2093

The h1n seems to have a bit lower self noise than the original h1 but not night or day, so I guess I know what to expect now - thanks! Will try it out once I have the chance :slight_smile:

I have kind of the same idea, just want very low effort / risk recording device where I don’t need to set up anything, to collect all kinds of sounds as raw material. Not expecting it to shine in any particular task, other than being easy to carry around and record snippets with, and inexpensive enough that I won’t be scared to take it anywhere.

2094

Get a shock mount for it. It’ll do fine for what you want to do but the body is very light plastic and without a mount you’ll just end up recording handling noise.

Doesn’t need to be anything v expensive. The cheapest one I could find on Amazon works ok for me.

2 Likes
2095

Thanks, that’s definitely on the shopping list if I start to like it, ditto some kind of cheap dead cat.

As a stop-gap solution, I have a very small table stand to screw the H1n to, so I can always carry that in my pack and just leave my hands out of the equation. (Larger stands as well, but at that point it feels silly to have a small recorder in the pocket)

(Just looked at Zach Poff’s recommendations, he says: “Hissy compared to more expensive recorders. (It’s predecessor had A-weighted EIN: -112 dBu.) As far as I know, there are no similarly-sized recorders with better preamps, so we’ll need to take what we can get.” So that sets the expectation level.)

2096

really interesting comparison and def has bumped the CM4s up on my priority list

I guess the end goal of use would of course matter, but for my ears and general listening I also prefer the CM4 here. Listening on a pair of DT770s right now, I’ll give these a second go on speakers later. The Usi mics do give a wider field to me in the sense of behind, over, around, a bit more of an up and down in terms of spatiality of what is going on, and more surrounding ambience, but at a price that in this situation seems not worth it. There is more broad spectrum noise detracting from the focus of the recording (or what I am taking as the focus for me - the water) probably due to the higher bass response of being an omni. There is also a weird phasing effect going on - probably again due to pick up pattern. Maybe it is creating or picking up a sort of slap back from the stone wall or from under the wood planks. The CM4’s wide cardioid pattern I think is also doing a really nice job here of providing a good sense of space without leaving a big middle hole. A nice balance of diffuse field while still keeping the subject in focus.

Despite being more open and capturing more field the Usi’s feel like I am hearing their soundscape inside of a box. Almost as though the CM4 recording was being played back very high fidelity but in an unfavorable room. I can imagine other situations where the inverse would be more favorable, so a good demonstration of why having diverse tools is really useful. In the studio world it seems really easy to get stuck on cardioid mics as being the default for everything, and I feel like maybe it is very easy to do the same with omnis in the field. They give us better environmental factor resistance and there are a lot more good cheap options for omni mics but it can also become such a default while maybe not actually being the best option.

2 Likes
2097

This, I have recorded some quiet ambience with my H1n with usable results but handling noise is very present if you are holding it. A cheap deadcat is aslo enough for most applications in my (very) limited experience.

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2098

Appreciate your thoughts on the test. The Usi recording is perhaps a little ‘brittle’ sounding compared to the CM4s in this test, and I definitely found it more tiring/demanding on the ears to listen to once back home.

It should be said, it was quite a strange location to record (hence why I immediately cracked the mics out!). There was the noise of the lapping waves, the sizzle of the shore, a big wall getting battered with the waves AND the wooden terrace where the mics were placed giving a further kind of echo from below
 I’m sure there was even more to explore in terms of technique/placment, but it was a useful place to get a sense of how each of these microphones played out.

1 Like
2099

Since the Zoom H1N is coming up, here’s a clip from a very basic recording, using an H1N and Uơi stereo pair attached via minijack, of the ambience around a small electricity substation, with the recording level quite high. The mid-range crackling sound is the substation. The Uơis have the Uơi Windbubbles on them, but it was a wet day and I laid the recorder on grass and left the microphones in a plastic sandwich bag so there was not much attention paid to stereo or much concern about wind. There is some distant traffic and aircraft noise, and a bonus bit of walking to the recorder to turn it off. The recorder was placed in the grass to the left of the path in the photo.

substation
substation1920×2560 799 KB

6 Likes
2100

On a related topic, maybe someone have field experience with a pair of sE Electronics SE8 microphones?
On paper they have nice specs and the price point is rather good. :eyes:

2101

This looks like loads of fun once the bugs get fixed in the playdate.
Playdate Field Recorder

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2102

I haven’t used them, but I was looking at them for a bit among other options like the NT5. People seemed to be having complaints about their self noise, that the measurements given in the specs seems greatly exaggerated and that the mics were considerably more noisy than they should be. No idea if this wound up being a period of manufacturing problems that got sorted or what. Some people do seem to use them and be quite happy with them though too. Switchable capsules is always a nice option to have especially if you want to use the mics for more than just field recording.

