Recording - August 2016 - 38

...where we bring you follow-up articles
with application hints and upgrade news
about gear already reviewed in Recording

Zoom H4n Pro Handy Recorder
by Mike Metlay

Zoom has been in the business of
building Handy Recorders, its preferred
term for pocket-sized field recorders that
use solid-state memory cards, for a number of years now, and has developed a
reputation for recorders that are reliable,
good-sounding, and very affordable.
While other companies have come out
with seemingly endless variations on a
basic theme, trying to hit a wide variety
of price points while subtly altering mic
quality, mic placement, supported formats, record time, internal DSP, etc.,
Zoom has by and large stuck to what's
been proven to work time and again.
There are five Handy Recorders in the
Zoom lineup, from the tiny and onebutton-simple H1 to the massive and
fearsomely flexible H6 with its selection
of interchangeable stereo mic capsules
and 6-channel multitracking capability.
Unquestionably the most popular of the
bunch is the one that sits in the middle
of the range: the H4n.
Since it replaced the original H4 in
2009, the H4n has been a staple of field
recording setups everywhere. With its
adjustable XY stereo mic array (you can
rotate the mics to change from a 90º to
a 120º stereo spread), body-mounted
XLR/TRS inputs for professional mics or
line-level sources, and other features that
sit nicely between those of the simpler
H1 and H2n and the pro-level H5 and
H6, the H4n has continued in the Zoom
lineup as a strong seller even with the
recent arrival of its fancier siblings.
The H5 and H6 share not only new
features and a new look, but greatly
refined mics, preamps, and internal electronics. Zoom has had a lot of time to
improve on its core technologies, and
those improvements are evident in the
sound of the newer models. Even if you
set aside their advanced features and
fancy extras like swappable mic capsules, they just plain sound better than
the H4n does.
So... if you have an old recorder that
hits a very popular sweet spot in terms
of its design and features, but you have
newer recorders that sound much better,
what do you do? In Zoom's case, you
create a new version of the old recorder
that combines its familiar features with
the new internals of its fancier brethren.
And that, in a nutshell, is the H4n Pro.
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RECORDING AUGUST 2016

Announced at the beginning of June
2016, the H4n Pro is just now appearing in stores in large quantities, having
replaced the H4n in Zoom's lineup. I
was privileged to get one of the very
first units to arrive in the USA, and had
a fascinating time comparing it to my
beloved H4n, which has been working
for me in various applications for years.
So what's an H4n... Pro or otherwise?
So many field recorders have imitated
the H4n's feature set over the years that
it can be difficult to remember just how
groundbreaking it was. The H4n either
introduced or made affordable a wide
variety of features that we now take for
granted.
It can record in stereo or 4-channel
mode, combining the internal XY mics
with two external mics or line inputs. It
records in a variety of MP3 bitrates, as
well as WAV files up to 24 bits and 96
kHz. It has a number of internal DSP functions for doing simple editing and
cleanup of recordings, letting it serve as a
simple studio recorder as well as a field
recorder. Most significantly of all, it can
be connected to a computer via USB, not
only to transfer files back and forth but
also to act as a 2-in/2-out audio interface. Compact, light, sturdy, and simple,
it's an audio Swiss Army knife that you
can take with you everywhere.
As you can see from the photo, the
original H4n and the H4n Pro are nearly
identical in size and shape, with identical control layouts. The only obvious differences are the nonslip rubberized coating on the new model, and the presence
of locking tabs on the two XLR/TRS combination inputs. The H4n's inputs had no
locks, making accidental cable unplugging a real worry, and the new design
effectively prevents that. Aside from that,
all the changes are cosmetic-the H4n's
backlit round buttons have been
replaced by rectangular ones with adjacent LEDs, and the LCD is a brighter,
crisper design, backlit in blue rather
than the original orange.
The control layout is identical, with
input selection, transport, and file folder
and format selection buttons on the front
panel; a click-dial, Menu button, and
Rec Level rocker on the right side; and a
submini jack for the optional wired

remote, headphone minijack that doubles as a stereo line output, monitor volume rocker, and power/Hold switch on
the left. The H4n Pro still takes two AA
batteries or an external power array,
holds SD or SDHC cards up to 32 GB in
size, and has an external minijack (for
2.5V "plug-in power" electret mics),
audio check speaker, and mic stand
thread on the underside. You don't mess
with success.
Internally, the H4n Pro works just like
the H4n did. You can select four recording modes: Stereo, Stamina (a featurelimited Stereo mode that greatly increases battery life), 4CH (four inputs, the XY
mic plus the two preamps), or MTR (a
full-on multitrack mode with overdubs,
punches, track bouncing, and track editing). You can provide 24V or 48V phantom power for the preamps, set up a 2second pre-record buffer so you never
miss the start of a song, play back audio
at faster or slower speeds, access a
tuner and metronome, use built-in DSP
effects on your recordings in MTR mode,
work in mono or with Mid-Side decoding, and much more.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - August 2016