ZOOM H2

[SplatterTone]

For those gadgeteers out there who like to stay up on what is available in portable recording equipment, I just got the ZOOM H2. I took it and my big rig up to the back balcony this morning and recorded the goings on. The big rig is the Fostex MR8HD and a pair of Audio Technica AT3035 mics.

The H2 has different recording modes and quality you can select. I used the MP3 VBR (variable bit rate) today. The Fostex records to discreet WAV files. The discreet WAVs allows me to separate the channels to get a big, sumptuous stereo sound. It's gives a larger than life sound image, but you hear it all the time on professional recordings. I have not found a way for Audacity to bust the channels apart on a single stereo WAV or MP3.

For those who are interested in an audio comparison, below are links to the first hymn today. Keep in mind that, with the extra stereo spread on the Fostex result, there is some "cheating" going. The Fostex is the wma file; the H2 is the MP3 file. There are audible encoding artifacts in the MP3. Some of this might be the result of loading it into Audacity to bring the levels up, then re-encoding the result back out to an MP3.

For the wma file, I load the WAVs into Audacity, bring up the levels (but no compression), save it back out to a WAV, burn it to CD, then rip the CD with media player to get the wma file. So the wma file has been through a couple layers of processing too.

I'll have to run another test on the H2 using an uncompressed WAV file. I'm pretty sure the H2 will still get trounced, but one must remember that the H2 is smaller than just one of the microphones with the big setup. And the H2 runs on a pair of rechargable AA cells.

There is no tuba cuz I was up in the balcony playing with toys.

http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/04_20_08/hymn1_H2.mp3
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/04_20_08/hymn1.wma

[brianggilbert]

I found the sound on the first to be a little diffuse and foggy, and the clarity a bit better on the ZOOM.

Although I'm listening on some crappy little Gateway laptop speakers, so I could be (and probably am) completely wrong.

[SplatterTone]

I found the sound on the first to be a little diffuse

The first one (the mp3) is the Zoom.

[brianggilbert]

Whoops - I knew that - I listened to the 2nd one first...
Either way, that's a nice ensemble you've got there.

If I travel to Tulsa over a weekend I might stop in for a service (I'm on the Board of Trustees of my United Methodist Church). I do a lot of business with your electrical utility (with their safety department specifically), so I have to get there every now and again...

[SplatterTone]

One thing that stands out at First Baptist, Tulsa is how a well played pipe organ is still a great thing even in an evangelical environment. These "praise" boneheads that have written the classical organ off as an anachronism need to come and take a listen.

And I don't have a problem with digital if you can't afford the real McCoy. Actually, I prefer digital to cheap, highly extended and duplexed pipe. But, if you have a spare million bucks or so laying around with nothing better to do ...

[ThomasP]

What I would like to hear is an H4 hooked up with the same microphones. The H4 has phantom power and accepts standard XLR cables. Just a thought...

it can also do 4 track recording.

[SplatterTone]

I gave the H4 a hard look, but decided that on those occasions when I would use a mic stand, mic cables, and the microphones, I would probably use the hard drive recorder too. My prediction is that I when I want to be portable, I will want to be completely portable. The H2 will sort of do four tracks, but not as a four-track recorder. It has four microphones: Two aimed to the front in a 90-degree X pattern; and two aimed to the back in a 120-degree Y pattern. You can pick between either pair, or you can run with all four recording to two independent stereo files. The H2 is less than half the size of the H4.

As you can tell on the recording I posted, the MP3 encoder on the H2 is pretty bad. So, even though that is something extra that the H2 can do, I doubt I will be using that feature much. Next Sunday, I see how it does with a stereo WAV file when I have a memory card big enough to hold the file. The H2 does have a mini-stereo jack for mic input to which it can send phantom power at about 2.4 volts. This is probably of dubious value, but I have a Nady CM2S mic that would probably work just fine with it.

