Love this thing! We booked a studio session to lay down some original tracks and were not too happy with the recording and mixing from the sound engineer. I busted out my Zoom H4n a few days later, mic'd up my buddies one by one in the garage, and it came out better than the studio! I mic'd the drums just like you described. It sounded crisp as heck and I was able to level it out to my heart's content in post. Great video! Loved the demonstration.
i liked that u actually made a 4 trk recording live!!! that really cemented the process down and of coarse i had to write all the steps down i still have a old school brain😃aslo i liked that u tried to answer every ones questions u have a new fan and subscriber
Hey Kenneth, thanks for watching and your kind words! It is all part of the service, as a lecturer I am used to answering questions, so it is not problem at all! Let me know if you get stuck, all the best, Neil
Thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed the video. Haha as a teacher and demonstrator, putting things together quickly is all part of the job :) How are you finding the recorder?
Great video, and great guitar work! I've got an H4n that I'm still trying to get the hang of; and this video has been quite useful! Thanks for putting it out there... :)
i have not figured out how to unlink track XLR 1and 2 input levels for individual adjustment while recording 2 different instruments same time? On H4n Pro it has an unlink input 1and 2 menu, so that makes it easy
Thank you for the nice demo. Can you mix down inside the H4n the multi-track recording and be able to create one stereo mix-track , before you trnasfer it to a pc?
Such a useful straightforward guide - with cool jams! I have a terrible squealing when I plug my guitar/amp into my zoom, trying to find some help tracking that down. Thanks for the great guide!
Hi James, would love to help out but I have upgraded to the Zoom H6 and F6 so no longer have the H4n. You need to look at 'Bounce' in the manual p124, this will explain how you do a mix down. All the best, Neil
Here's a question even studio engineers can't answer..but I'm sure u can. If you couldn't get to a studio for access reasons,would recording the vocal on this be good enough to send to the studio,and if so which mode would you recommend please..awaiting your reply in a state of fevered anticipation !!
Hi there, if you have the ability to add an external microphone then that would be a good place to start. You could use the built in mics, but these will capture in stereo, so you would need to be closer to one side or the other of the XY mic and delete the other side in a DAW. I think you could make a pretty reasonable recording with the zoom, as long as your expectation is not that it is going to sound like a £1000 microphone.
I am not totally sure if this is possible. You might be able to do it by loading the file into an MTR project. I don't have the Zoom with me at the moment to check
How do you get your song out when your done. Can you just pull out the SD card without having to do any mixing? I bought the Tascam do-008 and it was too confusing for this old guy.
Hi! I am looking for a recorder ...and I have a question. I am a beginner bass guitar player and I would like to find a recorder, which can record a "line in" signal from a smartphone, or laptop or an audio player throught jack connector (to record a track from an audio player) ...and in the same time I want to record the voice of my bass's speaker with the recorder's external microphone. Is that possible with this zoom or any recorder? :) Thank you!
Hi there, thanks for watching!. Yes with the Zoom you can plug your line in signal into tracks 3-4 and then record with the external microphoes as well. This would give you 4 tracks. All the best, Neil
Can everything be recorded in stereo mode 1 track at a time ( acoustic, electric, bass, vocal, ect. ) with the built in mics and then imported into the tracks in multi track mode or do you just record in multi track mode with the built in mics? I just got mine today.
VERY coo! Little thing! Is 4 THe only amount of tracks you can keep or can you rec. 1 2+3 then bounce those to 4 then re and repeat the process?do 1 2+3 with new material?
Thanks for watching. Yes you can, but each time you will loose at track. So 1 2 3 go to 4, then 1 2 go to 3 etc. You could of course then mix 3 and 4 to 1 etc.
I would like to know how can sync to a drum machine, or if it s possible to start the recording by signal impulse and not pressing the play button..... So to over dub 4 tracks at the same bpm
Hi ari, thanks for watching. there is no way to directly sync with a drum machine. The best thing to do would be to have a 4 beat count in on your drum machine then start recording and start the drum machine, you can then edit it later. Thanks, Neil
@@NeilSpencerBruce Hi Neil, in the end I bought it and the only way to sync rec mode - > 'waiting signal' in stereo mode, unfortunately is not available in multi channel mode. So you can sync 2 stereo tracks, setting bpm on your instruments, you record each track separately with the 'waiting signal' and then you move them to the 4channel where they will occupy 4 mono tracks. Unless you record in stereo mode then convert to mono, so you can fill 4 different mono tracks of the multichannel mode.
Intersting video,its the smae for all tracks to the actual "record" but i want to do a vocal music on trk.1 lead vocal on 2 and a back up for trk.3 For a rough mix.How do i li e up lets say the musuic with the first vocal without it recording on trk.2 even if i have on head phones..?or just look at the time numbers ans jump right in.I very new to this.I will transfer it into an old DAW ACID pro 7.Thank you.
