Zoom H4N Problems..i keep getting popping/cracking

Man, I am so freakin pissed off right now!!!!!!!!!! Today I had a shoot for a client and had brought my Zoom along to handle the audio. The damn thing crapped out on me again. This was the first official projects since it was returned to me from the manufacturer due to the previous issues it had. Now, it just froze up and will not do anything. I was so embarrassed that my recorder crapped out on me and had to improvise with my laptop, boom, and Sountrack Pro. Let's just say I looked like a chump today. I'm done with this unit and will now be trying to get my money back from the manufacturer. I would suggest anyone considering this unit to consider something else.
 
You should get more reliability from a Marantz 661, Edirol R-44 and others in the sub $1000 range. From my own experience the Edirol R-44 (while 3x the H4n price) is just wonderful to use. I own the Zoom as well and just keep as a backup.
 
I'm starting to wonder if I should just buy a mixer from Guitar Center and have it hooked up to my laptop. Something like that would run me around $100-$200 tops for a 4 channel mixer. I think I rather have something like that as backup instead of relying on this P.O.S. Zoom anymore. Hopefully I can fight with the manufacturer to give me a full refund.
 
I'm starting to think the DR-680 is the way to go over an R-44. I've been gung ho for R-44 and planning on one for the last year, but I hear too much good stuff for the DR-680. It has better preamps right out of the box, 6 pres, and 8 channels (2 are spdif). And it's much cheaper (812.00). I'm getting all the pres "Busman"modified for nature recording, and to just sweeten it up for 300.00 more. The pres are good on it though. Zoom is good if YOU are making an indi film and you have time to futz, but for a pro gig... Well, you now know.
 
I had a similar situation occur a few weeks ago on a corporate shoot. Sounded great while monitoring and levels looked good on the Zoom but when we got back and started offloading files one of the guys had unusable pops and cracks when he spoke. No clue as to what it was and luckily we were able to salvage some sound off the built in mic on my T2i (oddly enough) and the built in mic on the Zoom. I have used it a dozen or so times since and had no issues, it is still incredibly frustrating though and to hear more people having problems worries me a lot. I definitely do not want to be on set and have one of these things ruin a gig for me.
 
adamrahn said:
I had a similar situation occur a few weeks ago on a corporate shoot. Sounded great while monitoring and levels looked good on the Zoom but when we got back and started offloading files one of the guys had unusable pops and cracks when he spoke. No clue as to what it was and luckily we were able to salvage some sound off the built in mic on my T2i (oddly enough) and the built in mic on the Zoom. I have used it a dozen or so times since and had no issues, it is still incredibly frustrating though and to hear more people having problems worries me a lot. I definitely do not want to be on set and have one of these things ruin a gig for me.
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Yes, there is nothing like breaking out into a cold sweat as your equipment goes down on a set. I would never want that to happen again which is why i'm done with this unit.
 
We have to talk...I, too, had the R-44 lined up as my next recorder (currently using the Tascam DR-100). I've got a PCS Alphamix arriving in the next day or two, and it'll give me direct out to four channels so I was thinking of the flexibility of the Edirol. Is there a way to record TC (even if I have to get something external) into one of the channels on the 680?

Chadfish said:
I'm starting to think the DR-680 is the way to go over an R-44. I've been gung ho for R-44 and planning on one for the last year, but I hear too much good stuff for the DR-680. It has better preamps right out of the box, 6 pres, and 8 channels (2 are spdif). And it's much cheaper (812.00). I'm getting all the pres "Busman"modified for nature recording, and to just sweeten it up for 300.00 more. The pres are good on it though. Zoom is good if YOU are making an indi film and you have time to futz, but for a pro gig... Well, you now know.
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I'll agree that the Zoom should be more durable, especially since it sounds like a poor internal connection and that is just poor QC. BUT your going out on paid gigs with a hand held plastic $250 recorder??? Come on now. How "professional" would it be to show up as the DP with a point N' Shoot. If your doing your own thing or are a student working on student films then fine. But as someone HIRED to do sound you show up with a Zoom? How much quality would you expect from a car you bought new with a MSRP of $2,000? So yes it should have been better but your buying a Radio Shack Mic of a recorder and with that comes all the challenges of using something way over it's head.
It is basically a toy with privileges. It is fantastically good for the price (compared to anything at that price a few years ago). But it was designed for musicians to record rehearsals and maybe a live performance. The XLR's are a "nice" addon but it also is set up for 1/8" stereo mic in's. It is NOT a professional piece of gear, not really even a Prosumer piece of gear. IF you treat it nice (and maybe get some luck) it will do a decent job. BUT it's on YOU to make sure you have backup and have completely check the thing out before you show up. I have plenty of gear that falls in the same category, but I'm not under any delusions about the "professional" build quality. I would not use them in a situation where if they go down I'm screwed, because that's a very good way to be out of business.

