Have you ever recorded something and listened back only to realize there
was a problem with your audio levels?
I think it's a scientific fact that there are two types of people
when it comes to audio production:
those who have messed up their levels and dirty, rotten lying liars who have
also messed up their levels...because it happens to all of us.
But fortunately there is a way to help it happen less.
So let's talk about the Zoom F2 and how it immediately helped
level up my audio levels.
To cut right to the chase,
this has been one of the most awesome and practical pieces of audio equipment I've
ever purchased. And this is not sponsored.
I did buy this myself from this spunky little startup company
that's named after a rainforest.
But as much as I'm going to be talking about the Zoom F2 today, when it comes
to 32-bit float audio, there are a ton of recorders and interfaces and
devices that have 32-bit float audio.
So everything to do– all the bits to do with 32-bits will
apply to any of those devices.
And then some of the more specific features and things will
apply specifically to the Zoom F2.
And you have been listening to me on the Zoom F2 and my disclaimer
will be to try to do your best to not judge the mic quality,
but the quality of the levels and the audio signal.
And the reason I say that is because lavalier mics are a HUGE area of
weakness for me, and I've been trying really hard to get better with that.
Try not to pay too much attention to the quality of the microphone.
I am using the Rode Lavalier II, if you're curious.
But pay attention to the quality of the audio signal because that is what the
Zoom F2 and 32-bit float are bringing.
If you are more skilled with lavalier microphones,
or you're using better equipment than I am.
You'll get a better sound than I'm getting, probably.
Basically any shortcomings are my fault and NOT the equipment's fault
is the way to look at it.
So while there are a whole bunch of different interfaces out there that
have 32-bit float audio, when it comes to the F2 specifically, the things
I liked about it were the relatively low price, the super small form-factor,
and the super simple interface.
Basically all of those things made me want to not say F-U to the F2.
I'm really sorry about that joke. 😑
The MSRP is $179 for this version, which has Bluetooth.
There are a couple other versions.
There's a non Bluetooth version, which is a little less, and there's
also a version that comes with a microphone, so you'll kind of go
up and down in price a little bit.
But for the basic Bluetooth recorder, the MSRP
is $179, and since it's not a brand new device that's been out for a
while, it does go on sale pretty often.
So you might be able to find it
even a cheaper price.
I do like the Bluetooth version because there is a pretty basic
Zoom app that goes with the F2, and even though I don't use the app that often,
it is a helpful thing to have.
Well, before we talk about any of that, let's talk about batteries, because my
batteries just died, which is the first time I've changed this in
the two months that I've had it.
You're listening to the Sennheiser MKH50 right now.
The batteries, the AAA batteries are supposed to last up to 14 hours,
so I guess I've been using this for about 14 hours now.
We're going to stick with the Sennheiser right now while I talk about the app
so I can show you all the features there are, and it's pretty simple.
You get basic info about the recorder.
My new batteries aren't fully charged, obviously.
You can adjust your output volume because there is
a 3.5 millimeter output jack.
So if you want to monitor with headphones, you can adjust that here.
You can play back things,
mark things, start/stop recording from here,
which is really nice.
If you have this on somebody or on something and it's far away from you,
you can start and stop recording.
You can enable hold.
There is a very basic menu system, and when I say basic, it's incredibly simple. (maybe too simple...)
So for example, I can go into the SD card, I can see my files,
but I can't play them or anything.
I can just sort of see that I have files, I can see some basic
info about those files, when they were recorded, how big they are.
We can adjust a few of the record settings, which
nothing too spectacular there.
And we can go into system and change like the date and the time, auto power off.
You can format the card here, which I don't want
to do because I'm using it.
I know we're back on the F2, so you can hear the audio
coming from this specifically.
So even though it is a little more expensive to get the Bluetooth version,
I like the slightly added functionality of the app, and depending on your
workflow, you might like it too.
The app is super basic.
Zoom is terrible at updating software and firmware, and this has been out for
a while, so I have zero expectations that that's going to improve
basically at all, ever.
So that's probably as good as it's going to get.
But regardless of which version you choose to get, the basics
are pretty much the same.
The form factor is super small and lightweight.
The recorder by itself is very light and plasticy feeling.
Once you put the batteries in it, it has a little more weight to it.
But you don't want a recorder like this to be super heavy
because it's going to be clipped to stuff or put in somebody's pocket or whatever.
So having it be lightweight
is kind of important.
The front is pretty simple.
You have some basic recording interfaces and your power button here,
which is also your record button.
And what I really like about this is it has a hold switch.
