32 bit float: Zoom H1essential

rogerch I am wondering why you are encountering the clipping. I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that one of the advantages of digital recording in general, assuming decent equipment, is that you don't have appreciable background noise to deal with, and that as a result it allows you to record at lower levels without being concerned about the signal to noise ratio the way you would using audio tape, for instance. Why don't you simply lower the recording level slightly, so there's no danger of clipping to begin with?
Perhaps it would be interesting to do a "blind" test, whereby you record the same music at @ 24/32 bit and lower/higher level, and have someone else playback the two samples a few times in random order.
It may be that the differences can be readily appreciated by persons 30 years or younger, as hearing sensitivity generally degrades significantly after that.
If you can easily hear the difference yourself, then please accept my apologies for suggesting otherwise.

To preserve the dynamics contrast accurately between pieces recorded at different times, I'd still advocate proper gain staging in all phases of creating the recording. Having all equipment and software setting fixed takes guess work out and ensures consistency.

Take the Zoom H4n Pro for example, you still want the signal out peaks at -6dB. H4n has a "REC LEVEL AUTO" feature that can help finding the proper mic level to ensure this. Enable it, put the recorder in recording standby, then play the loudest you think you'd ever play. The recorder will detect the loudest sound then set the mic level automatically so that the loudest sound will record at -6dB. Note the displayed mic level numeric value on the screen, turn off "REC LEVEL AUTO", then manually set the mic level to this fixed numeric value. As long as you don't change your recorder's position in subsequent recordings, keep this mic level unchanged.

Later in post processing, you can boost the audio level if you want the final recording to sound louder. If you did the step above correctly, you have 6dB of headroom to play with. Let's say you decide to make the peak of the final recording at -1dB - you simply increase the level +5dB from the original output of the recorder. However, the key is, you fix this +5dB the same for all of your recordings, not just the quiet ones. The goal is quiet playing should till sound quiet and loud playing still sound loud, and the contrast remain the same even between different pieces.

Now, with 32-bit float, what leeway you have is you can set the mic level higher, and reduce the level in post processing. One main reason to do this is to mitigate high noise floor in your recorder (a common problem for nature recording but less so for piano). Still, you want to keep mic level figured out, set and fixed for consistency.

The final question is what if you do all this, and the quiet playing part of the recording just sound too quiet when playback on a mobile device or in a noisy environment. Then you will need some level of compression to bring the quiet part louder. It's a personal decision, depend a lot on what your target audience and their listening environment is. Once decided, it's advisable to keep that part of your post processing workflow fixed as well.

iternabe "...mitigate high noise floor in your recorder..."
Is this commonly perceived as a faint white noise or hum?

pseudonym58 Yes. And it is generated by the circuit inside the field recorder. When you change mic level, the amplitude of this noise is not changed.

So, let's say your recorder has a white noise of -45 dBFS. If you set your mic level very low and the real sound recorded averages -35 to -40 dBFS, then the white noise will be quite audible relative to real sound. If you set your mic level high so that real sound is recorded to be -12 to -6 dBFS, then the white noise (still -45 dB) become almost inaudible relatively.

In field recording of nature sound, this become a problem because you can turn up the mic level to max, and the recorded sound still won't be loud enough to overpower the white noise in the recorder. TASCAM field recorders are notorious for this problem. Zoom might be slightly better. SONY is much better hands down, but they are also many times more expensive for this reason.

It feels like there should be a 'technical' sub-forum/area for these sorts of discussions (e.g. recording, creating videos, sound-proofing, etc.). Not that this isn't super helpful, more that it would be great to have a defined place to go to find information.

rogerch did you try importing the file into Audacity? It automatically plays in 32bit float, might be perfect.

rogerch I use the H1essentials also. Wonderful & inexpensive tiny things. They’re very susceptible to handling noise, though, even when touching the mic cable, and nearly impossible to use handheld without a shock mount. Not a bad trade for my purposes.