Zoom announce lately the next generation of Zoom recorder the, H4n. It seems rather interesting, couple of improvement and features added.
- It will be able to do quad recording using internal + external microphone.
- A system to save battery life by maximizing power usage.
- Selectable microphone pattern (90/120).
- Improved mic preamp.
- Improved chassis, seems more resistant then the previous iteration of the H4.
Looking forward to get my hand on it and be able to try the unit.
Hello, here’s a little review I made about one of the tools I use for recording, The Zoom H2. I really like this unit since it is highly portable and pack with a bunch of interesting features. So here you go
Construction (7/10)
Not the most robust unit on the market, plastic covering is thin and could feel a bit shaky, look like a small toy when you hold. But don’t worry too much because this unit can be used in harsh environment, been using it in hot temperature as well as harsh winter storm and never had any problem with the device. Volume can be adjusted either by the mic gain button on the side and also with the rec level front button. Bad thing is that since everything is on the device(mic included) pressing the volume button while recording can introduce noise in the recording (little clickey sounds). The best way is to setup your level before hand. Unit is very light and small, easy to bring it everywhere you need it. Unit take SD card as media for recording up to 8gb SDHC so far but could probably take higher in the future, no internal memory but then again SD card are dirt cheap nowadays and most of them work very well with the unit. Unit has 4 microphones to be able to record in quad. There is a possibility to use external microphone but only via a mini headphone plug(no XLR or TRS). Unit use USB to transfer file and can also be used as USB microphone on a PC or mac. Uni need 2 AA battery they say that it can record for around 6h continuous but i’m using rechargeable one and never have been able to have these kind of time more like 4h. File maximum size is 2 GB.
Features (8/10)
For all the different features and setting of the unit you will need to go through the different menus. One interesting feature is the fact that you can decide the perspective of the recording, it can be from the perspective of the source of the sound or the recorder itself. Unit can record mono (mono mix) stereo and quad. There is a menu that can divide them in single mono files for your quad or strereo recording. You also have a free guitar tuner for all the guitar player out there. You have couple of in-house plugins (Limiter, compression, etc) that can be applied while recording, not the best out there but can be useful for some peoples. You can also add marker while recording to be able later to find faster important element in your recording if you record for long hours. Unit come with an ok windscreen, for really windy situation go buy or make yourself a deadcat like I did. Unit can record in 96khz, 24 bit in Stereo mode or 48khz, 24 bit for Quad mode. You have the options of using mp3 up to 320kbps if in need of really long recording like conference or something like that.
Easy of use: (9/10)
Pretty straight forward, set which mic setup to use and press record. You can have 2 channel front mic 90 degree , 2 channel figure 8, quad and 2 channel rear mic 120 degree setup. All buttons that are situated on the front and side panel are quite accessible and fast to use but for some setting you have to go inside the menu which can be annoying sometimes, especially if you need to change setting fast.
Sound quality: (9/10)
I’ve got many hours so far recorded with the units and it’s really impressive what the unit can deliver in term of quality. I was skeptical like probably a lot of peoples out there when I first heard of this device made by Samson but in all it’s a good bang for the buck. For a retail price of around 200$ (even less these days) you will not be deceive. Especially if you are a beginner like me at field recording at the time I bought this unit. Of course there is many more powerful setup on the market.
Here’s a site where you can listen to some comparative recording here: http://www.radio.uqam.ca/ambisonic/comparative_recording.html
In the end I strongly recommend this recorder. Many of the sound I post here where made with either Zoom H2 or H4
Njoy!
Hello, once again I did some trimming and I posted another sound of the day, this one is a Quad sound file recorded with the Zoom H2. It’s a rain storm staring to pour and getting stronger. So download and use at will.
After much vacation and a lot of thinking I decided to dedicate a little more time to the blog thingie. as well as changing the nature of the thing. I’ve been doing much sound recording in the past few weeks with my toys of choice, Zoom H2 and H4 and I will post some sounds pretty soon. So I will mainly blog about field recording experiences and techniquesas well as sharing some sounds. So feel free to pitch in anytime.
So i’ve decided to start a sound of the day section, I cheated a little for the first day since the sounds in there are from past recording, but as for tomorrow I try and record an original sound and post it. It will be available in Flac format(to save space) via the box.net widget(since it’s the first thing I found to post files) in the lowest section of this blog. Unfortunetly wordpress don’t allow to post audio file unless you pay for an upgrade.
So enjoy the sound files and feel free to comment on them. Also if you have recording of your own, feel free to share them.
Last week-end was beautiful in Montreal, so I took up my Zoom H2 and went in Dorval to do some airplane recording. I found a nice spot near the airport(a residential area BTW) and was able to record multiple airplanes taking off during the afternoon. But while recording I could’nt stop thinking about the peoples living around there. I mean how can they live with that amount of noise all day and night. My neighboor kids living on top of me make sometime lots of noise but the sound of 737 passing by close to a house is surely something else 
