Zoom H1 Essential - A Real Budget 32 Bit Recorder. What Does it Sound Like?

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Ian Craig Audio,Video, Reviews & Tips

4 ай бұрын

At first, I wasn't sold on the Zoom H1E because I felt that it was a bit noisy. Probably, because, me being me, went to an extreme and raised the gain in post from a tiny signal far too much.
32 bit isn't the 'be all and end all' thing to use, but actually, since my first reaction, my feelings towards this budget recorder have really changed.
In real usage, noise doesn't seem to be that much of a problem since the amount of gain needed in post isn't that much normally. The biggest gain is at the other end though, because you really can shout into the microphone and bring it down in post with no clipping.
So for what it costs, this is an excellent buy and is capable of capturing some nice recordings; even on its internal microphones.
It's a very basic recorder, but it does the job. Switch on and press record. That's it. Ideal for those quick video grab moments.
For this video, I used the onboard mics all the way through and found no problem at all with noise levels and the clarity is pretty good.
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Пікірлер: 64

@iancraig 4 ай бұрын

@Riz_ 2 күн бұрын

Hi Ian, My wife just bought this recorder for me and so far I love it. I use it for audio only because I don't record video much. However the biggest selling point for me being vision impaired is the new voice assistant the recorder has. I love hearing other peoples clips and audio tests of this recorder so thank you.

@Sunshine-Light 3 ай бұрын

Love your ❤cool product reviews ❤❤❤❤

@ArcticExploring 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for this review

@iancraig 4 ай бұрын

Thank YOU for watching it and leaving a comment.

@bobwhitewo3b 4 ай бұрын

Hi Ian. Thanks for the video. I have always found Zoom products to be good value for the money spend and it looks like the new E series will not disappoint us either.

@iancraig 4 ай бұрын

Yes. At first, I think I pushed this recorder too hard because I’m used to better recorders and mics. I felt that it was really noisy. After watching Curtis Judd doing a live broadcast yesterday about the H4E, I did comment to him about noise. He then tested the H4E with a dummy load and found the preamp to be quiet, so I assumed it must be the mics. Today, I made this video and was very surprised in the whispering section where the noise isn’t as high as I expected so my opinion on this recorder has totally changed. £100 for a 32 bit recorder with two mics is really good value. Quality of sound is pretty good really at that price and I do feel that I could easily use this out and about for ambience capture because it’s also so small. Not the quietest, but quiet enough for such a budget option.

@MrCaseHarts 12 күн бұрын

Love you ian

@ww1www 4 ай бұрын

Nice to see you, Ian. I have a few 32bit float recorders. Zoom F2 (2pcs), F3, Tascam X8 and the RodeWireless Pro. I love 32 bit float as a solo shooter. I still have some 24 bit devices as well, H1n, H6, Tascam DR10x, but they are bit more fiddly. The H1e preamps do not sound that quiet as I had hoped.

@iancraig 4 ай бұрын

Yes, when I first got it, I thought the preamps were poor, but yesterday, Curtis Judd did a test on the h4E and that turned out really well, so I presumed that the noise I was getting was the mics, not the preamps. It may well be preamp noise though as well.

@brunocannavina 4 ай бұрын

nice review!

@iancraig 4 ай бұрын

Thank you.

@lensmanonline 4 ай бұрын

Hi Ian hope you're well.Great review and test, definitely sounded OK, I'm listening on headphones so did get the stereo effect. I often thought about using an eternal recorder, In fact I have a Zoom H1n sat in my amazon wishlist,I might get round to buying it one day but as I know nothing about audio I'll might be a waste of money. Best wishes stay safe Jon

@iancraig 4 ай бұрын

Hi Jon. The H1e might be better than the H1n. Less work being 32 bit because you can’t set levels and it’s really difficult to clip. I use a free audio editor called Audacity. It’s excellent and can also reduce noise if you need to. Plus EQ as well which is very handy. Having separate audio means that you have to be very disciplined in the way that you work or else you can get into a muddle with all of the files. Generally, I don’t use separate recorders for running around unless I want to get ambience. I do that quite a lot and add it in post. Funny thing is that I actually enjoy the editing work in video a lot!

