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  #1  
Old 12-16-2017, 07:18 PM
Reidclifford Reidclifford is offline
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Default Portable recording options... Zoom H5 vs USB mic and iPhone/iPad

Looking for a portable recording solution, for a couple purposes:

- Recording acoustic demos.
- Recording demos of my singer and I. Me on guitar, her singing.

I have a zoom H5 already, but I find that it's not great for recording a single guitar. It is great for recording the singer and I together though. Could this just be the XY mic capsule? Is the Mid Side capsule worth trying for recording just my guitar?

And what USB mic would be be useful for both applications?
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Old 12-16-2017, 07:20 PM
midwinter midwinter is offline
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Originally Posted by Reidclifford View Post
Looking for a portable recording solution, for a couple purposes:



- Recording acoustic demos.

- Recording demos of my singer and I. Me on guitar, her singing.



I have a zoom H5 already, but I find that it's not great for recording a single guitar. It is great for recording the singer and I together though. Could this just be the XY mic capsule? Is the Mid Side capsule worth trying for recording just my guitar?



And what USB mic would be be useful for both applications?


The Rode USB mic is ok for that.
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  #3  
Old 12-17-2017, 07:29 AM
j3ffr0 j3ffr0 is offline
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I have the mid side deal and it works pretty well for me.

What problems does the xy mic give you on solo guitar that are not as apparent with vocals?
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  #4  
Old 12-17-2017, 07:37 AM
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ChuckS ChuckS is offline
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I’ve always felt X-Y was the easiest way to get a reasonable stereo recording of a solo acoustic guitar, though not my favorite method. I prefer using a spaced pair. You might want to consider a separate mic, or two, plugged into your H5 instead of another built in mic; I didn’t care for mid-side technique when I used it.
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Old 12-17-2017, 03:19 PM
alohachris alohachris is offline
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Default Guys, Define Portable

Aloha,

Ya know, I don't get it. Zooms, iPads & iPhones. Even for demo's. In terms of lesser quality & all those recording & feature limitations (noisy, crummy onboard mic's, little/no phantom for external mic's, cross-talk, limits on number of things you can do at a time, tiny buttons & too many tiny menu's). We all know the score with those formats. And then, you still have to take it to a computer anyway & mix & process on your DAW, right?
.

Isn't a Macbook Pro & Apogee Duet interface, or a Laptop PC & an RME Babyface a much better choice - with all they provide & how truly portable they are? They can do it all for a portable player/recordist, on the spot with the highest quality. And it also works in the studio.

Why does anyone consider the smaller stuff - for any reason, except maybe for practice?!? Why would anyone expect much recording quality from something you can fit in your pocket? I mean, we've all tried.

But I can fit my MacBook Pro, a Duet, a couple mic's & cables easily inside one section of a backpack..... And make a pro level recording w/ all the options that Logic Pro provides on the spot. Or process the track & share a wav. file (or even burn a CD, Ha!) if necessary on the spot. How much easier, portable, more complete - and better - is that portable signal chain than the smaller formats?

What's portable to you? What limitations are we willing to accept - even for demo's?

alohachris

Last edited by alohachris; 12-17-2017 at 04:04 PM.
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Old 12-17-2017, 11:09 PM
Reidclifford Reidclifford is offline
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Originally Posted by j3ffr0 View Post
I have the mid side deal and it works pretty well for me.

What problems does the xy mic give you on solo guitar that are not as apparent with vocals?
I just find it... overly bright and kinda boomy? I think it’s great to kinda stick in the room and capture a performance, but not as great for solo acoustic.
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Old 12-17-2017, 11:10 PM
Reidclifford Reidclifford is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChuckS View Post
I’ve always felt X-Y was the easiest way to get a reasonable stereo recording of a solo acoustic guitar, though not my favorite method. I prefer using a spaced pair. You might want to consider a separate mic, or two, plugged into your H5 instead of another built in mic; I didn’t care for mid-side technique when I used it.
The mic inputs stopped working/never really worked. So I’m stuck with just using the capsules.
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Old 12-17-2017, 11:12 PM
Reidclifford Reidclifford is offline
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Originally Posted by alohachris View Post
Aloha,

Ya know, I don't get it. Zooms, iPads & iPhones. Even for demo's. In terms of lesser quality & all those recording & feature limitations (noisy, crummy onboard mic's, little/no phantom for external mic's, cross-talk, limits on number of things you can do at a time, tiny buttons & too many tiny menu's). We all know the score with those formats. And then, you still have to take it to a computer anyway & mix & process on your DAW, right?
.

Isn't a Macbook Pro & Apogee Duet interface, or a Laptop PC & an RME Babyface a much better choice - with all they provide & how truly portable they are? They can do it all for a portable player/recordist, on the spot with the highest quality. And it also works in the studio.

