Uses for a Zoom H2?

December 4, 2011 12:50 PM

Can the hivemind come up with creative uses for a decent audio recorder?

I've got a Zoom H2 that I snagged on eBay for next to nothing a couple years back. I originally bought it to record my banjo lessons and practice sessions, but it sits fairly unused these days.

Is it robust enough to tape live shows of bands that have open taping policies?
What cool, creative things can I do with this that I'm not thinking of?

posted by piedmont to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

I have the same recorder and yeah you can tape shows with it! You probably want to set the gain to "low" if it's a louder show so it doesn't get distorted.
posted by drjimmy11 at 12:52 PM on December 4, 2011

Also if you're into filmmaking even a little, buy a slate and learn about "real" (ie off-camera) movie sound. It's a 40000% improvement over terrible on-camera mics or even plugging in a cheap boom mic.
posted by drjimmy11 at 12:53 PM on December 4, 2011

As digital recorders go, the H2 pretty much is like a point and shoot camera, not half bad for snapshots, not what you use if you're a professional photographer. The mics and preamps are decent for a $200 handheld. You won't get professional sounding concert recordings by any means, but they will be clean and fairly detailed.
posted by spitbull at 4:17 PM on December 4, 2011

Use it like a point & shoot camera.
Go on walks with it in your pocket recording. Take a camera with you. Sooner or later you will begin to realise the beautiful and interesting things that are literally everywhere.
posted by ooklala at 11:46 PM on December 4, 2011