Sensitivity Zoom h4n?

RieniO

RieniO

Well-known member
I have to put the recording level on 100% to get reasonable level when recording from my two external XLR shotgun mikes and I can't find anything in the manual about changing sensitivity. Is there some way to change this?

Apart from this I love the Zoom!
 
Are you talking about monitoring using headphones while you are recording or the actual playback?

When you monitor while recording you can turn up the volume in the menu.
 
No I am talking about the level of recording. It's just not loud enough. On vidcamcorders you often find something like a -6dB switch and I was hoping to find something like this in the menu.
 
On the right side of the H4 there is a Gain L/M/H switch for mics and each line...not sure about the H4N.
 
Do your mics need phantom power? They might be underpowered so check to see if your the phantom power is on. I think there are two power settings.
 
e-steve, I am also buying the H4n for my soon to be delivered GH1. I will be using the H4n primarily for video interviews. I have a sennheiser shotgun and a sennheiser wireless lav. Both use XLR. Can you tell me the best way to set up these mics on the H4n? Also, I have been reading that for voice, the H4n's own mics are fantastic. Should I just use those instead of my external mics?

One other question. I also edit on a mac and FCP. What are the best settings for audio on the H4n to then bring into FCP?

Thanks!
 
You should'nt have problems. Plainty of gain with my RODE NTG-1 here.

The stock mics are surprisingly good indeed but very thick sounding and bass heavy with voices when you compare with a good mic.
 
I'm not an audio expert, so I can't say I could give you the best answers...

The onboard H4n's mics are nice, but I tend to use my shotgun mic over the h4n in most cases. The H4n's mics are probably better suited for recording live performances instead of interviews, where you're looking for a very focused pickup. The H4n's mics tend to capture a wider area (there are two settings for this). Still, if you have the h4n close enough, you probably can get decent sound.

To use both XLR inputs just plug them in! You would probably set the H4n to record in stereo (instead of mono or 4-track), and then press one of the two mic input buttons to activate the xlrs (instead of the on-board). There are a bunch of settings that you'll probably just want to look through and read the manual for best results.

I have just started bringing in audio from the H4n into FCP, and I tend to record all my audio at 48khz, since that is native for FCP.
 
e-steve said:
Do your mics need phantom power? They might be underpowered so check to see if your the phantom power is on. I think there are two power settings.
Click to expand...

I have an Azden and a Rode mike and both are powered by batteries.
 
Since you have powered mics you probably should disable the phantom power on the H4n to conserve power, but I'm not sure if that will fix your levels issue.
 
That makes me think of something... I use Stamina mode so I can work longer without changing batteries but the manual says that will give you less functionalities so I will try to switch off stamina mode and see if that gives an extra option in the menu to change sensitivity.
 
Couple of things about Stamina mode -- even with this turned on you will still zip through batteries if phantom power is enabled. And it limits you to 44.1/16bit. Whether that's good enough or not depends on what you're doing with the audio -- 48/24bit gives you more latitude if you need to correct your audio in post.
 
I found the phantom option but wasn't sure whether to choose 24 or 48 volts, but most mikes are 48 volts, right?
 
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