Interview sound

mojo43

mojo43

Well-known member
Looking for suggestions for a mic and an audio recording device for the GH1 that I can use for an interview shoot. Is the Zoom H4N still the best bang for the buck?

Thanks in advance...
 
I think the H4N works great but get a good mic to go with it. Either a good lav or shotgun will make you happy. For interview stuff, the internal mic of the H4N just won't cut it.
 
Has anyone tried the Zoom H2 - the smaller, cheaper version of the H4? As they are about half the price of an H4, I was wondering if they were worth considering.
 
The H2 mic input has the worst noise of any of the widely used portable recorders - it's universally acknowledged in the relevant forums and even more importantly, that's my personal experience too! Nobody has been able to explain why that should be so, when its built in mics are perfectly acceptable in terms of low noise (by way of test, I've done crazy things like getting my H2 hoisted high above the audience at a major concert hall here and recorded a world famous choir and organ with remarkably good results).

Now clearly Cavemandude is happy with his rig, which may be that his particular mic happens to suit the H2 input. But I have to say his experience is unusual.

At the moment the 'flavour of the month' when it comes to 3.5mm mic input recorders is the Sony M10. But it costs more than the H2 of course. However, using a recorder intended to accept and power XLR-equipped mics does give you a radically wider choice of mic (on radically longer mic leads).

For general forum reading on portable recorders (but in the audio-only context) see http://taperssection.com/index.php/board,11.0.html
 
Energy80s said:
Has anyone tried the Zoom H2 - the smaller, cheaper version of the H4? As they are about half the price of an H4, I was wondering if they were worth considering.
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much noiser preamps than H4n, had both. now use Oade Brothers modified Marantz 661 for lowest noise. If you can afford it go with Sound Devices recorders.
 
Ya, I will always try to go Line In on the Zoom H2 with my wireless mics and audio mixer. The Mic Input of the Zoom H2 is not very sensitive so high output mics like the Sennheiser ME64 (which is in the pic I included in my last post) can work ok but a mics like the Shure SM58 or Electro-Voice RE50 don't have enough output even with the Zoom H2 Mic Gain switch set to high and the gain level all the way up at 127. That's probably why people have noise problems with the preamps on the Zoom H2.

So if you need to use mic level sources that don't have high output levels, the Zoom H2 may not be the best choice. Works much better as a line level recorder or with high output mics.

Randy
 
OK, thanks for the input. Liked the post about Sound Devices recorders - yes they are nice but at twice the price of a GH1 not in my price range (although we have 7 of them at my workplace). Was also looking at the little Tascam Portastudio which will give 4 track recording (although not at the same time)for a similar price.
 
H4n will do 4 track too

H4n will do 4 track too

H4n will do 4 track recording as well, 2 tracks from the mics on the device, or an unbalanced 3.5mm input, and 2 xlr inputs, gives you 4 tracks.

To be honest, I can't be happier with the H4n, I use an AKG Hyper Cardoid and an AT803 Lav. mic that is stellar. Go H4n and be able to 'upgrade' to any other audio mic/device ever built. (that is my opinion anyway)
 
Technically, it only does 2-track recording. But you can mix down 4 inputs (2 onboard mics, 2 external) into those two tracks.


●Simultaneous Recording Tracks: 2 ●Simultaneous Playback Tracks: 2 ●Functions: Lo-cut Filter, Compressor/Limiter, Mono Mix, M/SStereo Decoder, Auto-Rec, Pre-Rec, Tuner, Metronome, A-B Repeat, Variable Speed Playback, File Dividing, Normalize, MP3 Post-Encode, Marker ●Recording Format: WAV (Quantization: 16/24bit, Sampling Frequency: 44.1/48/96kHz), MP3 (Bit Rate: 48/56/64/80/96/112/128/160/192/224/256/320kbps/VBR, Sampling Frequency: 44.1kHz) ●Playback Format: WAV （Quantization: 16/24bit, Sampling Frequency: 44.1/48/96kHz), MP3 (Bit Rate: 32/40/48/56/64/80/96/112/128/160/192/224/256/320kbps/VBR, Sampling Frequency: 44.1/48kHz)

