How many tracks do I need?

Boom, two lavs and a mix covers most drama, so a four to six track machine is a sensible baseline.

Do I need a mixer as well as a recorder?

Modern recorders with faders replace the separate mixer for most crews. Larger shows still split the roles.

Which format should the recorder write?

Broadcast WAV at 48 kHz, 24 bit, polyphonic, with timecode and metadata enabled.

7 min read

Field recorders: what to look for beyond the track count

Track count is the number on the box. Timecode stability, metadata and file naming are what post production actually cares about.

Every field recorder records audio. The differences that matter on a shoot are quieter preamps, a clock that holds timecode across a long day, and files that arrive in post with names and metadata that mean something.

Preamps and headroom

A location recorder spends its life on quiet dialogue at a distance. Preamp noise, expressed as equivalent input noise, is the single specification worth reading. Anything around minus 127 dBu is professional territory. Combine that with 24 bit recording and you have room to record conservatively and lift in post.

32 bit float, honestly

32 bit float recorders capture such a wide dynamic range that clipping in the file is effectively impossible; a hot take can be pulled back down without distortion. It does not improve the microphone or the preamp noise, and it does not excuse bad gain setting when someone is monitoring on set. Treat it as insurance, not as a method.

Timecode you can trust

Internal clock drift, quoted in parts per million, decides how long a jam lasts.
Re jam at least at lunch on any shoot without continuous timecode feed.
Confirm the frame rate matches camera, especially 23.976 against 24.
Record the slate anyway; it is the fallback when metadata goes missing.

Poly or mono files

Most recorders default to polyphonic WAV: one file per take with every track interleaved. It is the safest choice on set because a take stays as one object with one timecode stamp. Post can split it into mono stems in seconds, keeping the track names the recorder wrote into the iXML chunk.

If your post house insists on mono files, split them yourself before delivery rather than switching the recorder to mono mode and multiplying the risk of losing a channel during transfer.

Metadata discipline

Enter scene, take and track names on the recorder, not on a piece of paper. Those fields travel inside the broadcast wave header and turn into usable track names in the edit. A sound report is a backup, not a substitute.