Would be great if there's a LOOP option. Just play like 4 or 8 bars and have it continuously play it. I bought 1 of these like 2 years ago for this exact same reason in video. And haven't even used it yet lol. Looking forward to it now. When you were playing back the tracks, what were they going through? A guitar cab or a monitor or something? I to have a Stomp next to my pedal board also
It would, although I think it would be a bit fiddly to implement with the Zooms buttons and interface. But it still is a great piece of kit and I am sure you will be getting tracks down in no time. They Zoom was connected to my studio monitors which were behind me. All the best, Neil
My guitar goes into my pedalboard, the output goes directly into the Zoom (on Channel 1 in this case). That is it. The only other cable you can see if just from the headphone output to my headphones so that I can hear what was being recorded.
Important details are that , unless you’re on headphones or lined into a monitor, you’ll not be able to monitor previously recorded tracks while overdubbing. Also won’t be able to access the MTR regime in ‘Stamina’ mode on the H4n Pro.
Do you know if it's possible to import a mp3 or wav file as a playback and record to the remaining channels? I'm asking because I would like to record other musicians playing to my songs.
Hi there Jan, yes this should be possible. You should copy the file to the H4 (I think this might only work for wav files), once you have to the file on the Zoom, you then need to move it to a MTR project. Create a new MTR Project. Once you have created the new Project you need to go back to Stereo mode, click on the File button to find the wav file you want to use. Then from the menu, select Move, and the select MTR project and then select the project name you just created. This will move your file to the MTR project, you then need to assign it to a track. Highlight the track you want to put your file on, press enter on the scroll wheel. This takes you to the track properties where you will find 'file', select 'file' and then select your file! (note if you loaded a stereo wave file as your backing, then you will need to link track 1 and 2 together, this is done in the file menu!) Hope that helps, all the best, Neil
You can load the instrumental on to the SD card in mp3 format or record it in on to two of the tracks and then use to the other two tracks to rap over.
What’s the highest quality/bit rate you can have in 4track mode, please? Also can songs be exported, via SD card, as four separate WAV files into a computer..?
Can I have an effect on just 1 track in MTR mode? At the moment I'm getting 1 effect across all the tracks, which is pretty poor as I don't want a distorted guitar effect on my clean backing track!
Hi Kenny, yes you can. You need to make sure you have your input routed to the effect when you record, rather than having the output routed to the effects, which it sounds like you have at the moment. I think it is page 82 in the manual which has a diagram showing you have to set this.
I've run into an issue on mine; in MTR mode, I've recorded 4 separate tracks, and want to go back and re-record guitar on one of the tracks, so I'm in the project, but I hit play to playback and hear NOTHING on any of the 4 tracks! I thought I may have inadvertently erased them, but no, they are still there when I took the SD card out and looked and listened to the tracks on my laptop. Help!
Aloha Bruce. Thanks for this. Wondering if you could possibly do a video using multi track recording with just the built in mics. For practicing vocal harmonies. Mahalo
Great explanation, Can you please tell me connect to connect ZoomH1n and Boya BY M1 lav mic to my smartphone so that I can record Audio and Video in together.
Thank you very much and for watching. Yes you can connect these to your phone. You will need to take a cable from the 'line out' on the zoom, into your phone. I hope that helps, all the best, Neil
Nice review. But why is it that when I plug something into line 1, the sound seems broken or not full. Seems like there's hiss and the bass gone. I am new to this recording and cables and lines things. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks.
Bruce Hi There, After I record on the MTK mode on all 4 tracks, how can I export all tracks together like a real song? and not just separeted tracks, cuz in my SD card only appears each track in a different file.
What's the best way to set up the H4N outdoors? I am having a small speaking event (one person at a time) and was thinking of propping this up in front of them on a tripod with a windscreen to record their speeches. Would that work?
That certainly would work, but I would also consider getting a Lavailer microphone eg something like this amzn.to/3bpr5It which you would clip on the presenter as well and plug directly into the H4N, this would give you much better quality audio and be a little bit less susceptible to the wind. Hope that helps, all the best, Neil
I believe the differences are the H4N Pro has slight better preamps, locking XLR inputs and as you can see the case has been upgraded (and the screen is now blue). I think that is about it!
I don't use my Zoom H4n PRO much because of my type of video (TOY R/C Model Planes) where I need someone to figure a way for my Canon XA-30 or T5i to take my H4n PRO from pause to record and back to pause as I press the Record/Pause button on the camera. I have the Wired Remote for the H4n PRO but need the H4n PRO better synced with the Record/Pause of my camera as there many shots are very short 3 to 10 seconds and as many shots as 25 to 30 or more in a single flight. and can be of different aircraft. So you can see the synchronization of audio can be very time consuming if not at all impossible. Any help out there PLZ.
@@NeilSpencerBruce I see you call it a very basic machine. I call it a very sophisticated machine. Truly if a person was a good musician to me the sky is the limit with the H4n zoom. Keith PS you gave me some great ideas and instruction on how to use the multi-track recording mode. Thanks Good review
@@KTHKUHNKK I agree that a tool should never limit creativity, and that you can do amazing things with the Zoom H4N, and of course you can record a full song. But there are many things it can not do, which is why I would be lying to call it anything other than basic. Thanks for watching. Do you have a Zoom?
