Digital Voice recorder or Wireless Mic

[Travis Cossel]

I haven't looked into the newer models that Olympus has so I don't know. Maybe jump on their website and check them out?

[Steven Davis]

Thanks Travis. I had already looked. I'll see if I can figure it out.

[Travis Cossel]

No problem. I wish I could have given you an answer but I just haven't had time to research the newer stuff. Let us know what you find out. d;-)

[Steven Davis]

I called Olympus and they advised me of two models, the DM-520 which is here DM-520 Specs

and the LS-10 LS-10

My hope is to replace my Irivers with something that I don't have to audio stretch etc. With me, I don't mind spending the extra money if I can save time in the edit room.

[Dror Levi]

During the ceremony and the reception I always connect the zoom to the DJ board and get great sound. For backup i wire the groom with digital recorder.
The zoom is 100% perfect with my camera and no adjustment in post. the Olympus need some adjustment but I always and up using the zoom only.
with Sony veges and plural eyes, sync is not an issue.
I think that if you don't have a very high end wireless Mic the best is to use digital recorder.
I have video sample of the reception when the zoom was connected to the DJ board.
Israeli Wedding in Miami By Dror Levi On ExposureRoom

[Steven Davis]

Yeah, audio has been a beast for me. I've spent years with these stupid air frequencies around here. I work in a crappy area. So I can have good audio off my Sennheisers and then boom, drop out for no reason at all. I've gone as far as have a Sennhieser rep help me out, but if I am in this stupid town, I will get random drops, but then again, maybe not. No rhyme or reason to it.

I have a pair of Zoom H1s that I use for ambient stuff, like special music or readings.

[Chip Thome]

The timing of this thread reappearing has been perfect, because I am at this decision right now as well.

Like most, I am looking at the audio quality/cost ratio too. It appears from what everyone is saying, I can get equal or better audio from two DVR setups for less than the cost of one Sennheiser. Please correct me if I am making that wrong assumption.

My question which is a bit off topic, how do you go about calculating the drift ???

Some time back I had heard about drift, and in that thread drift was considered reason enough to not go DVR, but wireless. There was no discussion in that thread of how to calculate it or how to deal with it in post. General discussion was more of the "just stay away" nature.

Another question in this same vane, once you have the drift calculated, exactly how do you adjust, or what do you adjust in post to compensate for it ???

Thanks all !!!!!

[Taky Cheung]

It depends on which NLE you use to tweek the speed of the clip. For Premiere, right click on the clip in timeline and select Audio speed or something.

I line up the clip at the beginning. while synch, then checked the end to see how far it went. Then keep adjusting the speed. That's how I found out my Olympus voice recorder record in WMA will need the speed set to 100.06

My H2 recorded in mp3 which synch perfectly without the need to adjust speed.

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Steven Davis

I called Olympus and they advised me of two models, the DM-520 which is here DM-520 Specs

and the LS-10 LS-10

My hope is to replace my Irivers with something that I don't have to audio stretch etc. With me, I don't mind spending the extra money if I can save time in the edit room.

I like the DM-520 except it doesn't show support for the Mac platform. That doesn't necessarily mean it won't work, but $200 is a lot to just give it a shot. I like that it has a smaller form factor than the LS-10, and it only takes AAA batteries so it's even lighter. I wish the LS-10 had specs for it's frequency range like the DM-520 does, just for comparison. Range is really important. I'm assuming it must be similar or better given it costs a 1/3 more.

EDIT: was doing more digging and even though the official specs don't show support for the Mac, in the overview it claims compatibility. So I'd go with the DM-520 I think.

[Chris Talawe]

FYI to anyone, I was using DM-420 at one point and I was getting weird static (what sounds like drop-outs). Although, I wasn't exactly sure what was happening and I didnt want to take up time to figure it out so I returned it. Now I have a Zoom H4N and although these things are great, they are a bit bulky to have a groom wear it. What I miss about the features of the Olympus is how small it was to conceal. The batteries also lasted very long.

[Mike Hammond]

Hi Chris,

That's odd about the DM420. I've been using three of them for quite a while and haven't had (luckily) the problem you had. Are you sure it was rubbing against something like the corsage? Or was it happening all the time at every event?

[Travis Cossel]

Chris, your situation sounds like maybe an issue with the wire for your lav. Perhaps it is damaged internally from getting bent? It's also possibly an issue with the DVR itself, although I'd guess it's the lav wire.

I agree that the H4n is pretty bulky to use on a groom or officiant. I would see if you can get your hands on a different mic (preferably new) and try your Olympus again.

[Chris Talawe]

I should have been more clear on how I set it up. During the ceremony, it was hooked up to the church's PA system via 1/8 TRS plug. During the reception, it was also hooked up on the DJ's output via RCA to 1/8 TRS. I didn't get to use it on the groom via lav mic since I already had them hooked up to a Sennheiser wireless mic. The "dropouts" were happening both during the ceremony and the reception. It could possibly be that it was a bad DVR since it was happening at random times. I have to admit though I did really like the device's form factor.

[Taky Cheung]

are you recording in WAVE format?

[Chris Talawe]

i believe it was mp3 not wav.