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Home: Video University Forums: Audio For Video:
Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED...

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LarsCA
User

Nov 2, 2007, 1:07 AM

Post #51 of 74 (2856 views)
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Re: [GmElliott] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! [In reply to]	Can't Post

My iRivers stay in sync. Never a problem. The H2 however, is HORRIBLE. It loses sync within a minute, rendering it completely useless to me. I wonder if it's a bad unit, or if I set it up wrong somehow?

---
So many toys, so little time. And no money so it doesn't matter anyway...

Sparky
Veteran

Mar 6, 2008, 9:08 PM

Post #52 of 74 (2567 views)
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Re: [MLiebergot] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Would this be a decent product for dance recitals or theatrical performances? And if so ... would you go through the sound board or put it on the front of the stage?

MLiebergot
Veteran

Mar 6, 2008, 10:44 PM

Post #53 of 74 (2558 views)
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Re: [Sparky] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

The best way to use the H2 is by using it's internal mics, Especially since you can record from both sides of the mic (front and back) and either in 2CH stereo (front and back mics) or for more surround sounding recordings, use the 4CH recording mode (it uses all 4 of the built in mic elements to record from the front and back of the unit like 2CH). I wouldn't bother using the line in inputs, as they're alright, but not s strong point of the H2 units. While you can use external mic input or line input, the H2 was really designed to be a mic recorder, and is best used this way.

Personally speaking if I was wanting a recorder for live theater or recitals, I would look into a real 4 track recorder like the Edirol R4 (hard drive based) or venue better the soon to be released Edirol R-44 (SD card recorder). The advantage with these units is that you can record using 2 external mic inputs, and take a feed from the board (if available) for a perfect live ambient mix. You also can send a line out feed via wireless to your camera for sync backup audio. Then sync in post if needed.

In Reply To

Would this be a decent product for dance recitals or theatrical performances? And if so ... would you go through the sound board or put it on the front of the stage?

Michael

Cameras: I do use them.
Audio: Yes, it does come with audio if you like.
Software: I am learning...
Support: I need all that i can get.
Computer: MAC BABY!

Sparky
Veteran

Mar 18, 2008, 10:49 PM

Post #54 of 74 (2505 views)
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Re: [MLiebergot] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

My Zooms just arrived today, but I haven't had time to get them out and play yet.

One thing I wanted to check with ... do I understand correctly that the recording will not be seamless ... that it records in files or folders?

Also ... I need to order some disks and need approximately three hours of recording time. Some recordings I'll use just two mics while others will be four. I imagine I'll need to go with 8 gig cards?

I'm sure I'll have more questions as my first chance to use them will be in two weeks. Please keep an eye open on this board as I'm sure to need help. Unsure

Thanks

Mark Foley
Veteran

Mar 24, 2008, 10:43 AM

Post #55 of 74 (2447 views)
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Re: [Sparky] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

New firmware for Zoom H2 (1.03) is now available...you can now record to a 8gb card (successfully)

_________________________
Mark

RT Steele
Veteran

Mar 27, 2008, 6:35 PM

Post #56 of 74 (2410 views)
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Re: [Mark Foley] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

New firmware for Zoom H2 (1.03) is now available...you can now record to a 8gb card (successfully)

Heh heh. Olympus shouldn't be far behind. (idiots) Laugh

And Hey! Does the H2 still skip a second or two after each 2gb "chunk"? Or is it seamless. Michael said it did back in August.

- RT

MLiebergot
Veteran

Mar 27, 2008, 7:57 PM

Post #57 of 74 (2404 views)
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Re: [RT Steele] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

No I said that it wasn't seamless. So you will get a gap.

Michael

Cameras: I do use them.
Audio: Yes, it does come with audio if you like.
Software: I am learning...
Support: I need all that i can get.
Computer: MAC BABY!