@@NeilSpencerBruce Hello I have the original H4m Zoom I just recently purchased the H4n Pro I think they're both very nice tools. Thanks for your reply Keith KK Motion Pictures Also on TH-cam
Hi Neil, Great Video! I have one question. How can I make a normal mp3 out of the mtr mode? Do I have to do it on PC, or do I have to make a mixdown to another Stereo recorder, or is it possiple to do this inside the H4n?. Thanks, Heiko
Hey there Heikole, thanks for watching and your kind words! In answer to your question, yes you can do all of this inside the H4n. you can make a mix in mtr mode which will create a Wav file and you can then encode this to mp3. To do this check out pages 113 and then 111 in the manual to explain the steps in detail. Hope this helps, all the best, Neil
Hi there, you can do this but by bouncing 3 tracks to 1, which then frees up 3 tracks to record on. It is the process that has been used for many years and even the Beatles used this technique when they were working on 4 and then 8 track tape.
@@NeilSpencerBruce thanks for your response. I'm a technical Luddite sometimes, so would that mean just clicking over to the bounce option when I have my 3 tracks on my chosen project? Then when accessing that project through "select" it would be waiting for me with an additional 3 tracks....or would I access by clicking the files option? Thanks again
@@doogey9 No worries. You could bounce all four down actually to a mono or stereo file and then open a new project with that bounced file and you will have either 2-3 new tracks (depending if you bounce mono or stereo) to work with. IT is a bit confusing. I think it is page 123 in the manual for more explanation.
Hi Hammond, thanks for watching and your kind words. I am not sure why it was saying that, the only thing I can think that it may have been in record pause mode (not record). Was the record light flashing?
Hi thanks for the video. I just created my first 4 part guitar/vocals in MTR mode, but wondering why I cant hear it playback on my external speaker on the H4N Pro? I can only hear it through my headphones, and when I hit play the attached mic is 'live' while I'm listening back!. I also want to know what "bounce" is for, do I need to somehow combine all 4 tracks to one before transferring file(s) to my laptop? I'm sorry for the questions, I'm not tech savvy! Any help is appreciated!😩
HI there, thanks for watching. Nice one creating your first track! That is great. There are a couple of reasons why your speaker might not be playing back... 1) You are still in monitor mode 2) You are recording standby when in MTR mode 3) You have something pluged into the headphone jack. In these cases the speaker is disable. Let me know if that fixes your problem. Bounce will create a stereo file (wav or mp3) of you 4 tracks (as you say combines them). BUT you don't need to do this if you want to mix them or use them on your laptop. In this case, just connect the Zoom (or SD card) to your laptop and copy the 4 files off on to the laptop. Hope that helps, all the best, Neil
@@NeilSpencerBruce thank you! Oh, I thought I had to combine the 4 tracks to 1 before transferring it to my laptop. Can you recommend user friendly software that I can put on my laptop to mix my song onto once I transfer it? I have a Windows PC. I heard the software that comes with the Zoom is difficult to navigate. For me the entire Zoom manual is hard to understand! 😰
@@G.Photogirl No worries, glad it was of use. There are a couple of pieces of software that you might want to look at. Audacity is one which is free www.audacityteam.org/ Reaper is good, but can get quite advanced www.reaper.fm. You can also usually fine lite versions of all the major DAWs to use, you might want to Google Cubasis, Ableton Live lite or Studio One artist. What kind of music do you make, I might be able to point you in a good direction from that.
@@NeilSpencerBruce thanks so much for helping me. Im going to look at Audacity, someone else recommended that to me to. I am a singer/songwriter/guitarist, so it's mostly ballads, acoustic guitar/vocals (similar to tracy chapman's style). Some of my stuff is on Soundcloud under Gina Acuña. So, back to my question, I dont need to combine my 4 tracks to 1 track on the Zoom recorder, I just go ahead and transfer 4 files to my laptop? And mix into a cohesive song in Audacity?
@@G.Photogirl No worries, good luck with audacity it is a good starting place. If you get stuck do give us a shout. In answer to your question, yes you don't need to combine these tracks on the zoom, you just copy the 4 tracks in to Audacity and can mix then and edit them there. Just checked out your songs on SC, great stuff! If you ever need them mixed or mastered, do let me know! All the best, Neil
what do you think of other (bigger) multitrack recorders like the tascam dp-008 for instance in comparison to the zoom h4n? i'm looking for a simple multitrack recorder to sketch out some ideas and practice
I tihnk they are a bit more effective and easier to use than the Zoom, the Zoom is primarily a field recorder that can multitrack. The Tascam is a multitrack and makes switching tracks and mixing a lot easier. Hope that help, Neil
Hi Stephanie, thanks for watching. Yes it can be used as an audio interface, just connect the USB to your computer and select interface not storage and you should be good to go. The preamps.... not fantastic, but will certainly get the job done. All the best, Neil
Hi Neil, great tutorial. I just got an H4N myself. Using MTR I plugged my electric guitar directly into input 1. I found the guitar was way too hot for the input and had to wind the record level right down to 10 out of 100 to avoid clipping (I think this is indicated by a flashing of the red light on the input button). Is this normal or is there a separate gain setting for those inputs? Thank you.
