Zoom has announced the all-in-one solution for live mixing and recording. Available in September will be the new Zoom LiveTrak L-12. This is the most intuitive and versatile mixer and digital recorder all loaded into one lightweight, feature-packed housing. This week, we will go over a few of the key features that set this unit apart from the rest.

8 High-Quality Microphone Preamps and Compressors

Zoom has developed their best preamps yet just for the L-12. They can push up to 60dB of gain and are have the lowest EIN at -128dBu. In the L-12, there are 8 of these mic pres on the top left side via a combo XLR and line input jack. Each channel has a dedicated gain knob as well as their own compressor. This is something not seen on a unit of this size. With one-knob compression, you can easily dial in your dynamics for a better sound on the way in.

Channel Strip EQ and FX

Each channel can be routed to the channel strip controls via the button in the blue section. When selected, the button for that particular channel will bring you to the EQ and FX settings for that channel. These are displayed in the blue section underneath the main XLR output. There is a hi, low, and sweepable mid available for each channel. There are also 16 built-in effects that are completely adjustable and can be applied to any channel. You can save settings in up to 9 different scenes and recall them at any time.

Slate Microphone

The L-12 offers a built-in slate microphone for talkback. Typically, a talkback microphone will eat up a microphone input that you can't afford. The slate microphone can also be used for recording comments. For example different takes or which sections to keep and which sections to cut. This can save loads of time in editing so you can get back to making music.

Recording Capabilities

The coolest part about the L-12 is how it can record. It can act as a USB interface and record each channel separately along with the main mix. It can also be a digital recorder by recording each channel separately to an SD card. This gives you playback and mixing capability all on-board after tracking. What's better is that you can use this as an interface and an SD recorder all at the same time. It is even class compliant, so you can use it with iOS devices as well. Zoom has really outdone themselves with the LiveTrak L-12. It is rare that I say this about any product, but they got everything right. This really is the all-in-one solution for traveling musicians, recording engineers and live mixing. As always, enjoy FAST and FREE shipping on any order in the continental US. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to give us a call at 855-269-0474 or stop in our store in Downtown Appleton! Be sure to check out our other articles here.