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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: HarpNinjaMike on December 01, 2010, 09:38:21 AM

Title: Taking a direct feed to Zoom H4n
Post by: HarpNinjaMike on December 01, 2010, 09:38:21 AM
The instruction manual says this is doable, but I am not sure how to do it as the manual didn't give any examples.  I am assuming I go 1/4" from the board into the 1/4" input on the Zoom, but will the signal level be ok?

As a newb, is there anything I should be aware of/looking for possible issues? I am hoping to record the room and get a feed from the board (which I know I can do, but haven't looked at yet).  Ideally, I'd want vocals separate from the rest of the band for mixing later, but maybe that would just make things more complicated?
Title: Re: Taking a direct feed to Zoom H4n
Post by: chrisnickey64 on December 01, 2010, 10:35:36 AM
you can combine a board feed and an ambient room mix w/h4n but beware that you'll need to use line attenuaters  from the board feed because the h4n cannot accept professional signals just consumer grade so the sig. from the board will overload the preamps (even at the lowest rec setting) and totally blow out the signal from the board . no biggie though just plug in a line pad to each cable and you good to go! recording a show this way will yield amazing results! you can adjust the stereo signal from the ext mics and internal feed from the board later and dial in just the right amount of board mix and room mix.....you might have to give the sound man 20$ bill to let you tap into the board though  ;)  hope this helped
Title: Re: Taking a direct feed to Zoom H4n
Post by: HarpNinjaMike on December 01, 2010, 11:17:49 AM
Thanks!  What is an attenuator and where can I get one?  I mean, I get what it does, but what should I be looking for?
Title: Re: Taking a direct feed to Zoom H4n
Post by: mloewen on December 01, 2010, 04:25:44 PM
Heres what I got for my H2
 http://www.wallcoinc.com/Calrad_10_105_Stereo_inline_Varible_Attenuator_p/wal22-10-105.htm
 Works good.