Grace has recently repaired some of AP’s equipment, and he has a few (very nice) things to say about their level of workmanship, and the customer service experience.
And Robert has recently replaced some studio gear and picked himself up the Zoom H6. A piece of gear he is now using as part of the show. Take a listen to his review, and a group chat about it’s good and not so good features…
Don’t forget to like our facebook page and if you have a question of your own you’d like us to answer, post it there and we will answer it as best we can.
You’ll also find us on the web at theproaudiosuite.com
The Pro Audio Suite Podcast copyright George Whittam, Andrew Peters, Robert Marshall & Darren Robertson.
00:00
this is the pro audio suite podcast
00:03
quick bytes and welcome to another pro
00:07
audio suite quick bite just want to
00:10
start this one by just saying grace
00:12
design looked after me very well and in
00:14
fact I’m sure they look after all their
00:16
clients equally as well but my m101 was
00:19
a very early one and there was an issue
00:21
with some of the pots internal pots send
00:24
it back to grace they’ve replaced
00:26
everything updated everything and
00:28
sending it back to me and the fee for
00:31
the update free wow isn’t that nice I
00:35
just had to pay for postage which i
00:37
think is that’s great support you know
00:39
what that is it you know what that is
00:41
that’s a gracious gesture ah boom Tish
00:44
we’re off already but now you you’re a
00:47
buddy of Evans aren’t you George
00:49
oh yeah I’ve mountain biked with Evan
00:52
and had tacos with Evan Evan yeah he
00:55
says there’s a great desert two great
00:57
people their stuff is very high value
01:00
for what you pay yeah and really
01:03
well-made and clearly they stand behind
01:05
their product like I mean this stuff
01:07
does not have a lifetime warranty but I
01:08
mean that it’s almost basically a
01:10
lifetime warranty to send something in
01:12
that old and have it not only repaired
01:14
but in but better than when you sent it
01:16
in is you know that’s that’s great and
01:18
yeah they can do that because they’re
01:20
not fixing these dang things day in day
01:22
out you know they’re well made they
01:23
don’t generally need any repair
01:26
it’s yeah they’re that they need it so
01:27
that’s that’s cool I have to say my
01:29
experience with companies is that they
01:31
usually more of them don’t repair stuff
01:35
once they have they’re out legally like
01:37
they have to support something for seven
01:39
years or whatever it is
01:41
um and often they’re like we don’t have
01:43
parts
01:44
I lost a knob for something like simple
01:48
thing like that they’re just like yeah
01:49
we don’t have parts yeah and and the one
01:52
company I know that also will still at
01:54
least put something on the bench that
01:55
they do charge you is um Telos will
01:59
still even fix up some of those old
02:00
ninety 202 and you know yes 25 year old
02:04
box which is great yeah meanwhile with
02:08
some other companies I won’t name them
02:09
but won’t support their stuff after
02:11
seven years in some made unless
02:13
I had an issue with a very well-known
02:17
English brand of preamplifier and hadn’t
02:22
know was in the preamp it was the
02:23
compressor had an issue with it it was
02:25
only probably two years old and you know
02:28
it should have lasted a lot longer than
02:30
that before it needed any repairs but
02:32
some so there you go that’s the
02:33
difference between grace design and many
02:36
of competitors it’s okay if they charge
02:38
even but support your stuff and provide
02:40
yeah like you know don’t expect me to
02:43
buy another one of your product if you
02:44
won’t fix your old one because I it’s
02:46
like that’s this motivation to go to
02:48
your competition yeah yeah at the very
02:50
least don’t try and sell me on your
02:52
quality if you won’t back it up with a
02:53
repair guarantee or something like that
02:55
exactly exactly I agree and I’ve become
02:58
friends with a another mountain biking
02:59
buddy here in here and where I live now
03:02
who is a repair technician in town
03:05
they are the official Avalon repair shop
03:09
antelope audio they’re the only us audio
03:12
repair place for antelope and you know
03:15
the problem they have is with certain
03:16
companies they add well okay I’ll call
03:19
