Product Description

The Only Recorder That Adapts To Your Way Of Creating

With 12 simultaneous recording tracks, interchangeable capsules, and an App-driven touchscreen interface, the H8 is designed to meet all your audio recording needs.

Key Features

• Customized applications for field recording, music and podcasting
• 3 distinct interfaces for field recording, music and podcasting
• Interchangeable input capsules
• 12-track simultaneous recording
• Four mic inputs and two XLR/TRS combo connectors
• Gain control knobs and -20dB pads for each input
• Supplied XYH-6 X/Y capsule provides secondary input via a stereo ⅛” Mic/Line In mini phone jack
• Phantom power for all six XLR mic inputs: +24/+48V
• Large colour LCD touchscreen display
• Records directly to SD, SDHC and SDXC cards up to 512GB
• Up to 24-bit /96kHz audio in BWF-compliant WAV or a variety of MP3 formats
• Auto-record, Pre-record and Backup-record functions mean that you’ll never miss that perfect take
• Built-in effects, including low-cut filtering, compression, and limiting
• Multichannel and stereo USB audio interface for PC/Mac/iPad
• Accepts standard AA alkaline or NiMH rechargeable batteries
• Over 10 hours of operation with 4 AA alkaline batteries

There’s An App For Your Workflow

Whether you’re capturing audio on location, recording music, or producing a podcast, the H8 colour touchscreen adapts to your project’s needs with three App-driven interface options. All with the touch of your finger.

The Podcast App

The PODCAST App makes high-production quality simple. With dedicated Sound Pads, use the touch screen to trigger sound effects, music beds and more. Choose from 13 high-quality sounds or load your own via an SD card.

^{* The Podcast app accommodates up to 4 mics and two Sound Pad channels.}

The Music App

The MUSIC App puts all the important controls at your fingertips: audio levels, faders, metering and more. With 10 inputs and 12 tracks, capturing a large group is easy. Mix, overdub, and enhance your recordings with EQ and compression. Connect to Zoom’s Guitar Lab via USB to access an endless assortment of amps and effects.

The Field App

The FIELD App is ideal for location sound, sound design, conferences, and more. It gives you instant access to large meters for every track, so you can make sure your recordings never clip. Adjust input type, lo-cut, compress, limiter, noise gate, and other key settings.

The Mic Capsule

The H8 comes with the Zoom XYH-6 microphone. This capsule provides two matched high-quality unidirectional mics, for capturing signal directly in front of the recorder. With the Zoom mic capsule system, you can easily swap capsules to ensure you’re always using the right mic for the job.

Six Interchangeable Mic Capsules

XYH-6 Mic Capsule

The capsule adds two matched high-quality unidirectional microphones to your H8, H6, or H5. This kind of microphone is most sensitive to signals coming from directly in front and less sensitive to signals coming from behind or from the sides; in technical terms, they are said to utilize a cardioid polar pattern.

MSH-6 Mic Capsule

Mid-side mic magic. MS (“Mid-Side”) recording: an incredible technique that allows you to actually adjust the width of the stereo image after it has been recorded, making it especially useful for film, video and television projects.

XYH-5 Mic Capsule

X/Y stereo recording allows you to cover a wide area yet still capture a strong centre image. The XYH-5 X/Y microphone capsule provided with the H5 features two matched unidirectional condenser microphones set at a 90-degree angle and housed within an advanced shockmount to minimize vibration and handling noise, making it ideal for location videography and live broadcast/podcast applications.

SGH-6 Mic Capsule

The SGH-6 Shotgun capsule adds a professional-quality hyper-directional (that is, highly directional) microphone turning your H6 or H5 into the perfect audio recorder for anyone working in film, video or live theater, or for ENG (electronic news gathering) applications.

EXH-6 Mic Capsule

If you need more inputs, simply plug in the EXH-6 Dual XLR/TRS Combo capsule. It allows you to connect two additional discrete channels for external microphones, instruments, mixers or portable music players.

SSH-6 Mic Capsule

The SSH-6 mid-side stereo shotgun capsule includes a super-directional microphone for picking up sound in the centre, as well as a bidirectional side mic for picking up sounds from the left and right. This allows you to record a fully mono-compatible stereo image – ideal for film, video, and television projects. For example, you can capture dialogue with the centre mic, and mix in the desired amount of environmental sound captured by the side mic directly on your Zoom recorder, or in postproduction. A hairy windscreen is included for the reduction of wind noise.

Next-Generation Capsule System

Zoom’s Capsule System 2.0 allows up to 4 channels of audio to be added to the H8’s capsule connection, creating new ways to expand your recording capabilities.

Combination XY/AB mic

XAH-8

The XAH-8 capsule delivers pristine stereo recordings. Easily rotate the capsules from a tight XY pattern to a wide AB pattern to enhance the stereo image of your recordings.

Ambisonic Mic

VRH-8

The VRH-8 is an Ambisonic mic capsule that utilizes four condenser microphones to deliver immersive 360 audio recordings. A built-in accelerometer helps ensure the capsule is always perfectly aligned, while the on-board Ambisonic decoder automatically handles the necessary conversions, saving you time in post-production.

Expander Capsule

EXH-8

The EXH-8 capsule provides 4 additional XLR inputs, giving you a total of 10. Each additional input has a dedicated gain knob and pad switch. You can even use your favourite condenser microphones—just connect a power source to the EXH-8 capsule to supply phantom power.

Remote Control

You can monitor level meters and hit REC,PLAY, and STOP in each H8 application mode. Just insert the BTA-1 to your H8 and connect to your iOS device.

* BTA-1 sold separately. 

Inputs & Outputs

H8 offers 4 XLR inputs with dedicated pad switches and gain control. 2 additional XLR/TRS combo jacks with Hi-Z switches allow you to capture line-level signals, and microphones, or directly record electric guitars and basses.

Monitor tracks using the built-in 1/8” headphone output or connect directly to your camera using the dedicated stereo line output.

Multi-Channel Audio Interface

The H8 is a powerful USB audio interface. Connect via USB to your PC, Mac, or iPad for up to 12 channels of simultaneous recording.

Recording Time & File Formats

Get more than 10 hours of recording time from just 4 AA batteries. Or record forever with the optional AD-17 adapter.

The H8 records BWF-compliant WAV and MP3 files in any of the following formats:

What’s In The Box

• H8 Handy Recorder
• XYH-6 X/Y Mic Capsule
• Quick Guide

General Specifications