Thanks all - Amateur recording horrible-ness solved!

[fazool]

I watched a comparison video of the H1 vs H6. The H6 sounded better especially with low frequencies.

However, for my beginner-recording needs, the $89 H1 price is quite a bit more justifiable vs the H6's $349 price

[Fairlight]

The H5 has the XY mic. $229 on Reverb.

To my ears, and given the extras you'll get, it's worth the investment for your sound. Buy, hey, it sounds like you've made up your mind...

[RodB]

I too would recommend considering the H5 or at least the H4n, which if I'm not mistaken now has the same low noise floor that the H5 and H6 have...

My H5 serves me well for quick recordings - anywhere, and when set up, I have plenty of flexibility with the on board XY mics into a stereo track and 2 external mics into another 2 tracks to choose from. At the same time a further backup stereo track can provide a safety net (lower volume recording).

[fazool]

Thanks Doug Young! I took your advice and got an H1 on the way home today. I went more modest since I'm just doing super lightweight amateur stuff, so I didn't "need" an H4 or H5 or H6".

I got this home and you were 100% right - it just works. Literally within five minutes of unpacking it I was making a recording. 5 minutes later I was trying it out as a HIGH quality USB mic into audacity.

I have so much to learn about recording. This is really my first ever microphone. I am blown away by the quality of sound.

I love the monitor function - I have nice monitoring headphones. I put those on and set the H1 up and could listen to myself play with *ZERO* latency and know how my guitar sounds from across the room.

This is amazing.

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy with this!

[Captain Jim]

In the same boat as you, Fazool. I made some recordings last year at the request of my lovely wife... sounded pretty weak. Just used the mic on the iPad Mini about 10 feet away from the PA.

I have been considering the H4n Pro; after watching a bunch of videos (reviews and tutorials) last night, I ordered one today. Looking forward to giving that a try. Really glad to see that your set up went as you hoped!

Jim

[Yamaha Man]

I just dug out my old Zoom H2 Handy Recorder. I haven't used it in years. I put in some fresh batteries, plugged in some headphones and I was good to go. Worked perfectly first try !!

[Doug Young]

Glad it worked out! I have no direct experience with the lower numbered Zooms, but for anyone on the fence, I believe the H5 and 6 would be a significant improvement in both quality and usability - my H6 is a big step up over the H4N, which is also very good. The preamps are quieter, and the disk loading and formatting speed alone would make me upgrade, not to mention the better metering. At the same time, lots of people have posted good sounding recordings with the lower-end models, so they work!

Hope to hear one of your recordings with the new recorder.

[Yamaha Man]

While I was digging up the Zoom H2, I came across an old Kodak EIS video recorder I had bought many years ago. I found the charger, charged it up and it started working like new !!

[MikeBmusic]

For someone who basically wants to record some live playing (solo or band) the Zoom recorders are the way to go. You can even use them when you want to start multi-tracking and using a computer for mixing.
When you want to get serious about multitracking (i.e. recording multiple mics at a time, recording drums, etc), then that's when you need to move up to an audio interface, so its nice to have mics ready to plug in to the AI. Your Zoom, at that point will be a 'live recording' or 'notebook' device after that.

There are any number of decent audio interfaces in the $150-200 range and some people have been getting good results even with the newer Behringer U-Phoria interfaces that start at around $80.
Until you get up to the $500+ range, as you increase cost, you are mostly paying for additional mic preamps and ADA converters, rather than 'better' (subjective) converters.
There's a lot more to recording than higher-priced interfaces and mics, though - if your tracking (and mixing) room is not ideal (acoustic treatment) and your monitors are not well set-up then you're unlikely to hear the difference between a $300 interface-and-mic set up and a $1000 set up.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Martin Maniac

I just dug out my old Zoom H2 Handy Recorder. I haven't used it in years. I put in some fresh batteries, plugged in some headphones and I was good to go. Worked perfectly first try !!

I still use an old Zoom H2 for quick sketches of ideas sometimes. The only awkward thing is that the old feature where you just connect it up to a computer to transfer files seems to have broken with more modern operating systems, but an SD card reader fixes that.

For the OP's needs/desires there's still a lot to be said for standalone digital recorders. They work without a lot of configuration drama, and in my experience their reliability is a good as it gets. Other than physical damage, the only issues I'd expect would be SD card issues, and with good quality cards that not that common.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

I still use an old Zoom H2 for quick sketches of ideas sometimes. The only awkward thing is that the old feature where you just connect it up to a computer to transfer files seems to have broken with more modern operating systems, but an SD card reader fixes that.

For the OP's needs/desires there's still a lot to be said for standalone digital recorders. They work without a lot of configuration drama, and in my experience their reliability is a good as it gets. Other than physical damage, the only issues I'd expect would be SD card issues, and with good quality cards that not that common.

Do check your firmware version. You can download and install updated firmware for many of the Zoom products that increase their usability.

As an example, the early H1 recorders weren't usable as a USB mic. Updating the firmware allows these older mics to be used directly as a USB microphone. Connectivity / compatibility issues can sometimes be resolved with a firmware update. The instructions for doing updates are on the Zoom website.

[Yamaha Man]

Thanks for the SD card reader tip. I didn't know the H2 had a SD card in it...I found it, it's a stock 1 GIG card !!! Ha, just what I needed !!

The Kodak video recorder I have, has a 4 GIG SD card in it !!

https://www.facebook.com/wayne.kraft...0031382674344/

Both are plenty for my needs !!!!

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by fazool

I watched a comparison video of the H1 vs H6. The H6 sounded better especially with low frequencies.

However, for my beginner-recording needs, the $89 H1 price is quite a bit more justifiable vs the H6's $349 price

The H4 and above have lower self noise than the H1 and H2. Self noise may not bother you. Drives me nuts.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by sdelsolray

... Self noise may not bother you. Drives me nuts.

Drives me nuts to the point where I may stop a project as it blocks my creativity. Yes I realize this OCD is somewhat unhealthy, but the self noise on my old RODE NTK microphones was what started my chasing mic mods, and higher end mics/pres in general. For someone with my issues, starting with silence is so much easier

[TheChicagoTodd]

I bought one of these a while back to quickly create some sample recordings...it is a USB microphone that seems to have good ratings on Amazon, honestly I don't know enough to know if it's good or bad anyone have any experience?

Blue Yeti USB Microphone - Blackout Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N1YPXW2..._DLgUyb2W78RZH

Cheers...

Todd in Chicago

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