Zoom H6 to Vegas Pro 15 Workflow

j.razz wrote on 4/4/2018, 10:05 AM

I used to have an H4n that I would use for audio recording, but never used the USB cable to connect it directly to my PC to record in Vegas. I sold that some time ago and have a small audio project coming up that I am looking to potentially purchase an H6 for.

What I'm looking to do is record live to 4 individual channels and have those 4 inputs be distinct and on their own individual tracks on the Vegas timeline. I'd like to do this through USB. Once the recordings are done, I then plan to mix some while onsite, but do a more polished mix back at the office.

Anything I need to be aware of? I'm pretty sure some of you own the H6 and have probably done this very thing. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I did find a thread that dealt with the H4, but it wasn't really addressing my question head on:
https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/pro-12-importing-4-track-audio-usb-interface--100067/?page=2

Comments

rraud wrote on 4/4/2018, 12:55 PM

Don't have an H6.. That said, page 68 of the user manual states, the inputs can be sent to a computer via the USB interface. I assume that's two stereo pairs, so afterward you would have to duplicated the tracks and select the appropriate channels to have four separate mono tracks..

Alternately the headphone / line-out could be send for analog reference track to the computer's line in, then import the H6 tracks afterward. If the PC has a card reader, that's probably faster than downloading the files, H6 > computer via USB cable.

j.razz wrote on 4/4/2018, 1:04 PM

Thanks for the information, really, but I'd really like to know how to interface this with Vegas before buying it. My understanding is that I can do the 2 stereo pairs or I can record 4 separate mono inputs (they will be in 4 separate folders on the SD card in the H6). The part I'm fuzzy on is if I Vegas will see the 4 channels and how to set it up so that it does.

Thanks again for the comment rraud.

fr0sty wrote on 4/4/2018, 1:25 PM

The way you interface a multichannel interface with Vegas Pro (any version, BTW) is first to go into Vegas' recording settings and tell it to take its input from the interface (it'll be an ASIO driver for that interface, make sure you download the right driver), not your computer's sound device. Then create a new audio track. In Vegas 15, the "record input" option is automatically hidden, so you'll want to click the little "hamburger" icon (3 horizontal lines) to drop down the menu that lets you re-enable it. From there, click that button and select which input on your H6 that you want that track to record. Do this for all 4 tracks (unless the tracks are recording stereo, then you'll only need to make 2 audio tracks in Vegas. You can tell if you see one or two waveforms being recorded into the track).

This works with any multichannel interface. I use my behringer XR18 to record 18 simultaneous inputs from live bands into Vegas when I film concert videos.

Make sure your ASIO driver settings sample rate and your Vegas project settings sample rates are set to the same thing. You want to record at the rate you are capturing at. If you have any recording issues, increase the ASIO driver's buffer in your ASIO settings. This should be reachable from within the Vegas preferences menu.

This is one of Vegas' best strengths... that it is basically a fully featured DAW, though some of its features are getting a bit dated and could use an update (Magix?). Give us some new features like track nesting, updated plugins, AC3/DTS/etc surround encoding (even if it is expensive, give us the option to buy a license to do it), etc. I highly suggest looking at Reaper for guidance on how to update Vegas' audio capabilities. There's some stuff that can be applied to the video world in there too, like track presets, custom buttons, track nesting, etc.

j.razz wrote on 4/4/2018, 1:27 PM

Thanks much fr0sty! I appreciate it. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I was missing and the tip for re-enabling is very helpful. Thanks again!