Zoom H1n

This is a great sound recorder, capable of good Foley work or voice recording via a lavaliere mic or other mics that have a 3.5mm jack; it does not have an XLR port. The recorder comes with batteries, but no cables or micro SD, so be aware that you will need these. It is very plasticky, making hand-held use problematic, but that can be solved by using a small tripod for desk work or some sort of handle to avoid handling noise. You have a fair bit of control in how you record with 4 settings available to control recording level - between 40 - 50 is best, with other controls to guard against clipping, but apart from recording level, you can leaver the default settings alone, most of the time. The recorded sound, in my experience, can sound a bit hissy, depending on the amount of gain used and headphones used, but the actual recording imported to an audio editor is surprising clean for a recorder at this price point and a lot of professional use this handy little machine, which is some kind of endorsement. All sound recording devices, especially field recorders have some limitations and I'm sure that this does also, but for most amateur film makers who want to record sound off camera, this device is very good, with several other zoom recorders to graduate to, when you have exhausted the possibilities of this one.

I used this recorder for the 1st time the other day and have to admit I was extremely impressed! I play bass in a ukulele orchestra and wanted to record our practices. When we practice there is a large table with around 15 people. The boss sits at the far end from me and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to hear him on the recording. I was wrong! Despite the recorder being close to me (and my bass amp!) it picked up all the instruments and also the instructions shouted from the far end of the table. The quality is so good that everyone else wants copies to practice along with! I used the device in auto adjust mode for the volume. This worked really well. I also love the fact you can record as WAV or MP3. I prefer mp3 as I’m only recording for practice purposes. It is extremely easy to get the clips off the device. Just use a usb micro cable and you can save them to your PC/Mac. There are more advanced features but I haven’t used them yet so I can’t comment on them. I am going to use the recorder with my other band tonight. It’s a four piece with guitar, bass, drums and vocals. I’ll have to see how it holds up to all that volume!

This is a really handy little recorder, easy to use and very compact. Very good sound quality.

Marvellous little recorder. Records very clearly in high volume situations. The bundled Wavelab and studio software are good value and useful for trimming, normalising and mastering files. I used it for recording drum tracks and the sound balance between drums and cymbals was excellent. Also great for live recording of band rehearsals. Just place it in the room and the results are amazing.

Very versatile sound recorder. Good sound quality with excellent stereo channel separation. Love the input/output sockets which offer lots of recording/playback options. I like the overdub feature which allows you to layer sounds on top of each other multiple times. A good well made product at a very good value price.

I got this to do "ambient recordings" - waves on the beach, rain falling, that sort of thing. I'm a novice at recording so wanted something simple but something a step up from my phone. There are lots of options but they are hidden in fiddly menus. The idea of turning on and "just recording" - like I might "just take a photo with a camera on Program mode" is a bit of a dream. I've used it a few times to do that but if you even try to hold it with your hand you'll hear lots of creaks and squeaks from the flimsy plastic housing showing up in your recording. It's not really the best device for what I wanted. I wouldn't fancy doing an interview with it either. I suspect that at some point I'll find a better device for what I want and this will end up being sold to fund that. Too fiddly. Too much extraneous noise.

I was an absolute guinea pig , a newbie for this stuff, but since my first recording, which worked amazingly enough, after inserting a card, the batteries and choosing auto level and the red record button, with no knowledge, I got an hour long recording of bird song. Amazing! Since, ie. next day, I have looked at the YouTube beginners videos and got really sophisticated, lol! I wanted to record bird song from my neighbours two tall fir trees, so that I could identify the birds by their songs. Put the recorder in a sheltered place with the recommended settings and really pleased. Next I am looking at how to listen to the recordings on the Mac. The on board speaker is only designed for quick checking and needs an external speaker for enjoyment (or disappointment according to how you did!). I put a power pack into the bottom right socket (no sophistication here) and it saved the batteries which went quickly after my very long recording and looking at settings the last time. You can mark the recordings in playback but a clap does the job just as well. Enjoy. Just bought another for a family member before this one disappears!

Bought for some research interviewing field work and it's great for that but in lockdown has been used as a broadcast quality mic for a documentary and is just as good as devices many times its cost. It also has a PC-IN mode so can be used as a web mic or for streaming / gaming and powered from a USB port. Just an excellent bit of kit though a little heavy on the batteries when out and about.