Why does anyone consider the smaller stuff - for any reason, except maybe for practice?!? Why would anyone expect much recording quality from something you can fit in your pocket? I mean, we've all tried.

But I can fit my MacBook Pro, a Duet, a couple mic's & cables easily inside one section of a backpack..... And make a pro level recording w/ all the options that Logic Pro provides on the spot. Or process the track & share a wav. file (or even burn a CD, Ha!) if necessary on the spot. How much easier, portable, more complete - and better - is that portable signal chain than the smaller formats?

What's portable to you? What limitations are we willing to accept - even for demo's?

alohachris
I agree. A laptop, mic, and interface are portable enough. I just don’t like taking my laptop all over the place. I suppose I could use the interface with my iPad though.... hm. Interesting
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  #9  
Old 12-18-2017, 11:13 AM
JakeStone JakeStone is offline
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Maybe something in your setup?

I have a H5 and LOVE it for my acoustic guitar demos. Both solo guitar and guitar and singing.

I'm not saying they're amazing .. But sound darn good to me.. For just pushing 1 button and go!

How are you positioning the H5 in conjunction with the guitar? Perhaps it just needs proper alignment and positioning.

- Jake
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Old 12-19-2017, 11:35 AM
Vindellama Vindellama is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alohachris View Post
Aloha,

Why does anyone consider the smaller stuff - for any reason, except maybe for practice?!? Why would anyone expect much recording quality from something you can fit in your pocket? I mean, we've all tried.

alohachris
Maybe because a H5 comes with a low noise semi-professional grade built-in preamp, and a decent quality condenser capsule. That with the proper configuration and placement can sound almost as good as a laptop-interface-mic combo, costing only a fraction of it. Not everybody is a pro willing to spend extra on a laptop, an interface, and a couple of condenser mics for recording demos anywhere, when you can do it decently expending much less.
You can also connect it directly into a DSLR for making videos on the go, and carry it on the camera bag.
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  #11  
Old 12-19-2017, 10:39 PM
Steev Steev is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vindellama View Post
Maybe because a H5 comes with a low noise semi-professional grade built-in preamp, and a decent quality condenser capsule. That with the proper configuration and placement can sound almost as good as a laptop-interface-mic combo, costing only a fraction of it. Not everybody is a pro willing to spend extra on a laptop, an interface, and a couple of condenser mics for recording demos anywhere, when you can do it decently expending much less.
You can also connect it directly into a DSLR for making videos on the go, and carry it on the camera bag.
Totally agree. The record and reproduce quality of the Zooms is higher than studio grade equipment of a few years ago.
Mic placement, recording environment and performance are the most important elements (of course a nice tune helps...)

A student of mine, who knows how to swing a mic, recently recorded location sound for a documentary in Indonesia. They had to travel light so just took a Zoom H6, a Sennheiser 416 and a coupe of Lectro lavs. The other 18 graduate film's sound kits comprised of Sound Devices 633 recorders, Schoeps, Sanken and Sennheiser mics etc, often set on a sound stage.

The doco with the Zoom had the best sound of all the films. All of the atmos was recorded on the Zoom with the x/y mic and sounded great. NOBODY from the industry judging panel, film academics or general audiences had anything but praise for the sound.
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  #12  
Old 12-21-2017, 03:03 PM
Reidclifford Reidclifford is offline
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Seems like the h5 is getting a lot or praise. Maybe I should try harder. The input jacks are broken, so I gotta open it up and have a look. Would be nice to have those working again.
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  #13  
Old 12-21-2017, 04:05 PM
Andy Howell Andy Howell is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Reidclifford View Post
Looking for a portable recording solution, for a couple purposes:

- Recording acoustic demos.
- Recording demos of my singer and I. Me on guitar, her singing.

I have a zoom H5 already, but I find that it's not great for recording a single guitar. It is great for recording the singer and I together though. Could this just be the XY mic capsule? Is the Mid Side capsule worth trying for recording just my guitar?

And what USB mic would be be useful for both applications?
Use external mics. Plug them into the XLR/combo inputs. Record at 24/96. Process on your computer. There's nothing to complain about!
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  #14  
Old 12-22-2017, 07:07 AM
MikeMcKee MikeMcKee is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Howell View Post
Use external mics. Plug them into the XLR/combo inputs. Record at 24/96. Process on your computer. There's nothing to complain about!
Absolutely agree.
I've used an H4n for years, and recently picked up an H5. Very pleased with it. I record with a pair of Oktava's and really like the individual level controls right there on the front of the H5...much better than the H4n. And the preamps are excellent. So convenient and easy to use...and then process on the computer.
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