As a student with a particular interest in sound design, I take great pleasure in finding new and impressive tools and technology used in the professional fields of all things sound design. From movies to video games, professionals in their particular fields of sound design are making themselves heard. Sound designers in all fields create many of their sounds on their own without the recording the actual sound. This way of creating sounds becomes much cheaper and easier to control. However, actual recordings are sometimes needed in order to provide the most realistic auditory presentation. Most of the time this would be accomplished by a handheld microphone that can range in size from a soda koozee such as the Alesis Palmtrack Handheld Recorder to as large as a toy blimp. These are both well suited for everyday recording but can still be bulky to carry around with you on an everyday basis. What you need is a gadget straight from the world of James Bond, the EW-809 USB Digital Voice Recorder.
The EW-809 is exactly like it sounds. The size of a flash drive, this microphone is operated by the use of a single switch on the side of the recorder. With its 2GB of memory, the EW-809 can record for four and a half hours of nonstop recording of uncompressed WAV format audio. Although the WAV format takes up relatively high amounts of memory, it remains uncompressed allowing for easier manipulation and conversion to other formats. Unfortunately what the EW-809 gains in portability, it loses in sound quality. The quality is not quite as professional as some larger recorders, yet it remains reasonably impressive for such a small microphone. Additionally, the EW-809 lacks the ability to playback audio from the actual recorder. The device needs a computer in order to playback and manipulate audio, but with something so small and compact it is expected some aspects of a normal recorder would be lost.
Overall make sure to pick one of these nifty gadgets up on your next super secret mission to stealthily gather snazzy sounds. :D
Sources:
alesis - handheld recorder - palmtrack. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Alesis - Handheld Recorder/9843371.p?skuId=9843371&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=9843371&ref=06&loc=01&id=1218226598222
Usa spy shop. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.usaspyshop.com/usb-flash-drive-digital-voice-recorder-p-1380.html
Usb keychain digital voice recorder products. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/255632467/USB_Keychain_Digital_Voice_Recorder.html
