Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples

Subject: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Nick
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 08:26 PM

There was a recent thread - What's The Best Recorder? - which prompted me to nip out and buy a Zoom H2 recorder. I said to Sue who started the thread that I would give her some examples of my initial tries at recording. I thought I'd share them with others in case anyone else is thinking about one and wonders how it comes out.

I have tried it in two circumstances over the weekend. Snippets of music from both under. I am really happy with the quality of the results for something that is so easy to use. For its size and the money it cost I'm stunned.

RECORDED IN FRONT ROOM OF HOUSE

The first was a practice of a band that is just forming (this was the second practice so it is not intended to be 'finished' by any means) - and was recorded in one of the members front sitting room. I put the recorder in the centre of the room recording both front and back mics and set it to medium and turned it on. No effects used during or after. Musicians sitting like this - Zoom pointing up down as indicated:

  
                       GUITAR AND VOCAL                BASS
                                                       AMP
                              ^
                              |
   MANDOLIN              TABLE WITH ZOOM H2
   AND VOCAL                  |
                              v
  
                           FIDDLE
  

The bass is low in the mix but was also in reality in the room. I copied the files off the H2 and joined the 4 tracks and normalised them in Audacity. No effects or anything added or changed. Files created as WAVS at CD quality and then saved in SUPER at 192kbps as MP3

EXAMPLES:

All have vocals, guitar(s) and/or mandolin, fiddle, electric bass

Sam Hall

Out on the Ocean - Instrumental

Irish Heart - Morrisey song

RECORDED IN LOCAL PUB

A few friends of ours met up in a local pub and I popped the Zoom on the fireplace pointing into the room. Same settings as above - 4 track recording; no effects; CD quality WAV files. Bigger room than the first example and more background noise. I've tried to pick a few different sorts of examples with different instrumentation etc

Layout like this - Zoom pointing up down as indicated:

                     REST OF PUB           
  
                   SINGER     LISTENER    
                                         FEMALE SINGER
  
                                                   FEMALE SINGER
     LISTENER                                      
                                                   HARMONY MALE
     SINGER
                                                            BAR
     BODHRAN                                                BAR
                               ^                            BAR 
     GUITAR                    |                    FIDDLE
                  FIREPLACE WITH ZOOM ON MANTELPIECE
             WALL    WALL    WALL    WALL      WALL     WALL
  

I'd guess distance from Zoom to furthest singer probably 12-14ft. I copied the files off the H2 and joined the 4 tracks and normalised them in Audacity. No effects or anything added or changed. Files created as WAVS at CD quality and then saved in SUPER at 192kbps as MP3s

EXAMPLES:

Ashokan Farewell - fiddle and guitar

Nat Shapiros Time - vocals, guitar, bodhran, fiddle, eggs. Song by Pete Ryder - a favourite of mine

Can't Take That Away From Me - vocals, guitar, bodhran, fiddle

Sweet Bride - vocals, guitar, eggs

Neil Gows Lament - fiddle and guitar

Out on the Ocean - different version to above - fiddle, guitar and bodhran

Ain't No Sweet Man Worth the Salt of My Tears - vocals, guitar, bodhran, fiddle, eggs

Hope that's of use - and hope you enjoy the musical snippets which while not perfect are not too shabby. Happy to answer any queries if I can

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 05:35 AM

Very interesting Nick, the sound is very natural too. Once I'd figured how to get the tracks to play that is :)
Keep up the good work.

G.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Nick
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 05:39 AM

Sorry John I thought they just played when you go the esnips site where they are stored - is that not the case on your machine?

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 05:46 AM

Hi.
Clips played fine for me.
I've got the H4.
Jolly fine sound, although I tend to feed its input from a mixer (more control).
Mind you, will have to buy a magnifying glass for the screen.
Mainly, I just record on the fly, and do the editing after downloading into Cubase.
A very useful tool for Audio Verite engineers.
Ralphie
PS Haven't seen the H2, but may suit some people better, pricewise.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Nick
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 05:51 AM

The screen IS tiny I agree. Having said that once it's set to either front, back, or both for the mics and a recording level set it's just a case (for me at least) of pushing the red button on and off

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 08:47 AM

It may be my browser Nick, I use Firefox,as I have a pathological dislike of Windoze.
Anyway I got there, and enjoyed them.
G

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: gnomad
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 09:46 AM

Like John I had a performance getting to the recordings (I am sure that reflects more on me than on the site, I might have given up had John not said he had eventually succeeded) but it was worth it. I would certainly not have expected such quality from a tiny portable device, especially one being simply left to its own devices in less than optimal surroundings.