Hi there, thanks for watching. Yes this is perfectly normal, also it is better to have the gain low on this as it reduced the amount of noise from the preamps which can be a bit much at 80 and over. Hope that helps, Neil
@@NeilSpencerBruce yes It was in stamina mode, so I got past that. But I've now tried a couple different ways to record a phone call and no matter what I try the person on the other phone cant hear me, so struggling to figure it out.
Hey man can I plug 3 mics in all the 3 ports ( 2 XLR and 1 3.5mm ) and use the on board mic simultaneously for something like a podcast? Btw loved the video!!!!
Thanks! I'm still getting used to it. I feel like they could have made it a little simpler but the sound is amazing so I cant really complain. Just subscribed to your channel, thanks again
Hi there, thanks for watching. You need to use the 'bounce' command (on the mixer) to bounce down to Stereo. I will try and do a video explaining. All the best, Neil
@@NeilSpencerBruce Thanks for the reply! So, that would mean that a "mix" in real time is not possible? (level changes, panning, mute/unmute) I was reaching the conclusion that I would have to mix down to another device...
Man if you're heading to the menu for multi tracking as that's what the video is about please don't stop and ramble on about what 4ch mode does. Focus! Life is too short.
![[Live สด] การออกรางวัลสลากกินแบ่งรัฐบาล งวดวันที่ 16 ธันวาคม 2567](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dNTiBBthKgQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I just bought it in 2024 for my home recording, I hate sitting behind a screen and this is awesome!
It is always great to escape the screen!! Good luck!
@@NeilSpencerBruce Thank you for that!
too right mate this is like a cracking old tape 4 track no screens to steal your attention
@@SuperBlackguard Totally!! :)
Love this thing! We booked a studio session to lay down some original tracks and were not too happy with the recording and mixing from the sound engineer. I busted out my Zoom H4n a few days later, mic'd up my buddies one by one in the garage, and it came out better than the studio! I mic'd the drums just like you described. It sounded crisp as heck and I was able to level it out to my heart's content in post. Great video! Loved the demonstration.
Wow glad to hear that it worked for you! That is great!! All the best, Neil
Fantastic__love my H4N Pro. Thank You so much Bruce!
Thank you and thanks for watching.
i liked that u actually made a 4 trk recording live!!! that really cemented the process down and of coarse i had to write all the steps down i still have a old school brain😃aslo i liked that u tried to answer every ones questions u have a new fan and subscriber
Hey Kenneth, thanks for watching and your kind words! It is all part of the service, as a lecturer I am used to answering questions, so it is not problem at all! Let me know if you get stuck, all the best, Neil
Throwing that song together like that was way past cool, man the possibility potential is mind boggling. Well done!
Thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed the video. Haha as a teacher and demonstrator, putting things together quickly is all part of the job :) How are you finding the recorder?
Just wanted to say that I admire your comprehensive answers to the questions here in the comments
No worries, thanks for watching and taking the time to leave a comment. It is all part of the service :)
Great video, and great guitar work! I've got an H4n that I'm still trying to get the hang of; and this video has been quite useful! Thanks for putting it out there... :)
Thank you so much and for taking the time to comment. Glad it was useful, good luck with your productions!
Thanks, I use all the information I find. Thanks Bruce🖖
Very welcome
i have not figured out how to unlink track XLR 1and 2 input levels for individual adjustment while recording 2 different instruments same time?
On H4n Pro it has an unlink input 1and 2 menu, so that makes it easy
Thank you for the nice demo. Can you mix down inside the H4n the multi-track recording and be able to create one stereo mix-track , before you trnasfer it to a pc?
Yes you can do this on the Zoom, but it is probably easier on a PC :) Thanks for watching!
Such a useful straightforward guide - with cool jams! I have a terrible squealing when I plug my guitar/amp into my zoom, trying to find some help tracking that down. Thanks for the great guide!
I would like to see the mix down process.
Hi James, would love to help out but I have upgraded to the Zoom H6 and F6 so no longer have the H4n. You need to look at 'Bounce' in the manual p124, this will explain how you do a mix down. All the best, Neil
Brucey wonderful video .... keep it going upload more
Here's a question even studio engineers can't answer..but I'm sure u can.
If you couldn't get to a studio for access reasons,would recording the vocal on this be good enough to send to the studio,and if so which mode would you recommend please..awaiting your reply in a state of fevered anticipation !!
Hi there, if you have the ability to add an external microphone then that would be a good place to start. You could use the built in mics, but these will capture in stereo, so you would need to be closer to one side or the other of the XY mic and delete the other side in a DAW. I think you could make a pretty reasonable recording with the zoom, as long as your expectation is not that it is going to sound like a £1000 microphone.
@@NeilSpencerBruce Thanks ever so much,I will do that..and keep in stereo mode ? Or change
@@jacquelinepaul9731 You can leave it in stereo mode.
Hey there. Is it possible to multitrack to a pre existing track on the SD?
I am not totally sure if this is possible. You might be able to do it by loading the file into an MTR project. I don't have the Zoom with me at the moment to check
Excellent demo!! Tried it - and it worked !! Hey hey !! Haha Awesome!! Thank You !!
