DIY portable (field) recording setup?

[Consul]

In an effort to swing the discussion away from politics for a few minutes, I've been entertaining some ideas on making a very portable field recording setup for grabbing samples and impulse responses out in the big bad world for my evil musique concrète numérique purposes.

The Mic

I'd imagine field recordists prefer directional capsules. I have a collection of directional electret capsules to use in something or other, and it might as well be this. Electrets are nice and flat, and in a good circuit can really shine. This could be wrapped up with a clean and straightforward mic preamp for an all-in-one mic that can go straight into a recorder.

The Recorder

This is where I'd probably have to buy something. It can't be expensive, but it also doesn't need a built in mic or mic preamp. 24-bit at 44.1khz would be preferable, and the ability to record raw (ie, no data compression) would be, I would say, vital.

I suppose a laptop with a decent USB AD/DA would do the trick. It would be really nice to have something that could just slip into my pocket, though.

Piezo Pickups

For those times when I'd rather slap and tape on the mic for recording, a handful of piezo discs would be pretty handy. I'd need to figure out a buffer circuit for these so the signal can feed an A/D to avoid letting the magic smoke out of my precious field recorder.

This just might finally be my chance to dive headfirst into this "making things" addiction and be just like Bre Pettis only less dorky. If nothing else, the brainstorming is always fun.

 

[beatpoet]

I hear the Zoom 'H' series recorders do OK

PRR posted a link to a 44100/16 recorder addon for ipods a few weeks back. The good part, if you have an iPod, is that it costs $50.

 

[Consul]

No iPod, I'm afraid. I do need to buy a laptop, and I have an old M-Audio USB interface (the Quattro) sitting around unused. It's hardly "slip in the pocket" portable, but would serve for the time being.

It would be really nice to have something I could just pull out to grab sounds as I come across them. Something like the Zoom is probably going to be the single best option for that. The good news is, the old model, which works well, is under $200 new these days. I think it also has external mic and line ins, so I could make a decent external "wand" mic if I wanted to.

 

[abby normal]

There's a couple DIY field preamp/mixer projects in the forum. A Sony MZ-R900 Mini Disc recorder or the like can be had for next to nothing these days used (there is a couple on ebay right now). The R900 sold new pushing $400 very good recordings @ 16 bit 44.1 with a size at about 3.5"x3.5". Akai 1000/3000 format is still a standard sample format @ 16 bit 44.1. For impulses and samples you really need not more than that. All could be housed in a very small carrying case. I've seen a guy make the exact setup for field use with several hand held and a shotgun mikes it looked very portable and hassle free.