Tascam DR-70D 4-channel audio recorder (Part 7)

[voltronic]

Mic.  But the input gain is a different setting.  You might want to check out the 70D FAQ linked in my signature where there's a list of commonly used settings, as well as a link to the manual.

[The Other Chris]

Mic.  But the input gain is a different setting.  You might want to check out the 70D FAQ linked in my signature where there's a list of commonly used settings, as well as a link to the manual.

Thanks for the reply, I've been going over the manual but some of it doesn't compute necessarily.  Got it set to Mic, Input Gain to Low and trying to figure out if when running 2 channels you record in Mono....a true Left & Right Signal>recorder right?  I think I have brain damage :p  We'll see what happens.  You guys are great, appreciate the help/patience and work that's been done to get this recorder figured out. 
Chris

[voltronic]

Mic.  But the input gain is a different setting.  You might want to check out the 70D FAQ linked in my signature where there's a list of commonly used settings, as well as a link to the manual.

Thanks for the reply, I've been going over the manual but some of it doesn't compute necessarily.  Got it set to Mic, Input Gain to Low and trying to figure out if when running 2 channels you record in Mono....a true Left & Right Signal>recorder right?  I think I have brain damage :p  We'll see what happens.  You guys are great, appreciate the help/patience and work that's been done to get this recorder figured out. 
Chris

You've got everything right except the MONO setting - you want STEREO.  That will make whatever is going into channels 1 and 2 into a stereo track, and same thing for tracks 3 and 4.  Make sure you enable / disable the tracks you want (or don't want) to record.  This is under the BASIC menu.

[mfrench]

Also,... You need to assign the width of the panning in the stereo tracks. Make sure right is totally right, and left is left....

[The Other Chris]

^^^^OK, I got it now.  Thanks again & again. 

[F.O.Bean]

Also,... You need to assign the width of the panning in the stereo tracks. Make sure right is totally right, and left is left....

M0k3, I thought the panning didn't matter unless writing MONO tracks? Meaning the panning doesn't affect your recordings when writing STEREO tracks I just leave mine on HARD LEFT[Channels 1 & 3] & HARD RIGHT[Channels 2 & 4], and then always write STEREO tracks anyway...

[F.O.Bean]

3.  I've made roughly 6 transfers using Tascam DA20 mkII>dr70 @16/44 with NO issues. 

I'm very curious about this Ive never seen anyone transfer their DATs through an analog conversion like that! I'm just wondering why you would convert them like that, when xferring DATs digitally is cheaper than ever

And please let us know how the 70D works out for you! I think its a BREEZE to run and I'm glad that it doesn't get all clogged up with a shitload of useless menu options we'll never use! Just a relatively bare bones deck that sounds pretty damn good on its own and is easy as hell to power and run

[mfrench]

Also,... You need to assign the width of the panning in the stereo tracks. Make sure right is totally right, and left is left....

M0k3, I thought the panning didn't matter unless writing MONO tracks? Meaning the panning doesn't affect your recordings when writing STEREO tracks I just leave mine on HARD LEFT[Channels 1 & 3] & HARD RIGHT[Channels 2 & 4], and then always write STEREO tracks anyway...

I've recorded in both formats enough now that they sort of blend together in my memory. You could very well be right.
Its something that I always check, and make sure of.

[Life In Rewind]

Also,... You need to assign the width of the panning in the stereo tracks. Make sure right is totally right, and left is left....

M0k3, I thought the panning didn't matter unless writing MONO tracks? Meaning the panning doesn't affect your recordings when writing STEREO tracks I just leave mine on HARD LEFT[Channels 1 & 3] & HARD RIGHT[Channels 2 & 4], and then always write STEREO tracks anyway...

I think its the opposite - Panning has no effect on MONO...only in play on STEREO.

I usually run STEREO - unless Im using some unusual mic setup...then you might want MONO tracks.

[noahbickart]

Also,... You need to assign the width of the panning in the stereo tracks. Make sure right is totally right, and left is left....

M0k3, I thought the panning didn't matter unless writing MONO tracks? Meaning the panning doesn't affect your recordings when writing STEREO tracks I just leave mine on HARD LEFT[Channels 1 & 3] & HARD RIGHT[Channels 2 & 4], and then always write STEREO tracks anyway...

I think its the opposite - Panning has no effect on MONO...only in play on STEREO.

I usually run STEREO - unless Im using some unusual mic setup...then you might want MONO tracks.

This is correct. Only when in MONO does the "pan" not matter.

Given that the M/S mode takes care of that usage, I can't see why anyone would want anything other than a hard pan. Crossfeed can be applied in post.

