egproductions
Veteran
~Just a little disclaimer that I don't know jack about audio relative to some of the folks here so please correct me if any of my assessments are incorrect.~
So I just got my zoom h4n that I will be using in conjuction with the 5D II and Rhode videomic. (I needed something of my own to play with as my wife spends her time exploring all that is her iphone 4) I could never justify buying an external audio recorder when I was shooting with my XL2 since the audio circuitry in the XL2 is pretty decent and was good enough for my purposes the majority of the time. Now that I am starting to use my 5D for video, It's definitely a necessity if for nothing else than to be able to adjust and monitor levels on the fly.
The H4n seems to be the weapon of choice for DSLR filmakers since it's pretty affordable and is said to offer very good qaulity and clean preamps as compared to other units in it's price range. I hear good thinks about the juicelink mixer going str8 into the camera but personally I don't want to be tethered to the camera when I need boomed audio and I don't really care about audio quality when I'm mounting a mic to the camera itself anyway.
The build of the device seems to be pretty solid...not knowing anything about the chasis inside, I can imagine dropping this and it being ok other than the stereo mics that are exposed. A mixpre which has a metal enclosure is much more of a workhorse but for something with a digital display this seems pretty solid.
The design of the H4n is a little outdated (I'm ridiculous enough to appreciate this) It actually looks like a startrek tricorder..in one of the older series. Even though it looks a little outdated, it still causes heads to turn to try to figure out what in the world that guy is holding!?
As expected the premaps are very clean and much nicer than the h4 (although the h4 is good too) The thing I'm impressed most about this unit are the built in stereo mics. The pickup pattern is very good for recording ambient sound effects and suprisingly when you put the foam dampener on, it can be used for V/O work with very pleasing results. I used to use my rhode videomic for V/O work since its directional and eliminated background noise, however, since its a shotgun, the lows are too warm and muffled when used at such close dinstances. The h4n at a close distance gives a very balanced tone with good lows and crisp highs.
The main reason I had to go with the h4n over the h4 is that I've use the h4 before and adjusting the audio levels on the fly was very annoying. The h4n doesn't have physical mixer knobs but the button to adjust level is the next best thing.
There are some interesting features this device had built in (9/10th of which I have no clue how to use). There is a feature to automatically start recording once a specified level is reached (good for a slate although I don't intedn on using it incase it engages by accident) There is also a prerecord function that allows for a 2-1 second prerecord so you don't miss any action. If you are using this function with teh onboard mics then it's useless because you hear the sound of you hitting the record button. Even for external mics it doesn't offer too much benefit because if you are recording at the higher quality wav files you will only be left with a 1 second prerecord which isn't much at all. Even 2 seconds isn't great so I have this feature enabled but I don't see it ever really saving the day.
I love using this device in order to bypass my laptops sound card. I can record str8 into audacity for V/O work with ease and I get the best of both worlds. The interface of the h4n is not super intuitive but its not too dificult to use either. I have to learn that pressing the record buttons once only initiates the file and that I have to press it again to start recording. I can imagine messing up on a shoot and not recording when I think I am becuase pressing it once causes a red light to flash around the rec button...this really makes me think its recording when it really isn't.
Not really sure what the quality benefit of recording @ 96khz/ 24bit does. Doesn't sound different to me than the 44/16 but perhaps its like video where because you sampled the video/audio more frequently and at a higher bit depth you can slow it down and have it sound better or apply filters without it breaking up as much.
That's all I got that is worth mentioning. I need a good external hypercardiod and a longer range shotgun.
So I just got my zoom h4n that I will be using in conjuction with the 5D II and Rhode videomic. (I needed something of my own to play with as my wife spends her time exploring all that is her iphone 4) I could never justify buying an external audio recorder when I was shooting with my XL2 since the audio circuitry in the XL2 is pretty decent and was good enough for my purposes the majority of the time. Now that I am starting to use my 5D for video, It's definitely a necessity if for nothing else than to be able to adjust and monitor levels on the fly.
The H4n seems to be the weapon of choice for DSLR filmakers since it's pretty affordable and is said to offer very good qaulity and clean preamps as compared to other units in it's price range. I hear good thinks about the juicelink mixer going str8 into the camera but personally I don't want to be tethered to the camera when I need boomed audio and I don't really care about audio quality when I'm mounting a mic to the camera itself anyway.
The build of the device seems to be pretty solid...not knowing anything about the chasis inside, I can imagine dropping this and it being ok other than the stereo mics that are exposed. A mixpre which has a metal enclosure is much more of a workhorse but for something with a digital display this seems pretty solid.
The design of the H4n is a little outdated (I'm ridiculous enough to appreciate this) It actually looks like a startrek tricorder..in one of the older series. Even though it looks a little outdated, it still causes heads to turn to try to figure out what in the world that guy is holding!?
As expected the premaps are very clean and much nicer than the h4 (although the h4 is good too) The thing I'm impressed most about this unit are the built in stereo mics. The pickup pattern is very good for recording ambient sound effects and suprisingly when you put the foam dampener on, it can be used for V/O work with very pleasing results. I used to use my rhode videomic for V/O work since its directional and eliminated background noise, however, since its a shotgun, the lows are too warm and muffled when used at such close dinstances. The h4n at a close distance gives a very balanced tone with good lows and crisp highs.
The main reason I had to go with the h4n over the h4 is that I've use the h4 before and adjusting the audio levels on the fly was very annoying. The h4n doesn't have physical mixer knobs but the button to adjust level is the next best thing.
There are some interesting features this device had built in (9/10th of which I have no clue how to use). There is a feature to automatically start recording once a specified level is reached (good for a slate although I don't intedn on using it incase it engages by accident) There is also a prerecord function that allows for a 2-1 second prerecord so you don't miss any action. If you are using this function with teh onboard mics then it's useless because you hear the sound of you hitting the record button. Even for external mics it doesn't offer too much benefit because if you are recording at the higher quality wav files you will only be left with a 1 second prerecord which isn't much at all. Even 2 seconds isn't great so I have this feature enabled but I don't see it ever really saving the day.
I love using this device in order to bypass my laptops sound card. I can record str8 into audacity for V/O work with ease and I get the best of both worlds. The interface of the h4n is not super intuitive but its not too dificult to use either. I have to learn that pressing the record buttons once only initiates the file and that I have to press it again to start recording. I can imagine messing up on a shoot and not recording when I think I am becuase pressing it once causes a red light to flash around the rec button...this really makes me think its recording when it really isn't.
Not really sure what the quality benefit of recording @ 96khz/ 24bit does. Doesn't sound different to me than the 44/16 but perhaps its like video where because you sampled the video/audio more frequently and at a higher bit depth you can slow it down and have it sound better or apply filters without it breaking up as much.
That's all I got that is worth mentioning. I need a good external hypercardiod and a longer range shotgun.
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