Zoom H2 bar room recordings...

C

Cb

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672
J

jazzguitarplay

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1,910
i got one, its very usefull. i heard somebody describe it as being a camera to capture photo moments but the h2 captures audio moments. Great piece of gear for the money. Wish I had this thing 20 years ago. All the gigs ive done and never recorded them but now this gives you an other option to capture the moment.
 
S

SGNick

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3,578
The H2 and H4 are definitively fantastic recording tools. I love my H4 for all sorts of applications, from multitrack recording, to recording my hard to understand biochemistry teacher for future reference!
 
I

isfahani

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487
jazzguitarplay said:
...Wish I had this thing 20 years ago. All the gigs ive done and never recorded them but now this gives you an other option to capture the moment.
Click to expand...

lol me too - except I did record them, almost all of them! This box of cassette tapes from the last 20+ years has been staring at me for about 8 years now... waiting... so I finally ordered a tascam cassette deck to start on doing the transfers the hard way this year! It's been great to wake up the next day after a gig and transfer the files over to the PC and do what needs to be done, and then burn it off and archive it (both CDR hardcopy, of course - also make mp3's [@256k] as a backup and easy access for listening and sharing)

I prefer the H2 for ease of use and size, and speaking of ease: if you haven't got a USB card reader yet, get one, as the USB out on the H2 only does like USB 1.0 speeds. Sloooooooooow in comparison.
 
Redhouse-Blues

Redhouse-Blues

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Wow, that sounds great! That's exactly what I'm looking for. I have been recording gig's and practice with an iPod and the Belkin mic and the quality sucks. I have been looking at the H4 and if that's the kind of quality I can get, I'm sold. Can you tell me more about the setup? The mics and what ever else you did to get it to sound that good? Does the H4 sound as good as the H2?
 
S

SGNick

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3,578
The H4 sounds great! It's far more directional, but the manual covers all that. I can upload some clips shortly of a sloppy as hell, damn I don't want to be here, we all have things to do, we haven't played together or at all in at least 8 monthes jam session, just so you can hear a bit of what it sounds like
 
S

SGNick

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3,578
Ok, here's 2 tests.

Like I said... probably the worse playing we've ever recorded, but the first time we used the H4 to record something so I decided to let it slide. All using the built in mics.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=758446&songID=6190550

I also thought you'd enjoy a different recording where all the instruments are direct-in to the H4 using the built in pre-amps and effects.

the drum and vocals were recorded using the built in mics.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=758446&songID=6150723
 
Redhouse-Blues

Redhouse-Blues

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2,517
Both of those recordings sound great and it sounds like the H4 will do what I need and that's sit in the room and record what's being played and play back with much better quality then just a little digital recorder and the iPod setup. Have you tried any other mic's with it? I wonder how it would do with a SM57 placed right in front of an amp?
 
C

Cb

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Redhouse-Blues said:
...Can you tell me more about the setup? The mics and what ever else you did to get it to sound that good? Does the H4 sound as good as the H2?
Click to expand...

I was using the cheaper H2, and have no experience with the H4. I read a Zoom board where they say that the auro-gain & limiter functions are useless if you intend to use the Zoom as a capture device, and will "edit' on a PC later.

http://www.2090.org/zoom/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=9745

Here are the settings I used:

Used the 120 degree pair of internal mics facing the band (in a mic stand, about 5 feet off the ground, just in front of sax player's music stand (no other room), Mic Gain Switch set to middle, recording level 100, no auto-gain or limiting, recorded at the 48khz/24bit wav format. Nothing but trimming and fades later on my PC using Audacity, then encoded to 320K MP3.

Cb :cool:
 
S

SGNick

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3,578
The limiter so far has always come in handy. I guess the autogain was on, I just didn't notice. recording came out fine so I'm not one to blast it, but it takes 2 seconds to turn off.

Haven't tried it with other mics, but the stereo (as opposed to 4 track mode) has mic models that sound alright.
 
Slyib

Slyib

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328
I also use my H2 with the included "broomstick" placed in a boom mic stand to record rehearsals. It has helped capture things that need polishing, which for me is the beauty of it. And since it's also an ASIO device, I can also record directly to my laptop, if I'm so inclined. Awesome unit.

Back in the day, I used a Beta Hi-Fi deck, as it would record 4.5 hours of full bandwidth audio (no video) in Hi-Fi mode. I kept one unit at the studio and one at home for playback.

BTW, Cb, those are some tasty recordings. Great band. Real B3 or clone?

- Brett
 
Redhouse-Blues

Redhouse-Blues

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2,517
I made a mistake in my last post, I ordered the H2 not the H4. The H4 has a bunch of stuff I don't need and the H2 is just right. I'm waiting on UPS now.

The March 2008 Acoustic Guitar Mag has a great write up on the H2 and has nothing but great things to say about it.
 
franksguitar

franksguitar

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3,683
The H2 is great we post our best on our web site. I used to use reel to reel, casette, VHS etc. in the past It shows warts and all, and great moments too. I've already filled 2, 4 gig cards and dumped to CD www.thenightshades.com
 
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