It could be lots of things, for example, the room. Tell us what mics you have tried and where you positioned them.

You could also be overloading the H4N with the signals from the drumset. Do any of your mics have a pad switch on the mic itself?

Do you get the same muddy cymbal sound when you use the built-in H4N mics?

Boswell, post: 408795 wrote: It could be lots of things, for example, the room. Tell us what mics you have tried and where you positioned them.

You could also be overloading the H4N with the signals from the drumset. Do any of your mics have a pad switch on the mic itself?

Do you get the same muddy cymbal sound when you use the built-in H4N mics?

Thanks for the reply, Boswell. I tried all the settings I could find on the H4n as well as using 3 different mics and I got the muddy sound no matter what I used. During band practice yesterday I got the muddy sound with the built-in mics as well and I did not use any external mics. All the sounds are muddy: vocals and instruments. Everything. Bummer. Must be something wrong with the H4n but I am not sure. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Difficult to know without hearing the problem. Can you post on Soundcloud a section of track that you think shows up the muddiness?

Assuming this is not wrong gain setting, the usual causes of mud are room and positioning rather than equipment. A track section should reveal all.

Boswell, post: 408803 wrote: Difficult to know without hearing the problem. Can you post on Soundcloud a section of track that you think shows up the muddiness?

Assuming this is not wrong gain setting, the usual causes of mud are room and positioning rather than equipment. A track section should reveal all.

I had the record level very low and there was no clipping nor topping out. Here is the Soundcord location: [MEDIA=soundcloud]jsludwig/019-131207. Thanks.

I agree that's pretty bad. Was it recorded using the built-in mics? Are you sure you didn't have any of the H4N internal effects engaged?

Boswell, post: 408819 wrote: I agree that's pretty bad. Was it recorded using the built-in mics? Are you sure you didn't have any of the H4N internal effects engaged?

Yes, using the built-in mics. I will double check, but I don't recall using any effects, ever. What's bothersome is that I have been using the H4n for several years as a room mic (and as recently as last August) and have had no problems. If I had the record level too high I got static on all the sound, but never did I get this muddy warble sound. Thanks for your continued replies and suggestions.

I resent the zoom to factory settings and now it seems to be working fine with built-in as well as external mics. Not sure what I changed, but something was messed up. Thanks for your help. -John

resent = reset. :-)

Glad it's back to normal again.