Impressive. Nice fiddle-work too.

Thanks to Nick for taking the trouble to report.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 10:45 AM

Well done Nick - no problems here with playing the clips; your link put me straight there. I bought the H2 on Saturday, and am amazed. First impressions were "a bit lightweight and looking less than durable" but it's a genuine shirt pocket go anywhere recorder. I played acoustic fingerstyle guitar and sang a Dylan song; for the first time in my life I'm happy with the quality of the playback.

Ok - the display is small, and the controls are small too, but it is easy to use and get excellent results on the fly (tried it at our Sunday folk club). The Normalize and MP3 file convert functions take a little while, but I'm gobsmacked that the functions are there in the first place! Throw in Lo-cut and Compression too and it's clearly a serious piece of kit. Will cope with 8Gig SD Cards also - enough for me to get my Whitby folk week packaged up ready to bring back to the Roland Studio.
Thanks for posting the clips

PS Who's the lady vocalist on "Can't Take That Away From Me"?

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: ThreeSheds
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 10:46 AM

I've got an H2 winging its way to me at the moment I'll record some of the stuff thats on round here.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Arkie
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 10:57 AM

Glad you are getting such good results and thanks for the report and samples. Can you record to the H2 from an outside source other than the mics such as a turntable with a preamp?

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: GUEST,Avi
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 12:14 PM

Nick - thanks a lot of the samples. Sounds great. Can you please just clarify one thing? You mentioned "4 tracks" a couple of times. What do you mean by that? I though the H2 was only a 2-track machine?

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 12:29 PM

Zoom H2
Zoom H4

Wish they had a handy little comparison chart...

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 01:27 PM

Guest, Avi, see the description on this page:
click

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: GUEST,Avi
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 01:46 PM

Ok thank, I get it now. There are 4 tracks because there are 4 internal microphones but two tracks when using external sources. That's clearer now. I didn't realize that the 4 mics produced 4 independent tracks though. I though that they would be combined internally and produce one stereo pair in the sound file. This sounds more flexible

Avi

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Mark Clark
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 01:48 PM

I bought an H2 a month or so ago and really love it. I use it for band rehearsals and to record gigs for later analysis. I put a 4 GB HCSD card in mine and have loads of capacity.

Arkie, the H2 can record from other devices and systems too. You can plug in a stereo mic or any stereo (or mono for that matter) input you like. The input circuit has range settings to help you adapt to the signal strength of your input. By the way, I have reservations for Merle Travis Thumbpicking event in May. I hope I'll see you around there. I'll be there Thursday night and leave Sunday morning.

The H2 can be used as a DI for your computer as well. You can plug a mic in and just pass the digitized signal through to Audacity or what ever recording program you use. This should work with turntables too. If you have a good turntable and don't want to spring for a new USB turntable, just go through your H2 to digitize those irreplaceable LPs.

The nice thing about the H2, over MD recorders, is that the digitally recorded tracks are moved directly onto your computer with no extra DA-AD conversion step. Much better quality in your computer music files.

The H2 is best used when you don't want to build up a performance by layering tracks using just the recorder. The H4 has only two mics and, I believe, doesn't time stamp recordings but it will let you do multi track recordings using only the H4. I prefer do do multi-track on a computer so I don't need that function in a recorder.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Nick
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 03:04 PM

Lowden -

Glad you're enjoying yours as much as I am mine. I know what you mean when I first picked it up it weighs nothing and feels very 'made of plastic' but I can live with that (interesting how one equates weight with quality isn't it?)

That's no lady that's my wife :) The singer is my wife Lynne - did you like it?

Perhaps we'll recognise each other at Whitby with our matching H2s!!

Arkie -

There is an input for an external mic and an input for a line input - presuming that you can raise your turntable up to line level then you should be fine I would think. The Line In takes a mini stereo phone jack, has an input impedance of 10kOhms and input level -10dBm if that means much to you. Just tried recording off my son's Walkman and yes it's fine and also tried it straight out the back of my tape deck and that works fine; also plugged it into the back of the amplifier and it works - so anything that the amp will play it will record.

It does say it is unsuitable for guitar or bass straight into line in

Avi -

There are a pair of mics that point front at 90 degree angle and a pair at back at 120 degree. You can either record from front pair, back pair or both together. It creates 2 pairs of stereo wav files and they are different even given the proximity of the mics to each other. So after recording you have four channels and can I believe theoretically mix for 5:1 surround sound. You can also adjust the levels of the front and back and mix to a stereo file though I haven't tried yet

Expert already - NOT!

