Field recorders: what sets a professional one apart from a basic one

Today almost any recorder records WAV at 48 kHz and 24 bits, the standard for audio for video. The difference between a basic recorder and a film one isn't the format but everything that happens before and after: the quality of the input, how it protects the signal, how it syncs with the camera and how it delivers files to editorial.

What's inside a recorder

Professional vs. basic

32-bit float: what it solves and what it doesn't

A 24-bit file has a ceiling: anything above 0 dBFS is clipped and can't be recovered. 32-bit float recorders use two or more converters at once (one for normal levels and another for high levels) and store the audio in a format with enormous headroom above 0 dBFS. An unexpected scream can be brought down in editing without distortion.

Timecode and metadata

Timecode is a clock (hours:minutes:seconds:frames) the recorder writes into every file. If camera and sound share the same timecode, editorial syncs hundreds of takes automatically instead of finding the slate clap one by one. A professional recorder keeps that clock stable for hours; a basic one can drift several frames.

Metadata (BWF format with iXML data) stores the scene, take, the name of each track (“Ana lav”, “Boom”) and the sound mixer's notes inside the file. For editorial it's the difference between understanding the material when they open it or having to listen to every track.

When a basic recorder is enough

• Recording ambiences or effects with its own stereo microphone.
• As a backup recorder on an actor's body or inside a vehicle.
• Podcasts, simple interviews and projects with one or two microphones and no camera sync.

For fiction, commercials or reality shows with several microphones, multiple cameras and delivery to post-production, a professional recorder's features save hours of editing and avoid losing takes that can't be repeated.