Mark Foley
Veteran

Mar 31, 2008, 6:05 AM

Post #58 of 74 (2341 views)
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Re: [MLiebergot] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Michael, you may have already seen this (on tapers)...but I thought you might want to add this (either leave it here or post to your original sticky post:

--------------------------------------------
recorders that can automatically start
a new file when 2GB is reached
--------------------------------------------

Edirol R-09

Edirol R-4

Edirol R-4 Pro

Edirol R-44

M-Audio Microtrack 2496 and Microtrack II

Marantz PMD671 (start new file after specified time)

Sony PCM-D50 and PCM-D1

Sound Devices 702, 722, 744t

Tascam HD-P2

Sonosax MiniR82

--------------------------------------------
recorders that can create
files larger than 2GB
--------------------------------------------

Marantz PMD620

Marantz PMD660

Fostex FR-2LE (4 GB)

Fostex FR-2 (4 GB)

Sound Devices 702, 722, 744t (4 GB)

Core Sound PDAudio Live2496 (4 GB)

Nagra ARES-PII+, ARES-BB+ (4 GB?)

Sonosax MiniR82

--------------------------------------------
recorders that simply stop when
a file size of 2GB is reached
--------------------------------------------

Zoom H2, H4

Edirol R-1

Tascam DR-1

Olympus LS-10

Sony Hi-MD (1GB limit for Hi-MD disc)

Nagra ARES-M (1GB built-in memory only)

_________________________
Mark

Brackish
Veteran

Mar 31, 2008, 7:24 AM

Post #59 of 74 (2335 views)
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Re: [Mark Foley] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

--------------------------------------------
recorders that can automatically start
a new file when 2GB is reached
--------------------------------------------

There may be a time break though, in this group, at the 2GB mark?

----------------------------------------------
"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Mark Foley
Veteran

Mar 31, 2008, 7:29 AM

Post #60 of 74 (2332 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

no time break...at least for the Edirol R4/R4 Pro/R44 and the microtrack

_________________________
Mark

RT Steele
Veteran

Apr 18, 2008, 1:48 PM

Post #61 of 74 (2122 views)
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Re: [MLiebergot] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Ok, so I received the H2 the other day. Right out of the box I saw that my size expectations for this thing were way off even though I researched the specs. Based on what I use now, I'd be hard pressed to put this thing in a groom's pocket:

But looking at the specs of other gear I don't think there's anything that would come close anyway so for mic'ing the talent, the iRiver still wins for comfort while the Senn G2 gives wireless capablilites with a much smaller footprint than the H2.

But that's no big deal for me as I have "dialog" covered.

I bought this baby first and foremost for live musician recording at the ceremony. I'll probably use it to mic the PA stack at the reception too. (I'm playing with that aspect now on my home stereo system)

But let me ask this:

For an organ, oboe, flute, trumpet and soloist... what would you recommend as far as placement and settings go? This thing has about 3 types of gain/limitter control on it (the side switch and those via menu).

My thought was to place my own vocal mic on the soloist's mic stand (next to hers) and just feed that to my cam. But I'm not sure where the best position will be to catch the quartet with the H2. Right smack in the middle of them using 4ch I assume. Plus, the organ is always played out of "pipes" not near the organ itself or it comes out of the chuch speaker system.

If I have any consistent success with this thing I can see buying another just for the soloist/duet singers.

The construction of this thing is within the $200 price range. No surprise there. It's no different than anything else for what it costs.

- RT

MLiebergot
Veteran

Apr 18, 2008, 2:06 PM

Post #62 of 74 (2120 views)
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Re: [RT Steele] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Quote

But let me ask this:

For an organ, oboe, flute, trumpet and soloist... what would you recommend as far as placement and settings go? This thing has about 3 types of gain/limitter control on it (the side switch and those via menu).

My thought was to place my own vocal mic on the soloist's mic stand (next to hers) and just feed that to my cam. But I'm not sure where the best position will be to catch the quartet with the H2. Right smack in the middle of them using 4ch I assume. Plus, the organ is always played out of "pipes" not near the organ itself or it comes out of the chuch speaker system.

Rick, if you were to record chamber musicians like you say then I would set it up to either record 120 degrees from the rear, so you don't get any other audio from the front mics, or in 2CH (front and back mic elements in stereo pairs) or 4CH (front/back mic with 4 independent mic elements). I find myself using 2CH more than 4CH, so it's more or less your preference. Place the H2 on a stand either in front of them or in the middle depending on your capture mode.

