Zoom H4n is there a defect?

[Peter Groom]

Well your sample snt much to go on but to me
1) the wav
The general broadband noise is throughout and there is a blast of hash on the right leg only. Id have thought it more likely that this was on input (ie coming from outside the recorder, but its impossible to tell 100%.
Does your recorder make clean recordings when attached to other mics / desk. or is the fault always there.
Does the fault still occur on the internal mics.
Do you have phantom power turned on with mics that dont want powering?

2) the mp3 This sound swirls around badly. To me it sounds like the mpe3 is far too low a data rate. Its sounds really mpeggy / lossy – or has someone had a go with noise reduction software and over cooked it as you can get that sound that way.

You really need to do some tests swapping settings channels and input sources etc to try to home in on the source of the problem.

peter

Post Production Dubbing Mixer

[Ravik Bodmer]

Thank you for reply. Give me some time – I’ll make better samples..
Regarding to this ringing sounds – that’s not about compression.. they appear on wav files 24 bit. 44.1 and 48 khz.. ringing sounds appear when the input level is peaking.. for example if the wind blows for a second on the mic

noise blasts are not coming from outside.. if you just turn on the device and just listen through the headphones.. they appear randomly…

I’ll make a few samples..
thanks again..

[Ravik Bodmer]

Hello Peter,

I’ve made two recordings of silence.
1st with built in Zoom h4n mic. 2nd with external mic. I’ve uploaded raw files here:
https://rapidshare.com/files/1204928362/samples.zip

I paid attention to the right channel this time. And you were right. All the noise comes from there. Left channel is clean.. The recording from external mic is also clean.

What do you think could be the problem with the right mic?
We don’t really have Zoom distributors in this part of Russia.. So I don’t really have an option to have it repaired by professionals.. And I’m not an audio professional to understand what causes the problem.

Thank you again.

[Peter Groom]

Hi
Ihave listened again to your files.
The stereo file does only have the fault on the right . As the mono file is clean (at least without the problem audio – its still quite noisy) then that suggests its the onboard mic or circuitry.
Sounds possibly like a poor connection / joint but its hard to say for sure.
If the external mic inputs are clean on both sides then id just use them always. i think the onboard mics are of no real use anyway. Ive never used them on mine after i listened to them the day it arrived.

Peter

Post Production Dubbing Mixer

[Ravik Bodmer]

thanks for you opinion.
I usually used built in mic for recording ambient sounds.