@vfo1949 4 ай бұрын

It is also possible to record a voice with a stereo recorder without any problems, so that the recorder is turned with the microphones below it (in the vertical axis), then turning the head left and right will not result in the sound traveling between the left and right channels.

@iancraig 4 ай бұрын

A single voice is generally recorded in mono though to lock it in the centre.

@kennethochoa7550 3 ай бұрын

hey I think I'll try that

@sr3d-microphones 3 ай бұрын

You can get approx 6db gain by replacing the original capsules with primo EM272's which is way better with my clock test I did in my workshop. I'll be doing a side by side comparison very soon when the 2nd Zoom H1E arrives in the post. I'll give some more accurate results I get from my EM272 stock, the ones I did with my first attempt were my best sensitive capsules that I save for special mics, so I'll pick out some standard EM272's and see how they fare with the Zoom's internal ones. The mod is quite straight forward as access is easy, the fiddly bit is the rice grain sized capacitor across the capsules terminals, but to be honest I'm not sure if you need them, but it can be done with a steady quick hand, as I did it on my "tester" H1E on my channel. I do not increase the gain with my binaural mics as they are so sensitive, see clock test in my latest videos. I'll try and compile a better video though, when I've time later towards the end of the week I reckon.

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

Hi. Great to see a real enthusiast out there. The EM272 is very sensitive. I use similar capsules myself for a lavalier made by MicBooster down here called a Little Clippy. Made by a small company. The guy who runs the place used to do a lot of stuff for BBC. Great little capsules and dead quiet. I think my lavs use the em172. The noise test that you did using the binaural setup was really excellent. I enjoyed that video. The boosted H1e sounds amazing. In effect, I did the exact same thing, plugging in my Little Clippy, which is an em172. It’s a lot healthier in signal strength.

@sr3d-microphones 3 ай бұрын

@@iancraig Indeed, I've spoken to Nick several times, and my lavs look just like his, but don't want to step on his toes there :O) Though his XLR clippy is something that I've not mastered yet, perhaps his enclosures are just a tad bigger than mine. I've been an audio nut ever since working out for myself how to clone human hearing back in 2013 after brainstorming for months after listening to the virtual barber shop on KZfaq!

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

Another little thing that Nick does is the mini preamp for dynamic mics. Essentially a piece of wire with a plug and a mini preamp running from 2.5 or so volts. I’m surprised that more people don’t seem to have heard of such a thing, but it does help if you have a noisy preamp or an underpowered preamp. The em172 and 272 are amazingly quiet for lavaliers. Again, I’m surprised that more don’t know about them because they sound pretty good but way outperform most other lavs that I’ve used from big companies in terms of self noise. I’m guessing that the size may put some off because the housing is comparatively large, but I would personally prefer the superior sound that you can get from them. I remember that old haircut video from way back. Quite strange! I tried using foam dummy heads as well, burning a hole into them with a hot needle and trying to get lavs to stay in the ears!! It just got a bit creepy for people, seeing a bloke with a head in his hands and placing it down to record …. They often got freaked out.

@sr3d-microphones 3 ай бұрын

@@iancraigOh, wasn't aware of that one he did, I have a plugin power box that gives about 7v to the capsules so it can be used with a recorder that doesn't have plugin power, like a Tascam DR40X and the like, it's basically the same circuits as the SR3D RCA, and the XLR mics at present only have a resistor and a capacitor, but just paid someone to see if they can produce a PCB preamp for the XLR's as I'm hoping to go mainstream with that model. I think I've been lucky that the ASMR community have got me where I am today, as without their purchasing power I wouldn't be experimenting etc. Where Nick seems to be a total expert in his field, am totally lost there, but here in binaural land I feel I excel where others scratch their heads! I used to walk round with a dummy head on a rode pole in Southport, only one person stated was it a dummy head mic, the rest were quite curious and made for some interesting recordings at the time, only realising after the initial annoyance of the interruptions, they actually made the recordings better! Only by experimenting with true binaural can you realise their true potential, and then.... bam!!!! A Tsunami of ideas come forth and race your mind with ideas, well, for me anyway.

