Zoom H4N problem – keeps splitting up a continuous recording on me

[Ty Ford]

Hello Richard and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.

I believe all recorders have file size limits after which they start new files.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar

[Peter Groom]

Im curious why youre recording at 96k 24bit. That seems “ultra” for a “ceremony” which i presume is a wedding ceremony. Are you shooting it on a RED or something??? That setting wont be doing anything to lessen your mounting file sizes, which as Ty said, is likely the culprit

Peter

Peter

[Richard Crowley]

What SIZE are the the pieces? You will likely find that they are the maximum size that the disk format will allow. That is normal for all devices, even video cameras do the same thing. Why are you recording at 96/24? That is vast over-kill for the application and a major contributor to the issue you are asking about.

[Bouke Vahl]

It is both.
Disks that are formatted Fat32 can handle files up to about 4 gig.
Same number goes for WAVE files. The header includes the size of the file, and 32 bits are reserved for that.
The largest number you can put in there is FF FF FF FF,
that is 4294967295 bytes in Decimal, and thus the largest file size possible.
So even if you have a HFS+ or NTFS disk, wave files can’t be bigger than this.

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pros

[Richard Doyle]

Hi Ty

Thanks for the response. I bought your audio guide years ago and found it very helpful.

I know that most recorders have limits, but the zoom h4 was telling me that I’d nearly get 2 hours of audio at 96/24. I did, but the tracks were broken up into separate files and before I use it again, I want to make sure I know what’s happening.

Thanks
Richard

[Richard Doyle]

The zoom h4 says that I’ll get nearly 2 hours of audio at 96/24 on a 4Gb card. I got the almost 2 hours but the tracks were broken up. I don’t think this is the way it should be. I’m wondering if I have a setting wrong or something.

[Richard Doyle]

Perhaps you’re right, but I can’t understand why the H4 is splitting up the tracks on me into various lengths. It’s a 4Gb card and it says that I should be able to get near to 2 hours on it at 96/24. I want 96/24 as it’s the best quality (I know I don’t absolutely HAVE to record at this quality). If the H4 wasn’t able to handle 96/24, then why is the option there?

[Richard Doyle]

Thanks for the response, but I’m not quite sure what you’re telling me. I’m using a 4GB card in the Zoom H4. The recorder says it can record near to 2 hours at 96/24, yet it doesn’t. It splits up the continuous track into various files.

[Bouke Vahl]

[Richard Doyle] “Perhaps you’re right, but I can’t understand why the H4 is splitting up the tracks on me into various lengths”

No idea about that.

[Richard Doyle] “4Gb card and it says that I should be able to get near to 2 hours on it at 96/24.”

Do the math. 1 second is something like 540 Kb, that ends up to two hours on 4 gig.

[Richard Doyle] “want 96/24 as it’s the best quality (“

Ouch. Get a decent recorder with decent pre-amps, decent mics, and spend some money on training.
24 bits has enough resolution to record a needle drop as well as a jet plane taking off, without adjusting mic levels.
(if you have a mic that can handle the dynamic range)
96 Khz can describe sounds up to 48000 Hz.
A normal person can hear sounds up to 15 Khz at best.
If you are keen about quality, invest in a decent recorder, and forget about 96 Khz. 24 bit is fine if you don’t ride the levels, you can have way more headroom.
But, you also have way more work in audio post if you don’t ride the levels.

[Richard Doyle] “If the H4 wasn’t able to handle 96/24, then why is the option there?”

Marketing where some people (like yourself) fall for.
Higher number, thus better.
Same thing as BWF. The Zoom claims to be a BWF recorder.
However, there is NOTHING usefull about that.
It got a BEXT entry in the files, so it’s BWF.
But no meaningfull time information nor other metadata.
Pure marketing.
You get what you pay for…

hth,

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pros