Handheld Audio Recorder User Guide

The Zoom H1n Handy Recorder is a handheld digital audio recorder. It’s small, portable, and effective for music or field recordings, dictation, interviews, podcasts, and more. The H1n is powered by AA batteries and records onto a microSD card.

Additional documents (including a Quick Guide and Operation Manual) from the manufacturer can be found here.

Setup

MicroSD

Before using the device, check the SD card slot (on the right-hand side of the device) to make sure there is a microSD card in place. If the microSD slot is empty, the DevLab has a few of these cards available in Cabinet 6 (near the recorder itself). Insert the microSD card with the label facing the back of the recorder (see Fig. 2).

Settings

• Press AUDIO to view and/or change the recording format. There are several different formats and quality options. Choosing WAV formats means you’ll get higher sound quality but create larger files; MP3 format has lower sound quality but a smaller file. Higher numerical values listed with these options indicates higher sound quality. 24-bit/96kHz WAV is the highest quality.
• Press AUTOLEVEL if you want to turn on automatic level adjustment. Alternatively, you can use the dial at the top to manually adjust the input level.
• If you want to limit background noise, pressing the LO CUT button will activate the Low-cut filter (to reduce wind and vocal noise). Additionally, pressing the LIMITER button will activate the Limiter function (to prevent clipping caused by sudden loud noises).

Recording

1. When recording, slide the power button forward to HOLD. This will prevent accidentally turning off the device.
2. To start recording, press the round REC button in the center. While recording, you can use the play/pause button to pause and resume recording. Press the REC button to stop recording.
3. If you haven’t turned on AUTOLEVEL, use the dial to manually adjust the input levels while recording.
4. To avoid distortion, try to keep the peak level around -12dB. The decibel level appears on the screen as two horizontal bars on the screen marked L and R (see Fig. 4), representing Left and Right channels. 

Additionally, the H1n recorder has several advanced recording functions (including Automatic Recording, Pre-recording, Self-Time, Overdubbing, and Test Tones). For details about these, see Figure 5, as well as the manufacturer’s Quick Guide and Operation Manual.

Playback

The recorder has a small speaker for playback. You can also plug headphones into the PHONE/LINE OUT jack. There are +/- volume controls on the left side of the device.

Use the rewind, fast-forward, and play/pause buttons to control playback. Use the trashcan button to delete a file. There are additional playback functions listed in the manufacturer’s user guides.

Retrieve Your Recordings

When you’re done using the recorder, make sure to copy your recordings to another device and to delete your files from the microSD card.

Transfer

There are two ways to transfer your recordings to a computer: microSD or microUSB.

• If your computer has a microSD reader: Open the SD cover on the right side of the device. To extract the card, press the edge of the card and it will pop out. Then insert the card into your computer to view and transfer files.
• If your computer has a USB port: Use a USB-to-microUSB cable to connect the recorder to your computer.

In either case, copy/paste or drag the files from the microUSB to your computer’s hard drive.

Delete

You can delete files via the recorder interface by pressing the Trash-can button (right side of the device, next to the power button, see Fig. 3) during playback. Note: Clicking the button does not automatically delete your files. A message will appear asking you to confirm that you want to delete.

Alternatively, you can delete the files from the card on your PC through the file explorer.