them out antelope will not send them
03:21
anything bored more than a board so like
03:24
if something is wrong on a board you
03:26
can’t they can’t fix it because they
03:27
don’t have schematics they won’t be
03:29
given schematics it to wait for a
03:31
bulgarian company to ship them aboard to
03:34
fix something um it just makes takes a
03:38
very long time and cost a lot of money
03:39
so when you buy your products know who
03:42
makes them know what you know where
03:45
they’re made and how you support them
03:46
because when you need support and need
03:49
fixed if you’re gonna be waiting two
03:51
three weeks more longer because the the
03:55
repair house can’t even get schematics
03:57
that’s something to be concerned about
03:58
so yeah you know it’s maybe not thinking
04:01
about that on a $300 product that’s made
04:03
in China but on a six thousand dollar
04:05
piece of gear that’s something you might
04:07
want to know think about when you buy
04:08
something yeah this is exactly and and
04:11
also how long they’re going to support
04:12
it not just physically but more and more
04:15
these days how they’re gonna support it
04:16
software wise I mean the entire
04:19
experience that all the pro control and
04:21
control 24 users had I think is you know
04:26
like
04:27
a tough one to go through you buy
04:28
something that is so central to your
04:31
studio that it it’s your furniture it’s
04:33
your monitor controller it’s also your
04:35
you know your controller for your
04:37
workstation and then what seems to be
04:40
pretty arbitrarily they decide on we
04:42
don’t support it on the next version of
04:43
software yeah that’s that’s rough that’s
04:47
nuts
04:48
yeah really you know it’s like granted
04:51
they it’s been out for ten years or
04:52
whatever but unless there’s a real
04:55
reason why like we can’t support it
04:57
because of this and that technical thing
04:59
but essentially we don’t want to like
05:03
charge us for update software whatever
05:05
but yeah yeah and we also notice Robert
05:09
you’re sounding rather good this week
05:11
you’re not going to Train you’re not in
05:12
a car
05:13
in fact can you hand me a beer from the
05:15
fridge placement six feet from my fridge
05:22
can you gues perfect we can so a
05:26
venereal what’s going on well basically
05:30
I finally got some gear to replace
05:32
everything that I had lost and stolen
05:35
but yes stolen yes and so what I decided
05:38
to go with was a zoom h6 a found it to
05:41
be just a very flexible thing not really
05:45
if you look at it and think about it not
05:48
much bigger than something like a you
05:51
know a sure X to you what is it maybe
05:53
three of those or and I was also
05:58
considering some like the centrist mixer
06:01
face and and a number of other like you
06:04
know small interfaces and basically what
06:06
I thought is that this one seemed to
06:07
have the broadest spread of features it
06:10
stands alone on its own but it’s also
06:12
also an audio interface and it’s it’s
06:15
multitrack you can even get a extension
06:18
on the front that gives you six total
06:20
XLR inputs which for a lot of people’s
06:22
like who cares but I do a fair amount of
06:25
music recording and and whatnot and so
06:27
yeah I mean I’ve only had it for about
06:30
three hours now to be honest but easy
06:33
enough just a plug and go and I haven’t
06:35
looked at the multitrack interface
06:37
feature so far but I’m just using it in
06:39
its stereo mode and that pretty much
06:41
popped up right away chrome at first
06:43
wasn’t too happy with it did you have to
06:45
RTFM read the freaking manual is
06:48
together or download manual but I didn’t
06:51
so here’s what happened I basically
06:53
hooked it up didn’t read the manual
06:55
pretty easily dived in you know Dovan to
06:58
the menus and put in interface mode
06:59
figured that probably something like the
07:02
multitrack mode is harder to deal with
07:04
the stereo mode so I just went straight
07:05
for the stereo mode opened up source
07:07
connect now and you know made it my
07:10
input my output and at first I didn’t
07:11
hear any anything coming out and I
07:13
couldn’t get that figured out I did a go
07:16
to the manual the manual had nothing for
07:18
me it was all the obvious stuff that you
07:20
could find without reading the manual
07:21
and then I refreshed the page on source
07:24
connect now and toggled something and
