Zoom Gear & Home Recording Forum

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend. I had added the PS to my message above before I read you reply, knowing that some users need better fidelity.

Just curious, are you saying you actually do hear the beep in recordings you make of music (Mic'd and/or line-in instruments), listened to at a normal level?

I only ask because I don't. An example of where I might is if I'm were to record something where the meters themselves were not going over more than -20db during the recording. Let's say recording the ambient noise in my living room with our noisy parakeet 15 feet away and a ticking grandfather clock. I would definitely be able to hear the beep if I normalized that up to 0db and played it back. It wouldn't make much difference if the mic sensitivity were at M or H, in my experience....it would be there and be fairly audible. And it is more distracting than if it were just hiss or white noise, for sure, under those kinds of conditions. Under those conditions, though, there is a bit of hiss, too, after normalization.

Brian

That is exactly the situation -- ambient sound in a room -- that I like to record.

For example, our wood stove when heated up begins to make a terrific, rhythmic ticking sound which I wanted to capture. But the beeping sound was present at a loud level when I tried the recording at 44.1 KHz.

Thanks for the clarification. BTW, I did have some interest in that type of recording when I bought the H4. I like listening to the 'one minute vacations' at www.quietamerican.org occassionally. I would have to do a 9V battery pack if I wanted to have a chance to capture that kind of stuff well with the H4.

I think they'll fix it in the near future in production units, but early owners with those kind of needs will have to make some decisions about what to do.

Are there any dedicated threads on this site for "Do-it-yourself Battery Packs" that would work with the H4?

Or is it best to do a web search?

I may need one down the road, and am not as technical as most, so if I can see photos or diagrams (such as one member posted in this thread in regards to the capacitor) it helps out a lot.

thanks,

jG

Hi All,

Have done some testing regarding the beep/tone issues with the Zoom H4 I received this morning from Thomann in Germany.

The unit is serial number 016463 and had factory installed 1.10 firmware complete with a printed System Software History sheet in the box.

Listening on H4 headphone socket with Sony MDR-CD1700 and Sennhesier PX200 cans.

On external power no beep or tone.

On internal battery with Mic gain on Hi.
96KHz 24 bit seems okay.
48Khz 24bit to 44.1KHz 16bit tone present at low level
MP3 tone beeps in time with access light.

With Mic on Lo or Mid gain no problem but may well be there but too quiet to hear without further processing (or better ears!).

I will be using my H4 to record interviews for podcasts at CES next month so it won't be a problem for me as I will have lots of background noise to contend and won't need Hi gain.

For quiet recordings with low level sound using Hi Mic gain the external batt pack hack looks like a good quick and dirty fix.


J

This is exactly how I feel because this is the exact reason I was going to buy it.

I am talking to a friend who knows a lot about electronics technicalities and hopefully he may have a solution for the sound. If not, I guess I'll be waiting until something better comes along.

*sigh*

I've been using the H4 at 24/96 and the beep/tone is not as evident, although I suppose it is still there.

It is truly "Handy", and if you can buy one on a 30 day return policy, it might be worth your while to try it out.

Has it not already been determined that a simple do-it-yourself battery pack will fix the probelm?
(or am I missing something)

The "something" you may be missing is that an add-on battery-pack makes the H4 somewhat less "handy".

It begins to edge over into "finicky" or "fiddly".

Personally, I find the external battery-pack solution a great one. If you want to walk
around and use the H4 for interviews, just pop the battery-pack into your pocket or shoulder
bag and then run the power wire to the H4.

A 6 AA cell battery-pack should last at least 6 hours when supplying 48v phantom power
to a single mic.

sorry, double post

I think it's a great solution too, and I think you in particular have done a great job in actually building it and making the design available to the forum. Many thanks!

I was just responding why it would seem less than "handy" for some recordists who hoped for a pocket-sized self-contained high-quality recorder that didn't require a lot of extras and was easy to use --- like a point-and-shoot camera: just grab and record to take "sound-shots".

I have opted to record at 24/96 when on batteries. I will probably make the battery pack as well according to your design for those times when I'm carrying extra gear anyways.

The beeping sound is a problem [in sync with the 'access'] with my unit - but not always, had that two times last week - and it was gone if I turned the H4 off and back on. Do you guys have that effect everytime you use the H4?

Yes, I have the beeping tone whenever I record using internal batteries. It is very noticeable when I record at high-gain in the 41.1 KHz and 48KHz settings, and less obvious at the 96 KHz setting, so that's what I use.

Thank you - I checked again, have that recognizable Beep ---not--- when recording .WAV, it just happens when recording to .MP3. Seems to be different from unit to unit

I'm (re?)joining this thread rather late in the day to ask if anyone is finding these 'blips' when using phantom powered external mics as well as when using the integral mics. I only seem to get them when using the integral mics. When using AT-4033a mics, phantom powered by the H4, itself powered by just a pair of 2500mAh NiMHs, I get no blips.