RE: zoom portable/ recording LF

["Goddard, Duncan" <goddard.duncan@mtvne.com>]

>>Im curious how the new zoom handheld sounds with its pseudo surround
sound and 4 mics...<<

I used mine to record a set we did in a church back in november. it only
records four-channels in wav mode, so for unattended recordings you need
to make sure you have a huge card in it. when I retrieved it, it said
"card full" so I assumed that the recordings would be damaged somehow.
of course, they were fine. I loaded them up into vegas & found I was
able to hear a huge difference between the "front" pair & the "back"
pair. I have no idea if this is just canny mechanical design or some
sort of matrixing they do to the four capsules, but I was very pleased
at being able to vary the amount of "church" on my final stereo mix.
there are some 3rd party apps that let you create 5.1 from the two
stereo wavs- I didn't try this yet, because my 5.1 amp has packed up...
:-(

as for the bottom end- it's as good as any I've heard, & for the price,
the little zoom is just amazing. just be careful with it- keep it in a
small camera case, use a proper mic stand for it & watch the power
switch doesn't get knocked in transit.. 
the only thing missing from this recorder, imo, is an apple-style mini
remote so that one could locate the recorder in a suitable place (on an
arri arm or a clamp or on a tall stand) & the set it going. otherwise,
you end up with yards of nonsense at the start & end of each recording-
no biggy, really, but it would be nice to have a remote.

I have also played with the thing in 2-channel mode where all four mics
are live- try this with headphones on, it's quite startling. again, at
this price-point, there's not much that comes near it for fidelity &
flexibility. there aren't any strange noises in the background, & the
only thing that bothers it is the usual stuff- cellphone chatter, that
sort of thing.

duncan.