Handheld Recorder with acoustic feedback?

[simonluca]

Hello everyone,
I know it seems an odd question, but do you know if exists a handheld recorder which Bips in the beginning and in the end of a recording session?
We need it in a project involving a blind person recording herself (such in a audio diary); she will be alone (and walking around) so we must be sure that she is actually recording.
I do own some zoom recorder and they don't have such an option; maybe Tascam? Some other brand?


Thank you in advance for any suggestion.
SL

[bjohn]

Originally Posted by simonluca

I do own some zoom recorder and they don't have such an option

Are you sure? I have the diminutive Zoom F1 (not a recorder I would generally recommend) and you can set it up to produce tones at record start and stop (the setting is called "sound marker"). Those tones are audible through headphones but the recorder doesn't have speakers so unless she's monitoring through earphones/headphones she won't hear it.

[simonluca]

Originally Posted by bjohn

Are you sure? I have the diminutive Zoom F1 (not a recorder I would generally recommend) and you can set it up to produce tones at record start and stop (the setting is called "sound marker"). Those tones are audible through headphones but the recorder doesn't have speakers so unless she's monitoring through earphones/headphones she won't hear it.

Hi, I own the old h4 (the gray one) the h2n and h3 and they don't have this function so thank you for letting me know that at least the F1 has it. It's a little bit expensive though, I have to understand if they are willing to spend that money.

Thank you again.
SL

[bjohn]

Originally Posted by simonluca

Hi, I own the old h4 (the gray one) the h2n and h3 and they don't have this function

When you say the h3 do you mean the h3vr? That's the only Zoom h3 model I've seen online; it does have the sound marker function. Or maybe you're referring to a long-discontinued h3 model that probably doesn't appear in Google until the 675th page of search. ;-)

Will she be wearing a lav mic or will she be holding the recorder by hand? If holding the recorder you have to be aware that handling noise is a big problem in these "shaver-style" recorders. The F1 comes in several alternative packages, the cheapest of which includes an okay-but-not-great lav mic that could be useful in this case. The recorder has a clip that can attach to one's belt or trousers. But again, she'd need to be wearing earphones or headphones in order to hear the beep.

Another good and cheap alternative is a minidisc recorder; these are probably really cheap now since the technology is obsolete. Mine (a Sharp from 1996 that still works good as new) beeps at the start and end of recording, and the sound quality is actually better than anything I've gotten from the Zoom. You can't transfer the files digitally, though; you have to record them via an interface into your computer in real time, like copying an analogue cassette tape or LP. The newer generation of Sony mindiscs can be digitally copied but those are more expensive.

[simonluca]

Originally Posted by bjohn

When you say the h3 do you mean the h3vr? That's the only Zoom h3 model I've seen online; it does have the sound marker function. Or maybe you're referring to a long-discontinued h3 model that probably doesn't appear in Google until the 675th page of search. ;-)

Will she be wearing a lav mic or will she be holding the recorder by hand? If holding the recorder you have to be aware that handling noise is a big problem in these "shaver-style" recorders. The F1 comes in several alternative packages, the cheapest of which includes an okay-but-not-great lav mic that could be useful in this case. The recorder has a clip that can attach to one's belt or trousers. But again, she'd need to be wearing earphones or headphones in order to hear the beep.

Another good and cheap alternative is a minidisc recorder; these are probably really cheap now since the technology is obsolete. Mine (a Sharp from 1996 that still works good as new) beeps at the start and end of recording, and the sound quality is actually better than anything I've gotten from the Zoom. You can't transfer the files digitally, though; you have to record them via an interface into your computer in real time, like copying an analogue cassette tape or LP. The newer generation of Sony mindiscs can be digitally copied but those are more expensive.

Yes, of course, the VR! I excluded it because well, it's not exactly comfortable to handle. Oh minidisks! It's since...1998 that I don't turn one of those on! About the F1, i like the idea of it being so small and the ability to attach it to the belt. She has to walk and talk, and one hand is occupied with the stick. So the smaller the device, the better I guess. I don't <think> that the audio will be directly used, but it will be <probably> trasncribed, so <I guess> that the audio quality is not the first priority. As you see I'm not that sure because I have been very recently involved in the project, so who knows...

I'll propose the F1, maybe we can use another Lav for better sound quality.

Thank you!
SL

[bjohn]

Originally Posted by simonluca

I'll propose the F1, maybe we can use another Lav for better sound quality.

A better lav might make a difference, but it's worth noting that the preamp in the microphone jack appears to have some sort of EQ integrated into it, optimized for spoken voice. That would be fine in your case, but it has limited the recorder's usefulness for me for other things like recording outdoor ambience or music. It's not bad and I've gotten quite usable recordings from it, but plugging the same microphones into my old 1996 minidisc recorder gets better results oddly enough. The other thing I don't really like about the F1 is that the gain can only be set in steps, there's no continuous gain control. You have to adjust the gain using its presets like low, medium, and high and I often wish I could fine-tune it. The only way to do that is to use one of the Zoom mics that can clip onto the front of the unit; those have real gain dials. But that's not going to work for your use case here.

If you want to hear an example of something recorded with the F1, I used it in a little video I did of an event last year; I wore binaural microphones on my ears, into the F1. The outdoor pieces and interviews came out reasonably well: https://vimeo.com/338484861

[simonluca]

Originally Posted by bjohn

A better lav might make a difference, but it's worth noting that the preamp in the microphone jack appears to have some sort of EQ integrated into it, optimized for spoken voice. That would be fine in your case, but it has limited the recorder's usefulness for me for other things like recording outdoor ambience or music. It's not bad and I've gotten quite usable recordings from it, but plugging the same microphones into my old 1996 minidisc recorder gets better results oddly enough. The other thing I don't really like about the F1 is that the gain can only be set in steps, there's no continuous gain control. You have to adjust the gain using its presets like low, medium, and high and I often wish I could fine-tune it. The only way to do that is to use one of the Zoom mics that can clip onto the front of the unit; those have real gain dials. But that's not going to work for your use case here.

If you want to hear an example of something recorded with the F1, I used it in a little video I did of an event last year; I wore binaural microphones on my ears, into the F1. The outdoor pieces and interviews came out reasonably well: https://vimeo.com/338484861

Thank you very much, also for the example. That "eq" thing is pretty weird though. If I got it well, mics are interchangeable (as in other zoom models) so it's not conceived as a recorder for voice only. I have to investigate a little bit.
By the way thank you very much again!