Please help me with outdoor recording equipment suggestions

[quailpark]

I realize I am a newbie here and I have searched for, but not found, an answer to my question. I am a member of other sites that focus on outdoor recording but it seems that they don't seem to place the same level of importance of high quality recordings that the guys in this forum do.

So I am looking for some advice on mics. I usually record exotic cars and trains, so the dynamic range is very demanding but there are so many very subtle nuances to each of these subjects that other mics just don't pick up. I have a pair of Apogee MiC's and a Macbook and just love the quality I get from them when recording indoors. I've never used them outdoors. With proper wind control, can I use those effectively outdoors too? I love the portability of these USB based systems.

Anyway, does anyone have any experience with this that can weigh in to shorten my learning curve.

Thanks much,
Paul

 

[John Willett]

I would go for a good portable recorder like an AETA 4MinX, Nagra VI or an SD 788T.

Or - for stereo only - an AETA MIXY + Tascam DR 100-II, Nagra LB or an SD 702.

A friend recently described the MIXY as "Sonosax quality".

For microphones for outside I would go for the Sennheiser MKH 8000 series or the MKH 20/30/40 series with a Rycote.

Monitoring headphones = Sennheiser HD 25-1 II.

That would give you a high quality and reliable portable rig.

 

[quailpark]

Thank you John! Looks like some very good stuff there. You seemed to completely steer away from USB based stuff. Is that a sign that you feel the audio quality isn't up to speed with these?

 

[Berndtwhite]

I guess the setup you have out there is just great for outdoor recording as well.Apogee mics are just great however you can also look into sannheiser mics which are of good quality as well these days..you should start recording without giving your setup any second thoughts.

 

[John Willett]

Thank you John! Looks like some very good stuff there. You seemed to completely steer away from USB based stuff. Is that a sign that you feel the audio quality isn't up to speed with these?

It depends - my monitor controller is the Grace m903 which is a US product.

Sound Devices is excellent stuff and perfect for what it was designed to do (and they are a great company), but I would say that the audio quality of the AETA and Nagra (and Sonosax) is a step up from this and as I do music recording I strive for the very best I can get with no compromise.

So, I always spend carefully and go for quality over quantity.