Zoom Gear & Home Recording Forum

OK, I'm guessing the H4 has this capability, but the manual doesn't make it obvious....

Can you take a track from another source, such as an mp3 or .wav that a friend sends me from the other side of the country, import it as a single reference track on a new project, and record other tracks on top of it?

it is a little stiff, but it didn't bother me. I could tell by the light what mode I was in

Thanks. Yeah, it works, so it only bothers me if I find that it's not supposed to be that way. The buttons on the PS-04 aren't like that, so I was just making sure.

I played around with it again last night and yeah, it really doesn't give you tactile feedback, just visual. I hadn't really noticed that, and like you, as long as it's "supposed to be that way" it doesn't bother me. But yeah, it's different from the PS-04. I'm glad you brought it up.

Unless you know of an opera company that makes house calls, I can't help you on that one.

4-track mode uses 44.1/16 wav files. I'll try importing and playing an mp3 while recording a second track, but my guess is this won't work. Most multitrack software can't do this, so I'd be surprised if the H4 could.

But it's on my "to be tested" list.

Thanks for all your hard work Zoe. I don't care so much whether I can import an mp3, but I would like the capability to import a wav file as a reference for additional tracks, even if I have to convert it to 44.1/16.

That would lead me to a question going the other direction. Can I extract/export the 4 tracks in their raw wav format to my hard drive so I can do all the mixing using my PC? If not, I guess I would have to bounce one track at a time while muting the other three.

That's a great question. Bear in mind that my definition of a great question is one I know the answer to.
Anyway, yes. The H4 plugs into your computer with a USB cable, and can then serve as an SD card reader. The files on the SD card are in neat tidy folders. Stereo tracks live in one, 4track projects each have their own folder. Using Windows Explorer or whatever you want you can copy and move files on your computer. You can copy the wav files from the H4 to your computer for mixing on the computer, and you can copy wave files from computer to the H4 and import them into a project. You can also import tracks between projects (so if you have a drum track you like to use, keep it in a project folder and import it into a new one).

This flexibility is one area where Zoom really got things right. The inclusion of the USB port and cable along with using standard wav files opens up lots of new possibilities. Great stuff.

Mine should arrive early next week. I'll be using it to record touring children's choirs. I'll post results here..

Zoe, thanks for all your input, time, honesty and humble opinions. As an acoustic/singer/songwriter, this unit Zoom H4 seems to be a great multi-purpose unit (as opposed to a "great" 4 tracker), but it seems to be especially well designed for my purposes as a 2 track writing tool that is capable of doing "more" when that song or idea comes along that truly warrents "more"! Certainly agree with your thoughts 'bout levels tough to read when doing vocals, but I'm sure with some experimentation you can set it closer to "0" once you get used to it and remember the distance and angle you've used before. If the noise floor is low enough, it shouldn't be that big a deal to raise the level on the vocal track later.

Agree with your slider comment. Moving around menus allows you to do more and have more choices, but some things you do constantly like setting levels should be easy & fast to get to (maybe even a direct access button or 2 to get to frequent menus destinations) Looks like there's lots of unused space of the front of the unit. Maybe pushing individuals track buttons would bring up levels as an option. Oh well, doubt they will physically change anything on what appears to be a big seller for them versus the competition. Also not a big fan of most "Auto-Level" designs, but it's is indeed useful in 2 track usage. Anyway thanks again for giving me lots of info to help me decide. Placing an order for one of these units after sending this post.

Mike (mtmother)

I'm glad the review was helpful. I agree, there's some unused real estate on the front of the H4 that could have been well used for sliders or dedicated controls, but it is what it is. For capturing song ideas I think it's a great tool.

Thanks for your review, Zoe. It was very interesting.

My application would mostly be for field recording, as a backup for audio in video recording.

My other options for that would be the M-Audio 24/96 and Edirol R-09, but it seems as the H4 might be a better choice, particularly because it uses XLR inputs and real 48v phantom power. So a Sennheiser MKH416 or an Oktava could be fed from it.

What I don't like is setting levels via menu and not through a pot, sliding or not. That's one of the things I do not like in my current Hi-MD Sony recorder. That seems to be different in the M-Audio and the Edirol.

Even if I have my doubts about the quality of the mic preamp, and probably would feed line level signals from an external mixer, it would be nice having a simpler setup for some occasions.

In my case it would always be two channel and better thatn 48KHz sampling recordings, even if it might be nice trying 4-track @ 44KHz, but how do you input the other two signals?

The H4 also has a limiter/compressor capability: have you tried it?

In 4 track mode you can only record two mono tracks or one stereo pair of tracks at a time, not all four.

I tried the limiter and it's fine. I haven't monkeyed with the compressor yet, except to the extent that it's part of the guitar patches I demoed.

So how do you get to 4 tracks?



It's the limiter I am interested in. Compressors can be used in music, but not in dialogue, which would be my main subject matter.

Compressors are used in dialog a lot ? Why would they not be. I record a lot of dialog and often use a compressor to even out the volume, not the top of the peaks and with a gain boost to increase the overall volume ? Fundamentally there is no real difference between the function of a limiter and compressor, either can do the job of the other.

No, they are not used for film or video audio, where dialogue should be absolutely not distorted.

Compressors are mainly used in radio so they can have a constant sound level all the time. Listen to a speaker talking all the time and you will certainly have a compressor working at the radio.

The real name for limiter should be peak limiter, because its function is to take care of the peaks. The limiter should not even out anything, only take care of that unexpected shout.

The decays are different for a limiter compared to a compressor, the former being very slow so you can't listen to it.

A limiter should be invisible, a compressor much less so. You can use a compressor for an effect, a limiter you probably will not.

There was a good explanation on compressors and limiters on the first Nagra manual I read many many years ago. If I find it I will get back for that question. They had perhaps the best limiter I have ever seen.

I think you're treating it as black and white where it's not. You're original post was that compressors are not used in dialog, that's what I responded to, spoken radio or podcasts are dialog. Compressors can be used in all kinds of dialog, maybe it's not what you would do but it's not as black/white as you are making it sound.