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

Me being the ‘devil I am’, painted one of the heads and put a wig on it. I freaked the living daylights out of everyone close by me when I lifted it out of a plastic bag…… Nick’s preamp is good for just quick plug in to mini recorders with plug in power. Allows you to use a dynamic straight in. The preamp part is inside the plug! I’m also surprised that not so much is known about binaural sound. I’m guessing that the somewhat old fashioned idea of carrying a head with implants around was just too cumbersome but that arrangement that you are using looks great. I listened to the air show that you recorded and that jet flying past is just breathtaking on a proper headphone. It has such a wide frequency response that not only do you clearly catch the top end force in the treble, but also that low end crackle that jets give off. All I need is the floor to shake and it would be frightening! I’m surprised how much frequency response the em272 captures and also …. The dynamic. That must have been deafening and it got it really cleanly. Just shows how good those capsules are. Nick was quite inventive as well. He designed that daft knitting needle mic that Terry Wogan used on Blankety Blank. Very funny ….. it is basically a needle!! Just looks trendy and insignificant on screen I guess. I’m more from a music background. I’m a retired musician. So saw a lot of posh gear and lazy engineers who often used their posh gear to overcome their own lack of care! I once recorded an oboe sonata for the radio with a harpsichord, and the engineer had me playing over and over because his placement of mics picked up too much breath, or rattling or harpsichord clunks due to him using these top heavy mics, too close in order to avoid reverb. In the end, after a long boring chat with him, I asked him whether he could do a take with a ‘little’ reverb (it was in a church) because musicians do tend to play ‘into’ room acoustics and capturing a bit of that acoustic might help. Bingo …. No rattles and a tiny bit of reverb! That was the take that was used ……

@Emuspaul 2 ай бұрын

Thanks. I learned something new. Not the usual KZfaq rehash. My question still is if there is much of a difference of quality from the H6e that may have better preamps?

@iancraig 2 ай бұрын

Yes, maybe the preamps might be better on the H6e. My h6n sounds very clean but I think the mics on it are probably better as well. With the H1e, as long as you record at reasonable proximity, I don’t think the noise is too bad. 32bit certainly doesn’t save you from noise though if the signal is quiet. The noise floor comes right up with it.

@Emuspaul 2 ай бұрын

@@iancraig I still can't decide whether to get the H1e or the H6e. I like the portability of the smaller one. Don't think I would use it to mount on camera to run through worse camera preamps. But would use it for drone footage ambient sound. So if not mounting, maybe bigger would not matter if it has better mics and preamps.

@pathegartyfilmssongs9487 2 ай бұрын

Hi Ian, I enjoy your videos. I use the H8 for my short films/Field and documentary. It is probably discontinued with the new range of essential recorders out now. I am not that excited about 32bit. The one complaint I have is the new Zoom range is not backward compatible with the older capsules! What are Zoom doing? This will slow sales of the new range in my opinion.

@iancraig 2 ай бұрын

I think you’re right. I use the old H4n and the H6n and to be honest, I can’t hear much difference in terms of self noise. While 32 bit is handy in that there are no gains to set, it makes you lazy really and you adopt the attitude …. ‘I’ll fix it in post’. You still need a good signal from the source to get a good recording. Its most useful feature is the non clipping aspect. Then again, on the H6n, I set the gain correctly so no problem!

@halimrahman 3 ай бұрын

I am an absolute noob. Wondering if you can give me pointers. If I am recording an interview, should I switch to "Mono"? When I am recording "ambient" sounds, should I stick to "stereo"?

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

Yes. Speech in mono. Ambience in stereo. If you record speech in stereo, it can move around left and right in the audio. In mono, it stays locked in the middle. You can use stereo for two people where one person is on one side and the other is opposite.

@Devinop 3 ай бұрын

Hello. Are there any analogues from Tascam? There are Portracapture X6 and X8, but they are not analogues. They're too big.