So you turn it on, takes a second to boot up, and then you hit record.
You see the red light that lets you know it's recording.
And then you can switch it into hold, which I have now.
And that means that none of the buttons are going to be active.
So if you put it in somebody's pocket or something, it doesn't matter if
they press or accidentally do something, you can just flip on the hold switch
and nothing will affect anything.
The bottom of the front is the battery compartment door, and then on the
back you do have this metal clip, which is removable if you don't need
it or it's going to get in the way.
You do have the micro SD card slot here and it's a little
bit tricky to get the card out.
It's not super convenient, but fortunately on the top,
which I really like,
the top is all brushed metal,
and this is a thing with the Zoom products: parts of them always feel like the
flimsiest cheesy, Happy Meal toy quality, and then other parts are like,
why did you make this military grade super strong?
I don't know.
So the top of this really flimsy plastic recorder is super strong
brushed metal, which looks great and is also just nice and durable.
And that's where you have both of your jacks, your input and your
output, which are locking jacks.
So they have threads on them.
You can lock in your microphones or your headphones, which is great because
you don't want a lavalier microphone to accidentally get disconnected.
And then you have a USB C port here, which you can run
this off of USB power if you
need it to run for a long time. And since the micro SD card slot door is
just a little janky, that's the easiest way I have found to transfer files.
You just connect this to your computer, it shows up like a drive,
and then you can just drag and drop your files to wherever you need them.
There is a pretty sizable discussion about file size with 32-bit float audio,
and it is a little bit bigger than just a regular audio file that you would get
from a regular recorder, but I don't think it's too crazy.
For me, what I've noticed is it's about a gigabyte per hour
seems like what it is, which is fine. If you're somebody who shoots any
kind of 4K or higher resolution video.
I don't think you're going to care about the file size of this audio
because basically any audio file size is going to seem small in comparison to
the super high resolution video files that you're dealing with regularly.
So ultimately what you end up with is basically what seems like a wireless unit.
You can clip it or put it in pockets, except you don't have to deal with any of
the signal issues of a wireless unit.
You always, or at least I'm always a little bit worried about interference
and signals dropping out. And then you have
a transmitter and a receiver to make sure both are powered correctly.
This you can press record and go miles away from the camera because
it's its own separate recorder.
So it doesn't matter how far you are and you're still going
to get crystal clear audio.
I don't think the extra work it takes to sync audio in post is that difficult.
Some software, actually most software, has some different ways of
automatically syncing audio for you.
But if you don't want to do that, you can just clap,
line up the audio spike from that clap with the visual of you clapping,
and then everything's going to be in sync.
So don't let the idea of an external recorder where you have to sync the audio
discourage you from using it, because the advantages super
outweigh the disadvantages for sure.
And speaking of advantages, let's talk about the biggest one,
which is 32-bit float audio.
Let's not float on by that in this discussion.
Let's spend a bit of time talking about those bits.
The thing about 32-bit float audio for me is that I avoided it for a long time
because it sounded really confusing.
It just seemed like something that was way beyond me and
I was super wrong because it turns out it's actually really simple.
So one thing you might have noticed missing on here is any
kind of record input up or down.
You don't adjust that at all.
It only has record start, stop, and that's it, because that's all you need to do.
You just press record and don't think about your levels at all.
Basically, if things are way too loud, they're not going to clip.
And if things are really quiet and you need to raise up the level.
you shouldn't have a whole bunch of hiss and noise
being introduced to that signal.
I'll give you an example of that,
and here's a quick warning that things are going to get a
little bit loud for a moment.
I'm going to switch between this 32-bit float audio, and then non
32-bit float, the Sennheiser MKH 50
just running directly into my camera just so you can see a difference.
Again, we're not looking at the difference in quality between mics,
we're just looking at the audio signal, the difference in audio signals.
[SPEAKING LOUDLY] So for example, right now you're listening to the Sennheiser MKH 50
running directly into my Sony FX3
with the audio levels set manually, and I'm talking really loudly and it's
probably clipping the levels in final cut are yellow and red, and it sounds bad.
There's nothing I can do to fix this audio in editing.
But if we switch over to the 32-bit float audio,
even though I'm talking loud like a crazy person, I can still bring
those levels down and they're not going to be clipping as much.
They should sound just fine.
That was very uncomfortable, but hopefully it illustrated the point.
Alternatively, let me turn this level way down.
Here's the opposite of that:
And if I bring that up so you can hear
what I'm saying, you're probably going to notice a lot of hiss and noise behind
me because that non 32-bit signal has been raised up just super, super high.
