Hi Guys
Just to let you know that I have used the Iriver T30 with a small preamp connected to a lapel mic and the sound quality is excellent.

The link below will you show you the type of pre amp used.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LINE-IN-PREAMP...QQcmdZViewItem

Regards
Wayne

I bought the FP795 from this guy. Good service and the unit captured great audio.
Be aware that you can set the AGC on or off for the recording volume. I had it turned off and got a lot of distortion. You'll need to play around with it to get determine the best sound.

Jim,

There is no AGC on these irivers in line-mic/external mic mode. It only applies for voice recording using the internal mic, which is generally NOT what we want to do anyway. If you are getting clipping, reduce the recording volume in the line-in recording volume setting. About 45 is good for Giant Squid lapel mic, for example.

Yeah, I had the mic volume pretty high. I'll try 45 next time.

Olympus DS-30
 

I tested this voice recorder and I think is very suitable for lapel microphone recording.
It has 50Hz - 19kHz frequency response and for voice recording at the wedding video is more than enough. It is much better choice than wireless.
I had bad experience with wireless - random noises and hissing sound.
And also I can use many lapel mics at different people at the same time without worry of any radio interference and for much less money spent on audio equipment.
From now on I am going to use this setup instead of wireless.

If wireless systems can be bad, then why do professionals say that they are a must.

I think most audio professionals would choose wired over wireless. But they would also choose a good wireless over something that can't be monitored.

And with monitoring in mind, there are situations where a wired or boomed mic won't be practical. Then you use wireless.

Digital voice recorder for audio recording
 

The real pros use a very expenisive wireless system ( $700 and up)
And if the ability to monitor the recorded sound is very important than good wireless sytem is a must.
But for wedding videographers with limited budget good digital voice recorder is an option.

How long of a cable for these mics connected to an iriver would you guys recommend? They range from 1 foot all the way to 5 feet... what should I go for? I plan on buying two in order to mic the groom and possibly the officiant.

I have two Giant Squid mics that I use with my iRivers, both with 5 foot cables. At first I was worried they would be too long, but it's easy to stuff the excess into the groom's pocket. And I've been happy with the extra length when micing the podium or whatever.

Should I go for the right angled plug if I'm going to use an iriver? Is the line input located in a place that the right angled plug would be better? I'm looking at getting the iFP-890.

If you get one of the 800 series, get the right angled plug, because the input is on the side of the player. If you get one of the 700 series, get the straight plug, because the input is on the end.

And you might as well get one of them with more memory than the 890. You'll probably get it off Ebay anyway, so why not go for the 795 or the 895 at least. Or max it out with the 799 or 899. The price difference will be small, and you'll be happy with the extra room if you want to use it as an mp3 player, or record for longer times.

I have an 895 and an 899.

And check out this page if you didn't see my post above:

http://www.videouniversity.com/iriver.shtml

So I ordered the iriver and the giant squid iriver mic, as well as a micromemo thing for the ipod nano and another lav mic. Set me back around $180. Can't wait to try it out!

Vito, thanks for all the help!

My pleasure. Hope it all works out for you!