Recording - June 2012 - 62

BY LORENZ RYCHNER

Olympus LS-20M and LS-100
Olympus’s LS lineup of Linear PCM recorders is aimed at capturing quality audio for recording musicians—we first reviewed the LS-10 in March 2009. Now we are looking at the LS-20M, that does both audio and video-with-audio, and at the LS-100 that can be an 8-track recorder and then some. We’ll be posting files to see and hear on our website and accompany our discussion here.

Audio with video or multitrack audio with extras—take your choice
online. The LS-20M can do much more than I could begin to describe—please read or download the .pdf of the manual at tinyurl.com/OlympusLS20Mmanuals. Recording audio The mics are doing a fine job, although I remember those of the LS-10 as having more subtlety and a wider stereo field in their capture. The Auto Gain setting is entirely workable, pumping is not in evidence, but if your mic sensitivity is set to High and things get loud, you will soon end up with distortion. Unfortunately, the mic sensitivity is only adjustable (High/Low) in menu mode—a serious shortcoming in my view. Why did the designers not incorporate the same switch that we found on the LS-10, which had an outside toggle for just that? On the plus side, I found the LS-20M to have good internal insulation—even though the mics are firmly mounted in the chassis, if the operator is careful holding and handling the LS-20M, contact noises in your recordings can largely be avoided. The LS-20M records .wav (PCM) files at 24-bit/96 or 88.2 kHz, 16-bit/48 or 44.1 kHz, and MP3 at 320 and 256 kbps, no lower settings are available. That shows that the LS series indeed stands apart from the rest of the Olympus recorders that are primarily designed for speech, dictation and conference recording. One remnant of that heritage is the Voice Sync feature—recording can start as soon as the recorder detects a source at a preset level during a selectable timeframe; if the source level drops below the chosen threshold, recording stops. Recording video Three resolutions are available, 1920x1080, 1280x720, and 640x480, all at 30 fps. The video white balance is

LS-20M
The LS-20M audio/video recorder looks very much like a smart phone, and the two microphones found at the far end (as you hold the unit like you would a smart phone) are not protruding but rather discreetly fitted into the slanted corners. Between the mics is the camera lens. So you record audio or shoot video while pointing the unit away from you, towards the target, and as you look down onto the two screens, you appear to be just one of the myriad smart-phone users out there, not looking like a recordist in action. The larger of the two screens is of course your video display, showing what the camera sees, with lots of little icons indicating status and settings. During audio-only recording it goes black, but at other times it displays memory folder lists and other menu items. Below the larger screen is a smaller LCD that shows battery status, current file number, elapsed recording time, remaining recording time, and the audio level. The user controls are grouped around a four-way ring with a center OK button: Stop, Rec, List, Menu, A-B Repeat, Fn, and Erase. At the bottom end, behind a snap-out cover, sit the USB port and micro-HDMI connector. Around the corner, on the left narrow side of the LS-20M, is the tiny jack for the (optional) RS30W infrared remote-control connector (approx. $40), then the Power on/off toggle (with Hold), and mini stereo sockets for earphones and for an external stereo mic. On the opposite narrow side is the cover hiding the SD card slot, and a sliding switch that toggles between video and audio-only recording. The underbelly has a
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thread for tripod or mic-stand mounting, and a speaker grille for minimal but occasionally useful checking of signal presence. The battery well contains a proprietary Olympus battery—you charge the battery while it’s in the LS20-M, via the USB port, either while the USB port is connected to a computer or via the supplied AC adapter that has the USB outlet. For $45 a pop you can stock up on additional batteries for emergencies, and for another $40 you get the separate plug-in charger. In addition to an AC adapter, USB cord and SD card, the LS20-M comes with a substantial printed manual that is also available

http://tinyurl.com/OlympusLS20Mmanuals

Recording - June 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - June 2012