A LOT of Questions about Zoom H1

R

ravi.or.raj

New member
Do you have any tricks /guides for using the Zoom H1 to its best?

Im a total Novice when it comes to Audio , which will be evident from my questions below :

I used it for one of my earlier shorts, and the sound recorded was hardly audible, I had
set the gain at 0 db (may be that was a mistake?) . basically I'd like to know waht
settings to use for diffferent situations for eg. Indoors, Outdoors, market place etc. .
also how directional the Zoom H1 is (on its own , without any ext. mic) , what is the max
acceptable distance /angle to place it while indoor shoots.
And finally, can the zoom H1
be used to directly feed audio into a TM700 Camcoder via Aux jack(how?).

I know these are a LOT of questions, but i found this to be the bes forum to post this on.
 
No mic is going to work miracles at long distances. The rule is, "the closer, the better." Really, for dialog, the mic needs to be anywhere from 8" to 20" away, but 20" is on the outer edge of effective distance, depending some on the mic.

An external mic is going to be a much better solution, honestly. There's only so much you can do with the H1 on its own. And because of the limited inputs on the H1, a small field mixer might not be a bad idea. These are, of course, expenses that you need to judge based on your budget and how seriously you think you'll be working in the future.

You need to watch the meters and listen through headphones while you record. It's the only way to know you've gotten it right. Your sound should be averaging between -20dB and -12dB, with occasional peaks at -6dB.

As for feeding your camera, you'd need to get a padded cable to feed the 1/8" line out of the H1 into your camera's 1/8" mic-level input.
 
For most situations, the input gain can be at about 90%; a little less if you're concerned about volume spikes and want to leave some headroom. Loud live music, very close to the stage, you'd want to bring it back to between 15 and 30. The rest you'll have to experiment to find out what works best for you (especially the ambient settings you mentioned).

You can feed a camera directly, and even use the stereo mikes to pass audio to your camera without pressing "record" on the Zoom. Just use an 1/8" mini stereo male-to-male cable to go from the Zoom to your camera. If your TM700 camcorder has different audio input(s), get the appropriate cable or adaptor.

Keep plenty of batteries on-hand.

The microphones will distort (like any condenser mike) if you are too close to the source, even with voice-over/dialogue material, so don't get your face right into it! Also, you will probably want to purchase a wind screen, and a "dead wombat"-type furry screen as well for outdoor recording. Search for "windscreen for Zoom H1" on ebay.

GJ
 
Thanks for your replies...more questions :)

Thanks for your replies...more questions :)

Thanks to both of you for your replies. Based on your comments, I tried to play around with the Zoom H1 and my TM700. here is what I think I have understood so far (PLEASE CORRECT ME if im wrong) .

1. The Zoom H1 as a stand alone recorder works best when its at the most 20" away from the source.

2.When attached to the Camera by a 3.5 mm jack, the results up to a distance of 6 feet are acceptable (clearer than the cameras in built mic in "focus mode"). I don't think it has shotgun properties though.

3. The "Input level" buttons near the "line in" on the zoom control the audio level which is recorded into the zooms system. it can be around 75-90 in most cases.

4.In the "line out" side of the Zoom , there are volume keys, the levels on these control the audio level which is sent to the camera's sound system(right?).
5. In the camera, the mic levels should be set as AGC-OFF , and the levels should be -15, -9 db in correlation to the zooms line -out levels (right?).

So basically we need to control and monitor three different levels while coupling the zoom with the camera directly i.e. the zoom Line-in levels, zoom line-out volume levels and the cameras line in levels.
Do you have any reference combination for the above 3 levels which should be workable in most cases? My main use for this mic is going to be for short films (mainly shot indoors with camera at 4-8 feet distance from subject, with few outdoor shots)

and why is it that the zoom meter shows levels between 0 to -40 db (0 being highest peak), while the cameras mic levels are -21,-15...0 ,3...15 etc ( here negative values mean lowest).
 
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ravi.or.raj said:
...1. The Zoom H1 as a stand alone recorder works best when its at the most 20" away from the source.

2.When attached to the Camera by a 3.5 mm jack, the results up to a distance of 6 feet are acceptable (clearer than the cameras in built mic in "focus mode"). I don't think it has shotgun properties though.

...
Click to expand...

#1 It depends on what you're recording - speech and music present different considerations. For normal spoken dialog, 20 inches would be a practical maximum for the type of mic on the Zoom and at that range the results would still be less than par for serious use. Optimum recording distance is more like 12 inches from the speaker's mouth for cardioids. 20-24 inches is the normal working distance for a shotgun when recording dialog.

#2 The cable length you can get away with going into the camera's unbalanced 3.5 jack depends largely on what is going on electrically in the environment around you. If you're filming in an office close to lights with a noisy dimmer or flourescents with a faulty ballast, for example, you might get buzz in your audio even if your cable is quite short. OTOH, if you're filming on a remote beach, you might get away with a 20 foot cable without any signal degradation or noise pickup.
 
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Looks like what you have is right, the most important being that you have to monitor all three levels. The units use different metering systems, which is why you have to get used to the way they work, and monitor sound carefully. Use headphones.

I have found that the Zoom stereo condensers are very sensitive in ambient applications, but they are not intended for "shotgun" use. Also, mind what Steve said above, but also be aware that _too_ close is not good with the H1; you will get distortion and popping if you're not careful (and you probably should use a windscreen), as condensers can be overwhelmed by moisture and heat (such as produced by a close-talker in a voice-over situation!), and the Zoom is not outfitted with RF technology condensers or Neumann microphones-- it will work fine, but monitor sound with phones, mind all three of the volume levels that you described, and don't try to use it as a "close mike." Used in the application it was designed for, it will be fine.

GJ
 
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