Zoom H2

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 29 Aug 2007 9:41 am

b0b,While recording on the H2 if you hit the record button again this stops the recorder,If you record again after that it starts a new file"Track" like on a DAT recorder,or a Minidisc,

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 29 Aug 2007 11:10 am

b0b...it seems like it will divide a track anywhere that you want to,like on a Minidisc,and you can set markers also...so That would make editing tracks easy? we shall see.
Stu

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 30 Aug 2007 4:54 am

NOT H2 related.(but maybe , it is )

On the Boss Micro BR it is not quite so easy to stop and start, but then again that is NOT what the unit's primary purpose is. A couple of steps.

With the Edirol R-1 it's very easy.
Press the stop button. then press the Red record button again, even with picks on. But this unit is intended for LIVE recordings so it should be easy.

In the scheme of things a 60 meg file as mentioned above is not difficult to manage. I use Cool Edit and load up even 300 meg files and they are simple to work with.I have not really gone bigger than that. Those were probably 1 band set with the MP3/192 setting @ 45 minutes or so.

With a 1 gig card at the 320 MP3 Stereo setting you can get 6 hours...at the 256 setting, 8.5 hours, at the 192 setting, 11 hours...at 128, 17 hours. With my ears, I can't tell the difference between 192, 320 or any Wave file! even the 128's sound great to me, it's the music I record thats sounds bad !:(

I don't think I ever found it necessary to stop and start. I suppose if you are recording in a HI WAVE format that would be an important consideration. The only 16 or 24 bit Wave recording I do is when I transfer a completed Music program from the 16 tracker over to the PC. I master the final 2 track to a wave file on the Edirol.

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 30 Aug 2007 6:44 am

even the 128's sound great to me, it's the music I record thats sounds bad !

Boy is that ever the truth...

Seriously, in the first week I had the H4, I heard stuff that I was doing unconsciously that was really bad. IMO, there isn't a much better tool for learning and improving than to hear what you sound like live. If you've never done it, prepare to be depressed for a few days..

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 30 Aug 2007 8:14 am

Bill, I record EVERY gig now and have been for over a year using one of the two recorders I have, not for the overall band thing but for the basics of "just what the heck am I playing and why does it sound like I never practice " ?

I am coming to think that the best overall feature these little recorders have is the DELETE function.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 30 Aug 2007 9:01 am

I run the sound system in my band - I monitor the mains with headphones. Our Carvin PA doesn't have a headphone jack (weird, I know!), so I use a little old Realistic amp hooked up to the Record Out channel (two RCA jacks) and hook the phones to that.

I'm thinking that maybe the H2 can replace the Realistic amp. I could run a wire from the Carvin's Record Out channel to the H2's line in, and connect headphones to the H2 for monitoring. If this became our standard setup, I'd be all set to do full recordings of every gig.

I hope it works like that!

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 30 Aug 2007 10:45 am

Bob, that will work. There are many times I listen to music from the PC thru either of the recorders and then send the output to the phones or small PC speakers. the units are always ready to record, but can also just pass thru the audio signal without recording. The value of just having a small unit like this to record an entire gig is quite amazing.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 30 Aug 2007 3:25 pm

I downloaded my files today to Cool Edit Pro and it worked great!

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 3 Sep 2007 12:33 pm

I'm considering getting one of these to record group steel lessons. Has anyone recorded a band rehearsal where you have both music and some talkig over the PA, how was the balance, how audible was the overall sound from the session?

This might be a lot easier than my current plan: my mic and my steel into my ancient Tascam 4-track cassette recorder (functions as a mixer/preamp), feeding that into my MacBook, recording into Garageband or Audio Hijack Pro.

For Mac users, Audio Hijack Pro is a good and cheap app to record, edit and split MP3 files, and does it non-destructively. I don't yet have much experience with it, though, so that's just what I've read.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 3 Sep 2007 7:46 pm

John,I've been carrying the H2 around with me for he last couple of days.I've recorded a midi-duo that I was doing with a friend of mine at a bar that's up the street from where I live,I set it up in front of my steel so I could pause it in-between songs,That separates files,I also recorded some live bands at the state fair that had talking over it and that worked well,I also recorded a practice today in my friend's house for an up coming show that,that was with everyone sitting around a living room talking over arrangements while playing not too loud,and that went well,and finally I recorded a Moo Cow at the state fair,that was my favorite.It's a great little unit Im just hopping that it doesnt get stolen,it's small.

Pete Finney · Post by **Pete Finney** » 3 Sep 2007 10:55 pm

Hey Y'all... pardon my ignorance but this subject is new to me, I just decided I needed to buy a small MP3 recorder and checked here figuring some forumites would be up to speed on it; no disappointment there! The H2 looks like just what I need (and much more)...

So, basic (stupid) question: If I don't need to edit or manipulate files (for now) could I just load them into itunes on my Mac for organizing (and to load into my ipod) or do I need one of these other programs being mentioned? Obviously at some point I'd want to get more into it but for now I don't want to spend much time learning new tech stuff...

thanks...

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 4 Sep 2007 9:38 am

Pete,There is a way to convert wave files into MP3's within the unit,I haven't had time to mess with that yet.I'm pretty sure that it will do what you want,I don't have a Mac?It will put my files into Windows media player so I can send them to my MP3 player.I got mine from Sweetwater sound,I'm sure that one phone call will answer your question,Stu

1-800-222-4700 Sweetwater sound.

Pete Finney · Post by **Pete Finney** » 4 Sep 2007 1:09 pm

Thanks, Stu, I'll check that out...

How's life up there?

Is the state fair you mentioned the one in Palmer? I played that one on my first trip to Alaska (in 85 maybe?).

I hate that I haven't been back up that way for way too long...

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 4 Sep 2007 3:41 pm

Pete,Good to hear from ya'The Fair was the same one in Palmer,I played either guitar,steel or bass with nine different acts,I think that the farm animals sounded better

.I would be great to have some of you steel people up here sometime,Be Good,Stu

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 4 Sep 2007 9:36 pm

I'm putting it through the paces tonight. It seems to record well, but it doesn't have a lot of processing power. The onboard file functions like track splitting, normalization and WAV to MP3 encoding are really slow.

The features are cool, though. My Mac recognized it as an SD card reader right away, and clicking a track on the SD card launched iTunes and played it.

Here's a track recorded with the back mics (120 degrees) as WAV, then normalized and MP3 encoded by the recorder itself:

http://soundhost.net/b0b/STE-001BA.mp3

It's my marimba without the resonators (late night practice mode). It captured the sound and the stereo image of the instrument pretty well, I think.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 20 Sep 2007 10:27 pm

I just figured out that the H2 will screw onto a camera tripod.