digital audio recorders;