Zoom H6 Overdub Mixer

Friday, February 21st, 2014

I don’t overdub, or at least I do it only very rarely. And I’ve never done a project using the overdub capability of the Zoom H6. But I do know that the capability exists and I’ve tested it briefly.

When an H6 user from the UK posted on the Sound on Sound Forum that he was having a problem overdubbing because phantom power was not available, I did a quick test and learned that my unit exhibits the same issue. I tried different sequences of menu operations, tried turning phantom on all inputs or just the one input I wanted to use, and had no success. Each time the phantom would “fall off” when I started my overdub recording.

Zoom Support to the Rescue

I contacted Zoom-North America by email to ask if this was a known problem or simply operator error and they responded very quickly with a solution. It seems that the mixer screen has some special features in overdub mode, there are settings for each input channel that include phantom power settings (or plugin power in the case of the XY mic module). With this information I was able to overdub through the XLR inputs with my condenser mic, all was good. Thanks and kudos to Zoom-North America tech support for their fast and helpful response.

Let’s Go to the Video

Here’s a video that illustrates the use of this overdub mixer to activate phantom power on XLR input 3, hopefully it serves to get others over the hump when using overdubbing on the H6.

I was unable to locate this information in the English language PDF manual. There are some hints here and there, but no step-by-step instruction that I could find. Perhaps someone else can point me to the information that I missed. Meanwhile, I hope this little clip will help others who are using the H6 overdub function.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 21st, 2014 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Audio, Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


15 Responses to ' Zoom H6 Overdub Mixer '

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  1. Pablo Mercader said in post # 1,

    on July 6th, 2014 at 4:00 pm

    Hello!

    A few days ago bought a H6 and their explanations are really being very useful to me.

    Had problems with phamton during overdub and also with the re-recording in overdub. Because you’re all sorted.

    ZOOM think should pay for the work you are doing!

    Thank you very much!

    PD -. Excuse my automatic translation 🙂

  2. Eddie K said in post # 2,

    on August 5th, 2014 at 5:26 am

    Thanks so much for this very helpful video! Sometimes the most frustrating issues have the simplest solutions- I only had to scratch my head for a minute or two before I stumbled upon your video. Cheers!

  3. Rich Chaffee said in post # 3,

    on November 11th, 2014 at 11:12 am

    Fran,
    I absolutely love your site and all the work you’ve done to help others, along with your wonderful recordings. In overdubbing with the H6 you mention the xy module. Have you been able to figure out any way to overdub using it? Over on the forum there’s a discussion that stated that it’s not possible. Thanks – one of the reasons I bought the H6 was because of your videos.

  4. PaoloQuintonio87 said in post # 4,

    on December 9th, 2014 at 1:27 pm

    @Rich Chaffee Yes I would really like to know this also. I bought theH6 today and I’m disappointed that you cannot listen to the xy channel while overdubbing on the same channel…

  5. Dirk said in post # 5,

    on December 25th, 2014 at 11:15 pm

    Hi Fran,
    thanks for all the information you provide on your website. I am in the process to buy a new field recorder currently I use a R9. It has a lot of limitations and the biggest one is the 2 tracks. My question is regarding overdubbing with the H6. Is it possible to use the internal mics to record on all 6 tracks or do I need to use an external mic?
    Cheers,
    Dirk

  6. Michael said in post # 6,

    on January 16th, 2015 at 12:11 am

    Hi,

    Can you tell me what the differences are concerning overdubbing on the H6 and H4n? I’ve heard the H5/H6 do not have overdubbing like the H4n but I can’t find out what features are missing. I’m debating between the H5 and H4n. I’m not convinced I really need overdubbing but it sounds like a nice feature since I do that a lot on the PC.

    Thanks

  7. Fran Guidry said in post # 7,

    on March 22nd, 2015 at 10:12 am

    Unfortunately the H6 simply won’t support overdubbing using the same channel more than once. Interestingly, the less expensive H5 does allow this.

    Fran

  8. Fran Guidry said in post # 8,

    on March 22nd, 2015 at 10:33 am

    Dirk, the H6 does not support overdubs that “re-use” a channel, so external mics switched from one channel to another would be needed. The less expensive H5 does seem to support multiple overdubs on a single channel, but I haven’t used one myself so I can’t say for certain how it works.

