2 THUMBS UP for the Olympus DS-30!

[Randy Panado]

WOW...you could buy 3 of these things for the price of a sennheiser wireless lav mic.

Thanks for sharing Travis. This will really help when changing tapes :).

Also, what steps do you have to do to make the sound "sync up"? Is it just placement or do you have to play with speed every time? And if you're playing with speed, what speed do you usually set it to percentage wise?

As far as audio dumping, how long does it take to dump the 4 hour ceremony (or however many hours you record) onto your computer?

Thanks again for the awesome tip!

[Michael Kirinovic]

I recently picked up the WS-311M from Frys.com for $49.99 with free shipping, that deal made up my mind real quick as to which recorder to get. I also ordered a Giant-Squid omni lav ($35 shipped) which I think works great with it. The first test I did was to mic myself up and walk around the house with it. I set it for the Stereo XQ Mode which is the highest recording mode and set the mic level to dictate. I put the mic on as if I was micing up a groom and put the recorder in my pocket. One thing that I forgot was that I also had my cell phone in the same pocket, and as I recorded the first test it did pick up some interference beeping from the phone(which never rang or received any messages at the time.) My voice sounded excellent from the recorder.

I was able to transfer the WMAs to the computer with ease because of the built in USB plug. I than converted the WMA files to WAVs and imported them into Edius and put them on the timeline with the audio meters displayed, even though the audio peaked into the red zone it never became distorted or clipped.(I didn't do any extensive testing, just a dozen recording or so.)

I'm very pleased with the record quality from the recorder - but there are a few items that had me thinking. First it is small which is good for placing on the groom but for viewing the display it's tough to read. Second, the build quality seems on the low end and I feel that if I hold onto the recorder and start pressing on the buttons that I may squeeze it too hard and it may crack. The surface is really smooth and it feels slick and slippery which makes me feel as it I'm going to drop it, hence the firm grip that I have on it. The hold/power button is on the opposite side of the record and play buttons, so every time that I try to switch the hold button with my thumb I always push either the record or play button. (Dang tiny recorder.)

Two other items that I want to mention. One is when you record with a mono mic it only records to one channel(I think it's the right channel) No big deal, just a quick fix in my editor. And the other is the USB plug that's built into the recorder. There is a release on the back of the recorder which slides off the bottom portion that holds the battery to expose the USB plug. This battery holder feels so light and fragile. My first though was that I'm going to lose this piece somewhere. Or it will get knocked to the ground and break or get stepped on. I'm not clumsy but the base is so smooth and I already mentioned the build quality - it just seems to me that something is going to happen to it and if it gets damaged, that's it game over, the recorder won't work.

I'm not trashing the recorder - I do like it and for the price I think it was a steal, but I will also get a second one or DS-30 for a companion/backup record device. I can't wait to try it out under a real record situation - I think the record quality sounds great. Yet I still will have to deal with the sync issue once I start editing.

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Warren Kawamoto

Travis, can you try re-sampling your audio file in Soundforge before you drop it in the timeline? Resample it as 48K, 16-bit and I think you should be in sync all the time every time.

I don't have Soundforge. I'm assuming this is something I could do in Soundtrack Pro, though (Apple product)?

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Randy Panado

WOW...you could buy 3 of these things for the price of a sennheiser wireless lav mic.

Thanks for sharing Travis. This will really help when changing tapes :).

Also, what steps do you have to do to make the sound "sync up"? Is it just placement or do you have to play with speed every time? And if you're playing with speed, what speed do you usually set it to percentage wise?

As far as audio dumping, how long does it take to dump the 4 hour ceremony (or however many hours you record) onto your computer?

Thanks again for the awesome tip!

I usually set the sped to 100.15%, and then break up the clip and sync it (line it up) as necessary.

I usually get about an hour to an hour and a half of audio because I put the mic on the groom/officiant about 15-20 minutes before the ceremony, ceremony is 30 mintues, then retrieve the mic's sometime later at during the reception. Total time to capture and convert audio from both units is maybe 15-20 minutes tops. Pretty fast.

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Michael Kirinovic

I'm not trashing the recorder - I do like it and for the price I think it was a steal, but I will also get a second one or DS-30 for a companion/backup record device. I can't wait to try it out under a real record situation - I think the record quality sounds great. Yet I still will have to deal with the sync issue once I start editing.

Yeah, with the things you mentioned I think you will like the DS-30 more. That was interesting about the cell phone interference, because I've NEVER experienced any kind of interference or dropouts, even with a wireless mics transmitter the groom's pocket with it. Maybe a difference between your unit and the DS-30? I don't know.

[Ilya Spektor]

Originally Posted by Michael Kirinovic

I recently picked up the WS-311M from Frys.com for $49.99 with free shipping, that deal made up my mind real quick as to which recorder to get. I also ordered a Giant-Squid omni lav ($35 shipped) which I think works great with it.

