Microphone for Edirol R-09

Ash,

I don`t use an Edirol, but I use a Sony minidisc recorder. The microphone which came with it is available separately. It is small yet produces a good sound with a 3.3’ cord.

Well, remember that the audio is only as good as the weakest link. So you have to get something that is at least as good as the recorder itself. Otherwise you wasted money on your recorder.

Best source for independent assessment of mics is Transom.

Here is their first set of tests on studio mics.

Here is the second, which is more oriented to the handheld mic universe.

Much appreciated. Thanks.

Anything by Rode is generally great quality with good construction and will be cheaper than the equivalent Sennheiser… I use one of their Stereo Video Mics and sit it on the hotshoe of my camera or handhold it:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/450170-REG/Rode_STEREO_VIDEO_MIC_Stereo_VideoMic_Camera.html

but, if you’re looking for something more compact maybe try something like this

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/388984-REG/Sony_ECMDS30P_ECM_DS30P_Compact_Stereo.html

, although I’ve never used one so I can’t say what they’re like for sure… but Sony stuff is usually ok.

If you want to keep the unit compact, why don’t you just use the mic on the R-09? From what I’ve heard it’s not too bad considering it’s small and packed in with the mechanics of the unit (a bit of vibration noise etc)…

There was this thread on the subject from about a year ago. Hope it helps.

http://www.lightstalkers.org/what_microphones_are_people_using

Ed,
The Rode mic looks great. How are you mounting it to the camera?
Bill.

Bill, it’s supposed to go on a video camera so it has a screw-down plate that fits to a hotshoe – the hotshoe for a flash on an slr is the same, so the shoe fits…ha! Bad jokes aside, it works well aside from getting the sound of the shutter. But if you’re clever with your audio editing and chop around the shutter sound you can edit most of it out. Unless, of course, the bit of sound you want matches the moment of your photograph. Then you got to deal with the shutter sound. Otherwise it’s a good setup so far for simultaneous shooting and audio recording.

I started using the sennheiser mke 400

It is a mini mono shotgun. Perfect for directional conversation up to 2-3 meters. It’s camera shoe mounted also which is good in that it is relatively hands free and bad in that it picks
up shutter noise. It’s tiny also.

For omni stereo i’ve been pretty happy with the r-09’s internal mics.

the biggest pain i have with this setup is that the 1/8" plug cable is too long to stow away cleanly and too short to have on the camera with the recorder in my pocket. I’ve got a 5 foot radio shack extension cable going from it back to the camera bag.

I tried using a very high quality mic with my edirol r-09 and the narration i tried to record came out terrible. something about the cable. i was told after that to just use the internal mic, which i’m told is pretty good, so i put a bedspread over my head to make the room soundproof and recorded from there. maybe its fine for ambient sound but as far as i’ve learned not good if you need sound without background noise.

I would use your internal mic for ambient recording and get a more decent mic for voice recording. I use a Beyerdynamic M58 for voice recording which gives you great quality. This microphone however needs to be placed very close to the mouth for great quality. If you don’t want to get close while talking you will need a shotgun mic. I think in the end it all depends on which kind of audio recording you want to do and select the microphone that fits best according to the audio recording situation.

Ed,
That set up is genious. I might have to try that out. Thanks.
Bill.