Looking for a Microphone with an Inbuilt Recorder

endotherm on 18/11/2018 - 02:22

I've been looking (without success) for a hand-held microphone in the traditional "ice-cream cone" shape, that has an inbuilt audio recorder. It should preferably have a removable memory card or USB port to download the recordings. I'm looking for something cheap, I've seen half-decent voice recorders start around $20 or so. I don't want the flat-digital-recorder-with-LCD-screen type devices. Here's a diagram using mspaint in case you are confused… :)

I've thought about cramming a cheap spy-pen recorder inside a cheap mic case, but it would be awkward starting recordings, changing settings and removing the card etc.

Surely such a thing exists. I can't be the first person to want one, but my searches have turned up nothing. Does anyone know of such a device?

Thanks for any suggestions

Find Me A Bargain

Comments

  • pegaxs on 18/11/2018 - 03:09
    +1

    I’m in Macau at the moment, and every second shop is a shop for Karaoke microphones. I know F-all about them, and I certainly don’t speak enough Chinese to go in and ask, but a lot of them have TF card slots and Bluetooth logos on them.

    They seem to range in price from about $5AU to $100AU. So get on something like Aliexpress and look them up. There may be something in that range that will do what you need.

    Outside that, get a normal mic and a cable to go to from it to a mobile phone jack and record to that? Or a Bluetooth mic and do the same.

    Or well outside your budget… Yellowtec look the business…

    • endotherm on 18/11/2018 - 03:39

      Thanks, the closest thing I found also had something to do with karaoke, but it wasn't a straight recorder. It played back an mp3 and allowed you to overdub your voice etc. I think the TF cards let you load a song, and the BT was to send it to an amp, and perhaps allow you to upload more songs. Too many cheesy processing effects, didn't do what I need anyway which is just simple recording. The price range seems about right and what I expected.

      Couldn't find anything on the usual Chinese sites, I exhausted all my naming permutations trying to search for them, unless they are called something else that I didn't try.

      I just need something self-contained to grab and go, can't have anything hanging off it like a cable to a recording device, something to get lost, swung around and dropped and broken etc. Same difficulty with having to pair it up to a remote recorder over bluetooth, and another device to get separated.

      The Yellowtec one is perfect and has everything I am looking for, just $1000 overpriced :) I'm surprised some enterprising person hasn't ripped off the design and made a cheap clone of it.

      It doesn't look like rocket science to me — a microphone with a recorder seems a natural pairing and both are useless without each other, so why not combine them into a single device??? It has to be out there somewhere, I'll continue my quest. Thanks very much for the help.

  • Toons on 18/11/2018 - 09:03
    -1

    Does it need to be a pro recorder?

    You can do it with Phone loads of reporters do that now

    Or just a plug in one for you tablet

    • endotherm on 18/11/2018 - 17:04

      Not a pro recorder. Most people that have grown up with a phone on the side of their head all their lives tend to suggest the answer to everything is "just use a phone" or an app. However there are occasions when that isn't isn't suitable. e.g. no phones allowed in schools, phones and apps are a distraction, and easily swiped or inadvertently stop an app or launch an unwanted one, user might be very young or very old or mentally challenged. A stop/start/record button is all that is needed, without having to give a lesson in how devices and apps work and hope they "get it".

  • Quantumcat on 18/11/2018 - 12:06

    Dictaphone?

    • endotherm on 18/11/2018 - 17:06

      That seems to be pretty much the only option on offer. Unfortunately they tend to be in a "candy bar" flat form-factor. Not everyone recognizes them for what it is, a microphone is pretty iconic and universally identified.

      • Quantumcat on 18/11/2018 - 17:38
        +1

        How come it has to look like a microphone? What sort of use will you have it for? What about just a phone set to record (although if it were me I'd be afraid of accidentally touching the screen and stopping the recording and missing something - physical button would be better).

        It is funny such a product isn't common, it seems so logical (a microphone that records to an SD card)!

        • endotherm on 18/11/2018 - 18:12

          There are a few scenarios I have encountered over the years. It is just easier sometimes to give someone something they can identify easily and know how to operate by themselves, without having to give a 30 minute lecture on its operation where you know they will still mess up or forget what you told them. Something idiot proof. Dealing with very young/old people is difficult as is low IQ or mentally challenged. I've even had very intelligent people become confused and intimidated with "complex" technology. You know the type — they have trouble starting their computer and driving a mouse…

          You have hit the nail on the head and share all my other concerns and thoughts I have with such a "logical" product.

  • Fiximol on 18/11/2018 - 13:54

    If you need the micro phone to be able to broadcast as well as record then your options are much more limited particularly given the budget.

