Zoom H4

[Onkel Dunkel]

I´ve been looking at the Zoom H4 for a while. Seems perfect for field recordings and for capturing ideas fast when playing acoustic instruments. I also thought about the Edirol R-09 but the Zoom H4 records 96 KHz, has XY-setup for internal mic, external inputs with phantom power and is cheaper. Also i read some people complain about noise when using the internal mic on the Edirol R-09 so i´m leanig towards the Zoom H4. Any thouhgts? I will be using it mainly to capture sounds like trains, crowds talking, birds, cars, squiky doors etc., etc., etc. for sampling puposes...

[nvisibl]

looks nice

[jasedee]

I've been doing this exact same thing Onkel... for work though. I've been capturing various atmos (Parks, beaches, suburban streets, city streets, children playing etc) for the post production audio guys at work.

At the moment I am just taking a laptop with Mbox mini out with me. I am using a pair of Rode NT5 set up in ORTF configuration.

I would stay away from XY for recording spatial sounds like atmos. XY is suitable for close mic'ing stuff like guitars etc, but for the nice wide stereo stuff M/S, ORTF, or spaced Omni's seems better.

So the Zoom option would probably be better, due to the fact you can use other mics.

I am planning at some stage to get a Fostex FR2-LE:



One thing you should do if you are using studio mics for outdoor recordings is get some decent wind socks for your mics. Let us know how you go...

[Onkel Dunkel]

Thanks for the tips Jase. I think i´ll go for the Zoom but first i need to get my economi sorted

[Onkel Dunkel]

Ha ha, this is graet... I asked my stepfather what he knew about the Zoom H4 (he does a lot of recordings because he is blind; a recorder is like a camara to him) and he says that he has a Zoom H4 that he never uses because he found the menus to hard to navigate so he went for the Edirol R-09 because it´s easier to use (because he is blind easy usage means a lot to him). So i ask to buy it from him since he never uses it but he refused (twice) and insists that i can have it FOR FREE... No more than a month ago he gave me a GA Project TC1 tube mic that he also "never used". Happy me

[jasedee]

Nice one!

So... how is it? You given it a test drive yet? Let us know

[Onkel Dunkel]

I havn´t got it yet. My mom will bring it next weekend when she is going to babysit...

[Onkel Dunkel]

Ok, here´s a little first impression review:

Looks and feel:
Looks cool but it´s a little bit bigger than i thought. Still fits in a pocket though. It´s light and a bit too "plastic" for my taste and the menu/play-skip "joystick" seems like it won´t last forever. Other buttons are medicore quallity...

Navigation:
Menu are easy to navigate once you get a hang of it. The only thing that really annoys me is that you have to press the "menu" joystick to enter the menu but to navigate the menus you have to use a jog wheel on the side. Really pissing me off now but maybe i get used to it in time...

Internal mics:
I did a short recording of me playing melodica in the bathroom (recorded dry and no effects added). No comments on the playing please It satisfies my puposes. Judge for yourself:
http://hjem.get2net.dk/revolution/melodica.wav or
http://hjem.get2net.dk/revolution/melodica.mp3

External inputs:
Haven´t tried them yet...

Battery life:
It uses 2 AA sized batteries. I was out of batteries the day i got it so i used some used batteries (that worked fine in the remote or diskman) but it said low batery right away so i have a bad feeling that it doesn´t last long. I did charge some rechargables and they work for now but who knows for how long. It havn´t been much on since the change...

Features:
Built in XY condenser mic
2 external XLR/jack combi inputs with 24V or 48V phatom power
Records mp3 or wave format up to 24 bit, 96 kHz
Uses SD memory cards up to 2 Gb
2 USB modes, USB audio interface or storage mode (like a memory stick)
Can be used as a 4 track multi track recorder
50 internal effects (can only be used in 4 track multitrack mode, wierd)
Simulation of popular mics

Extras:
Comes with an AC adaptor and a holder for mouting it on a standard camara stand (great cause i have a small pocker sized one)

[jasedee]

Good stuff Onkel...

With any luck, I'll soon get my hands on this little beauty:



Putting a proposal soon for work to purchase one for the audio dept.

4 track, records to internal HDD or removeable CF cards, small, portable, rugged. Gorgeous preamps.

[Onkel Dunkel]

Looks nice