    Fran

  9. Fran Guidry said in post # 9,

    on March 22nd, 2015 at 10:44 am

    I haven’t used the H5 but from reading the on-line manual it appears to have more comprehensive overdubbing capability than the h6. Overdubbing on the H6 is very limited because each overdub must be done through a different channel, requiring external connections or mics to accomplish. The H4n (and I think the H5) allow multiple overdubs using just the attached mics.

    Fran

  10. Miklos said in post # 10,

    on November 24th, 2015 at 2:33 pm

    Hi Fran,

    just one question about the overdubbing function of Zoom H6: the new take will be recorded as a mix of the replayed channel and the new take, or the new take will be recorded as a separate track of the selected input (for example I record acoustic guitar, then replay it and record a new take of a flute and the new track will record only flute)? This would give the opportunity of mixing later at home moving the tracks to DAW.

    Thank you in advance,

    Miklos S.
    Budapest, Hungary

  11. Fran Guidry said in post # 11,

    on November 24th, 2015 at 5:51 pm

    The second track is independent, you can mix afterward in the H6 or pull the files into your audio software for mixing.

    Fran

  12. Doron Barness said in post # 12,

    on November 30th, 2015 at 1:29 pm

    Hi everyone and thanks for this discussion. Would like to be sure about this point:

    If I want to use the x/y mic for recording and then playback the recording while recording another x/y track on separate channels….would it be possible?
    I mean, I record my acoustic guitar on channels 1/2 using the x/y mics and then playback the guitar on 1/2 and record vocals on channels 3/4. I could then mixdown to stereo and then load the mixdown on channels 3/4 and record again through x/y mics to channels 1/2…..possible, right?

    btw, is there a way to loop a track in and out so that you could jam on a loop like a looper pedal?

    Thanks for this info people,
    Doron

  13. Fran Guidry said in post # 13,

    on December 1st, 2015 at 10:03 pm

    I don’t know of a way to “load” your mix down into a pair of channels so I don’t think your plan will work. And I’m not aware of a looper function on the H6.

    Fran

  14. Kilonzo said in post # 14,

    on January 17th, 2017 at 1:24 am

    Huge help! Thanks…..

    Echo in Eternity,
    Paul

  15. Matías Ramón said in post # 15,

    on July 8th, 2018 at 6:05 am

    Thank you so much. You saved my life I love you!

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About the Blog

    Howdy, my name is Fran Guidry and this is my Homebrewed Music blog.

    I play Hawaiian slack key guitar and recorded my solo acoustic CD at home. Most of the recording information I find on the internet seems focused on bands, drums, multitracking, and so on but my main focus is recording solo acoustic guitar. Lately I’ve been enjoying video recording along with audio, so that shows up in the blog as well.

    I’m also a guitar nut. I love big ones and little ones, handmades and factory guitars, cheap ones and expensive ones. So I’ll be sharing the fun of exploring guitars as well, along with the challenges of amplifying acoustic guitars for live performance.

    Welcome!

Philosophy

    My recording philosophy is pragmatic, skeptical, not super critical. After all, the performance is by far the most important component of a track, and every aspect of any recording is a matter of taste.

    But I do like to know “about stuff.” Back in hifi days I learned about double blind testing. I learned that we humans can easily hear differences that don’t really exist. The more I’ve learned about our human auditory system, the more I’m skeptical of what people say they hear, especially if they claim that a particular microphone or preamp or cable has some magical property.

    I’ve only been recording since 2001, and when I started I found the usual places on the internet. I sought advice and accepted it, thought I would improve my recordings by using more expensive equipment. It didn’t work.

    Two things that did seem to lead to better recordings were experience and room treatment. Getting an appealing sound is the combination of many small details, and learning those details only comes from experience. Amd the sound of the recording space is obviously a big factor.

    I’ve only recorded seriously using digital technology, but I remember trying to record rehearsals and gigs back in analog days. I don’t have any nostalgia for analog recording and playback systems at all. I think even low end digital systems can capture marvelous recordings. So when I look at gear, I look for good specs: low noise, broad flat frequency response, wide dynamic range, low distortion. I’m not interested in colorful components, mics and preamps with a sound, I want the sound to be the sound of my guitar.

    But the last word is that I’m just learning and I hope you find something useful in my posts.