How To Record Dual Mono or One-Track Mono Audio on Zoom H5

Author: Tosh Lubek Published: 30 November 2023

If your XLR microphone recordings on a Zoom H5 are producing recordings where your voice is only on the left or right side, don’t worry. This article will show you how to record one XLR input to either a dual mono file or a true one-channel mono track.

Because most people who get the Zoom H5 recorder will initially record with the built-in XY microphones, the H5 comes set to Stereo File mode. That means that each time you press the record button, the H5 will record a stereo file, regardless of whether you use the built-in microphones or XLR Inputs 1 & 2.

That’s perfect if you’re using the built-in microphones or have two XLR microphones plugged into Inputs 1 & 2. In both cases, the audio from the left mic will be recorded to the left track, and the audio from the right mic will be recorded to the right track.

The problem occurs when you’re only using one XLR microphone, as you might do when recording your own voice or if you’re interviewing someone and sharing one handheld microphone. If the microphone is plugged into Input 1 of the Zoom H5 recorder, the audio will only appear on the left channel of a stereo file. This is demonstrated in the image below.

But if the microphone is plugged into Input 2, your audio will only appear on the right channel. This will result in the opposite of the images above.    

Fortunately, I have three ways to ensure your voice sounds as if it’s in the middle of the recording and not off to one side.

SOLUTION 1: Use an XLR Y-Splitter cable to produce a dual mono file

Then, with the recorder in stereo file mode, press the 1 & 2 track buttons to activate those tracks. Finally, press the record button to start recording.

You’ll end up with a stereo file with the same audio on both left and right. In other words, a dual mono file. To the listener, if listening on headphones or stereo speakers, your voice will appear as if it’s in the middle.

If you would like to use this method, I have found a suitable Y-Splitter cable on Amazon and included details below.

Last update on 2024-03-11 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

QUICK TIP: The length of the Y-Splitter cable is relatively short. To extend this, you can use a standard XLR cable between the microphone and the Y-Splitter.

SOLUTION 2: Let the H5 Create a Mono Mix file

The second solution uses the technology already in the H5 recorder to create a dual mono file. With this approach, there’s no need to buy any additional cables or accessories but you will need to make some changes in the menu.

Once the INPUT/OUTPUT menu screen opens, scroll down and select In1/2 Mono Mix. Be sure to select the correct option since you will see four options that all start with “In1/2”.

When in the In1/2 MONO MIX screen select ON. You can now exit the menu system with a couple of presses of the menu button.

Finally, press the record button to start recording. The Zoom H5 will create a dual mono track, as was the case in the first solution with the Y-Splitter cable.

SOLUTION 3: Create a Mono file in Multi file Record Mode

This final method creates a true mono file with just one channel by changing from Stereo file to multi-file record mode.

Press the menu button on the side of the recorder to open the MENU screen, then scroll down and select the REC MODE option. This will open the RECORD MODE screen where you need to select MULTI FILE. After you’ve selected MULTI FILE, the Zoom H5 recorder will automatically exit the menu system and return to the recording screen.

You’ll now see that the display has changed. Instead of two recording level meters, there are four. Those labeled L and R refer to the two built-in XY microphones. The ones labeled 1 and 2 refer to Inputs 1 and 2, i.e., the two XLR inputs.

Finally, press the record button to start your recording.

With this setup, the H5 recorder will create a single file that consists of one track. In other words, a single mono file.

Assuming you started with a newly formatted SD card, and you’ve chosen to create wav format recordings, the location and name of the file will be:

MULTI > FOLDER01 > ZOOM0001 > ZOOM0001_Tr1.wav.

If you navigate to that location, you will see that only one file was recorded despite the recorder being in Multi File record mode.

Because we only made Track 1 active, the other inputs were not recorded, and no files were created for those tracks. Therefore, this method does not potentially fill up your SD card with unwanted audio files that are blank.

The other advantage of this method is that by creating a mono file with one track, the audio file size will be half that of the dual mono files created in methods 1 & 2. Therefore, this solution is potentially the best way to record with one XLR microphone onto the Zoom H5 recorder.

Watch the Video

I demonstrate these three solutions to ensure your voice isn’t only on one side of your recording in this video.

YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING SOON, CHECK BACK AT THE START OF DECEMBER

Last update on 2024-03-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Final Thoughts

In this article, I’ve presented three ways to create mono recordings with one XLR microphone and a Zoom H5 Handy recorder that are NOT one-sided. The method included using an XLR Y-Splitter cable, activating the In1/2 Mono Mix function, and using the MULTI FILE recording mode.

The first two solutions will produce audio files that are dual mono, while the third method will produce true mono files with a single track.

Once you have finished your recording using the In1/2 MONO MIX method, consider deactivating the function, otherwise, this may lead to confusion when you next record with two XLR microphones. However, if when recording with two XLR microphones you don’t want to record onto separate tracks, you can leave In1/2 MONO MIX active. This will result in both voices appearing in the middle of a stereo mix rather than extreme left and right.

In this article, I have assumed you will be using a dynamic microphone. But if you will be using a condenser microphone that requires external phantom power, you can turn on phantom power in the Zoom H5 menu.

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