Should I buy this audio recorder?

[aksingha]

Hi,
I am planning to get a Zoom h1n audio recorder to record train sounds for the game. I was wondering if this particular device is good enough for the purpose. Does anyone have any experience with this equipment?

[BNSFdude]

I would opt for a Zoom H5 or H6 if you can swing it, but every Zoom or Tascam recorder will perform the task so long as you have a good wind filter installed. We've been using Tascam DR-05s in accompaniment with more professional mics and mixers for 10+ years now. So long as you're handy with post processing and have an idea of how things should sound, anything can sound good.

[aksingha]

Thank you for the input. I am now confused about which one to go for since you mentioned the DR 05. The H5 and H6 are a little expensive for me. Also, is it absolutely necessary to add a shotgun mic or can the DR 05 be used with its default mic alone?

[BNSFdude]

Thank you for the input. I am now confused about which one to go for since you mentioned the DR 05. The H5 and H6 are a little expensive for me. Also, is it absolutely necessary to add a shotgun mic or can the DR 05 be used with its default mic alone?

It can definitely be used with the inbuilt mics. Like I said, the best thing to ensure is that you have a good wind filter fitted. The in-built low and high cuts are also helpful for abating the frequencies you don't want out of the specific microphone. Before I got the shotgun mics, I would place them pointing to the source of noise I wanted, and set the cuts and levels accordingly to my monitors I plug in and check when the locomotive is under full power during sound check so I know that once I get the recordings on the computer I have something to work with. A good set of monitors will help a lot. I tried to go with something that's as EQ flat as possible, so I ended up with Senal SMH-1000s which have served me well all this time.

[aksingha]

Thanks a lot, I have decided to go for the Tascam DR05x. One last question.
When recording train sounds should the recorder be set to mono or stereo since we need to convert the audio to mono anyway when editing the sounds?