Zoom H6 Handy Recorder
The Zoom H6 Handy Recorder is a portable handheld recorder and USB audio interface with an interchangeable microphone system. The recorder comes with both XY and mid-side microphone modules, a windscreen, four AA batteries, a USB cable, Cubase LE and a carrying case. The included XYH-6 XY microphone module is built around two matched unidirectional condenser microphones and is designed for capturing accurate stereo audio. With this module you can adjust the angle of the two microphones to either 90 degrees or, for a wider stereo image, 120 degrees.
The XY module can be swapped out for the MSH-6 mid-side stereo microphone module. Despite what the capsule looks like, the mid-side module actually contains two elements stacked on top of each other: a directional microphone that points forward (mid) and a bi-directional microphone positioned at a right angle to the source (side). Besides letting you adjust the width of your stereo audio after it has been recorded, MS recording also offers mono compatibility, a factor that comes into play in situations such as television production. The H6 is also equipped with four XLR/TRS inputs for connecting external microphone or line sources, such as microphones or mixers. All four inputs and each of the microphone modules have their own preamps with dedicated gain knobs that are easy to reach, whether you have mounted the unit on your camera or slung it over your shoulder. Each of the four combo inputs also has its own -20dB pad.
The recorder lets you record up to six channels at once and saves them to SDXC memory cards up to 128 GB. It also has a backup recording option that creates a duplicate of the left and right channel with -12 dB input gain tracks. This means that if your main audio turns out too loud and distortion has occurred, you will find a backup stereo mix with 12 dB more headroom as a fail-safe.
