Curtis Judd 9/27/16 Curtis Judd 9/27/16

Zoom F4: Coming Soon

Zoom has been coming on strongly for the last few years and their pace only seems to be picking up.

I'm a fan of their Zoom F8 recorder which they released in late 2015. The quality of the recorder is top notch both in terms of build and in terms of the audio quality it records. The preamplifiers are powerful and clean with a nice neutral sound. The screen is great. The main encoder/dial is great and the menus are good. Overall ergonomics are good though the overall unit is quite small which makes for very small channel potentiometers/knobs. Since the knobs serve double duty as gain trim and faders and as mentioned, are quite small, mixing can be tricky. There's a bluetooth iOS app which allows you to enter metadata and mix, but the mixing capabilities are still a little rough because the on-screen fader is a little too jumpy. But for the price, the F8 is a GREAT recorder. This is accessible to some enthusiast filmmakers and with it, they can produce sound every bit as good as professional productions.

Once Zoom begins shipping the F4, there will be an even lower cost recorder ($650 vs the F8 at $999) which makes this audio quality even more accessible.

Several have asked and yes, I plan to review this as soon as I am able to get my hands on one. I'm very excited about the F4.

From the specs, it looks like the F4 has the same great preamplifiers as the F8. That's a very good start. Also, the F4 looks to have the same form-factor and solid metal build. Same battery configuration and hirose input for external batteries. Dual SD cards which allow backup or recording to different formats simultaneously.

But there are some changes, some look very good and some which are sacrifices which come with a lower priced unit:

Gain/Fader knobs (potentiometers) are larger on the F4 simply because there's more room for them. This is good!
The screen looks to be similar to the lower resolution screen on the H4n Pro or perhaps the H5. This is not nearly as nice as the F8, but still potentially workable. It should be viewable in direct sunlight.
Main outputs are full size XLR. This is an improvement over the F8's TA3 connectors which will generally need to be adapted for monitors, outs to camera, or wireless hops to camera or director.
Bluetooth: F4 does not appear to be Bluetooth enabled so there's no iOS app for metadata entry or mixing
SD Card slots have moved from the left side to the battery compartment on the back.

Overall, this looks like it may be a great choice for those who want very good quality audio at a price well under $1000. Should have an initial impressions piece up in October and a final review in November if the units ship on schedule in October.

Curtis Judd 9/23/16 Curtis Judd 9/23/16

Which Audio Recorders for Filmmaking do I Use?

We have reviewed several recorders over the last several years at various price points and with different feature sets. While I attempted to be very thorough in those reviews, nothing can replace the experience of working with a recorder over a longer period of time. Now that I have more experience with each of these audio mixers/recorders, let’s talk about what I’ve found since I posted the reviews.

Recorders Covered:

Curtis Judd 5/5/16 Curtis Judd 5/5/16

Why do Pros Use Zaxcom Mixers/Recorders/Wireless?

Consider this an educational piece. I am not trying to convince enthusiast and semi-pro film-makers that they need gear in this price range to make meaningful films. Instead, consider this a quick tutorial so that some day when you reach sound ninja status and you're working or assisting on a job where they are using Zaxcom gear, you'll be all set with a good overview of why they chose to use Zaxcom.

Knowledge is power. Here's some knowledge.

Again, not trying to sell here, but if you are curious about pricing, you can visit Trew Audio.

Curtis Judd 5/1/16 Curtis Judd 5/1/16

VideoDevices PIX-E 4K Recorders and PIX-LR XLR Audio Inputs

At NAB 2016, we talked with Jon Tatooles of VideoDevices about their PIX-E series of 4K recorders and their new PIX-LR Audio Mixer which integrates with the PIX-E recorders. The PIX-LR looks especially interesting to me and runs only $399 USD for a dual XLR input/dual XLR output audio mixer with the legendary quality Sound Devices preamplifiers, analogue limiters, high pass filters, and build quality of SoundDevices mixers and recorders.

Special thanks to Scott Vanderbilt who was kind enough to bring his brand new Sony FS5 camera to film this series.

Pricing for those interested:

Curtis Judd 4/7/16 Curtis Judd 4/7/16

Sound for Video Session: Setting up Your Recorder or Mixer

This week, more requests for "How do I set up my recorder?" My goal is to help you understand the concepts so that you can set up ANY recorder/mixer.

We gave examples using the Tascam DR-60DmkII and Zoom F8 but the settings are similar on all recorders.

The main settings you need to set:

1) Record format: WAV or BWF (on the Zoom F8, this is the default so you don't have to set this up)

2) What to record - tell it how many channels (on the Tascam) or on the Zoom F8, tell it whether you want just the ISO channels or ISO + a stereo mix (L & R channels). Remember that if you have a recorder like the F8 which is also a mixer, the faders affect the levels of the sound in the stereo mix track, not in the ISO tracks.

