While some might argue for using 96 KHz, the minuscule improvement in audio quality is simply not worth doubling my file sizes, and isn’t available in 4 channel mode, so I’ve never bothered with it. The vast majority of the time my H4n is recording, it’s recording 24-bit 48 KHz WAVs. Additionally the H4n can produce VRB files though there’s no way to set the minimum or target bitrates.įor the VDSLR shooter whose goal is improved audio quality, hence the external recorder, the MP3 modes are superfluous, and quite honestly I don’t see a strong reason to use the 44.1 KHz mode WAV mode since that’ll be lower quality than most of the higher tier VDSLRs record natively. WAV files can be recorded in 44.1KHz and 48KHz in all modes, and 96KHz in 2-channel mode only and at either 16- or 24-bit bit-depths. WAV files conform to the broadcast wave format including time stamps and queue marks. The H4n can record in either WAV or MP3 formats. Additionally, the XLR connectors are capable of providing phantom power at 24V and 48V. The 1/4” phone plugs are line level inputs with an input impedance of 480k ohm, and an input level between +2 and -32 dBm. The XLR inputs are balanced mic-level inputs with an input impedance of 1K ohm, the input levels are between -10 to -42dBm. The combination XLR/phone-plugs inputs are characterized as follows. On the back of the H4n is the battery compartment, speaker, and external stereo mic jack, along with a 1/4-20 threaded socket for mounting the H4n. Additionally the stereo input can provide power for external microphones, thought Zoom doesn’t give the exact specifications, and I’m not entirely sure what they are. The unbalanced stereo input has an input impedance of 2k ohm, and the gain can be varied from -7 to -47 dBm. There’s a lot of flexibility in the inputs. The H4n arrives at its 4 channels with 3 inputs, 2 mono combination XLR and 1/4” phone jacks, and a stereo 1/8” TRS jack that shares the channel with the built in stereo microphones. The bottom edge of the H4n has both XLR/Phone inputs as well as the DC input. I could, for example, mic an interviewer and interviewee individually, as well as having a stereo track of the overall room and record this all back to just the H4n. I don’t know if this was perhaps stupidity or not, but I liked the idea of being able to run 2-mono and 1-sterio mic in a recording situation. The thing that drew me to the H4n in the first place was that it was a 4-channel recorder. That said, the musician origins yield a product that isn’t entirely perfect, but does the job well enough to have become a venerable friend for the DSLR videographer. Though featured for the musician, at its core the H4n is a 4-track audio recorder with a decent feature set. Zoom, a brand known mostly in guitar circles, has somewhat fortuitously lucked into having a product that was nearly perfect for the DSLR videographer-the H4n. In a roundabout way, you could say 1/6 th of good video is a good audio recorder or something like that. Half of a good video is having good audio, and 1/3 rd of good audio is having a good recorder.
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