New to zoom H4N what options to use?

lee caropolo

lee caropolo

Active member
Hi everyone I just bought a zoom h4n and a rode ntg 3 im shooting my first scene tomorrow! My sound guy can't make it...So im trying to just get all the inputs right. The sound for the scene is outside on a quiet street at night maybe some cars going by there is some dialouge.

1) What is the best mode? I was thinking stereo?
2) Phantom power is 48v is this correct?
3) How do i set the rec levels to get best possible sound?
4) Is there anything else important i should know in the optioning of the zoom?

Sorry for all these questions ive spent some time practicing with the 5d but really neglected the sound because i thought this person would show up. I have not had the time to search the forums for this info any info is greatly appreciated!!!
 
Hi, there will be running footsteps on a wet sidewalk and a girl calls out to someone who is driving away in a car. He gets out of the car and there is some dialogue. Another scene will be dialogue inside the car as they drive.
 
Sorry, just read the rest of your post about the scene (it's late here in Germany).

So outside shoot with car and other ambient noises.

Think of sound as an orchestra. Lot's of different instruments. You can record them stereo all at once but then you have to live with the final soundmix more or less. No way that you'll get that second violin any louder seperately. Meaining: record as much as possible seperately.

Same with noise in your scene and the dialogue.

So, you record the ambient sounds of that scene with your Hn4 internal mics stereo. Two minutes (with not more than 5-10 cars driving buy unless it is a constant stream of cars that you want as background noise) should be enough to work with in post-production. You can do that in a break when none of your crew (if there is anyone besides you) is making any sound.
You do that for EVERY location. Even in the car. Every room has his own background noise. Like a fingerprint. We can actually sense that way how big a room is with our eyes closed. I can very often hear that dialogue was rerecorded (ADRed) when they do not manage to make the reverb sound like the original room.


Then the rest of your attention is all about the dialogue, which is always recorded mono. That is where the Rodemic is coming into play:

Imagine it to be like a flashlight, the light coming out of its tip. Where ever the light would hit an object is where it will record sound. It is not like a laser pointer, more like a flashlight, so the further you are away from the object you want to record, the bigger the area is (light cone) that you actually record. Meaning: bring the mic as close to your actors as possiple without it being in frame or throwing shadows in frame. Point it towards the mouth of the actor speaking. If it is a dialogue, you'll have to point it to the person speaking (you'll have to know the dialogue). Shoot a close-up of the dialogue with the mic real close. That sound can actually be used for wider shots later because in wider shots you can't really see if sound is not perfectly lip-sync. Also: if you record one actor at a time, just record his sound and make sure, that the other person in the dialogue is not speaking while he/she is. Meaning: no overlapping. That way you can decide in editing, if maybe you want actor 2 reacting a bit later than he really did while shooting. (This just additional tips. Nobody exspects you to do perfectly the first time you do this; I just want to give you a feel what recording sound on set is about).

ALWAYS LISTEN TO WHAT YOU RECORD WHILE RECORDING. USE HEADPHONES.

Record wav-files. 48khz. Set the H4N up so that it doesn't clip (meaning it doesn't get distorted when you record louder sounds. This always depends on what you are recording).
...

Last of all: do not worry to much. If you have access to the actors after your principal photography is wrapped (doesn'T that sound cool) you can rerecord everything in your living room. Only condition for that: the original sound of your actors must be good enough for them to hear themselves above all the noise so that they can recreate/copy their original performance. If they have never done that before, take your time. They'll get there. Just listen closely, compare both versions until they get it right. Sentence after sentence.

Don't forget: sound is 50%. The rest is catering :)
 
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Btw. any young filmmaker in NY that has experience with sound recording who wants to help out our friend here tomorrow?
 
Fix mix i can't thank you enough for all that detailed information. Its really given me some insight and i feel a little more secure for tomorrow. I was planning on doing everything in stereo but you say to do the dialogue in mono how do i set the h4n to do that? Sorry for my long absence to your post i had to run with one of my actors to old navy to put together a wardrobe at the last minute lol. Right now im figuring out the blimp suspension system fitting the michrophone in and all.
 
I just realized my shotgun mic is a mono device is this right that i should only hear out of the left side of my head phones?
 
The mic is mono, yes. That's a good thing! :) If you record onto a stereotrack, yes you'll hear only one channel on the left. I do not use the H4N but I am pretty sure there is a setting for mono recording. Check the manual.
 
The shoot went really well. I was able to get all my shots. I gave a friend a crashcourse in the zoom H4n from my.....extensive knowledge lol. It was actually a great shoot to learn the basics because their were only 3 lines for the scene one of them with the actresses back to the camera. So lots of room for error. Some dog was barking in the background! I would like to be a little stricter for the next shoot using a clapboard and doing it the right way! Thanks fix mix for your help!!
 
lee caropolo said:
The shoot went really well. I was able to get all my shots. I gave a friend a crashcourse in the zoom H4n from my.....extensive knowledge lol.
Click to expand...

Went better than my first, my friend managed to record the first take... and I never thought to check after that. Somehow he hit the wrong button the entirety of the day.
 
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