What is everyone's views on the Zoom H1. I am planning buying one instead of a Tascam DR05 as they are normally around £15 cheaper on Ebay than the Tascam. I plan on currently plan on buying one of these for portable bird recordings and also attaching an external mic sometimes for high quality recordings. What are everyone's view on this recorder. Is it decent enough for a first bird recorder to be used for bird call ID and also a good recorder to use with an external mic for quality recordings?
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Zoom H1 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Louis_P
- Start date
I started a thread a while back about Outdoor monitoring for indoor 24/7 listening? with a couple examples of the H1 using an ETM-001 external mic.
As a handheld, the H1 is a noisy recorder. There's a lot of vibration up through the plastic body. The external mic limits the noise but as long as you have the H1 in hand it's still noisy.
When hiking, the H1 works well fixed to a pack strap or in a pouch with the ETM-001 on a lead; taking the mic off the 3.5mm body jack.
I imagine it would work well with a shotgun mic but for me that set up was too much to fiddle with when hiking. Also, your 3.5mm jack limits mic selection, if I remember correctly.
With the ETM-001 on a lead clipped to a pack strap, I can grab it, stick my hand in the direction of the bird, done quickly with no troubles......it serves the purpose.
As a stationary recorder I have no problem with it. I place it under bird boxes, recording all day and I leave it outside recording all night when I have the need.
I often use these all day/night recording, xfr'd to an mp3 player, as a sleep aid. Nothing better than imagining a great hike with sound effects coming through a set of Goal Zero speakers.
ETM-001 YouTube
Edutige ETM-001
Post #17 comparing ETM-001 to H1 internal mic
H1 YouTube mic links
Full disclosure: I need to brag on iveljay, he's a wealth of knowledge. Having him walking you through your project is a great asset.
As a handheld, the H1 is a noisy recorder. There's a lot of vibration up through the plastic body. The external mic limits the noise but as long as you have the H1 in hand it's still noisy.
When hiking, the H1 works well fixed to a pack strap or in a pouch with the ETM-001 on a lead; taking the mic off the 3.5mm body jack.
I imagine it would work well with a shotgun mic but for me that set up was too much to fiddle with when hiking. Also, your 3.5mm jack limits mic selection, if I remember correctly.
With the ETM-001 on a lead clipped to a pack strap, I can grab it, stick my hand in the direction of the bird, done quickly with no troubles......it serves the purpose.
As a stationary recorder I have no problem with it. I place it under bird boxes, recording all day and I leave it outside recording all night when I have the need.
I often use these all day/night recording, xfr'd to an mp3 player, as a sleep aid. Nothing better than imagining a great hike with sound effects coming through a set of Goal Zero speakers.
ETM-001 YouTube
Edutige ETM-001
Post #17 comparing ETM-001 to H1 internal mic
H1 YouTube mic links
Full disclosure: I need to brag on iveljay, he's a wealth of knowledge. Having him walking you through your project is a great asset.
Mark Lew1s
My real name is Mark Lewis
Hi Louis,
Great that you want to get into recording stuff. I may have got the wrong end of the stick here but I get the feeling you want to have options for higher quality recordings, as well as recording more 'passively' e.g. having something permanently running in a pocket to pick up any flyovers etc.
If that's the case, then I suspect any of the handheld devices you're looking at will be OK. However, I wanted to back up what Iveljay has said elsewhere and recommend Audacity as a processing platform. If you're looking to get presentable recordings, and especially sonograms, then 'mastering' Audacity is really important - and at this stage, while you're just finding your feet, perhaps more important than relatively minor differences between recorder/mic quality.
It's also invaluable as a tool for learning about bird noises, comparing different species songs etc. I put a thread on twitter recently demonstrating what could be done with a crappy bit of audio from a smartphone video.
https://twitter.com/FatPaulScholes1/status/1003739094516674561
Great that you want to get into recording stuff. I may have got the wrong end of the stick here but I get the feeling you want to have options for higher quality recordings, as well as recording more 'passively' e.g. having something permanently running in a pocket to pick up any flyovers etc.
If that's the case, then I suspect any of the handheld devices you're looking at will be OK. However, I wanted to back up what Iveljay has said elsewhere and recommend Audacity as a processing platform. If you're looking to get presentable recordings, and especially sonograms, then 'mastering' Audacity is really important - and at this stage, while you're just finding your feet, perhaps more important than relatively minor differences between recorder/mic quality.
It's also invaluable as a tool for learning about bird noises, comparing different species songs etc. I put a thread on twitter recently demonstrating what could be done with a crappy bit of audio from a smartphone video.
https://twitter.com/FatPaulScholes1/status/1003739094516674561
Yay! My lucky day I have just got one of these for £40 on Ebay inc. postage. Now time to test it when it gets here. Still one left if you are quick - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zoom-H1-...sh=item3634b827c0:g:Gb4AAOSwv5NbKhIh#viTabs_0.
