zoom H4n

beachgig · Post by **beachgig** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 5:16 am

Has anyone ever used this portable recorder to record brass or woodwind instruments, or any sounds for that matter, to use as multi samples in the Kronos?

drdave2002 · Post by **drdave2002** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 11:39 am

Hi ..... I have a zoom H1 (so a fair bit lower spec than yours I believe)...

Anyway I can record great quality sounds, and it can output in wav format so there should be nothing stopping you.

regards
Dave

beachgig · Post by **beachgig** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 5:19 pm

thanks drdave. Sounds good. I don't have one yet, but that's the one i'm interested in.

holdsg · Post by **holdsg** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 7:12 pm

I've had one for several years and record shows and practice with it. There are some advantages with the newer i-pad and i-phone recording devices (adding the X/Y mics that plug into the pad-phone) these days, but the Zoom still does an adequate job for what I need it to do.

Rigel · Post by **Rigel** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 7:16 pm

Check out the Boss micro BR80, I love mine...

Post by **Sharp** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 12:29 pm

The H4 is a great device, but it has it's quirks (setting volume levels and so on) and it's Mic's are "ok" with some low floor noise. It will work well though in most situations and it's a great buy.

But if you can stretch to the H6, you won't need to buy another recorder for a VERY long time. Have the H6 myself and swear its the best thing since the invention of sliced bread. The quality is amazing out of this unit. The H6 also works great as a Audio Interface for your computer.

Being able to switch mic's makes it suitable for pretty much any job.

Regards
Sharp

Giner · Post by **Giner** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 3:52 pm

Been thinking along these lines myself lately. I'd like to get some video with my iPad and this mic. Anyone tried this?
http://www.bluemic.com/mikey_digital/

danmusician · Post by **danmusician** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 4:47 pm

Sharp wrote:The H4 is a great device, but it has it's quirks (setting volume levels and so on) and it's Mic's are "ok" with some low floor noise. It will work well though in most situations and it's a great buy.

But if you can stretch to the H6, you won't need to buy another recorder for a VERY long time. Have the H6 myself and swear its the best thing since the invention of sliced bread. The quality is amazing out of this unit. The H6 also works great as a Audio Interface for your computer.

Being able to switch mic's makes it suitable for pretty much any job.

Regards
Sharp

Sharp,

I have a Zoom R24 that I use for live concert recording, mostly classical choir concerts. I put up a pair of condenser mics in front of the choir. The R24 does a great job, clean and quiet. What I don't like about it is the input meters are poorly segmented, jumping from -6 to 0, making it difficult to set a high input level without clipping.

I've been considering getting the H6. Do you have any thoughts on using it for this purpose?

Thanks,

Dan

nowtime · Post by **nowtime** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 2:18 am

Been using an H2. Recording at 48/24 via batteries gives me pops and clicks. Otherwise I like it. I'm going to try going down to 44.1/24 and see if that helps.

Post by **Sharp** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 1:51 pm

Hi Dan.

I have a Zoom R24 that I use for live concert recording, mostly classical choir concerts. I put up a pair of condenser mics in front of the choir. The R24 does a great job, clean and quiet. What I don't like about it is the input meters are poorly segmented, jumping from -6 to 0, making it difficult to set a high input level without clipping.

I had an R24 myself too but long story short, I found it noisy when plugged into the mains at certain venues. So much so I thought it was fault and I had it replaced only to find the second unit sounded the exact same.

A fridge, Air-Con, anything at all that added dirt into the power lines used to come up in the recordings. So most of the time I was forced to use batteries. Other than that, it's was a fairly nice machine and on batteries, there was never an issue at all.

I've been considering getting the H6. Do you have any thoughts on using it for this purpose?

It would certainly do a better job than the R24 as it has a much lower floor noise. It compressors and limiters can also be setup in a very transparent way to give you a nice few extra dB without the worry of peaking the channels. It's extremely sensitive, so to get a nice hot signal without peaking, you will really need to look at using the limiters in a transparent way. It's a major improvement over the R24 in this regard.

