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Review of the Podcast mixer ZOOM LiveTrak L6
Podcasting and streaming have never been more popular, and there have never been more great products for producing your own podcast. If you have something to say but have never dealt with the tech side, it can feel overwhelming to start recording, editing and publishing a podcast yourself – but fortunately the learning curve isn’t that steep, and with the right gear, anyone can make a podcast! At the heart of your new podcast studio, you’ll find a podcast mixer. That’s where you connect microphones and headphones, control what you hear while recording, play jingles – and, most importantly, record the audio.
With Zoom’s LiveTrak series, you get everything you need to produce podcasts of the highest quality. When you look at the product pages, it’s easy to get lost in specifications and features. Basically, there are two ways you can use a LiveTrak mixer: you can record a stereo track, doing the processing while you record. That means the goal is that when you press the stop button, you have a file that is, in principle, ready to publish.
The other method is to edit the recordings afterwards in a DAW on your computer (DAW = Digital Audio Workstation = a music program such as Cubase, for example). Technically, that method is called multitrack – even if you only record one vocal. Both workflows have pros and cons and can be good for different things. The advantage of recording a stereo track on the LiveTrak mixer is that there’s a short path from recording to being ready to upload, and in that way you can test things more quickly and get started with what matters most: the content.
The downside, on the other hand, is that you don’t have as much opportunity to edit levels, cut things out, etc. And if you made a setting during recording, you’re stuck with it! Multitrack, by contrast, gives you greater scope to mix and fine-tune afterwards. That can also mean adding sound effects, cutting a section out, removing coughs, etc. The downside is that you risk getting stuck and simply not reaching the finish line. Many therefore start with the first method, and as you become more comfortable, you can move over to doing more editing afterwards.
Compact and packed with features
The new Zoom LiveTrak L-6 has everything you need to get started, as long as you don’t need more than two microphones. In short, your setup will look like this:
- You connect microphone(s) to channel 1 and 2 on the Zoom LiveTrak L-6.
- You adjust the sound using the physical controls and in the ‘Zoom L6 Editor’ app on a computer or smartphone/tablet.
- You record the audio either to a MicroSD card directly on the Zoom LiveTrak L-6 or in an audio program on your computer, where the L-6 functions as an audio interface connected via USB.
- You monitor the audio by connecting headphones to the LiveTrak L-6.
In addition to the sound you record from your microphone, you can play jingles and sound effects live while you record the podcast. You use the four ‘SOUND PAD’ buttons for this, and the volume is controlled with the rotary knob right underneath. And of course they are recorded into the master stereo file or as a multitrack, depending on which mode you record in.
Latest technology
When recording, for example, a microphone, it needs to be amplified – and it has always been incredibly important to set this correctly, so you neither clip (where it crackles) nor record too low (so you get a lot of noise). With the LiveTrak L-6, you don’t need to worry about hitting the right amount of gain, as it records using the new 32-bit Floating Point technique.
We won’t go into the nerdy details of the technology here, but in practice it means that the file you record has such high resolution that it can’t clip, and you can turn up the gain/volume without the noise coming along with it. That means that when you record, you can focus your energy on your content without worrying about the technical side and recording levels.
Create your favourite presets
Even though the LiveTrak L-6 has a very small footprint, it’s packed with features. One of them is the ability to save three scenes. A scene stores all the information about effects, EQ, sends, etc., so you can recall it at the press of a button. This can be worth its weight in gold, for example, if you often switch between recording with one or two people – or maybe you use the mixer both for podcasting and as a small live mixer for duo gigs. It saves a lot of time and makes it much easier to get started when you can bring up all settings with a single button.
Standalone or audio interface
The LiveTrak L-6 can be used as a complete podcast studio, where you record directly to a MicroSD card. It can even run on batteries, so you can record anywhere. If you prefer recording directly into a computer program (such as Cubase, GarageBand, Hindenburg, etc.), you can also use it as an external sound card/audio interface, giving your computer or device audio inputs and outputs.
It’s compatible with both Mac and PC and also works with Android and iOS. If your iOS device doesn’t have a USB-C port, you’ll need to purchase an Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter to connect the USB cable from the LiveTrak L-6. This also makes it possible to stream with the best audio quality, as your apps can receive audio from the LiveTrak L-6 when you go live on, for example, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook and similar platforms.
A powerhouse
You get an incredible number of features for the money with a LiveTrak mixer, so if you need an audio Swiss Army knife, it’s the right choice. 32-bit floating point recording is the future, and with sound pads, scenes, a control app, great effects, audio interface functionality, battery operation, standalone recording and compatibility with all systems, it’s hard to ask for more in a compact podcast mixer. The LiveTrak L-6 gets our strongest recommendation and will definitely be in the bag the next time we head out to record a podcast!
