I’ve used a lot of Zoom Corp devices over the years – guitar multi-effects, video cameras, and especially their recorders. I wouldn’t say the user manuals have been useless, but they sometimes take a bit of exploration and experimentation to understand. So I’ve done a few posts over the years addressing specific issues with some of these gadgets.
The Zoom H6 packs a lot of functionality into a pretty compact device – six input channels with three different paths, effects, overdubbing, mixing, headphone and speaker and line outputs – there’s a lot to cover in the manual. I guess it’s no surprise that some of the functions don’t work in a way that is immediately obvious. It took a bit of trial and error to figure out how to delete a single file from the SD card, so I put together this video demonstrating file management on the H6.
As always, I hope these demonstrations are helpful to other Zoom H6 users.
I probably seem a little obsessive about finding minimalist recording rigs using my Zoom F6. The low noise preamps and extreme dynamic range make the audio recording job vastly easier, but I miss having an all-in-one recording solution using a single tripod. I am always looking for new interesting places to shoot my Look At Me Play Guitar videos and a minimal equipment load opens up a lot of possibilities. Fewer pieces of equipment also means easier setup and teardown.
The previous post details my first experiment, using adapters and bars and accessories, and I’ve used the hex bar approach for a published video. And in this video I’m using the “omni AB plugged straight in” technique, although in that session I was using the Schoeps CMC62 omnis rather than the Line Audio Omni1s.
This time I’m looking at two other solutions and I think I’m getting closer to the ideal. One approach is to mount a miniature mic directly on the guitar, something I’ve experimented with in the past. I pulled out a pair of vintage Countryman EM-101 mics and taped them in a position I had never tried before. The other rig uses DPA 4061 miniature omnis and their XLR adapter which happens to plug straight in to the F6. With a little tape and bell wire I rigged the 4061s in an AB configuration. While it won’t win any prizes for neatness I think this rig will get a bit more attention.
Both of these approaches will probably get more attention, I can definitely think of situations where either of these could be useful. If you’d like to listen to the these recordings in more detail you can download uncompressed WAV files and compare them – Countryman EM-101 and DPA 4061
I’ve done some videos with the DPA 4061 array if you’d like to check it out:
I’ve owned many examples of recorders from the Zoom Corp H series, the recorders Zoom calls “handy.” These are battery powered recorders with attached mics and SD card storage. Zoom has offered models from the H1 to the H8 with “N” and “Pro” upgrades along the way for some of the devices. The great majority of my slack key and Hawaiian music videos have audio that was captured on one of these Zoom Handy Recorder models. I set out to see how “handy” I could make my Zoom F6 so I could enjoy the advantages of this new recorder with the convenience of the older ones.
Although the H series recorders can be handheld, they also offer some sort of tripod attachment, which I basically always use. Fortunately the F6 also has a tripod mount option, so that’s where I started. I pulled out an inexpensive light weight camera tripod and attached the F6.
To attach mics I started by plugging a pair of Line Audio Omni1s through an adapter and directly into the F6. Then I fastened the optional male camera mount accessory to the top of the recorder, so with some adapters I used that to put a mic bar atop the F6. I used the mic bar to mount an X-Y pair of Shure KSM141 mics in cardioid.
Let’s look at the video to get a better idea of how the rig came together:
After all the rigging and adapting I was ready to play a little bit of “Salomila” slack key into these two mic arrays. You’ll have to jump to 286 seconds to skip over the hardware and get to the music.
I’ve continued to experiment with different mics and attachment methods. I’m not there yet, but I hope I’ll be able to develop a rig that is just as “handy” as my H6 but have the quality and convenience of the F6.
I’ve recorded audio for many videos using the Zoom H6, it’s a terrific tool with decent audio quality, lots of features, and excellent battery life. But Zoom recently released the F6 recorder with a new level of capability. The F6 combines very low noise preamps with dual ADCs and 32 bit float recording, and the combination nearly eliminates any issue with setting input levels. But the F6 costs more and requires more external gear. Which one of these is right for you?
I’ve found the terrific dynamic range of the F6 to be a real benefit to my projects. For my hula show videos I no longer worry about the drums clipping while the chanting is down in the noise floor. With the F6 I can recover those extra loud and extra quiet parts in post in a way I never could with the H6. When I’m shooting “look at me play guitar” videos where I’m the whole video and audio crew as well as the talent I never lose a track that I played well but set levels poorly.
