Zoom H6 Recorder

The H6 All Black’s front panel is ergonomically arranged with its most essential and commonly used controls—transport buttons for record, play/pause, stop, back, and forward operations, individual record-arm buttons that double as mute switches during playback, large gain knobs, and pad switches. For added safety, a hold switch disables all front-panel buttons to prevent accidental operation during recording.

Day or night, view vital information such as audio levels, recording time, battery status, and more on the 2″ full-color LCD, which happens to be backlit and angled for maximum visibility.

Leave your external mics at home and travel light; the H6 All Black includes a stereo microphone capsule (the original H6 includes two interchangeable capsules). With nothing more than the H6, you’re set to record a variety of sources, even ear-rattling ones up to 136 dB!

The matching black X/Y capsule provides clear, phase-accurate capture in two different X/Y positions—90° for a tight stereo image or 120° for a wider perspective. Just twist the capsules to their premarked positions to switch between the two configurations.

Maximize portability by recording directly to an SD card (up to 2GB capacity), SDHC card (up to 32GB capacity), or SDXC card (up to 128GB capacity). A 2GB card will yield over 3 hours of 16-bit / 44.1 kHz stereo recording time using the BWF-compliant WAV format for uncompressed audio quality and industry-standard file compatibility. Note that media cards are available separately, and larger capacity cards will increase startup times.

Alternatively, use the H6 All Black as a 6-in / 2-out USB 2.0 audio interface at up to 24-bit / 96 kHz. For audio interface operation with an iPad (Apple Camera Connection Kit required and available separately), select USB stereo mode, which offers two channels in and out at up to 16-bit / 48 kHz.

The H6 All Black’s onboard effects allow you to add polish to your recordings. Compression and limiting compensate for fluctuations in input level, while a low-cut filter helps eliminate wind noise, blowing, and other kinds of low-frequency rumble. Normalize files for maximum gain, split them into smaller chunks, and even insert up to 99 marks per recording.

There’s an onboard metronome and tuner, and you can loop playback and adjust pitch and speed independently, making the H6 All Black an ideal tool for phrase training.

The H6 All Black offers selectable recording functions designed to prevent you from accidentally missing the start of a performance. By keeping the previous two seconds (one second at 96 kHz) of audio whenever you press the record button, the pre-record option ensures that you’ll never cut off the beginning of a great take. Auto-record can automatically start recording when a user-set sound level is detected, making it great for voice-activated recording.

Backup record enables the H6 All Black to automatically record a duplicate of the L/R input with 12 dB less input gain. Even if your original track is distorted, chances are the backup version will be fine!