07:26
then all of a sudden boom I got output
07:29
and it’s been that was the only sort of
07:31
stumbling I had at all besides that it’s
07:34
pretty easy to figure out without the
07:35
manual I mean it’s not overly
07:38
complicated but it seems to have a pre
07:40
good set of features I think it’s got
07:43
physical knobs right like it’s got
07:45
physical gain knobs you know actual pots
07:48
not little clicky buttons yeah it’s got
07:51
it’s got for gain knobs for the four XLR
07:54
inputs and the gain knobs are pretty
07:57
solid but they’re a little bit Wiggly
07:58
one thing that’s nice is they got a
08:00
plastic shield so that you’re not going
08:02
to knock them out from the outside like
08:04
you know it’s not likely that you’re
08:07
gonna move them by accident it’s got
08:09
four pad switches phantom power is
08:12
individual per port but it is software
08:14
controlled that was a little bit
08:16
annoying to find but not bad
08:19
and then so going down from the front
08:21
panel those four knobs and the four pads
08:24
which is you basically have six track
08:26
arms in the form of a left-right and
08:28
then one two three four
08:30
now the audio interface actually one is
08:33
three because left right is one and two
08:35
but not a big deal in stereo mode the
08:38
audio interface has a mixer in it and it
08:41
will mix all six inputs to stereo so
08:43
that’s kind of cool and then you got
08:46
your stop fast-forward rewind record
08:49
buttons and a pause which is the same as
08:52
the play on the side
08:55
you basically have a menu button that
08:56
gets you into the menu structure and
08:58
then a up-down toggle it’s also a push
09:01
button for like select so that’s the
09:03
whole GUI or user interface is just the
09:05
menu button and then like up or down and
09:08
and okay I don’t know if you’ve had it
09:10
long enough to know if it can do this
09:12
but can it record six tracks and a mix
09:14
down simultaneously or is it no it’s
09:19
down it might relate to four tracks and
09:22
a mix down and might do that I don’t
09:24
know I’ve done a bit of rating it
09:26
doesn’t do any mix down unless well you
09:29
could take the stereo mix out into
09:31
something else I guess would be the only
09:33
way I can take the stereo mix out into
09:34
the USB interface but basically the six
09:37
tracks are the six tracks if there’s no
09:39
sure usage it does have it’s basically
09:42
presented as one stereo and for
09:44
individual tracks so it doesn’t seem to
09:48
have a mix down but I don’t know that it
09:50
does have a loopback feature though will
09:52
it where it will record and this does
09:54
come into play with podcasting and
09:56
things like that
09:56
it will record what’s coming out of your
09:58
computer back into what you’re recording
10:01
and now if you’re doing this in stereo
10:03
mode you could put yourself on one side
10:05
and maybe you can pan the computer to
10:07
the other side something like that I’ve
10:09
been played with it too much but it does
10:11
have that ability to cat I believe
10:14
capture what’s coming out of the
10:15
computer I’ve also seen you can buy a
10:17
shotgun mic capsule for those it has a
10:20
shotgun mic it has a XLR pod and then it
10:23
has an MS mic and an XY mic that it
10:25
comes with and most of the mics have a
10:27
little gain knob on them and what’s
10:29
funny is actually the MS mic also has a
10:32
little 8 inch input if you wanted to do
10:34
like crappy line input -10 stuff or
10:37
something right so it’s yeah it’s cool
10:41
pretty kitted out and then the fact that
10:43
it can work as an audio interface
10:45
multi-channel audio interface although
10:47
would be sweet if it had two extra
10:49
outputs that just would have that would
10:52
have been amazing and then you know and
10:54
it works with iPads possibly iPhones Oh
10:57
only in stereo mode however mm-hmm and
11:01
then the price point sitting at the same
11:03
price point as things like a mixer face
11:06
or you know I
11:09
just I don’t know I got it yeah no it’s
11:13
definitely more flexible more features
11:15
for the bang for the buck
11:17
that’s it Lex it lacks a good mixer
11:19
between what the return from the
11:21
computer and your low latency monitor
11:23
it’s kind of like this entrance mic port
11:25
it’s like the original mic port Pro you
11:27
just there there’s your mix 5050 always
