Instructions for using the H4N Zoom audio recorder
Accessing the MENU and Formatting the card.
- Press the MENU button on the right hand side of the recorder.
- Use the toggle wheel to scroll down to the SD card menu.
- Use the toggle wheel to scroll down to the Format menu.
- Are you sure? press the toggle wheel to accept.
- Your SD card should now be formatted and erased of all material.
- Remember to format the card before turning it back in.
MENU options
- Press the MENU button. Use the Toggle wheel to scroll and press to select.
- Folder: you have 10 folders available in which to save your work.
- File: this allows you to access specific files in order to edit or playback.
- Input:
- Low-cut: cuts out low frequencies. Good for getting rid of handling noise.
- Compresser: reduces the dynamic range. Good for overall leveling of volume.
- Monitor: allows you to monitor your input.
- Level auto: Turn off.
- Mono mix: blends the left and right signals down to mono then records dual-mono to each left and right channel.
- MS mix: advanced Mid Side stereo recording technique. You need an additional microphone to do this.
- Phantom: Turn ON to provide power to condenser microphones. If your microphone already has a working battery in it then you don't need phantom power.
- Plug in:
- Record
- Record Format:
- Wav files have no compression and are used for high quality sound recording. The file size however is increased which may be an issue with small SD cards.
- MP3 files have a lower sound quality because of data compression but is useful when you have a smaller SD card or stuck in the woods for long periods of time.
- Auto Record: Turn OFF as the H4N can detect when the input level surpasses your predetermined level and automatically starts recording.
- Pre Record: automatically adds 2 seconds to the recording after pressing the record button.
- Tool
- Tuner, Metronome, Effects, and Karaoke are some of the tools in this menu that are geared towards musicians.
- Play Mode
- Aside from general playback, you can select 1.) one file only playback 2.) repeat playback of one file, and 3.) all files repeat playback.
- System
- Date and Time: allows you edit the date and time.
- Light: allows you to adjust the display back light. ON, OFF, 15 sec, or 30 sec
- Contrast: allows you to set the display contrast to make it lighter or darker.
- Battery: select alkaline for regular batteries. Select Ni-MH for rechargeable batteries. Rechargeable batteries won't work otherwise.
- Factory reset: returns all the settings back to the original default condition.
- SD Card:
- Remain: confirms the capacity for the SD card.
- Format: formats the SD card for use with the H4N and erases everything on it.