<4CH Mode>
●Simultaneous Recording Tracks: 4 ●Simultaneous Playback Tracks: 4 ●Functions: Lo-cut Filter, Compressor/Limiter, M/S Stereo Decoder, Auto-Rec, Pre-Rec, Tuner, Metronome, A-B Repeat, Normalize, Marker ●Recording Format: WAV (Quantization: 16/24bit, Sampling Frequency: 44.1/48kHz) ●Playback Format: WAV (Quantization: 16/24bit, Sampling Frequency: 44.1/48kHz)
 
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I'll confirm that the H2 does have a very noisy preamp, for external mics. It's built in mics are quite nice though and I find it very useful little tool for ambient sound etc. I shot this interview a couple of months ago, using a Rode M3 plugged into the H2. You can hear that it is very noisy, though some of that is because we were so busy chatting that we forgot to turn off the drives in the studio! Ozpeter seems to know what he's talking about when it comes to this recorder, so good advice from him.

[size=+2]A conversation with Doc Rossi
[/size]
 
After reading up on the Sony PCM-M10, it looks like I'll be getting one of those. Still has the small form factor I want with the GH1 and equal/better sound quality than the larger Zoom H4n. Other features I like are the 4GB built-in flash memory, great battery life, nice button layout and a remote control is included.

No XLR inputs but I already have cables to deal with that and my mics are all battery powered or dynamic. Hopefully it can drive the Electro-Voice RE50 to a decent recording level without having to max out everything like on the H2.

Randy
 
Technically, it only does 2-track recording. But you can mix down 4 inputs (2 onboard mics, 2 external) into those two tracks.
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Simultaneous Recording Tracks: 4
Click to expand...

I don't own the H4N but my understanding based on reading a lot of reports is that it does record 4 discrete tracks, if you want it to (as implied by the spec you posted too).

The Sony M10 I do have and it's a lovely little machine - very nice to use in terms of display, menu structure, button layout and so forth. The downside (which may be irrelevant in the context of this thread) is that the built in mics, while very low noise and good frequency response, are omnidirectional. And using omni mics very close together isn't suggested anywhere in the sound recording literature, as it leads to low frequencies getting pushed to the centre of the stereo image and higher frequencies pushed to the edges, which gives a rather muddy sounding stereo image.
 
Ok, so it sounds like H4n is the way to go...

One other quick question: I am only doing one interview session and have a limited budget. If I were to slap a studio condenser mic in front of the subject but out of frame and plug this into the H4n, would that produce fair enough results or should I purchase a proper mic instead?

Thanks again...
 
mojo43 said:
Ok, so it sounds like H4n is the way to go...

I am only doing one interview session and have a limited budget. If I were to slap a studio condenser mic in front of the subject but out of frame and plug this into the H4n, would that produce fair enough results or should I purchase a proper mic instead?
...
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First of, a studio condenser is a proper microphone. Whether it is the appropriate microphone is another question.

Secondly, anything that gets you the sound you want (or a close approximation depending on budget, etc.,) is OK to use.

However, only you can tell whether what you want to use in this instance, will actually work.

If the microphone is a cardiod, and you can get the microphone near enough, then yes, it should work. But don't expect something like what I imagine you might use, to give decent results at any distance over 1 foot.
 
stoneinapond said:
First of, a studio condenser is a proper microphone. Whether it is the appropriate microphone is another question.

Secondly, anything that gets you the sound you want (or a close approximation depending on budget, etc.,) is OK to use.

However, only you can tell whether what you want to use in this instance, will actually work.

If the microphone is a cardiod, and you can get the microphone near enough, then yes, it should work. But don't expect something like what I imagine you might use, to give decent results at any distance over 1 foot.
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Understood... I used it to record music for album work, but I guess a good lapel mic would be a better option.

Thanks...
 
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