    Just do the two things separately. 'Cone' Mic For broadcasting and a cheap recorder + lav Mic for recording.

    The product you are looking for might not exist because there are better ways to do what you are thinking. Most mics will broadcast only and you take an audio recording at the mixer or some such.

    • endotherm on 18/11/2018 - 17:19

      Broadcasting is not needed. There are difficulties in my application in having multiple separate devices. With your suggestion for a cheap recorder + lav Mic for recording, that's almost what I want to achieve, except to have the cheap recorder circuitry inside a cone mic, not hanging off with a cable. I have a multitude of recording devices and phones and tablets etc. Voice recorders, digital recorders, tape recorders, spy recorders, even a Tascam. There are a hundred ways to make a recording with what I've got, just not in the package I want.

      I'm not sure there are better ways to do it, the current design of voice recorders includes a combined digital recorder with removable storage and some mics poking out the end. There are a multitude of manufacturers of these products, so there is obviously a demand for these things. Just offered in a block shape and not a cone or cylinder. The first reply by pegaxs identifies one exactly what I'm looking for, but it is outrageously expensive and targeted at top end recording purposes.

      • Fiximol on 18/11/2018 - 17:31
        +1

        Then maybe you can just chuck a foam muff on one of your voice recorders with an upwards mic and fashion a PVC handle/tube over it for the body. :)

        e.g. something like this for the zoom h1n

        Low fi solutions might be the most cost effective method for your purpose!

        • endotherm on 18/11/2018 - 17:56

          Thanks. It's increasingly looking like I'm going to have to do just that. I'll probably have to use a small spy pen recorder (slim, cheap, simple) and put it inside some conduit with a foam cover on the end (or gut a cheap $5 plastic cone mic). The main difficulty being accessing the buttons and ports. Hopefully recording inside a tube won't make it sound too boom-y or echo-y.

          It's been a really frustrating product to search for. Unfortunately the majority of Chinese manufacturers think a microphone is just something you use for karaoke, and if you Google "microphone" + "recording", it immediately thinks you want a studio mic!

      • Thrift on 18/11/2018 - 20:20

        Not a $20 solution, but they do make recorders that plug onto the bottom of a decent microphone, like the ($140 on sale) Saramonic SR-VRM1 or $300 Tascam DR-10X
        https://i.imgur.com/R2lfpMQ.jpg

        Got a link to one of the $20 voice recorders that you think is half-decent?

        • endotherm on 18/11/2018 - 22:59

          A bit bulky, but a nice solution. A little too professional and expensive for a consumer grade device and requires an XLR mic unfortunately. Thanks.

          We're not talking pro recorders here but they do the job, mp3/wav at 192kbps 24khz, good enough for my purposes.
          https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/8GB-Digital-Audio-Voice-Recorder…
          https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/8GB-Digital-Voice-Recorder-Dicta…

          • Thrift on 18/11/2018 - 23:46
            +1

            @endotherm: TTS easi Speak Pro Microphone
            https://www.ebay.com.au/itm//142850327607

            • endotherm on 19/11/2018 - 00:08

              @Thrift: Bingo. This looks like what I want, I'll check it out. Many thanks.

              • Thrift on 19/11/2018 - 00:10
                +1

                @endotherm: User Manual

                • Records directly into MP3 or WAV file format.
                • 128MB of flash memory, up to 4 hours recording.
                • MP3: 128 kbps (44kHz sampling), ~2hrs recording
                • WAV: IMA ADPCM, 64 kbps (4 bits per sample), ~4 hours recording
                • For maximum recording time, delete the Audacity and User manual
                  folders to give additional memory space.
                • 28mm loud-speaker and microphone in the top.
                • Two stereo 3.5mm headphone sockets(green).
                • One stereo 3.5mm line-in socket ,100mV RMS Max, (pink).
                • Built-in 300mAH Lithium-ion Polymer battery.
                • Battery life approx 3 hours of recording or playback.
                • Size: 174mm long, 38mm diameter at widest point.
                • endotherm on 19/11/2018 - 00:26

                  @Thrift: Thanks. Aside from the lower sample rate and RAM, this looks pretty good. I'm surprised that the RRP on these things is around $150 though, probably an inflated "education" price.

    • endotherm on 18/11/2018 - 17:21

      Getting close, but lots of extraneous buttons. I can imagine a lot of fiddling with the awkward shape and rustling noises and it is difficult to mount in a holder on a gooseneck. I just need a manufacturer to cram the guts of the recorder in the mic housing. Shouldn't be that hard or expensive.

  • ThirdRonnie on 18/11/2018 - 20:12

    What about a Zoom h1?

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