Hey Tosha, thanks for watching! Glad it worked for you! Enjoy! all the best, Neil
How do you get your song out when your done. Can you just pull out the SD card without having to do any mixing? I bought the Tascam do-008 and it was too confusing for this old guy.
YEs you can just take the SD card out and use the indiviual tracks and mix them seperately, or you can mix in the box.
Hi!
I am looking for a recorder ...and I have a question.
I am a beginner bass guitar player and I would like to find a recorder, which can record a "line in" signal from a smartphone, or laptop or an audio player throught jack connector (to record a track from an audio player) ...and in the same time I want to record the voice of my bass's speaker with the recorder's external microphone. Is that possible with this zoom or any recorder? :)
Thank you!
Hi there, thanks for watching!. Yes with the Zoom you can plug your line in signal into tracks 3-4 and then record with the external microphoes as well. This would give you 4 tracks. All the best, Neil
Can everything be recorded in stereo mode 1 track at a time ( acoustic, electric, bass, vocal, ect. ) with the built in mics and then imported into the tracks in multi track mode or do you just record in multi track mode with the built in mics? I just got mine today.
I with the two buttons, i assume you can go in and pan each „mono mic” to left n right each, therefore making it stero, if that makes sense
Can you monitor the 1/8" stereo input for a backing track while recording on all 4 channels?
VERY coo! Little thing! Is 4 THe only amount of tracks you can keep or can you rec. 1 2+3 then bounce those to 4 then re and repeat the process?do 1 2+3 with new material?
Thanks for watching. Yes you can, but each time you will loose at track. So 1 2 3 go to 4, then 1 2 go to 3 etc. You could of course then mix 3 and 4 to 1 etc.
Thanks Neil👍🏼
No worries, thanks for watching and stay safe!
I would like to know how can sync to a drum machine, or if it s possible to start the recording by signal impulse and not pressing the play button..... So to over dub 4 tracks at the same bpm
Hi ari, thanks for watching. there is no way to directly sync with a drum machine. The best thing to do would be to have a 4 beat count in on your drum machine then start recording and start the drum machine, you can then edit it later. Thanks, Neil
@@NeilSpencerBruce thanx for answering
@@aristide1476 No worries
@@NeilSpencerBruce Hi Neil, in the end I bought it and the only way to sync rec mode - > 'waiting signal' in stereo mode, unfortunately is not available in multi channel mode.
So you can sync 2 stereo tracks, setting bpm on your instruments, you record each track separately with the 'waiting signal' and then you move them to the 4channel where they will occupy 4 mono tracks. Unless you record in stereo mode then convert to mono, so you can fill 4 different mono tracks of the multichannel mode.
Intersting video,its the smae for all tracks to the actual "record" but i want to do a vocal music on trk.1 lead vocal on 2 and a back up for trk.3
For a rough mix.How do i li e up lets say the musuic with the first vocal without it
recording on trk.2 even if i have on head phones..?or just look at the time numbers ans jump right in.I very new to this.I will transfer it into an old DAW ACID pro 7.Thank you.
Would be great if there's a LOOP option. Just play like 4 or 8 bars and have it continuously play it. I bought 1 of these like 2 years ago for this exact same reason in video. And haven't even used it yet lol. Looking forward to it now.
When you were playing back the tracks, what were they going through? A guitar cab or a monitor or something? I to have a Stomp next to my pedal board also
It would, although I think it would be a bit fiddly to implement with the Zooms buttons and interface. But it still is a great piece of kit and I am sure you will be getting tracks down in no time. They Zoom was connected to my studio monitors which were behind me. All the best, Neil
Thanks mate very useful by my new toy as a media producer
Glad I could help, enjoy the Zoom. Any questions just ask!
Do you have a link to the other tech set up videos you mentioned you use to capture music please? Thanks !
Hi there, there are couple of videos in this playlist which may help th-cam.com/play/PL7fP0hVRiloywWouDWqNIV-aZSNB7814c.html All the best, Neil
Hi please can you tell me what lead your using to connect it to the stomp
And where do you plug each end into ?
It is just a standard Jack to Jack cable, from the output of the stomp to the input of the H4N
How did you hook up the cables before you started recording?
My guitar goes into my pedalboard, the output goes directly into the Zoom (on Channel 1 in this case). That is it. The only other cable you can see if just from the headphone output to my headphones so that I can hear what was being recorded.
Is it possible to use effects while recording with the two mics on top? I can't find any videos that show how to apply effects to vocals on the H4n.
What’s the highest WAV rate in MTR mode, please?
48kHz 24bit
Important details are that , unless you’re on headphones or lined into a monitor, you’ll not be able to monitor previously recorded tracks while overdubbing. Also won’t be able to access the MTR regime in ‘Stamina’ mode on the H4n Pro.
Now bout the timing. MTR without click is hard...how would you do that? As you said...its a bit of mess without
what is the jack connected to the headphones or remote?
It is 3.5mm mini jack stereo lead which is connected to my speakers so I can hear what I am recording via speakers rather than headphones.
