This video was featured on YouTube. Probably because everybody and their brother are sick of watching videos with terrible audio. If you missed it, take a look:



Right now, Whaling Ship has a decent shotgun mic, much like the one he holds up and says is around 150 bones (Ours was more expensive. --John). We would like to look into some wireless lavs but we also need a recorder—by the way, I have no idea why they're so expensive. All I need is a flash drive with an XLR input. Maybe a little light, or an on switch.

We're looking into buying this recorder but frankly, I don't really understand where the $400 goes...it doesn't even have built-in memory—I'll have to buy an SD card. I just don't know anything about these devices...hopefully John will enlighten me by editing this post in the near future. Wait... Does this recorder not even have XLR inputs? John, edit this post ASAP.

Sure thing, Mike. No, this recorder does not, in fact, have XLR inputs. I'll get to that.

John here. I've spent many sleepless nights researching microphones and recorders. I've poured hours and hours into this decision, reading reviews and accounts of this or that piece of equipment. I was really hoping to not have to write all of this down, but I'll talk until I run out of talking things I guess.

Where was I? I don't know. The PMD620, that gorgeous little recorder pictured above, is my final decision. It's the newer version of the PMD660, which had two XLR inputs but is more expensive and noisy. I've heard that newer models of the 660 got rid of the noisy preamps, but I'm wary to buy it. It's also huge.

Mark Apsolon's boom pole is wired. I like that. I really want a wired boom pole. There's no such thing as a $50 shotgun mic. Sorry, I'm watching this video while I type. I don't like the dude's hat.

I want to buy a pair of Sennheiser Evolution Wireless Kits. They're about $500 each and sound pretty good (I can't find the video where I heard them, sorry). Eventually I want to buy a legit rack-mountable wireless console. That's later.

The PMD620 only has a stereo mini input, but I have a line-matching XLR-to-1/8" transformer. No biggie. We've been running a dual system by recording audio to my Canon ZR500 with the lens cap on. This saves a million steps.

Other choices were the Zoom H2, which is sexy because it also records surround sound out of the box, but I've heard that that guy has noisy pre-amps as well. Then there's the M-Audio MicroTrack II which is cheaper than the PMD620, but it has a built-in rechargeable battery and I really, really don't want to risk having a dead recorder with no means of getting it back up and running in the middle of a shoot. Then there's the Zoom H4 and the Edirol R-09 and a bunch of others. I can't remember specific reasons for not wanting the others, but I promise that the 620 is a very calculated decision.

Eventually I plan to buy a compressor (I guess?), a field mixer, a pro field recorder, an arsenal of microphones, and a wireless system, but for now we'll get by with a shotgun and a li'l snookums.

That's the second time I've referred to the PMD620 as "snookums." I truly don't know why.