11:30
mix it in your computer if you if you
11:32
have the option if not sorry got you out
11:36
that was the one that’s really the only
11:38
one thing I was like a little bit bummer
11:40
on so far the preamps seem clean enough
11:44
I mean we’re not hearing any like
11:48
elevated hiss we just we can hear the
11:50
room it’s hard to tell with the
11:51
background although I have to say by the
11:56
time robos worked his magic on this no
11:59
one will be hearing the fridge but you
12:00
know that’s exactly our extra right over
12:03
there isn’t it yeah here in fact let’s
12:05
all it takes a moment of silence so you
12:07
can get a fingerprint of the noise need
12:17
a quarter of a second that’s it yeah no
12:18
no that’s great I’m glad you have a kit
12:20
now that you can use first to show
12:22
consistently and look forward to finding
12:25
more cool ways you make use of it
12:27
because it’s it’s the modularity of it
12:29
the ability to plug in different
12:30
microphone systems is pretty slick so it
12:36
should be fun I mean the fact that I
12:37
think one thing that’s cool about these
12:38
is you can record a stereo XY or MS and
12:43
then four tracks of ISO so if you want
12:45
to record a live band you can get two
12:47
stereo room sound and then grab ISOs off
12:50
of a mixer like auxins or buses or and
12:54
that’s actually that’s enough that you
12:56
could get a pretty usable live mix later
12:59
for like a demo or something
13:02
this is replacing a tascam da p1
13:05
remember that Wow well with that yeah it
13:12
was a DAT machine and yeah it had
13:14
basically two preamps on it and it was
13:16
my it was my kit I had a little star
13:19
case and if I had to record an orchestra
13:20
or something that wasn’t like
13:22
you know I’ve got a kit where I’ve got a
13:24
millennia preamp and some like you know
13:27
then you’re lugging some racks you know
13:29
and so this was this was my like hey
13:32
listen like this yeah and it was the da
13:35
p1 and the you know I would use ash or
13:39
VP 88 with it and that would pair nicely
13:42
with this but it kind of has its own
13:44
built in in a way and yeah yeah it’s
13:47
replacing that and what do you want to
13:49
buy a da p1 that machine well we I had
13:55
one at school hears music like there was
13:58
the handbag one wasn’t a sort of you
13:59
slung it over your shoulder and it get a
14:03
kit like a bag that would have a little
14:05
clear yeah their thing and the head of
14:07
might and then like the velcro on the
14:09
side to get your mics in it it I used to
14:11
have a
14:12
hhb at work that was like the mother of
14:15
that same style is you could have like a
14:18
little bottom module that would do
14:19
timecode yeah yeah yeah but that does
14:22
remind me the one thing this doesn’t
14:23
have is there’s no digital out I mean I
14:26
guess there’s the USB digital out right
14:29
but there’s no specific you for
14:32
something on it they do have a big
14:34
brother to it there’s there’s a zoom
14:37
machine right one or something eight
14:39
there’s one this there’s an eight-track
14:41
model a trust model is it the white more
14:44
with faders no it’s not white it looks
14:47
like a bag mixer it’s not so inaudible
14:51
right it’s not like stick it in your
14:53
pocket portable it’s not in your devices
14:56
yeah yeah yeah it’s there sound devices
14:58
competitor way less expensive and and
15:01
the 8-track model has truly eight XLR
15:05
ends yeah you know it’s a full system
15:08
much better preamps I think the preamps
15:09
are like a significant step up yeah and
15:13
it’s a little bit more money and it’s
15:14
not like 800 or a thousand it’s like you
15:17
know mid maybe 500 it’s so they still
15:21
have like you step ups from what you
15:23
have when you really need more you know
15:26
that unit probably answers a lot of the
15:28
things like I wish had that digital this
15:30
or that you know on a unit like the size
15:32
of yours there’s only physically how
15:34
many places you can put stuff
15:36
and have it be usable so yeah bigger
15:38
units have more room real steep cool no
15:41
I was googling obviously I’m looking at
15:44
it I’m looking at these zoom at full
15:47
multitrack well I could I go I hear it
15:49
is ran the zoom f6 it’s no no I know the
15:52
arm looks like a BRE
15:54
no the r8 is not it either no into the
15:57
zoom f66 MOV caching track multi track
