The Best Field Recorders for Portable Audio
Yes, you currently have a device in your pocket capable of capturing audio—your phone. But, the quality of the audio from those tiny microphones leaves a lot to be desired. You’ll easily overwhelm the mics if you try to capture an impromptu jam session with your band. You’ll never get solid stereo imaging of your environment. And echoey lecture halls will reduce any speaker to a muddy mess.
There are plenty of reasons to pick up a field recorder. They can be used to capture lectures at school, record audio for a video shoot, serve as a mobile podcast studio, collect samples to use in your music, and even create IR (impulse responses) for building custom audio effects.
There is also the act of field recording itself—going out and capturing the ambient sounds of the world around you. If you’ve never dabbled before, I can’t recommend it enough. It can teach you to listen more closely to the world around you and make you more observant.
If you work with audio in any way, even as a hobby, a good handheld field recorder is a must-have. Below are our current favorites. Be sure to also check out our guides to the Best Recording Software, the Best Wired Headphones, and the Best USB Microphones. If you're interested in recording at home as well as outdoors, be sure to check out our guide to leveling up your home recording studio.
Best Under $100
If you’re just looking to dip your toes into the world of field recording and want something that’s discreet and simple but also a significant step up from the mics on your phone, the H1essential is probably your best bet.
Beyond its rock-bottom price and pocketability, the headlining feature here is support for 32-bit float recording. This, in theory, means you don’t have to worry about setting your gain levels or clipping your audio because everything will be recoverable in post. The reality isn’t that simple, but the H1essential still delivers clean and malleable audio the vast majority of the time.
Rainstorms captured with it have a much more immersive stereo field than what you could possibly capture with your phone. And voices are much more intelligible, which makes it handy for lectures, presentations, and interviews. The fact that you don’t have to mess with the gain (and really can’t) also makes it great for spontaneously capturing foley sounds or weird noises in your environment.
Its microphones aren’t the best, there’s no XLR jack (only a 3.5-mm one), and the stripped-down features will frustrate more demanding audio nerds. But it’s small enough to toss in a jacket pocket and avoids drawing too much attention.
Best for Mobile Multi-Tracking
Despite the somewhat older feature set I think the best balance of quality and price ($199) is to be found in the Tascam DR-40x. The lack of 32-bit float recording is a bit of a bummer, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Tascam will end up launching a replacement for the DR-40x sooner rather than later. But for now I think this is the one to get for most people.
The quality of the mics is a significant step up from the Zoom H1 and can be set in either an X/Y or A/B pattern, depending on how wide you want your stereo field to be. Plus it has two combo TRS/XLR inputs with phantom power for capturing sound with your own mics or direct from an instrument. It admirably handles being in a loud room during an impromptu jam, and its ambient recordings of forests and storms were among my favorites.
Even though the DR-40x doesn’t support 32-bit float, it has other tricks up its sleeve to avoid clipping. It has Peak Reduction and can record a second track simultaneously at a lower gain level so you can salvage audio even if there’s an unexpectedly loud noise. It can be used as a USB audio interface and even has punch-in recording and nondestructive overdubbing, meaning it can be a makeshift recording studio for capturing demos and rehearsals on the go.
Best for Interviews
If you're in need of a sleek recorder to take with you to record humans chatting in a room, I highly recommend this model from Tula. It comes with a large capsule that really helps capture the full range of the human voice, and has a built-in noise canceling feature that can lower the background noise around you. That's really helpful when it comes to recording podcasts or other vocals in public. It doesn't hurt that the microphone is small enough to slip in a shirt pocket, and that the milled metal stand flips neatly around it for storage when you're not recording.
I've taken it on everything from little hikes to record bird sounds to serious interviews with executives, and the mic does an excellent job in all settings. I also like that it has an 8-gig internal memory and 12 hours of battery life on a single charge; you'll be hard-pressed to fill it in a single go. —Parker Hall
Best High-End Recorder for Most
If you want something that can serve as a portable podcast studio or capture audio from several subjects at an on-location video shoot, the Portacapture x8 is probably what you’re looking for. Just be sure to keep an eye out for deals. While it’s listed at $419 direct from Tascam, it’s currently available for around $375 from most retailers.
It’s too bulky to throw in a pocket or carry around everyday for impromptu recordings, but its feature set is comprehensive to say the least, and includes 32-bit float recording. The touchscreen interface is intuitive and minimizes handling noise. Plus it has a ton of different modes for things like field recording, podcasting, and ASMR. These put all the most relevant parameters at your fingertips and even offer unique visualizations and mode specific presets. For example, if you launch the music recording mode you’ll find options tailored to specific instruments like piano or acoustic guitar.
The included microphones are excellent and can be set in either an X/Y or A/B pattern, though changing back and forth is a little annoying because you have to unscrew the mics. If you want to use your own mics there are four combo TRS/XLR jacks with phantom power. And an upcoming firmware update will turn the Portacapture into a mini recording studio with PocketStudio, which adds punch-in recording, overdubs, the ability to bounce down and mix tracks, and a metronome.
Best for Musicians
This very expensive portable field recorder from synthesizer brand Teenage Engineering (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a gorgeous piece of musical art. It features a built-in mic, but you can also plug in an external microphone (which we'd recommend for higher-end remote recordings). The pièce de résistance of this recorder is that it has a spinning wheel in the middle of the device that mimics a tape reel or record; you can touch your finger to it to play and pause recording, as well as generally mimic what a real tape recorder would do. That's pretty rad! There are three 3.5-mm inputs on the back (along with USB-C), plus a headphone jack on the front for portable listening. —Parker Hall
Tips and Tricks
Photograph: Terrence O'BrienHelpful Software and Hardware to Use
Recording outside can be a bit tricky at first if you're not used to using anything other than a cell phone.
First, you'll want to have a nice place to set your recorder so that it's in the line of fire for audio but not bumping around too much. The best way I've found to keep your device steady is this threaded mini tripod kit ($28), unless the device comes with a built-in stand like the Tula above.
When you're recording outdoors or anywhere with fans blowing, be sure to use the fluffy wind filter that comes with most recorders. This allows normal sound to reach the capsule of the microphone without wind sheer.
When you're done recording, you'll want a Digital Audio Workstation (or DAW) to edit and mix your files. Be sure to check out our complete DAW guide to learn which one might be best for your specific purposes and budget, but for basic editing I really like GarageBand or Audacity.
On recording quality: Most recorders offer high-resolution WAV files, which are larger than your typical MP3 file of yesteryear. They are typically either 24 or 32-bit, studio-grade recordings, although you can often adjust your recorder to choose the quality you want (and thus save on file size). I'd recommend starting at the studio standard of 24-bit 44.1-Khz WAV files and increasing or decreasing the bitrate from there depending on how long a recording you need to make. For more information, I like this explainer from Adobe.
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