Price Drops on Zoom F4 and F8 Recorders, FRC-8 Control Surface Coming Soon
Many of of you know that I am rather fond of the two Zoom F series recorders the F8 and F4. For me they strike a very good balance between price, quality, and feature set. The preamps are very impressive for the price, the build quality is good, and they have the features that independent filmmakers need.
And now, somehow, Zoom has managed to reduce the pricing on the F4 by $50 and the F8 by $100. The Value to price ratio just got even better. Nice work Zoom!
Earlier this month, they also announced the Zoom FRC-8, a control surface for the F4 and F8 which allows you to mix more effectively. Larger mixers/control surfaces like this make it much easier to manage the madness that can occur during production. I have one on order and will be reviewing it a few weeks after it arrives.
I expect that this will be a big improvement over the iPad app Zoom has for the F8. While the app is great for metadata entry and setting the gain before shooting, I did not find it to work well when in the heat of a recording. Smoothly moving the faders on a touch screen just wasn't the same because they would jump too suddenly. The FRC 8 also allows you to connect a USB keyboard making metadata entry even faster. Can't wait to try the FRC-8!
Sound for Video Session: Richer Dialogue, Reporter's Mics, Lip Smacks, Recorders for Ambience
This week we answered sound questions from several of you including the following:
How can I make dialogue sound fuller?
Recommendations on “reporter’s” microphones?
Is there a faster way to remove lip smacks and other mouth noises?
Recommendations on handheld stereo recorders for capturing ambience and foley?
Gear discussed and used to produce this episode:
Sennheiser MD46 Cardioid Dynamic Reporter’s Microphone
Zoom H5 Handy Recorder (for ambience and foley)
Electrovoice RE20 Dynamic Microphone (Voiceover for this session was recorded with this)
Antelope Orion Studio Audio Interface (Voiceover for this demo was recorded with this)
Saramonic SmartRig+ Audio Adapter Mixer Review
Saramonic’s SmartRig+ is a compact, light weight adapter which allows you to record professional grade XLR and 3.5mm microphones directly to your camera or smart phone. Pretty impressive little device for a very good price.
Could be a good option for run 'n gun shooting, musicians who want to record guitar and vocals, and those on a tight budget who want to add higher quality audio to their production.
Let’s have a listen!
Gear used or mentioned in this episode (affiliate links):
Saramonic SmartRig+ Audio Adapter/Mixer
Aputure Deity Shotgun Microphone
RODE VC1 3.5mm Extension Cable (10 feet) - If you need to run a 3.5mm microphone closer to the talent.
Sound for Video Session: Fix Waveform Asymmetry, Gear, Bias Power, Preamp Quality
In this week's episode we cover questions submitted by our little community on how to record and process better sound:
- How to fix asymmetric waveforms in Audition
- Recommended gear for no/low/big budget films
- Sound Devices MM1, Tascam DR-10CS and bias power
- Recording dynamic scenes
- Getting audio from FCPX to Audition
- Why is there such a big quality difference between the Zoom H6 and F8?
Here are links to some of the things we discussed in this episode:
Episode on Microphones:
Audio Recorders/Mixers:
Tascam DR-10CS (not available in the US)
XtoCC (App to convert an XML file of the audio from FCPX to a format that Audition can read):
Aputure Deity Shotgun Microphone Review
Aputure has just announced their first pro-grade shotgun microphone, the Aputure Deity. let’s put this new mic through its paces to see how well it does relative to other microphones in the same price range.
I'm pretty impressed! Usually companies that don't specialize in microphones don't do this well. Personally, I prefer the sound of this mic over the others we compared it to here. Nice work, Aputure!
Shure MV88 Microphone for iPhone Review
The Shure MV88 is a microphone made specifically for lightning based iPhone, iPad, and iPod mobile devices. Despite its small size, it produces impressive sound quality and proves quite flexible with its four polar pickup patterns for different situations: Stereo with adjustable width, cardioid, bi-directional (figure 8), and mid side stereo. These patterns equip you to record in a variety of situations including live music, VLOGs, podcasts, and ambience for films.
To decode mid side stereo recordings, you'll need a decoder plugin. I use Voxengo MSED (free plugin to decode mid side recordings).
Tascam DR-10L Micro Recorder and Lavalier Review
If you need to record audio wirelessly but you don’t have a lot of money and you want to make sure you get the best possible audio quality, the Tascam DR-10L is worth a look. It is not a traditional wireless lavalier microphone kit. Instead of transmitting the audio to your camera, it records the audio. Then when editing your video, you simply sync the audio from your Tascam to the video recorded by your camera. Don’t worry, it isn’t hard as you can see here:
The audio quality of the Tascam is quite good, especially if you place the lavalier microphone on the talent’s forehead or their ear. I know, that sounds like crazy talk, but it sounds much better than on the talent’s chest. Try it some time!
The DR-10L has a solid feature set on the most critical things. Battery life is good at 7 hours on a single AAA alkaline battery (longer on Ni-MH or lithium), easy to use controls, a useful screen, a locking plug for the microphone, and more. Let’s have a closer look!
Azden EX-507XD Lavalier Microphone for PRO-XD Wireless System or Phone
Last year we reviewed the Azden PRO-XD digital wireless lavalier system. For its price, around $200 USD, it was surprisingly good. The only major downside we found was that the included microphone didn’t sound great. We gave Azden that feedback and now they have introduced the new EX-507XD lavalier which they pitch as the upgrade you can add to your PRO-XD system.
In this episode we give you some sample audio so you can hear it for yourself. Pricing and availability to be determined.
Sound for Video Session: Timecode Demonstration
First, for those I haven't somehow managed to tell yet, I have a couple of courses on sound for video - one on recording and one on post processing. Please have a look at them over at School.LearnLightAndSound.com.
In this week's session, we demonstrate how free-run timecode works. For those not familiar with timecode, this allows you to more efficiently sync your separately recorded video and sound clips before editing your video. It works by syncing up your camera(s) and audio recorder with the help of timecode generator clocks.
In this demonstration, we show how to do this with a Tentacle Sync, a MozeGear TIG Q28, and a Sound Devices 633 recorder. If your recorder does not have a timecode generator built-in, you can still do this by connecting another timecode generator (like the Tentacle or MozeGear) to your recorder.
Zoom F4 Audio Recorder Final Review
Last year Zoom took their first step into more professional filmmaker field recorders with the Zoom F8. And now they have just released a younger sibling, the Zoom F4. The F4, at the time of release, sells for $650 USD, has 4 microphone/line inputs, and records 8 tracks simultaneously. The preamplifiers are impressive in my tests and there’s a lot more to cover so grab your favorite beverage and let’s have a look at the Zoom F4 in this wrap-up review!
Summary: The Zoom F4 is the best audio recorder I have used in the $650 USD price range.
