The BEST Handheld Recorder for Beginners 

The M10, D50, and D100 are my go-to's, and the studio's go-to's for that matter tbh. we use them daily especially the M10. but the D50 is rock solid, their internals are basically the same across all 3, so you can't really go wrong. I don't even bother with Zoom or Tascam at this point, just too noisy, from mics to pre's.

Great, thanks for the Video! Never tried the D50, but really like the D100 for what it is. It's like a camera that you can take with you and capture sounds in a high quality, small enough to take it with you often. No XLR inputs, but the mics are great, it's easy to use and the batteries go almost forever (in comparison to the H4 at least). I have a H6 as well, which can do much more things at the same time, but if I want to just record sounds with internal mics, the D100 is the one I go with. "Cons" are the left/right panning is a bit difficult to get right in the middle and the recording location (sd card or internal) and the recording folder are set up in different menus, stuff I got used to.

Hi man, I can see this channel exploding in the next couple of months, great work. Love it :)

I have the same recorder! I love it!

I caved. Great video. After hearing so much about skillshare I joined. ALEX 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 Ok let's see how much I learn now. 😉

Great video Alex! I wonder how does this Sony recorder compare to the Roland R-26? The R-26 is also discontinued :/ but it was best recorder I've ever used

Ty!

The mics at 3:04 are looking interesting. they are looking like the "Ohrwurm" a custom build microphone from a German guy. Maybe you can test these? It would be interesting what you think about them. And to the D50, what about the successor, the D100? In my oppinion it is a little better in every aspect. But sure, also more expensive.

It kills me every time you recommend not buying zoom. It's literally all I can afford

The battery life sounds great. My H4N is not something I can leave recording for hours. What I really want is a set and forget single XLR input recorder that can last all day.

100% agree on what Alex says about zoom recorders being too noisy at 3:10, since i've used a zoom H5 for a long time.

Thanks for this video! Can you share some of your settings that you use to record with this? I've tried recording at a level of about 6-7 and there seems to be lots of noise.

Does anyone know how to fix this: so Basically I have an Olympus WS- 853 digital voice recorder, which I use for meetings and regular stuff, (although it's not as good as I thought it was despite being £85), I once recorded rain sound with it while outside just by using the handheld recorder alone but the noise capture was not the best of quality and the wind seemed to really mess up with the sound too. Does anyone have any suggestions for external microphones or other cheap but really good bits of equipment I could buy to fix the wind and quality problem especially when recording outside noise. If so I would really appreciate it 💛 if you could give full names of recommended products or equipment, or full details in advice. Thank you!

Would this be powerful enough to power a rode ntg 5?

Agree about the recorder. An advice: Don´t put high ma/h accus in the holder. It will break apart after some time. Small cracks in angles. They are too big. The holder is almost impossible to fix. / Klas.

What about the Sony PCM-D100? I have the zoom H6 and I must say that it is actually a little noisy. But it is very versatile: interchangeable capsules, 4 xlr inputs, the possibility of being used as an audio interface with the computer and long battery life. The new H8 seems to be better in terms of preamp..and the price is the half the Sony. Of course, here we are talking about portable recorders with integrated capsules .. as SoundSpeed says the Zoom F series is good; if the budget is limited take the Tascam Dr 60 Mkii, however, equipping yourself with a powerbank because the batteries sucks. I am interested in the opinion of those who have Sony PCM-D100

I have a decision to make, pleas help! I’m creeping my way in to sound world, I’ve been working with Zoom f1 for about a year now ! Recorded a lot on it, it is time to grow however, so I’m looking to buy MixPre 3 or MixPre 6, I love recording sfx but also record short films, so right now I don’t need more then 3 inputs... but I might soon, should I even consider mix pre3 or it won’t be useful ?🤷‍♂️

These recorders are going for about $300 on Amazon, used. Great sound and worth it.

Hey Alex, I am looking for a portable recorder/mixer with EQ, more than just a hpf. I know the 888/833 have it but I like both my kidneys...do you know of any other options?

You made me smile, Alex. Sony PCM-M10 was my great discovery. They still sell for over $200 on Ebay, for good reason.

Do you know if you can do live monitoring on this? Like I play guitar and want something to record myself at home while I'm playing and I want a unit that will let me listen to my sound with headphones and filter out some of the background white noise live without the lag you can get on some phone apps that I've tried etc that offer "monitoring" and you get those waves of lag that mess with you or with me at least lol

Sound quality wise would you reccomend getting one of these instead of a dedicated X/Y Stereo mic like the rode nt4? Also, when you turn it off does it say something nice on the screen? Great channel.

