Modern options for mobile 'found sound' samples (field recording)

inakarmacoma

Hi All,

I'm interested in 'Found Sound' sampling -- essentially, capturing noises from nature, perhaps into BeatMaker for percussion, or transformed into drones, shortened and pitched to melodies, etc.

It looks like "Tascam" and "Zoom" are the big players here, but many of their products have been on the market for nearly 10+ years. And we're seeing technology improvements for iPads, Android phones, etc. So, I'm curious what an optimal setup looks like nowadays?

For example, how do onboard mics fair these days? And I see you can get small stereo microphones to plug into your 3.5mm jack, if you have one... -- do these compare well?

Any recommendations from the crew here?

Will

I've been eying the Rode iXY for a while. No actual experience with it so I can't recommend it but you might look into it. http://www.rode.com/microphones/ixy

Those Tascam/Zoom boxes all allow for direct monitoring. If you have a mobile interface, you could always plug the headphone out from one of those devices into your audio inputs.

sysexual

my tascam dr05 is more than up to the test. i get grewt results sampling in nature.

TheAudioDabbler

I wouldn’t trade my Zoom H4N Pro for anything, well maybe something...

Combined with my GeekGo SD card reader, it’s perfect for sampling the world.

rs2000

The Zoom iQ7 is an M/S type microphone, it plugs in via Lightning connector, has great sensitivity also for more distant sound sources and the quality is impeccable. I'm very satisfied with the unit.

Edit: The Rode iXY requires you to take the iPhone/iPad out of its protective case every time you want to record, this is probably not what everybody wants (except you don't care about protecting your iDevice anyway )

Telefunky

@inakarmacoma said:
For example, how do onboard mics fair these days? And I see you can get small stereo microphones to plug into your 3.5mm jack, if you have one... -- do these compare well?

The mic line of the headphone jack can only record a single source, such microphones have to be mixed together, which may not be ideal from directional pov but yields a better signal to noise ratio.
On the other hand this socket is the most unreliable part of any mobile device (dirt entry, wear out) and it's highly (electrical) noise sensitive.

Imho the onboard mics (there's an array of them, not a single one) of current iDevices perform really well. I can get a (measured, real world) 60dB signal to noise ratio with an Air-2.
Important: you HAVE to set the mic gain manually and use the device in 'measurement mode' (audio settings), otherwise the automatic gain control will spoil the party and a low cut filter will significantly reduce frequencies lower than 100Hz.
If you hold the device in hand, noise from handling is inevitable.
You should check mic positions of your own iPhone/iPad to know it's most effective pointing direction. This position may not provide the best display view.
(an iPhone used like a real microphone will have the screen tilted away from you)

A proper setup with quality microphones is a rather bulky, even for a single mic - and expensive.