Home › Forums › Music Production › Getting Started

Join our Home Musicians community now!

Hello Guest - Register or Log-in now, to download the tunes, add your comments, ask questions or share advice with our home musicians community. You'll also be able to upload your original music, home studio photos, and post your own forum topics and blogs. [Login to hide note!]

How to setup a small portable audio sampling device?

27 February, 2008 - 14:06 — matt

One thing I've never really done, but always had an interest in, is being able to take a portable sampling device around some days, and record audio samples from everyday life situations. This could be sampling the sounds of animals in nature, or city life sounds, etc

Has anyone had any experience of doing this? Any advice or tips on how to sample outdoors while retaining as much audio quality as possible?

Using a foam wind shield on the microphone would probably be crucial for example.

I have an old minidisc which can record cd quality audio, so that presumably could be used as a small portable sampler.... but what type of microphone would I need to use for best results etc?

‹ Setting problem with MPD24 using FL Studio 7 XXL Thanks to all for the info ›

27 February, 2008 - 15:55 — J CRYS
J CRYS's picture

The minidisc is the way to go but on the mic part, I think you are gonna have to sacrifice the audio quality if you want it small or vice versa. I will check back often to see the comments on this because I would love to do this.

http://www.myspace.com/djxcell29

http://www.myspace.com/jcrysbass

27 February, 2008 - 16:06 — matt
matt's picture

Yeah I think the minidisc would be an ok device to sample with eh.... for quality/sampling time available. But yup the microphone is the tricky part I reckon.

It wouldn't be the end of the world to need to use a larger microphone, as long as it produced usable quality, without too much background hiss or wind noise. I don't think many mics would have issues picking up inner city traffic noise hehe, but some might struggle to properly capture the sounds of a quiet woodland glade with birds tweeting etc

27 February, 2008 - 17:39 — Amittai
Amittai's picture

The best microphone for that would be a condenser mic because they are so much more sensitive, therefore picking up more realistic ambience or sound effects. You'd probably want an omnidirectional polar pattern. You can find these for a decent price and in a compact size. A great example is the MXL604 which is actually switchable between omni-directional for ambience and such, or you can use the cardioid capsule for directional recording. MXL mics are what I use for all my vocals and I've also got the 603 (I think) which is like the 604.

I've been thinking along the same page as you as far as sampling sounds everywhere I go, and if you want to consider something instead of the minidisc recorder here's what I'm probably purchasing soon... One of these:

Zoom H4 Handy Recorder or the one-step-down version of it, the Zoom H2 Handy Recorder. I've heard great things around school about the quality of recordings with the H4's built in mics, nothing but great. I looked it up and that's how I found the H2.

27 February, 2008 - 17:41 — Amittai
Amittai's picture

Oh yeah, a condenser mic should need phantom power to work, so you might want to check that it takes a battery. Most condensers take a AA battery.

27 February, 2008 - 20:31 — matt
matt's picture

Those Zoom Handy recorders look very sweet indeed. Dam my empty bank account lol.

Thanks for the info on the condenser mics etc too, I've never done much with microphones, so its good to get info on the different types and what they're best at...

27 February, 2008 - 22:56 — Amittai
Amittai's picture

Yeah, the Zooms are nice. Damn my bank account too... Maybe both of our damned bank accounts could collectively amount to one Zoom. The pathetic thing is the Zoom is probably the cheapest piece of equipment I need by far.

2 March, 2008 - 11:46 — sumgai
sumgai's picture

I've thought about this too, matt and I guess it depends on how serious you are about the quality of your samples. If I could go and do it right now, I would take a laptop, pre-amp and condenser mic. (And all the other accessories, depending on location) That's just me though! I'd want to ensure that I would be prepared for recording absolutely anything, anytime.

If it's just a fuck around, then a minidisc would do the trick for sure. Heaps of mp3 players and some irivers record wav files too. It's all in the microphone. I agree with Amittai - condenser for sure - you just can't capture the same depth of sound with dynamic mics. One with changeable polar patterns would definitely be ideal, and you could even try recording your samples with the different polar patterns to see what works, or what has an interesting sound, or even just to learn more about your microphone.

2 March, 2008 - 12:13 — matt
matt's picture

Yeah for me the portability of the sampling solution is the main concern, while obviously I would have liked to retain as much quality as possible.

All a bit of a moot point at this stage with no money lol, but good to get an action plan in case I ever happen to get some "mad Benjamin's" :P

2 March, 2008 - 16:59 — sumgai
sumgai's picture

True that. I understand. You probably want the best mic you can, then. Good luck!

Hello Guest - Register or Log-in now, to download the tunes, add your comments, ask questions or share advice with our home musicians community. You'll also be able to upload your original music, home studio photos, and post your own forum topics and blogs. [Login to hide note!]


Donations made to MakeTunes by the following members - check out their music to show your appreciation of their support of our community!
Amittai - Ed - Audiohead - Julian Angel - Giechi Dan Productions - Mike_S - Bill - JonnyLightning - Illusive Mind - DanstheTsar - IngridTornado - Geomatic - Almighty Pattern - m1ch431 - dammedifiknow - coolboy - DeletedTrack - heegs - MarCoast Beats.

To help support MakeTunes, please consider donating. Thanks.