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Arkie
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 04:21 PM

Mark and Nick, thanks for the information. I have some interviews planned and have used a Mini Disc in the past. It was convenient for recording but a pain to get to the computer. If I can do several things I need to do with the H2, that makes it even more attractive.

Mark, I will look for you at the Travis Tribute. I started that event many years past with a lot of help from Mark Jones (son of Grandpa Jones)and it continues to be a favorite time for me.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 10:33 AM

There's a detailed review of the H2 here:

http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2007/09/13/review-zoom-h2-surround-recorder.html

Interesting point about weight & quality Nick - I dropped it last night and was relieved to find no damage done; being lightweight probably makes it less likely to go toes up. Been out to buy a case to protect it; it's a pity you can't get the same amazing value there!

Enjoyed listening to the H2 clips - your wife has a fine voice and great feel for a song. Hope to catch up with you in Whitby folk week - will be there for the Moor & Coast too.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 03:38 PM

Thanks Nick et al, great stuff! the Zoom sounds great.

Has anyone similar experiences, clips, reviews, etc of the Edirol? or even better, a comparison review of Zoom and Edirol?

Sue

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 11:42 AM

Just go to the link in my post above Sue, the same guy did a review of the Edirol also, so you can compare the two.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 11:45 AM

It's here:

http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2006/08/31/edirol-r-09-digital-recorder-review.html

Good luck with your choice

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Nick
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:23 PM

I have one small annoyance with it. The button for record. I intended to record our regular wednesday get together last night and at the end found I had recorded precisely NOTHING! I thought I had pressed the record button but apparently hadn't done it hard enough or something.

I know to check now. As the controls were facing the wall (I was recording from the wider back mics) I didn't notice.

I'll never know now how it would have coped with the unexpected arrival of an alto saxophone into our throng...

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 02:10 PM

Done the same thing myself; a bit like the first time you spent hours at the computer, didn't hit the save button, and then had the soddin' thing crash.   You only do it once though.......

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 02:56 PM

Thanks very much Lowden. Hard for me to choose, since most of the technical details I don't understand! not having done much of this. Anyone tried out BOTH Edirol and Zoom? My main criteria is easy to understand controls and operation...

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Don Firth
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 04:44 PM

When I first looked at the manual that came with the Zoom H2, I was a bit horrified. I spent a fair amount of time reading it and being somewhat intimidated. Then I figured, "Oh, what the hell!" And I just started playing with the thing. Suddenly lots of things started becoming clear.

There is a bit of a learning curve, but just messing with it (while keeping the manual handy) is the best way to learn. Part of what makes it seem complicated is that it's really versatile. I still haven't learned everything it can do, but I know that, at the very least, right now I can use it for "quick-and-dirty" recordings. I'm currently experimenting with different settings—mic sensitivity, bit and sample rates, etc.—recording something, changing the setting, recording the same thing, downloading it to the computer, and comparing tracks. I'm also using a very good set of Audio-Technical headphones for comparing tracks.

I'm also experimenting with such things as "mic placement." How close or far away, that sort of thing. Since it's a bit difficult to set one mic a few inches from the 12th fret of my guitar and another 6 to 8 inches from my mouth without getting a kink in my neck, I'm trying different placements to see where I can get the best song recordings.

This gizmo is quite a bit more complicated than the Panasonic portable cassette recorder that I'm used to packing around, but the quantum leap in recording quality is well worth the learning curve.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Nick
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 06:26 AM

Don

I take a very low tech approach to this and I reckon it's very straightforward. Apart from not pressing the record button (as above !) the recording process I find really easy. I have a basic set up that goes pretty much as follows - I stick it on the table in front of me on medium setting and the record level at about 105 and sing and play and it works. I don't bother to use compression or limiting because I could do that elsewhere if I wanted to. The level is such that there is no clipping or anything and I can bring the volume up afterwards if I need to, neither is there vast amounts of background noise.

Had a practice with the band I play in last night round the kitchen table. Guitar, mandolin, fiddle and bass and vocal(s) one at each corner of the table - stuck the thing in the middle and as long as the balance of the instrumets is generally ok in the room it comes out ok. As I use it mostly as a quick and easy way to record practice it's more than good enough for that. I don't really tend to worry about exact placement.

This file is a countryish song with everyone in playing and is straight out of the machine with no effects or changes (apart from a fade in and out) - Practice Tune

Same settings that I used last night but at home just with an acoustic - Guitar (definitely needs more practice so the machine is earning it's keep making me wince :)!)

