Olympus Voice Recorder Offers Three Microphones, Expandable Storage

Olympus DM-620 digital voice recorder is a powerful tool for those looking to make quality recordings away from home. Digital voice recorders have certainly carved out a niche in today's technological world and I wouldn't want to be without one. I use such devices all the time, either when I'm interviewing subjects for articles or merely to take verbal notes – for example when I'm driving a review vehicle and want to remember a point later without having to stop the car on the side of the road and scribble something down.

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My current recorder is about two years old now, however, so with the continual march of technology I was curious to see how they've have evolved since then – so when Olympus offered me their interesting new DM-620, I jumped. One of the things that grabbed my attention about the DM-620 was its three microphones. Olympus says the "Tresmic" three microphone system includes stereo directional mics and a center omnidirectional one they say allows you to capture lower bass ranges "with stunning clarity." They also say the system lets you capture a wider stereo sound, which could be nice if you're recording a band concert or something like that. I never do that, but it's a great use for the recorder if you can place it somewhere that the crowd noise isn't going to overpower the tunes. Enhancing this scenario is a little optional remote control (RS30W) that lets you put the recorder in an appropriate spot and operate it from elsewhere. This, of course, means you have to trust the people close to where you've mounted the recorder not to rip it off… Anyway, one of the neat things the DM-620 offers that my old recorder doesn't is four gigabytes of built in memory – and a microSD card slot (you have to get your own card, though, up to 32 gig worth) – to let you record more stuff or less stuff with better quality, since better quality translates to larger file sizes. Olympus says the unit offers more than 1,000 hours of consecutive recording capacity, but of course that depends on the quality of the recording. The Olympus is wider than my default unit, but that actually works in its favor in some ways. For example, it sports a larger and more legible LCD screen and a real control panel that's easy to use. Unlike my default recorder, which sucks up batteries nearly as much as I suck up beer, the DM-620's batteries (which are included) are rechargeable and you can recharge them right in the unit, via USB. The battery life is merely okay, though, so don't forget to bring along a spare set (or a USB cable) because, as per Murphy's Law, it's sure to run out of power when you need it the most. The choices offered in the unit's configuration menu are positively dizzying – far more than I need but providing excellent flexibility for a broad spectrum of users. To that end, the DM 160 is designed to be configurable for a variety of recording environments. For example, you can adjust the "width" of the sound field it records, making it wider or narrower depending on the use. I like it narrow for interviews and would undoubtedly prefer it wider for recording both a live band and the ambiance of the venue, assuming I would ever use it for such a potentially illegal act. There's also a "Scene Select" feature that helps you optimize the quality of the recording via preset environmental settings (or your own saved settings) such as lecture hall, meeting, dictation, etc. Couple this with the noise cancellation feature and you're off to the races – or just to the coffee shop. There's also a switchable Low-Cut Filter that minimizes low-frequency sound from 100Hz or 300Hz, which can help prevent background noises such as whispers or coughing from sounding too much in the foreground. It all works quite well.  How well? I used the Olympus when I interviewed a fellow in a mall coffee shop and you can just imagine the background noise that was there, with coffee machines making long, loud pooting noises, as well as background music and people prattling at neighboring tables. Yet the voice file the Olympus recorded sounded surprisingly clear. Oh sure, there was still background noise, but the voices came through very well, especially considering I had just placed it on the table between myself and the subject, turned it on and then not given it a second thought. I hadn't even remembered to set it for the environment, silly me. The good recording quality is also due to its ability to record uncompressed 16 bit/48 kHz Linear PCM, which should be great for recording live music as well. It also records in MP3 or WMA formats. Olympus has even worked hard to take special needs customers into account, too, including offering voice guidance "For users with assistive needs" (it offers the ability to prompt via voice). You can also plug in an external mic and the unit interfaces with your computer via USB, which lets you drag and drop files, etc. The Sonority software helps here. It lets you download, manage and convert sound files easily and, if you upgrade the software, perform waveform editing on a PC or Mac. The DM-620 comes with a USB cable, a little carrying case, two rechargeable AAA batteries, strap, instruction manual and software. You can also get an AC adapter and telephone adapter designed to record both sides of a phone conversation, making the unit idea for espionage. I like using my voice files with Dragon NaturallySpeaking's voice recognition technology to transcribe them after the fact, so I don't have to type the whole darn thing in myself. It works, though it's subject to the GIGO syndrome (Garbage in, garbage out). This means that the better quality the voices are on the file, the better the recognition can be. And depending on the file, it can range from being virtually useless to perhaps 70 per cent accuracy, the latter of which certainly beats transcribing manually. To that end, you want to ensure your files are as clean as possible, which made me grateful for all the noise cancellation and stuff the Olympus offers. The DM-620 does come with a learning curve, but it isn't onerous and once you get up to speed with its interface it should serve you well. The DM-620 carries a suggested retail price of $150 U.S., which seems quite reasonable considering all the things it does and how well it does them. The last such recorder I bought was nearly twice that price and didn't do half as much. Such is the way of technological advance these days. Copyright 2011 Jim Bray TechnoFile.com