Union Pacific Steam Locomotive 844 passed through town this week on it’s way to Arkansas for the 150th Shiloh Civil War Anniversary “Shiloh Limited Steam Special”.
I was 16 when I had my first chance to chase the Northern class 4-8-4, 844… back then it was plated as “8444”. Driving across Nebraska in a beat up VW Beetle, I would race 8444 to the next town so I could try and get a recording of it high-balling out of town.
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The last week in February my mom went in for hip surgery at the Nebraska Orthopaedic Hospital in Omaha. As you walk through the front door, the first thing you notice/hear is this huge, beautiful water fountain off to the right in the main lobby.
The sounds pouring from this 1 1/2 story tall fountain was just begging to be recorded! So, with a little finagling I was able to get permission to bring my audio equipment in and do a sound recording after the main lobby closed! Being the good son that I am:), I went to visit my dear mom the next night with my recording equipment in hand.
In January of 2011 I bought a Zoom H4n to do some voice-over and ambient sound recordings with. Although this little recorder is packed full of features, the preamps really lack the sound quality needed for semi-professional work.
In searching for a new field recorder, there was a few features that I required… clean (relatively speaking) preamps, 96/24 bit PCM wav format, large SDHC card capacity, standard battery operation with the ability to plug in external power if needed, bright, readable screen & portability. This narrowed my search down to only a few companies that offer a solid state, 2 channel portable field recorder in the $600 to $800 range.
Zoom H4n vs Marantz PMD 661