Zoom H6 All Black 6-Track Portable Recorder, Stereo Microphones, 4 XLR/TRS Inputs, Records to SD Card, USB Audio Interface, Battery Powered, Podcasting and Music

The perfect handy recorder! This review is how we use it, how we love it and why. I am not a paid reviewer either. I just feel that this product is so fairly priced for what you get, I just got to share!We shoot a lot of dance recitals and stage plays. We use boundary microphones to capture stage sounds, i.e. tapping, effects etc. We capture the facilities “sound system” directly to one of our cameras for the music and vocal microphones and leave the H6 to record the natural sounds of the stage and room. In the past we would run very long XLR cables back to our cameras, 100’s of feet worth counting all the mics. With this recorder we are now able to put more microphones on stage and not have to run those long XLR cables that take a lot of gaffer tape and time.Both microphone attachments that come with the H6 sound great. But I feel the MSH-6 MS mic is the best to me. It picks up exactly as you hear it naturally, the highs and the lows! It gives a natural Right Center and Left in one audio track. You can adjust this effect from narrow to wide, just astonishing! We produce 5.1 surround on all our projects - the H6 will allow us to do this more accurately and easier! You get separate audio tracks for 4 mics and 1 stereo track for the attachment mics, although, you can make 1 & 2 stereo and / or 3 & 4 stereo if you need.The H6 noise floor is very low, lower than our cameras built in XLR’s which surprised me. With the high bit rates, the H6 will record may be why. In the editing room is where I really feel good about this!One thing I wish I had known before I put it to professional use - if you put batteries in the H6 and plug in the power to an outlet and the plug gets unplugged by accident, the batteries take over instantly! During a play we shot as the actors were jumping off stage one hit the outlet and well the recorder stopped. Not a big issue as it was just before intermission and we shot the same play 4 times I could just use another show for that scene, but backup batteries would have been helpful. I just did not know it would do that. If the recorder gets unplugged while recording and you don’t have batteries installed you must use the file repair feature in the H6. I had to run the repair twice to get the file playable and downloadable but it worked! But backup batteries… wish I had known.Other good info to know:You can run either one XLR from the line out of the recorder to your camera, reason for this, easy sync! The H6 has a sine wave noise, (you have to turn this feature on in the menus) you know the blip sound. As you hit record on the H6 the camera will record that blip and in post you can simply line the blips up and perfect sync in seconds. Yea there are methods for automating sync I know I use them, but this is just quicker and easier. We run a line out to a mic pack transmitter and wirelessly transmit to a receiver on the primary camera to record this without a long XLR cable run, and it allows you to monitor the sound.. sort of, as well as getting that blip noise for sync. The headphone jack on the H6 will give you a true preview, the line out is really just for sync purposes, you get a monotone lower quality sound… you get it.Run time?Phantom power on all 4 tracks along with the MSH-6 MS mic while recording 48k 24 bit will drain alkaline batteries in about an hour. Our rechargeable batteries in 10 minutes. Use a power source for long recording needs, or just don’t run mics with phantom power??. They claim 20 hours of recording, maybe if you run just the attachment mic and at a low bit rate??? But my test in a real-world situation the way we require - 1 hour! But power outlets are never an issue for us. Stages always have an outlet within reach., just have batteries installed for backup if an accident happens.Setup?The menus are very easy to navigate. I figured it out in about 2 minutes. Easy to configure! Backup recording only backs up the attachment mics and this records a -12db track from where you have your mic set, very nice! Project folders = organized files for post!Build?Feels durable and fragile all at the same time. Meaning it feels like it could take a drop but my mind says no! Has a rubbery feel so can get a good grip on it. The H6 has a standard 1/4 “tripod thread on the bottom for connecting to a stand of your choice.

I made the investment to acquire this unit after long study between this and other similar products (and models).I have had an older model before (Zoom H4), very similar in function, if not identical with extra inputs.This model has the detachable mic and input modules. The stereo XY mic that came with this is hefty and feels well made. I have yet to drop it and test it's ruggedness, but I am not going to test that. If by chance I do I will try to update the outcome in the reviews.I have used this for a show to capture live music playing and it does a very well job. The initial learning curve was very easy, straight forward.You can set what type of audio formats (WAV or MP3) with a whole slew of bitrates and quality levels.Essentially I think the highest setting 96Kbps at 24 bit (it's max, no 32bit) on a fresh 32GB SD card, you might get about 8-9 hours of record time... lower the quality and you can go a very long time... over 800 hours on the lowest mp3 quality setting.This comes with Phantom power, powered from either the USB (on pass-thru power from a usb power bank, no batteries). One gripe at first was getting the thing to stay on, as my power bank had an auto shut off if it doesn't draw enough power. This isn't a gripe on the H6, and I am glad it use very little power. It's why a fresh set of batteries last 20 hours on average, depending on how many inputs you use, quality, and phantom power. I noticed onced I armed the REC, the powerbank would stay on.I like the fact that you can hook up another 2 XLR inputs in replace of the stereo condencer mics. I find that on the go, you can have mobile podcast recordings up to 6 mics. 6 mics with boom and mounts, 6 headphones, 1 H6, 1 6-port Headphone amp. You're good to go!Did I mention this can be used an an audio interface?You can use the inputs in your favorite DAW.Some complaints others might have are the gain knobs exposed, if you bump them they might move on you. I'm considering 3D printing a small cover (and maybe a rubber band?) to avoid this.Overall great unit for capturing audio.