16:01
field recorder that thing looks rested
16:04
yeah the f96 got two more tracks it
16:10
looks a lot beefier that thing looks
16:12
sweet and then you have the f8 so how
16:14
much is that over there out of interest
16:17
the h6 or yeah the FCS the f6 the the f6
16:22
is 650 at Wow and then they have the f8
16:32
n and that’s an 8 in 10 track so that
16:36
does the 8 tracks with a stereo mix down
16:39
with look-ahead limiters yeah all sorts
16:43
of bells and whistles and that one’s as
16:45
flat thousand us so that’s where you’re
16:48
starting to get up into the yeah you’re
16:50
gonna have a leading feature on it and
16:52
things like that yeah but still that
16:54
compared to the competitor which is
16:56
sound devices with the same number
16:57
tracks it’s like a fraction it’s like a
17:00
third the price right and probably the
17:02
biggest things sound devices can claim
17:03
is the converters and the and the
17:05
preamps because so probably some
17:08
features too but I imagine a lot of
17:10
these things people don’t dig into every
17:12
single feature yeah I’m code input
17:16
mm-hmm oh that’s that’s see that that
17:19
that says those little features is what
17:21
takes it into the pro level when it’s
17:23
got multi pin connectors dual duals
17:27
memory cards so it can overlap or every
17:29
done and see yeah
17:30
one feature I’m bummed about on this is
17:33
I was hoping it could record unto itself
17:34
while it’s also being used as an
17:36
interface but apparently no it’s gonna
17:38
ask you if we could do that that’s gonna
17:40
be hard to do now would it surely that
17:42
can’t be next general do ya the next
17:45
channel do that
17:47
hopefully hopefully there’s like a
17:48
software maybe there is a way to flash
17:49
these things with software who knows
17:51
yeah and what we’ll see I mean they seem
17:54
to be more into doing hardware than
17:55
firmware updates whereas this road
17:57
caster Pro they just keep seemed bacon
18:00
more and more features with updates yeah
18:02
so I mean if this thing was more
18:05
portable it the fact that it can do 14
18:08
ISO tracks including the mix down it is
18:12
mind boggling for further for the price
18:14
yeah for 600 so write and record all
18:19
that and go to the computer also all at
18:21
the same time and won’t and it’s just
18:24
like have a freaking do that yeah it’s
18:27
interesting because it’s like you know
18:28
like even this zoom and your podcaster
18:31
kind of have some very similar features
18:34
in the sense that they’re both
18:35
standalone recorders yours can record
18:37
ISOs this one can record ISOs yours can
18:39
record right how many physical inputs
18:41
was it four mics plus an on likes a USB
18:45
Mix a a phone input a bluetooth input
18:50
sound effects playback input right so
18:53
there’s stereo and then it’s the mix
18:55
down right so yeah yeah but at least at
19:00
least six of those are analog inputs not
19:02
like you know it’s got six analog input
19:07
right for mono mic and one stereo input
19:09
yeah yeah and then it’s got the recorder
19:12
yours has the pads on it yours does not
19:15
operate with a battery correct you need
19:17
that’s correct
19:18
like if you were gonna make this thing
19:19
around battery you’d have to do a wacky
19:22
hat season yeah exactly
19:24
um yours has faders yours is it you know
19:28
what clip bigger I mean yours is what
19:29
size of a laptop a little bit yeah this
19:31
is a desktop thing like of Road they’ve
19:34
got the AI one they’ve got this to me
19:37
the there’s a middle ground device
19:39
they’re gonna make it just seems so
19:40
obvious that they’re gonna now that they
19:43
have the software engineering the mic
19:45
preamps all that stuff the support the
19:47
firmware you know the investment in the
19:50
technology and now they do it around
19:51
they can make a tiny version of this
19:54
without all the faders and buttons that
19:56
just does the basic under the hood stuff
19:58
and then they have a zoom killer
20:00
you know for 400 bucks yeah so or 300
20:03
bucks so I mean it seems to me obvious
20:05
that they’ll do that eventually yes I
20:08
think this zoom is like street price
20:10
somewhere in like the depending on what
20:12
options you get with it it’s like three
20:15
three 350 maybe um and so you know what
20:20
200 bucks more and you’re talking about
20:22
