

To get the finest possible results, it's best to place your recorder right in the action – just where you can no longer see or reach the controls is usually the perfect place! So, a bundled app for your phone can be a godsend, enabling you to check levels and control your recorder from afar. Or the best budget laptops for cheap home recording.The 10 best laptops for music production right now.Better still, 32-bit float recording gives you so much headroom you won't ever have to worry about setting levels again. If the audio spikes at any point then that part of the second track will be substituted, effectively giving you more headroom and a failsafe recording. A second safety track is recorded alongside the main track but at a lower level. Some go further with a feature called dual recording. After all, who knows what your subject is about to do, play, sing or bark? The ability to set recording levels independently for each mic is a real plus-point too.Įvery recorder will feature some kind of limiter, which should protect your recording from sudden audio spikes, such as an unexpected loud noise.

They enable you to record a focused stereo field for nearby sources – such as a guitar-toting singer-songwriter – or a wider field for an ensemble of singers. If you choose to go down the pocket route, then twin mics that swivel to give you AB and XY configurations are a useful option. So, do you want a device that will easily travel everywhere with you, ready to snatch everyday sonic surprises at the press of a button? Or will your recording sessions be more planned affairs, with the aim of making a definitive, quality recording? Best budget microphones: our pick of budget mics for the studio and stage.Best budget studio headphones for performance on a smaller budget.The larger the device the more likely it is to boast better quality components or features that enable you to capture higher-grade audio. But, broadly speaking, there is a quality vs size trade-off. Perfect for podcasters, videographers and for making demos of singer songwriters and small bands.Īll the recorders featured here are capable of excellent quality with none falling below the 96kHz/24-bit resolution threshold, which is more than ample for most scenarios. With so many musicians embracing the role of creator, it's good to know that some field recorders of both types double up as mixers and interfaces. The latter don't usually have built-in mics, but they will usually feature at least four balanced XLR inputs for extended audio possibilities. Field recorders broadly fall into two camps: easy-to-use recorders that fit in the palm of your hand, with their own built-in microphones, and more sophisticated units that look a little like regular audio interfaces.
