[Harp-L] Zoom H2: some more comments

[John Kally <jkally3@xxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

Now that I've had the  Zoom H2  digital recorder for a few months,   
and tried it out under various conditions, I thought I'd put up  
another sample.  This one was recorded at the 18th annual Blues  
Harmonica Showcase (aka "Night of the Harmaniacs", with over 20 harp  
players on the bill!)  at Phoenix's top blues club, the Rhythm  
Room.   I had the recorder set on a bar table about 8 feet from the  
side of the stage, with the mic level set at low, recording straight  
as an mp3. and it was fairly noisy with a decent crowd.  I did no  
adjusting, just set it with the 120 degree stereo mic recording  
setting with no compression,  and since I didn't have headphones I  
didn't know what it would sound like until later so I didn't spend  
more than a minute getting it out and turned on.  The band (the  
Rocket 88s, with harp great Bill Tarsha on drums and spoken  
introductions) and vocal mic were all mic'd into the PA, while my amp  
was not (amp was my tweed 1955 pro, incidentally, and mic was an old  
545s).  Since there were over 20 harp players on the bill, I had  
almost no time to get plugged in and going once onstage (I followed   
Hans Olson, one of the real icons of the Phoenix blues scene for many  
years and he gave a great harp-and-guitar performance) my settings  
weren't exactly my ideal, I would have preferred to get my amp into  
the PA also,  but things seemed to go OK.  Anyway, here it is, for  
your amusement.  I'm still very satisfied with how well this little  
recorder works  (not so satisfied with my own playing, maybe I'm  
better off not hearing myself! Just kidding.)   and the size made  
carrying it in my jacket pocket an easy thing to do. The quality of  
the sound seems pretty good to me and the balance seemed close to  
right  with almost no effort, and I'd recommend it as one way to keep  
track of your playing. Just try to find a place to set it where there  
aren't people talking loudly nearby.  I know that every recording  
I've done has given me ideas, in playback, of how I could have done  
things differently so it's a good learning tool.
http://www.members.cox.net/jkally3/littlegirl.mp3

Oh, and since it will be a bit until my next posting, happy holidays  
to all the folks on the list.  After my last "yard sale" of harps I  
thought I might clear out some more stuff, but with  Christmas  
looming it never happened.  I play a four-hour  duo gig with a prewar- 
style blues guitarist  this Saturday night, and if I can figure out a  
way to get a decent recording of that in a really noisy bar I'll try  
to get another sample out since this will be a completely different  
event.