Topic: Tascam DR-5

[johnnyrockstar]

To be more specific I was wondering if you had run into problems overloading the mic in. When the DR-05 came out, that seemed to be the biggest concern. I'll have to check out some more shows you have uploaded. But from what I've listened to they sound good!

THanks for the feedback JBou,
I have not had any overloading issues with the DR-05.   I have, however been much more careful with levels than with previous recorders.   Lately I have been recording 24 bit.   I leave the DR-05 preamp at zero of course and then dial the CA9100 up to max out at around -20db.  I boost the audio in post with Audacity and have not had any peaking issues.    So for the $$ the DR05 has performed well for me.   Oh, and the battery life is a BIG improvement.

[F.O.Bean]

To be more specific I was wondering if you had run into problems overloading the mic in. When the DR-05 came out, that seemed to be the biggest concern. I'll have to check out some more shows you have uploaded. But from what I've listened to they sound good!

THanks for the feedback JBou,
I have not had any overloading issues with the DR-05.   I have, however been much more careful with levels than with previous recorders.   Lately I have been recording 24 bit.   I leave the DR-05 preamp at zero of course and then dial the CA9100 up to max out at around -20db.  I boost the audio in post with Audacity and have not had any peaking issues.    So for the $$ the DR05 has performed well for me.   Oh, and the battery life is a BIG improvement.

How long do the batteries last

[hoppedup]

My  9 YO daughter expressed an interest in taping, so I gave her my DR-05 and SP-CMC-4u. She taped yesterday using my CA-9100 for one act, then hand held with internals for a song at a side stage. Then clamped to someone else and used the CA-14 cards with the PIP. I listened to all of the raw files a bit and they sound pretty good. She's gonna transfer and track. I'll post samples of each when that happens.

Bean, I think the stated battery life is 15-17 hours.  That seems about right, though I haven't counted. And I have used it for playback quite a bit, too.

[jbou]

Thanks for the info. I'm definitely interested....

[F.O.Bean]

My  9 YO daughter expressed an interest in taping, so I gave her my DR-05 and SP-CMC-4u. She taped yesterday using my CA-9100 for one act, then hand held with internals for a song at a side stage. Then clamped to someone else and used the CA-14 cards with the PIP. I listened to all of the raw files a bit and they sound pretty good. She's gonna transfer and track. I'll post samples of each when that happens.

Bean, I think the stated battery life is 15-17 hours.  That seems about right, though I haven't counted. And I have used it for playback quite a bit, too.

Thats awesome. The more tapirs, the better

[jagraham]

received my dr05 from UPS the other day.  will be trying it out a couple times next week and at a fest that weekend.  ive used the dr07 for the past year and a half and it seems like it will be similar.

the only concern i have is the "MIC/EXT IN" input.  the DR07 has both Mic In and Line In.  i'll mainly be using line in from CA-11s > STC-9000 but may also use ECM-MS957 > mic in.  do I need to change the settings to differentiate between Mic and Line In?  or should i be using Line in from the ECM since it is battery powered anyway?

also, i could not find any examples on archive of the internals.  the times i have used the DR07 internals as a backup i was impressed with the sound so im curious as to how they sound in comparison.

[dogmusic]

do I need to change the settings to differentiate between Mic and Line In?  or should i be using Line in from the ECM since it is battery powered anyway?

also, i could not find any examples on archive of the internals.  the times i have used the DR07 internals as a backup i was impressed with the sound so im curious as to how they sound in comparison.

You don't need to change settings to go from Mic In to Line In. There's no option to do so. However make sure that mic power is off in "REC SETTING".

Also, I always leave the record level set at "0" no matter what I'm using because it's only digital level that is affected by the control.

I made a concert recording with the DR05 internals which I've been meaning to post. I'll try to do it today.

I do like the DR05 line in. But my recordings are all of ambient sound which would not give you much of an idea for concert use.

[jbou]

Also, I always leave the record level set at "0" no matter what I'm using because it's only digital level that is affected by the control.

Could you clarify what you mean by saying only the digital level is affected?

[dogmusic]

Also, I always leave the record level set at "0" no matter what I'm using because it's only digital level that is affected by the control.

Could you clarify what you mean by saying only the digital level is affected?

There are many, many people on this forum who can answer that in a more technically satisfying manner than I can, but basically the analog signal coming into the DR05 is not changed by the record level control which affects only the digital signal post A/D (analog-to-digital) converter.

I think of it as the difference between optical and digital zoom on a camera, but that's probably an imprecise analogy.

[jbou]

Ok. So I think that means that if the signal coming in is to hot, the record level control can't do anything about that before the A/D. Right?

[dogmusic]

Ok. So I think that means that if the signal coming in is to hot, the record level control can't do anything about that before the A/D. Right?

Yes, that's my understanding of it. You would need an external preamp.

[hi and lo]

Ok. So I think that means that if the signal coming in is to hot, the record level control can't do anything about that before the A/D. Right?

Yes, that's my understanding of it. You would need an external preamp.

If the incoming signal is too hot, an external preamp is the last thing you need. Preamps are amplification devices and many of them have minimum levels of amplification, so the already hot signal is only going to get hotter.

What you need are attenuators. There are many people on this board that frequently tape soundboard feeds with the Tascam units, particularly the DR-2d, and they religiously bring along several in-line attenuators for whatever the situation dictates. Attenuators are not ideal because they add noise as a trade-off between a lower signal level, but when it's simply impossible to record a hot soundboard feed without overloading the recorders line input, they become necessity.

[jbou]

What you need are attenuators. There are many people on this board that frequently tape soundboard feeds with the Tascam units, particularly the DR-2d, and they religiously bring along several in-line attenuators for whatever the situation dictates. Attenuators are not ideal because they add noise as a trade-off between a lower signal level, but when it's simply impossible to record a hot soundboard feed without overloading the recorders line input, they become necessity.

Got it. Do you know what type of attenuators people use for things like the DR-05 or the DR-2D that have an 1/8" input?

[dogmusic]

Ok. So I think that means that if the signal coming in is to hot, the record level control can't do anything about that before the A/D. Right?

Yes, that's my understanding of it. You would need an external preamp.

If the incoming signal is too hot, an external preamp is the last thing you need.

So I guess the CA-9100 would not be a good solution.

[sunjan]

I've seen several users here run the M-Audio 10db pad:
http://www.fullcompass.com/product/399621.html

SoundPro does one with variable attenuation, but my guess is that noise would be slightly higher:
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-ATEN-1