Do you know if it's possible to import a mp3 or wav file as a playback and record to the remaining channels? I'm asking because I would like to record other musicians playing to my songs.
Hi there Jan, yes this should be possible. You should copy the file to the H4 (I think this might only work for wav files), once you have to the file on the Zoom, you then need to move it to a MTR project. Create a new MTR Project. Once you have created the new Project you need to go back to Stereo mode, click on the File button to find the wav file you want to use. Then from the menu, select Move, and the select MTR project and then select the project name you just created.
This will move your file to the MTR project, you then need to assign it to a track. Highlight the track you want to put your file on, press enter on the scroll wheel. This takes you to the track properties where you will find 'file', select 'file' and then select your file!
(note if you loaded a stereo wave file as your backing, then you will need to link track 1 and 2 together, this is done in the file menu!)
Hope that helps, all the best, Neil
6:21 nice pick
Cheers!!
My wife brought them for me!
how would you put an instrumental in to sing/ rap over and how do you balance left and right channels
You can load the instrumental on to the SD card in mp3 format or record it in on to two of the tracks and then use to the other two tracks to rap over.
What’s the highest quality/bit rate you can have in 4track mode, please?
Also can songs be exported, via SD card, as four separate WAV files into a computer..?
48kHz 24bit and yes you can export the wav files on to a computer to mix separately if you wish.
@@NeilSpencerBruce Thank you!
How do I put a .wav file onto a track?
Can I have an effect on just 1 track in MTR mode? At the moment I'm getting 1 effect across all the tracks, which is pretty poor as I don't want a distorted guitar effect on my clean backing track!
Hi Kenny, yes you can. You need to make sure you have your input routed to the effect when you record, rather than having the output routed to the effects, which it sounds like you have at the moment. I think it is page 82 in the manual which has a diagram showing you have to set this.
@@NeilSpencerBruce i can't find any info online that says how to do that, could you advise?
@@KennyEvansUK This will explain the whole process www.manualslib.com/manual/1024621/Zoom-H4n.html?page=83#manual
I've run into an issue on mine; in MTR mode, I've recorded 4 separate tracks, and want to go back and re-record guitar on one of the tracks, so I'm in the project, but I hit play to playback and hear NOTHING on any of the 4 tracks! I thought I may have inadvertently erased them, but no, they are still there when I took the SD card out and looked and listened to the tracks on my laptop. Help!
Hi there, you need to make sure you have mode selected. Check Page 39 in the manual which explain how you make this setting. All the best, Neil
Aloha Bruce. Thanks for this. Wondering if you could possibly do a video using multi track recording with just the built in mics. For practicing vocal harmonies. Mahalo
Hi there, thanks for watching! Sure I will try and do this for you, no worries. All the best, Neil
Great explanation, Can you please tell me connect to connect ZoomH1n and Boya BY M1 lav mic to my smartphone so that I can record Audio and Video in together.
Thank you very much and for watching. Yes you can connect these to your phone. You will need to take a cable from the 'line out' on the zoom, into your phone. I hope that helps, all the best, Neil
Nice review. But why is it that when I plug something into line 1, the sound seems broken or not full. Seems like there's hiss and the bass gone. I am new to this recording and cables and lines things. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks.
Have you tried another cable to check?
engaging and informative. But how do I mix? So far I have 4 separate files on my sound card.
Thanks so much for watching, glad you found it useful. Do you mean you have copied the files to your computer? or do you want to mix in the zoom?
Bruce Hi There, After I record on the MTK mode on all 4 tracks, how can I export all tracks together like a real song? and not just separeted tracks, cuz in my SD card only appears each track in a different file.
You bounce down to stereo.
What's the best way to set up the H4N outdoors? I am having a small speaking event (one person at a time) and was thinking of propping this up in front of them on a tripod with a windscreen to record their speeches. Would that work?
That certainly would work, but I would also consider getting a Lavailer microphone eg something like this amzn.to/3bpr5It which you would clip on the presenter as well and plug directly into the H4N, this would give you much better quality audio and be a little bit less susceptible to the wind. Hope that helps, all the best, Neil
Can i record more than 4 ? How to do that?
Thanks super useful video
Thanks for watching, glad you found it useful! all the best, Neil
If you have stereo pedals at the end of your chain, could you put both outputs into both jacks, and record on tracks 1 and 2 at the same time?
Hi there, yes you could do this. If you then pan tracks 1/2 left and right you will get a nice stereo spread. All the best, Neil
waths the difrence this one and Zoom H4N Pro
I believe the differences are the H4N Pro has slight better preamps, locking XLR inputs and as you can see the case has been upgraded (and the screen is now blue). I think that is about it!
I don't use my Zoom H4n PRO much because of my type of video (TOY R/C Model Planes) where I need someone to figure a way for my Canon XA-30 or T5i to take my H4n PRO from pause to record and back to pause as I press the Record/Pause button on the camera. I have the Wired Remote for the H4n PRO but need the H4n PRO better synced with the Record/Pause of my camera as there many shots are very short 3 to 10 seconds and as many shots as 25 to 30 or more in a single flight. and can be of different aircraft. So you can see the synchronization of audio can be very time consuming if not at all impossible. Any help out there PLZ.
good way to record your own version of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells
All I am missing are the genius music ideas :) Thanks for watching Eli, all the best, Neil
@@NeilSpencerBruce
I see you call it a very basic machine.
