Advice on affordable Hand-held digital voice recorders for investigations

[Johnny]

Hi there everyone,

Can anyone recommend an affordable hand-held digital voice recorder for investigations?

I currently have two Sony old style voice recorders using old fashioned audio tapes (God I feel so old saying that as this was high-tech in my day!) As well as the hiss or hearing the spools I would imagine that transferring tape recordings to a computer file might lead to distortions which might compromise any 'good' footage one might record.

Presumably also digital recording are able to trace any editing / changes etc (similar to good SLR digital cameras showing detailed info on model, date time, exposure etc) which would be good for examination / verification purposes etc

The digital recorder seem to start around €127 to €200 for a good one but I am ignorant in this area and would welcome any advise or recommendations from anyone who already uses a digital recorder.

Many thanks


Johnny,

[Johnny]

Hi there again

Found some threads discussing the Sony IC recorder ICD-B100 and Olympus VP-2100PC so I guess its a good starting point, maybe there are newer versions for me to be on the look-out for? . .. ....

Johnny

[druidsgirl]

Hi Johnny! I'm not a "techno" person however I am aware that some people have got equipment for EVP etc through Ebay at a very reasonable cost... mainly from the UK

[Traze]

Hi Johnny,
i bought the Olympus It was priced at 109 euro, A bit pricey but well worth the money, sound is brilliant and you get hours of recording time Petes electric sells them

[lotsapockets]

Hi Johnny,
You can get some very good quality recordings from mp3 players and they normally start cheaper than the dedicated voice recorder. There is nothing wrong with using tape as well as digital, if you are getting a lot of hiss/mechanical noise with tape try using external microphones if possible. Distortion when transfering analogue to digital depends on the connections and soft that you use.

[Johnny]

Hi Johnny! I'm not a "techno" person however I am aware that some people have got equipment for EVP etc through Ebay at a very reasonable cost... mainly from the UK

Hi Druidsgirl, thanks for that. Will check it out. I am a bit wary of that site though i.e. someone started trying to sell stuff that didn't exist using my name, business address etc. as seller. But might venture out in that virtual shopping centre .... if they have a bargain on digital voice recorders .... Thanks again


Johnny

[Johnny]

Hi Johnny,
i bought the Olympus It was priced at 109 euro, A bit pricey but well worth the money, sound is brilliant and you get hours of recording time Petes electric sells them

Hi Traze, sounds good, Petes is not too far from work, and I can ask lots of questions .... Johnny

[Johnny]

Hi Johnny,
You can get some very good quality recordings from mp3 players and they normally start cheaper than the dedicated voice recorder. There is nothing wrong with using tape as well as digital, if you are getting a lot of hiss/mechanical noise with tape try using external microphones if possible. Distortion when transfering analogue to digital depends on the connections and soft that you use.

MP3 player, never even occurred to me that it could be done! I guess I should ask the sales assistant (Start off with Pete's electrical again) does it record messages well etc and ask if it downloads easily .. Have some good mikes so might try and jack them in and see how the recordings improve. Yeah, the recording were a little hissy alright . . and you could hear the cogs a turning! You Tube had an interesting article about transferring cassette tapes without expensive software by using a good 'dubbing Cable' and windows Media (I think it was) so might do some trial runs.. Thanks again,

Johnny

[Johnny]

Hi Johnny,
You can get some very good quality recordings from mp3 players and they normally start cheaper than the dedicated voice recorder. There is nothing wrong with using tape as well as digital, if you are getting a lot of hiss/mechanical noise with tape try using external microphones if possible. Distortion when transfering analogue to digital depends on the connections and soft that you use.

Thanks for the advice. Got an external microphone for circa €30 and the hissing and cog reel noises are gone and it picks up sound very well in a room. It has a mic protector (don't know what the techi name is!) to prevent wind interference when recording outside.

Like you said, I can get a digital recorder too [which I guess can verify anything picked up on tape or vice versa].

Thanks again for solving that problem.

Johnny

[druidsgirl]

Hey Johnny! Glad you have found something that works for you!!!! Now get out there and enjoy using it!!!

[Johnny]

Thanks Druidsgirl .... Will do ... bringing it to Open Investigation at Charleville Castle this Sat so keep the fingers crossed ..... only problem is it would make me look like an 1980's reporter ... !


Johnny

[David]

I also purchased a condenser mic at Maplins for about forty euro makes a world of difference. We all started with basic equipment and worked our way up. I have found resonable buys on ebay but make sure you know what you are buying anything else let us know!

[Johnny]

I also purchased a condenser mic at Maplins for about forty euro makes a world of difference. We all started with basic equipment and worked our way up. I have found resonable buys on ebay but make sure you know what you are buying anything else let us know!

Hi there,

The External microphone worked very well in Charleville on Sat/Sun, and have been listening to the recordings (I'm a third of the way through a cursory review of the 3 hours of taping) but nothing unusual so far but the sound quality is very good! Thankfully there were no malfunctions and the tape kept on taping, which is a good start! It will be interesting when I get to compare it to a digital recording (Re: sound quality etc)

Was hoping to catch something on tape sitting in the cupboard (room at top of Harriet's staircase with the creepy doll!) but nadda, not a sausage. . .. . ..

'The library' sound footage (where everyone was there together) is interesting too!

Thanks again everyone for suggesting external mike!

Johnny