Topic: Tascam DR-70D 4-channel audio recorder for DSLR cameras

[Cheesecadet]

The wav looks more like some malfunction - not any problem with your settings.

Like its recording fine and then bam bam bam...and then fine again.

What does it sound like?

Are you referring to my post here?

[Life In Rewind]

The wav looks more like some malfunction - not any problem with your settings.

Like its recording fine and then bam bam bam...and then fine again.

What does it sound like?

Are you referring to my post here?

Yes sir - not sure how we got confused! (sorry jmerin)

[Cheesecadet]

The wav looks more like some malfunction - not any problem with your settings.

Like its recording fine and then bam bam bam...and then fine again.

What does it sound like?

Are you referring to my post here?

Yes sir - not sure how we got confused! (sorry jmerin)

Here is a quick DL link to give a listen:

http://we.tl/ktVnWyLUBd

Any feedback is appreciated of course!

[jcb]

It sounds like (static) cracks and not like something to do with recording levels that are rather low in fact apart from those spikes. Faulty component somewhere in the FP24 or the DR-70D ?

[Cheesecadet]

It sounds like (static) cracks and not like something to do with recording levels that are rather low in fact apart from those spikes. Faulty component somewhere in the FP24 or the DR-70D ?

Will try and run some test again today. Pretty sure it is not tascam unit as I can run xlrs directly I to it with no issue as I did the very next day. I just got brand new interconnect cables from darktrain that could possibly be the issue I dunno just thinking aloud here? There is the off chance that I may have had the mic in on tascam unit instead of line but I  pretty sure I had line.

Would the above sample possibly be a result of accidentally having mic in or would that present itself differently? Maybe that could explain why levels on both the ore and the dr70 were barely on to compensate for a hot mic signal?

[Cheesecadet]

So I just did a couple more tests and everything seems fine while recording my stereo.  I had good levels, no distortion or clipping even when I jiggled the mic cables and interconnects from pre and on DR70D side.

One question and I assume I know the answer already, but I want to keep the gain as low as possible on Tascam unit and use as much gain from the FP24 as possible, correct?

[F.O.Bean]

It sounds like (static) cracks and not like something to do with recording levels that are rather low in fact apart from those spikes. Faulty component somewhere in the FP24 or the DR-70D ?

Will try and run some test again today. Pretty sure it is not tascam unit as I can run xlrs directly I to it with no issue as I did the very next day. I just got brand new interconnect cables from darktrain that could possibly be the issue I dunno just thinking aloud here? There is the off chance that I may have had the mic in on tascam unit instead of line but I  pretty sure I had line.

Would the above sample possibly be a result of accidentally having mic in or would that present itself differently? Maybe that could explain why levels on both the ore and the dr70 were barely on to compensate for a hot mic signal?

Doesn't sound like a gain issue [low/high] on the 70D IMO! It sounds like a cable issue to me! Its weird because it has no highend either But I would bet the farm its a cable issue or something with your fp24, since you said you ran mics directly into the 70D with no issues!

[Cheesecadet]

It sounds like (static) cracks and not like something to do with recording levels that are rather low in fact apart from those spikes. Faulty component somewhere in the FP24 or the DR-70D ?

Will try and run some test again today. Pretty sure it is not tascam unit as I can run xlrs directly I to it with no issue as I did the very next day. I just got brand new interconnect cables from darktrain that could possibly be the issue I dunno just thinking aloud here? There is the off chance that I may have had the mic in on tascam unit instead of line but I  pretty sure I had line.

Would the above sample possibly be a result of accidentally having mic in or would that present itself differently? Maybe that could explain why levels on both the ore and the dr70 were barely on to compensate for a hot mic signal?

Doesn't sound like a gain issue [low/high] on the 70D IMO! It sounds like a cable issue to me! Its weird because it has no highend either But I would bet the farm its a cable issue or something with your fp24, since you said you ran mics directly into the 70D with no issues!

Hey Bean check out my post directly above yours.  I had no cable issue while doing the home test just now.  I even jiggled the cables on the mics and the pre interconnects out of fp24.  I'm thinking it was some sort of operator error on my part now at the show.

Does anyone know if I accidentally had mic in instead of line if that would make it sound the way it did or account for why my levels on pre and deck were barely on?  The more I think about it, the more I think I mucht have had the mic in setting on on the tascam instead of line.

[jcb]

One question and I assume I know the answer already, but I want to keep the gain as low as possible on Tascam unit and use as much gain from the FP24 as possible, correct?

I would not put it exactly like that. The aim is to amplify the signal once at the start of the chain and then try for unity gain as you follow the signal from one device to the next. In your case amplify the mics signal with the FP24 and try to set the Tascam for unity gain.
This is the point with the 1000Hz generator procedure : this signal shows as 0dB on the FP24 and should be -20dB(FS) on the Tascam. Once the gain on the recorder is adjusted it should be left alone and the gain adjustment should be done exclusively with the FP24 gain control knobs so that you get a nice signal that goes a bit over the 0dB on the FP24 (limit according to taste and high sound volumes risk).
Now rules are made to be broken when you have a good reason to do so (including the pleasure to break the rules) ...

[F.O.Bean]

Ahh well that's good news Could've been user error, because it happens to all of us! And with the 70D having such good preamps and chips in it, don't be afraid to keep the gain lower on your fp24 and using more gain on the 70D I've accidentally had the M10 at 10 on its gain, and the LB higher, and I didn't notice anything bad audibly I'm stuck with my vms having a fixed +20db of gain, so my M10 is usually at 2-3! But since the fp24 has such hot gain on its XLR outs, I'd run the fp24 more conservatively and use the rest of the gain from the 70D That way its kind of like a safety net, meaning you wouldn't overload the fp24 or the 70D

[Ultfris101]

If the recorder is expecting to receive a "mic" signal which is at a very low level compared to "line" which is going to come in much higher i would think this could easily cause problems but probably depends on how the recorder implements things. The FP24 has already brought the mic signal up to line level and then is passing that higher level onto the recorder. If the recorder then tries to do that as well...

[Cheesecadet]

One question and I assume I know the answer already, but I want to keep the gain as low as possible on Tascam unit and use as much gain from the FP24 as possible, correct?

I would not put it exactly like that. The aim is to amplify the signal once at the start of the chain and then try for unity gain as you follow the signal from one device to the next. In your case amplify the mics signal with the FP24 and try to set the Tascam for unity gain.
This is the point with the 1000Hz generator procedure : this signal shows as 0dB on the FP24 and should be -20dB(FS) on the Tascam. Once the gain on the recorder is adjusted it should be left alone and the gain adjustment should be done exclusively with the FP24 gain control knobs so that you get a nice signal that goes a bit over the 0dB on the FP24 (limit according to taste and high sound volumes risk).
Now rules are made to be broken when you have a good reason to do so (including the pleasure to break the rules) ...

So with the 1khz tone off the fp24 it puts my DR70D at -20dB.  Is that unity for the Tascam unit?

[jcb]

It should be as this is the aim of this calibration process.

[Cheesecadet]

Do the line XLR output of the FP24 add gain at all?  I am just curious because folks with mixers and mp-2s say they have +16dB of gain no matter what.  I know the gain of the FP24 can be dialed down to 0 but I am curious if coming XLR out of the line outputs if any additional gain is introduced.

Sorry for all the questions

[Life In Rewind]

It sounds like (static) cracks and not like something to do with recording levels that are rather low in fact apart from those spikes. Faulty component somewhere in the FP24 or the DR-70D ?

Yes, static, not music causing this.