Zoom H2 Help

[Ken Olmstead]

At the Symposium (AMAZING bye the way!) and I got a recorder to capture some of this stuff. Sure wish I had it at the beginning of the week! Anyway, the Zoom is what they had at a local music store.

My question is what MP3 sampleing rate should I select for the best balance between file size/sharing/ect. and sound quality?

It has lots of options as little as 64kbps-320kps.

[J.Albert]

Ken wrote:
"My question is what MP3 sampleing rate should I select for the best balance between file size/sharing/ect. and sound quality?
It has lots of options as little as 64kbps-320kps"

If you're making a recording to transfer to your computer for further editing, you'd probably do best to record at 44.1khz 16-bit. Then edit as needed on your computer and - afterwards - convert to mp3.

I think either 160kbps or 192kbps would suffice as a good balance between sound quality vs. size.

256kbps is better.

- John

[Douglas McMullin]

Depends on what you plan to use the recording for. If it is just for basic recoding/sharing I tend to use my Edirol R-09HR between 128kbps and 160kbps. For my purposes, I don't see much of an advantage to going any higher than that.

[Ken Olmstead]

Thanks guys, I will set it at the higher of your suggested range but that is a big help!!

Does windows (VISTA) include something for editing WAV files? Sorry I am a tech dunce, (sorta)! :))

[foldedpath]

My S.O. and I use 160kbps for most recordings in MP3 format with our Zoom H2. This is for things like lessons, band practice feedback, workshops, etc. I think that's a reasonable compromise for audio quality vs. file size. Actually these days it's more the transfer speed into the computer than raw storage, since storage is so cheap.

At 160k you can still do a one-pass edit with audio software, and then write it out as another MP3 without too much audio degradation. This is technically "wrong" -- re-compressing an MP3 -- but it's fine for editing scratch recordings like song ideas or music lessons. If you need pristine editing, record in WAV format and save in WAV format.

For "archive" quality MP3 (ripped CD's, etc.) I use 192k variable bit rate. I've done some ABX testing and I can't tell the difference at a higher setting (YMMV, especially if your ears are a lot younger... kids can hear higher frequencies).

For editing there are many options, but I'd recommend the free/open source Audacity audio software (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) for basic WAV or MP3 editing. It's quick and easy. It doesn't have the fancier features of pro editors, but it does all the basic stuff most folks need, like trimming heads and tails, normalize, slowdown without pitch change, etc.

[Coffeecup]

Good question Ken, I'd wondered the same thing, so thanks to the rest of you for the answers. I'll give another vote to Audacity.

[steve V. johnson]

I normally use 192, but for no good reason.

Your best test is to put your H2 in front of you and record similar playing at the different resolutions and then listen back to them from various playbacks, most essentially from your computer, since you're asking about resolutions for emailing.

If you record carefully at really low resolutions you can get sound quality that will convey a tune and its structure well to someone on the other end of an email. With many of today's sound editing programs you can convert CD-grade (16bit/44.1kHz) down to all sorts of mp3 rates. Audacity is a free audio editor that converts down nicely.

But some listening tests should show you how these things sound.

Enjoy,

stv