So I have found a basic (for me) easy global setting that seems to work and produce ok results which only needs me to turn it on and press the red button twice. Can't really be more straightforward

Sue

I would guess that there will be positives on both sides - from the reviews they both sound good and they both seem similarly easy to use. If you have a friend who swears by the Edirol then get him/her to demonstrate it and do some comparisions with the examples here. The bonus of having someone who uses it close may be useful and help to justify the difference in cost. From what I can see so far the Zoom needs little support and is, for me, at a stage where I turn it on and press the button and it works.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: michaelr
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 07:26 PM

What's the price of this puppy?

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Nick
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 08:22 PM

In UK full price is £169. I bought mine for £138 including Power pack

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Susan A-R
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 07:19 PM

I bought mine from Sweetwater for $250 with a 2 gig SD card. I recommend that extra memory. Didn't know you could get a 4 gig. Should have expected it, I suppose. I am an absolute Luddite (sp?) and decided that I'd better get it out of the box the day it arrived and start playing. I love it. I also downloaded a free Wavepad editing program and can pull together cds of stuff pretty quickly for people wanting to learn tunes and such.

Nice piece of equipment. And as for the screen, I can't see very well. I find the menus manageable, just. There's a lot of stuff I still need to learn to use, but I can do a lot of what I'd wanted in terms of tune learning, arranging, etc.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: RTim
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 07:27 PM

I recorded my wife playing tunes for me yesterday - On my H2 - they sound great!
I am so glad she bought the machine for me - now I should go and record myself singing more songs.

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: mark gregory
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 09:34 PM

I tried out the H2 at a folk concert (Bert Lloyd Centenary Concert) from a table in the audience and was amazed by the quality of the recording (bit of boom from the PA system and some air con hum) and the ease of use. I will use it instead of my former reliance on mini disc when I was never quite sue if it was recording or not! And the portability is amazing too.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: IanC
Date: 20 May 10 - 06:11 AM

I've put up a few rough recordings (totally unreconstructed), using my Zoom H2, on a very basic web page. I chopped them out of longer recordings (just turned the thing on and left it running) and converted them to MP3s separately.

Some are in the pub (the Zoom was on top of the table) and some are in the street outside my house for a local village event (complete with traffic noise and - on one of them - a whole family dancing and giggling).

I'm saying nothing about the quality of the performance, but the recording quality seems to me to be good, particularly given the circumstances. They're here.

:-)
Ian

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 20 May 10 - 06:49 AM

I've had a Zoom H2 for about 2 years, and I use it mainly for capturing live performances. After thirty odd years of using various analogue devices, I can only say that the Zoom knocks everything else out of the water. Yes, it can be tricky to use, and its features are probably less user friendly than more expensive recorders. But in terms of sound quality, it is just phenomenal.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: Alan Day
Date: 20 May 10 - 07:45 AM

Like Ralphie I have an H4 that I am very pleased with. Sometimes I wish my arms were a little longer as it does pick up clacking from the concertina and my foot banging on the floor underneath it, but great for experimentation, MP3s etc.
Highly recommended.
Al

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder examples
From: TopcatBanjo
Date: 20 May 10 - 08:52 AM

I've got a Zoom H2 too. I've had it just over two years (got it for about £130 at that time) and it's been absolutely marvellous. I use it for a couple of different purposes but I'm sure I haven't even scraped the surface of its versatility yet!

I use it to record one-to-one banjo lessons with my teacher, so I can listen back to the lesson and particularly how a new tune should sound. I use it to record myself playing banjo to track my progress.

I've also used it at Sore Fingers bluegrass camp over the last three occasions to record group lessons from the tutor (John Dowling, Ron Block, Tony Furtado). In fact this was the original reason I bought it. I've also used it to record a few songs at the SF tutor concerts - from the front row in a small hall with circa 200 people in the audience. Obviously it picks up some noise in the hall in this instance but that just adds to the ambience! Generally the sound quality has been excellent in all these different instances, the only hiccup I have experienced is where I have set the levels wrong for the particular circumstance (or accidentally knocked the button from med to low).

I have stuck to the "front pair" mic settings for all these as I haven't really learned what to do with the two pairs of files you get when recording in surround setting....I must have a go at this as it would be great to try and record some of the four-part Sacred Harp singing I am involved in.

The Zoom Handy H2 - a great piece of kit, thoroughly recommended!

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 05 Oct 10 - 07:21 PM

Doug Plummer is a professional photographer who is now producing video using his Canon digital SLR and a Zoom H4N. He's also a fan of contra dancing and the associated music scene.

He has a good blog about what he does, and in a recent post included this note about getting the sound for a video of a contra dance:

"I asked the sound guy to let me plug my Zoom H4N into the board (with my cables—always bring your own). Having just sound from the board feels too cold, as there's no ambient room tone. But on 4 Channel mode the onboard stereo mics record simultaneously, and I aimed the Zoom from the stage towards the dance hall. These two streams were my only audio for the piece."

