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Compact Travel Field Recording Kit
I think I've got my travel field recording kit in order now. And everything is compact enough to fit in a smallish shoulder bag. 2 handhelds with different onboard pickup patterns (Sony PCM-M10 and Tascam DR22WL) the DR22 can be operated remotely via built-in wifi and iPhone app, a short but focused and sensitive Tascam shotgun mic with recorder built-in, some Sennheiser CX300 ii earbuds for isolated monitoring, a spare Sony lav, a pair of binaural earbud mics, and enough room left over for a compact waterproof still cam that also shoot HD video, and a compact 360VR still/video cam.
All small, lightweight, wide range covered, and mostly incognito.
I've got small dead cat wind screens for everything but the binaural earbud mics. Was concerned as they're way too sensitive to even the slightest breeze, but I just picked up some very small foam lav windscreens and tested them earlier. They work perfect, and still give the illusion I'm just wearing earbuds and presumably listening to music, while recording in indigenous markets and such.
Looking forward to putting it all through its paces soon while backpacking.
Now that I'm much more familiar with Auria Pro now, it'll be cool to play with some mixing and editing from the road. I'd like to experiment with using all of it at the same time in the same environment, and mixing them altogether. Can't wait!
Tips, tricks, and suggestions welcome 
Comments
Sounds like an awesome setup. Yay 2017.
No technical advice that you haven't already read but maybe this: be patient. If you're in a busy place, the fact that you're there will have an effect on those around you. But if you're patient, after a while, you'll become invisible to those around you and the sounds you're looking for ("I'm not here, ignore me) will emerge.
Yes, that's one of the reasons I wanted to play with the binaural ear buds. I can monitor while appearing to be just lost in some mp3 music. When I'd carry a handheld in those situations, I needed a windscreen also... which made it obvious I was recording and drew attention.
I've seen some put small deadcat windscreens on the mic'd earbuds, and that reportedly works great, but it makes you look like you've got big caterpillars handing out of your ears
not "incognito" so much. I didn't think the little foam lav mic screens would be enough, but I did some tests with pretty good breeze gusts and they worked fine. They didn't block it 100%, but deadcat windscreens don't generally either.
Do you have a recommendation for binaural earbud/mics? Which did you go with?
I don't have much to compare to, so I can't give much experiential or expert opinion on this.
What I can say, is the pair I bought... were dirt cheap when I bought them a couple months ago. It must've been a flash sale because they're significantly more expensive now.
I bought them because I didn't know if I was going to pursue binaural stuff much, and I didn't want to invest much money in my first set until I new it was something I was going to try and take further. So, the pair I bought was intended to be a temporary curious solution.
However, I got lucky and they're actually very good. The ear-bud part of them isn't very good at all, but they're good enough for monitoring and have an inline volume control. The actual recordings are fairly good.
Again, I don't have enough experience to recommend anything as an expert, but the sound quality of the recordings was good enough that I didn't feel compelled to buy a more expensive pair.
Here's a link to the pair I bought. The white ones tend to be cheaper. And like I said, I got mine on a flash sale for cheap.. so if you're not in a hurry, just keep an eye on them for a good deal if you're as budget conscious as I am.
Good news! The white ones are on sale again. I paid slightly less than this, but they're showing a price of $28 for me. They normally ask between $80-$120
Look around.. you may find them even cheaper:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GAW6BA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
One note of warning... I find the mics VERY sensitive to wind noise. Even a slight breeze or ceiling fan will destroy your recording. I got some tiny foam windscreens for cheap that did the trick for the most part, and still look like you're just wearing earbuds.
https://www.amazon.com/Tetra-Teknica-MNWS5P-Mini-size-Microphone-Windscreen/dp/B00B6KMDU8/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1483546258&sr=1-1&keywords=Tetra-Teknica-MNWS5P-Mini-size-Microphone-Windscreen
Cool, thank you for the response.
@oat_phipps I found the earbuds on ebay for $9.99 plus free shipping. @skiphunt Some Amazon reviewers say they use them with their H4n, I wonder how they connect to the recorder.
Sounds like a nice rig. I'm doing similar starting Monday on a motorcycle in SE Asia. Curious, what did you pick up for the 360VR still/video cam?
Wow! That's even better than what I paid.. I think it was around $12. I don't have an H4n (have a old H2 somewhere that's actually still decent) They connect to the recorder via one 3.5 stereo mic plug and one3.5 stereo headphone plug. Also worth mentioning... they need plug-in power supplied by the device for the mics. Both of my recorders I listed have this. The mics wouldn't work with an iPhone or iPad.
Awesome! I've traveled in SE Asia twice, but never on a motorcycle. I have rented motorcycles on some of the Thai islands though.
I'm just now dabbling in 360VR so I got one of the lower-budget cams that looked like it had the overall best picture for video and stills. And, shoots 3K video. Picked up a insta360 nano for about $150. This tech is rapidly advancing, so I thought I'd wait for it to level out a bit before spending more money on one. I also haven't decided how I feel about 360VR so much. It's cool and interesting, but I don't really want myself in the images, so I'm going to have to try use a timer, then hide. And, I think it will be a challenge to be "creative" with a camera that basically shoots the entire field. I know it can be very creative, but my background is in being able to frame and compose a shot in a defined space. With these 360 cams, it's... well... everything 360.
