Zoom H4 Recorder Samples

[byu]

I picked up a Zoom H4 back in March and have been enjoying the hell out of it. I’ve recorded local bands, my own acoustic duo, and taken it to Bonnaroo & the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. I’ve been extremely pleased with the results.

For those that don’t know, the H4 is a small digital Swiss Army Knife of a recorder. It does everything but take out the trash. It has 2 built in condenser mics, accepts 2 ¼" or XLR plugs, provides phantom power to mics requiring it, records 1 – 4 tracks, has built in amp, mic & cabinet simulators, built in digital effects, a metronome & a tuner. It records to SD media at 44.1k, 48k & 96k all at 16 or 24 bit plus it records mp3. All this in a package about 6" x 2 3/4" x 1 1/2" running on 2 AA batteries for about $299US or less out the door.

I haven’t had a chance to use multi tracking yet or any recording format but 44.1k at 16 bit but what I have recorded sounds great. I’ll be putting a pair of Shure SM81s through it soon but I figured I’d post some samples of what it does do as a stand alone piece.

These were recorded in my dining room one night after my friend Lindsey & I had finished early with painting my new studio walls (more on that in this section another day). We have an acoustic duo called Urban Squirrel which hasn’t been able to rehearse or play out much this year due to the building of this studio. Anyway, with the extra time we decided to strum a bit and I pulled out the H4. Both songs are mp3s converted from the original wav files.

The first tune is an instrumental original written by Lindsey called Dance of the Crustaceans. I’m on the left playing a Washburn M3SW mandolin & Lindsey is on the right playing my Ric 730S. It’s a bit loose and suffers from some poor note choices on my part but the performance is good enough to show off the H4. The second tune is pure Rickenbacker acoustic sweetness. It’s Wide Spread Panic’s Blue Indian. I’m on the left w/my Ric 700C/12 and Lindsey’s on the right with the 730S. Again, a bit loose but it’s not going on an album. Enjoy.

Dance of the Crustaceans (mp3, 3.6mb)
Blue Indian (mp3, 4.4mb)

[brammy]

A few years ago I built a little "portable" (ie: suitcase sized) recording system consisting of a small mixer and a cd burner. To these I added decent caratoid mics on stands. I got some very nice results.

One night I was all set up to record us at a gig when along comes a friend with one of the new-fangled pocket-sized Zoom H4's. Naturally, we both recorded and compared the results later. To my surprize, the quality of both was about the same.

So much for my "portable" system. The H4 is a great product.

[jingle_jangle]

We use an H4 to record all our practice sessions, and I hope to God George never posts any of them anywhere!

[tennis_nick]

I just bought an H4! If I had hear those clips I would've run out faster to get it! Sounds fantastic!!!!

It's in shipping right now, should be here in a week or two!

I've been impressed with every clip I've heard of the thing!