If you would like a sample of the H4 (Note: H4, not H2) with its built-in mics, here is another cut from the recent concert of the Sapulpa Community Band. It is "For The New Day Arisen" by Steven Barton. This was a late addition to the program, and the percussion section was not at all ready to handle the big percussion cadenza kind of biz in the middle. It could have used more beef on the tuba in places. But sitting at the back right by the percussion, I could barely hear the band, and was pretty flying blind most of the concert. Plus this was new music to my amateur self too.
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/SCB/04_04_2008/new_day.wma

[SplatterTone]

To wrap this up. I got a 8 GB memory card this week so I could record to a big, fat WAV file. The quality is much improved. For those who are doing some serious shopping, I've listed an assortment of files from today with handbells, choir, hymn singing, and the postlude from the 50-something rank Aeolian-Skinner (if you can overlook the fact that it's the postlude and people are talking).

The H2 is recording at 24-bit 44.1 kHz. The Fostex MR8HD and Audio Technica AT3035 mics are recording at 16-bit 44.1 kHz (the only rate the Fostex will do). The AT3035 mics are about 10 inches apart, and H2 is sitting between them. The H2 has its mics fixed at 45 degrees inward. The AT3035 mics were turn inward about 20 degrees each.

The biggest difference between the two is the more spacious stereo image with the big rig. For sound quality, the H2 does reasonably well considering its cost. Note: Without a good set of headphones, I don't think it is worth your time to listen.

And there is no tuba in any of these.

http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/04_27_ ... _bells.wma
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/04_27_ ... lls_h2.wma

http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/04_27_08/choir.wma
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/04_27_08/choir_h2.wma

http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/04_27_08/hymn4.wma
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/04_27_08/hymn4_h2.wma

http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/04_27_08/postlude.wma
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/04_27_ ... ude_h2.wma

[SplatterTone]

Update update.
I won't bother posting the sound file, but I tried MP3 encoding at a constant bit rate, and it came out OK. So I guess it's just the variable bit rate setting that sucks the moose.

[Albertibass]

Everyone in our studio at IUP for the most part has jumped on the bandwagon of the H2 ever since Dr. Collins got one. The quality you get combined with the price tag makes it great. I record all of our concerts with my H2. I have heard good things about the H4, but also i have heard that a lot of the features on the H4 really are a bit more than you need. I think that the H2 is everyone's best bet if they want a quality recording device with a good price.

[SplatterTone]

Testing more features. Today I have a comparison of the organ postlude (with a very talkative bunch exiting the building). I used the H2's rear mics that are turned out to form a 120 degree angle. The stereo image might be a little bigger than with the front mics.

The last file was made entirely from the H2 by using its file split feature to split off the postlude chunk from the big stereo WAV file; then use the normalize feature to bring the level up; then encode the file to MP3 as 224 kbps (it can go up to 320 kbps). All of this was done on the H2. (Look ma, no computer!) It is worth noting that you have no control over the amount of normalization the H2 does. It just scans for the peak, and raises the level so that the peak is 0Db. A loud peak like applause, like at the end of the mp3, will goof up the whole process.

The first two files were made by pulling the original WAV files into Audacity, splitting them up, adjusting the levels, burn to CD, then rip to WMA (next to highest quality) with Windows Media Player 11.

From the Fostex MR8HD/Audio Technica AT3035
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/05_04_08/postlude.wma

From H2 via Audacity, burn to CD, rip to WMA
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/05_04_ ... ude_h2.wma

From H2 using H2 split, normalize, convert to mp3 functions
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/FBC/2008/05_04_ ... ude_h2.mp3

Next week, if I get around to it, maybe try out the Automatic Gain Control.

[SplatterTone]

Outdoor concert of the Sapulpa Community Band with the band in a big gazebo, the H2 about 5 feet outside the gazebo. Recording with AGC1 (automatic gain control). One thing I learned:
THE TUBA SOUND WILL NOT GET OUTSIDE THE GAZEBO
(conductors take note)
It does provide some incentive to get a sousaphone. I don't know that I will, but at least I'm thinking about it.
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/SCB/05_16_2008/block_m.wma