What is wrong with this clip?

D

DNathan

Well-known member
Captured on a Zoom H2 on 'speech' setting with medium mic gain. I'm pretty sure it's just peaking out, but the audio waveforms aren't creating a wall. The speaker is not blowing into the thing, and it's filmed indoors. It's not rubbing anything either. The Zoom was recently dropped.

www.legacyhdv.com/bad.wav

I'm having a really hard time getting the right amount of signal -- it either peaks or I don't have enough sound. I use 'speech' for ceremonies and 'concert' for micing the PA at receptions.
 
Did it do this ever before you dropped it?

Hard to say what the distortion is if you're just using the internal mics. Try turning off all gimmicky settings like "speech" or wind reduction, limiter, mic modeling etc. You need a clean slate. Also you should be wearing headphones when you record, so you can tell something's up at the onset. Once you have everything set to just plain stereo recording, do a test with all 3 gain settings, and varying level settings.

There is a chance you dented the screen protecting the mics, and it is sitting on a mic element, and vibrating from peoples voices.

Also try plugging an external mic into the thing and see if you get the same sound. Or try your iPod, again at all 3 gain settings.

Also how close was the unit to peoples mouths? With no foam or furry on the thing their voice, or air from talking could easily blow out the sensitive condenser mics. I have a Zoom H4, and I had to put the foam on when singing into it from 3 feet away because air from my singing would rumble out the mics.

Do it all with a set of headphones on, not earbuds - headphones that cover your ears. It doesn't sound like digital clipping. But you could be blowing out the inputs.
 
Thanks Chadfish. Yeah, same thing with a lav. Two new things I'm doing is LoCut and MonoMix. I use LoCut for wind noise, and MonoMix so I don't have to do it in post. I think I'll forget the 'speech' business and do more testing with the headphones.
 
Two weddings this weekend. The Zooms worked perfectly. Next time I will introduce Monomix, as it saves me a ton of time in post. I don't think 'speech' or 'concert' settings help much anyway.

THANK YOU!
 
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