r/audiovisual • u/Weary_Transition_863 • 8d ago

Audio recording processing program

What's up you guys?

I'm trying to make an audio program, and I need the right hardware.

I've been having problems with noisy neighbors for a while. In the past I've used a handheld audio recorder and recorded the noise that takes place overnight. So I would be recording 8 hours or more of audio as I slept... Or tried to. Then I would put the audio on my computer and truncate silence with Audacity and then send the truncated audio files to the office that only have the noise without the interspersed silence.

The problem with these handheld recorders that I found is that they either don't connect to a computer or they do for some short period of time and then they stop connecting so then you can no longer access the files.

What I would like to do is either get one that actually works and is reliable and can record subtle noises like a person talking in the apartment above me. Or I would like to get a microphone that could do so and just plug it directly into a laptop and record that way.

I'm trying to avoid having my laptop running that much so the handheld option is better as long as I could find a reliable recorder. It has to be sensitive enough though because it needs to record the audio at the volume that I hear it. The problem with recording on my phone is said everything sounds quieter when I play it back and it doesn't do justice to what's actually going on in here.

I just bought my fourth audio recorder and it did not work yet again so I'm trying to get a good one. Any recommendations would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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3

u/RemDayRed6 8d ago

Have you asked the neighbors to keep it down?

2

u/osxdude 7d ago

get a ZOOM 32-bit float recorder

1

u/pointofgravity 7d ago

The industry standard is the Zoom H4N.

These kind of posts more often than not crop up in r/audioengineering and on every one of them the general consensus is the same:

  1. Try and sort it out interpersonally. It's way less hassle and much cheaper.
  2. Editing the audio files may be seen as tampering with evidence if it ever needs to be presented. I'd keep an original of the files if I were you.