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Post by martinrowe on Aug 9, 2015 11:03:46 GMT
Hello
I've been looking at getting a Zoom h4N. I want to record with another guitarist, so two guitars at the same time. We sing as well, so two sets of vocals, and sometimes I switch from the guitar to harmonica.
From what I understand we could use two attached mics for the guitars and the Zoom for the vocals (think I'm wrong here).
I also want to add some parts later e.g. mandolin or slide, or another guitar track, or record on my own and overdub.
I'm new to this so trying I'm to work out whether the Zoom H4n would do what I want.
Has anybody tried anything similar, and if you have what set up did you use?
thanks Martin Rowe
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davewhite
Luthier / Guitar Maker
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Post by davewhite on Aug 9, 2015 11:31:30 GMT
Martin, The H4N has three recording modes: Stereo - using the inbuilt microphones which gives you one track as an output. 4 Channel - you can plug in two extra microphones and you get one output track. Multi-track - this gives you four tracks to record to separately. Sounds like for your multi instruments you'd use the multi track function but you could use the 4 channel or stereo mode to record the two guitars and input this as one track of the multi-track mode to add other tracks to. Or lots of other things too The Zoom H4N is a great piece of recording kit.
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Post by martinrowe on Aug 9, 2015 11:44:59 GMT
Thanks Dave
I found this demo which is a h4n without changing any setting or external mic.
This is all a minefield - very frustrating in the early stages, and that's where I am.
thanks
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Post by vikingblues on Aug 10, 2015 7:32:05 GMT
The H4n is a good piece of recording gear. The versatility in the stereo, 4 track and multitrack modes is useful and the sound quality is of a high standard for the price level. It does suffer to some degree, as do all small size recording devices in needing menu systems and a small display screen etc. But the H4n is one of the more user friendly devices by some way. It has really just one multi function button which is way less confusing for me than the ones that have several. Recording two guitars with the external mics and the vocals on the zooms own mics would work (but there would be spillover with the vocal mics picking up guitar and vice versa). The Zooms microphones are very good - if it's an mp3 as an end product there is not a lot of difference between them and good external mics. A wav quality does show up the difference - a dual external mic recording really produces the goods in wav form. Even if doing that 4 part recording is done in a way that uses all 4 tracks they can (if you're 100% happy with them without needing more editing) be bounced to free up a couple of spare tracks for mandolin, etc. The multitrack function works fine for a DIY multi part recording too. The other choices for recorders having 4 microphones plugged in at once are rather more expensive! Plus I've found the smaller form of modern full scale multitrack machines tend to lead to a lack of user friendliness and they often for me are just an unintuitive headache. Until you get to the older generation style big heavy multitrack beasts which have many single function controls - but they are a lot pricier unless you get a used bargain. Your comment about "minefield" and "frustrating" is very understandable. I'm still in the process of getting the hang of a Zoom H4n and a Tascam DP24 - there are times when it feels my brain is melting, and that's after having been through all the pains of the research and decision making process. Good luck Martin!
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Post by lavaman on Aug 10, 2015 13:46:28 GMT
I recently bought a Zoom H4n to use as a notepad for musical ideas and for field recordings. I've been very surprised how good it is, for the princely sum of £175. As an old git, my failing eyesight really appreciates the large display. With a 32Gb SD card it takes 2 minutes to power up, so use a smaller memory card if you need instant recordings. Batteries don't last too long either. You can increase battery life by selecting 'stamina mode' but you can't record at 24 bit 44.1kHz WAV quality. Also, the menus and controls are intuitive which is just as well as the user manual is huge. In my opinion, the built in mics are fine for capturing the room sound of an acoustic guitar. For vocals, I think it is less good. You might want to think about investing in a cheap large diaphragm condenser mic such as the sE2000, or even a Shure SM58. Co-incidentally, I've mentioned Gear4music before and I have no affiliation with them but every now and then they have special offers such as: www.gear4music.com/Recording-and-Computers/sE-Electronics-SE2000-MKII-Condenser-Microphone-Bundle/1A8XI have a home recording studio with a DAW, a USB audio interface, and several microphones so I haven't needed to explore the H4n's ability to record on 4 channels, nor have I bothered connecting external microphones to it. However, I am experimenting with it to record the room ambience while I'm recording acoustic guitar with my DAW and microphones. Once recorded, I copy the ambience file from the H4n SD Card into the DAW, align it, and mix. Quality wise I reckon the H4n is fine for posting tunes on SoundCloud and YouTube. Iain
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