While small enough to slip into a jacket or pants pocket, Zoom’s H1n Handy Portable Digital Recorder offers professional-quality recordings and features to help performers and band directors.
Named as a Best in Show item in the Add-ons and Accessories category by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) in January 2018, the small recorder is a “reimagined version of the most successful handy recorder” Zoom produced and was designed so anyone could use it, says David Via, Zoom vice president of marketing.
The recorder measures about 2 inches wide, 1.2 inches tall, and almost 5.5 inches in depth. For musicians, the device has several useful features such as unlimited overdub, a built-in 90-degree X/Y microphone, and playback speed control that doesn’t change the pitch.
“If there’s a passage you’re trying to learn, … you could break it down, slow it down, but not have it sound like it’s in a basement in terms of frequency,” Via says.
A low-cut filter eliminates white noise, high-volume pops, and wind noise. “For a dynamic range of a marching band, I think that would be really important because the sound can all of a sudden explode out of nowhere, so the low-cut filter helps eliminate the pops of the spikes in volume,” Via says.
The recorder comes with free download licenses for Steinberg’s Cubase LE music production software and WaveLab LE audio editing software.
Zoom encourages musicians to record and listen to themselves, Via says. “You can learn a lot just from listening to yourself, and I think this device would be an inexpensive way for someone who’s serious about improving their musicianship,” he says.
Visit zoom-na.com for details.
