Zoom H4N digital recorder issue

[Mark Barroso]

When you play it in the zoom, where are the levels hitting? Try listening with another program, like i-Tunes or QT or whatever. What does the waveform look like in FCP?

BTW: you should always be prepared to be fired. That’s why I submit invoices the day after a job.

[Chris Shaw]

They went up to half way on the screen. What I dont understand is how when I played it on the Zoom itself it was perfect. Surely it was just playing back the audio it had recorded? Therefor when you export the files they should be exactly the same? In FCP the waveform is flat with a couple of tiny little rises in the audio. In iTunes its like Im playing a recording of silence.

Do you think this is sackable? Im only a junior so Im pretty uptight about this. I appreciate your help though 🙂

[Noah Kadner]

Half way up- hmm that doesn’t sound like you were getting close to overmodding. Which is where you want to be with your loudest sounds. Digital audio is what it is- i.e. the waveform doesn’t lie or change when you copy a file. Are you sure you had the recording level set high enough?

Noah

Call Box Training.
Featuring the Panasonic GH2 and Panasonic AC160/130.

[Chris Shaw]

So half way up may have been too low? I just dont get why, when I had the headphones plugged in to the zoom, it played perfectly. Literally perfectly. If the files played half as good on the mac as they sounded when I played it on the Zoom I wouldnt be worried about my job. It really confuses me. If the guy hadnt wiped the files would it have been possible to get the audio by playing it through the H4N into another recording device, like my Mac Pro and record that?

Ive learnt a valuable lesson. I always aimed to be the jack of all trades. Do some video, but focus on my motion graphics etc This is why you get people who are incredibly focused on single areas of their chosen profession. Also this is why you have crews of people at any one time, not just 1 guy trying to spin several plates at the same time.

[Mark Barroso]

My first mistake as a soundman was relying on headphones for an indication of how loud the sound was being recorded. You can have the headphone volume cranked and still be recording at a low level. You really need to play the file back on the zoom to determine what happened. “Half-way up” is not an accurate description of the levels you recorded. The Zoom has levels ranging from -48 to 0, and the optimum range for recording sound is -20 to -6. Anything less will need serious boosting.

An almost flat line in FCP is not a good sign; it tells me this is exactly what happened. You can try “normalizing” the audio to boost the peaks a little, as well as apply the gain filter to your clip.

[Chris Shaw]

I remember setting the recording level to -20 on the mic and matched it up on the transmitter that plugged into the Zoom. Its just baffling why it sounded ok every time I played it back. If it recorded low then you’d think when I played back the recordings on the Zoom it would also play super low. But it was perfect.

Thanks for the tips, I’ll try doing that but I think the quality is too poor now. I will just have to face the music with my boss 🙁

[Chris Shaw]

One thing, even though the card has been “wiped” if it was just the standard “format card” problem do you think theres a chance the files could be recovered on the zoom itself? Then if it played them perfectly on the zoom could I hook that up to my Mac and record that audio? Such a long shot but Im getting desperate… also in your personal opinion do you think this is sackable?

[Mark Barroso]

Chris:

I don’t know why you’re baffled after what’s been said here. The “quality” issue is not because the device didn’t work properly. It works great for, literally, millions of people. If you want it to work for you in the future you need to learn how to use it. That begins calling things by the correct name. If you plugged a transmitter into the zoom you have bigger problems than what you’ve described here.

You can’t show up on a job with a new piece of gear and expect it to work fine without a little study and testing. I’m sorry if this is harsh, but it’s not as bad as the reaction of a client who thought you knew what you were doing.

Read the manual. Listen to professionals. Figure out what you need to do before you need to do it.

[Chris Shaw]

Listen I know what you’re saying and I totally agree. I was given a budget and told to organise something I have never done before. I was employed to do motion graphics not video. I was given the budget to hire the equipment for 1 day only and had literally 2-3 hours to learn about all the new gear.

It just doesn’t make any sense that the recordings were perfect on the zoom when they were played back. I realise Ive done something wrong along the way, I don’t doubt that for a second, but the recordings were perfect. I know its a great bit of kit but its not so good that the low recordings sound great on there and completely muted on everything else. The recordings were fine. The test recordings were fine.

Im sorry I don’t know all the technical terms, I never claimed to be a sound engineer.

[Mark Barroso]

You’ve got my sympathies, Chris, and sorry if I lectured you, but this board is also read by others in your same predicament and my posts are directed at them as well.

IMO, it wasn’t realistic that you could pull this off with a 2-3 hours introduction to new gear, your experience level and have nothing go wrong, unless you’re some kind of video genius. Sometimes we have to say “no” to people who don’t have a clue as to how much is involved in doing what we do.