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What model, and what are your experiences with it?
Thanks!

russellnollen wrote:What model, and what are your experiences with it?
Thanks!

I have a Zoom H1 which I got at Christmas. The reason was I needed something to record my singing lessons with, I had been using my Boss Micro BR little mini 4 track recorder as it was laying around and had a mic built in. The Boss was frustrating me though as a few times I'd not recorded the lesson due to the input selector resetting itself after a battery change, and recording from the "Line " instead of "Mic" option.

I looked around and saw these things got good reviews, the H1 was all I needed as I just wanted something simple. Let me tell you I'm mightily impressed with this little machine. The sound quality is way above what I expected at this price point ( £75 )..compared to the BOSS built in mic ( which was only mono anyway ) there was no comparison.

What I also appreciate is it's so simple to use. Just turn it on and hit the button, the red light tells you it's recording. The battery life is great as well, I can easily fill the whole memory card with one AA.

Also great is the fact it will record anything from 24bit Wav to various MP3 ...I opt for 320k MP3 to max out the record time ..I think it's 9hrs on the card that came with it ( 2gb ?? ) which is more than I'll ever need.

The stereo mics do a good job of recreating the soundstage too, I can imagine using something from it in a mix if I needed to..though it's not up to the same standard as a couple of good condensors in the studio it's usable in the right context.

You can also use it as a USB mic, it takes it's power from the USB and shows up within your DAW which is pretty cool.

All in all you get a lot of bang per buck , the only downside is it suffers with handling noise quite a bit so if it was for handheld use there may be better options. It does come with a little tripod so that's not an issue for me.

Hope that helps !

Mark

I got the Zoom H4n - but have not yet used it for a record-it-at-home song project.

It has come in handy - taking it to the Pub to record tunes that I'm learning on mandolin.
It seems to be great for live performances - and the card-to-computer transfer of WAV or mp3 files
let's me work with them.
Here's one example - there are several on my Soundcloud page like this:
https://soundcloud.com/funsongs-1/trad-seisiun-5-10-17

hth.

I have the H4n and I like it a bunch. I've recorded rehearsals, performances and the occasional music conference panel with it, with uniformly excellent results. I didn't get the H6 because it has detachable mic modules, which is cool if you need mid-side or shotgun, but...detachable modules can detach. The H6 is also several inches longer, which makes it a bit less handy. My biggest gripe with my machine is the rather flimsy battery compartment cover, but since it's not rigid, I guess it's less prone to breakage-nonetheless, it doesn't inspire confidence, though it hasn't caused any problems as of yet. If you plan to use it with an external power supply, it might not be an issue and really, unless you use phantom power and external mics, battery life is really, really good. (and that's with standard alkaline batteries; lithium ions are even better) Heck, even if it did break, a piece of gaff tape would fix you right up.

The newest version, the H4n Pro, has locking XLR inputs for the external mics, which I think is worthwhile, for an extra twenty bucks. They call this thing a "handy recorder" and that's what it is; simple to operate, (one-handed, even) features galore, and hopefully the latest version of the firmware takes less time to load; my version takes an excruciating twenty seconds or so, but you can leave it in standby all day, and of course there's a pre-record function so once it's on, you're unlikely to miss much.

I'll just add another bit from my usage with the H4n:
it's a small Pub where I record the live Trad Seisiun jams - with a very compact area where the musos huddle up with their instruments - anywhere from 2 or 3... up to a dozen players at a time.
There's the constant chatter from the folks at the bar, so I usually am holding the H4n near and above the 'band'... even moving around some to capture a particular instrument which may not be projecting as much as the louder instruments - like the pipes.

What impresses me, just using the small on-board stereo mics... is the stereo imaging when playing back through a good system - either the computer logitechs with mini-sub... or through good studio monitors. The quality is amazingly authentic. Being able to hear each instrument cutting through the crowd noise is always pleasant surprise.

Hope that helps. Hope you will post your choice, decision, and experience with it.
Cheers.

Just a note, this month's Recording magazine reviewed the H4n Pro; it also has a rubberized 'grip' finish and upgraded preamps for the combo (external mic) inputs, so my less than six month old regular H4n model is for sale.