ZOOM H6 PORTABLE RECORDER

LET’S TALK MICROPHONES

You have more micro­phone options with the H6 than any hand­held recorder I have ever come across. It comes in a carry case with two inter­change­able cap­sules to get you started. Included is the clas­sic XY cap­sule that Zoom are so well known for, as well as a ball styled Mid Side micro­phone for a range of stereo appli­ca­tions. I also got to test out the shot­gun micro­phone cap­sule that deliv­ers very accu­rate audio cap­ture with excel­lent side rejec­tion. These cap­sules eas­ily clip in and out from the top of the unit and feed to the “L” and “R” chan­nels when record­ing. You also have four extra chan­nels to work with, as the name H6 sug­gests. You can find two pairs of com­bi­na­tion XLR/TRS inputs on either side of the unit. This allows you to run instru­ments or micro­phones directly in for a total of 6 inputs. You could eas­ily record a whole drum kit with this unit and the right choice of addi­tional microphones.

UNDER CONTROL

Once you get into the oper­a­tion of the device, it’s all pretty intu­itive. Any­one who has used a pre­vi­ous Zoom recorder will fly through the teething stages and fig­ure their way around it pretty quickly. All the con­trols are designed for sim­ple oper­a­tion, but remain free from dam­age or inter­rup­tion. Gain con­trols are slightly recessed with guards around the outer edge to pre­vent them being adjusted acci­den­tally. All the switches and but­tons are recessed too, mak­ing it a very sta­ble sys­tem to work with. The optional acces­sory pack that is avail­able for the unit intro­duces a wind sock for out­door use, although the shot­gun micro­phone comes with its own spe­cially sized wind sock. You also get a power sup­ply unit run­ning on USB and a remote con­trol for use when the HH6is set up on a cam­era tri­pod and out of range. All in all, this is a really seri­ous tool with an excel­lent selec­tion of included and optional acces­sories to tackle just about any audio project on the go.