If you mess up and set the levels too low, it's very forgiving. With such a low floor noise, you can get away with normalising your tracks more than with the R24

On the H6 there's really only a Limiter, Compressor, and Low EQ cut. So it's a straight up portable recorder, not a portable studio unlike the R24 which does full effects, reverb and so on.

The Mic's X/Y and Mid/Side mic's the H6 comes with are really good, very impressive actually. Unless your after a very wide stereo spread with your two Condenser mic's, you may prefer to use the H6 mic's.

It's the best portable recorder I've ever owned by a long shot.

Regards
Sharp.

oldguy29 · Post by **oldguy29** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 4:50 pm

i have an H6, good unit very versatile. Has a line out that can go right to my video camera, so it is also an external mic. Also has phantom power for condenser mics.

danmusician · Post by **danmusician** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 10:23 pm

Sharp wrote:The Mic's X/Y and Mid/Side mic's the H6 comes with are really good, very impressive actually. Unless your after a very wide stereo spread with your two Condenser mic's, you may prefer to use the H6 mic's.

It's the best portable recorder I've ever owned by a long shot.

Regards
Sharp.

Thanks, Sharp. I appreciate this information. My experience with the R24 has been mostly positive. I bought the R24 knowing it was overkill. But since it wasn't much more than the R16 or R8, I got it figuring that if I needed more tracks, they'd be there. I had been using a MOTU firewire interface into my MacBook Pro, but I always worried about HD failure mid-concert. The R24 is less to carry and records to SD, of course.

I place a pair of Rode NT5s in front of the choir on high stands. The noise floor on the R24 is less than the ambient noise in the room. I do very little, if any, compression on the recording since it's classical music and dynamic range is important. Over the years, I've found that with accurate input metering, I can get a reliably high input level without worrying about clipping. Unless the choir starts clapping or stomping, there aren't too many surprise peaks.

After the concert, I pop the SD card in my studio iMac and edit there. Normalize, a touch of EQ, boost any passages that are just too soft and then trim each tune. So really, all I need is a reliable field recorder to get two track stereo and I'm set.

I think I will give the H6 a try.

Appreciatively,

Dan

danmusician · Post by **danmusician** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 10:45 pm

Coming back to topic, I'd also like to use the H6 to sample my Melodeon (like the instrument pictured below.) This instrument has been in my family since the mid-1800s. It's a reed organ with a tone similar to a harmonica. My great-grandfather bought it because the legs detach, making it a portable keyboard. Kind of cool that I'm doing the same thing with modern technology. I've been wanting to sample it to include in my music as part of my family legacy. I have a walk-in closet that would be better isolated for sampling than my studio.

oldguy29 · Post by **oldguy29** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 11:54 am

cool instrument !! Looks to be in great condition. (does it have Midi ?

) It will be interesting to hear how recording in a closet will sound. please put up a video or audio file when you get it done.

danmusician · Post by **danmusician** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:07 pm

oldguy29 wrote:cool instrument !! Looks to be in great condition. (does it have Midi ? ) It will be interesting to hear how recording in a closet will sound. please put up a video or audio file when you get it done.

The photo isn't the one I own - found the pic online. Mine is in pretty good condition, but the finish on the top got ruined by heat when my Mom put plastic placemats and a tabletop stereo on it back in the 70's.

The bellows had rotted a bit. My Dad and I patched it and cleaned reeds. The only problem is, you have to pump it like crazy to get a sound. It will be a challenge to get a sound without mechanical noise.

Recording in the closet will be very dead. The floor is carpeted and the entire wall space is covered with hanging clothing (about 1/3 mine, 2/3 the wife's

)

It will be months until I get to it. Sampling is really not my thing. I've done some in the past with mixed results.

Korg Forums

zoom H4n

zoom H4n

Zoom.....