Best Field Recorders for Portable Audio

Yes, currently have a device in your pocket that can capture audio: your phone. But the audio quality from those tiny microphones leaves a lot to be desired. If you try to capture an impromptu jam session with your band, you’ll easily overwhelm the microphones. You’ll never get a solid stereo image of your environment. And echoey classrooms will reduce any speaker to a muddy mess.

There are many reasons to buy a field recorder. They can be used to record lectures in school, record audio for a video shoot, act as a mobile podcast studio, collect samples to use in your music, and even create IRs (impulse responses) to create custom audio effects.

There’s also the act of field recording itself, which is going out and capturing the ambient sounds of the world around you. If you’ve never tried it before, I can’t recommend it enough. It can teach you to listen more carefully to the world around you and make you more attentive.

If you work with audio in any way, even as a hobby, a good portable field recorder is a must. Below are our current favorites. Be sure to also check out our guides to the best recording software , the best wired headphones , and the best USB microphones . If you’re interested in recording both at home and outdoors, be sure to check out our guide to upgrading your home recording studio .