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Out of tune recordings on Zoom


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Geoff Wooff pointed out to me that there was a difference in tuning to the MP3 recordings posted recently and he is right.

Playing my concertina against the MP3 version the recording is out of tune.It is happening here before it is posted, as I have checked it on my computer. I have never checked it before, but has it always been the case? If so what is causing it?

Al

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There might be a 'bug' in the Zoom's encoding firmware. You should contact Zoom's tech support or post on one of their forum about this. I doubt this is a problem with your device only.

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Are you sure that the recording frequency on record and playback is the same. Sometimes

people record at 48kHz and this get played back at CD standard 44.1kHZ which will sound

out of tune.

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Are you sure that the recording frequency on record and playback is the same. Sometimes

people record at 48kHz and this get played back at CD standard 44.1kHZ which will sound

out of tune.

 

I would have thought that the frequency in which the MP3 should be played is encoded in the MP3 itself... but maybe that's the bug, maybe the info isn't correctly inserted in the MP3 and the player plays it at standard frequency...

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Hmmm.... interesting Al,

 

and I thought it was me.

 

It is a lovely day here and I was thinking I might just sneak out and have a look for a Zoom H4. Maybe I should do some work instead, or cut the grass, wait for a verdict from those who understand these modern things.

Geoff.

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Hmmm.... interesting Al,

 

and I thought it was me.

 

It is a lovely day here and I was thinking I might just sneak out and have a look for a Zoom H4. Maybe I should do some work instead, or cut the grass, wait for a verdict from those who understand these modern things.

Geoff.

 

I bought an H2. It's cheaper than the H4 and I couldn't see any use for the extra tricks an H4 would do. It's been perfectly adequate for me and in practice I don't use most of the tricks the H2 will do either...

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Hmmm.... interesting Al,

 

and I thought it was me.

 

It is a lovely day here and I was thinking I might just sneak out and have a look for a Zoom H4. Maybe I should do some work instead, or cut the grass, wait for a verdict from those who understand these modern things.

Geoff.

 

I bought an H2. It's cheaper than the H4 and I couldn't see any use for the extra tricks an H4 would do. It's been perfectly adequate for me and in practice I don't use most of the tricks the H2 will do either...

Hi Dirge,

thanks for that tip and yes I read the specifications and looked at the prices too..... maybe someone might enlighten us...

I bought an Edirol for my wife... but it's hers... so I must find my own gadget.

Anyone have any thoughts on the Zoom Q3 video recorder or any other portable recording devise?

 

Geoff.

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Hmmm.... interesting Al,

 

and I thought it was me.

 

It is a lovely day here and I was thinking I might just sneak out and have a look for a Zoom H4. Maybe I should do some work instead, or cut the grass, wait for a verdict from those who understand these modern things.

Geoff.

 

I bought an H2. It's cheaper than the H4 and I couldn't see any use for the extra tricks an H4 would do. It's been perfectly adequate for me and in practice I don't use most of the tricks the H2 will do either...

Hi Dirge,

thanks for that tip and yes I read the specifications and looked at the prices too..... maybe someone might enlighten us...

I bought an Edirol for my wife... but it's hers... so I must find my own gadget.

Anyone have any thoughts on the Zoom Q3 video recorder or any other portable recording devise?

 

Geoff.

 

 

Mp3 is a compressed file which has nothing to do with the sampling rate. Al digital sampling by record industry is currently done at 48Khz if not at even 96Khz. These are the sampling rate and we are talking of wav audio files format (uncompressed). Aliasing down to red book standard (CD) will not make the file sounding out of tune although the conversion software has a severe issue. If recording space is not an issue always use 48Khz for recording and playback unless you need to play it on CD player, then 44,1 is mandatory. My 2 cents..... oh, forgot files at 48 cant be played on cd players being this the DVD standard so this cant be the reason of issue itself.

Edited by Ubik
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My Zoom 4 takes a hammering, but it is far too complicated for me. I set it on MP3 recording and all the settings remain the same. I use it in conjunction with a card reader ,which I use to put the recordings up on my computer and also delete those many recordings that are no longer required.All I do is switch on the zoom and switch it off. It has been a great device and although this problem has just been pointed ,I would not be without it.It is set on MP3 so no error there.It could be of course my computer where the problem lies.

Al

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My Zoom 4 takes a hammering, but it is far too complicated for me. I set it on MP3 recording and all the settings remain the same. I use it in conjunction with a card reader ,which I use to put the recordings up on my computer and also delete those many recordings that are no longer required.All I do is switch on the zoom and switch it off. It has been a great device and although this problem has just been pointed ,I would not be without it.It is set on MP3 so no error there.It could be of course my computer where the problem lies.