Michael,

Which Giant Squid omni lav do you have? I guess, it is a mono one but is it a standard mic version (compatible with Zoom H2 etc.) or the iRiver version (wired differently?..) I have an Olympus WS-310M (previous version of yours) and also wanted to use it with the GS lav mic, powered internally from the recorder...

[Michael Kirinovic]

I picked up the standard omni mono mic (not for the I-rivers) from Giant Squid and had them install the right angle plug for the extra six bucks. I also have an H2 but haven't tried the mic with it. When I did the tests I didn't use any covering over the mic(They don't come with any foam windscreens - they recommend picking some up from Radio-Shack) and the mic is a little bigger than what I am used to using(Standard lav mic that's included with the Samson UHF wireless-I can't use this with the recorder because it has a mini-xlr plug.) Once I pick up some wind screens I'll try another walk around the house or fake a reading from a wedding in my living room that has a vaulted ceiling giving that echo church feeling.

Another cool feature on the recorder is that it can be switched over to a music player. I've been busy scanning 400 photos for a video yearbook and I've been dragging and dropping podcasts onto the recorder when it's plugged into the computer - great for quick grab and audio to listen to. Quick and easier than iTunes to transfer and dump audio. I've been listening to playback for over 4 hours of podcasts and the battery icon on the display is at full bars. The recorder is about the size of the original Nano ipod.

[Michael Kirinovic]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

Yeah, with the things you mentioned I think you will like the DS-30 more. That was interesting about the cell phone interference, because I've NEVER experienced any kind of interference or dropouts, even with a wireless mics transmitter the groom's pocket with it. Maybe a difference between your unit and the DS-30? I don't know.

Hey Travis - We get these interferences all the time from all kinds of devices. We get the beeping from the clock/radio alarm when the radio is off. The other day my wife left her cell phone on top of her iHome ipod boombox which was turned off and we gone the screeching beeps thru it. My step-daughter says it's the aliens trying to communicate with us. And I heard it a few nights ago while I was editing on my workstation thru my earphones. At times it seems you can hear the noise right before the cell phone rings but not all the times. Strange stuff - not sure if this is a regional thing, I live in New Jersey. If you want I can send you a small sample of the sound to see if you have ever heard it before.

[Travis Cossel]

Well, I've experienced some of that before. For example, when my cell phone rings while I'm at my desk my speakers will crackle just before it rings. What I was saying is I never had an issue with interference with the DS-30, even with devices right next to it. However, based on your experience, I think I'll play it safer in the future and just make sure it doesn't go in the same pocket as a cell phone or wireless mic transmitter.

[Randy Panado]

Was reading up more on this before I pulled the trigger and found it doesn't work for mac. Such a shame. :(

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Randy Panado

Was reading up more on this before I pulled the trigger and found it doesn't work for mac. Such a shame. :(

What are you talking about? I use a Mac and they've been working fine with it for 2 years now. You must have gotten some bad information.

[Randy Panado]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

What are you talking about? I use a Mac and they've been working fine with it for 2 years now. You must have gotten some bad information.

Olympus' site :

OS Supported Windows® 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional,
Windows XP Home Edition, Windows Vista™ (requires firmware and software updates

Not compatible with Macintosh™ operating systems

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_se...duct=1276&fl=4

But if you say it works, that's fantastic news :)

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Randy Panado

Olympus' site :

OS Supported Windows® 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional,
Windows XP Home Edition, Windows Vista™ (requires firmware and software updates

Not compatible with Macintosh™ operating systems

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_se...duct=1276&fl=4

But if you say it works, that's fantastic news :)

Wow, that's weird. Yeah, I have 2 Olympus DS-30's, and both work just fine with my Mac. The "DSS Player" software even runs on my Mac. Very strange that they actually say it's "not compatible".

[Dave Anderson]

I have my first wedding coming in 2 weeks. I've followed this thread and purchased the DS-30 and a lav from Giant Squid. I'm hoping this will workout ok.

My question is about the filter settings on the ds-30. There is a Low Cut Filter on the unit and I was wondering if anyone turns it on? I'm hoping the setup will pickup the bride as well (unit will be on the groom) and wasn't sure if the low cut filter would hurt.

Thanks

[Michael Liebergot]

Originally Posted by Dave Anderson

I have my first wedding coming in 2 weeks. I've followed this thread and purchased the DS-30 and a lav from Giant Squid. I'm hoping this will workout ok.

My question is about the filter settings on the ds-30. There is a Low Cut Filter on the unit and I was wondering if anyone turns it on? I'm hoping the setup will pickup the bride as well (unit will be on the groom) and wasn't sure if the low cut filter would hurt.

Thanks

The low cut filter will not hurt your audio.
It's mainly there for situations where you don't want to record low frequencies, like wind outside. It can also be helpful with cutting down on AC noise while recording indoors.