So I sympathize with the "Zoom done me wrong" part BUT YOU chose to enter a car race with a Ugo, and there is only so much you can blame the Ugo for not winning you a prize. The Zoom isn't a POS, it's just not made for what you are asking of it. And it looks like they have some QA problems. I say "looks" because we have no way of knowing how you treated the thing. Obviously the XLR connections are fragile, so did you strain them, or did you protect them? It might be that you are just doing something to those connectors that you shouldn't be doing. I had a friend, who is not stupid complain that the modem connector on their laptop was just crappy and they had replaced it twice already. It turns out that he wasn't squeezing the sides to release the connector but just yanking it out. You might be stuffing the Zoom with cables into some case and just torquing the hell out of it. If it is something your doing it's probably a design flaw, but it's also probably preventable. Pro gear tends to be a lot more durable so that would be a step up. If your presenting yourself as a professional you need to just skip over all the handheld recorders and go to something with decent build quality. If it's under the level of a Sound Devices recorder you are still going to need to be careful with it.
 
Noiz2 said:
I'll agree that the Zoom should be more durable, especially since it sounds like a poor internal connection and that is just poor QC. BUT your going out on paid gigs with a hand held plastic $250 recorder??? Come on now. How "professional" would it be to show up as the DP with a point N' Shoot. If your doing your own thing or are a student working on student films then fine. But as someone HIRED to do sound you show up with a Zoom? How much quality would you expect from a car you bought new with a MSRP of $2,000? So yes it should have been better but your buying a Radio Shack Mic of a recorder and with that comes all the challenges of using something way over it's head.
It is basically a toy with privileges. It is fantastically good for the price (compared to anything at that price a few years ago). But it was designed for musicians to record rehearsals and maybe a live performance. The XLR's are a "nice" addon but it also is set up for 1/8" stereo mic in's. It is NOT a professional piece of gear, not really even a Prosumer piece of gear. IF you treat it nice (and maybe get some luck) it will do a decent job. BUT it's on YOU to make sure you have backup and have completely check the thing out before you show up. I have plenty of gear that falls in the same category, but I'm not under any delusions about the "professional" build quality. I would not use them in a situation where if they go down I'm screwed, because that's a very good way to be out of business.

So I sympathize with the "Zoom done me wrong" part BUT YOU chose to enter a car race with a Ugo, and there is only so much you can blame the Ugo for not winning you a prize. The Zoom isn't a POS, it's just not made for what you are asking of it. And it looks like they have some QA problems. I say "looks" because we have no way of knowing how you treated the thing. Obviously the XLR connections are fragile, so did you strain them, or did you protect them? It might be that you are just doing something to those connectors that you shouldn't be doing. I had a friend, who is not stupid complain that the modem connector on their laptop was just crappy and they had replaced it twice already. It turns out that he wasn't squeezing the sides to release the connector but just yanking it out. You might be stuffing the Zoom with cables into some case and just torquing the hell out of it. If it is something your doing it's probably a design flaw, but it's also probably preventable. Pro gear tends to be a lot more durable so that would be a step up. If your presenting yourself as a professional you need to just skip over all the handheld recorders and go to something with decent build quality. If it's under the level of a Sound Devices recorder you are still going to need to be careful with it.
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I borrow my friends Sound Devices 702 for the big gigs and I used the Zoom on a couple commercials I did for a medical facility. Yes, I know showing up to a film set with a Zoom should warrant a good ass kicking so don't get me wrong on this. I wouldn't dare show up on a set like that. But, for the smaller jobs like doing interviews and small local commercial type things the Zoom should have been able to at least hold up. In fact, this is exactly how it is marketed. Also, I pay too much money for my stuff to treat it like a high schooler does their backpack. I agree with your sentiments in regards to selecting the proper equipment as to what the job calls for. In the case of the Zoom I didn't see anything wrong using it for smaller gigs. I'm sure some even use it for wedding videos. Would you consider them idiots for doing so? My point is that the thing crapped out on me the couple times I used it. I would think their service department would have fixed the problems I had the first time I sent it in. But, as it turned out the very next time I used after it was serviced the unit froze on start up and wouldn't power down unless I removed the batteries. That is strike 2 and I'm not really trying to go for strike 3 on another gig. At any rate, I have a new one from the manufacturer on its way to my place and the first thing I'm going to do with it is take some great photos of it and throw that sucker on ebay!!!

Or, if anyone cares to live dangerously and doesn't mind paying $250 for a cheap plastic recorder that shouldn't be for anything serious, as the previous poster commented, then hit me up and I'll gladly let you take mine off my hands.
 
Hey, don't over read into my comments. I wouldn't call them nor did I call you an "idiot". It's a tool and used in it's own frame of reference it has, by most reports, performed well. I know people who use them much the way you did and have not had problems. I recommended it to a friend for these Doc's he was doing in the middle of nowhere.

