Concert Report w/ clips: Mystery ADC!

[NorseHorse]

On Sunday, I went to First Presbyterian in Hampton, VA at the invitation organist Tom Marshall. He said if I was up for doing a simple archival recording, that would be great. I figured I'd just bring a portable recorder and use it with my Crown SASS stereo mic. Rather than reveal which recorder I used, I figured it would be fun to have a guessing game...

Please listen and enjoy the recordings. I removed a little of the air conditioning noise, but other than that, there was very little processing. Please make comments and try and guess what recorder I used. I'll post the answer in a day or two.

Enjoy!

[RichS]

Zoom H4.

[NorseHorse]

PS. I borrowed the recorder...

[RichS]

OK then, a borrowed Zoom H4.

[NorseHorse]

=)

And just to narrow the field some more... it has XLR inputs.

[Corran]

Zoom H4

Seriously though, sounds too good for that...at least in the experience I have with the H4 in the last few weeks (just got one). It does sound good with an external stereo pair but the preamps/converters are very flat and very rolled off low-end I think. Maybe the new Marantz hard-drive recorder?

[Plush]

ReVox cassette deck??

It's a great machine.

[NorseHorse]

So I know the three people in this thread are just dying to find out the answer...

FIRST PRIZE goes to RichS. I did use a Zoom H4. I was surprised at how clean and quiet the preamps were - the samples have no EQ. I'd used an H4 twice before to rip a signals off other preamps and I wasn't particularly pleased, but this was just WOW and soooo easy (I mean ridiculously easy). It was set on 24/96 and peaked at maybe -12db during tracking. Some details:

1. The CROWN SASS stereo mic was running on phantom power via two internal 9v batteries, not the Zoom's phantom power.
2. The Zoom was running off of battery power, NOT the AC adapter.

I was suspicious that using the AC adapter and phantom power on the Zoom adds noise to the preamps, which is why I avoided it. Has anyone had this experience with other gear? I know the headphone jacks on many laptop computers are more noisy with the power cords plugged in (something I have to watch out for when running AV for conferences).

[Corran]

I really was wondering. And I'm very surprised. In my (admittedly limited) time with the H4, I found the preamps to be quiet BUT very flat and boring, as well as the preamps/conversion making recordings sound kind of "washed-out". I say this in comparison with a recording I did with outboard preamps running into the H4, which sounded a lot better but still a little dull.

I think I need to do some more expermentation. To the H4's credit, my last recording with it was in a smallish room with WAY more people in it than should be, terrible acoustics, etc.

[videoteque]

I know the headphone jacks on many laptop computers are more noisy with the power cords plugged in

I had a Dell which had a TERRIBLE power supply. If I powered it with the supply, I couldn't record at all, lot of noises...

[RichS]

Wow, first prize! I'd like to thank the academy...

Actually, I've been using an H4 with Schoeps mk2's or mk21's as my "short notice emergency recording kit" for a while (mostly choral/organ stuff). Pleasantly surprised me too the first time I tried it.