3) Sample Rate: 48kHz for broadcast, 44.1kHz if for YouTube or other online distribution

4) Bit Rate - 24 bit. I do this because then I have more room in post to process the audio. if you choose 16 bit, your audio files will be smaller, but you'll potentially have a harder time doing things like noise reduction.

5) Gain (sometimes called input or level) - set this until the peak meters show the loudest parts hitting -12dB. Of course your talent needs to talk while you get this set. Typically I'm looking for them to talk for 30 seconds so that I feel comfortable

Curtis Judd 1/19/16 Curtis Judd 1/19/16

Sound for Video Session: Setting Gain or Gain Staging

When first learning the art of dialogue sound recording, one of the more mysterious matters is setting up your gain. What is gain? What is trim? What is a pot(entiometer)? What is a fader?

In this session, we introduce the concepts and put you on the path to getting things set up for the best possible dialogue recording.

Curtis Judd 12/27/15 Curtis Judd 12/27/15

Zoom F8 Audio Recorder Firmware v2.0!

As expected, Zoom has made a new firmware update for the Zoom F8 Audio Recorder with several nice additional features, filling some of the gaps we saw in the initial release! Let's have a quick look.

First, and perhaps most importantly, you can now set the potentiometer knobs for each channel to act as faders! This was one of the big missing features. And while the knobs are pretty small, its definitely nice to have the option to use them as faders without the fiddly process of switching each one (and I mean one at a time) over to change the fader level. Nice improvement.

False take: You can now mark a clip as a false take which will move it to a separate folder and reset the counter on the next recorded clip to the previous number. Another good little addition that will greatly simplify matters on production day.

Scene number advancement: You now get more options on how scene number file names advance. So you could select numeric or character options. Character option: Scene1 -> Scene1A ... Scene1Z -> Scene1AA -> Scene1AB, etc. Or a simple numeric option: Scene1 -> Scene2 ... Scene9999.

Trim ganging: You can now gang multiple tracks together and control their gain with a single potentiometer. Handy when you need to quickly adjust the gain on multiple channels at the same time while setting up.

And a few others:

Change next track name
Change previously recorded track names
Show track names on level meter screen
Take name format options
Adjust the L/R track volume
PFL solos tracks during playback
Create sound reports
Control shortcuts (e.g., show name of next track that will be recorded)

Nice work, Zoom! I was definitely disappointed when I found that the original firmware didn't let you use the pots as faders but you came through with much more than that!

Curtis Judd 12/16/15 Curtis Judd 12/16/15

Tascam DR-701D Audio Recorder Review

If you like to capture the best sound for your video and film projects and you’re a solo or small crew operation, you might find the Tascam DR-701D to be a nice piece of gear. The recorder has 4 XLR/TRS inputs as well as a 3.5mm stereo mini jack input and can record 4 tracks plus a stereo mix at the same time. The build quality is a very nice step up from Tascam’s previous recorders with its magnesium alloy body. It also has some really useful and unique features like the ability to receive timecode from DSLR and mirrorless cameras via HDMI input and the ability to start recording when you press record on your camera.

We also spend several minutes comparing the DR-701D to the Zoom F8, another recorder targeted at independent and small crew filmmakers. One thing I ran out of time to include in the video is that the Tascam does not appear to have the ability to solo an input/track so that's another consideration if that feature is important to you.

Overall, this is a great little recorder for solo and small crew film and video making crews.

Curtis Judd 12/11/15 Curtis Judd 12/11/15

Recorder Rendezvous: Special Pricing on Audio Recorders

B&H has an Audio Recorder special pricing event going December 11th and 12th they call Recorder Rendezvous. If you're in the market for a recorder, there appear to be some nice deals worth checking out:

Tascam DR-70D and RODE NTG2 package with all the accessories you'll need (SD card, XLR cable, 3.5mm cable, batteries) for $499.

The good old Zoom H1 can be had for $69. This is still a great option to use in lieu of wireless lavalier systems when you're on a tighter budget. This and the Countryman B6 made an impressive combination in my tests.

One little item that caught my eye that I'd like to try is the Tascam DR10X (in this package with a Senal Reporter's mic) for $199. This is a tiny audio recorder you plug onto the end of a mic and it records the audio to SD or microSD card. Could be interesting to create a "wireless" boom mic with this. (Yes, in the photo they show a RODE mic but the package actually includes a Senal mic).

Curtis Judd 11/27/15 Curtis Judd 11/27/15

Black Friday Deal: Tascam DR-60DmkII & RODE NTG2

One last gear nerd black Friday notice and we're moving back to other things: B&H has a deal on the Tascam DR-60DmkII recorder with the RODE NTG2 Shotgun Microphone for $379 USD. Normally they'd cost over $450 separately.

I've used this combination many times in my corporate jobs with great results. If you're just getting started, this is probably the best deal I've seen on a solid shotgun and recorder combination.

My review of the Tascam recorder:

https://youtu.be/TRoIMPHS91U

And my really old review of the RODE NTG2 shotgun microphone:

https://youtu.be/GlQ32DwdpEw