ZOOM H4N Recorder

[Cayden]

So, my search for a Zoom H4N recorder ended last Monday (Cyber Monday), when I was able to walk into my local Guitar Center and purchase one in stock for $198 plus tax brand new. I had done some pricing research and was quoted $269 initially until bringing up a coupon and speaking with the sales rep regarding the retail chain policy of beating other competitors lowest price. They came through for me.

I had a chance yesterday to view the owner's manual, power up, and to work through some of the features and operations. I must admit that at first, such technical wizardry was quite intimidating for the likes of myself who generally lives in a techno-vaccum paralllel with the Bronze Age. I wowed myself in that I was able to wade through the manual, familiarize myself with the major features of the device, move back and forth through the menu display with relative ease, and made a few short recording tests. Almost beats chasing critters with sticks and stones in hopes of securing my next meal.

I will now continue my search for a decent laptop for doing some audio recording and editing
with, in conjunction with the Zoom H4N and the Cubase LE6 software that it came with.
The combination of those two pieces of equipment along with another item or two should let
me make some great quality clips. Advice that I have received from Feadoggie, MTGuru,
and Jerry Freeman has been of tremendous help in this arena and I am thankful for all of
them and their willingness to assist. C & F and the members of this forum have generally
been amazing in their wiilingness to help me in honing and expanding my whistle interests
more than I could have imagined.

I have also recently registered for two forums specific to exploring techniques in audio recording and editing; Tapersection.com and the Zoom Recording Forum. Both sites seem like great resources for those having such interests, the latter site should be a particularly good resource for any ZOOM Poducts end users.

Looking forward to experimenting with and recording sound with my new Zoom H4N. It should be an incredible tool for use during practice sessions for self evaluation / critique during playback mode and hearing ones own whistle play from the perspective of "listener" as opposed to that of a "player". The further ability of the H4N to employ "slow down" and pitch change technology should also prove of value when learning new tunes. Hey, so this new fangled technology has it's merits after all. OK, so I don't really chase critters with sticks and stones in hopes of turning them into nourishing protein. Usually, it is with a Browning over / under and the bird scenting prowess of my Labrador Retriever "Cayden" ( a certified and highly competent gamebird recovery technician ). Even we "hunter / gatherer" types have become more dependent on technology.

Now, if I can just think of a way to eliminate the noise made by Cayden's paws as he struts through my recording area with that digital machine in "record" mode!

Cheers,
The "other" Cayden

[highland-piper]

I recorded one of my wife's gigs onto a Dell laptop. It's relatively new; maybe a year old. It's only got an i3 chip in it, so not too powerful. It worked flawlessly. I did six tracks into Adobe Audition.

The h4n is a nice recorder. We have one of those and an original h2. I really like the form factor of the h2. Fits in shirt pocket, and mics face forwards when standing on end. The recordings aren't quite as good though. My wife uses the h4n all the time for recording her practice.