If you want to record on the go, a hand-held digital audio recorder (aka field recorder) is what you need. You get basic voice recorders as well as stereo recorders that can record high-quality audio, which an be easily transferred onto a computer. Besides recording music, these are also perfect for recording lectures, meetings, for podcast, etc.
There are times where you wish you had a small and simple device that would easily capture audio, vocals, musical ideas in your head, or record lectures or capture the proceedings of a meeting.
That is where a Digital Voice Recorder can be a great help.
You can always go back home, go through the music idea, or lecture, or meeting, that you recorded and build on it or note down the important parts from it.
These come with in-built USB connector and be plugged directly to computer/laptop.
Best digital voice recorders:
- Zoom H1n Portable Digital Recorder
- Sony ICD-PX470 Stereo Digital Voice Recorder: Good for recording college lectures, notes, minutes. Affordable, picks up the voice well without lot of background noise.
Best Digital Audio Recorders
Here we take a look at some of the best portable digital audio recorders, that most musicians/audiophiles while love to use. Use these top quality recorders for recording music ideas, music lessons, practice session, and band rehearsals
TASCAM DR-40X 4-Track Portable Digital Recorder
For the serious musicians, you now get a portable 4-Track recorder that comes with XLR inputs. The sound quality is great, especially when used with external microphones. A cool feature is the DUAL mode where it records a copy of the stereo signal at a lower level, which can be used as a backup in case the main recording is distorted.
Zoom H5 Four-Track Portable Recorder
A very popular digital audio recorder. It is ideal for recording interviews, band rehearsals, lectures, meetings, and more. A top quality field recorder with 4 track portable studio, as well as a PC audio interface. Comes with a high-quality mic preamp, you can use it as a live audio interface. Excellent field recorder for video, can be used for recording your band practice / rehearsal sessions.
Zoom Multitrack Recorders
Zoom makes powerful recorders that easily records shows, interviews and more. These are commonly used by songwriters, singers, music bands and producers, and even journalists and lecturers.
You get flexible input and output options for any situation, lots of controls, have built-in audio interface & controllers, and many more features. Zoom’s innovative recorders now bring professional-quality audio to a consumer market.
Zoom’s multi-track recorders are portable (run on batteries) and are great for capturing live performances or a band rehearsal. Use them to record Scratch tracks or to overdub voice-overs in post-production.
A Zoom Digital Multitrack Recorder is a favorite tool among musicians and videographers (and anybody who wants a robust, portable yet pro recorder) because of its reliability and ruggedness. You can capture performances, song ideas, lectures, interviews and more, using this handheld recorder.
The top models serve as a great tool to use for live concert recording or for music production (mostly for scratch recording).
Improve your music creations/recordings by using built-in effects, including compression/limiting, low-cut filtering, modulation, reverb/delay and amp models.
These are better suited for field use or for recording basic musical ideas (rough ideas) than for serious music recording purposes in the studio (if its your home studio and you do not have anything else, by all means use one of these).
Here are some of their best multitrack recorders.
Zoom H4N PRO Digital Multitrack Recorder
The new and improved ZOOM H4N PRO (update to Zoom H4n Handy Recorder) now records cleaner and is much clearer than before. Its packed with features that make it perfect for capturing audio for film, music, podcasting, and more. Its currently one of the best audio recorders used in field recording.
It has 1/4″ and XLR inputs with phantom power, 4 track recorder, acts as USB audio interface, several built in effects, tuners and metronome, playback speed control.
Zoom R16 Multitrack SD Recorder Controller and Interface
The Zoom R16 Multitrack is basically a portable, battery-powered studio-in-a-box. It easily and instantly transforms any place into a 16-track recording studio. You get 8 inputs for connecting mics, instruments, and line-level devices, with built-in high-sensitive stereo microphones. You may also use the R16 as a DAW control surface (with physical faders) or as an 8-input audio interface.
16-channel playback, 8-channel simultaneous recording. USB interface and control surface. 48V phantom power available on 2 tracks 135 types of digital effects available for recording, mixing, and mastering. Eight balanced XLR-1/4-Inch combination inputs.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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