Anyone had a chance to play with the zoom r-16? I believe it doesn't ship till the end of the month. I'm thinking of this instead of a zoom h4n. The price difference is small. $399. u.s. for the r-16 if you preorder. Or is this junk. I would use this for field recording for indie narrative films mostly. Thanx.
zoom r-16
- Thread starter lambert
- Start date
Well, you're kind of talking apples and oranges. The H4n is small enough to fit in a bag for run-and-gun production. It's also compact enough to fit into tight spots for location ambeint/effects recording.
The r16 looks interesting, though the meters are too low-rez for truly critical level metering. But if it turns out to be a great-sounding, functional recorder, it's more of a "sit-on-the-audio-cart" kind of machine. Could be a new world for budget film-makers.
EDIT: On closer inspection, it will not record above 44.1kHz as a standalone. Pity, especially since they tout it as suitable for location shoots. Of course, you can get higher-res recording if you use it as in I/O interface and record to your laptop.
The r16 looks interesting, though the meters are too low-rez for truly critical level metering. But if it turns out to be a great-sounding, functional recorder, it's more of a "sit-on-the-audio-cart" kind of machine. Could be a new world for budget film-makers.
EDIT: On closer inspection, it will not record above 44.1kHz as a standalone. Pity, especially since they tout it as suitable for location shoots. Of course, you can get higher-res recording if you use it as in I/O interface and record to your laptop.
unclebob6958
Well-known member
How often are you going to need eight inputs? That's a lot of mics and/or lavs!
As C2V said, not useful for "run & gun", which is at least 50% of indie filmmaking.
My other concern is the quality of the components; how good could eight mic pres and AD/DA converters actually be at the $400 price point? How sturdy are the faders? How much banging around will the unit itself take out in the field? And I've heard that the battery life is terrible.
It only records at 44.1kHz; DVD audio is 48kHz. Up-sampling can actually degrade the audio quality and introduce digital artifacts.
As C2V said, not useful for "run & gun", which is at least 50% of indie filmmaking.
My other concern is the quality of the components; how good could eight mic pres and AD/DA converters actually be at the $400 price point? How sturdy are the faders? How much banging around will the unit itself take out in the field? And I've heard that the battery life is terrible.
It only records at 44.1kHz; DVD audio is 48kHz. Up-sampling can actually degrade the audio quality and introduce digital artifacts.
I was initially really intrigued about this machine. It could open a new audio world to budget-minded indie film makers. Though there's little chance that any smaller production would have that many lavs, the use of four record tracks would double the time capacity of a card.
The other possibility it opens up is area of coverage. Even with only two or three actors, that would be two or three lavs and the ability to have a boom (or two running), plus a couple of plant mics on set. Now we're getting to big-budget coverage with low-budget gear.
True, but the H4 got to be very popular (I use mine quite frequently) and it isn't of the most rugged build. With the combination XLR-1/4" ins, the ability to use an external pre-amp is wide open.
The battery life, on the other hand... I guess an AC drop to the audio cart would fix that.
Again, this is a realy pity, considering that they specifically tout it for location recording in TV/film.
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=2009
However, if used as an i/o, much higher-res recording is possible including 48kHz. And a lot of folks are now recording their audio to laptop using everything from Boom Recorder to PTLE. If only Zoom had thought to put 48k recording into this machine when used as a standalone...
unclebob6958
Well-known member
Shawn Philip Nelson
Veteran
but what if a Sound Devices were stuck at the front to use as pres?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/600773-REG/Zoom_R16_R16_Multi_Track_Recorder.html
it appears to be shipping, i'd love to read a review from someone thats used it
If you have the budget for a Sound Devices mixer...
There are also rack-mount, 8-channel preamps that are decently affordable and that sound very nice. Of course, that means that you aren't completely battery-powered on the audio cart since these 8-channel pres are AC powered.
But that still doesn't resolve the boneheaded decision Zoom made to keep internal recording at 44.1k.
And on further review of their PR on this thing, it looks like you can't actually record 8 tracks simultaneously if you're using it as a computer i/o. Am I reading that right?
There are also rack-mount, 8-channel preamps that are decently affordable and that sound very nice. Of course, that means that you aren't completely battery-powered on the audio cart since these 8-channel pres are AC powered.
But that still doesn't resolve the boneheaded decision Zoom made to keep internal recording at 44.1k.
And on further review of their PR on this thing, it looks like you can't actually record 8 tracks simultaneously if you're using it as a computer i/o. Am I reading that right?
