New Music Gear Monday: Zoom F6 6 Track Field Recorder

While video and film creators many times need a way to record multiple tracks of audio in the field, musicians, songwriters and producers are often faced with the same problem. Rehearsals, preproduction and songwriting sessions require documentation, and that’s were a small recorder can really come in handy. Portable 4 track recorders are everywhere, but sometimes all you need is a couple of extra tracks in a small professional package. That’s where the new Zoom F6 field recorder comes in.

The F6 features 6 high-gain mic inputs on XLR connectors that can record up to 8 simultaneous tracks (6 input tracks and a stereo mix) onto SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards up to 512GB in size. Plus, there’s also a USB interface so the unit can connect directly to a computer as an audio interface, or both at the same time.

It’s designed with quality audio in mind, with mic preamps that offer up to 75dB of clean gain with an ultra-low noise floor, combined with look-ahead hybrid limiters on the inputs that prevent signal spikes from ruining your recordings, which can easily happen if you’re doing too many things at once. Plus the convertors feature 32-bit conversion for a wide dynamic range and a sample rate of up to 192kHz.

The front panel features a versatile color display that shows the input levels, stereo mix level and stereo line output level, as well as time code, file name, and sample rate. A set of 3 transport controls site below the display. 3 rotary input level controls each with a record LED sit on either side of the display, as well as a PFL button and display navigation buttons.

The XLR inputs are fitted on either side of the unit along with line out, USB, power slots, headphone jack with level control and indented on/off switch. The rear of the unit contains the slot for the SD card and battery compartment.

The F6 can be controlled from an outboard iOS device or from an accessory hardware controller called the FRC-8. Power comes via multiple options including 4 AA batteries, an AC adapter, or with Sony L-Series batteries.

The best part about the Zoom F6 is that it’s priced at a reasonable $649, which is a pretty big bang for the buck. That said, it won’t be available until fall/winter of 2019 so we’ll have to wait a little while to get our hands on it.

You can find out more here, or watch the video below.