Zoom PodTrak P4 4-input Ultimate Recorder for Podcasting Reviews

It's incredible how easy this product is to use, very good for beginners and at a good price.

I am not used to a piece of gear working like advertised right out of the box. This P4 is amazing and just what I wanted! If you're on the fence, buy it, you won't be disappointed. Of course, Sweetwater was right on the whole process.

I am just getting started in podcasting, and I did some research on the gear I would need. This P4 stood out because of the many things it could do, it's ease and portability, and it's price point. I have used it to record in person interviews and purchased the Bluetooth attachment to do telephone interviews with my iPhone. I am impressed and glad I made this choice. I also purchased the case to keep it safe because I knew I would be taking in with me here and there.

The zoom podtrak P4 is truly an awesome device for podcasting, singing, or for general audio recording. It serves as an external recorder, mixer, and audio interface. It works with any dynamic or condenser microphones supplying 48 volts of phantom power. I have both the Shure SM58 and Rode NT1-A, so I use them both. Thank you sweetwater!!

This is like a mini and less expensive Rodecaster Pro. All things being equal I prefer the Rodecaster, but all things are not equal. What I really compare it to is my Scarlett, which is a great tool, but this has so much more: the ability to record, 4 inputs for mics, the ability to record phone calls, computer input, bluetooth capability (requires extra pickup). For the money, it's hard to beat.

I'm still loving the P4. I'm currently using it with the Shure SM58 dynamic vocal microphone, and it sounds outstanding, especially when I record my podcast using the Zoom conferencing platform. I also use it for ACB community karaoke performances, and the community members love it as well. in fact, the community members recommended me into purchasing the interface, and I'm glad I did, so thanks goes out to the ACB community, which includes Cindy Hollis, Michael Moran, and Tim Cumings. love you all so much, and virtual hugs. and, thank you sweetwater for your fantastic customer service, I'll keep coming back for more in the future.

As a totally blind podcaster, I was looking for an all in one solution for podcasting, and came across the PodTrak P4, and it is the best recorder for podcasting. although the menus are unfortunately inaccessible and require sided assistants, the rest of the controls, such as volumes for the individual mics, as well as to mute them independently are very accessible and easy to access. No SD card is included, but I'll be purchasing one soon, along with a TRRS cable for patching into my iPhone. I did my first podcast with the P4 and the ZDM-1 dynamic microphone, and the folks that were in the meeting were very impressed on the overall sound quality that is pact into this little mixer. overall, I love the P4 so much, and I'll continue to get some more use out of it for many years to come, including future podcast recordings. Sweetwater rocks!

I've been using the Zoom P4 for nearly 6 months now and have been absolutely thrilled with the ease of use, quality of the recordings, and durability of the equipment. I can't say enough about how easy it is to use and how it consistently delivers excellent audio quality... I even when recording callers who are coming in via the phone setting.

I would give this six stars if I could. This is an amazing piece of equipment and I highly recommend it!

I'm just getting started in podcasting and video production and after reading several reviews, I ordered this recorder. It's very easy to use and understand. Although it's not made for music, I've experimented with guitar recording, along with vocals, etc., and it works great. I would definitely recommend this recorder.

Super simple to use and awesome for our studio

We've used this unit several times… and compared the podcasts to the ones produced on the Rodecaster Pro, which we also have. We cannot tell the difference. It leave me speechless. While both units are amazing, the Zoom Podtrak P4 (for the money) just may be the best thing we've purchased in the last several years. I highly recommend it and may just purchase another one as well.

We love Zoom, and we love Sweetwater!

This piece of gear is all you need to record a good quality podcast. I use it with a Rode PodMic and Shure MV7k delivering great sound. Highly recommend, this gear to anyone on the go and needs to record great sound.

Want to start a podcast? This is the audio interface/recorder you need. The setup is simple. There's not extra mobs to confuse you. You need 1 usb-c to usb- c cable and 1 usb-a to usb-c cable and boom you are connected to your computer. You can record Skype, Zoom, or any other conference app through your computer. Infant if you want to record phone calls? This will do that too!

It would be nice if this had a noise gate but it's not a breaker. I love my P4

I am so ecstatic to own this little guy! First off, the service from Dan Snyder was top notch. He wasn't involved with this purchase, but my purchase of the Zoom ZHP-1 Mic Pack, but I wanted to give him a shoutout!

