We're seeing an exciting development in church production. Because of the democratization of technology even the smallest church can have intelligent lights, line arrays and, of course, a recording studio.
Enter the Zen Studio Portable Interface. Sure there are a lot of affordable recording interfaces that have been on the market for a long time but what stands out about this product is the feature set and portability which gives your church maxim flexibility for a host of recording applications. By having a powerful portable solution, you can record podcasts on location. You can record your worship team live on stage, and then record the youth band in their room. You can use the interface for playback of track material on Sunday morning.
Having a portable recording solution is a great asset to a church of any size that is creating their own audio content for their website and for Sunday morning. After living with the Zen Studio Interface from Antelope Audio for a few weeks I've found it to be a great solution for any of these applications.
The Zen Studio is a USB interface that can provide 38 input channels and 32 output channels simultaneously. The interface boasts 12 mic preamps via four combo XLR/Instrument connectors on the front and eight more on the back. The Zen Studio is a compact little box, it is a single-space-rack unit but without having rack ears. Instead it has a built-in handle (Antelope Audio has a rack-mount kit should you want a permanent home for your Zen Studio). You could easily fit the Zen Studio in your backpack, take it to any location and be setup and record within minutes.
Connectivity abounds with this box. There are 2 DB25 connections on back proving with 8 in/8 out, two analog inserts allowing you to use your favorite outboard gear. There are two ADAT inputs (16 channels), two ADAT outputs (16 Channels), and two SPDIF connections (1 in/1 out ). Two headphone outputs on the front are controlled independently of each other and there is a stereo monitor output (with independent volume control) for your studio monitors.
When first getting started on the Zen Studio, I quickly realized that this interface is almost completely dependent on the software. There is a good-looking color LCD display on the front of the unit with one knob that allows you to scroll and select your menu options, but they only encompasses monitoring options. All input configuration except mic pre settings must be done in the software. I was a little disappointed by this because I like tactile functionality. But after installing the software I was quickly acclimated and it didn't bother me that it doesn't have all the knobs and buttons of other units. Since the interface has so many inputs and mic press and other features, using the well-designed software is much easier than trying to navigate a small LCD Menu.
The Zen Studio arrived at an opportune time I was recording a series of live video performances for various artists. These shoots were on location using natural sunlight and we were trying to feature the acoustics of the rooms we would find ourselves in. This type of production demands quick thinking and adaptation to the demands of the shoot. In one moment we might decide to move the performer and camera to capture the natural light, so the portability of the Zen Studio was a invaluable factor. I could be setup and ready to go in half the time of my other "portable" recording rig and I could change things at a moments notice. By not having external preamps I had less gear, I was more portable, and was carrying around less weight all day. It was a welcome change.
I interfaced the Zen Studio with Pro Tools 11 and had no problem getting the two worlds to talk with each other. The router matrix software from Antelope Audio is straight forward and I did not have to go through extensive configuration to get up and running in minutes. It really was a plug-and-play scenario. The only real time I spent in the software was turning up preamps and applying phantom power. The rest of the time I was using Pro Tools as usual and thinking about the music and not the piece of gear.
I should point out that the included software also allows you access to 16 virtual channel strips allowing you to process your audio through Antelope Audio's software. This lets you apply EQ, compression, reverb and effects with the onboard DSP which will not tax your host computer. For my purposes I was recording straight into Pro Tools, but this added feature set would be great for recording podcasts for your pastor (cutting down on your post-production work), or even recording a rehearsal with your worship band.
The Zen Studio can record at up to 192 kHz, but the sonic quality when recording in 48 kHz (as I did for my sessions) was beautiful. Antelope boasts that the sonic performance is due to the Audio Acoustically Focused Clocking technology and the same conversion technology that exists in their popular Orion interface. All I can say is that all of tracks I recorded sounded great so whatever Antelope has going on with their converters it is working.
I was also very pleased with the sound of the preamps. I was skeptical at first because I typically travel with another brand of high-end studio preamps and I questioned if the Zen Studio's built-in preamps could do what I needed. They performed great. The preamps provided a open and natural sound that really held up with the microphones and sources that I had to work with.
After recording and mixing on the Zen Studio for a few weeks I could easily replace my current portable rig with this interface, and it could even pull the weight of my in-house studio setup. The power and portability is hard to beat. I could easily fly with this piece in my backpack and be ready to record an entire band in minutes. Think about the functionality of being able to take this with you on missions trips, use it for man-on-the-street videos, location recordings, playback on stage, and video production booths all with the same solution.
The Zen Studio from Antelope Audio is a great option for all of your audio interface needs. At $2,295.00 street price, the Zen Studio is not a budget piece but for the feature set it is a significant value that should be considered if you are in the market for an interface.
