Topic: Help with a H2 Zoom Recorder - Recording Levels?

[Breaking The Law]

Hello, and sorry if this has been posted before, I did do a search but didn't see anything that was exactly my problem. I'm fairly new to taping, having had my Zoom for close to 2 years. I am not a tech kind of guy, so I read up on it a bit and just started taping and going with it. I don't have the $$ so I have relied on the internal mic's, and so far so good. But lately I've had problems with my recordings coming out bad, like my levels are too high. I'm suffering from clipping, and the bars when I put it into Audacity are maxing out, if that makes sense. I have lowered the levels all the way down to 55 and still had a show come out terrible with clicks and pops because the levels were redlining. How low can I go before it's too low? I started out at 100 at club shows and didn't have a problem until I went to Accept and they overloaded it. I've since been lowering it like I said all the way down to 55 but still am having trouble. I'm also noticing that my left channel is recording higher than the right. Is there away to adjust levels per side?
Many thanks to any help you can provide.

[Ozpeter]

You should always record on "100".  Use the H/M/L slider to select the recording level.  If 'L' is still causing excessive peaks, it means the performance is too loud for the H2 to record without distortion.

See http://www.2090.org/zoom/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=9745 for "how to get the best from the Zoom H2".

[Breaking The Law]

Thanks for responding, I appreciate it. I go to a lot of rock shows that are loud, what can I do to make the H2 better in these situations? Would investing in external mics help this situation? Is there anything else I can add to the H2 to make it perform better? I'm going to read the link you provided so that might answer some of these questions.
Thanks again for the help!

[Fried Chicken Boy]

Using a set of external mics will undoubtedly improve the quality of your recordings and should help with overloading your Zoom.  And if/when you buy a different recorder, you can use your mics with that one, too.  It's my understanding that the internal microphones on the Zoom recorders are pretty good when compared to those on other recorders (Sony, Edirol, etc.) but the performance of any internal mics will pale in comparison to even mediocre externals.  Depending on your budget, you can spend anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars for a pair of microphones.  I would suggest (and I'm sure others will) that you look into offerings from Church Audio and Sound Professionals; very good microphones without a huge outlay of cash.  Since you mentioned Accept, I'm guessing that you record a lot of loud rock shows.  If that's the case, you'll also need to get a battery box to properly power the mics; others might suggest the Church preamp but I don't think it's really necessary if you do indeed tape loud rock concerts.

[Ozpeter]

A word of caution though - the H2 mic input is very noisy.  But if it's a loud band this might not matter.

[Breaking The Law]

A word of caution though - the H2 mic input is very noisy.  But if it's a loud band this might not matter.

Noisy as in if you move the plug it makes static noises?

Thanks again for all the information!

[Ozpeter]

Noisy as in continuous background hiss.  I'm a big fan of the Zoom H2, and I'm also of the view that people get overly concerned about the last detail of preamp noise, but even I can only describe the H2 mic input as... noisy.  Why it should be so when the built in mics, presumably connected to that same preamp, are reasonably quiet I don't know.  Fortunately the H2N is much better in that respect.