Topic: Tascam DR-70D 4-channel audio recorder (Part 2)

[leehookem]

Whenever the FAQ comes together, I'll include it in the first post.

[Rally_AK]

@phil_er_up - It bugs me too that the line out settings are locked but is it really necessary to adjust them after you start recording? Assuming you have meters on your camera, you should be able to match it's levels with the 70D by using the slate tone function. That way all the gain adjustment would happen on the front of 70D, which is the way it's supposed to be... I think. 

I did this running a backup recorder the other night and it worked great, the only disadvantage is that the camera/line out mixes channels 1/2 and 3/4 to stereo so your levels have to be set just right for the stereo mix to sound good.

Here's how I use slate to match levels.

• Go to Monitor settings - Set Monitor Sel. to MIX, Output Level to 0dB and Output Gain to LINE (or CAM in your case)
• Go to Slate - Set Tone Volume to -18dB (or which ever you prefer)
• Start recording on 70D and hold down the SLATE button
• Now raise the gain on the camera until the levels reach -18dB

Now that the camera levels are synced with the 70D all level adjustments can be made with the gain pots. If you want the camera to record a couple dB above or below the 70D adjust the Output Level in Monitor settings menu before you start recording.

Hope I'm not stating the obvious here. 

[phil_er_up]

@phil_er_up - It bugs me too that the line out settings are locked but is it really necessary to adjust them after you start recording? Assuming you have meters on your camera, you should be able to match it's levels with the 70D by using the slate tone function. That way all the gain adjustment would happen on the front of 70D, which is the way it's supposed to be... I think. 

I did this running a backup recorder the other night and it worked great, the only disadvantage is that the camera/line out mixes channels 1/2 and 3/4 to stereo so your levels have to be set just right for the stereo mix to sound good.

Here's how I use slate to match levels.

• Go to Monitor settings - Set Monitor Sel. to MIX, Output Level to 0dB and Output Gain to LINE (or CAM in your case)
• Go to Slate - Set Tone Volume to -18dB (or which ever you prefer)
• Start recording on 70D and hold down the SLATE button
• Now raise the gain on the camera until the levels reach -18dB

Now that the camera levels are synced with the 70D all level adjustments can be made with the gain pots. If you want the camera to record a couple dB above or below the 70D adjust the Output Level in Monitor settings menu before you start recording.

Hope I'm not stating the obvious here. 

Thanks again Rally_AK. Also, thanks for the answers about adding this feature to the DR70 in a FAQ. It is appreciated.

I did "use slate to match levels". Do have meters on my camera and it matched exactly with the the level the SLATE was putting out say -12 or -18 DB.
I set it at -18, -12 and 0 DB and then turned down the DR70 camera output from -40 DB to -54 DB and other setting too. The camera audio is very sensitive and can overload very easy.

Agree with Rally_Ak that sometimes you can set the level correctly.  Though if there are multiple bands or venue increases DB at the show or I almost always play with my pre-amp and recorder levels for first 5 minutes of shows to try and get them "exactly right" and can not do the same for the camera once I hit the record button.

Well the way I look at this would any of us buy a recorder/preamp that did not have accessible gain controls while its recording. You need to have the ability to change the recorder and camera in tandem for this to be effective.

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Don't get me wrong I still like this recorder. It is very small has 4 channels, updated pre's and other nice features...

[Rally_AK]

I don't understand why you're changing the line out level on the 70D to anything besides 0dB. If you match your camera's levels to a -12 or -18dB slate tone, the camera should see the same levels as the 70D and only peak if the 70D does. What kind of camera are you running?

[voltronic]

The DR-70D FAQ / Recommended Settings has now been posted.  Thanks especially to Rally_AK, leehookem, and Cheesecadet as well as everyone else here for providing so much useful information.  If I have made errors or you have suggestions for additions or changes, please post in that thread or send me a PM.

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172550.0

[F.O.Bean]

On a different note from what is being talked about in re. to SD cards.  TASCAM finally got back to me on my "returned for warranty repair DR-70D issues" and have messaged me that they could not fix the problem.  A new 70D is being shipped out to replace the original unit.

Not all that bad of a turn around from TASCAM, 3 weeks +/- with a new replacement deck.

What was wrong with yours again? Static while messing with the gain knobs? I honestly forget

Thanks!

[F.O.Bean]

And does the M10 produce Mono or Stereo files? Id like to set the 70D the exact same as my M10s are And I NEVER plan on using the 2MIX feature. I just want to know what the M10 does [mono or stsreo?], so that I can set the 70D to the same thing

Thanks!

