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Why review the Zoom H2 Handy Recorder?

Well, a friend of mine was looking for a field recorder that was portable and easy to use. He wanted it to be fully featured but most importantly he wanted it to be under $200.

Well that’s easy I thought to myself, there’s loads of recorders out there!

Wrong.There isn’t that many portable recorders out there that fit the bill as I thought and the truth is most of them are pretty bad. However, the Zoom H2 does all the above quite nicely, read on to get the lowdown.

Check out some more information about the Zoom H2  here

Sample time with the Zoom H2

I’m a big fan of sampling. I think sampling adds that personal touch to a tune and makes your tracks that little bit more unique then a person who just uses samples taken from a sample CD. Now, don’t get me wrong here. I love sample CD’s and they definitely have there place but if you want to stand out you need to get your hands dirty and sample some vinyl or some sounds outside your window or down the street!

Now, I’m a lazy sod. Probably just like you and so sampling just seems like a big giant time guzzler. First you got to get to the shop, then you have to search through all those records and find the good ones, then you have to… you get the picture. Well, you can’t avoid all that hard work at the start but at the end you can and I’ll show you how the Zoom H2 saves you time!

What I do is plug the Zoom H2 into my mixer. (my new Allen & Heath Xone 42 BTW). Then, I’ll get a good level and record all the vinyl snippets at once. I just let the Zoom H2 continue recording whilst I play each and every bit of vinyl that I may have purchased or have lying around. The great thing is because I have my CDJ’s plugged into the Xone 42 as well I can sample from soundtrack CD’s etc. That’s great but…

Zoom H2 meet Mr Wavelab

Won’t I have a really long messy file? Yes, its true. You’ll end up with a pretty big file to deal with but that’s where my secret weapon comes into play. Wavelab 6. I download the file onto my computer using the USB feature of the Zoom and load it up into Wavelab. Then I use Wavelab’s Split Silence tool to chop up all the bits for me. Easy as that. Wavelab will even put all the files neatly in one new folder for me. I can then apply fx or eq or what ever I want directly onto the samples no worries.

Zoom H2 and No Frills Drum and Bass

I’m also using the Zoom H2 to record my Drum & Bass mixes and the results have been great. Because of its ability to switch between from .WAV to .MP3 I can record a No Frills Drum and Bass gig no problems what so ever! That’s over 5 hours of music, brilliant! However, the fun doesn’t end there. Because I’m recording at 320kbps the sound is very very good!

Check out the video below on how easy it is to use!

Features of the Zoom H2 I love

There’s a whole bunch of stuff I love about the Zoom H2.

• It’s small enough that it fits in the palm of your hand. Its a little bulkier than an Iphone but compact in design so you can take it anywhere without it being a hassle.
• The Zoom H2 takes a standard SD Card which is great because they’re so dirt cheap now its unbelievable. The unit takes 2 standard AA batteries which is great because I hate buying weird batteries that cost a fortune. AA batteries you can find everywhere and really affordable.
• One of the great features of the Zoom H2 is the one click record function. Just 1 click to arm the unit and then another click to start recording. Its as easy as that. You can instantly get recording with literally 2 clicks of a button. This is why the Zoom H2 is so intuitive to use.
• The Zoom H2 has 4 microphones that are built into the Zoom H2. This is how the unit is able to record 360 degrees. Absolutely perfect for recording a band or in an interview situation.

What others are saying

With over 468 reviews at Amazon with an average review of 4.5 out of 5 the Zoom H2 is killer!

Here are some of comments to date:

• “As good as the Edirol R-09 for about half the price!”
• “Much better and easier to operate than the Zoom H4″
• “H2: Great little recorder”
• “Take your new podcast to the next level”
• “Awesome Quality and Price”
• read more review here.

How much is the Zoom H2 going to cost you?

It’s hard to give you a price on the Zoom H2 because prices can and do change all the time. However, currently right now at Amazon the Zoom H2 is going for around $150. Which is over 56% off the retail price which is an absolute steal.

Anyways… if you want to find out more about the Zoom H2  or read some more review click here.

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Yes, its true. I’ll admit it to you. When the Football World Cup is on I become a bit of sports nut but I think you relate to that. Problem is between work and football this means even less time for drum and bass production which is never a good thing. However, I have started a few things that are shaping up quite nicely indeed.

