Zoom H4n Monitoring Question

Luis Caffesse

Luis Caffesse

Admin
Looking through the manual and I can't seem figure this out.

I want to run a lav mic into one of the inputs on the Zoom and record with the built in stereo mics at the same time (in 4 channel mode) - but I only want to monitor the lav mic through the headphones, not the stero mics.

Seems no matter what I do I'm monitoring all the inputs at once.

Any ideas?

(the manual is really poorly written by the way)
 
mcgeedigital said:
Will the FIRST thing to do is to not let that guy MICK touch it!
Click to expand...

Don't even joke.
:)

I'll say it before he does - the whole reason this thread is being posted is because of the job we just got back from shooting.... the lav audio wound up being useless for most of the interview, but I couldn't tell because while monitoring the stereo mics were overpowering the lav signal in the headphones.
 
I'm not of a way to monitor like that.

My only suggestion would be to turn down stereo mics, listen to the lav for a bit before you start shooting, then bring the stereo mic levels back up. Wouldn't help you monitor during the shot, but would give you a rough idea before you start filming what you'll get.
 
Looks like I may have figured it out - not perfect, but it seems to work.
If you go into the 'monitor' menu and set the mics to "mute" you will not hear them in the headphones - but they will still be recorded in 4CH mode.

The downside is that you will no longer see the meters for the mic audio on the unit while it's recording - you'll see the meters for the inputs, but not the built in stereo mics.

But - I just tested it out and all I coudl hear was the Lav mic.
The other downside - I'm only getting the lav mic out of one headphone... not both.
 
Gettting the lav in one ear even with the pan centered?

EDIT: Oh, I was thinking about multitrack mode, which allows you to pan each channel to your liking. Not sure if 4-ch mode works the same. Maybe you could use multitrack mode instead?
 
Seems like 4CH mode is the only mode in which I can record both the lav mic and stereo mics simultaneously and keep them as separate files.
 
Luis Caffesse said:
Seems like 4CH mode is the only mode in which I can record both the lav mic and stereo mics simultaneously and keep them as separate files.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, you'd have to record all the takes on one long track, which could lead to recording over something. Or you'd start a new file, but that would be a pain.

You could also rig up your headphones to monitor in mono. That might be the simplest solution with an adapter cable.
 
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