I wanted to do 2 quick tests of the Zoom H3-VR and the Mikro USI's on some quiet sounds so I decided to try and capture some ambient sounds around my apartment.
Test 1:
For the first test I recorded the pond behind my apartment on a quiet, foggy night after work. The neighborhood felt fairly subdued so I felt inspired to roll on some city/neighborhood ambiences.
The first half of this video is the LOM Mikro USI microphones going into a Sony M 10 (Plug in power) and the second half is the Zoom H3VR mixed down to stereo
In the distance you can hear ducks quacking in the pond, a bit of city traffic and a siren that comes in and out towards the end of the recording.
Test 2:
In the second test I took a more of a sound design approach. One of the main reasons I wanted the Zoom H3VR and the Mikro USI/M10 rigs was not to have the most pristine recordings possible. I have specific rigs for that. I wanted quick to set up, durable and highly portable rigs that I could take with me all the time. Rigs I could use to record interesting stuff I find in my daily adventures, mic them experimentally to possibly use them out of context and then take them to the next level with some processing or clean up.
In this test I was trying to capture a sound that I wanted to bring alive later with a bit of work.
The audio in this video has been processed with some filtering to reduce the high frequency noise and highlight the mid to low frequencies.
My apartment howls on windy days from the pressure trying to escape through the windows.
One day before work I decided to finally try and capture the sound of the wind.
Same deal as the first test. The first half of the video is the Mikro Usi's and the second half is the Zoom H3VR.
Conclusion:
I think both rigs did fairly well, especially considering the price of each one.
The Mikro USI's are a bit more complicated to set up but pick up a bit more presence, especially in the low end.
The Zoom has a lot of flexibility in post an is surprisingly quiet when utilized and placed strategically.
I also noticed both rigs complement each other quite well when placed intentionally to support each other's strengths and weaknesses.