I recently purchased a zoom H2 and a friend who uses this site pointed me to some previous threads on the subject. A number asked about examples so I thought I'd post this here with my experience so far (I bought it last Thursday).
Rather than repeat what I have posted on another site here's a link to an explanation of what I have tried so far and about 10 shortish sound clips. Recorded as CD quality WAVs. No effects used on them and just normalised in Audacity and then converted to 192kbps MP3s.
I hope that Jeremy (who I actually had the pleasure of meeting some years ago when he was doing a training course in Yorkshire - when are you going to come back to the area this time with your instrument ?!) doesn't mind me moving the discussion and my comments off site to another forum - I'm lazy and the internet is big enough already without another duplication.
A zoom H2 I also have one of these, I use it all the time
and also with- Audacity ,, A clever wee tool and theirs much
I dont know about it , Yet,,
Very Well Pleased..
jim,,
I have one too. These are great. I use mine to record sessions, and at home to record melody and then play it back though my stereo to work out accompaniment (chords) by playing along.
Having done quite a bit of home recording of acoustic ITM with mixers, compressors, good microphones, etc, I feel that the H2 does a pretty decent job of producing high-quality wave or MP3 files. Normalization is available in the H2 for wave files (but not MP3).
Full disclosure: I have no business relationship with Zoom
I have just received my H2 last week and have recorded two sessions so far, with pretty good results. I found it very easy to use and with the addition of a line in cable, was able to record direct from the mixer equipment which was being used at the first session.
Only thing with the direct line in was setting the recording level, which at the first attempt was too high and was distorted on some parts. I got a very much improved quality in the second pub session, where just the front mikes were used, and recorded the two hours in wav format. Very easy to download to the PC and then massage the file with Audacity.
After exporting to mp3 format, it was a simple job of burning a couple of CD's for the other players. I did upgrade the memory up to a 4GB high capacity SD card which can store an incredible 169 hours of mp3 music.
All in all, first imopressions, I'm very satisfied with the H2 and would reccomend it to anyone.
Normalization is taking a .wav file that wasn't recorded at the full volume it could be, and makes it as loud as possible without adding noise distortion.
I really wish someone had invented all this technology about 40 years ago! Isn't it great that we can now record stuff so easily compared with the sort of gear you'd have had to have in say the 1960s / 70s - something that could do what the H2 can do would have seemed impossible.
There was a hidden advantage in the older technology and that was that the recording engineers had to train their ears. There are people who speak in awe of some of the earlier recording by Mercury and others, using their ears as much as their equipment. I 'm not complaining, a lot of what was learned was put into later equipment designs and it makes life so much easier for clunks like me, but you have to admire what was done by ear.
Hi - although I agree some skills have been lost, I was really saying that recording with such a small device to such a level of quality would simply not have been possible all those years ago.
However, microphone placement (to take just one aspect of recording) is just as important now as it's ever been - and each genre of music (or drama or anything else you record) has its own specific ideas / skills / tricks of the trade. I don't think that sound recording skills at a more professional level have ever changed for the worse just because the equipment has got better - in some ways, good digital audio is much more revealing than the old analogue stuff ever was.
Zoom H2 Digital recorder with Sound examples
Zoom H2 Digital recorder with Sound examples
I recently purchased a zoom H2 and a friend who uses this site pointed me to some previous threads on the subject. A number asked about examples so I thought I'd post this here with my experience so far (I bought it last Thursday).
?!) doesn't mind me moving the discussion and my comments off site to another forum - I'm lazy and the internet is big enough already without another duplication.
!
Rather than repeat what I have posted on another site here's a link to an explanation of what I have tried so far and about 10 shortish sound clips. Recorded as CD quality WAVs. No effects used on them and just normalised in Audacity and then converted to 192kbps MP3s.
I hope that Jeremy (who I actually had the pleasure of meeting some years ago when he was doing a training course in Yorkshire - when are you going to come back to the area this time with your instrument
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=109161&messages=5
One was a practice and one was a bunch of friends playing in a pub so perfomance perfection should not be expected
# Posted on March 4th 2008 by mactavish
Re: Zoom H2 Digital recorder with Sound examples
A zoom H2 I also have one of these, I use it all the time
and also with- Audacity ,, A clever wee tool and theirs much
I dont know about it , Yet,,
Very Well Pleased..
jim,,
# Posted on March 4th 2008 by FIDDLE4
Re: Zoom H2 Digital recorder with Sound examples
I have one too. These are great. I use mine to record sessions, and at home to record melody and then play it back though my stereo to work out accompaniment (chords) by playing along.
Having done quite a bit of home recording of acoustic ITM with mixers, compressors, good microphones, etc, I feel that the H2 does a pretty decent job of producing high-quality wave or MP3 files. Normalization is available in the H2 for wave files (but not MP3).
Full disclosure: I have no business relationship with Zoom
# Posted on March 4th 2008 by dfost
Re: Zoom H2 Digital recorder with Sound examples
>>Full disclosure: I have no business relationship with Zoom
Did you steal it then? Or was it a present?
# Posted on March 4th 2008 by mactavish
Re: Zoom H2 Digital recorder with Sound examples
forgive the ignorance please, what is normalisation?
I use audacity a little bit, but I haven't heard of this term.
# Posted on March 5th 2008 by Brown Creeper
Re: Zoom H2 Digital recorder with Sound examples
I have just received my H2 last week and have recorded two sessions so far, with pretty good results. I found it very easy to use and with the addition of a line in cable, was able to record direct from the mixer equipment which was being used at the first session.
Only thing with the direct line in was setting the recording level, which at the first attempt was too high and was distorted on some parts. I got a very much improved quality in the second pub session, where just the front mikes were used, and recorded the two hours in wav format. Very easy to download to the PC and then massage the file with Audacity.
After exporting to mp3 format, it was a simple job of burning a couple of CD's for the other players. I did upgrade the memory up to a 4GB high capacity SD card which can store an incredible 169 hours of mp3 music.
All in all, first imopressions, I'm very satisfied with the H2 and would reccomend it to anyone.
# Posted on March 5th 2008 by tctelboy
Re: Zoom H2 Digital recorder with Sound examples
Normalization is taking a .wav file that wasn't recorded at the full volume it could be, and makes it as loud as possible without adding noise distortion.
# Posted on March 5th 2008 by mactavish
Re: Zoom H2 Digital recorder with Sound examples
I really wish someone had invented all this technology about 40 years ago! Isn't it great that we can now record stuff so easily compared with the sort of gear you'd have had to have in say the 1960s / 70s - something that could do what the H2 can do would have seemed impossible.
# Posted on March 5th 2008 by Mark Harmer
Re: Zoom H2 Digital recorder with Sound examples
There was a hidden advantage in the older technology and that was that the recording engineers had to train their ears. There are people who speak in awe of some of the earlier recording by Mercury and others, using their ears as much as their equipment. I 'm not complaining, a lot of what was learned was put into later equipment designs and it makes life so much easier for clunks like me, but you have to admire what was done by ear.
# Posted on March 5th 2008 by toumi
Re: Zoom H2 Digital recorder with Sound examples
Hi - although I agree some skills have been lost, I was really saying that recording with such a small device to such a level of quality would simply not have been possible all those years ago.
However, microphone placement (to take just one aspect of recording) is just as important now as it's ever been - and each genre of music (or drama or anything else you record) has its own specific ideas / skills / tricks of the trade. I don't think that sound recording skills at a more professional level have ever changed for the worse just because the equipment has got better - in some ways, good digital audio is much more revealing than the old analogue stuff ever was.
I'll get my coat...
# Posted on March 5th 2008 by Mark Harmer