0 09281 03050 8

0 6

$5.99US $5.99CAN

VOL. TWENTY FIVENUMBER NINE

JUNE 2012USA $5.99 CANADA $5.99

®

��� ��������������

B Y L O R E N Z R Y C H N E R

Olympus LS-20M and LS-100Audio with video or multitrack audio with extras—take your choice

thread for tripod or mic-standmounting, and a speaker grille forminimal but occasionally usefulchecking of signal presence.

The battery well contains a pro-prietary Olympus battery—youcharge the battery while it’s in theLS20-M, via the USB port, eitherwhile the USB port is connectedto a computer or via the suppliedAC adapter that has the USB outlet. For$45 a pop you can stock up on addi-tional batteries for emergencies, and foranother $40 you get the separate plug-incharger.

In addition to an AC adapter, USB cordand SD card, the LS20-M comes with a sub-stantial printed manual that is also available

online. The LS-20M can do much more thanI could begin to describe—please read ordownload the .pdf of the manual attinyurl.com/OlympusLS20Mmanuals.

Recording audioThe mics are doing a fine job, although

I remember those of the LS-10 as havingmore subtlety and a wider stereo field intheir capture. The Auto Gain setting isentirely workable, pumping is not in evi-dence, but if your mic sensitivity is set toHigh and things get loud, you will soonend up with distortion.

Unfortunately, the mic sensitivity is onlyadjustable (High/Low) in menu mode—aserious shortcoming in my view. Why didthe designers not incorporate the sameswitch that we found on the LS-10, whichhad an outside toggle for just that?

On the plus side, I found the LS-20M tohave good internal insulation—eventhough the mics are firmly mounted in thechassis, if the operator is careful holdingand handling the LS-20M, contact noisesin your recordings can largely be avoided.

The LS-20M records .wav (PCM) files at24-bit/96 or 88.2 kHz, 16-bit/48 or 44.1

kHz, and MP3 at320 and 256 kbps,no lower settings areavailable. That showsthat the LS seriesindeed stands apartfrom the rest of theOlympus recordersthat are primarilydesigned for speech,dictation and confer-ence recording. Oneremnant of that her-itage is the VoiceSync feature—record-ing can start as soonas the recorder

detects a source at a preset level during aselectable timeframe; if the source level dropsbelow the chosen threshold, recording stops.

Recording videoThree resolutions are available,

1920x1080, 1280x720, and 640x480,all at 30 fps. The video white balance is

Olympus’s LS lineup of Linear PCMrecorders is aimed at capturing qualityaudio for recording musicians—we firstreviewed the LS-10 in March 2009. Nowwe are looking at the LS-20M, that doesboth audio and video-with-audio, and atthe LS-100 that can be an 8-trackrecorder and then some. We’ll be postingfiles to see and hear on our website andaccompany our discussion here.

LS-20MThe LS-20M audio/video recorder

looks very much like a smart phone, andthe two microphones found at the far end(as you hold the unit like you would asmart phone) are not protruding but ratherdiscreetly fitted into the slanted corners.Between the mics is the camera lens. Soyou record audio or shoot video whilepointing the unit away from you, towardsthe target, and as you look down onto thetwo screens, you appear to be just one ofthe myriad smart-phone users out there,not looking like a recordist in action.

The larger of the two screens is ofcourse your video display, showing whatthe camera sees, with lots of little iconsindicating status and settings. Duringaudio-only recording it goes black, but atother times it displays memory folder listsand other menu items. Below the largerscreen is a smaller LCD that shows bat-tery status, current file number, elapsedrecording time, remaining recordingtime, and the audio level.

The user controls are grouped arounda four-way ring with a center OK button:Stop, Rec, List, Menu, A-B Repeat, Fn,and Erase. At the bottom end, behind asnap-out cover, sit the USB port andmicro-HDMI connector.

Around the corner, on the left narrowside of the LS-20M, is the tiny jack for the(optional) RS30W infrared remote-controlconnector (approx. $40), then the Poweron/off toggle (with Hold), and mini stereosockets for earphones and for an externalstereo mic.

On the opposite narrow side is the coverhiding the SD card slot, and a slidingswitch that toggles between video andaudio-only recording. The underbelly has a

Excerpted from the June edition of RECORDING magazine 2012.©2014 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. 5408 Idylwild Trail, Boulder, CO 80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119For Subscription Information, call: 1-954-653-3927 or www.musicopro.com

��� ������������� ��

user-adjustable or it can be left on auto.The camera is quite capable of low-lightrecording, but it is also susceptible towashed-out over-exposed images inbright lights—and that included a (classi-cal) concert stage with bright static ceil-ing lights. Exposure control is available inmenu mode, and the Fn (Function) buttoncan be programmed to access exposurecontrol, among other items.Before the 4x zoom is engaged, the

lens captures quite a wide field, I’m guess-ing about the equivalent of a 35–40 mm“wide” lens in terms of 35mm photogra-phy. I achieved no images that I wouldcall razor-sharp, that seems to be beyondthe lens with its tiny 4.1mm focal length.But for web uploads and other less-than-critical applications it will suffice.

