i took my handy zoom h4n to the regional brass band competition this year. a hard environment. we’ve subtle horns, blasting baritones and deep basses.

and the air con from hell. the hall is modern, but when the air con switches on, it sounds like a freight train is passing by outside. literally, the floor rumbles, plus an annoying higher pitched hum. OUCH.

so the recordings up on line at http://tiny.cc/2QucJ have been heavily modded, with noise reduction courtesy of adobe audition.

i tried recording straight to mp3, which was GREAT, but i felt i needed more detail to deal with the aircon, so i switched to 24 bit 44.1kHZ. first i tried with mic level set to 1. as it turns out, far far too low, but the 24 bits saved me, as can be checked out in the early “solos with piano”
i then tried using the auto level on its own, which is how all the premiere solos were recorded (at a distance of about 7 meters).
for the “light” program i turned on the limiter, set at concert level, with the auto level.

it was amusing to watch the level keep dropping during the recording, but a bit of a pain. as i wasn’t there to actually control levels or even do a sound check, i’m more than happy with the results. if i’d used the pcm-d50, unless audition did some magic with clip restoration (which it has done before), the sony would have missed the mark, as the awesome level control it has wouldn’t have coped. as it was, it ended up back down at one with a full band 4 meters away.

my only gripe was the battery usage. i had to change batteries twice. NOT GOOD. zoom – please make an external battery pack, pretty please?