Also I think these were studio situations - no idea how the capsules fare in humidity or how wind sensitive they are. The CM4s being electret I think would have a leg up in that department, but you never know.

1 Like
2103

As someone that has used both nt 5 and nt 4, unless you are fussy with recording techniques or interested in using them separately; for ease of carrying, mounting and setup, the nt 4 def wins out.

2104

i have a question. i would like to do more field recording without buying too much new gear. the memo app in ios can only record to .mp4 format, which is obviously not the greatest for fidelity. my goal would be to record onto my iphone for convience sake, maybe have a small attachable microphone, and record at a high bit rate and depth. i realize that there are a lot of, realistically, not possible wants here, but has anyone here found a workable solution that roughly fits within these parameters?

2105

Depening on what you specifically want to record and how
 I have a pair of these, bought new from eBay a year ago for something like 50-75 EUR:

They used to cost several hundred new but apparently weren’t a huge success
 They’re great for ad hoc binaural recordings though and a very decent pair of earbuds too! If you’re lucky, some evilbay stores will still have those available for blowout prices new.

(Obviously if you want something else than binaural stereo, they won’t be for you but for quick, dirty and stealthy, nothing can beat 'em, combined with Apogee’s iOS recorder app.)

2106

For iPhone, have a look at the recorder function in AudioShare (Kymatica). Records in many formats, up to 96k/ 32 bit (converting from 48k). Can bypass the iPhone’s default audio processing, and it has efficient file management and transfer. For more functions, fx, etc., you can record from the iPhone mics with AUM (Kymatica), including the option to use the multiple built-in iPhone mics as virtual omni, cardioid, or M/S.

4 Likes
2107

+1 for the Ambeo. Ridiculously good for the price.

Can also recommend https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/voice-record-pro/id54698323

Slightly fiddly interface for file transfer but otherwise excellent.

1 Like
2108

The link seems broken. Maybe it’s this app?

2109

The very thing!

Thanks

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2110

So I have ordered pair of basicUcho (without cables and wind bubles). The thing is that I own Zoom H2n (old silver one) from back in the day when I used it for recording live Sonic Youth gigs ad share them with fan community throughout 2005-2007 and later for field recordings (up till today actualy). I always like to recor sounds on the go, but would like to upgrade a bit. According to some comments above I see some of u are using zoom h1 or h2 together with Ucho mics via external mic. Is it possible actualy??? Should not Usi require more power? I know there is a preamp switch in the menu on Zoom H2, but that could not be enough power or? What would be the cheapest option to upgrade. Should i keep my old recorder an go via portable phantom power (which for two xrl inputs ranges around 100eur +), or would it be better to pay bit extra and get a new one, and if so, which one? I am shocked that Zoom or Tascam cheaper versions (h4 or dr40x) despite the fact they have xrl phantom powered Ins do not have line in [?!] (correct me if I am wrong) which is a cool feature for other duties once I would be upgrading. Same goes for Zoom F3, which is lovely (and I would sacrifice not having line in, with the possibility keep my old H2 for that matter), but man that F3 is expnsive alright.

So can I use pair of basicUcho directly with H2 via ext. mic. in the meantime I wonder


2111

You may be mixing Uơi and Ucho with each other, they’re different mic series from the same manufacturer (Lom).

Uơi and microUơi come in two versions: basic plug-in power and the Pro version with XLR/phantom. The plug-in power versions work with recorders that have a minijack mic input that provides few volts of “plug-in power” to the microphones, eg. H2(n) is one of them. So people who use Lom mics with H1/H2 are using the plug-in power minijack versions.

The basicUchos, however, only come in XLR / phantom power version, so they need XLR inputs with more supply voltage (normally +48V). H2 / H2n don’t have that, so you can’t use those mics with that recorder without a separate 2-channel phantom feed box.

Zoom H4n has combo XLR / 1/4" input connectors. You can connect either two mics or a stereo line source and record that - so it does have line inputs, you just can’t use them at the same time as the XLR mic inputs. The F3 can take line level signals in inputs as well, but it only has XLR connectors and not combos, so you’ll just need some adapter cables if you want to connect eg. 1/4" outputs to those - and of course, again you can’t plug in two mics and a stereo line signal at the same time. I don’t know about the Tascam’s features.

2112

thanks kbra for clearing things up. u right. i checked UĆĄi series and their operating power is 2-10V. shoot. what to do now. i try to email Jonas and ask him whether they will be releasig UĆĄi pro series anytime soon so I can swap them. I mean basic Ucho was not shiped yet.

thanks for clearing up line in on Zoom as well.

or I will keep them and upgrade to zoom h4 for that matter. basic Ucho series will have enough power from ZoomH4 correct?

thank u.