I finally gave up on my old audio recorder after a wedding last weekend

I was filming a ceremony in Chicago and my Zoom H4n just stopped recording halfway through the vows. I had to use my camera's built-in mic for the rest, which sounded awful. I checked the SD card and it was fine, but the recorder just froze up completely. Has anyone else had gear fail at the worst possible time and what's your backup plan?

4 comments

4 Comments

smith.elliot2mo ago

Man, that's the worst feeling... you're just waiting for the "I do" and your gear goes silent. I feel for you. After reading what happened to @kevinking, I guess we all learn the hard way that one recorder is never enough. My backup plan is basically just panic and then promise myself I'll buy a second cheap recorder... which I still haven't done.

williamhenderson21d agoMost Upvoted

See I kinda disagree though. If you're just filming a wedding for yourself or friends, having one recorder fail is unlucky but not the end of the world. You still got audio from your camera, even if it wasn't perfect, and nobody's going to play that wedding video back every day for the rest of their lives.

kevinking2mo ago

My Tascam DR-40 died during a funeral last year. I always run a second recorder now.

grant.anthony2mo ago

My buddy lost a whole wedding ceremony that way.