I’m in the process of selling my Mackie MCU Pro so I’ve had to set it up to show a few people that it works and so forth. Inadvertantly this means I’ve had to play around with it a bit and one thing let to another and so I got a bit inspired. Ableton Live 8 was more DAW of choice this time and once again it blew me away with how easy you can get things going quickly. Remember, I’m not using it in CLIP mode but ARRANGEMENT mode.

So what I learnt from listening back to some old projects in Ableton Live was:

1. I wasn’t focused on an idea. I had 2 or 3 or even 4 ideas in the tune.

2. I was running about 499 breaks on top with sound fx samples etc. Too much!

3. Some of the samples weren’t in the right pitch or key of the tune or

4. Some samples were just plain CRAP!

The good news was that with a few minutes of cleaning up, deleting and re-pitching I was all good. However, without a shadow of a doubt the most IMPORTANT thing when I was doing this was to find the ONE sample/riff that I was going to base my whole tune around. I can’t tell you how key this is to your song making. Find this one idea and everything falls into place. You know which break to choose, what effects to choose, what vocals will fit etc. So, if you find yourself doing that thing we all love which is drum & bass production over the next month think to yourself, “what’s the main idea?” and then go from there.

See you on the dancefloor.

Dauntless

P.S I really dig this post I made earlier on keeping your focus. Check it out here.

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Howdy, I’ll get straight to the point because I have not one sample cd to review but two!

1. Loopmasters Bop – Minimal Drum & Bass

2. Loopmasters A Guy Called Gerald – Deep Techno Sessions

Loopmasters Bop

I’ll start with the the Loopmasters Bop sample CD. Minimal drum & bass is all the rage right now so it comes as no surprise that we see a sample cd emerge from the ether. This time Russian producer  Bop has been given sample cd duty after a string of high quality releases on Hospital records and Med School.

The Sample Pack is the usual affair:

# Over 570Mb of content
# 460 Wav samples
# 216 Loops
# 245 Single Sounds.
# 33 ready to play Reason NNXt, Kontakt, Halion and EXS24 Patches
# Apple Loops, Reason Refill or Ableton Live Versions also available

How does it sound?

Positives: Great selection of minimal drum grooves. Definitely 100% authentic sounding. Great Kicks, Snares, Hi  Hats Awesome synth loops – light/airy/dreamy/vibey loops and great pad/atmos/glitch loops.

Negatives: NOT enough instruments patches and the instrument patches that are there are boring and not very inspiring.

Look, if you want to write in the minimal drum & bass style and are having some troubles then Loopmasters Bop will definitely help you out loads! Check out the samples HERE.

Loopmasters A Guy Called Gerald

A Guy Called Gerald is a pioneer in electronic music and I for one was keen to hear this sample pack ever since his Future Music interview. GCG has carefully sampled all his vintage gear and created his own refills. In his own words:

“My aim is to give you all a deeper understanding with as much enjoyment as is physically and mentally possible using the three elements more frequently missing from this music – the basis of all dance music : RHYTHM, MELODY and BASS.

The sounds herein contain patterns that create specific air movement sequence in earth atmosphere used at the correct pressure.  The sounds will transport you to the groove simulator 1st level : the holographic key to die hold activation.

This package is an attempt to capture some of the sounds and loops so future generations can attempt to connect to the mother groove.

Enjoy!

Anyways, this is a TECHNO sample pack but I wanted to see if we could draw some inspiration from the sounds. Generally I find Techno/House sample cds a waste of time but hey I was willing to give this a shot because it was Gerald!

How does it sound?

Well, er… no. I was right in thinking that this was not going to work for drum and bass production. The drums are all wrong and the bass loops are boring or not usable. In fact this was the general theme for the whole sample pack.  Sure there was the occassional sample here or there that “had” something but they were few and far between.

The drum samples were the usual suspects( Drum machine style and vinyl  samples). So the usual 808′s and vintage breaks kicks, snares and hats.

The Bass instruments were solid but pretty much only came in one flavor which is that House bass style. So nothing new there and certainly nothing that you shouldn’t have in your Sound Library already.

So, I couldn’t and wouldn’t recommend Loopmasters A Guy Called Gerald if you want to make drum and bass. I think its strickly for the House/Techno peeps. I know you are a hard headed lot so if you need to check it out click HERE.