If I switch back over to the Zoom F2, it's going to sound fine because I'm talking at a normal volume,
You shouldn't notice much hiss or noise.
It should sound fine even though the signal is really quiet.
Now we'll go back to the normal audio.
Sorry.
Now one thing that happens sometimes in these videos when I talk about a
new piece of gear that I really like is people immediately ask if that
means I've abandoned something else that I've talked about in the past.
Like if I'm saying, "Wow! the Zoom F2 is amazing!" does that mean
that the Rodecaster Pro is just a total piece of outdated junk?
Yeah. Throw it away. It's garbage. 🗑️
No, of course, that's not what that means!
It's just really nice to have the right tool for the job.
If I'm in here recording something where I have total control over everything,
then I use the Rodecaster Pro for most of my XLR microphones because it's the
best way to record those microphones.
If I'm recording video, I usually run the MKH 50 directly into my Sony FX3,
just because then I don't have to sync audio,
even though it's not a huge hassle.
But if I can eliminate those few seconds, why not do that?
And there's usually nothing crazy happening in this environment where
levels are switching all over the place, but with a simple, small
recorder and 32-bit float audio,
now I know I can use a lavalier microphone and I don't have
to worry about the levels at all,
which makes me a lot more confident in using them and opens up a lot
more creative possibilities where I know I can get good audio in situations where
it would've been really difficult before.
So as much as I love 32-bit float audio, and as much as I felt like the whole world
was on board with it before I started trying it out, since I've been using
it, I've then had people tell me, "If you really know what you're doing, you don't
need 32-bit audio because you're going to get your levels right while you're record."
And the jokes on them because I don't know what I'm doing most of the time.
But also I think that that's a really silly overgeneralization.
My own opinion when it comes to 32-bit float audio is that if you're
using it as an excuse to not pay any attention to your audio and to totally
slack it and be lazy, like you just want to push a button and never think
about anything and just sort of hope for the best and never improve your skills,
that's probably a bad thing. But if you're using it as a way to free up
brain power and resources to not have to worry about something or to help ensure
that you get the best quality possible, then it's a really, really good thing.
So I think this really shines is in unpredictable audio situations, or for
somebody who has to pay attention to multiple production elements at once.
So for example, I took the recorder to a hockey game just to try out the levels
and things went from pretty loud to SUPER loud,
but the levels never clipped. [loud hockey noises]
(Wayne Gretzky did the puck drop, which was n-ice)
(more loud hockey crowd noises)
And if you're somebody who's trying to focus on multiple things at once,
like I'm thinking of wedding filmmakers or somebody who does client work, or maybe you are
setting everything up on your own: cameras, lighting, audio, you're trying to
get an interview with somebody, film some footage, and now you don't
have to worry about your audio levels.
That's a really big deal.
If you're somebody who has to be in front of the camera and you work alone,
where you've had to set everything up, and you're paying attention to audio
levels, and you're paying attention to try to communicate effectively on
camera and convey all this information, not having to worry that your audio
is set to just the right level
is a really huge stress reliever.
It just takes a huge weight off of your shoulders.
So over the past few months that I've been trying to get better and better
with lavalier microphones, being able to use 32-bit audio in the Zoom F2
has been a total game changer because it takes that whole part out of it.
And then all I need to focus on is getting better at understanding different
lavalier microphones and different positioning and all that kind of stuff.
But I know that no matter what
my audio levels are going to be just fine, which is absolutely amazing.
And speaking of things that are absolutely amazing, thank you to everyone to helps
support my channel through Patreon and YouTube Channel Memberships.
And just because I showed it a second ago, I do always get a lot
of questions about the boom arm that the Rodecaster Pro II is on.
It just has a VESA amount on the back, so any generic arm will work.
I was using a just a generic arm I found on Amazon.
And now I'm using a different generic arm.
But the difference with this one is that it's super duper long.
So this is kind of new actually for my setup, but it can go so long and it can
collapse, and that means here, or I guess better yet here, if I want to do something
with the Rodecaster, I can actually easily have it in the shot with me.
And it's really cool if I do Rodecaster tutorials, I can position
this somewhere where the camera can be filming it and I can be using it
and it's not this awkward situation.
So if you've got a Rodecaster Pro II but you've never put it on some
kind of articulating arm, it's great.
And then it totally gets off your desk and frees up a lot of space.
I totally recommend it.
Any VESA arm will work.
So I hope that arms you with good information about arm.
Wait, this video isn't about arms.