I call it a very sophisticated machine.
Truly if a person was a good musician to me the sky is the limit with the H4n zoom.
Keith
PS you gave me some great ideas and instruction on how to use the multi-track recording mode.
Thanks
Good review
@@KTHKUHNKK I agree that a tool should never limit creativity, and that you can do amazing things with the Zoom H4N, and of course you can record a full song. But there are many things it can not do, which is why I would be lying to call it anything other than basic.
Thanks for watching. Do you have a Zoom?
@@NeilSpencerBruce
Hello
I have the original
H4m Zoom
I just recently purchased the
H4n Pro
I think they're both very nice tools.
Thanks for your reply
Keith
KK Motion Pictures
Also on TH-cam
@@KTHKUHNKK The Pro is really good! Happy recording! All the best, Neil
Hi Neil,
Great Video!
I have one question. How can I make a normal mp3 out of the mtr mode? Do I have to do it on PC, or do I have to make a mixdown to another Stereo recorder, or is it possiple to do this inside the H4n?. Thanks, Heiko
Hey there Heikole, thanks for watching and your kind words! In answer to your question, yes you can do all of this inside the H4n. you can make a mix in mtr mode which will create a Wav file and you can then encode this to mp3. To do this check out pages 113 and then 111 in the manual to explain the steps in detail. Hope this helps, all the best, Neil
Lovely tutorial, I heard you could also bounce your 4 tracks together and get an additional 4 tracks for overdubbing. Have you been able to do that?
Hi there, you can do this but by bouncing 3 tracks to 1, which then frees up 3 tracks to record on. It is the process that has been used for many years and even the Beatles used this technique when they were working on 4 and then 8 track tape.
@@NeilSpencerBruce thanks for your response. I'm a technical Luddite sometimes, so would that mean just clicking over to the bounce option when I have my 3 tracks on my chosen project? Then when accessing that project through "select" it would be waiting for me with an additional 3 tracks....or would I access by clicking the files option? Thanks again
@@doogey9 No worries. You could bounce all four down actually to a mono or stereo file and then open a new project with that bounced file and you will have either 2-3 new tracks (depending if you bounce mono or stereo) to work with. IT is a bit confusing. I think it is page 123 in the manual for more explanation.
Good video, I like to know how to bounce! I tried but was not working ...device said ' still recording" what did I wrong?
Hi Hammond, thanks for watching and your kind words. I am not sure why it was saying that, the only thing I can think that it may have been in record pause mode (not record). Was the record light flashing?
How do you control the volume of the individual 4 tracks? Thanks
You need to do this on the mixer page via the menu.
Hi thanks for the video. I just created my first 4 part guitar/vocals in MTR mode, but wondering why I cant hear it playback on my external speaker on the H4N Pro? I can only hear it through my headphones, and when I hit play the attached mic is 'live' while I'm listening back!. I also want to know what "bounce" is for, do I need to somehow combine all 4 tracks to one before transferring file(s) to my laptop? I'm sorry for the questions, I'm not tech savvy! Any help is appreciated!😩
HI there, thanks for watching. Nice one creating your first track! That is great. There are a couple of reasons why your speaker might not be playing back...
1) You are still in monitor mode
2) You are recording standby when in MTR mode
3) You have something pluged into the headphone jack.
In these cases the speaker is disable. Let me know if that fixes your problem.
Bounce will create a stereo file (wav or mp3) of you 4 tracks (as you say combines them). BUT you don't need to do this if you want to mix them or use them on your laptop. In this case, just connect the Zoom (or SD card) to your laptop and copy the 4 files off on to the laptop.
Hope that helps, all the best, Neil
@@NeilSpencerBruce thank you! Oh, I thought I had to combine the 4 tracks to 1 before transferring it to my laptop. Can you recommend user friendly software that I can put on my laptop to mix my song onto once I transfer it? I have a Windows PC. I heard the software that comes with the Zoom is difficult to navigate. For me the entire Zoom manual is hard to understand! 😰
@@G.Photogirl No worries, glad it was of use. There are a couple of pieces of software that you might want to look at. Audacity is one which is free www.audacityteam.org/
Reaper is good, but can get quite advanced www.reaper.fm.
You can also usually fine lite versions of all the major DAWs to use, you might want to Google Cubasis, Ableton Live lite or Studio One artist.
What kind of music do you make, I might be able to point you in a good direction from that.
@@NeilSpencerBruce thanks so much for helping me. Im going to look at Audacity, someone else recommended that to me to. I am a singer/songwriter/guitarist, so it's mostly ballads, acoustic guitar/vocals (similar to tracy chapman's style). Some of my stuff is on Soundcloud under Gina Acuña. So, back to my question, I dont need to combine my 4 tracks to 1 track on the Zoom recorder, I just go ahead and transfer 4 files to my laptop? And mix into a cohesive song in Audacity?
