Zoom Q3HD Line In vs other video cameras

[clintonb]

I just bought a Zoom Q3HD. I was reading some other posts about the Q3HD where people complain that when you have it close enough to your guitar for good sound, it's too close for video (so you end up with movies of your guitar soundhole).

So apparently people will use the Line In instead of the internal mics. But I thought the main selling point about the Q3HD was its x-y internal mics.

If you are not going to use the internal mics, then why even use the Q3HD? I'm assuming most video cameras have a Line In. I'd rather use a video camera with better video features (e.g. optical zoom) and record sound using it's Line In.

Is the Line In of the Q3HD superior to your typical video camera?

[Brent Hutto]

Very few inexpensive camcorders have any sort of input jacks.

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by clintonb

I just bought a Zoom Q3HD. I was reading some other posts about the Q3HD where people complain that when you have it close enough to your guitar for good sound, it's too close for video (so you end up with movies of your guitar soundhole).

So apparently people will use the Line In instead of the internal mics. But I thought the main selling point about the Q3HD was its x-y internal mics.

If you are not going to use the internal mics, then why even use the Q3HD? I'm assuming most video cameras have a Line In. I'd rather use a video camera with better video features (e.g. optical zoom) and record sound using it's Line In.

Is the Line In of the Q3HD superior to your typical video camera?

The least expensive video cam I know with Line In jacks is over $2500. The audio input on lower cost cams, if it exists, is a mic input loaded with gain management - autolevel or compression or limiting or whatever you want to call it. The Q justifies a premium price for mediocre video by including decent audio.

With careful framing and a willingness to accept unconventional angles, you can get very close with the Q: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2011/...the-zoom-q3hd/

When you use the mics and place the Zoom conventionally, the result is still better than a conventional cam mic to my ear, but not everyone agrees with my taste. I was surprised by the number of commenters on YouTube and on the blog who preferred the distortion and compression of the Kodak Zi8 over the clean, neutral sound of the Q mics: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2010/...the-zoom-q3hd/

Fran

[Ty Ford]

Originally Posted by Fran Guidry

I was surprised by the number of commenters on YouTube and on the blog who preferred the distortion and compression of the Kodak Zi8 over the clean, neutral sound of the Q mics: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2010/...the-zoom-q3hd/
Fran

Mee too, but there you have it!

A Sound Devices Mix-Pre D came in today. More later.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[clintonb]

I think my old Sony tape camcorder had a Line In jack so I just assumed all these digital ones did too. I actually didn't shop around for any camcorders so I really didn't know what kind of features they had.

I just bought the Q3HD because I came across it one day on the internet and read/heard that it was great for recording audio, especially loud bands. I want to eventually make gear demo videos.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

A Sound Devices Mix-Pre D came in today. More later.

Will be interesting to hear what you think about the audio quality.

[Tele1111]

Originally Posted by clintonb

I just bought a Zoom Q3HD. I was reading some other posts about the Q3HD where people complain that when you have it close enough to your guitar for good sound, it's too close for video (so you end up with movies of your guitar soundhole).

So apparently people will use the Line In instead of the internal mics. But I thought the main selling point about the Q3HD was its x-y internal mics.

Well I understand your concern, but I don’t agree with what these other posters have said. You can use an external mic with it, but I don’t believe it is necessary. You can always get a better sound with an external mic(s) but I still think the sound from the Q3HD's mics is very good. Here is a video of me playing with the Q3 HD alone. Maybe it will help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LesOP91OXs

[Brent Hutto]

Originally Posted by Tele1111

Well I understand your concern, but I don’t agree with what these other posters have said. You can use an external mic with it, but I don’t believe it is necessary. You can always get a better sound with an external mic(s) but I still think the sound from the Q3HD's mics is very good. Here is a video of me playing with the Q3 HD alone. Maybe it will help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LesOP91OXs

Mark,

That is a very nice tune, well-played, but to a certain extent suffers from the typical issues that come from not close-mic'ing in a small, bright room. The notes are slightly indistinct due to those early reflections and there's a certain lack of warmth overall that I suspect your guitar playing, heard in person, does not suffer from at all.

Sounds fine on limited-range computer speakers, sounds OK but definitely lacking warmth and clarity on my headphones. If the microphone were about 1/4 that distance away from the guitar it would gain in both respects, probably.

[clintonb]

So for the best sound when recording acoustic guitar, it appears you need to set the Q3HD pretty close to the guitar.

I was planning on recording my first duo gig (me on guitar and a singer) this week. Since we will be playing through a small PA, I'm assuming these mic distance issues aren't going to as prominent since we are dealing with a louder sound source to begin with.

