Topic: Recording a very quiet instrument <----

[bewildered]

Im recording a kalimba, its a little handheld half gourd with metal bars on it, very quiet. Ive manged to get a decent recording playing it under my sheets with a microtrack before, but mine broke and i dont want to spend $300 just to use it a few times. Can anyone vouch for the internal mics noise floor on the Zoom h2? The last thing i want is a detectable hiss to ruin this intruments beautiful tone, so im willing to buy something better if the zoom isnt good enough.

edit: also wanted to mention that i dont have any other sound equipment (read: i cant afford), so its the internal mics or bust.

[digifish_music]

Im recording a kalimba, its a little handheld half gourd with metal bars on it, very quiet. Ive manged to get a decent recording playing it under my sheets with a microtrack before, but mine broke and i dont want to spend $300 just to use it a few times. Can anyone vouch for the internal mics noise floor on the Zoom h2? The last thing i want is a detectable hiss to ruin this intruments beautiful tone, so im willing to buy something better if the zoom isnt good enough.

edit: also wanted to mention that i dont have any other sound equipment (read: i cant afford), so its the internal mics or bust.

The Zoom H2 doesn't have a low enough noise floor based on my impression that you are particularly concerned about hiss. The only recorder (in a sensible price bracket) approaching what I would call a 'professionaly low' noise floor from the internal mics is the Sony D50. ~$450 USD.

http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2008/01/10/sony-pcm-d50-recorder-review.html

Listen to many recorders including the D50 and Zoom H2 here...

http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-sound-samples.html  (EDIT: that has no sounds showing at the moment)

digifish

[Church-Audio]

Im recording a kalimba, its a little handheld half gourd with metal bars on it, very quiet. Ive manged to get a decent recording playing it under my sheets with a microtrack before, but mine broke and i dont want to spend $300 just to use it a few times. Can anyone vouch for the internal mics noise floor on the Zoom h2? The last thing i want is a detectable hiss to ruin this intruments beautiful tone, so im willing to buy something better if the zoom isnt good enough.

edit: also wanted to mention that i dont have any other sound equipment (read: i cant afford), so its the internal mics or bust.

If you must use internal mics the best sounding recorder for under $225 is the Tascam DR-1 its a great unit for not alot of money and its got a pretty good internal mic preamp. The R-09HR is the best for internal preamp but its alot more money.

Chris

[boojum]

I just recorded an m'bira trio tonight.  They played theirs inside a gourd.  The m'bira was pressed against the gourd by a stickh which jammed it in place.  The result was a far louder instrument.  This is how it is played in village Africa.  Check it out.

[sunjan]

Im recording a kalimba, its a little handheld half gourd with metal bars on it, very quiet. Ive manged to get a decent recording playing it under my sheets with a microtrack before, but mine broke and i dont want to spend $300 just to use it a few times.

edit: also wanted to mention that i dont have any other sound equipment (read: i cant afford), so its the internal mics or bust.

Try the gear loaner program, if someone can vouch for you...

If you can control the environment, creating a "makeshift studio" with silent/padded walls is also key here. I guess you're on the right track by recording it under your sheets. But I guess others here can tell you more about creating an absolutely quiet room at a low budget. An old shoestring trick is to save corrugated egg cardboard packaging, and nail them to the wall to dampen the sound. Maybe that helps?!

[Ozpeter]

It seems to me that it's a matter of how loud you want to replay the recording. 

If you want to replay it at normal level (so that it sounds no louder through the speakers than it does in real life), and you've recorded it close, then I don't think the H2 would add audible hiss.  If however you want in effect to amplify it a fair bit, then you'll be amplifying the recorder noise as well as the signal, so then you have to look for something quieter.

[Ozpeter]

Here you go, quick kalimba h2 recording - http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/22/1451533/h2%20sample.mp3

I just trimmed the ends of it, no processing.  M100 setting.  Just did it in a bedroom at night on the ironing board!  About four inches from the front of the H2 set to stereo recording.

[digifish_music]

Here you go, quick kalimba h2 recording - http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/22/1451533/h2%20sample.mp3

I just trimmed the ends of it, no processing.  M100 setting.  Just did it in a bedroom at night on the ironing board!  About four inches from the front of the H2 set to stereo recording.

+T for public Kalimba performance

The S/N ratio good enough during the recording, in the little silence that remains the hiss is definitely noticeable....also as you are so close the Kalimba the finger rubbing noises are a little too prominent IMO, so recording should be done from a little further back, which will hurt the S/N.

I think your recording shows it's possible with some compromises, depends on how particular about hiss bewildered is. One mans pristine silence is another's waterfall

digifish

[Ozpeter]

in the little silence that remains the hiss is definitely noticeable

... depending on replay level of course.  To hear it as if in the room, the level should be no higher than if you were replaying a symphony orchestra.

I look at it this way - the H2 when set to M100 always records everything at the same level (of course).  I'd argue that everything should also be played back at the same level in your replay system, if it's to be scaled appropriately to the original sound - so a symphony orchestra would sound loud (well, in parts, and depending on the piece being played!) like a symphony orchestra does,  and a kalimba would sound quiet like a kalimba does.  The reproduced background hiss level will remain constant, and effectively inaudible (unless you like to listen to orchestras extremely loud!).

Now that assumes (as I said before) that you want to hear an authentic reproduction of the instrument.  If you reproduce it louder than it naturally is, you will skew the perceived frequency response due to the characteristics of human hearing.  So the question remains, is it desired to hear the instrument correctly reproduced, or amplified?

(I realise I'm going on about this more than the simple question perhaps merits, but it's a good example of the whole subject of relative noise levels and authentic replay settings).

[bewildered]

Thanks for the advice, and thanks for the sample ozpeter. I listened to it and could detect no hiss at reasonable listening levels. Sounds to me like the H2 will work just fine.

edit: after listening to the wingfeildaudio samples i compared the silence at the end of the voice samples between the edirol and the zoom, and it sounds to me like the edirol was noisier, but it was more of a flat noise whereas the zoom was more of a spacious noise. The microtrack II was by far the worse.

[dallman]

Im recording a kalimba, its a little handheld half gourd with metal bars on it, very quiet. Ive manged to get a decent recording playing it under my sheets with a microtrack before, but mine broke and i dont want to spend $300 just to use it a few times. Can anyone vouch for the internal mics noise floor on

What happened to the Microtrack? Is it fixable?