The Zoom H5 has no timecode generator build in (although the files it produces seem to have timecode – this pseudo timecode comes from the internal and very imprecise Real Time Clock). Therefore, you need a Tentacle SYNC E or ORIGINAL Timecode generator to record the Timecode information onto one of the audio tracks of the H5 recorder. The Zoom H5 is capable to record four channels simultaneously. They are divided into two stereo tracks. One stereo track is recording the XYH-5 capsule with an additional MIC/LINE input and one is recording the XLR connectors at the bottom of the device. If you are using the H5 together with Tentacle device, one track will be used for recording Audio TC along the other mics.
Setting up your Zoom H5:
- Start your Tentacle in Green Mode
- Open the Setup App and set your Tentacle device to Output Volume > Mic
- Set your frame rate
- Connect the Tentacle device to the Zoom H5 with the included cable > Ext. Mic
- Adjust incoming timecode signal, so that it's not clipping on the audio track
On your headphones, you will hear both the signal coming from the XLR inputs and the annoying audio timecode signal together. But since we don't want hear the timecode while monitoring your recording, please adjust the Zoom as follows:
- Adjust the input signal monitoring mix by going to the MENU -> IN/OUT -> MONITORING MIXER, select the track with the Audio TC signal and lower the monitoring output level, so that you don't listen to it on the headphone output
- Please check if the signal is still leveled correctly in the meter display
Note
Make sure to start new files for every take. This is done by pressing the 'Stop“' Button after recording. Pressing 'Pause' would result in losing sync.
Embedding timecode
The Zoom H5 does record single files for each channel. That's why some NLEs cannot assign the audio timecode to the additional channels that got recorded simultaneously. You would need to embed the audio timecode into the file before importing it into the NLE. You can either use the Tentacle Sync Studio for macOS or use our Timecode Tool for Windows.