As for the organ, there's not much that you can do if you want to record the musicians and organ with one unit. However using 2CH or 4CH wold work best here for more of a surround sound feel. Anyway, the organ will be so loud that you not need worry about this.

As for the pre amps...Never use H (high) as it's way too noisy.
For musicians and other audio I always use M (medium) with levels et to around 105-110.
For micing a PA stack I use M or L. I had to use L recently as my audio was to hot from the PA, once things got rolling. I noticed the LED blinking on the unit (it blinks from both front and back), which meands the levels are clipping. When I checked the signal I noticed that the audio was producing a chirping sound, which the Zooms do when they clip, as their pre aren't great. So I switched teh pres to L and all adjusted teh signal properly with headsets and all was great the rest of the night.

Michael

Cameras: I do use them.
Audio: Yes, it does come with audio if you like.
Software: I am learning...
Support: I need all that i can get.
Computer: MAC BABY!

RT Steele
Veteran

Apr 18, 2008, 3:24 PM

Post #63 of 74 (2111 views)
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Re: [MLiebergot] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Got it Michael. Thanks.

And searching the group (yeah I do that Laugh

) If found this by you:

I place my H2 on a mic stand slightly off to the side (right or left), about 6'-10' inches away, in between the woofer and tweeter on the stack

I read this before but missed the text in bold. I guess you're saying that unlike the e604 drum mic, the H2 will clip even in "L" @106 if positioned point black, about 4 inches between the hi/low speakers? And I don't know about you but I have a hard time monitoring audio standing next to a 200 watt inferno, even with noise canceling head gear.

- RT

MLiebergot
Veteran

Apr 18, 2008, 3:46 PM

Post #64 of 74 (2107 views)
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Re: [RT Steele] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

No Rick, I said that the H2 will clip @106 using the H2s M(medium) pre amp. Switching to L(low) corrected the problem.
This is in extremely loud situations, as the DJ has his audio real hot, even his voice and low frequencies were of course distorting and muffled.

You will know when the H2 is clipping badly because the LED light on the front and back of the unit will flash. That's how I knew.

Michael

Cameras: I do use them.
Audio: Yes, it does come with audio if you like.
Software: I am learning...
Support: I need all that i can get.
Computer: MAC BABY!

RT Steele
Veteran

Apr 18, 2008, 5:25 PM

Post #65 of 74 (2099 views)
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Re: [MLiebergot] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

No Rick, I said that the H2 will clip @106 using the H2s M(medium) pre amp.

Yeah, I understood that. But I asked... will it also clip with the H2 positioned at point blank range with the Low preamp? I asked this becuase you said you set your H2 off to the "side" of the speaker 6-10" as opposed to directly in front of it.

Just wondering if the H2 will take that kind of a pounding, point blank or if you've tried it this way before.

- RT

Sparky
Veteran

Apr 18, 2008, 5:29 PM

Post #66 of 74 (2097 views)
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Re: [MLiebergot] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

My follow up to Rick's question would be ... do you also need to put the H2 in the concert setting or does that actually make any difference?

MLiebergot
Veteran

Apr 18, 2008, 5:32 PM

Post #67 of 74 (2097 views)
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Re: [RT Steele] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Sorry missed that point.
Of course it could clip, but that depends on how loud the speaker volume is. You should be alright in most instances, as I said I didn't have an issue with the H2 set to L and the input set to 104-106 I believe, with a super loud DJ setup. BTW, I believe that I was point blank in towards the speaker in this instance because I didn't have room to position my mic stand it off axis.

BTW, when I mention off to the side, I mean next to the PA stack slightly off axis to the right or left.
Overall you shouldn't have much of a problem with it, and get more than satisfactory results for what you want to do. Better overall than using a e604 mic, due to the fact that you get audio and ambient audio all at the same time.

In Reply To

No Rick, I said that the H2 will clip @106 using the H2s M(medium) pre amp.

Michael

Cameras: I do use them.
Audio: Yes, it does come with audio if you like.
Software: I am learning...
Support: I need all that i can get.
Computer: MAC BABY!