[voltronic]

And does the M10 produce Mono or Stereo files? Id like to set the 70D the exact same as my M10s are And I NEVER plan on using the 2MIX feature. I just want to know what the M10 does [mono or stsreo?], so that I can set the 70D to the same thing

Thanks!

It can do either (stereo tracks are default), but like I wrote in the FAQ, if you change to MONO tracks, the channel pan assignments do not automatically change on their own.  So for instance, you would normally have 1 and 3 panned hard left and 2 and 4 hard right for recording stereo tracks.  If you then change to recording MONO tracks, you're still getting hard-panned left/right but on separate tracks unless you go into BASIC and change each channel's panning to center (or whatever you want).  Not really a big deal, but something to be aware of.  This is perhaps more of a potential problem if you were recording mono, center-panned tracks for a while and then you decided to start recording stereo tracks but forgot to change your pan assignments back.  You'd listen to your recording later and wonder why you got dual-mono until you realized you forgot to set the panning.

Typically you'd see a pan knob staring you in the face so you wouldn't make this mistake, but software controls are much cheaper than making physical switches.  It's a tradeoff we have to accept for getting a unit with these features at this price.  On the other hand, the DSP that runs the 70D is supposedly quite powerful, and nearly every function on this unit is controlled by it.  If so inclined by the user community, Tascam potentially has the ability to change a whole lot of things with firmware updates.  Does anyone know the Tascam rep's forum handle so I can point him toward our Firmware Update Request list?

[Life In Rewind]

And does the M10 produce Mono or Stereo files? Id like to set the 70D the exact same as my M10s are And I NEVER plan on using the 2MIX feature. I just want to know what the M10 does [mono or stsreo?], so that I can set the 70D to the same thing

Thanks!

It can do either (stereo tracks are default), but like I wrote in the FAQ, if you change to MONO tracks, the channel pan assignments do not automatically change on their own.  So for instance, you would normally have 1 and 3 panned hard left and 2 and 4 hard right for recording stereo tracks.  If you then change to recording MONO tracks, you're still getting hard-panned left/right but on separate tracks unless you go into BASIC and change each channel's panning to center (or whatever you want).  Not really a big deal, but something to be aware of.  This is perhaps more of a potential problem if you were recording mono, center-panned tracks for a while and then you decided to start recording stereo tracks but forgot to change your pan assignments back.  You'd listen to your recording later and wonder why you got dual-mono until you realized you forgot to set the panning.

Typically you'd see a pan knob staring you in the face so you wouldn't make this mistake, but software controls are much cheaper than making physical switches.  It's a tradeoff we have to accept for getting a unit with these features at this price.  On the other hand, the DSP that runs the 70D is supposedly quite powerful, and nearly every function on this unit is controlled by it.  If so inclined by the user community, Tascam potentially has the ability to change a whole lot of things with firmware updates.  Does anyone know the Tascam rep's forum handle so I can point him toward our Firmware Update Request list?

I dont think the PAN settings have any effect when recording in MONO. I think you leave them at the stock hard/left-right settings. Recording in mono produces 4 files...recording in stereo produces 2 files (each with 2 channels)

[404 Not Found]

On a different note from what is being talked about in re. to SD cards.  TASCAM finally got back to me on my "returned for warranty repair DR-70D issues" and have messaged me that they could not fix the problem.  A new 70D is being shipped out to replace the original unit.

Not all that bad of a turn around from TASCAM, 3 weeks +/- with a new replacement deck.

What was wrong with yours again? Static while messing with the gain knobs? I honestly forget

Thanks!

Was a problem with the volume knobs.  Didn't matter if I ran it thru a pre or mic/line feed direct.  Anytime I would adjust the volume for the particular channel, it would leave a marked feedback at the spot on the channel I adjusted for the moment my finger made contact with the volume knob.  I could deal with it when I ran my pre, as I could adjust my volume without touching the DR-70D's volume knob once I discovered the problem itself. 

Worked like a charm when I fist used it!   Pulled a great recording of the Ed Palermo Big Band (Zappa Big Band music) with it on it's 1st recording and then after that night it just started to get worse with each following recording. 

Not that it matters, but I was damn happy to have my Zoom H6.  Love the DR-70D's shape but that is about all so far due to my issue.  I will try the DR-70D again, as I have been aching to record after reading all the posts here. I have never experienced any problems with the H6, I was in a good situation to have a backup, although it is now back in the starting rotation!

[Rally_AK]

If so inclined by the user community, Tascam potentially has the ability to change a whole lot of things with firmware updates.  Does anyone know the Tascam rep's forum handle so I can point him toward our Firmware Update Request list?

tumuo is the Tascam rep on the forum. He chimed in on Part 1 a couple times and various threads regarding the DR-680.

