Hi all,
I used a friends Zoom H4N for the first time with a Sennheiser ME66/67 to do a
wildlife survey in Africa for the first time, as my old Marantz PMD660 has
died. I was amazed how impracticable the zoom was for wildlife sound
recording, at least the way I do it. Some obvservations to share with the group:
I had to push up the gain to 80-90% to get a good enough signal and then have
to boost it more in post. With the PMD660 I would set the gain from 4.5-6. As I
aim to get good mono recordings of my target species it was very disappointing.
I also changed mics (I carry 2 sets of K6/Me66/67 capsules) and batteries to
see if there was a mic issue.
On board mics are very nice for ambient recordings.
Also annoying is that the are no shoulder strap loops and that the level meter
display is on the front face. So I was holding the recorder in one hand and the
mic in the other.
Putting the recorder in a bag meant I could not control the gain and see the
display panel easily.
The Gain buttons require large dextrous hands, I managed just but I dont know
how small handed people would cope.
The record buttons needs you to press it twice other wise it stays on pause
record. This is crazy when you need to quickly get that bird call and
subconsciously you hit the REC button only to look down and see it still
flashing away on pause record.
Rant over. This machine may be loved by videographers and others who are in a
more controlled setting but it gets the thumbs down from me. These basic
ergonmic design features which were there on the PMD660 (yes it has poor sound
quality), made it a practical option for walking surveys in the bush. These
features for me limit other options out there on the market, even if they have
great sound quality.
This maybe an obvious question. I would like to ask the group how you do
recording while on the move in the bush with not tripod etc. Are the
protabrace style shoulder bags used to hold the recorder so a hand is free for
control the levels and the other holding the mic?
Cheers
Andy
"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause.
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