ICMP Reviews: Audient EVO 4 Start Recording Bundle

As many of you will know, ICMP has enjoyed a brilliant partnership with Audient over the last few years. 

It’s been a great relationship and helped us develop state-of-the-art recording studios for our students with Audient desks at the heart of these spaces. 

This week our friends at Audient sent us a special treat to try out in the form of the new EVO 4 recording bundle. This kit is a great solution for those who want to start getting their home studio up and running but don’t want to blow a huge amount .

EVO 4 Start Recording Bundle Features

The retail price for this bundle is under £200 - but wait until you hear what is inside this Pandora’s box!!!

The bundle includes:

• EVO 4 audio interface
• SR2000 Headphones
• SR1 Microphone
• Shockmount
• XLR cable
• USB-A to C cable

This interface offers a few amazing features that will be really handy in multiple scenarios. 

The unboxing

The main thing that impressed me when unboxing this bundle was the design and how minimal, yet powerful the interface could be. Everything you need is on one single unit - the rotary encoder controls all the gain and output levels, then the fun begins.

The front of the interface comes with an instrument input (for guitars, bass, piano) which is assigned to channel one, and one headphones input.

The top of this unit is where most of the magic happens. Here, you can manage all of the channels, the phantom power, the smart gain button, the listening level and the monitor mix button.

This last feature is particularly helpful when recording, and we need to adjust the volume of an existing track that is too loud in our ears, but we don't want to compromise the volume of our input. By clicking on this function and adjusting the volume with the main button, we can get to mix a volume suitable for our performance.

All the buttons on this surface are activated by clicking on them, and this will only affect that function. I found this slightly clashed with my workflow. I like to have the freedom of controlling individual inputs without having to keep clicking buttons in between, but since this interface only has two channels, it’s not too difficult to find your way around.

The phantom power only applies to the channel that you want it to be on. Therefore, you will have to first click on channel one or two, then click on the +48 button which turns on the function.

An interesting feature is the link button, activated by clicking both inputs at the same time. This is great when you are trying to record an instrument that needs both left and right inputs (for example, a synthesizer) and you want the input gain to be at the same stage level.

The Smart Gain Button 

For me, one of the best things about this interface is the Smart Gain Button. This function allows the interface to process your input levels and adjust the gain automatically to what’s needed for the track you are recording.

If for instance you have a guitar track pre-recorded, you need to add vocals to it but are uncertain on what the gain level should be, then EVO 4 can automatically do this for you. All you need to do is to: press the green button on the EVO, assign a channel, press the green button again, and sing into the mic. The interface then processes that signal and sets the gain for you.

This little function is a game changer, and will save you so much unnecessary time and energy.

At the back of the interface you can find:

• 2 input XLR or jack
• Stereo monitor output
• USB input to connect to your device.

Here are a few things you should know:

Input one is shared with the line input at the front, and like on other interfaces you can only use one at a time.

The monitor outputs (speakers) get muted when the headphones are plugged in. This happens because the rotary encoder can only control one output volume at a time.

The headphones have a great response to low frequencies and cancel external noise pretty well. The mic is a large diaphragm condenser, ideal for vocals and acoustic guitars.

Loop back system

As podcasts and virtual meetings become more popular, the audio world is also evolving with it and the EVO 4 can really help you respond to this environment.

The EVO 4 comes with a loop back system. This allows you to capture the audio coming from your device and record it directly into your DAW. So, if we are in a Zoom meeting and you don't want to miss any of the conversation, you can record it in a separate channel, then listen back later. 

It does take a couple of tweaks on your device utility but the loop back system is certainly a great function to keep in mind in scenarios such as a podcast, interview, and online calls.

I’m confident in saying this bundle is a great offer not only for newbie producers but for anyone that is after a portable recording device that has the quality of a professional gear.

Visit evo.audio/products/evo-4/overview for more information. 

Update - EVO 8's now on site at ICMP!

We've just taken delivery of nine of the new Audient EVO 8. Students can get their hands on these at our Facilities desk, happy recording!