I am a complete newbie where portable recording is concerned, so please be patient and gentle with me

I am looking to buy a mobile audio and video recording rig that I can travel with and my budget is around 3000 $/€ but could go higher if I can make payments on it. I mostly want to be sure it is pristine, highest quality audio recordings or whats the point to waste this money. Is it possible?

I am more concerned with the audio side of this because I know video cameras can cost from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars, so unless the audio and video come in one, like a camera with mic, mini storage cards, type of thing, to fit my budget, I will keep that separate. Also I already own a Canon EOS-M which is older, but still fun to play with and can get nice images, that cost me about 1000 dollars with the lenses I got anyway.

What gear do I need?

In my head and looking around my studio now, interface, mic, headphones and recording program along with storage, so also need a laptop? I assume. But then I think of the guys I see on documentary films who are walking around with a mic, headphones and backpack bag on them, no laptop in sight. Maybe its off camera because I wonder how they check the recordings on the spot to be sure its a good take.

I dont want to ask any ai biased sales bs, so thanks guys for your suggestions !

 

I'm not an expert on the matter but there's a few things i've seen and/or done:

First, it depends on what kind of videos you're recording, wether it's a stationary camera, if you have a crew with you, or if you're moving around on your own and how many sources are you recording at any given time.

Typically you would have a field recorder which is kind of a battery powered all-in-one recorder (some even include internal mics), so no need for a laptop unless you're doing the editing on the road too. You'll need batteries and storage though, probably in the shape of a micro SSDs or XDSC.

From there you have a lot of choices. If all you're doing is recording yourself talking you could get a handheld field recorder, which as the name implies you can hold in your hands as a regular mic and record and monitor on the same thing, it's also a fairly cheap option (some go for around $200). You could also get a lavalier mic and pair it with it if you want something more discrete and hands free, you can even get wireless stuff. It's also a good idea to record with at least two systems (i.e. field recorder + camera mic), if anything just to have a backup which is going to be very important if you can't re-shoot. Larger field recorders you can carry on a bag or attach to camera stands, but that's not really necessary unless you're using multiple sources, they're also more expensive obviously.

As for audio quality, mic technique is essential as always, get the mic as close as possible if you want to record a specific source, further away if you want to record ambience, or a shotgun mic if you you want to record a specific source but you can't get too close for some reason (these can do everything really but are a bit more tricky to handle and could require assistance too). Also get some kind of wind protection for the mic so you don't get noise from that when recording outdoors (that goes for any type of mic).

There's a few things to consider regarding the audio quality of the recorder itself, but for most scenarios you just need to worry about not clipping and how easy a specific recorder makes it for you to not clip, 32-bit float recorders are currently the easiest i think because you don't need to set the gain manually, at least the ones i've seen. internal noise may also be an issue if you're recording quiet stuff on a quiet place, but there's plenty of demos of field recorders around, you can judge wether the noise of a specific model is acceptable or not. There's also build quality of course, you don't want to get something that's going to stop working the seccond you drop it, reviews can help you with that.

there's also smartphone based stuff, but haven't used that.

Can't really recomment anything specific since i've only done these type of recordings a few times and in rather controlled ambients with gear i don't remember, but hopefully it helps a little.

TL;DR: What you need is a field recorder in a format that suits your needs (external mic may or not be necessary) plus wind protection. You also want to have backups, lots of batteries and storage, and when recording use the right mic technique and avoid clipping.

 

For video, this one is simply incredible and used by many content creators or even for Netflix: https://www.dji.com/uk/osmo-pocket-3?backup_page=index&target=gb

You can connect BT microphones and record them in sync for speech. I'm sure you have already seen them in different videos: https://www.dji.com/uk/mic-2

For stereo audio, it depends on the situation and possibilities, an ORTF, AB or XY setup with discrete microphones connected to a field recorder, a field recorder with in-built mics...

 

Depending on your needs (are you recording people talking, animals in the savanna, or music/ians), how many live mics and separate tracks you need will direct/narrow your selection, and impact your budget.

Since you don't mention such specifics, here's my take:

1. There are basically 3 musician oriented companies, 3+ pro/foley companies, and many podcaster/influencer companies.
   Most of these companies overlap. Some, like Zaxcom and Olympus, even Røde, stay in their respective lanes.
   
   
2. The devices are split into handheld, portable, and highly professional (foley).
   Some have built-in mics, some have mics + XLR inputs, some only have XLR inputs.
   Those with only XLR inputs are pricier (design, build, and mic pres), have more pro features, and sound better.
   
   
3. There are no bad devices or companies these days - it's all a spectrum. Pick your features and price point.
   Even Behringer makes some good products now - even if I would never (want to) buy any, I respect them.
   But if "pristine, highest quality audio recordings" is your end game, this is a great time to be alive. Read on.
   

I'm going to ball park you to send you in the general vicinity of what you should be looking for, and hopefully provide you with a starting point to engage a qualified salesperson or product specialist, who will help finalize your choice. Here are some products I would look at:

• TASCAM FR-AV4 (4-Channel 32-Bit Float Field Recorder with Mixer, Timecode, and HDMI Sync)
• Sound Devices MixPre-3 II or MixPre-6 II
• Zoom F88-N Pro

Many people overlook the amazing sounding and classic SONY PCM-D100, or even the D10. Searching eBay and Reverb could help.

I like this review of the Sony D100. It also has audio samples for you - so you can get a feel for the quality you expect.

For overall /neutral context, you can have a glance at this article and also this one.

In addition to one of the above, you will also need mics, stands, XLR cables, a pair of headphones or two, and a bag or two.

Alternatively, from Røde, their Wireless Pro solution could work out for you as well. If only for backup (if anything goes wrong).

On the other end of the spectrum, Zaxcom and Nagra are the RR of portable audio recorders.

Let us know what you end up choosing, and good luck to you.

 

Some great information and links to check out thanks guys.

to answer some questions, mainly I want to record atmosphere surroundings when I travel and I see/hear something interesting or in some unique places which could be anything from "animals in the savanna" or a street party in NYC or on top the Eiffel tower, at a beach, in a forest, loud storms, in a airport, banging on a empty barrel, you get the ideas I think. so not really anything like recording an orchestra with 20 mics, or a 5 piece band and micing them all up each instrument or several actors for a short film where the voice needs to be super front and center, but if the device has that option for expansion it wouldnt be a bad bonus of course.

Portability is important, even if just a device + stereo single mic attached with very high quality, so I dont want to sacrifice sound quality otherwise yeah I just use a phone. by portable i mean able to fit in carryon luggage.

Yes, then headphones. I have Sony studio phones that I mainly use just for tracking instruments, so can look at other better ones too. I assume its better to have closed, which models would be suitable for this kind of recording outside?

Cheaper is better of course, but not at the expense of sound quality. I work in 32 bit 96khz so ideally this would be the same for these field recordings and then after editing I can down sample as needed for whatever the final use will be.

After looking at some of these, I wonder if the DAC quality is good enough or even a nice upgrade for using as DAW interface too? I have been using NI KA6 for travel and its just ok but certainly not "high end" studio quality. I was looking at Focusrite Clarett to upgrade but not sure.