Zoom H4n or H1???

A

allahkaram

Well-known member
I'm thinking about putting some money into sound. I'm on a very tight budget and in need for some experts opinions.

Share what you guys have and what works best for you and if you were in my shoes what would you do?

I want broadcast acceptable quality... Thanks.
 
What's your intended purpose? Are you recording ambient tracks and sound beds, or are you looking for a solution for dialog recording? What camera are you using? Do you plan to use external mics?

These are two very different tools for two very different purposes.
 
H1 does not have XLR inputs, so if you want broadcast quality as most pro mics are XLR, you'll want to go with H4n.
 
But what about using 1/8" to XLR would that work with h1? Also, I want a little bit of both dialogue and ambiance... Eventually I would like to add the sennheiser wireless lav and rode ntg2 to the kit... Any suggestions???
 
allahkaram said:
But what about using 1/8" to XLR would that work with h1? Also, I want a little bit of both dialogue and ambiance... Eventually I would like to add the sennheiser wireless lav and rode ntg2 to the kit... Any suggestions???
Click to expand...

If that's the case then go for the H4n.

You can feed both, your wireless and shotgun mic into the H4n.
Then use the "Line Out" on the H4n and feed that to your camera for backup/sync audio. Use a cable like this for Line to mic purposes. Line to Mic cable

If you wanted to take it a step further, you could send two wireless feeds tot he H4n as well as use the onboard mics for ambient audio pickup. Then feed this into your camera as well.
 
vegas06 said:
If that's the case then go for the H4n.

You can feed both, your wireless and shotgun mic into the H4n.
Then use the "Line Out" on the H4n and feed that to your camera for backup/sync audio. Use a cable like this for Line to mic purposes. Line to Mic cable

If you wanted to take it a step further, you could send two wireless feeds tot he H4n as well as use the onboard mics for ambient audio pickup. Then feed this into your camera as well.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the advice. I think I will go with h4n... Clear winner!
 
vegas06 said:
If you wanted to take it a step further, you could send two wireless feeds tot he H4n as well as use the onboard mics for ambient audio pickup. Then feed this into your camera as well.
Click to expand...

Why would you do that? Ambient sound is never recorded at the same time/in the same room as dialog. Dialog should be recorded as clean and dry as possible. All things ambient are recorded/created separately and then added in post.
 
"Why would you do that? Ambient sound is never recorded at the same time/in the same room as dialog. Dialog should be recorded as clean and dry as possible. All things ambient are recorded/created separately and then added in post. "
That is the industry practice but Robert Altman had a little different view on this topic. Starting with "Nashville" his sound team recorder every actor on individual tracks (up to 24 in one scene) and didn't use high pass/low cut filters so more of the background noise would be present.
 
it's not xlr use that drains the battery it's if 48v phantom power is on for the XLR's, if you have a battery powered shotgun mic attached or a powered wireless mic receiver to the XLR channel there's no need to turn on phantom power, and no battery drain.
 
If you use phantom power or plug-in power on the the H4N, you consume a lot more battery. That's why I opt for using the battery on the mic when possible.
 
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