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Howdy, by now you should know  I’m really into “BACKING UP” my shit… er I meant tunes. Nothing is worse then a HDD crash and losing all your new/old tunes you’ve been working on for months or if you’re like me YEARS!

Well, to add to all this there’s nothing worse then losing all your memories like say your WEDDING PHOTOS and honeymoon etc. This was the current situation I was in and I was not loving it one single minute!

Anyway, I know your busy so I’ll slim this down somewhat. I did manage to get the external to work again and I did manage to get all the photos and videos to a safe place.

Phew. My life SAVED!

Well my bollocks anyways….

Time To Get A New External Hard Drive

First off, I wasn’t going to get another Seagate 1TB external again. The one I just lost was only 6 months old. I also did some snooping about on the web and found out their logic processors are pretty crap and are well known for dying after a few months!

The next EXT HDD I wanted to try was the WD 1TB Elements. I normally stay away from WD drives but the price was too tempting. Just $95 bucks from Officeworks Superstores Sydney and a short walk from the house!

First impressions of the drive was pretty bad. I had trouble transferring big files and multiple files onto the WD but to be fair there was a lot! Time after time the transfer would fail and the data would become lost!
I couldn’t live with this drive so it was off to PLAN B!

Okay, next purchase was the LACIE EXT HDD by Neil Poulton 1TB. I had never owned a Lacie drive before and like most other drives around I’ve heard good and bad things about them. Oh well, that was before and this is now and today, I was willing to give the Lacie ago.

The thing I that Immediately liked about the Lacie was it had a power switch on the back.
Wicked!

I don’t need my EXT HDD on all the time and this small switch was something I’d been missing for years.

As you can see the unit is all black and looks like a Lego brick. Enuff said.

*** BTW sorry about the crap photos. I took them with my Iphone at night! My Mrs had the good camera. I know you understand***
How does it perform?
Incredibly well. So far. I’ve been hammering it over the last few weeks and haven’t had a problem with the unit at all. I’m still loving the power switch and the Lacie looks great sitting on the desktop next to the speakers!

Now, there is a 2TB version of this model but I chose not to give that a go. However, it just might be a total win. Let us know if you have one.
Anyways, if you’re keen to check the Lacie out click Here.

See you on the dancefloor.

Peace out

Dauntless

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Howdy, just a quick post about what’s been going on around the studio. Well, er… not that much. I’ve unfortunately been sucked into that thing called life/JOB and so I’ve had very little time in the studio. This doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking and dreaming about it. Oh no… I’m always doing that, much to the dislike of my wife! lol

You know how I normally go on and on about reducing the amount of Plugins, Soft Synths, DAWs etc that you might be using in the studio? Well, this applies to your actuall studio to,  so in the next few weeks/months I’m going to slim down the studio gear into a few choice components.

What the hell does all this mean? Access Virus TI Polar.

Access Virus Ti Polar

I’ve got the Ti Snow and I love it but I definitely am missing the extras knobs available on the Ti Desktop and Polar. Having that extra tweakability in a synth is crucial and I’m missing it dearly. Also, getting rid of the Mackie MCU PRO and the Novation SL Remote because the Polar has a keyboard and the Mackie doesn’t get used that much anyway. So, if you’re planning on buying some gear have a good think about what or how its going to fit in the studio and what role the unit is going to play. You might just find that you DONT need it.

For the peeps that managed to read down this far I have a treat/tip. Voxengo Gliss EQ2.0. If you don’t have this badbwoy yet then get it into your VST Plugins Folder pronto! That means find it and install NOW! My homeboys Phace and Mayhem have given me the big green light that this EQ is serious bizness! So super hot tip for you there! The Voxengo Gliss EQ2 is great for adding character. So it’s not really supposed to be for surgical EQ strikes okay? Leave that job for the Sonnex or  UAD Cambridge.

Voxengo Gliss EQ 2 VST Plugin

Another wicked VST Plugin that Is now an essential must is the BX Control. This plugin helps with the stereo image of your tracks giving you the option to go really wide in the mix with out effecting the low end. Nice.

Brainworx BX Control 2

Also Drumnbass Videos don’t come around every day so check this one out  by Blame – On My Own Feat Ruff Squad.

See you on the dancefloor

Dauntless