The build is so solid, despite it having a plastic shell, it's a powerful recording device, and does everything you would want it to! I'm an amateur podcaster, and record videos for work, so having the four sound pads, multiple XLR and headphone inputs, and easy mix-minus recording is a dream! For a long time I had been looking at investing in an H4n, but I am so glad I waited until this device came out as it gave me everything I needed to start recording my podcast out of the box. I paired it with Zoom's ZDM-1 mic and ZHP-1 cans. I don't know if the brand compatibility has anything to do with the sound quality, but it gives me the exact quality I was expecting. The preamps are very clean and give me the gain I need for my particular voice.

The big criticism I saw online about this is the limitation of 16 bit depth, which I personally don't mind. Some say it can be a pain in the neck, especially for adding tracks to the sound pads, but I have actually found that the P4 has a native function to convert any .mp3 into the compatible .wav format to use on the P4. Something I didn't see in any of the reviews or overviews for the device, so I definitely recommend trying it!

My one drawback is there isn't any sort of thread adapter to install onto a tripod. As the device lays flat, I would definitely recommend purchasing a stand or phone mount/desktop tripod combo to stand it upright when you're recording.

Battery life is pretty good considering it runs on AA batteries - depending on what type you use you can adjust a setting on the P4 for optimal battery life. However, I've found it easier to just bus power it with my laptop or charger. Luckily, my laptop is USB-C so it's been easy enough to bus power it while I'm recording with the USB input. I also have an Apple USB-C 20w wall charger that powers the device without overpowering it in case I'm not using it with my laptop - I recommend it as a good alternative to Zoom's power adapter as it's around the same price point and is USB-C as opposed to Zoom being USB-A.

Overall, I have fallen in love with the P4 and highly recommend it to anyone looking to get into podcasting on a budget! This review probably sounds like a dang promotion but, trust me, I wish that were the case because I would gladly be a product tester/reviewer lol

This was exactly what I was looking for. Four mic drum recording (kick, snare, 2 overheads). You can prepare a click track on your PC. I use a a reference recording along with a metronome click mixed down to a mono 16 bit 44.1 kHz wav file, copy it do this device. (USB or pull the SDCard and stick it in your PC). Assign the wav file to one of the buttons. Click record, click the button to start the wav file, and this device records 5 tracks to the SD card: the 4 mics, plus the click track.

Copy the five tracks back to your DAW, use the click track to line everything up, and you're good to go.

Supporting 4 XLR inputs with phantom power, and the ability to record to a click without latency problems is great.

First things first, my Sweetwater rep Colton made this transaction exceptional! I buy lots of Zoom equipment because they are ahead of their time, they are inexpensive, they are well thought out and they are tools for productivity. I bought two of these units, one for my daughter who has a podcast and one for myself for narration purposes (and anything else I can think of). I had set my daughter up with a relatively simple 4 channel mixer, mics, headphone amp etc. and she did well with that set-up. Solving technical issues was a problem because she just did not have much experience with the range of tools and settings that were possible. Along comes this device and suddenly she has the right tool for the job in the simplest, more powerful, more convenient format. The quality is excellent and the additional capabilities have opened new possibilities for growing her podcast. I am using mine to do remote (voices only) recordings for a museum project and it is the only unit I need to record multiple people and provide headphone mixes for all.

I've been using the Zoom PodTrak P4 for awhile and find that it does everything as advertised. What makes this PodTrak P4 stand out from all the other portable recording devices that Zoom makes is the built-in mix-minus functionality. Only the PodTrak P4 has mix-minus feature for easily making remote phone call recording while avoiding the unwanted echo/reverb that will spoil the recording...none of the other Zoom recorders have this feature (eg: Zoom H6, H5, H4, etc). The mix-minus feature is even more important during this pandemic season because this means I'm able to record and bring on remote guests using Channel 3 smartphone input and Channel 4 USB input, since nobody is doing live in-person interviews at this time. The P4 is an excellent all-in-one handheld podcasting and recording solution, especially for the low price... and its feature set. See my attached links for helpful YouTube tutorial videos on quickly setting up your new P4, plus another video on how to do remote call connections. I also created a Facebook PodTrak P4 user group if anyone wants to join, just do a FB search for "Zoom PodTrak P4 users group".

For the size and price this thing is incredible.

Good overall for it's price. Preamps have adequate headroom and the limiting is pretty good too.
One major complaint... the knobs do NOT fade smoothly. In other words, if you do a slow fade out (of a music cue for example), the bottom of the fade is very sharp (like a cut).
This is very bad since these fades are committed to the recordings (yes the recordings are all post-fader and post-mute).
A minor complaint is that it asks to re-set the date and time every time I power it up.