Thought that might interest people doing similar work.

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: Hamish
Date: 06 Oct 10 - 07:52 AM

I've asked Father Christmas for one of the new ultra-cheap H1s...

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: Hamish
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 04:09 PM

The H1 is fantastic: and at only £80 is an absolute bargain. I have posted a couple of clips on www.myspace.com/kookyukes - the ones tagged as "live" are done in the pub on the H1.

But watch out: there's a rogue batch around with a software bug that drains the battery even when it's powered off. If you get one then the supplier should replace it foc.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: GUEST,harry
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 09:25 AM

I've had an H2 for a few years now, replaced my minidisk. Lately, I've been experimenting with using it together with KXstudio (a free, amazing, if difficult at first Linux multimedia production OS).

Reupj, Amari szi and Chusidl on our website, http://szelrozsa.org/cms/listen were recorded with this system. Those 3 tunes have fiddle, mandolin and banjo parts overdubbed in Ardour (part of KXstudio or runs on linux or macs). Very similar to pro tools, but again free and open source. Unlike Audacity, Ardour is a full blown multitrack system with all the bells and whistles (takes some time to learn)

The zoom can work as a USB mic, Linux not supported. I almost got it working anyhow but it was flaky. But it worked well as an input using the Line out.   I picked up an M-audio usb interface which does work so now I can plug in guitar, mandolin, mics, the zoom, a mixer whatever.

This gives me a very inexpensive studio system. If I had a 1/2 decent laptop, I could have a totally portable studio.

The Zoom is still good out of the box without all the stuff.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: GUEST,glueman
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 11:00 AM

I use an H2 with a Sony WX-5 camera to make field recordings. The Sony has 1080 digital but requires an AVCHD compatible movie editor to get the best from it, the software is fairly inexpensive.
A Canon 550D would be even better but DSLR movie technology is moving pretty quickly. The whole sound-video-editing package cost around £350 and is good for large screen HD.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 11:09 AM

The zoom can work as a USB mic, Linux not supported

I don't know about the H2 but my H4 works fine as a USB soundcard (which can use its built in mic as input) under Linux. I'm using Opensuse 11.3

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: GUEST,glueman
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 11:17 AM

It's worth visiting the Zoom website occasionally for the latest downloads. They've updated the software a few times since I've owned mine. Can't be certain but I believe the H2 can work as a USB under Linux.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: RTim
Date: 04 Jan 12 - 05:20 PM

All of the tracks on my SoundCloud account were recorded on my Zoom H2n Recorder.

Tim Radford
http://soundcloud.com/tim-radford

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: Hamish
Date: 05 Jan 12 - 03:57 AM

I'm rather chuffed with this one: The Guist Ploughman which is a live recording of Mike Barber's fabulous song at The Foc's'le last March. Just propped the H1 on a chair at the front of the room.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Jan 13 - 03:42 PM

Well I have ordered a Zoom4Hn, and I can't wait for it to arrive.
It's like Christmas again :)
Will let you know how it goes.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 02:27 PM

I have an earlier H4 Zoom, and have not used half of the functions it has, but just amazed at what I do get out of it. If i could change anything it would be the tiddly little screen for a much bigger one, and the rather flimsy rocker wheel you use to give commands such as delete.
If anyone in the UK is looking to buy either H1, H2 or H4 versions, Studiospares currently have big reductions on - check out their website (no vested interest!) www.studiospares.com

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 02:50 PM

Pity I never found them before, their prices are very good. I ordered mine from Thomann in Germany, and saved about 3€ on the price. However it was also post free, so I'm ahead, but only just. It took me ages of looking to find them, odd that I never found Studiospares in my search.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 09:06 PM

The earlier models were a little difficult to operate. John, if you're getting one now, you'll be getting an absolute gem. The newer models resolved the early control difficulties, and appear to be very simple to operate.
I'd recommend Audacity for sound editing, although it does have some drawbacks.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 04:26 AM

Thanks Joe, I was wondering about what to use with it.

BTW, could the thread title have H4 added somehow? I didn't want to start another thread, but present title slightly out of date now.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zoom Handy H2 Recorder examples
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 12:37 PM

We used a Zoom H2, I believe, because it's the older model. We posted two songs on Soundcloud (if you look up February Sky there you can find it if you're interested) It was easy to use. I agree about the small screen being hard to read. I liked the sound quality and how easy it was to live record. Since I borrowed it for the occasion, I didn't want to mess with it too much our accidentally delete any of the existing files.