Processing live vocal recordings

[hedera]

You're so right, koz. Well, you pay for everything in either time or money, and the Zoom is cheap enough that I guess it'll cost me some time. I finally decided I was being oversensitive. I think I'll continue to go with recording levels that aren't overloading, and play with the dynamic compressor and (if necessary) the gain meter in the Audacity editor to get the volume the way I want it.

[Fran Guidry]

Some folks who hang out at the Zoom forum http://zoomforum.us/viewforum.php?f=15 suggest that only the three way L M H switch is actually useful on the H2/H4. Basically, the variable control is after the a/d conversion, so turning up the record level is exactly the same as adding gain in post processing.

If the original poster is willing to spend a bit more, two of these units could be used to record the session, with one set for the low volume sections and one set for the high volume recordings. Then the engineer could edit between the two tracks in post as necessary.

Sounds like the post processing in software is doing a good job though.

Fran

[hedera]

Thanks for the information, Fran, I'll have to check out that forum myself. Unfortunately, the actual owner of the equipment is a non-profit arts organization, so it's very unlikely we'll be buying a second H4; I'll just have to do what I can with Audacity.

[kozikowski]

<<<Then the engineer could edit between the two tracks in post as necessary.>>>

You can be the engineer. I'll watch.

There is a fuzzy rule to allow ten times more editing and production time than the length of the show. So an hour show consumes ten hours of editing. I suspect using the two recorder process would result in that number being much worse. You would be able to hear each cut so you'd need to construct a dissolve or fade at each transition.

You let me know how that works out, 'K?

Koz

[hedera]

Sure, I'll let you know. Just don't hold your breath, huh?