the the podcaster right the road caster
20:24
who road cast yeah I mean what you’re
20:25
paying with the road caster is you know
20:27
it’s a physical unit with physical
20:29
sliders you know and sliders aren’t
20:31
cheap anytime you have a switch or a
20:33
button that lights up and a knob that’s
20:35
all money going to bet the profit ratio
20:38
on the road caster is lower than the
20:41
profit ratio on the zoom h6 and it’s
20:44
hard to say let’s do it but jeez these
20:48
things are affordable for what she does
20:51
the government pay for the R&D; in
20:53
Australia no they just pay for fairly no
20:55
subsidizing or the fair life yeah that’s
20:57
a that’s who they pay for the golf swing
21:00
governments bailed a moment he sent
21:02
right many times I get I believe twice
21:05
I’m gonna build out yeah you you
21:08
probably own a piece of fair light well
21:11
I want my piece back please but hey I
21:14
think I think the reason that Road keep
21:16
everything at the price point is because
21:18
of that incredible factory they have in
21:21
Sydney mmm well what’s amazing to me is
21:23
when a company decides their that they
21:25
don’t need to make like they could sell
21:28
the stuff for more they think they
21:29
clearly could young this unit could sell
21:32
for 200 more than it is if it came out
21:34
at $6.99 or $7.99 people still would
21:37
have bought it yep so you know their
21:40
pricing is very aggressive of course the
21:42
US dollar being strong as it is is a big
21:45
factor in that too yeah but it is quite
21:49
remarkable what you’re the value
21:51
proposition from Road always in the u.s.
21:53
is super strong but see don’t forget
21:55
they probably also not price pointing
21:57
for just professionals they’re also
21:59
price pointing for weekend
22:02
how much is your make a podcast a two so
22:04
I think they’re right on the podcast
22:05
wave a little bit yes definitely yeah
22:08
we’re zoom h6 was like stuck into a
22:12
podcast role but
22:14
is not designed like the zoom h6 is
22:16
actually a pretty old product so yeah
22:19
the zoom h6 you’re gonna see every
22:21
low-budget film maker in LA before none
22:23
of these on there yes Nick yeah you know
22:25
I mean guarantee it that’s what I’ve
22:27
seen them I mean if I was doing no
22:29
budget filmmaking I’d be using a zoom h6
22:32
or something like that so that’s what it
22:35
really is it’s target market but because
22:37
of its flexibility could be used for so
22:39
many other things with the podcasting
22:40
being one of them it’s got a metronome
22:43
in it – yeah it’s got a metronome it is
22:49
it is that a short person that catches
22:51
you on the ground so does that mean you
22:54
speak to a clock when you’re recording
23:00
maybe we can get our together that’s a
23:10
good out yeah that’s the age six there
23:13
you go that was the pro audio suite if
23:17
you have any questions or ideas for a
23:19
show let us know via our Facebook the
23:22
pro audio suite podcast
23:27
you
Products or companies we discuss are not paid endorsements. They are not sponsored by, nor do we have any professional or affiliate relationship of any kind with any of the companies or products highlighted in the show…. sadly! It’s just stuff we like, think is cool and may be of interest to you our listeners.
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.”
― Hunter S Thompson
The team investigate the different options when it comes to monitoring in a home studio )or any environment for that matter. Why you may or may not need monitoring, and more importantly how much do you need to spend?
In this episode, Robert, Andrew, Robbo and George discuss the Pros and Cons of listing the gear you’re using.
Don’t forget to like our facebook page and if you have a question of your own you’d like us to answer, post it there and we will answer it as best we can.
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The Pro Audio Suite Podcast copyright George Whittam, Andrew Peters, Robert Marshall & Darren Robertson.
Products or companies we discuss are not paid endorsements. They are not sponsored by, nor do we have any professional or affiliate relationship of any kind with any of the companies or products highlighted in the show…. sadly! It’s just stuff we like, think is cool and may be of interest to you our listeners.
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.”
― Hunter S Thompson