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

Do you mean anologue recorders? They’re all digital these days as far as capture goes.

@Devinop 3 ай бұрын

@@iancraig I am sorry. I mean - alternative model from Tascam.

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

There’s a Tascam dr-05x which I quite like. A bit bigger than the Zoom H1e and not 32 bit but sounds great. 32 bit float is ok and saves any setting of the gain, but you still have to be careful of bringing self noise up so really, I’m happy with 24 or 32 bit.

@dfcx1 3 ай бұрын

I think the mics sound fine. People complain about the noise but I haven't heard any 32-bit stereo recorder of comparable size and price do better. Or even existing.

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

Possibly because there isn’t one at that price……..

@halimrahman 3 ай бұрын

I wonder if I can ask for help editing recorded audio from H1e. I have Audacity and Audition. Using any of these two, how do I correctly increase a whisper volume to almost normal volume?

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

On Audacity, double click to select the whole clip, then go to the menu and select ‘normalise’. It will give you an option to change what level the max will be. I set mine to -3dB and press OK. The noise level will also be boosted though so if you have quiet bits, watch out! Another option is to use compression which will not only bring the volume up for you, but compress the audio for you. If you tick the box ‘compress with peaks’ (I think it’s called) and after compression you’ll have the volume louder. Generally, I take out noise first. (Noise removal tool), EQ the audio. Compress. Then I adjust the audio to measure -14dB LUFS with the other tool available on Audacity. Forget what it’s called exactly, but it’s one of the volume adjustments. Currently not at home so can’t check.

@halimrahman 3 ай бұрын

@@iancraig thanks, I tried the 'normalise' function and managed to increase the volume. If I were to clean up properly, as there is some hissing from machines, should I first do the noise removal, then compression followed by adjusting the audio to measure -14db?

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

The order that I work in. 1. Raise volume to medium kind of level. 2. Remove noise. 3. EQ to sound you want. I boost each frequency massively to listen for resonances and then take them below zero in order to form a smooth curve to get a nice sound. 4. Use high pass filter or EQ anything below 80hz out. Roll off highs from 15kHz. 5. Compression. 6. Normalise to -14dB lufs. 7. Use a noise gate down at the noise level and reduce it by 6dB. That makes noises/breath noises half as loud. (If you select and measure a breath set the noise gate just a bit higher than the loudest breath for the threshold) I do noise removal before anything else because you may be boosting the noise more than necessary and also, compression will alter how much noise there is on each section depending on how loud your voice is. To work out how much noise to remove, I record a silent section and look at it on Audacity. If the noise shows -45 dB on the meter, I lower it by 15dB or even 20 to get it below -60dB. On outside recordings I mostly remove nothing because ambience drowns it out. If you record at a healthy volume, you won’t need to remove anything like as much and it sounds better ….. get the mic close if you can!

@halimrahman 3 ай бұрын

I did this, and it improved slightly. 1. Raise volume to medium kind of level. - Effect > Volume and Compression > Amplify 2. Remove noise. - Effect > Noise Removal and Repair > Noise Reduction - Click “Get Noise Profile” 3. EQ to sound you want. I boost each frequency massively to listen for resonances and then take them below zero in order to form a smooth curve to get a nice sound. - Effect > EQ and Filters > Filter Curve EQ 4. Use high pass filter or EQ anything below 80hz out. Roll off highs from 15kHz. - 5. Compression. - Effect > Volume and Compression > Compressor - Noise floor? - Threshold? 6. Normalise to -14dB lufs. - Effect > Volume and Compression > Normalise 7. Use a noise gate down at the noise level and reduce it by 6dB. That makes noises/breath noises half as loud. (If you select and measure a breath set the noise gate just a bit higher than the loudest breath for the threshold) - Effect > Noise Removal and Repair > Noise Gate

@halimrahman 3 ай бұрын

Maybe a youtube tutorial would be useful, I am sure so many would appreciate it.

