Why your recorder might not cut it for radio

The following is a letter sent to a producer who proposed doing some event recording for the syndicated program WINGS. The information also applies for recording for CJSF and other stations. - FW

Dear K___,

Thanks for the information about your recorder. I'm going to give you some not really great news about it.

I looked online and found the specifications about the Olympus VN-5000 model, and it's really a recorder for taking lecture notes or dictation and not for recording for broadcast. I'm not seeing from the description online whether there is any way to transfer the recorded files out of the machine onto a computer for editing. If you can do that, you might email me a sample of something recorded on your highest quality setting and I'll give a listen - maybe we can squeak by with it.

If there's no way to get the files out digitally, then the only way to get the audio out would be to play it back from the line-out of the recorder to a line-in on a computer, in real time. M___ may be able to show you that, or I could email you more information. There's a free and open-source software called Audacity that you can get, if you don't already have it.

Here are some of the things that make me dubious about the sound quality coming out of this recorder. I'm sending you the information because it will help you evaluate the next recorder you choose. :

One, is the sampling rate - this is something like how many dots you have in a picture printed in a magazine or newspaper - the more dots, the better the picture, and the more samples, the clearer the sound. Here the sampling rates available for the three settings on this model, Olympus VN 5000:
HQ: 17.6 kHz
SP: 10.6 kHz
LP: 6.6 kHz

What we use is 44.1 kHz, although sometimes we get audio that's been posted online sampled at 22.05 and we convert it to 44.1 by playing it in another system and re-recording it. So, at 17.6 kHz, even your "high quality" setting is not great for broadcast. Some people use this type of recorder to get 10-second sound-bites, but to listen to lower-quality audio for a long time on the radio is difficult.

Second, looking at features, this recorder has Voice Activation. It's to keep you from wasting space recording pauses. I don't know if that can be turned off - if not, you might lose both the pauses (which can be meaningful) and the beginnings of some words in a speech you record, as the machine turns itself on and off, giving a choppy effect.

Third, what are called "voice recorders" typically have an Automatic Gain Control feature to help you pick up the voice of a lecturer all the way from your seat in the auditorium - but that also bring up all the noises in the room along with it. It's not usually possible to get that kind of noise out of the recording afterwards.

If you have one of the noise-cancelling mics they describe as possible accessories for this recorder ( see page http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1388&fl=5&acccategory=all ), that might help keep the noise down, but it could be hard to position it correctly to pick up the voice of the person giving the talk. You could try using a strip of duct tape to attach it to the speaker's own microphone if you're allowed to do that by meeting organisers. I have no idea how formal the setting will be at WAM, but I think it's gotten pretty big, so the speakers probably use microphones.


Fourth, your recorder has a choice of using a built-in mic or a mic input, but no line input. Ideally, for recording a big event you'd want to have a recorder with a line-in jack, so you could record from the house mixing board or from a "press box" (also called a "mult") set up for the media to record. It's also possible to get a line-out from a headphone jack, in cases where headsets are used. (You need a cable to attach from the line-out to the line-in - could be one of 2 or 3 types.)

If you do try recording an event with this and you can't get your recorder on the podium and attach a mic to the speaker's mike (or, for instance if there are multiple speakers each with her own mic), it's possible you'd find a loudspeaker mounted close enough to the floor that you could hold your mic up to it and record the sound from that. You'd need to get it close but not too close, because if the sound is too loud it would be distorted. Only experimentation could prove whether this works.

I see this recorder is priced under $40. While there are new things happening every day in the audio world, so far I haven't found a recorder priced under at least $100 or more that has broadcast-quality sound. Typically you'd be looking in at least the $150 range or more. If you're thinking of buying another recorder, you might look for a ZoomH2. They have a lot of convenient features, are easy to use, and have a rather good sound quality. I ordered some from New Jersey for our station, and they were $175 apiece, but in New York you might find a better price.

I'm sorry to be discouraging about your device. Is there one at IWTC you could borrow that is better?

In sisterhood,
Frieda