[mfrench]

This has been eating at me since I posted.   I didn't have a chance to fire mine up until right now. When I did, I only perused the menu settings, and changed them between stereo and mono, and checked the settings.  The panning is selectable in both stereo and mono.

[voltronic]

^^ ^ Agreed.  The panning control should only be active for mono tracks, say if someone were using this as a field mixer and recording an interview with a boom and a couple lavs all as iso tracks - I'm thinking of a mixer like the SD 302 which was probably designed for situations like this.  Someone doing a recording like this would know to record iso mono tracks, and would not use the stereo mode.  The 70D doesn't record a separate stereo downmix, unlike many pro recorders.

Selecting stereo mode should deactivate panning and lock the odd/even channels hard L/R respectively, since a proper stereo track would be hard-panned by definition.  Anything less than a hard pan would create a recording closer to mono, since you'd be feeding some of the L channel to the R and vice versa.

I think I'll add this to the FAQ as a "known issue".  I guess it's not really something that's broken in terms of functionality, but is something that could potentially mess up a stereo recording if you accidentally move it.

[Life In Rewind]

^^ ^ Agreed.  The panning control should only be active for mono tracks, say if someone were using this as a field mixer and recording an interview with a boom and a couple lavs all as iso tracks - I'm thinking of a mixer like the SD 302 which was probably designed for situations like this.  Someone doing a recording like this would know to record iso mono tracks, and would not use the stereo mode.  The 70D doesn't record a separate stereo downmix, unlike many pro recorders.

Selecting stereo mode should deactivate panning and lock the odd/even channels hard L/R respectively, since a proper stereo track would be hard-panned by definition.  Anything less than a hard pan would create a recording closer to mono, since you'd be feeding some of the L channel to the R and vice versa.

I think I'll add this to the FAQ as a "known issue".  I guess it's not really something that's broken in terms of functionality, but is something that could potentially mess up a stereo recording if you accidentally move it.

It would seem to me that Panning is concept that only applies to stereo...

When you record in mono - you get 2 files (or 4)...there's no where to pan to...

Long ago - I used a mixer for 4 channel recording - when running stage mics - sometimes I would set them very far apart - but pan them together slightly so they weren't so LEFT RIGHT-ish...

[mfrench]

I had to answer this for myself, and hooked up a pair of mics.  I tried panning each mic to hard opposite to create mono-two-channel in stereo mode, but, stereo imaging remained.

[voltronic]

^^ ^ Agreed.  The panning control should only be active for mono tracks, say if someone were using this as a field mixer and recording an interview with a boom and a couple lavs all as iso tracks - I'm thinking of a mixer like the SD 302 which was probably designed for situations like this.  Someone doing a recording like this would know to record iso mono tracks, and would not use the stereo mode.  The 70D doesn't record a separate stereo downmix, unlike many pro recorders.

Selecting stereo mode should deactivate panning and lock the odd/even channels hard L/R respectively, since a proper stereo track would be hard-panned by definition.  Anything less than a hard pan would create a recording closer to mono, since you'd be feeding some of the L channel to the R and vice versa.

I think I'll add this to the FAQ as a "known issue".  I guess it's not really something that's broken in terms of functionality, but is something that could potentially mess up a stereo recording if you accidentally move it.

It would seem to me that Panning is concept that only applies to stereo...

When you record in mono - you get 2 files (or 4)...there's no where to pan to...

Long ago - I used a mixer for 4 channel recording - when running stage mics - sometimes I would set them very far apart - but pan them together slightly so they weren't so LEFT RIGHT-ish...

OK, I see how I'm making a false comparison here and somehow I got my thinking backwards.  On something like the SD 302, the panning for the 3 mono tracks is useful because that unit is outputting a stereo mixdown of the 3 inputs.  On the 70D though, there is no such mixdown.  Because of that, all of the signal from one input is going fully to one recording channel no matter what the pan says, as opposed to a stereo mix which would either send the signal to L or R only (hard-panned), split equally (center pan) or somewhere in between.

Or to use an example I have more direct experience with: My FP24 has L/C/R switches for each of its two input channels.  If the CH1 input is switched to "C", that input signal is routed equally to both output channels.  I have to set the two channels to L and R in order to get a stereo recording.

I had to answer this for myself, and hooked up a pair of mics.  I tried panning each mic to hard opposite to create mono-two-channel in stereo mode, but, stereo imaging remained.

OK, but doing that, I would expect that you'd still get stereo separation because you're still hard-panning; just backwards.  I think the way to test this is to center-pan each mic channel while recording in stereo mode.  That should result in a mono image because the CH1 mic signal would be split equally to both L and R tracks, and same thing would happen for the CH2 mic.  (see above)