Wish list and final thoughts on theLS-20MI wished the LS-20M could shoot still pic-

tures. I missed a real switch for Low/Highmic sensitivity and a dedicated button tolight up the lower screen. (The Fn buttoncan be programmed for that, but you maywant to use it for something else.)The remote control (available separate-

ly) is badly needed to get steady videowith the LS-20M on a tripod or mic stand,but why does the remote only do Startand Stop? That’s hardly worth themoney—why not also incorporateRecord, Pause, Recording Level up/down, Zoom In/Out, and a button to turnon and off the LCD illumination? Then youcould keep your mitts off the recorder,raise it up to shoot over any obstacles,and avoid handling noises.The Olympus LS-20M is a handy and

very capable device for both audio-onlyand video recording. It can record goodaudio and decent video, but its shortcom-ings cause this reviewer to hope for thenext model—which may not be too far offsince Olympus tends to replace models ata fast clip.

LS-100At twice the thickness of the LS-20M,

and with considerably more weight, theLS-100 is more at home in sturdy jacketpockets rather than shirt pockets. But it isversatile enough that it might wellbecome the home-and-away recorder ofmany a recording musician. Its full nameis Multi-Track Linear PCM Recorder, and itcan indeed record up to 8 tracks. It doesthat from either two built-in condensermics of remarkable quality, or with the

help of two combo mic/line XLR–1/4"sockets, or from a mini stereo mic input.Additional capabilities like sync and

overdub recording, phantom power,metronome and tuner, Lissajous featurefor optimal mic placement, and extensiveUSB functions take it beyond the realm ofthe grab-it-and-run recorder. A remotecontrol is available as a separate pur-chase; we did not receive it for review.There are way too many features to

describe here; check out the online ver-sion of the manual (much more usefulthan the quick-start booklet in the box) attinyurl.com/OlympusLS100manualPDF.

Sound inThe two built-in mics are fixed, screwed

into a sturdy rail that wraps around the topof the recorder, and they are angled out,each at 45 degrees from center.Recording happens in a variety of use-

ful ways. In two-track mode: One pass instereo, or overdubbing to a previous file(resulting in a new composite mix), oroverdubbing into a new discrete file

while monitoring an existing file (calledPlay Sync mode, available only with PCM16-bit/44.1 kHz format). In multitrack mode: Recording up to eight

tracks as stereo pairs, or in mono (if usingboth L+R inputs they get summed) with indi-vidual adjustments to tracks, and with play-back checking of all tracks or soloing indi-vidual tracks. Pitch adjustments of up toplus/minus a half step are possible, as areoutput balance, Left/Right balance, trackreassignment, and overdubbing new tracks(that remain discrete of course).Having filled up 8 tracks doesn’t mean

the end of a project. Selected tracks canbe bounced into a single track, reas-signed, and recording continues. Filescan be erased completely, or partiallyafter setting a start and end point.A metronome can be used, with or

without a count-off feature. A low-cut filter(100 or 300 Hz) keeps the low endclean. Tracks can be slowed down with-out affecting the pitch. There’s a built-intuner, and a Lissajous phase analysis fea-ture with a phase-difference readout forplacement of external mics.

Sound outThe Olympus LS-100 pretty much lets

you complete a project to the point ofbeing ready to share around, as a roughmix in stereo, even with its own ability todirectly write to an audio CD in PCM 16-bit/44.1 kHz format, or converting itsPCM files into MP3 files.Then again, if you take the eight tracks

and transfer them to your computer whereyou can align them in your DAW andadd effects (the LS-100 has none), youcan have the best of both worlds, a niftyfront end in the LS-100 and an edit-ing/mixing/mastering back end on yourDAW.

Final thoughts on the LS-100I used both the LS-20M (in audio mode)

and the LS-100 to bootleg the same con-cert performances, at one point both setto auto gain, and the LS-100 providedsuperior audio. That’s probably not onlya result of its superior built-in mics, butalso due to the intermediate mic sensitivi-ty setting that is lacking on the LS-20M.But then again, as rich an audio tool as itis, the LS-100 doesn’t do video...The LS-100 is a great audio tool. If

Olympus finds a way to incorporate adecent set of dynamics processing andeffects—nothing fancy, just maybe a com-pressor and some reverbs at a mini-mum—then this already outstandingrecorder would be a real heavy hitteramong portable recorders.

Prices: LS-20M, $299; LS-100, $399

More from: Olympus,www.getolympus.com

Excerpted from the June edition of RECORDING magazine 2012.©2014 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. 5408 Idylwild Trail, Boulder, CO 80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119For Subscription Information, call: 1-954-653-3927 or www.musicopro.com