[Cheesecadet]

Maybe I am just getting old, but I would love a firmware yograde to allow us to make numerical gain numbers larger so I can see them easier...and maybe make that triangle indicator at -12dB instead of -16db. Prolly just nitpicking now though.

[voltronic]

Maybe I am just getting old, but I would love a firmware yograde to allow us to make numerical gain numbers larger so I can see them easier...and maybe make that triangle indicator at -12dB instead of -16db. Prolly just nitpicking now though.

There's probably a limit to what they can do with such a low-resolution screen, and it's likely we'll never get per-channel numerical gain all on one screen.  But I think they could definitely make the one peak level indicator larger.

What I really want to see is that when you move a gain knob, a large readout of the gain setting pops up sort of like on the newer SD 6xx series recorders.  I feel like this is especially important with knobs that are this small, have no indicator marks, and are just digital encoders anyway.

[F.O.Bean]

And does the M10 produce Mono or Stereo files? Id like to set the 70D the exact same as my M10s are And I NEVER plan on using the 2MIX feature. I just want to know what the M10 does [mono or stsreo?], so that I can set the 70D to the same thing

Thanks!

It can do either (stereo tracks are default), but like I wrote in the FAQ, if you change to MONO tracks, the channel pan assignments do not automatically change on their own.  So for instance, you would normally have 1 and 3 panned hard left and 2 and 4 hard right for recording stereo tracks.  If you then change to recording MONO tracks, you're still getting hard-panned left/right but on separate tracks unless you go into BASIC and change each channel's panning to center (or whatever you want).  Not really a big deal, but something to be aware of.  This is perhaps more of a potential problem if you were recording mono, center-panned tracks for a while and then you decided to start recording stereo tracks but forgot to change your pan assignments back.  You'd listen to your recording later and wonder why you got dual-mono until you realized you forgot to set the panning.

Typically you'd see a pan knob staring you in the face so you wouldn't make this mistake, but software controls are much cheaper than making physical switches.  It's a tradeoff we have to accept for getting a unit with these features at this price.  On the other hand, the DSP that runs the 70D is supposedly quite powerful, and nearly every function on this unit is controlled by it.  If so inclined by the user community, Tascam potentially has the ability to change a whole lot of things with firmware updates.  Does anyone know the Tascam rep's forum handle so I can point him toward our Firmware Update Request list?

I dont think the PAN settings have any effect when recording in MONO. I think you leave them at the stock hard/left-right settings. Recording in mono produces 4 files...recording in stereo produces 2 files (each with 2 channels)

Thank you very much. That answered my question exactly

[voltronic]

And does the M10 produce Mono or Stereo files? Id like to set the 70D the exact same as my M10s are And I NEVER plan on using the 2MIX feature. I just want to know what the M10 does [mono or stsreo?], so that I can set the 70D to the same thing

Thanks!

It can do either (stereo tracks are default), but like I wrote in the FAQ, if you change to MONO tracks, the channel pan assignments do not automatically change on their own.  So for instance, you would normally have 1 and 3 panned hard left and 2 and 4 hard right for recording stereo tracks.  If you then change to recording MONO tracks, you're still getting hard-panned left/right but on separate tracks unless you go into BASIC and change each channel's panning to center (or whatever you want).  Not really a big deal, but something to be aware of.  This is perhaps more of a potential problem if you were recording mono, center-panned tracks for a while and then you decided to start recording stereo tracks but forgot to change your pan assignments back.  You'd listen to your recording later and wonder why you got dual-mono until you realized you forgot to set the panning.

Typically you'd see a pan knob staring you in the face so you wouldn't make this mistake, but software controls are much cheaper than making physical switches.  It's a tradeoff we have to accept for getting a unit with these features at this price.  On the other hand, the DSP that runs the 70D is supposedly quite powerful, and nearly every function on this unit is controlled by it.  If so inclined by the user community, Tascam potentially has the ability to change a whole lot of things with firmware updates.  Does anyone know the Tascam rep's forum handle so I can point him toward our Firmware Update Request list?

I dont think the PAN settings have any effect when recording in MONO. I think you leave them at the stock hard/left-right settings. Recording in mono produces 4 files...recording in stereo produces 2 files (each with 2 channels)

Hmm.  Well I confess that I didn't actually try recording any mono tracks - I just noticed that the pan settings never change on their own but it would be much more logical if they recorded center-panned as you suggest.  I'll have to test it with actual recordings at some point.