Zoom H4 help

[MyFilmPro]

Hello,

I just bought a Zoom H4 for recording sound and I was wondering what settings to use? Is mp3 quality okay for voice? I'm making shorts and in the future looking to a feature. 44 or 48? I've been told that 96 can distort voice, and it'll eat a lot of file size. I have a few 8 gig SD cards and basically just want the best quality possible without going into overkill and eating needless file space.

thanks.

 

[Alex H.]

Never, ever, ever use MP3 when recording audio for film or video. You'll have more editing and sync problems that you'll know what to do with. MP3 is a distribution format, not an editing one.

In the world of digital video editing, the standard audio rate is 16-bit/48kHz. You should stay with this. I record double-system sound on a Zoom H4, and typically use 16/48.

It easier (and cleaner) to convert bit rate as opposed to sample rate. You can record at 24-bit and drop to 16-bit with no issues. But if you record at 44.1 and try to convert to 48k, you'll have some nasty artifacting. The only exception to this is if you record at a higher sample rate that is a perfect multiple of your target rate. In other words, you can record at 88.2 and drop it to 44.1 in post with no problems at all. Likewise, recording at 96k will allow you to drop to 48k later without issues.

I have not heard of 96k distorting speech (the RED ONE's in-camera audio records at 24/96), but it does take up tons of space.