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Practice Microphones/Recorders


SevenSeas
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Anyone got any good suggestions?

Basically I've been using the H2N Zoom Microphone which is a great microphone however it keeps saying the memory card is full... which it just isn't. It's literally empty.

Anyway I travel a 14 hour trip for lessons in London so recording the lesson (even with a not great recorder) is pretty important. This is the 2nd time the recorder has cut out half way through the lesson so i'm looking for another alternative. At least so I can use it as a back-up incase the Zoom stops recording. I can't find anything in the manual.

Any suggestions?

Thanks everyone,

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I was going to recommend the zoom! I have an Olympus, basically a dictaphone though with fairly good quality. One of our band has the Zoom H4 and it is so much better! The problem is that the standard recorders have automatic level controls and roll off the bass to make voices clearer. That's great for their intended purpose but not what you want for recording your band or bass generally.

Try a new memory card if it's just a standard card.

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I would have recommended the Zoom too! I have the older Zoom H2 (no N) and have been using it for years to record both rehearsals, lessons and even done some acoustic demos on it with no problems at all.
Maybe you should try a different memory card, I had issues with 2 memory cards using my 24 track studio.
I did have an Olympus Dictaphone too before and the quality was good, battery life excellent but I started using the zoom because of the bigger card capacity.

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Not sure if this helps but, on my Zoom (H1), there is a switch that allows you to choose to save recordings as a WAV file or MP3. The WAV files take up much more memory than the mp3s and, if I use the wrong one (WAV), you cannot record a whole gig whereas, on the MP3 setting, I can record for hours and hours without any problems. Not sure if that is your problem but thought it worth a mention.

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[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1399450304' post='2444271']
Not sure if this helps but, on my Zoom (H1), there is a switch that allows you to choose to save recordings as a WAV file or MP3. The WAV files take up much more memory than the mp3s and, if I use the wrong one (WAV), you cannot record a whole gig whereas, on the MP3 setting, I can record for hours and hours without any problems. Not sure if that is your problem but thought it worth a mention.
[/quote]

I'd say the same, and the .WAV vs .MP3 choice was my initial thought on reading the first post.
Like Bilbo, I've recorded 2 hour+ sessions on the supplied memory card without a problem.

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Although it might be low quality, do you have a voice recorder feature on your phone? That's what I use for exactly the same purpose recording (I assume) exactly the same person - his tone's plenty strong enough to be audible :)

You might also be able to use a laptop with a similar feature (windows has this functionality built in).

p.s. 14 hours?! I thought I was a martyr with 6 1/2......

Edited by Hector
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Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I looked into it more. Bilbo was correct (well I haven't tried it yet) but I had the setting on a really high WAV file, so after an hour of recording the SD card was full. So I have changed the settings and just brought a 32gb card. So fingers crossed that works.

Yeah unfortunatly I live in the middle of no where (and I can't drive... yet) so I leave my house just after 6am and get home at 8pm Hector. Its all worth it though, he's changed the way I play bass. Still got loads of shedding to do though.

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[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1399590972' post='2445779']
Glad you figured it out. My Zoom H2 is probably the best money I've ever spent on musical kit.
[/quote]

Same here, though I've made lots of mistakes in recording cos of not being able to read the crappy screen on the old H2 model. Is the newer one easier to read?

Edited by fatback
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[quote name='SevenSeas' timestamp='1399588499' post='2445765']
So I have changed the settings and just brought a 32gb card.
[/quote]

You really don't want to hear this, but the little Zooms (H1 and H2) don't much like those huge SD cards, and they take AGES to boot up.

If you have yours on mp3 setting, then you'll get roughly an hour of recording time for each Gb (that's a very crude figure, ye ken?) so an 8Gb card will cope with at least two rehearsals or gigs with no trouble.

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Only problem with recording to mp3 on my H2 is you can't fast forward through them like you can with wav files if playing back through the device. Maybe the newer ones have a bit more processing power to handle this!

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Very true but I do all the editing when I get home, so thats not a problem.

I picked a simcard which Zoom recommended for that device so fingers crossed it will be okay. I can always turn my mic on before I get there. I'd rather have lots of room on the card then not enough. I mean two hours of continuous recording is always going to be a lot of space.

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[quote name='SevenSeas' timestamp='1399673139' post='2446673']
Very true but I do all the editing when I get home, so thats not a problem.
[/quote]

Same here. First thing I do when I get back from rehearsals… Well, first thing I do is pour myself a pint, second thing is plug the H2 into my Mactop and import the track into Logic. I'm browsing through Thursday night's session right now actually.

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