@@G.Photogirl No worries, good luck with audacity it is a good starting place. If you get stuck do give us a shout. In answer to your question, yes you don't need to combine these tracks on the zoom, you just copy the 4 tracks in to Audacity and can mix then and edit them there. Just checked out your songs on SC, great stuff! If you ever need them mixed or mastered, do let me know! All the best, Neil
what do you think of other (bigger) multitrack recorders like the tascam dp-008 for instance in comparison to the zoom h4n? i'm looking for a simple multitrack recorder to sketch out some ideas and practice
I tihnk they are a bit more effective and easier to use than the Zoom, the Zoom is primarily a field recorder that can multitrack. The Tascam is a multitrack and makes switching tracks and mixing a lot easier. Hope that help, Neil
I would recommend the Tascam 008 for multitrack mode...its easier to use and you get more control.
@@justingonsalez747 Good advice!
Can this be used instead of an audio interface? Are the microphone preamps as good?
Hi Stephanie, thanks for watching. Yes it can be used as an audio interface, just connect the USB to your computer and select interface not storage and you should be good to go. The preamps.... not fantastic, but will certainly get the job done. All the best, Neil
Hello, I was wondering, can you record input 1 to track 1 and input 2 to track 2 AT THE SAME TIME? If so, how?
Hi James, thanks for watching. Yes you can do this, you just record enable both tracks and you are good to go. Thanks Neil
Hi Neil, great tutorial. I just got an H4N myself. Using MTR I plugged my electric guitar directly into input 1. I found the guitar was way too hot for the input and had to wind the record level right down to 10 out of 100 to avoid clipping (I think this is indicated by a flashing of the red light on the input button). Is this normal or is there a separate gain setting for those inputs? Thank you.
Hi there, thanks for watching. Yes this is perfectly normal, also it is better to have the gain low on this as it reduced the amount of noise from the preamps which can be a bit much at 80 and over. Hope that helps, Neil
You could always use attenuators to reduce the signal, helps with dj's redlining
Does this save the multitracks as separate files if I wanted to mix it in a daw?
Hi Wayne, yes it does, so you can just copy over and mix! All the best, Neil
when i scroll mine doesnt come to mode???
Do you have it set in Stamina mode?
@@NeilSpencerBruce yes It was in stamina mode, so I got past that. But I've now tried a couple different ways to record a phone call and no matter what I try the person on the other phone cant hear me, so struggling to figure it out.
@@NeilSpencerBruce im not a very technical person to begin with but do far I find this thing extremely complicated.
@@MX-CO Hi there, yes recording phone calls can be tricky. How are you connecting everything?
@@NeilSpencerBruce nope
So on my zoom h4n i dont have that mode im confused please help!!
Are you in Stamina mode?
@@NeilSpencerBruce I’m having the same problem actually and mine is on stamina mode. How do I switch this ?
@@moisesvelasquez4342 You need to remove the battery cover and there is a switch in there for stamina mode.
Hey man can I plug 3 mics in all the 3 ports ( 2 XLR and 1 3.5mm ) and use the on board mic simultaneously for something like a podcast?
Btw loved the video!!!!
Hey Aditya, thanks for watching and your kind words. Yes you can do this, it over rides the built in microphones. All the best, Neil
Is overdub possible in zoom h1n?
HI there, no sorry it isn't as this is only a stereo recorder. All the best, Neil
How to exit karoke
good
how long can it be left recording ?
Hi there, basically as long as you have memory space and battery life. I have recorded for over 12 hours with no problems. thanks, Neil
Nice one Neil!
Hey Six Months, thanks for that and thanks for watching!
Good video, this thing is a tad confusing. I wish I could see your screen a bit better but I think I'm figuring it out. Thanks!
Glad you found it useful. Thanks for watching. If you have any specific questions, let me know. All the best, Neil
Thanks! I'm still getting used to it. I feel like they could have made it a little simpler but the sound is amazing so I cant really complain. Just subscribed to your channel, thanks again
@@ReverendGuyWallis Eventually it becomes second nature! Thanks for subscribing! All the best, Neil
I'm interested in mixing the 4 tracks I have down to stereo. Anyone?
Hi there, thanks for watching. You need to use the 'bounce' command (on the mixer) to bounce down to Stereo. I will try and do a video explaining. All the best, Neil
@@NeilSpencerBruce Thanks for the reply! So, that would mean that a "mix" in real time is not possible? (level changes, panning, mute/unmute) I was reaching the conclusion that I would have to mix down to another device...
does that record in mono or stereo??
Both
Thank you very much! This was very helpful!
No worried, glad you found it helpful. Stay safe!
5 STAR
The Pro version is a big improvement on levels.
what is the headphone jack? is that a micr?ophone
The place where you plug in your headphones is the headphone jack. Hope that helps, all the best, Neil
1:08 Moustache Mode 🧔
The manual is so confusing omg
Dude would love to jam with you haha
Any time!
Only 16/44.100
www.spencerbruce.com/blog1/2022/1/7/what-sample-rate-and-bit-depth-should-i-use
Man if you're heading to the menu for multi tracking as that's what the video is about please don't stop and ramble on about what 4ch mode does. Focus! Life is too short.
Ok