Some Zoom H1 questions (1 Viewer)

[pshute]

I've been loaned one of these to play with for the weekend, and have a few questions.

- What's the thread size on the tripod mount? I can't get a normal camera tripod screw very far into it. Possibly it's just tight, or cross threaded.

- What settings would normally be used for recording birds? Lo cut on or off? Auto level on or off?

- If auto level is on, should the recording level control do anything?

- Unfortunately it's very windy today, so I can barely hear a thing other than the wind in the recordings. What do you normally do about that?

- It seems to start the file numbering from 001 again each time I empty the memory out. Can I make it remember the highest number used, like on a camera?

- If I press the Mark button during a wav recording, it's supposed to make an index mark. Can I access that mark with something like Audacity?

- It takes a few seconds to turn it on. Should I normally just leave it on all the time?

- It doesn't appear to have what I believe is called preroll buffer. The only way I can see around that is to also have it recording all the time. Is that what most people do?

- I can't add an index mark after the recording is done. Can the higher end models like H2 and H4 do that?

- I can't tell what the name of the current file is during recording. Can the higher end ones do that?

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[HarryJ]

Hi Pshute,
I don't have a zoom, but I can give you some general answers from experience with other devices. These would be my initial guesses, and other people could may choose otherwise.

- What settings would normally be used for recording birds? Lo cut on or off? Auto level on or off?

Depends on the sound environment. If you are recording "Normal bird" sounds and your surroundings are noisy, then lo cut on. If the conditions are quiet or the bird sounds are of low frequency <500Hz then off. I use "low cut off" in >90% of my recordings.

No auto.

- If auto level is on, should the recording level control do anything?

Depends on the device. The gain of the recording should be close to maximum - but not so high that the indicators go to "red" or above, say -6dBFs (0 dBFs is maximum, which you don't want to go over, because you loose information then).

- Unfortunately it's very windy today, so I can barely hear a thing other than the wind in the recordings. What do you normally do about that?

Wind has two effects. First, it increases the general background "hum". There is really nothing you can do about this. Second, the wind can cause srattling or banging sounds. This would destroy your recording. To combat it you could cover your mic with a "dead cat" or some sort of foam cover. If you have none of these at your disposal, then a wolly mitten over the mics is better than nothing.

- If I press the Mark button during a wav recording, it's supposed to make an index mark. Can I access that mark with something like Audacity?

Apparently not with audacity

- It takes a few seconds to turn it on. Should I normally just leave it on all the time?

If the "on" switch is separate from "record", then yes.

- It doesn't appear to have what I believe is called preroll buffer. The only way I can see around that is to also have it recording all the time. Is that what most people do?

Generally, I would not do that as the files with "nothing really intersting" will end up being quite large. You don't want to record your foot steps. With some practice you will learn to anticipate when the bird will vocalize.

- I can't tell what the name of the current file is during recording. Can the higher end ones do that?

A good practice is to tell at the end of the recording, what species you think you have recorded. Where it was (including country), how certain you are of the species id, did you see it vocalizing, bird sex/age, what type of sound, date /time, habitat etc.

regards
HarryJ

 

[pshute]

Thanks for all those answers. I did try putting a thick sock over it, and while it improved it, it was still unusable. How much more effective is foam or this dead cat you referred to?

It was extremely windy, so maybe nothing would really help.

Can any software read the index marks? I'm just wondering if it stores anything in the file at all, i.e. it's only available while it's still in the recorder.

Any thoughts on mp3 vs wav? I used wav, purely because the H1 doesn't allow index marks in mp3 files. Is this like the raw vs jpg debate in photography, or is the decision more clear cut with audio files?

 

[ermine]

is the decision more clear cut with audio files

For most of us listening particularly in field conditions there won't be much if any difference listening, though you can rarely get some funny artifacts on some high-pitched percussive sounds.

Something you often do with bird sounds is make sonograms. You can decide for yourself in the image below if the result is the same (the lower trace is mp3 @ 320kbps, the highest quality possible, the upper trace WAV

How much more effective is foam or this dead cat you referred to?

It was extremely windy, so maybe nothing would really help.

Foam is not effective at all in the field, and a dead cat is more effective but usually suits a single mic better. The air is to create a volume of still air around the mic.

A Rycote Softie is good for about 12mph to get the rumblinbg out (leaves rustiling in trees will still add a white noiuse effect to your recording though). If you expect to be recording in windy conditions then an all-in-one recorder/mic combo isn't ideal, because good windshielding systems are generally made for cylindrical mics.

You shouldn't be using auto gain for bird recordings - leave about 10dB to 0dBFS on manual

The tripod screw thread is standard photographic thread, which is 1/4" Whitworth ISTR

To use the index marks you need an audio editor that supports BWF files and the associated metadata

 

[pshute]

Something you often do with bird sounds is make sonograms. You can decide for yourself in the image below if the result is the same (the lower trace is mp3 @ 320kbps, the highest quality possible, the upper trace WAV

They look pretty much the same to me. So is it standard practice to use mp3 format? And do those who use it use the highest bit rate?

 

[ermine]

No, most people record in WAV as what has once been lost can never be regained. Using compression has given rise to some controversy and shouldn't be used for scientific processing. For instance the British Library says of making wildlife sound recordings using this sort of recorder

Solid state (flash card/disk drive) recorders have been developed in the last few years. These recorders use compact flash memory cards or computer drives to record. Some models offer a choice of recording in different file formats: the uncompressed format (e.g. PCM 'wav' file) should be used in preference to compressed (e.g. MP3) formats. At present, recording times at the uncompressed quality are limited and the memory cards or drives are relatively expensive.

The sonograms look different enough to me to not fancy taking the risk Storage has become a lot cheaper now so using compression is pretty much a moot point unless you are going on long expeditions without somewhere th transfer the data to.