Not Your Average Mic Recorder: Zaxcom ZFR800

The 2007 NAB has brought a very interesting announcement (and proper piece of gear as well) from Zaxcom, regarding a totally cool microphone, the ZFR800. Now, what's so cool about it, might you ask... It's the simple fact that the ZFR800 is way more than a simple microphone: it is in fact a digital recording device acting as well as a mic!

Yep, it's true! Besides looking like your ordinary wireless, handheld microphone, the new Zaxcom mic has received a built-in ADC and a card recording unit. Technically, things are quite simple: you speak, sing, capture whatever type of sound you want, but there is no need to have this signal transmitted to a mixing console out of which you'll take the signal and record (as you would have done until now).

You simply press the record buttons and start doing your job: the Zaxcom ZFR800 will record up to 8 hours on a 2 GB SD card and it can do this in either WAV or MP3 format. The Zaxcom ZFR800 will do all recordings in an either 16 or 24-bit format and in a frequency response ranging between 20Hz and 20 kHz. This new recording microphone also sports a high pass filter set at frequencies between 32Hz-220 kHz with a 6dB/octave step.

Some additional features are most likely going to transform the Zaxcom ZFR800 in a bestselling microphone among media broadcasters and reporters alike, as well as people who constantly work with recorded audio in various media. First of all the Zaxcom ZFR800 sports a headphone output for on the fly monitoring of the recording. Next is the "camouflaged" keypad, especially designed for single-hand operations. Last but not least, the backlit LCD screen offers a lot of important data when needed, so your recording microphone experience will be as good as it gets.

The last nice thing about the Zaxcom ZFR800 is that its even body is just perfect for broadcast flags; the last great thing about it is that you can easily replace the Zaxcom capsule it comes loaded with by default with a Shure Screw-On capsule of your choice thus transforming this device in a pro-grade one.

The Zaxcom ZFR800 has reportedly begun shipping but the price is still unknown.