Zoom H2

[Avidaxis]

So anyone used it before in a JAMMING STUDIO to record a FULL BAND before?
Care to share some thoughts/opinions about it. Planning to use it to record some songs during band practice.
Sorry for the caps but its to emphasize the main qns of this post.
Anyone has any idea bout its cost? If its emailing of city music, alr done so.
Thanks all, Cheers.

 

[rottenramone]

very good for jam tracks, try the 2 ch, surround sound one. very affordable recording device.

 

[alshit]

H2

Used it in sch, pretty good for the price (around 250 to 300) You can set the angle of recording, mic gain, comes with a mic holder as well as tabletop stand. The recording is nice and clear no doubt about that.

 

[weckl-x]

City Music sells it for $272 NETT.

 

[nogwiat]

remote audio has this transcription cable specially for the H2. it is said to be able to convert the time stamp into usable time code for video (http://trewaudio.com/products/zoom_h2.php). any idea how this works?

 

[osXsan]

remote audio has this transcription cable specially for the H2. it is said to be able to convert the time stamp into usable time code for video (http://trewaudio.com/products/zoom_h2.php). any idea how this works?

Let me re-phrase that. The H2 does not produce any TC but it can record TC into one of the audio channels. The process is similar as striping tapes before recording only this time simultaneously. Therefore 1 channel TC + 1 mono audio. The TC have to be fed from a TC endabled device eg. a video camera. You can actually make this cable on your own. Most often TC devices use a Male BNC jack and not too often Female XLR. Thus you'd have a mic plugged into one and a TC device into the other. TRS tip connection is used to keep balanced signal level over long cable runs.

As to the original question from Avidaxis about using H2 for band recordings. I use it pretty frequently to cover jam sessions placing it in the middle of the band based on the speaker placements. They do give a decent recording material for idea building. But not recommended for demos. Non-the-less perfect for bootlegging live concerts!!

Hope that helps.

 

[ikilledkenny!]

hmm, not recommended for demos?

can anyone care to share their recordings done with the zoom h-2?
im planning to get one soon..
anyway, is the bass drum audible??

actually i was thinking or using it to record demos during jams then put it on the myspace then record a full ep from a professional when all the songs are done..
is this method recommended?

cause my band cant really afford to keep going to record song 1 by 1 individually at studios.

 

[biopromax]

Well, I tried recording it for live jamming session(s) . The device is greater if the acoustics of the studio is good. Big and spacious.

I tried recording it at gigs, turns to be damn NICE!

Im offering free recording using H2

Some demos can be heard at www.myspace.com/whatlahproject , an interview with plainsunset and live recordings of Johari's Window

ENJOY!!!!

 

[blueprintstudios]

I've yet to cover the Zoom H2, I'm still in the middle of testing the H4. there's a serious bug that comes with both the H4 and H2 , which is the "drift" problem.

e.g. a drummer is playing on the drums for about 10 mins.
a video camera is filming him.
a Zoom H4 is recording infront of the drumset
the 7 drum mics on the drumset links to a Korg D888 Multitrack recorder.

the D888 audio can sync with the video camera's audio.
but the H4 audio syncs for the first 30 seconds and slowly drifts slower/faster during the recording.

which means if you recorded on metronome , even if you played the best you could, you would still be off time , why? because the recorder is out of sync, not you!

but this miliseconds delay drift is not noticeable if you're only doing podcast or a live jam session recording for preproduction (guide for producer before recording) purposes. this is good practice.

and I've googled, many people are having the same drift problem with both H2 and H4. you may want to re-consider if you're doing video or layer metronome recording.

otherwise the H2 and H4 are both excellent portable recorders for its pricing. I got one H4 i'm going to buy another. and probably invest in a H2 after that.

 

[ikilledkenny!]

woah cool, thanks guys..
whatlah!: u the best la.. its kinda goood for recording for gigs yeah.. can hear the drums.. but like kinda hard for people that dont know the song leh.. the guitar not that distinct, maybe its the postitioning, have to be dam perfect.. woohoo.. plainsunset!!
all recorded using h-2?

blueprintstudio: haha, bro, ur like all over the recording threads sia.. u must really know alot.. ill most probably be using it to record jam sessions, the genre is kinda hardcore, so i dont think drifting would be that bad..maybe it can make the sound more hardcore?
hmm, anyway, so if i were to record each instrument individually, it would be hard to mix together cause of the drifting?

 

[blueprintstudios]

ikilledkenny : ah yes, because i don't play any instruments (guitar/bass/drums etc) , so i'm mainly on computer/sound.

the drift is not a "good" thing at all no matter what.

to answer your question , yes it's going to be hard to mix. imagine playing the best timing possible and still sound out of timing. there may be some workarounds to fix this drifting bug, if I do come up with something I'll post up on soft =)

otherwise it'll still do good as live jam recording.

 

[ikilledkenny!]

hmm, how bad is the drift?
i read from reviews that from 1hour of recording it drifts about 200ms?

haha,anyway, guys really need to hear more samples of recordings during jam before i make my decision, i really dont want a crappy fuzzy recording where everything is like stuck together

 

[blueprintstudios]

kennykiller : I'm afraid the drift is not fixed. the "formulas" that other ppl have posted up in other forums, like "it's about 1.024 percent faster" bla bla it doesn't work for me. cos sometimes it's "faster" sometimes it's "slower".

here is a 4 MINUTE (not 1 hr) recording, and it's already drifted.

http://www.box.net/shared/gk0n1dyck0

I doubt the recording will be crappy/fuzzy at all, it's usually very clear, muddy at raw but a few mixing efforts like tweaking the EQ etc will make it better.

it's just this drift........

 

[tansamuel]

live recording

have u guys considered using a mixer that could output multiple tracks at a time into the computer for live/any other recording?

 

[biopromax]

Yeah, at least for me , h2 works for us as budget constraint.

not sure bout h4. But h2 works wonders. hehe.

 

[ikilledkenny!]

haha, ok, i think my faith in the h-2 is coming back..
haha, biopro.. when i get my h-2 we be h2 buddies la.. we go gigs with the recorders in our hands..

 

[blueprintstudios]

tansamuel : it would be too bulky to bring a laptop along. and wouldn't beat the cost too . tried and tested man haha.. my older setup..

biopromax : hey you interested in doing a H2 review together? maybe can collaborate further from there on besides just the review. add me on msn blueprintstudios.org(at)hotmail.com

 

[ikilledkenny!]

haha, ok, tomorrow is the day i head out to citymusic to buy the zoom h-2, hope it is in stock and i like the sound

 

[ikilledkenny!]

hmm, so i went to citymusic and what bad luck, it was out of stock, but it was arriving late afternoon, couldnt wait had to rush for jam, so i rushed to jam and rushed back.. and it arrived about 30mins before i .. so i just bought it.. phew.. this shows how much i wanted to buy it..

erm, so the next day went to use it to record at beat merchants before the gig.. erm i would have to say it is a good recorder, but the place where u record affects alot.. it would definitely sound like what it would sound like if ur standing in the h-2 position.. but i kinda didnt expect the turnout of my recording to be that bad, maybe ill try again in a better studio

anyway, just checking , i use the mic stand holder thinggy with the h2 and it turned out abit slanted, does ur h-2 have it slanted too or is mine defective?

btw the current price for it is $244, i might let it go if someone offers me 220.. really didnt expect the sound to be like that..

 

[blueprintstudios]

any mp3 samples? you sound like you're disappointed with the recorded results?

by the way you might wanna take a photo of your mic holder thing. if it's really defective i'm sure you can bring back citymusic to change it.