Gadgets: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder

(149 from www.dv247.com and www.soundsalive.co.uk)

Recording a meeting or your favourite band at T in the Park is pretty easy, right? Most mobiles have a handy voice recorder function. It's not quite that easy, as I found out when interviewing for the first time. As I nodded diligently, scribbling nonsense on my notepad, I sat back, safe in the knowledge that my iPod was recording the necessary words of wisdom. Back at home, I found only distant whisperings in the recorded file.

Determined to make amends the next day, I came armed with the Zoom H2 Handy Recorder (www.zoom.co.jp). It stands on a table, about the height of an ice-cream cone. What makes the H2 suitably special are its four microphones - one pair facing the front and another pair facing the rear - which allow 360 degrees of sound recording. There's even a 3D pan function to alter the balance between the microphones for post-production 5.1 surround-sound fiddling. In my interview test, the H2 gobbled up the sound waves from both me and my interviewee equally.

The H2 records onto the supplied 1GB SD card in a variety of formats from WAV to MP3 and has a myriad of advanced features that I steered clear of, including automatic recording, auto gain control, built-in file splitting and support for external mics. Although it takes two presses of the record button to get it started, the LCD screen confidently shows recording status with visible level bars which bounce around as you speak. At 150, the H2 is a specialist purchase, but when I stretched it by recording a live band it almost equalled professional gear costing several times more. If sound is your thing, then the H2 rises to the challenge

The H2 gobbled up the soundwaves between me and my interviewee

This article was first published in the Scotsman, July 31, 2010