Al

 

Al,

Have you tried recording something on your H4 and then playing it back using head phones or directly attached speakers then playing along with it? This to eliminate card reader/computer malfunctions.

 

Well Geoff, of course he has, don't ask stupid questions!! OK ok sorry sir.Just drag me out of the dark ages, but gently please.

Now cutting the grass- Phaaaa!

Geoff.

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My Zoom 4 takes a hammering, but it is far too complicated for me. I set it on MP3 recording and all the settings remain the same. I use it in conjunction with a card reader ,which I use to put the recordings up on my computer and also delete those many recordings that are no longer required.All I do is switch on the zoom and switch it off. It has been a great device and although this problem has just been pointed ,I would not be without it.It is set on MP3 so no error there.It could be of course my computer where the problem lies.

Al

 

Al,

Have you tried recording something on your H4 and then playing it back using head phones or directly attached speakers then playing along with it? This to eliminate card reader/computer malfunctions.

 

Well Geoff, of course he has, don't ask stupid questions!! OK ok sorry sir.Just drag me out of the dark ages, but gently please.

Now cutting the grass- Phaaaa!

Geoff.

 

Hi all. Have recorded several gigs using the H4 across the O/P of the mixing desk. I always use 44.1 WAV. Have just checked some old recordings. All perfectly fine tuning wise.

Can't explain the pitch shift problem. Shouldn't be the MP3 processing. Might just be that your H4 records slower!!!

(Mind you...a lot of the gigs I've recorded involved melodeons...So tuning is arbitary anyway!)

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My Zoom 4 takes a hammering, but it is far too complicated for me. I set it on MP3 recording and all the settings remain the same. I use it in conjunction with a card reader ,which I use to put the recordings up on my computer and also delete those many recordings that are no longer required.All I do is switch on the zoom and switch it off. It has been a great device and although this problem has just been pointed ,I would not be without it.It is set on MP3 so no error there.It could be of course my computer where the problem lies.

Al

 

Al,

Have you tried recording something on your H4 and then playing it back using head phones or directly attached speakers then playing along with it? This to eliminate card reader/computer malfunctions.

 

Well Geoff, of course he has, don't ask stupid questions!! OK ok sorry sir.Just drag me out of the dark ages, but gently please.

Now cutting the grass- Phaaaa!

Geoff.

No

Al :)

I have just cut my grass though

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Now 30° C so too hot to cut the grass, so its either do some work (Hmm not too keen on that) or play a few tunes... dum dee di de do.

 

Serriously, it sounds like a pitch adjustment within your media programme.

 

Wow, the H2 is half the price of the H4 (on amazon.fr), hmm, I could convince myself that I really need one.

Geoff.

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Wow, the H2 is half the price of the H4 (on amazon.fr), hmm, I could convince myself that I really need one.

Geoff.

 

Told you so. Al just bought the H4 for pose value.

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My Zoom 4 takes a hammering, but it is far too complicated for me. I set it on MP3 recording and all the settings remain the same. I use it in conjunction with a card reader ,which I use to put the recordings up on my computer and also delete those many recordings that are no longer required.All I do is switch on the zoom and switch it off. It has been a great device and although this problem has just been pointed ,I would not be without it.It is set on MP3 so no error there.It could be of course my computer where the problem lies.

Al

 

Yeah, the ultimate test is to record a test clip, and send it to different people and make them check the tuning... even better, just create a clip playing a long 'A' and a bunch of us can simply check against a tuner... If we're OK and you have the prob, it means it's your computer... if we all have the prob, then something wrong with your device.

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Geoff Wooff pointed out to me that there was a difference in tuning to the MP3 recordings posted recently and he is right.

Playing my concertina against the MP3 version the recording is out of tune.It is happening here before it is posted, as I have checked it on my computer. I have never checked it before, but has it always been the case? If so what is causing it?

Al

 

I have the zoom H4n: I record everything at 24/96. The external mic jacks are really great to have, I can run any mic I want into the recorder, this allows me to run my guitar through one channel and my vocal through the other.

 

Unfortunately I have not recorded my concertina yet with this setup (I also use a small mackie mixer for my head phone monitor).

 

I have found that if I bring the 24/96 files into Cubase LE, sometimes, my sound card resets to 44.1, this makes for some amusing vocals. I usually have to re-open a project after going back and resetting my sound card to be the proper frequency.

 

I only once recorded at 48 with my mics, and another time 4 tracks (my mics plus the built-in ones), I found that with my set up 96 works better. You may not notice a difference depending on your other equipment and set up, considering many sound cards can't produce anything more than 44.1 anyway.

 

I'm planning to get a newer recorder that can record 4 tracks of 24/192khz

 

Other than that, I think the zoom H4n recorder works great, I got mine for mobile recording when I play at Open mics.

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