Basic home studio design: You’ve made the decision to produce your own music, but where do you start? One option is to go to the nearest professional recording studio, however with fees starting at $100 ...
Hi Gang, and welcome to this snazzy Zoom H4N review. I have to admit that I have had quite a number of Zoom products over the years and have been a big fan of the handy recorder range for recording podcasts and making live demo’s for various projects. So you can imagine my excitement when Zoom announced an even more powerful addition to this range. I’ve been using it for a couple of days now so it’s time to get writing.
If you have already spent the pennies on the Zoom H4 I’m going to do a rather strange thing at this point and ask you to leave this page immediately and go and write a song or have some tea because although this new product is great I can tell you that as far as I can see there are not enough additional features to seal the deal for you. If on the other hand this is your first handy recording of you’re upgrading form the H2 sit back and let me unleash hell!!
For anyone who has been living under a “handy recorder” rock for the past couple of years let me explain what these machines are all about.
Basically what you have here is a Zoom’s attempt to make super high quality recordings more affordable. The Handy recorder range was designed to capture interviews on the move and also be a way for musicians to make demos that stand far above anything produced on the tape based four tracks in the days of my mullet wearing youth…
You get a pair of really nice quality stereo microphones and a whole range of extra features including remote control facility and the ability to record four channels of audio.
Zoom H4N Review - What’s in the box?
- Zoom H4n Recorder - Makes your music or podcasts sound slick and sexy with it’s “better than CD quality” promise.
- 16 GB SD Card - A nice big fat load of storage space so you will never be caught short or miss those moment of genius that come all to infrequently. (Not that I’m suggesting you’re anything less than a total genius)
- RC4 Remote Control for H4n - Turns you into a genie of recording with the super wand.
- Samson CH700 Headphones - Let you experience Cristal clear sound quality for your audio playback.
- Mini-Tripod - Put Zoom H4n in the perfect position for playback.
Who is the Zoom H4N for?
I think the perfect people to own this new unit are acoustic musicians who would like to capture gigs and make the tracks available online for free or paid download. Also bands in the the process of writing new material who need a good notebook to not only get down ideas but also be able to use some of those ideas in the fished project…another great use is making interviews with famous folk and posting it on Itunes in podcast format.
If you’re unsure of how to get your podcast in itunes you can have a look at Podcasting for Dummies.
Let me just say now that if you’re in a band looking to make a radio quality recording I think the Zoom H4N is not really for you because although you could record all the tracks and add them to garage band later, this would be somewhat of a head ache. The best program for making a full blown album would be something like Pro Tools.
Case study podcast with the Zoom H4N
So I decided to do a little test with the new machine when it fell through my letterbox the other morning. My mission was to crack open the box and have a podcast posted to iTunes within the hour. My first step was to get into the box (which is always a problem for me) then to open the quick start guide for the recording instructions. The button are all very straight forward for the most basic features like recording so I put in the SD card, plugged in the power and started my podcast. Once I had all the bits in place it was time to throw the audio into itunes and get rolling with the editing. In case you don’t know garage band is fast becoming my recording software of choice and I soon had the whole thing mixed and in the feed in under and hour. Plus the quality is amazing with just a touch of compression and limiting I think the results where quite good:
Oh no …But I do have a couple of reservations
Ok so I’m picking hairs here but I want to give you the full scoop so you can make a fully informed decision…
The first of my little tiny concerns would be that the feel of the device can sometimes sees a little bit lightweight for what it costs and I would have much preferred a more substantial material than the plastic casing that comes as standard. I also noticed that the SD card slot is a bit flimsy and is liable to fall off at any moment leaving you open to dust and an annoying piece of tape covering the hole. With that said the look is not really what important here because in terms of value for money there is no other machine that gives you the features of the Zoom H4N in the same price range
Hopefully you now have a bit of a better idea of which handy recorder is best going to suite your needs. If you would like to go ahead and give the Zoom H4N a try you might find some good deals on Amazon. You can always be sneaky and get a refund if the product does not float your boat.
Have fun
P.S I hope you enjoyed my Zoom H4n review but If the H4N is not for you you can see a whole range of other great handy recorders on this page
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