Zoom H6 Black Handy Recorder - discontinued
Zoom have been building revolutionary products for 30 years but with the H6 six-track recorder the bar is raised further still. Four interchangeable input capsules - X/Y, MS, Shotgun, and Dual XLR/TRS Combo make the H6 a very flexible little recorder.
The X/Y stereo capsule is supplied as standard. The X/Y micing technique is perfect when you want to cover a wide area and still capture sound sources in the centre with clarity and definition, making it great for all types of live stereo recording.
With the optional MS capsule you can make Mid-Side recordings. This is an incredible technique originally discovered by the great Alan Blumlein which allows you to adjust the width of the stereo image after the track has been recorded, making it especially useful for film, video and television projects. Sound like magic? Yes it does but it's not really - just a good practical application of the laws of physics and acoustics. It is a subject in itself though so I suggest you do some research before diving in at the deep end.
The SGH-6 Shotgun capsule is a professional-quality hypercardioid microphone for video work. Shotgun mics have a narrower focus (sometimes referred to as more "reach") than an average microphone. However, they are not the audio equivalent of a photographic telephoto lens. Even though they do an above-average job of picking up sounds from a short distance away, they always sound better when they are physically close to the sound source. That's why whenever you use the SGH-6 shotgun capsule, you should always get as close as possible to the sound source, which often means hovering right at the edge of the frame of a shot. Professional recordists and boomswingers of course use a rather more expensive shotgun microphone on a boompole to achieve this. It's quite a tricky job to get in as tight as possible without having the Director call CUT for Boom in Shot!
Inputs
The H6 offers four main inputs (1-4), plus two additional inputs (L, R) that are derived from whichever capsule (X/Y, MS, Shotgun, or Dual XLR/TRS Combo) is plugged into the unit. The supplied XYH-6 X/Y capsule also provides a secondary input for connecting an external mic- or line-level signal via a stereo 3.5mm minijack. When a connection is made to that jack, signal from the X/Y microphones is muted.
There's a lot more to it than that of course as this video shows:-
Features
- Interchangeable input capsules
- Six-track simultaneous recording
- Four mic/line inputs with XLR/TRS combo connectors
- Gain control knobs and -20dB pads for each input
- Supplied XYH-6 X/Y capsule provides secondary input via a stereo ⅛” Mic/Line In mini phone jack
- Phantom power for all main inputs: +12/+24/+48V
- Large full-color, angled LCD display
- Records directly to SD, SDHC and SDXC cards up to 128GB
- Up to 24-bit /96kHz audio in BWF-compliant WAV or a variety of MP3 formats
- Auto-record, Pre-record and Backup-record functions mean that you'll never miss that perfect take #
- Built-in effects, including low-cut filtering, compression, and limiting
- Multichannel and stereo USB audio interface for PC/Mac/iPad
- Accepts standard AA alkaline or NiMH rechargeable batteries
- Over 20 hours of operation with 4 AA alkaline batteries
What's in the box?
- H6 Black recorder
- XYH-6 X/Y mic capsule
- AA size (LR6) battery x 4
- Quick Guide
- Download Licenses for Cubase LE and WaveLab LE