the MSH-6 Mid-Side capsule, with its bulbous hemisphere facing directly forwards, capturing audio from directly ahead.

Alternatively, the H5 can be used as a stereo or multitrack USB audio interface with up to 24 bit/96kHz. I only needed to look at the manual once, to check that the compressor and high-pass filters could be switched on just for the mics.The level control for the on-board mics is placed just above these knobs, making it is easy to see what controls what.

Great care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this article but neither Sound On Sound Limited nor the publishers can be held responsible for its contents. The H5’s XLR/TRS combo inputs can handle both mic- and line-level signals for microphones, wireless receivers, mixers, keyboards and more. But any negatives have been outweighed by the convenience of recording to an SD card, and the ability to read the recordings either via a card reader or by hooking the H4 up directly to a computer via USB. If you’re doing a lot of outside work I’d recommend investing in a Rycote windshield, which should fit the H5.

Zoom’s H4 has been hugely popular, and with the H5 it seems its few shortcomings have been ironed out. Less obvious is its second microphone, which collects ambient information from either side (hence the name MS, for Mid-Side).

Over the past thirty years, the company has built a reputation for producing innovative yet affordable products based on original microchip designs.Even more remarkable, you can use the Zoom as a live USB interface, feeding its four channels in real time to your computer’s preferred recording program. On the H5, however, you can pull them off and replace them with any of Zoom’s available capsules – there’s also the slightly larger X/Y capsule that comes with the H6. One highly recommendable option is that you can set the Zoom to make a ‘back-up’ copy of every recording, which will be made at a level 12dB lower than your main recording. This allows users to select the microphone capsule that best suits the situation - making trade-offs a thing of the past.