Hi,

I have an Olympus WS-100 and am really unhappy with the sound quality. There seems to be a lot of static and feedback when I play back my recordings and the situation did not improve when I added an external mic. I sing in a Church and I am recording myself during rehearsals and also sometimes during a Mass. The recorder needs to be small, preferably with built in mic and easy to download to my computer- a USB connection is best. I want the ability to name tracks easily so I can organize songs and find them quickly. Obviously, sound quality is very important. I was looking at the TASCAM DR-1. What are your thoughts on this? Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks so much!
Rindy

Hi Rindy
I also play in a church band.
I have had my Tascam DR-1 for a couple months now. I must preface my remarks in that I'm not the most recoridng literate kind of guy so I have not used it a lot but I have been happy so far.
I have reocrded straight from the board and I have used the built in mic's and been happy with both.
I have had glitches like forgetting to turn up the input and getting almost no volume etc.
I have found that it is real easy to down load the recorded material and burn CD's Files are to large to email to church so they can burn the CD for use by visitation folks etc.
For recording rehearsal it works real well and when you are at home and practicing the ability to slow the sone down is good although I have only used it once. I'm still looking for an extension for my head phones as the chort cord I have now makes it a pain to practice the guitar and listen to the recorder. As easy as it is to make a CD I have done that because I can repeat the tracksfor practice. I should learn how to make a loop track on the DR-1 and it would eliminate the need to make the CD.
With a little practice and book learning I need to learn how to put marks on the recording for each song during rehearsal being as it is hard to start and stop the recorder and do everything else.

If you are going to use it outside you need to figure out somekind of mic cover as it picks up to much wind and movement noise.
I thought that the lack of a tripot mound fittting or other mic stand/tripot mount would be a problem but just laying the unit on a chair or a rail is picks up just fine.
I hope this has helped a little.
Jerry

This post has been edited by JTG: Apr 28 2008, 01:13 AM

Hi Rindy,

I don't have the Olympus WS-100 myself, so I'm not familiar with its quality or operation. However, before you rush out and buy another recorder, I can think of a few things you might check that might improve your sound. These pre-recording tips will help regardless of which recorder you use.

Where are you placing the mic?
Are you using a tripod or mic stand?
What are your recording levels? (Also, check your mic level sensitivity)
Do you have an auto-limter turned on?
Do you have a lo-cut filter turned on?

First, and most important, with any recorder is mic placement. You want it close enough to the sound source (preferably within a few feet) so that you pick up more direct sound rather than room ambience (sound of the church hall in your case). Preferably, place the recorder on a tripod or mic stand. If you don't have a tripod, try raising it on a platform (possibly a sheet music stand tilted horizontally and place the recorder on a soft absorptive surface (such as a soft pillow) so you minimize reflections from the stand surface - you want to capture your direct voice first, and then ambient reflections from the hall - but NOT reflections from real close nearby surfaces as these will cause phase cancellations and make your recordings sound terrible).

Second (but equally important) is your recording level. Make sure you have some headroom. That means, make sure levels are not going all the way to the top. Anytime you hit the top level, even for a split second, you'll get a terrible sound which might be what you describe as "static". Also, on the WS-100 there is a mic sensitivity adjustment. So do some recording experiments and try various levels to see which gives you the very cleanest recordings.

If your recorder has a built-in compressor or "auto-level", try turning it off and see if you can't get better recordings setting levels manually. Also, if your mic has a low-cut filter, experiment with it on and off to see which setting works best for your needs.

As for your desire to name tracks, most of the recorders I've looked at seem to use a built-in numeric naming system rather than allowing you to enter your own names for each take. Of course, once you get the sounds into your computer, you can rename them. One useful tip I've found is to just give each recording a verbal description at the beginning of the recording in the same way that film makers use a clap board or slate to show the film sequence being recorded. This way, you only need to listen to the very first part of your recording to quickly know which take it is.

Hope some of these ideas help,

Greg

Thanks for sharing those tips, Greg. I should clarify, however, that the WS-100 is a digital voice recorder, so it's optimized for capturing closeup speech destined for transcription. I have the stereo model, the WS-200S, and can report that it offers very few of the recording parameters a general-purpose recorder like the TASCAM has. All the voice recorders I've tried have aggressive automatic gain control, noisy inputs, and a pinched frequency response.

So why do I always keep a voice recorder in my pocket? Because there are so many times when I'm out and about and I hear something cool and want to remember it. The WS recorders are so tiny they can go with me everywhere. Similarly, cellphone cameras generally take ghastly photos, but it's better to have a grainy photo than no photo.

For capturing a musical performance, though, you'd definitely want a recorder designed for music. Check out our Portable Digital Recorders thread for in-depth reviews of the leading models. We should have a new review going up this week.

Hi Greg,

Thanks so much for the tips. I believe the WS-100 to be an entry level recorder and probably meant to record lectures or conversations, not singing. What I love about it is its size- it's only about 5 inches long by 2 inches wide so I can record inconspicuously if needed. I usually place the recorder on the music stand but what i found is that even if I hold it a few inches from my face, the organ in the background sounds distoted- almost like my old cassette player used to sound when it was running low on battery. I have the unit set to HQ (high quality sound recording) and mic sensitivity set to high. Do you suggest I change mic sensitivity to Low? I have a rehearsal on Thursday night and will try that to see if it improves the playback.

Thanks to all for your suggestions!

Rindy

Hi Rindy,

If the organ is distorting, then it sounds to me as if you might have the mic sensitivity or volume level set too high. I just took a look at the WS100 manual and it says the mic high sensitivity "records sounds in all directions" wheres the the mic low sensitivity mode is "suited for dictation". What I would suggest is that you monitor with headphones while you record and try the various senstivity options and volume levels (be sure to keep the headphone volume down when you switch though). Monitoring through headphones is a good idea (at least until you get the level set properly) as you can adjust the recording volume for the best sound (pressing the VOL button) using your ears. Getting the proper record level set is crucial to getting the best possible sound. You want it high enough so its above the noise, and low enough so it never hits the digital zero peak. Its a bit tricky to find the optimum level (particularly with music that has varying dynamic levels) but its really worth spending a little time to find it.

Nevertheless, as David points out, this is a mono recorder and is really designed for dictation. So you'll never get a lush ambient stereo recording. After trying all the suggestions, if your still not satisfied and are in the market for another digital audio recorder, I suggest that you take a look as the Olympus LS-10 as well as the Tascam you mention an interest in. Another forum reader just said he purchased an LS-10 on eBay for less that $300. At this price, the LS-10 is excellent value - I highly recommend it. The Tascam examples I've heard also sound quite good to me too.

You can check out comments on the LS-10in this thread here

Hope your recording goes better on Thursday,

Greg