Zoom H1 Line Out

C

cyclonebill

Active member
I'm considering buying the Zoom H1 to use in conjunction with my T2i.

It would mostly be for run and gun stuff, and this is the set up I'm envisioning, just wondering if it's possible (without a significant loss in quality) from anyone who actually owns an H1 and has tested this:

H1 recording onto SD card.

An 1/8 splitter going from Line Out to:
1) a pair of headphones for monitoring (aside from line out, the h1 has no headphone jack right?)
2) into the T2i's external mic jack.

Basically I'd like to plug into the t2i to make the audio easier to sync. Headphone monitoring is a must for me due to the lack of audio meters though.

I assume that the audio picked up by the t2i will be AGC, and the audio that the H1 records onto card will then be manual gain (assuming it's set as such), right?
 
Caution - with the setup you indicated you're going to be feeding a LINE output level into a MIC level input. That's a recipe for overload with distortion and clipping. I know you intend to use the camera audio as a scratch track but still you don't want to mangle it too much. Add a pad in that cable to knock the level down.
 
very interesting, thanks for the info.

Would the T2i's AGC take care of the clipping/overload or no?

sorry, I'm an audio newb, what exactly do you mean by pad? just another cable in between?
 
No, the signal would be damaged right at the input, well upstream of the camera's recording gain controls. Once the signal is damaged, all the camera controls / AGC can possibly do is make the already distorted signal louder or softer. To prevent it happening, you need to reduce the level before it gets to the camera. You can turn down the output of the Zoom, but to get it from line/headphone level all the way down to mic level you'll need to turn it down so far it won't drive your headphones. The answer is to insert a resistance network called an attenuator or attenuating pad into the branch of cable going to the camera somewhere between your "Y" splitter and the camera input. Frankly I'm not a big fan of using headphone outputs to drive other gear nor of using a splitter on them in the manner you suggest. It's difficult to get proper gain staging when the output has a volume control that you'll be adjusting ... turn down the loudness because it's too loud in your ears for comfort and the recording level sent to the camera also changes. Also the impedences are wrong. Better to use a mixer of some sort that has multiple isolated outputs plus a headphone output. One output from the mixer goes to the audio recorder, the other to the camera, and the headphones plug into their own dedicated monitor output.

Why the H1? What are you going to use as mics? Is your idea to record with the H1's internal mics? IMHO it's going to be very difficult to work the camera AND get the recorder close enough to the subject to be any good for recording speech. You could record music from farther away but for speech you'll need to get the mic, hence the H1, within about a foot to 18 inches away from the speaker's mouth .... hard to do when you're also working the camera from a decent shooting position.
 
You have to try it, the input stage of the camera may have a hybrid design that accepts line and mic level signals. The splitter on the HPs and the line input may or may not create a load issue.
 
This attenuator cable may do the trick:

http://www.core-sound.com/attenuator-cables.html

Choose the -20db version.

You may want to see if there is any delyy in the signal coming out of the Zoom. I seem to remember someone saying that what they heard coming out was slightly behind the audio coming from the source (person talking). I could be wrong, but it's worth verifying.
 
interesting stuff, thanks for the info guys.

I was thinking of using the H1's internal mic, but I have a seperate mic as well. It's mostly for low budget documentary-ish stuff (interviews and so on) and my budget's a little tight, so I might have to go this route, play around with it and hope for the best.
 
You'll want a -50db cable like the DVcreator Line to Mic cable to hit the sweet spot. I use one with the Zoom H1 in this video along with a RODE VC1 10' Extension cable. I'm using a Y cable to split the signal to headphones and to the Canon 5D Mark II. Works great.

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