MLiebergot
Veteran

Apr 18, 2008, 5:36 PM

Post #68 of 74 (2096 views)
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Re: [Sparky] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Explain concert setting...
Do you mean put the H2 in 2CH or 4CH mic recording mode?
If you do indeed mean that then I almost always have the H2 in 2CH recording mode and record stereo pairs from bot sides of the H2. With the front of the unit (90 degree axis) facing the PA and the Rear (120 degree axis) facing the crowd.
4 channel would be nice if you had a band and placed the H2 in the middle (sweet spot) and utilized all 4 mic elements to record different areas of the band.

In Reply To

My follow up to Rick's question would be ... do you also need to put the H2 in the concert setting or does that actually make any difference?

Michael

Cameras: I do use them.
Audio: Yes, it does come with audio if you like.
Software: I am learning...
Support: I need all that i can get.
Computer: MAC BABY!

Sparky
Veteran

Apr 18, 2008, 6:05 PM

Post #69 of 74 (2094 views)
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Re: [MLiebergot] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

It's the limiter setting under the AGC/Comp menu. It took me a minute to find it.

RT Steele
Veteran

Apr 18, 2008, 7:13 PM

Post #70 of 74 (2085 views)
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Re: [Sparky] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

It's the limiter setting under the AGC/Comp menu. It took me a minute to find it.

Yeah, there's a ton of those things in there. The manual doesn't do a very good job of explaining what these presets are either.

It's just going to be trial and error for me.

- RT

RT Steele
Veteran

Apr 19, 2008, 1:00 PM

Post #71 of 74 (2069 views)
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Re: [Sparky] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

It's the limiter setting under the AGC/Comp menu. It took me a minute to find it.

I did some testing with these presets. When any one of them are enabled they override the side, L/M/H and disable it. The noise (hiss) on all of these sound pretty high for me regardless of how they're labeled. For instance, the one marked, "Drum" I would expect to really do some serious limitting but it doesn't.

The AGC/Comp menu is the equivalent of running a cam in auto I think.

- RT

MLiebergot
Veteran

Apr 19, 2008, 3:49 PM

Post #72 of 74 (2061 views)
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Re: [RT Steele] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Rick I don't run any of the in menu effects at all. Limiting, concert settings etc.
They're not that great or worth the trouble to set.

I would rather set the gain externally and be done with it. the M or L pre setting on the units exterior is sufficient and not that loud hiss wise, compared to the AGC settings in the menu.

Michael

Cameras: I do use them.
Audio: Yes, it does come with audio if you like.
Software: I am learning...
Support: I need all that i can get.
Computer: MAC BABY!

Mark Foley
Veteran

Apr 25, 2008, 10:25 AM

Post #73 of 74 (1860 views)
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Re: [MLiebergot] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Silicon jacket for the H2
http://www.samsontech.com/...fm?partoraccsID=1979

_________________________
Mark

RT Steele
Veteran

Apr 27, 2008, 9:39 PM

Post #74 of 74 (1705 views)
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Re: [MLiebergot] Official NEW Zoom H2 Thread! UPDATED... [In reply to]	Can't Post

as I said I didn't have an issue with the H2 set to L and the input set to 104-106 I believe, with a super loud DJ setup.

I tried the H2 for the first time yesterday. It worked pretty darned well I think.

For the live ceremony music I put it in 4CH mode, record volume to 106 and the side limitter to "M". No room to put it in the middle of the folks playing so I just positioned it in front of them. Great instrument pickup but it couldn't quite reach the vocalists. For them I just used a cheap vocal mic attached to a butt plug, then fed the signal to a channel on my cam.

I also did something I've never done before which kind of surprised me. I hooked up this old Sony stereo mic I had laying around to an iRiver. I mounted it on a tiny tripod and plopped the whole works on top of the keyboard. It rivals the H2 in some respects except for the vocal.

For the DJ I used 2CH, "L" and set the H2 about 12 inches from his big assed tweeter and about 10 inches below. I've never seen speakers this size before. He had seperate bass speakers which I didn't go near. It captured the dialog with no problems. Loading the waveform shows no clipping. I didn't even have to normalize it.

- RT

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