[Harp-L] Zoom Recording

[Ken Deifik <ken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've been recording some demos for a friend on my H2.  (I'll be playing on 
the album, but here we're just trying to get the songs in shape.)

I love the sound of the H2 in just about every situation.  I have found 
places in my house where it sounds better for one thing or another.  It's 
like recording back in the pre-tape days: move things around until you get 
a good sound and then blow.

The artist I'm working with has a very large house, and his living room 
could fit my entire house and still leave room for a skating rink.  Lots of 
wood and furniture and a relatively high ceiling.  I placed him off in a 
corner and just used the forward, 90 degree mics.

The sound is spectacular.  The highly echoey room sound, which would be 
overwhelming if I also used the back mics, too, is subtle and incredibly 
attractive.  I'm going to ask this guy if I can use his living room to cut 
the free music I'd like to release.  I cannot get this kind of ravishing 
sound in my own house.  If you know anyone with a really big echoey 
livingroom, I highly recommend you ask if you can record there.

I've actually done some overdubbing of one H2 track over another.  I make a 
couple of sharp clicks on the first recording.  Then I drop the recorded 
track onto my iPod.  When I record the second track I place the earphones 
up against the H2 to get the clicks on the new track.  Then I record the 
second track.

I import the two tracks (I could do more than two I guess) into my 
multitrack program, line up the clicks and I'm off to the races.

What I have done so far in my experiments is to go all over the house 
experimenting, as I mentioned above.  I then a-b the various sounds in my 
computer and pick the one that sounds best.  I experiment again for the 
second track, only now I listen to how it'll sound against the first track, 
too.

I am no longer an atheist.  I believe the Zoom H2 is God.  (I used to 
believe Ray Charles was God.  Heck, maybe I still do.)

K