Still, there are trade-offs as there always are. Besides the extra cost of the F6 the H6 includes attached mics that are very handy – using the F6 means bringing mics, cables, mic bar, mic clips, and some kind of mic stand. The H6 has XLR and 1/4″ combo jacks so I can plug my guitar pickup directly in while the F6 needs some kind of adapter to attach a 1/4″ plug to the recorder.
I’ve done a couple of videos that examine the trade-offs and demonstrate the capabilities, hopefully these will be useful in helping you decide which recorder meets your needs.
First, here’s a visual look at the extra gear you’ll need for the F6 to handle the same project as the H6:
Next I did a little demo of the dynamic range capabilities of the two recorders along with some post-processing to demonstrate the recovery of a very low recording level and a badly clipped recording:
To really appreciate the differences between the results from these two recorders you might like to download some files and play with them yourself. I’ve uploaded .WAV files from each recorder for your enjoyment:
Although the H6 is wonderfully handy with its attached mics, combo jacks, and compact form factor, the F6 has captured me. Sure, carrying the extra gear is going to be a hassle, but in the past when I’ve compared the H6 mics to good standalone gear I could hear the improvement from the external mics. And having the ability to handle a guitar pickup when the player hits the strings just a bit too hard is going to make my videos sweeter sounding. All I need to do now is to stop fooling with equipment and start playing more slack key guitar!
The digital camera market is so vigorous that it seems like every niche gets exploited. There are even video cameras aimed at musicians of all people. I call them “music cameras” and the basic idea is a small, light, simple camera with fairly high quality stereo audio. (more…)
I had a lot of fun the other day shooting a self-duet video but I ran into a couple of snags trying to use the Zoom H6 metronome and overdub functions. Perhaps my experiences can help you out. (more…)
I don’t overdub, or at least I do it only very rarely. And I’ve never done a project using the overdub capability of the Zoom H6. But I do know that the capability exists and I’ve tested it briefly.
When an H6 user from the UK posted on the Sound on Sound Forum that he was having a problem overdubbing because phantom power was not available, I did a quick test and learned that my unit exhibits the same issue. (more…)
Talk about an unfair fight, this seems to be just that, based on price alone. The GH3 currently costs around $850 (Ooops, today it’s $1000 – camera prices have become highly variable it seems) for the body only, the original price was about $1300 with a kit zoom lens. The Q4 at $299 is a lot easier to fit into most budgets. And we’re talking about a very specific niche here, the “music camera,” in this category the audio quality is right up there in importance with the video. (more…)
Howdy, my name is Fran Guidry and this is my Homebrewed Music blog.
I play Hawaiian slack key guitar and recorded my solo acoustic CD at home. Most of the recording information I find on the internet seems focused on bands, drums, multitracking, and so on but my main focus is recording solo acoustic guitar. Lately I’ve been enjoying video recording along with audio, so that shows up in the blog as well.
I’m also a guitar nut. I love big ones and little ones, handmades and factory guitars, cheap ones and expensive ones. So I’ll be sharing the fun of exploring guitars as well, along with the challenges of amplifying acoustic guitars for live performance.
Welcome!
Philosophy
My recording philosophy is pragmatic, skeptical, not super critical. After all, the performance is by far the most important component of a track, and every aspect of any recording is a matter of taste.
But I do like to know “about stuff.” Back in hifi days I learned about double blind testing. I learned that we humans can easily hear differences that don’t really exist. The more I’ve learned about our human auditory system, the more I’m skeptical of what people say they hear, especially if they claim that a particular microphone or preamp or cable has some magical property.
I’ve only been recording since 2001, and when I started I found the usual places on the internet. I sought advice and accepted it, thought I would improve my recordings by using more expensive equipment. It didn’t work.
Two things that did seem to lead to better recordings were experience and room treatment. Getting an appealing sound is the combination of many small details, and learning those details only comes from experience. Amd the sound of the recording space is obviously a big factor.
I’ve only recorded seriously using digital technology, but I remember trying to record rehearsals and gigs back in analog days. I don’t have any nostalgia for analog recording and playback systems at all. I think even low end digital systems can capture marvelous recordings. So when I look at gear, I look for good specs: low noise, broad flat frequency response, wide dynamic range, low distortion. I’m not interested in colorful components, mics and preamps with a sound, I want the sound to be the sound of my guitar.
But the last word is that I’m just learning and I hope you find something useful in my posts.