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SD 442 to Zoom H6 - Line or Mic out?


justinstrazdas

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Hi,

 

First off, I realize the Zoom H6 is not an ideal recorder for a field mixer. I plan to cross-grade to a Tascam DR-40 soon.

 

But I still want the H6 to record iso's from the direct outs.

Also, the TRS module's -12dB backup recording of my mix out is nice to have.

 

I wish there was a feature to set the input gain in the menu and disable the pots. For now, gaff tape works fine. Anyone hacking the firmware on these or know where I can submit a feature request?

 

 

I'm currently running everything mic out from the 442 to the H6 and not engaging any pads.

 

Tone on the 442 is set to the 0VU/0dBu default, and on the H6, when set to 0VU/-20dBFS, the signal hits around -17dBFS on the main meters, so I have to bring them down a bit to -20dBFS.

 

The Question: Should I keep it mic out to the H6 (pots around 5), or run line out and engage the -20 pad (pots around 2)? I'm just worried that I'll subtly drive them too hard, but I also realize the SD should do the heavy lifting with gain and try to avoid the H6 preamps as much as possible.

 

Alternately, are inline attenuators a safer bet than the H6 pads?

 

The Zoom is a cool unit on it's own, it's just that it's limitations quickly pile up when you upgrade by adding a field mixer. Any experiences or insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

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Hi, and welcome,

if it ain't broken, don't go fixin' it !

Justin: " I'm just worried that I'll subtly drive them too hard, but I also realize the SD should do the heavy lifting with gain and try to avoid the H6 preamps as much as possible. "

if your client can't tell that you are using a zoom, then they probably won't notice any subtle differences, and if you can't notice them... do they really exist ?

and if you go through the zoom inputs, you cannot avoid the zoom preamplifiers.

Edited by studiomprd
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"and if you go through the zoom inputs, you cannot avoid the zoom preamplifiers"

- Absolutely, most budget recorders just attenuate the line siganl back down to mic level and it goes through the mic preamp anyway.

 I don't know if the H5/6 accepts +4dB balanced line either.. the H4n didn't. Either way the SD front-end would be preferred. prior to the Zoom, especially where a lot of gain is needed .

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Thanks for the welcome and advice!

I realize I can't bypass the H6 preamps, so I wondered if keeping them as low as possible (not that they're particularly noisy) with a hotter attenuated signal was preferable.

I'm going to test running 442 line level out to Zoom H6 pad engaged and see if I can hear a difference.

I imagine that attenuators by design don't differ much, but for a bit I felt more comfortable running 442 mic level out to the H6 without a pad and a little more gain on the zoom pres.

Also, it does say in the H6 manual that you can accept +4 line with the -20 pad engaged. Also, I should just get a DR-40 for the mix outs.

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