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The microphones on the H1n are very sensitive and winds over 6mph will cause audio distortion and peaking if unprotected. Unfortunately, the Zoom does not come with any wind protection. Making gain adjustments on the H1n is a breeze. It has a knob/dial control just below the microphones. Simply rotate the dial to the desired level, from 0 to 10. There are a few different ways you can record with the Zoom H1n. Either directly to the SD card, or it can be used as a standard audio interface to record audio into a DAW. No matter which way, you’ll first want to set the levels. Recording on the H1n took some getting used to. I am accustomed to pressing record once to enter standby recording mode, and pressing record again to actually start recording. The H1n is always in standby recording mode. The slim design is just big enough to house some simple controls that the user can work to easily navigate settings along the lit display. The two microphones are well shielded from any bumps with the molded-in guard, and a threaded mount to attach it to a microphone stand is thankfully built in. It’s powered by 2 AAA batteries, which should last about 10 hours during normal use.
You can get slight hiss with some external microphones, depending on their output level. It’s excellent with the Rode VideoMic Pro (on +20dB output) though I was disappointed with the quality from the Boya BY-M1. Tests The microphones are housed in a large plastic enclosure that resembles a basket, leaving the microphones exposed for unimpeded recording. It also has a 1/8-inch mic/input port, which means you can connect it to a lapel mic for interviews or a phantom powered shotgun microphone. And at another day conference, I put it on an extra mic stand by the people on stage speaking, to record their talks. I also recorded what came out of the mixing desk on another machine, but used the audio from the H1n as it was clearer. In this article, we will show you how to get up and running with the Zoom H1n. You’ll learn how to register the H1n, format the SD card, and how to record audio. Follow the sections below to get started. If you enjoyed this post and would like to help support Acoustic Nature, please consider "buying me a coffee" or becoming a Patreon with the buttons below.
I’ve found the best gain settings on the Zoom H1n to be between 6-7 without the limiter set to ON. That gives me a lower noise floor and I’m unlikely to encounter clipping. But it is disappointing that I cannot take advantage of the lower noise floor on the H1n at higher gains levels and also use the limiter. I was really surprised when I couldn’t find a “settings” button. Then, I realized that the menu is built into the display and is shown at all times. Proper directional boom microphones are expensive. So I’ve put my Rode VideoMic Pro on a boom, and connected it to a Zoom H1 clamped to the boom. Once again, you sync your video at the editing stage. To capture additional sounds The bad: analog knob, no internal memory. Max 32GB micro SD card external memory. Cannot recharge batteries, 10 hours battery life. However, recording one’s voice is really easy to do. You can put your microphone right in front of your face and speak directly into the device. You’ll probably have to turn down your gain to keep from clipping. This is the ideal scenario for a high signal-to-noise ratio and will result in clean, noiseless audio.
The 1.25-inch monochrome LCD display is bright and easily visible even in direct sunlight. The menus are easy to navigate, and any first-time user can get the hang of with a little bit of practice. Just above the LCD display is an analog input volume knob to control recording levels, which is an excellent feature—instead of using buttons to control volume, the knob is a nice silent way to adjust on the fly while recording is in progress. So honestly, the H1n has surpassed my expectations that were pretty high to start with. For the price of 110 eur you are sure to get:By holding down the “option” button, the default menu bar changes to show additional recording settings. The H1n is great for someone just starting field recording. It is quiet enough to record nature, small enough to take anywhere and supports plug-in-powered, external microphones.
Like its predecessor, the H1n can record a beautiful stereo image from its internal microphone. But unlike the H1, it’s genuinely usable outdoors. The booming wind noise that plagued the old model has disappeared. You do still need a furry windshield: the Redhead works well (though it partly obscures the screen and dial) or you could use Zoom’s own WSU-1. It's made from plastic (except microphones). It's way lighter than I thought (I was compared it with Zoom H4 and H6 on my mind) but it's steady and stabile. It works well for collect ambient, atmosphere sounds and one-hit samples. Sometimes you can catch frequencies that you don't want but by using gain adjustments and build-in eq you can decrease them.Doing any kind of decent mobile recording with good sound quality used to be a pain, either too much hardware was required or you needed an engineering degree. Now there are apps that can take on the heavy lifting, but something’s still missing, and memory capacity is an issue. Enter Zoom with their latest field recording unit, the H1n. I also use it for any song ideas I have, to record my singing, guitar or piano. The quality is good enough to put it into Studio One to start a new song. I pull the card out, put it into an adaptor and plug it into my laptop and transfer the audio. (Transfering audio directly from the machine is MUCH slower.)