Topic: Fantastic Zoom H2 result at classical concert

[Ozpeter]

A few days ago I made a classical concert recording with a costly Sennheiser MKH30/40 MS Stereo mic system running into a not-cheap Sennheiser MZA MS-1 mic preamp and recorded with a Korg D888 (line in) at 44.1/16 (originally), while at the same time running a Zoom H2 standalone recording using its own mics (4 channel recording, front facing the stage, "M100" level setting, all settings flat, 44.1/16bit originally).

The parallel recordings were made from the same spot (well, one about eight inches above the other).  The "same spot" was on a suspension system high above the first row of a good modern concert hall (3500 seats, full), and the music you hear is part of Parry's "I Was Glad" for choir and organ (with world class performers). In other words, both the test material and location were very good - it was a fantastic opportunity to really see what the H2 can do.

The samples provided here have been through post production processing. I don't care what the H2 or the Sennheisers material sounds like "out of the box" as my clients will never hear that - they hear the outcome of careful reprocessing of the source material (in Reaper). However, as the Sennheiser system has a ruler-flat frequency response, no eq has been used on that version of the recording, and the H2 has been eq'd by ear to attempt to match it. The Sennheiser system enables one to play around with overall width in post production, while the Zoom's front-and-back stereo pairs enable you to play around with the ratio between them, individual widths, and if you want add reverb to the backward facing mics and not to the front (for instance). 

Neither recording uses any form of audio compression - the dynamic range is as recorded.

There's no way that these two systems will sound exactly the same, as the acoustic principle of the mics is different -and although the recordings are normalised, they still produce different levels in different places due to the different acoustic principles of the mics and their interaction with the sound field.

However, listening to the samples you may agree with me that, given the radical difference in cost and complexity of the two systems, what strikes one most is the similarity of the result rather than the difference.

You have to bear in mind that the H2 was simply attached to the suspension - with a shoelace! - switched on, the record button pressed twice, and it was then hauled into the air and left to run - point and shoot - and it could have been brought to the location in a coat pocket.

On the other hand the Sennheiser pair was connected to the recording equipment backstage via a long cable run and the whole outfit was brought in from a van on a trolley and took some time to set up and soundcheck. (In fact there were other spot mics deployed for the organ which are not heard in this recording).

The 2-minute 256 kbps mp3 samples begin with a few seconds of "silence" - hall and audience ambience - to give you an idea of any system noise.

You can download the H2 version here -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/22/1451533/Sampleone.mp3

If you want to compare it with the Sennheiser version it's here -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/22/1451533/Sampletwo.mp3

Personally I'm more than impressed - I'm gobsmacked!

[blackdiesel]

Outstanding results especially for the hassle free aspect.  I think I'm going to like this little recorder.

[Roving Sign]

Very nice...I think the Senns sound a bit more "pithy" in the mids...more musical sounding on the organ passages.

I almost like the vocal presentation better on the H2...

[requiem]

Very interesting results, my biggest surprise is that the noise level from both setups is very similar, within a few dB. I was expecting a much noisier recording from the H2.


Frequency response scann of the fist 9 seconds of the posted recordings. Green = H2 recording, Blue = sennheiser / Korg
The mp3 compression seems to have a hi-cut after 16KHz.

Thanks for posting these samples Ozpeter.
Cheers

[Will_S]

Pretty impressive showing by the H2, all things considered.  Any chance you could post a sample of the H2 pre-EQ, or at least describe how drastic an EQ job was needed to bring its frequency response in line with the Sennheisers?

[Ozpeter]

Any chance you could post a sample of the H2 pre-EQ

Turning off the H2 eq doesn't actually result in any kind of disaster.  I may well post that version.  The eq is complicated by the different directional characteristics of the mics - for instance, the Sennheiser pair sounds a little dull on the organ intro because the organ was about 90 degrees of its axis, and it's got a tighter cardioid pattern than the Zoom - and the Zoom's mounting angle was less tilted so it was at a lesser angle to the organ anyway.  So in any event comparisons between the two recordings are going to be a bit confused by those kinds of considerations.

[Ozpeter]

As requested here's a no-eq version of the H2 recording (which I've subtly remixed in terms of the reverb and front/rear/width treatment too).  No disaster without eq I think - just a bit better with.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/22/1451533/Sampletwo%20V2NoEQ.mp3