Field Recording

[MisterMcGillicuddy]

So I recently bought the Zoom H4N field recorder and am absolutely loving it, but I'd really like to take my recordings to the next level. A lot of the recordings I do have an incredible amount of background "buzz" and wind noise to it, and some of them I feel just aren't "present" enough in the music I use them in. If I'm trying to record isolated sounds like clicks and pops (something of high quality and caliber that Baths uses, for example) and things of the sort should I purchase another mic and use the inputs on the H4N? If so, what should I buy? What is the optimal condition for recording percussion/glitchy abstract noises? What preferred methods do you all use to get the highest quality recording possible?

[Samuel L. Jizzle]

I made some artwork to accompany this thread.

You're welcome.

[regretfullySaid]

You shoud look for directional microphones.

http://en-us.sennheiser.com/highly-dire ... -gun-me-67

[jestermgee]

I use the Zoom H4n and do a LOT of field recordings and SFX recordings... My site is (slowly) being setup to offer these or production and film work. BUT, I found quickly that the Zoom while nice, just isn't capable of proper detailed recordings and the mics are rather average.

The Zoom is a great little recorder for the price but it is not really a professional recorder. I am always wishing I had a Sound Devices recorder but have to make do on my budget. The first issue I noticed with it is once you boost the mic gain above half you get significant background hiss from the amps. This is still an issue when using an external mic too so the solution for the most part was to add a small mixer that could boost the mic level without adding noise and push that into the Zoom.. A sound devices MixPre is perfect (but costs 3x more than the zoom itself.



Above is my basic field rig where I use a Rode NT4 Stereo mic and have a blimp for it. If you want to do outside recordings you MUST have a decent wind protector. For the Zoom look around for a "dead cat" wind protector as the one that comes with it is only good for indoor use.

I also have a Rode NTG3 shotgun mic I use for SFX and vocal recording work

The whole kit is mounted in an old camera bag:




If you want to do good recordings you need decent equipment. I would love to upgrade the zoom and will do as soon as I have a spare $2500. One other suggestion is to look for a noise filter plugin to process your recordings and remove hiss. I have just Waves Xnoise which is about $150 on its own from memory but is worth it.

I still use the zoom on its own when I need to catch covert sounds, in a hospital, on a plane, in a restaurant.

[MisterMcGillicuddy]

Extremely helpful, thank you

[chrk]

For the Zoom look around for a "dead cat" wind protector as the one that comes with it is only good for indoor use.

Rycote makes 'dead kittens' taylored to a good handful of the more popular handheld recorders. Not cheap, but absolutely worth it. I got some for my Olympus LS-11, and they do a propper job. The only downside is, the kitten goes over the whole top of the recorder, so you can't use the infrared remote sensor that plugs between the micro-A/B microphones of the LS-11.