9/24/2023 0 Comments H4 zoom recorderIf you use a cheap Olympus recorder, it can sound like sizzling bacon, and it will trap the audio in its own proprietary, super-compressed format (which you have to then export into WAV somehow). It just does a lot better job at capturing audio than other mics (plus, the Zoom H4 acts as an audio interface for your computer, so you can set it as your mic for Camtasia recordings). I set the Zoom H4 on a mini tripod near where the SME sits, and it works beautifully. With the Zoom H4, I connect it to my laptop and record with Camtasia Studio, and the Zoom H4 picks up the SME's voice clearly. With a cheap recorder, I'd have to strain my ears trying to interpret what the SME says. When I need a SME to provide a demo of an app I need to document, it's reassuring to record the entire session. (I usually end up reserving a conference room somewhere.) 2. The only challenge is finding a quiet place to record. The Zoom H4 acts as an audio interface to your computer and delivers crisp, clear audio - better than most other portable recorders. The voice also makes your help human again - an extremely important element that is often missed without audio. Good audio, with a relaxed, eloquent voice (still working on that) can be like oasis in a desert for starving, frustrated users. Bad audio can make you sound amateur, like you have a lisp or nasal congestion. I now leave the screen size at 800 x 600 - this rarely requires me to incorporate pan and zooms.Īudio connects with users ten times more powerfully than captions. I wanted to create these videos quickly - about 3-4 tutorials in one morning. I also decided to ditch the pan and zoom feature that I so loved because the post-production editing (setting the pan and zoom points) was taking too long. And sometimes I redo the recording 3-4 times before getting it right.) (Even though they're off-the-cuff, I hit the pause and resume button many times while recording to gather my thoughts for the next few sentences. Users absolutely love to see and hear how to do a task.Įver since I abandoned the text-caption method with Captivate, and started using off-the-cuff voice instead (using Camtasia), the video tutorials have been a lot easier and more natural to create. I think audio visual tutorials - done with real voice, not text captions - are one of the most powerful deliverables we can offer as technical communicators, almost more powerful than written manuals. My last help project had about 75 topics and 22 short video tutorials (by short, I mean 2-4 minutes). I always use the Zoom H4 to record video tutorials. Here are the six main situations in which I'm using the Zoom H4: 1. It allows you to add the audio dimension to your deliverables, which will take you into new territory and expand your technical writing world. It will change your career by allowing you to deliver more powerful content. If you're a serious technical communicator, you probably need a high-end digital recording device like this. (Thanks, once again, guys.) But this past month, I've carried the Zoom with me everywhere I go. I initially got it to record live interviews at conferences, and donations from my podcast listeners paid for the device. If you asked me 6 months ago how much I used my Zoom H4 digital recorder, it wasn't much.
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