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Re: [ARSCLIST] Digital oral history recorders - any recommendations?
helpful experience: It wasn't oral history, but the week I got my H2,
I was recording a software conference (16 roms at once!) when they
asked us at the last minute toi record a round table meeting across
the street. It was users sharing their experiences and the executives
needed to hear it - I put the H2 in surround, locked the coltrols,
handed it over and told them to put it in the middle of the table,
bring it back when done. With 6 hours at 16/44.1 on a 4G chip, I was
able to bring it into my laptop DAW. do some appropriate compression,
and deliver the file an hour after the luncheon was over. It was nice
stereo too, in two shannel but with surround micing. They wanted
mono, so it was easy rto collapse to mono and deliver an MP3.
First piece of gear that paid for itself on its first use! I use a
Sound Devices for music too, and the H2 is a perfect convenient unit
for this use.
By the way, I also use it from the -10 line output of the SD deck to
record MP3s simultaneously - can hand the musicians a preview copy
right away. VERY handy.
<L>
Lou Judson • Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689
On Jan 26, 2009, at 10:25 AM, Richard L. Hess wrote:
Personally, I have a Sound Devices 722, but I use that for music
more than oral history. On the other hand, I'm coming close to
getting a Zoom H2. I now know some people who have one and I think
it makes sense for certain uses. My son wants to start recording
things he does and I'm considering getting one for my church as we
want to start podcasting sermons. I hear from my local music shop
that the H2 is selling like hotcakes and newspapers are giving them
to reporters, too.
One thing for oral history interviews that I find attractive about
the H2 is that it can record in a quadraphonic mode that I would
think would be interesting for a round-table discussion. It has two
pairs of cardioid mics, front and back. Personally, I think stereo
enhances the oral history experience and the H2's quad is set up so
that it should sound reasonable out of a standard ITU 5.1
configuration (with only a phantom front centre).
I know, this is not like me, but this interest was partially driven
by the church application and the tradeoff there is any dollar we
spend on technology is a dollar we don't spend on feeding the
homeless. In view of that, is the H2 adequate? I'm willing to buy
one soon to see. It's $259 CAD at the local music store--when they
get them back in stock.
One of the people with really good ears who has one doesn't use it
for final music production, but he does use it to work through
ideas. Another professional sound restorer from New Zealand has one
and he says it's much better than a cassette.
The H2 will take higher capacity SD cards than the H4, as I read
the specs, and is cheaper. The connectors are not as good. Like
most things in life, it's a tradeoff.