Topic: Zoom M2 & H2e and Rode Wireless Micros on cap, tested close to outdoor PA system

[Ozpeter]

I don't earn anything from the four links contained in this post.

Today within about five minutes walk of my house on the western fringes of the Melbourne suburbs a "Holi" festival gathering took place in an open space, and as canned music was being played rather loudly I thought it would be a good opportunity to see whether some of my recently purchased gear could be shown to be suitable for recording loud stuff as if in a Taperssection setting at a gig.

This turned out to be a bit more like hard work than I had expected but I think the results are quite interesting.  One issue was that although the audio was normalised in Audition before being fed into the video editing software, that software seemed to output the audio at a lower level than I would have expected.  And it did not permit raising the level higher than 100%.  Given that a substantial part of the test was to check for clipping, I think I would not have risked clipping in the editor even if upping the gain there had been possible.  So - turn up your amp a bit when you listen to these links.

The tests are not particularly scientific as they were undertaken at different times and the PA system may have been quieter or louder at the time of recording each device.  (But subjectively it sounded similar at the time).  Also, it's possible that the PA itself was producing distorted sound.  Still, I think the tests do give at least some idea of the gig-worthiness of the devices.

In each clip I walked across the field towards the speakers then stood as close as my ears could handle, the idea being to give some illustration of dynamic range. 

First test was of the Zoom M2 MicTrak device, a 32 bit float device with dual AD converters said to share some circuitry from the F series recorders.  It is supposed to be able to handle 135dB at the mic.  This produced a file peaking to +5.82dB.  I could not see or hear any clipping after it was normalised.  Tonally it seems perhaps the most balanced of the three devices, with low frequencies being acceptably present but not booming.  Upper frequencies may have been compromised as I decided to fit two wind muffs, but I think not much.

https://youtu.be/PXKjCF6sJ4o

Second test was the Zoom H2essential, a 32 bit float device with a single AD converter.  This produced a file peaking at +17.6dB. Again, I could not see or hear any clipping after it was normalised.  Tonally it's a bit thin.  The centre hypercardioid mic lacks low frequencies, but you can hear the side mics have a bit more at the bottom end when I turn away from the PA speakers, pointing the side mics towards them.  Stereo image (which was set to 120 degrees) is very clear.

https://youtu.be/5jHmB6tyJ8s

Last test was the Rode Wireless Micro kit clipped to my baseball cap beside my ears.  And the tiny video camera was clipped to the peak, so it's a totally wearable system!  The Rode Android app was used to set the output from the mics to the lowest of the three available levels.  The app used for recording was "Field Recorder" (Android).  In that app, gain was set to zero.  The sound from this rig really surprised me.  Firstly it peaked at only -12dB but it had a rather flat top in the loudest parts and zooming right in to sample level, some slightly flat peaks could be seen.  But personally it doesn't sound obviously clipped to me.  What was most noticable was the bass extension which, through headphones, actually mimicked the sound I experienced at the time - the kind of sound you feel rather than hear.  I suspect it is a bit too much but still, if recording a rock gig, the effect might be pleasing.  Why the visible clipping?  This could be to do with some sort of auto limiter the device uses, which doesn't have an off option.  But it doesn't sound like it to me - no kind of pumping audible.  As a zero fuss way of recording stuff, this system does have a lot going for it in my opinion.  Maybe not in yours...!

https://youtu.be/Rj7N8ndyI9g

[Edited to add that I ran out of energy before I did the same test with the Zoom M3 MicTrak, but that was used in a much longer video intended as a documentary, at a different festival at the same location - it can be seen at https://youtu.be/KCT_izLIJqQ - skip through to find stuff from the stage speakers and some live drummers]