tascam dr-40

[salacious]

Hi All,

when recording video, if you have the tascam, what settings do you use to record? note that its attached via xlr to a rode ntg-1

Thanks

 

[fox10078]

Hi All,

when recording video, if you have the tascam, what settings do you use to record? note that its attached via xlr to a rode ntg-1

Thanks

I record in MONO, unless im using two mics. I use 16bit 48K for my Rec settings.

 

[prestonkd]

You should set it either to match the audio being recorded to your camera or to whatever sequence settings your editor is going to be set to if those are not the same settings. That way it won't have to rendered. I use 16 bit, 48K on both my camera and FCP so that's what I set my DR-100 to. Unless you are doing some serious high-end audio work with some serious equipment and know-how, you would not obtain any perceivable benefit from recording at a higher bit and sample rate and then down-converting it. Hope that helps.

 

[salacious]

I record in MONO, unless im using two mics. I use 16bit 48K for my Rec settings.

thanks for this, i knew i was doing something stupid...

----------

You should set it either to match the audio being recorded to your camera or to whatever sequence settings your editor is going to be set to if those are not the same settings. That way it won't have to rendered. I use 16 bit, 48K on both my camera and FCP so that's what I set my DR-100 to. Unless you are doing some serious high-end audio work with some serious equipment and know-how, you would not obtain any perceivable benefit from recording at a higher bit and sample rate and then down-converting it. Hope that helps.

thanks again for the info really helpful

 

[prestonkd]

One other note on the stereo/mono thing. Certainly when you are just using the one mic it makes sense to record in mono. I have my camera, the DR-100, a shotgun mic and a wireless mic receiver mounted on a camera cage. I record audio separately to the DR-100 as a backup but also use the line out to run it into the camera. In that situation I record in stereo and get shotgun on one channel and wireless on the other and mix it in post. Really helps me blend my close mic sound with ambient sound. Obviously, you could do that with any two different audio sources (or maybe 4 with your DR-40, not sure what kind of inputs you've got, but that would be cool) of whatever you are shooting. It just all depends on what you are doing and what kind of audio you need. Just thought I'd mention it.

 

[musique]

You're getting good advice here. You don't say what kind of recording you're doing, but for the best quality sound remember that your vocal microphone needs to be close to and genereally pointing to the actor's mouth, roughly 18 to 24 inches away.

As someone suggested, having a microphone mounted on your camera may good for backup. However, you will probably hate the echo-y sound from that feed. Make sure someone is monitoring the live sound feed and you should be fine if you're recording to a good device.

To capture room noise for your sound editor you might consider recording it separately. The best way is to keep your cast and crew silently in place while you capture 3-4 minutes (that can be looped) of just the background sound of the room.

Also, before shooting make sure that refrigerators, air conditioners, humidifiers, fans, cell phones, etc. are turned off. It's difficult to remove background hum.

If possible, provide your boom operator with headphones, especially if he or she is also recording the sound.

Good luck with your projects.

 

[salacious]

You're getting good advice here. You don't say what kind of recording you're doing, but for the best quality sound remember that your vocal microphone needs to be close to and genereally pointing to the actor's mouth, roughly 18 to 24 inches away.

As someone suggested, having a microphone mounted on your camera may good for backup. However, you will probably hate the echo-y sound from that feed. Make sure someone is monitoring the live sound feed and you should be fine if you're recording to a good device.

To capture room noise for your sound editor you might consider recording it separately. The best way is to keep your cast and crew silently in place while you capture 3-4 minutes (that can be looped) of just the background sound of the room.

Also, before shooting make sure that refrigerators, air conditioners, humidifiers, fans, cell phones, etc. are turned off. It's difficult to remove background hum.

If possible, provide your boom operator with headphones, especially if he or she is also recording the sound.

Good luck with your projects.

im gonna be filming it outside, its for a short film, for some reason the thought of recording in mono was oblivious to me, i have a rode boompole with a rode ntg-1 and a rode blimp, as its for outside i should be pretty cool, i do music production anyway for some reason the thought of recording in mono eluded me, also iv never used a field recorder before so was just curious as to what people settings were, when i was recording in stereo the sound was really low on just the tascam, like worryingly low, but its sorted now, im gonna be filming in a couple of weeks so il put up the section of film im doing first and see what everyones thoughts are on sound, coz sound to me is really important, cant stand crappy sound!!

 

[LethalWolfe]

The Tascam has a 'dual record' feature that simultaneously records a second track but at a lower level to help act as insurance against peaks. This mode takes up double the space on the memory card but it can be easier than having to do a reshoot for a blown out section of audio.

 

[salacious]

The Tascam has a 'dual record' feature that simultaneously records a second track but at a lower level to help act as insurance against peaks. This mode takes up double the space on the memory card but it can be easier than having to do a reshoot for a blown out section of audio.

ah this feature is one of the reasons i got it, i guess i should do alot of practice recordings with this puppy, anyone know of a strap or bag i can use for this thats cheap?

 

[wwinter86]

I record at Wav (or BWF) 24bit 96k, so the original recording is at the best quality. Because you can always export at a lower setting later.

 

[Gwalsh1823]

I just got a tascam dr-40 along with the countryman B3 lapelle mic. I'm shooting interviews and I can't figure out the best setting to set the tascam (I've recorded and when I export it to FCP it always sounds really really low). I'm only using it for interviews for a shoot tomorrow so I'm wondering if anyone has advice for the best settings to put it on? Keep in mind I'm not the best when it comes to audio-any suggestions would help

Thanks

 

[ppc_michael]

I record at Wav (or BWF) 24bit 96k, so the original recording is at the best quality. Because you can always export at a lower setting later.

Quoting for truth. If you plan to do any audio post, the higher the resolution, the better. Just like with video.

Since audio tends to be delivered at 16-bit 48kHz, it is best to use a multiple of the sampling rate to reduce aliasing. For example, 96kHz (48kHz x 2) is preferable to 88kHz or something.