I agree that the problems you had you should not have had. By how you posted I also had questions about how you treated the thing. I have seen some that looked like they were dragged behind a car for a mile after a week in the wrong hands. You talked like you expected it to be as robust as a SD recorder.

When stuff I have breaks one of my first questions is "how did I help make this happen". Because in reality we generally are a significant factor in equipment failure. You came at it like you could have done no wrong and to me that means your not looking close enough. I'm not saying you were doing anything "stupid" just something that a rather fragile recorder wasn't built for. When we use something in a way the designers hadn't thought of we often find weaknesses they didn't know were there.

The point is if you don't find out what causes the failure you can't "fix" your part in it. In the end it may be a flaw that so severely restricts it's use for you that it just isn't worth it. None of the above makes the device a POS, it just makes it inappropriate for what you need.

It is also possible that you got a bad batch and it was just junk. It isn't a wide spread problem or we would be hearing more about it.
I don't know that it is anything you are doing but most people don't seem to have this problem so it's either a bad unit (actually two since they probably just replaced the unit when you sent it in - almost nobody actually "repairs" consumer electronics these days), or you have found a flaw with the box that has something to do with how you use it.

To be clear I and NOT saying you are doing something "stupid" just something that the box wasn't designed for. I would take a close look at what your connecting to that XLR and what pressures it's under when your in the field.

Getting a better "box" will probably "solve" the problem but you still might want to take a close look at how you might have been causing the problem just as a personal FYI. If you figure it out it will either be one of those AHA moments of "that was silly of me" or a "WTF were they thinking making X so fragile". Either way it's useful knowledge that might come in handy down the road.
 
At this point this is getting absolutely ridiculous!!!!!! I received my so called "new" unit today only to see that I was sent a refurbished unit instead of a new one as I was promised. In fact, I wouldn't even say this unit looks in refurbished condition. The plastic carrying case is cracked and one of the hinges has been torn off. The Zoom has scuff marks and appears to be slightly used. All the booklets/pamphlets/etc. were put in a cheap bag and taped together. Even the box it came in looked as though it was on the shelf for some time. I can't believe they would send me another piece of crap unit in exchange for the one I had. I would think most manufacturers would replace a faulty unit with a brand new one since that is what I expected to get. As it turns out this company seems more like a shady business and they obviously don't care about customer service one bit. I'll post pictures later to show you guys what I got in the mail. Un-freakin-believable!!!!!!

Seriously though, am I being too much here or do you guys think I'm really getting shafted???
 
Are you dealing with Zoom or the reseller? If this is Zoom then I am shocked. I haven't dealt with them directly but I would be shocked is any manufactured sent me what you describe.

I would be much less shocked if this is some discount reseller.
 
Send it back and demand your money.

This is the problem with getting these delicate recorders meant for bedroom musicians. Yes you CAN get nice recordings under ideal circumstances, but with the quality control issues you've seen, how can you trust that the next one won't have something like a cracked solder that will last you 30 insertions of an XLR connector, then it breaks. If you must get another, go to B&H, and maybe check out the Tascam DR100, which supposedly has better pres, and individual levels for each channel. Also there is the more pro stuff from Merantz (sp) that you can buy modded from Oade Brothers, possibly Busman Audio - both great mod places. But more money - I know. But now you know what cheeping out gets you. Headaches. If you were working for all the time you've spent on this, you could have bought a better recorder.

There is also the "bit bucket" way of looking at recorders. By getting a good mixer like the MixPre, and going into something simple, yet of high quality like the Sony PCM-M10.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...10_BLACK_PCM_M10_Portable_Audio_Recorder.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/292988-REG/Sound_Devices_MIXPRE_Mixpre_Portable_2.html

Then all you are doing is plugging an 1/8" cable to the recorder, and controlling everything from the mixer, with great limiters, phantom, low cut, real knobs to turn, line level. Anyway I'm just sayin'... You're probably thinking "I only Have 300.00", but actually THEY have your 300.00 and you have a sore arse. But seriously folks, I had the H4, and I could get good recordings, but more than a few times I thought I was getting clean audio, no peaks too high, Just a mic level Rode NT3 into the XLR, and there was distortion all the way through because the pres were getting blown out slightly, and it's weak headphone volume didn't reveal the issue. I found out when I got home and listened on my studio monitors. Maybe the DR100 would be better. I just stopped all that stress and bought a DR-680 for 800.00, modded it for 300.00. 8-track recorder for 1,100.00. I can use it with or without a mixer, but for "real" gigs a mixer is in order. And the often want the audio sent to their camera, so where are you know with a zoom?

Main point - get a refund. Sucks man.
 
I've already emailed on of the reps my demand for refund. I've been dealing with Samson Technologies, which is their distributor. I've already paid for shipping twice on this already and so I'm going to demand for a full refund or a brand new item. At this point I'll take them to small claims court if I have to . I really doubt they'll show up since they are located on the east coast. So, F'em I say. I'm out for blood now.
 
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