Topic: Zoom H3vr .... when cheap gear shines~!

[Nick's Picks]

location, location, location.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gx3hegcrltxxeus/t13-dew.flac?dl=0

This could be the best recording I've made in years.   Not bad, for a $300 all in one deck.  I'd put it up against any of the rigs in the "tapers section" from this show.   I was a good 75' FOB, maybe 50' off stage, dead center.

[mcfoster]

That sounds very interesting. Looks like it is going for 229 now I Knew I could hear some spacial noises going on there. Pretty crazy what can be done these days did you process it in some way after, or is that a stereo recording? Thanks

[Nick's Picks]

I mixed the A format down to stereo.

[fotoralf.be]

What have you used? The software supplied by Zoom? If so, I'd like to hear the binaural conversion.

Ralf

[Ozpeter]

I listened to some binaural samples on YouTube and I was not impressed with the image - it just seemed too "hole in the middle" for my taste, compared with results I get from Roland and Sennheiser binaurals.  But I liked the stereo sample posted here.  I actually put one in my Amazon basket last night, thinking how a VR mic would go nicely with my 360 camera and my VR headset, but I managed to get a grip on myself at the last minute and deleted it...

[Nick's Picks]

yea, the zoom software. 
I'll mix down a binaural track and post it shortly

[Ozpeter]

I just came across this video where a guy has done some careful comparisons between the H2N and the H3-VR, creating binaural files.  https://youtu.be/PZALG1TAPJg

Although he felt that the H3-VR was mostly the clear winner, frankly I didn't think there was much in it.  Unfortunately there's no music source material in the comparison.  But given that I've already got an H2N (and just about every othere small recorder ever sold!) I'm glad I didn't buy the H3-VR as I don't think I'd get enough out of it to warrant the cupboard space - or the expense.  I don't think the H2N has much street cred in this forum, perhaps because it's not that stealthy, and there's an understandable bias against built in mics, but I think it's a very usable and flexible device for many purposes.  Perhaps the choice between the H2N and the H3-VR comes down to precise usage scenarios.

[Nick's Picks]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i1l5u1vgxjrco9h/binaural_dew.wav?dl=0

[Ozpeter]

Hmmm.  Thanks for posting that, but the original upload seemed much preferable to me (on HD600 headphones) than this mix, where the band is way off to the right instead of at least somewhere in the centre.

[Nick's Picks]

i prob did a shitty job mixing it.  it was difficult to get a good "sound scape" mixing binaural for some reason.

[fotoralf.be]

I'm glad I didn't buy the H3-VR as I don't think I'd get enough out of it to warrant the cupboard space - or the expense.

The H3-VR has a few advantages over the other Zoom recorders, the most important being that it can be controlled via Bluetooth. The other one is that it has a real limiter ahead of the ADC and not as a digital 'effect' like in the other models. And obviously the possibility, to change the orientation and characteristic of the microphones in post-processing.

By my own experience, the Zoom software for this recorder does a rather poor job in converting to binaural with all others (Røde, Sennheiser, Dear, etc.) working a lot better. Just experiment and you may be surprised.

Ralf

[Ozpeter]

i prob did a shitty job mixing it.  it was difficult to get a good "sound scape" mixing binaural for some reason.

I am sure that I would have out-shat your mix (in other words, your mix would have been better than mine!)

[Edited to add a completely off-topic anecdote which the above language reminds me of - when I went to the digital editing studio in London in early 1984 to edit my first classical (double) CD recording, because in those days you couldn't do that at home, the studio manager mentioned that the previous user of the studio the day before had been Eric Clapton, working on his first digital release.  "Eric Clapton sat in this chair??!"  I exclaimed.  "Well," said the manager, "Eric Clapton nearly shat in that chair when I gave him the invoice!"]