I was thinking about connecting the "Record Out" jacks of the mixer to the "Line In" jack of the Q3HD. But since the mixer will be on stage with us and the camera out front, I wonder how much the sound will suffer by running long cords from the mixer to the camera.

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by clintonb

So for the best sound when recording acoustic guitar, it appears you need to set the Q3HD pretty close to the guitar.

I was planning on recording my first duo gig (me on guitar and a singer) this week. Since we will be playing through a small PA, I'm assuming these mic distance issues aren't going to as prominent since we are dealing with a louder sound source to begin with.

I was thinking about connecting the "Record Out" jacks of the mixer to the "Line In" jack of the Q3HD. But since the mixer will be on stage with us and the camera out front, I wonder how much the sound will suffer by running long cords from the mixer to the camera.

The sound won't suffer from a fairly long cable run, but in my experience you'll need some kind of attenuator to match the Line Out of the mixer to the oversensitive Line In on the Zoom. An alternative is to use a headphone output of the mixer if it has one, or any output that has a level control.

Fran

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by Tele1111

Well I understand your concern, but I don’t agree with what these other posters have said. You can use an external mic with it, but I don’t believe it is necessary. You can always get a better sound with an external mic(s) but I still think the sound from the Q3HD's mics is very good. Here is a video of me playing with the Q3 HD alone. Maybe it will help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LesOP91OXs

Wouldn't it be _great_ if the Q had a front facing monitor screen or an articulated screen so you could frame yourself a bit more aggressively when doing these kinds of videos.

Fran

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by clintonb

I think my old Sony tape camcorder had a Line In jack so I just assumed all these digital ones did too. I actually didn't shop around for any camcorders so I really didn't know what kind of features they had.

I just bought the Q3HD because I came across it one day on the internet and read/heard that it was great for recording audio, especially loud bands. I want to eventually make gear demo videos.

Recording amplified stuff is not a problem. The need for external mics comes when trying to record rather quiet sources, like acoustic guitars, while maintaining some distance for the video framing.

Fran

[Tele1111]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

Mark,

That is a very nice tune, well-played, but to a certain extent suffers from the typical issues that come from not close-mic'ing in a small, bright room. The notes are slightly indistinct due to those early reflections and there's a certain lack of warmth overall that I suspect your guitar playing, heard in person, does not suffer from at all.

Sounds fine on limited-range computer speakers, sounds OK but definitely lacking warmth and clarity on my headphones. If the microphone were about 1/4 that distance away from the guitar it would gain in both respects, probably.

Thanks Brent. Yes I agree. But that is part of the compromise when using an all in one device. It also picks up more ambient noise due to the proximity. I use it for convience, so I'm willing to accept it. I also have an H4N that I could use with it (as Fran has done on his site I believe) but that does put me back in "Recording Engineer" mode, and I'm trying to avoid that. I could have framed it a little better (closer) than I did as well.

Fran- Yes absolutley. I do all my videos by myself, and that would be a great help. I usually frame it, record a few seconds to check it and then go back and start doing takes. Sometimes I find I've changed it slightly and that is frustrating. Sometimes when I check the camera it looks fine, but when I watch it on the computer screen it's not quite how I thought it was.

[napman]

[QUOTE=Fran Guidry;2661031I was surprised by the number of commenters on YouTube and on the blog who preferred the distortion and compression of the Kodak Zi8 over the clean, neutral sound of the Q mics:
Fran[/QUOTE]

Well, I'm currently using Kodak Zi8 for Video device and Zoom q3hd for Audio device (I ran the 1/8" both end cable between them). So my YT clips have Video quality of Kodak and Audio quality of Zoom. So far I'm quite satisfy with it.

Here's one of my YT clips that I used as above. The stuttering of the video I found out later that caused by the "Serif software" that I used. Without that Serif the Video/Audio runs smoothly.
http://youtu.be/ARyawlfr0XU

[St.Stephen]

I've just resorted to using my Q3HD in audio only mode and recording the video on my Canon Powershot camera (which coincidentally does have a viewer that can flip around to help frame the shots while I'm actually sitting in position). It's not that much trouble to then merge the files on my laptop. You can see and hear an example here (you can see the Q3HD in the shot).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRbOX...el_video_title

Trying to use the Q3HD as an all-in-one just did not work. You can see from my other video (Q3HD Test) how quiet the audio signal was even from close in. I don't know if I got a defective unit or something, but I couldn't even get the decent levels that Tele and Fran got in their videos (Fran has a nice demo of a raw Q3HD feed on his website that sounds pretty good to me). Maybe my level switch is permanently stuck on low. Anyway, using separate feeds is an option and not that much more trouble.