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Okay, today I tried out the four-track recording (aka "MTR mode") on the Zoom.
I took the scratch vocal, metronome, and scratch octave mandolin tracks for Quetico, rendered them down to a single mono track using reaper, created a new project on the Zoom H4n, mounted the H4n as a removable drive to the computer, and dragged my mixed down scratch track into the project.
Then I disconnected the H4n from the computer, attached the scratch track to track 1 of the four-track, panned track 1 off to the side so I could hear which of me was me-current while recording*, and recorded myself singing along to it (melody line) on track 2 of the four track. Then I panned track 2 off to the side (and turned the volume on track 1 and 2 down) and recorded myself doing harmony 1 on track 3. And harmony 2 on track 4. It turns out I can set recording levels while in recording mode, which helps.
Then I hooked the H4n up to the USB and copied everything across into Reaper. I have nice hot tracks without clipping (peaking anywhere from -2 to -7 dB) which is good because my bit depth is only 16 and that is just how it's going to be. AND I don't have any crackles. The funny noise I thought I heard on my tracks for Scale yesterday must have been noise contamination from next door, or maybe Pearl was buzzing in sympathy with my voice, which she sometimes does. (This time I moved Lark and Pearl over to the far corner.)
My major problem is that it still sounds like in some places I can't hear myself properly. I will practice up on this in the next few days. Maybe I need to turn down the existing tracks more, or maybe I need to handle the panning differently or push one earphone off.
But you know--it's not my best performance, but once it's in reaper with the EQ and reverb and a little compressor on it... it's not sucky. It's definitely not sucky. So I'm cautiously happy. I think this will work.
And hey, if I don't have to take the laptop to recording, that will make the backpack noticeably lighter.
*for most singers, part of staying in tune is pitch correction second by second (probably 20 milliseconds by 20 milliseconds, actually), which requires hearing yourself. If you can't pick out which voice in the earphones is you-singing-now, you can't do that. I either pan other iterations of me way off to the side and listen for myself in the middle, or push one earphone off and listen for myself through the bare ear.
I took the scratch vocal, metronome, and scratch octave mandolin tracks for Quetico, rendered them down to a single mono track using reaper, created a new project on the Zoom H4n, mounted the H4n as a removable drive to the computer, and dragged my mixed down scratch track into the project.
Then I disconnected the H4n from the computer, attached the scratch track to track 1 of the four-track, panned track 1 off to the side so I could hear which of me was me-current while recording*, and recorded myself singing along to it (melody line) on track 2 of the four track. Then I panned track 2 off to the side (and turned the volume on track 1 and 2 down) and recorded myself doing harmony 1 on track 3. And harmony 2 on track 4. It turns out I can set recording levels while in recording mode, which helps.
Then I hooked the H4n up to the USB and copied everything across into Reaper. I have nice hot tracks without clipping (peaking anywhere from -2 to -7 dB) which is good because my bit depth is only 16 and that is just how it's going to be. AND I don't have any crackles. The funny noise I thought I heard on my tracks for Scale yesterday must have been noise contamination from next door, or maybe Pearl was buzzing in sympathy with my voice, which she sometimes does. (This time I moved Lark and Pearl over to the far corner.)
My major problem is that it still sounds like in some places I can't hear myself properly. I will practice up on this in the next few days. Maybe I need to turn down the existing tracks more, or maybe I need to handle the panning differently or push one earphone off.
But you know--it's not my best performance, but once it's in reaper with the EQ and reverb and a little compressor on it... it's not sucky. It's definitely not sucky. So I'm cautiously happy. I think this will work.
And hey, if I don't have to take the laptop to recording, that will make the backpack noticeably lighter.
*for most singers, part of staying in tune is pitch correction second by second (probably 20 milliseconds by 20 milliseconds, actually), which requires hearing yourself. If you can't pick out which voice in the earphones is you-singing-now, you can't do that. I either pan other iterations of me way off to the side and listen for myself in the middle, or push one earphone off and listen for myself through the bare ear.