@apislapis 4 ай бұрын

I think you said, great for loud sounds, for people who don't know how to set up audio recorders, small & portable if traveling light, cheap, point and shoot audio. Stick to that and don't use it for quiet or ambient, ASMR stuff, noisy mics and you'll be fine. It ain't gonna do everything well for a ton? I'm sure one will fit nicely in my bag. Nice no nonesense, no $hill review as ever. Many thanks Ian.

@iancraig 4 ай бұрын

Actually, I thought it was ok taking ambience in my garden which surprised me. I was underwhelmed at first and felt that it was way too noisy, but after using it for a while, I’ve found it to be really useful. Mainly because of its size and the quality is good enough for video stuff. I think I’ve become too used to better gear!

@apislapis 4 ай бұрын

@@iancraig "Mainly because of its size and the quality is good enough for video stuff" ...is precisely why I'll be getting one. Nail, Hit & head spring to mind.

@kennethochoa7550 3 ай бұрын

I think the h1's have great sound oh and by the way great tut what kind of camera did u use for this video@@iancraig

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

I used a Sony AX53 camcorder.

@kennethochoa7550 3 ай бұрын

thanks I'll check it out@@iancraig

@imrin4059 3 ай бұрын

What mic do i need in good price for if i get h4e to use xlr with low noise?

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

There is no ‘one mic’ to beat them all. Decide how much you want to pay. What you want to use it for. Then you’ll get a better idea for your particular needs.

@imrin4059 3 ай бұрын

@@iancraig i want to record good enough sound for motorcycle exsaust while riding motorcycle.

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

That is such a loud sound that you could even use a dynamic mic straight into the recorder. I would try the built in mics too though, because they would work ok. You wouldn’t need a lot of gain. It’s surprising what the supplied mics capture. Noise wouldn’t be an issue because motorcycles are loud so the gain would be set very low. Shure sm58 would give a beefy sound. Sm57 would give more top. Both are dynamics so they wouldn’t be overpowered by volume of the bike so easily. For distance where they are running past, a shotgun might work well but adds a lot more expense. Self noise really wouldn’t be an issue at motorbike volumes. I think I would record the exhaust separately, off bike. Rev it and make it ‘sound’ as though you are on road and add it in post. That way, much more control over the sound and you can also add spoken voice with a lavalier in your helmet when actually riding.

@imrin4059 3 ай бұрын

@@iancraig I was thinkinh using f3 or H4e to recored 32bit. I have rodr nt1 on mc gaming pc. Does it works as recordinh sound out side? Its its to low on bass or just for sining? I feel like h4e is cheaper but worst then F3 pre amp? The. I also can get h1n with no 32 bit for 50 bugs idk what options i should take. I mean even h1e might be enough ?

@iancraig 3 ай бұрын

The F3 preamp is better (quieter) but I don’t think you’d notice preamp noise with a motorbike. The NT1 is excellent but seems a bit ott for motorbike sounds. Also not that weather/wind proof. Personally, I would use the H1e on its own mics for motorbikes I think, unless I was making something official. It’s cheap and don’t have to worry about its size. It easily goes in your pocket. However, you seem quite worried about self noise so you might want to go for an f3 with a shotgun mic. Quite expensive for motorbike sounds but I’m guessing you’re also using it for other things too. I’m currently videoing down on the south west coast of the UK and using an H1e plus two ‘Little Clippy’ mics on a stereo plug for ambience. (The Clippy is made in UK by MicBooster.com) The mics have very low self noise. The H1e isn’t the quietest, but ambient sounds cover up self noise. I also use the internal stereo capsules with a fluffy wind breaker on top. For serious stuff, these are excellent but big money……. www.sr3d.co.uk/store/p19/SR3D_binaural_microphones.html Binaural sound which sounds excellent on stereo speakers too. Ambience capture and airplanes/cars/bikes sound amazing and they are using the same capsules as MicBooster too. If you are doing a ton of motorbike stuff and track stuff, binaural sounds amazing. It really depends how far you want to go with your gear and the expense. It’s very easy to go over the top and spend a lot of money on stuff that isn’t always that necessary for the intention of the video is……..