Checkout my 1 year Zoom H4n Review for 2011
October 14 2010 UPDATE: I just dropped my Zoom H4n Recorder off my desk on to the hardwood floor microphones first… I’m pleased to report No Damages 
It’s definitely standing up to the abuse that is bound to happen to a piece of gear like this
The Zoom H4n Recorder is one of the best new portable units on the market today. Zoom put the product together after listening to their customers likes and dislikes regarding their previous unit the Zoom H4. They couldn’t have done a better job researching and fixing the issues found in the first generation and this unit truly stands out above all the other portable recorders available today. The H4n even out competes units that are a few hundred dollars more expensive such as the Sony PCM-D50.
Click Here For The Best Price On A Zoom H4n (this is how I got mine – 49% off retail price)
I have been using my Zoom H4n recorder for approx 6 months now (Feb, 2011 update: almost 1 year!) and have recorded everything from solo classical guitar to live symphony performances and it has stood up to every challenge that I have presented it. I wanted to make sure that before I wrote my Zoom H4n review that I had taken the time to really become familiar with the unit. The included accessories and features make the unit incredibly easy to use and you never feel like it is getting in the way of your enjoyment of the recording process.
Here is a sample of one of my classical guitar recordings (YES this is actually me):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCKn04NVMQw [/youtube]
First of all, the sound quality of this unit is excellent! Very crisp life like recordings of whatever you capture. If you put the unit outside just to capture ambient noise it provides an amazingly life like experience when listening back through headphones. The recording level is adjusted easily by a dial on the side and has a very usable range. I have noticed the same thing mentioned in various other Zoom H4n Reviews.
Ease of use is paramount with a device like this and the Zoom H4n is definitely easy to use. All you have to do is power the unit on, make a few adjustments to the recording level and you are ready to record. If you want to change the format that you are using to record this can be done very simply by accessing the menu and since this is probably one of the most common features it is located front and center on the menu. The rest of the controls are very easy to understand however it can be a little bit time consuming since there are so many features to figure out!
The features on this unit are unbelievable! There is a tuner for all your stringed instruments, true 4 track recording, XLR/Quarter Inch jacks, Mini Stereo Jack, Speaker for playback, headphone output, digital guitar effects, great big bright screen, rubberized coating, and it includes a mic stand adapter, case and windscreen! There is also an optional remote control and unlike the previous generation H4 this portable recorder will mount to a tripod with no extra accessories necessary!
As far as dislikes go, the load time of this unit is very long and I’m hoping that Zoom can possibly fix this with a firmware upgrade in the future. It would have been very nice to have them put a cage around the microphones like Sony did with the PCM-D50 as well. These are minor issues however and if you make sure to use the included case while transporting the Zoom H4n you will have no problems with busted microphones.
If you enjoyed reading my 6 month review please check out my original Zoom H4n Review!
I would highly recommend the Zoom H4n
Buy Zoom H4n – 49% Off Retail Price
Hi Rob, site looking cool now!
Can you contact me regards to what sort of info you would like me to write up regards to what you can offer for “nerd” type services pls. Including of course your main contact details.
Cheers!
Joseph
First, I have to say beautiful guitar piece. I enjoyed listening to it while reading your reviews!
Good Reviews. I am doing much research before buying a recorder for our band. Appears, for this price range, the H4n is the best choice. Where you able to compare it to the Sony PCM-D50? I’ve got my choices narrowed down to the H4n and D50? I’d really like to hear your comments.
Another question for you – how did you record the video and combine it with the audio from the H4n? Did you simply patch the H4n output into the Ext. Mic input of the video recorder?
Got to say I am looking forward to your reply, I’ll probably make my move after I hear back from you.
Thanks!
how did you connect audio with video
Hey Tomasz,
I used a video editing program AVS Video editor I believe at the time. It’s a great program and made the whole process fairly simple. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi there
I love your review of the h4n I have an Olympus ls-11 and like a previous poster am not sure how you combined the audio from the H4 with the video camera to get superior audio. I have a logitech webcam and use a LS-11 for audio but I am still trying to figure out how to combine the 2. I downloaded AVS video editor 6.0 when I saw that you used this to combine them, but still cant manage it – I import the 2 files but cant mix them? I would be most grateful if you would take 2 mins to tell me how to do this. By the way, Allegro solemne is the piece Im trying to record. Thanks
Hi Nicholas – Sorry for the late response – I get so many spam comments on this blog it’s hard to sort through them all! To be honest it’s been so long since I’ve used that program I can’t remember exactly how I did it and I don’t have it on my computer anymore – you can also use Windows Movie Maker which seems to work quite well for that sort of thing.
You are definitely on the right track by importing both and then you need to sort of copy the audio from your LS-11 on top of the video (don’t worry about the video audio, you won’t be able to mix the two audios you’ll just be replacing one with the other) and then you can line them up. I remember it was pretty simple once I figured it out
Sorry I can’t be of a little more help
Cheers,
Rob
Good review and the guitar sample you played was amazing. I had to listen to the whole lot before leaving. I am looking at getting this recorder to do portable vocal recordings and SFX sampling. Listning to the reviews around the place and the audio samples from this recorder I recon for the price its a great portable recorder.
Thanks heaps for the review… I’d love to get some of your music. Where can we go?
Thanks a lot!
keep checking my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/orbiterred for new videos. I’ve been pretty busy lately but I plan on getting a bunch of new videos up soon and some recordings with the new zoom h1 as well!