I've only done a few test vids and stills. Nothing worth posting yet, but as with most lower-end cameras, it's not so great in low light. It's also a bit contrasty in good light, but there's an "HDR" setting for stills that does a decent job of evening everything without out going overboard.
Can't officially recommend it yet because I haven't had it long, but I like it enough to keep it and travel with soon.
Not sure where you're going in SE Asia, but when I was traveling in Viet Nam a few years ago... I regretted not doing the motorcycle route from Ho Chi Minh City, Dalat and Nha Trang. There are rental tour outfits specifically for motorcycle routes in this area, so I'm sure there are some excellent maps to be had if you're going to be in that area.
Thanks for the info! The H4n does have plug in power.
Mine also came with a nice little hard case, and they include a USB cable/adaptor that has 3.5mm input ports for the mic and headphone plugs... so you can record directly to your computer if you need to. For that alone it's almost worth the very lost cost.
Thanks for the heads up on the cam, I may get one quick just to play around with it and sell it on return. A friend of mine does a ton of camera work in the industry and developed his own 360 rig to sell. He was just bitching how some new near consumer tech outdated what he was working on. Looking forward to better high res - things are moving so fast.
Yes! Those islands in the South of Thailand are exhilarating to motorbike around, there's just something really psychedelic about Thailand in general. This trip will be heading up around the golden triangle, Pai, Chiangmai and Burma hoping to not get dengue like the last time. Agree about Vietnam, I've gone Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi once, well recommend that.
There's a budget LG 360 that looks decent too, but the video res is a bit higher with the insta360, and I thought the stichting looked better. The insta360 Nano, looked sharper but more purple fringing. Though, the latest insta360 has a purple fringe reduction setting that mostly works. The insta360 Nano also does time lapse too.
Love Chiangmai! Are you going to be there for Chinese New Year?! If so, the massive water fights during Chinese New Year are hands down the most fun I've had on any trip period.
Rented a motorbike in Pai to visit the ring neck tribe. Touristy but worth it.
Did a 4-Day jungle trek out of Chiangmai to the Burmese border and smoked opium with hilltribes women after eating chili mashed up with tadpoles scooped up from a creek. That was psychedelic of shizzle.
Have a great trip!
Necessity being the mother of invention, I made my own pair of binaural mic 'wind muffs'. They are made from a modified pair of 'ear-bags' (used to keep people's ears warm in the wind) and some very hairy acrylic material which is used to make wind shields for portable recorders.
They look a bit 'home-made' and they look very daft when I use them, but they do the job for anything but pretty strong direct wind.
Brave man !
Interesting. Care to expand a bit on what you intend recording g ?
No idea. I've never been where I'm going, and I don't even know where I'm going once I get there. Should be covered for incognito street stuff, ambient nature, and focused specific sounds I might encounter. No plans. Adventure.
Those look like they'd work better than what I have, but my goal was to try and preserve the impression that they're simple earbuds. Those look cut down enough that you wouldn't be about to tell unless you were close up. If the foam ones don't work out, I may ping ya about how you crafted these.
To suffer for one's art
Keep your eye on this sort of thing, too, as it develops: http://www.roadtovr.com/kopin-unveils-lightning-2k-x-2k-120hz-oled-microdisplay-mobile-vr/
Thanks for the info Ian
I'm aiming to do more field recording again this year. Just bought an IXY and it's really good. Aiming to get some binaural ones too but not sure yet if the difference is going to be worth the extra investment so would be good to hear peoples opinions on it. The ixy can be very discreet but I suppose you'll get head height ambience more discreetly with binaural.
Which apps do people prefer for recording?
I think reliability is the key. I have gone with AUM up til now because of all the obvious reasons, monitoring, Au and dynamic effects etc.Trouble is I got back earlier from a long field test and the recording had crashed and nothing was recorded. Wondering whether I should use a different app for the main recording. One where if it crashes, at least you have all the audio up to that point etc.
Think I'll go with Twisted wave for now, being able to see the wave form when recording is handy to adjust.
Watch The Conversation again.
good film @JohnnyGoodyear and Walter Murch has always been an influence in his pioneering work and attitude towards sound design in general for me
I have a thing for that period (Three Days of the Condor, The Parallax View etc). Should really do some research into music for paranoids....
A little over a week ago I was in Cuenca. One of the museums has an awesome sprawling garden with archeological stuff, exotic plants, llamas and a nice large aviary.
There was a large collection of parrots making all kinds of racket constantly. Nearly deafening. Figured I should try to record them to mess around with later.
Pulled out a Tascam DR22 from my daypack, turned it on. Flashed "unable to read media".
After about 10 minutes of trying to get it to work by removing the battery and card several times, etc. I finally got it to work.
Hit record. Birds instantly went silent. All at the same time and on queue with me hitting record. Strangest thing. I tried to get them riled up again to no avail. One of those recordings that simply wasn't meant to be.
Still, very odd how those birds knew I was going to record them and precisely timed to the second, all 3-4 dozen of them went silent at the exact same time. Weird.