I want to get into sound recording. More for a hobby than anything. I am finding myself in situations where there are at least thirty birds tweeting away having a grand party, or a bunch of frogs are croaking and I just want to catch the sounds. This will be more of a hobby so I do not want to spend much money so would a recorder like this be the thing to start off with? Should I get some kind of external microphone? The more videos I watch the more confused I am on what is needed.

NOTE, this recorder has ridiculously sensitive mics. The sock really needs to be used outdoors. The onboard mics are way better than the marantz and as Alex says it has a very quiet preamp stage. After years of use, mine has developed a bit of a problem on the attenuation 0/-20db switch. If not careful it attenuates one mic and not the other. With a tiny jiggle of the switch it invariable engages and kicks in and the levels are equal. As a stealthy audience recorder, this thing is awesome. Over the years it has captured performance recordings, using a couple dpa4060s croakie mounted. Highly recommended for what it is.

I was wondering if you’ve been able to sample the newer zoom f series in comparison to the Sony d50?

I had the h6 this one and some other. I had bought the H6 for the mic pres, but were unusable because the preamp noise floor was just horrible and unusable. I sold it and kept the sony. Sony preamps are better, but still not anything from another world... and worst of all, it has absolutely no bass. This said it is a very, very good reliable recorder I am still using it. Until I get another eecorder this one is the best for the price! Nice review!

Hey mate your afiliate links don't work for me (from germany). Just wanted to tell you to support your fantastic channel. Thank you for your valuable content!

Hi Alex, what can you say about sony icd ux570 vs zoom h1n? Thanks for your input.

What happened to the sound of your video?

nice

Alex I have an issue that has been driving me nuts that I hope you could help with. I have a Rode NTG-2 and to get good levels I really need to crank up the gain on my recorder, a Tascam DR60DII. This introduces a good bit of noise. Do you know of a semi-budget friendly recorder (or other solution) so I can get good levels with my NTG-2 without getting too much noise?

Hi Alex! Can this D50 recorder work well as a camera mic for picking up asmr sounds directly from its headphone jack port into a camera mic port for recording sound? Thanks again

What can you say about Sony PCM-A10? Anybody had experience with it? How it's quality and noisefloor?

Wouldn't I be better off with a Sound Devices MixPre 3 Mk 2, and a decent compact mic choice? Then I would have 32bit recording as well as XLR and 3.5mm inputs and great preamps. What do you think?

I think I hear the middle D reverberated... Or am I going crazy?

Great recommendation. I will haunt ebay until I find one.

Hey man which memory stick are you using? I bought another 32 gig memory stick duo pro and I am getting format error. Did I get a dude of a memory stick? I have another 32 gig duo pro memory stick and it works fine.

No sound test?

Hi, I have a D50 and a D100. Just bought a pcm a10 and just jumped on a D10. Is the PCM D10 mics as good as the PCM D50?

Wondering if you have tested or have any thoughts on the Sony PCM-D10 especially compared Tascam DR-100 MK3

how do you listen to IT nobody seems to no listen to what you've recorded how. Are there or is there any way of connecting external speakers.....

seems that the D50 sky rocketed on ebay since your video, what do you think about the pcm d10? is about 500ish usd brand new vs 350ish for the used d50, have you tried the d10 already? I'm considering upgrading my portable gear (currently an F1 + XY capsule, but I don't use it very often bacause the pres) since my back is killing me for carrying my 16lbs sound bag all day, I would love something good quality and portable for soundscapes/sfx

The way I see it is that alot of film producers use zoom and not Sony. I rather use something that the audio from a film I watched was done with the same recorder I'm using and it's zoom.

Hi im looking for help in finding a recorder that records in very low frequency.. not your sort of thing i know but I ghost hunt and need to find the best recorder. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Hey man. I don't know why this seem to happen recently with a lot of RU-vidrs. Your video title or description does not mention the product you are talking about. Wouldn't just mentioning the actual product name in description make this video show up in the search results? Good review btw.

Which Sony MediaStick format and reader do you use? That seems to be its only challenge, its older media format.

Hello from Portugal, What's your thoughts on the Sony PCM A10? Best regards, Nuno Bartolomeu

Is this what you used to record the SOAD albums?

have you tried zoom h8? Or heard bout it? Is it also noisy?

So they make a perfect high quality product and they just drop it dead, then they make another product which is like 10 steps backwards and they call it d10? What the actual f

The sound on this clip is terrible. Did you check it? This is a clip on audio recording...

its discontinued i think

It's difficult to take advice from a video with such a prominent resonant frequency

To pricy

Why are you recommending a recorder that doesn't even use SD cards ? You can't even buy the Sony memory stick cards for this unit !

Would you take advice from a man who hasn’t rigged his own mic correctly? 😂

The title is so bad ..."for beginners?" this is made for pros