Blog | Inquit Audio

Reduced service May 2012

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:43:26 +0100

We will be on reduced service from Thursday May 10 until Tuesday May 29. It is intended that all orders will be despatched in our usual timescales; email responses will be slower than usual and phone calls will be difficult.

If you can, you might wish to order or make enquiries before May 10.

We are sorry if our reduced service causes you any inconvenience.

Emails

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:27:58 +0100

You might have received a 'bounceback' mesage when emailing us recently.

In fact, your email did reach us immediately, and the bounceback came from a wrong setting which has now been corrected. All is now well.

Roland R26 update

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:26:57 +0000

With several new pro recorders over the past few months, it's getting hard to choose between them.

The Roland R26 has just had a very good review in pro audio magazine Audio Media which says, inter alia:
"Sound quality is equally excellent … with no hiss or extraneous noise."

"This machine is phenomenal. I've seen it online for £350, which is stonishing considering what it can do." [Our price is £349!!]

Call or email for a copy of the review.

Tascam DR40 arrived

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:35:15 +0000

Tascam DR40 now in stock at just £199.

Probably the best ever recorder at less than £200! Read my review.

Seahorse protective cases

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:15:11 +0000

Seahorse cases are strong; they aren't necessarily pretty but they are very strong. You can drive your car over them and the contents will be OK. And we'll be stocking them next month, as soon as the boat docks.

DPA microphones now available

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:13:43 +0000

You may have aready heard of DPA microphones: they are hand-made in Denmark by Danish Professional Audio and they are very good. DPA lapel mics are used in every West End theatre and they can even be washed (though only 5 times, to remove sweat and make-up)!

They are relatively expensive but perform really well and should be a good long-term investment.

More new recorders

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:52:24 +0000

There are several new digital recorders with XLRs and phantom power coming along.

Hot on the heels of the iM2 iPhone microphone come two 'new' digital recorders also from Tascam.

We have only recently got into Tascam, mostly because they didn't seem to have much that seemed 'right' for the voice recording community - until now. The DR100 has been improved to Mark II, and is followed by the DR40, also with XLRs but with a price around £200. We should be testing one soon but the omens are good - not the greatest recorder ever in the world, but almost certainly the best recorder at £200 by far.

There's a new Olympus with XLRs too - the LS100 is coming along in a few weeks. Olympus are excited by it - will Inquit be? Pricing is likely around the £375 mark - so is it twice as good as a DR40? Read it here second.

Tascam iM2

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:42:52 +0000

Now you can use your iPhone as a high quality, portable digital recorder and never be unable to record wherever you are. The Tascam iM2 fits into the 30-pin digital connector and works with most audio recording apps from the App Store; there's also a very compatible app from Tascam themselves.

Rycote windshield system

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:44:52 +0000

We all know the Rycote range of furry windshield products from being seen in-vision on TV. Their products are very effective at reducing or removing wind noise and so are often on the wish list of everyone recording on location, and the latest ranges include mini-softies for small recorders like Zoom's H4n.

We will be supplying Rycote from later in the month, so get in touch to order from this comprehensive range. First to come - mini-Furries for portable recorders.

New mic for hire

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:28:33 +0000

We've just received a brand new mic kit for location film, TV, or video recording.

First, there's a fantastic Rode NTG-3 shotgun, a Rode Blimp windshield, and a Rode pro boom pole (yes, we like Rode) so you can really capture the sound you want and nothing else.

The aluminium pole extends up to 3m; the Blimp has an integrated shock mount so handling noise and vibration are kept to an absolute minimum, plus a full furry cover to isolate the mic from anything but a Force Eight gale. The NTG-3 is legendary in location recoding giving 50% less self-noise than other shotgun mics, very low handling noise togther with precise sound reproduction.

See Rental for full details.

Zoom H2n

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:16:35 +0000

There's a great new review of the H2n in Audio Media, a professional audio magazine. Email us and we'll send you a copy, but two quotes might give a flavour:

"The H2n is beautifully made and the recording results are truly excellent."
"Honestly, this machine sounds very, very good."

The review even took me by surprise.

New Roland R-26 - review

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:06:30 +0100

[See also update 15.3.12]

We have now had a chance to test out the new R-26, and the results are very encouraging.

It's a black box with a large touch-screen - the body is 7" x 3" and 1.5" and so easy to carry in your hand, but not necessarily hold in your hand - not as hand-holdable as an H4n, but better than a PMD661. It has two large input level knobs, one for the left and one for the right channel, and they are very easy to use - turn it clockwise to increase the input level, very logical. You can also adjust the sensitivity of the input you are using (analog for an external mic) to ensure you get the optimum recorded level and it took a little experimentation to optimise for our BP4025 stereo mic, but once adjusted recording was superb with no discernible noise from the preamps and only a very little playback hiss, which is always tricky to isolate and may be a product of the playback circuit itself, rather than a part of the recording. So full marks so far for recording quality.

And the built-in mics are very good too; they don't sound quite as full as our BP4025, but there isn't as much difference as I'd expected (or hoped for, given that the BP4025 costs more than the whole R-26). So on first soundings you could use the built-in mics with confidence.

Roland R26 in stock

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:32:00 +0100

We've just had a first delivery of the brand new Roland R26.

If you want one, get in soon!

Zoom H2n

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:17:34 +0100

The slightly venerable Zoom H2 has had a thorough makeover, becoming the H2n.

Gone is the tiny screen; gone are those horrid buttons. And in their place comes a much better designed and functional little recorder. More news when we've had a play ....

Roland R26

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:16:09 +0100

We've just got details of the exciting new Roland R-26.

It looks very good and challenges the supremacy of the Marantz PMD661 or Zoom H4n. Pricing will be around £375 and stock is expected soon. Watch this space for our review when we have managed to get our hands on one!

Rental

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:49:01 +0100

We certainly aren't the biggest hire company in the world, but we are very reasonably-priced and do try to be the most helpful!

We now have three Zoom H4n recorders available for rental, giving much more opportunity for training sessions and short-term projects.

Check rental for details.

New products

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 11:30:04 +0100

There's a great new professional recorder on its way from Roland, whom you may know as Edirol. They have now grouped everything together under the Roland banner and Edirol is a name from the past.

The new model is being launched tomorrow at IBC in Amsterdam and all information is embargoed until then. So as soon as we can release details we'll let you know soonest.

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The Roland (Edirol) R-09HR was a popular pocket digital recorder which we always saw as a journalist's machine - great for recording an interview, but not the greatest at using external mics. However it became a victim of the Japan tsunami and earthquake and production was recently discontinued. The R-05 is an alternative and we'll be getting stock soon.

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Olympus is expanding its range of small recorders, having launched the LS-5 a few months ago, they have now added the LS-3 with an innovative microphone pattern. Read about it here.

The LS-5 worked with external mics quite well, so although we haven't had time to test the LS-3 yet, we hope it will do so too.

New website

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 11:28:27 +0100

We have had a little tidy up of the website which had become a bit like an old house - new rooms added here and there, a smell of damp and only the people who live there can find their way around.

Well now we have a brand new apartment, with hardly any cupboards!

We'll see how it goes.