Zoom Q3HD Recorder - Best Sound Settings

Special Interest Groups Recording Techniques
1

Good morning, folks.

I received a Zoom Q3HD camcorder for Christmas.

I want to use it to record my young grandson who plays in a band and would appreciate some help setting it up for the best sound results. I know very little about the options.

I have two options for Format - PCM and AAC. Is PCM the best choice?

Regarding Sample rate, the 3 options are 44.1, 48 and 96kHz. I presume the higher 96kHz is the best pick … Right?

And finally, I can select either 16 bit length or 24 bit length. Should I select 24?

So, the bottom line would be … PCM, 96kHz and 24 bit length.

Is this how the pros would set it up. I know very little about the above options so would dearly appreciate your feedback.

Thank you!

2

PCM, 96kHz and 24 bit is a very high quality format, but the file size will be huge and the flash memory may struggle to keep up with the amount of data.
Try a test recording with PCM. 44.1 kHz 24 bit and see how that goes (the recording quality is virtually identical, but less than half the amount of data).

3

Thank you, Steve!