Review: Zoom Q2HD

Hello everyone, how are you doing? Sorry about the delay on the post for this week, but after some last minute decisions on a vacation and working dilegently on a new arts activism site (If you want more info, I'll talk about it in a later post) I've been strapped thin. In any case, I have a review that I've been saving for just this situation, and one that I've had several requests about posting. If you like this review and would like more, then send me some stuff you would like for me to look into and I'll see what I can do. Don't forget to subscribe for more Adam Sullivan Music Theory Blog posts. So then, without thougher ado, this is my review on the Q2HD microphone camera by Zoom.

Zoom's Logo.

First off, I want to note from the beginning that Zoom is a wonderful company for starting musicians who need recording/editing equipment. I've used several of their other microphone cameras like the Q2HD and have loved them. I've only had problems with them once before, but their customer service helped me take care of the situation. Continuing with more background info, I also like the packaging that this product has.
They tend to package their products with care, and with the quality their products deserve. It's well sealed and the box does a good description going over the features it offers for the basic user. Going into the packaging we see it's well packaged in styrofoam, and it includes the usual manual, warnanty and a CD with the installer of the audio program that comes with the product.
I have not had the opportunity to test this program out so for the sake of simplicity I'll stick to just the recorder. Zoom offers an accesories pack that includes a basic wind screen, carrying case, USB cabe, HDMI to mini HDMI cable and a tripod for the Q2HD however I will only go into great detail of the wind screen, case and USB in this review. I will cover the kit in another episode.

Now then, let's look at the recorder itself. First, from the front we have camera with it's 4X digital zoom, and the case where the batteries go not to mention the Q2HD's logo on the battery cover. Opening the cover up reveils the need for 2 AA batteries. Rotating clockwise, we see the power button, headphone/line out 3mm jack, the HDMI out and USB out starting from the top.
The opposite side contains the mic gain roller, the delete button and a SD jack that recommends an SD XC card. Finally from the back we see the 2" display, a "play" button, a menu button and a D pad that reminds me of the days of the iPod nano and a couple of holes that is where the speaker is located. Finally, the "disco ball" on the top that is (in fact) your microphones.
Before we go into the mechanics, get some AA batteries and any SD card if you haven't. In my situation, I'm using 2 Energizer Recharge rechargable batteries and a 16Gb SanDisk Ultra Micro HCI. I will explain later why I chose these.

After holding the power button and allowing the splash screen to appear, we enter the main display which consists of the battery gauge and memory gauge in the top right, a time stamp at the top, the main camera display in the center, audio levels for both left and right below followed by some options below. Now pressing the menu button pulls up the main menu with all it's features. For this walk-through portion however, I'm not going into all the details. Besides, wouldn't that ruin the fun or exploring and/or reading the manual? The basic mode I kept mine of during the process of testing it is audio set to PCM 48/24 with mic angle set to mono while video was set to 1080/30. When my card is blank, this allows for around 2 hours of HD recording with mostly uncompressed audio.
If I went any higher in quality, it would eat up more memory and offer little noticable difference in audio. I have, however tested the camera with the angle set to 90 degrees and 150 degrees and they sound wonderful if you need to record a concert. In the case of voice overs or talking in general, I recommend leaving it on mono. Same for video quality. If you need something with a higher frame rate but not too much on having to be in 1080p, go for 720/60.

Now, on to the review side of things! With all things considered, this is a great hand held mcrophone if you're in need of starting up musician or video producer this is a wonderful product to look at. Whenever I recorded this intro to my YouTube video introducing my OC to the arts activist group I used the same audio settings, set to no audio angle, no video, added the wind screen and set the mic using my personal tripod so that the front was slanted facing my throat.
I talked into the top of the mic, but not straight to the top. Whenever I used video, I talked into the back of the mic on mono using the settings previously mentioned. I feel like the video could be better, however seeing I have a video based camera and my on screen capture program to record in 1080p so it's not that big a deal. The video isn't great for recording concerts, which I'll add a video to demonstrate that that I took at one of the Winthrop Freshmen Orientations. There are some lean way with this however. Buried in the video settings there is a way to change the mode of the video quality so it's slightly more lenient towards video recording concerts. This too brings me to my next point to the device: hidden features.

While I love how this device has a lot of features for something like this, there are some that are nice to know how to use without needing to dig through the manual and some that shouldn't really be on here. My main point to this is the screen flipping feature and the need for memory/batteries to run. Now, the screen flipping feature is a thing in the playback menu that allows you to view your video in landscape instead of portrait.
The way to access it is to start playing a video clip, then hold the play button for a few seconds then it will flip. The feature would be nice if one didn't have to have the clip playing first before getting to flip. Another thing about it is I wish it wasn't so hidden in the manual. It's almost burried and took me a while to get the hang of it. The other half of this is some features not needing to be on this device.
The main point to this is requiring batteries to start up and needing a SD card to record. Whenever I was really testing the recorder, I was using it to Skype with friends of mine on various projects. The way I would like to use it is have USB in and have that power it to turn on and off, and have it run on the background. The odd thing though, is this WILL recharge my batteries (hince why I use the rechargable batteries) but not run.
Whenever I turn on my camera, in order to edit a setting I had to have my SD in to access anything besides a lock screen.

Overall this is something to seriously consider if you're in the market for this device. Great quality microphones with wonderful response for people on a budget of starting to record. Though I have a couple of minor issues with the device, that doesn't mean it's not worth testing out for yourself.

Practice Tip #4: Don't Forget to Write in the Music

Hello everyone, Sulli here with a very late post! Wasn't trying to have it this late but I've been having more difficulties with technology and some personal issues, so let's cut the chit chat into one sentence: Subscribe and follow please!

Now, as the name of this article suggests there are musicians who think writing in music hinders more than it helps, and I'm here to say that it should be reconsidered. Writing stuff down helps keep thoughts in our memories. Writing something down on its own will help put it into your memory, but when it comes to writing in music you will also have something to help you practice with. You will have your notes in front of you while you practice, and shouldn't forget what you practice.

Of course, this isn't a requirement however is strongly encouraged. I use this a lot with my music as a way to help focus on what I'm learning, however everyone has their own way of learning. The reason I bring this up though, so some musicians haven't learned a way to practice and this would probably be my most recommended way to do that. However there are some rules to using this method, though they are simple.

First, ONLY write in PENCIL that can erase well. No pens, or erasable pen. Chances are if you use pen then you will make a mistake. When you make a mistake, especially on an original it will stick and replacing music is not cheap. The other is if you can write in a copy then do so. It will help extend the life of the original.