Wow, quite the rig! What kind of stuff do you record?
Metal objects and tank chambers are my favourite things to record, I like impact sounds. Also sounds of water, wind, grains or fire are quite interesting.
1 Like
Nice! Yeah the Sound Devices stuff is the real pro dealā¦
1 Like
Iād love to hear some of your stuff if you have stuff online. Your comment about tank chambers made me think of this video. Itās obviously an ad, BUT it made me think that Iād like to go find interesting places & spaces to record instruments. I just bought a flute, which is nice and portable, so it could be fun to capture recordings in places with weird natural reverb. My H6 arrived, so time to start experimenting.
By the way, that Sony looks awesome. If I didnāt need XLR inputs that would have been a no brainer. Great size and mics. Super classy.
1 Like
I need a pistol grip thingy just like that.
H4n boot-up time is depending on the size of your SD card. 1 second for every GB iirc.
I only use 4GB cards now.
1 Like
I definitely read a thing that said if you format the card in the recorder itself it improves the situation somewhat. Maybe you already did that thoughā¦
As my ancient Zoom H2 (the grey one) finally died I am in the market for a replacement. Thereās nothing quite like hooking up headphones to a field recorder and listening to the world through it.
This would make sense. And like I said, Iām not super familiar with Zoom. But it looks like the closest to the DR40X is the H4n Pro, and the Zoom is US$30 more expensive than the TASCAM.
And given that, the H4n has dramatically slower boot times and less capacity (32 vs. 128Gb cards) and battery (2AA vs 3AA). The TASCAM has line-level on everything, not just the (unbalanced!) 1/4" jacks, and X/Y or A/B positioning for its built-in mics.
The DR40X also has that dual-gain-mode thing which has let me salvage recordings once or twice when my presumed safe levels get blown out. Maybe the H4n has it too? Hard thing to scan the manual for.
What Iāve heard thatās good about the H4n are the preamps and high impedance for guitar over an instrument cable. These are real advantages, but I wouldnāt have thought theyād be a deal for synth folks. And in the case of no line-level for balanced ins, even a detraction?
Maybe Iām too hung up on the synth use case, though. If people are mostly recording samples or ambience, maybe those preamps are king? Or maybe Iām completely underselling the H4n feature set given Iāve lived with the DR40X for a while and am just reading the H4n specs off the sheet?
Would you recommend it to someone needing both high quality line-in and mic recordings? Noticed any crosstalk or other issue with the minijack input?
Sony PCM-D100 is being discontinued. Still see then in European webshops though.
Iām much liking the proposition of the Tascam DR-100 mkIII. Seems comparable to the PCM-D100 in features and performance. Lower price but less accessories included. Sturdy jack and XLR line inputs though, which I prefer for the kind of work I do.
2 Likes
Wellā¦ I ordered a Tascam DR-100 mkIII and Iām sending it back. Its internal mics are highly sensitive to RF interference and pick up crackles and glitches when near (20-30cm) my phone, laptop, iPad running on WiFi. This is quite sure to happen in the situations that Iām planning to use the mics (documenting my artworks/performances), as well as recording in rooms with dozens, perhaps hundreds of people with smartphones in their pockets, so no go. I canāt run the risk of having a live show recording ruined because there was an RF source too near.
I did the same proximity test with my lowly Zoom H2n and it doesnāt catch any wifi interferenceā¦
More people complain about it online. This all doesnāt apply to the XLR/jack inās but it kinda defeats the point of getting such unit if you canāt use its mics.
So back to the drawing board. Interestingly, it now seems Tascam is also discontinuing its 2 top range field recorders with internal mics: DR-100mk3 and DR-44WL. Donāt know whether thatās another symptom of chip shortages or that Zoom has knocked both Sony and Tascam out of the game. Sure sucks that the only higher range options remaining are now from Zoom. I wasnāt planning on building a rig with external mics. Iām considering getting a Sony PCM D100 now, if I can get hold of one.
I did a quick line-in recording test to compare the DR-100mk3 and Zoom H2n. Will post soon.
I also found this article claiming that the Zoom H5 has a thinner low end compared to the H6: Zoom H5 vs H6 - Which one is better to choose? Any H5 owners here who 've done close listening, perhaps compared with an audio interface?
1 Like
Bought a h4n a few years ago and am regretting it now, should have bought a H6. Anyone wanna trade a h4n for a H6, hah?
D100 coming from Thomann. I called and they still have at least 2 orders of them coming in, in case anyone 'd be after one.
Ow and they re also quite discounted.
2 Likes
Here are my very quick line-in recording tests with the DR100 mk3 and H2n. Both got exactly the same signal from the 2 master outs of my Xone:96. Levels set to peak at -6dB on the recorders. Pattern is just something I have on the drawing board right now. It can be heard clearly that the H2n has a low end roll off starting at about 60-70Hz. Yes, the low-cut function is disabled.
http://dietervandoren.net/filez/Tascam_DR100mk3.wav
http://dietervandoren.net/filez/ZOOM_H2n.WAV
Congrats. Those Sonyās are gorgeous. If I didnāt need XLRs it would have definitely been my choice.
1 Like
I just upgraded my h4n to a h6, mostly because I can now have 2 contact mics and 2 pairs of stereo mics on at the same time. My friend now told me that the h6 preamps are too noisy for field recordings. Theyāre a sound engineer, so I do think its not something theyād say without experience. Have you guys used the h6 for field recordings & is to preamp noise level toi high?
If they are a pro, they may just have very high standards and use MixPres or whatever. An H6 is perfectly fine depending on the needs. Hell, a phone memo recorder is perfectly fine in some respects. I read somewhere Jack Abramoff wanted a particular āfieldā sound, grabbed his phone, got it and put it on whatever massive record he was producing at the time.
1 Like
I donāt think thatās the case unless itās super critical. Iāll update this post with a link to some recording using an H6 with Usi Lom mics.
Edit: click and Scroll down and youāll find a couple of H6/Usi recordings.
1 Like