Tascam DR-100 MKII and Sound Devices MM-1

J

julian7879

Active member
I had been using an Audix SCX1-HC for interviews powered by a Tascam DR-100 MKII. However, I have found the preamps on the DR-100 to be too noisy. I have purchased a Sound Devices MM-1 for its' superior preamp and am wondering if their are any recommendations on set-up of the DR-100 MKII for the MM-1 anyone can offer.

Also, should i be monitoring my audio on the DR-100 or the MM-1?

I'm a DSLR guy, so I'm still a novice when it comes to audio.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,
Julian
 
julian7879 said:
I had been using an Audix SCX1-HC for interviews powered by a Tascam DR-100 MKII. However, I have found the preamps on the DR-100 to be too noisy. I have purchased a Sound Devices MM-1 for its' superior preamp and am wondering if their are any recommendations on set-up of the DR-100 MKII for the MM-1 anyone can offer.

Also, should i be monitoring my audio on the DR-100 or the MM-1?
Click to expand...

The DR-100 will take line level inputs, and that's all the MM-1 will give it. So you don't have much choice there, but that's exactly what you want anyway. Sadly, the MM-1 lacks a 1kHz calibration tone, so you can't easily set your recorder and forget it; it requires some experimentation.

I'd start by setting the gain on the MM-1. Turn on the limiter and leave it on (you'll never want it off, it's half of what you paid for). Then talk to the mic like an interviewee would while you turn the gain up. At some stage you'll make the peak limiter LED light up. Then back off the gain; I'd want to back off around 18-20 dB if the SD literature tells you how much gain a "click" on the gain pot is. If the literature doesn't say, call up SD and ask; they almost certainly will tell you. My guess would be 6 dB per click, so back off three clicks from where the limiter kicks in.

Once the MM-1 is set, time to work on the DR-100. So, turn up the gain on the DR-100 until its meter shows peaks of around -12 dBfs.

The point of this whole exercise is to set gain staging properly. You want clean gain and low noise from each step in the chain, so that you end up with a strong signal to noise ratio in your recording.

The headphone monitoring provisions of the MM-1 are meant for a boom op, so the boom op can hear that (s)he is pointing the mic correctly. If I were you, I'd probably be monitoring off the recorder. Why? To get a better level of confidence that the recorder is actually recording what you want.
 
First thing - you always want to monitor the LAST stage. So you hear EVERYTHING going on in your audio.

Basic gain staging dictates that you'd want the hottest "reasonable" output from the MM-1 and the lowest "reasonable" input level on the DR-100.
I say "reasonable" because sometimes a device does NOT perform its best when the output is at Max, and sometimes the same can go for input stages.

So send your stereo output from the MM-1 into the Line Input on the DR-100 first. This "should" work. Provided you get proper left-right separation - do a test.
And set the levels out of the MM-1 so it looks good on the Tascam's meters. I don't know if you can adjust the Line Input levels on the Tascam - probably not.
This should give the best results.

On the off chance that something is weird with the Line Inputs, like it has bleed from the left into the right channels etc., then you could try using the Tascam's Mic Inputs at their LOWEST POSSIBLE settings and adjust the MM-1 output accordingly.
 
Many thanks to both of you for your insights.

Just to clarify - After properly setting the MM-1, when trying to achieve -12 dBfs on the DR-100 I should be adjust the "gain" stages on the bottom of the unit, and not the "input" level control on the side?
 
You should adjust the input level on the side. The mic gain on the bottom shouldn't have any effect when using line level mode for the inputs.

I would suggest a different method of setting gain staging. Plug connect the mm-1 to the line input, connect your mic to the mm-1, turn on the limiter, turn your preamp gain all the way up on the mm-1, put a loud sound into the mic so that the limiter is hitting, then set the DR-100 inputs to just below clipping. Also, turn off the limiter on the dr-100.

You definitely want to be monitoring the DR-100. I would suggest running a connection from the either the headphone or line out jacks of the dr-100 to the monitor input on the mm-1 and using the mm-1 to monitor the return so that you have the easier controls of the mm-1 available, but that would require converting the stereo output of the dr-100 to the balanced 1/4 inch jack on the mm-1 so it is probably not worth it if you don't want to have to deal with the extra cable.
 
cpreston said:
You should adjust the input level on the side. The mic gain on the bottom shouldn't have any effect when using line level mode for the inputs.

I would suggest a different method of setting gain staging. Plug connect the mm-1 to the line input, connect your mic to the mm-1, turn on the limiter, turn your preamp gain all the way up on the mm-1, put a loud sound into the mic so that the limiter is hitting, then set the DR-100 inputs to just below clipping. Also, turn off the limiter on the dr-100.

You definitely want to be monitoring the DR-100. I would suggest running a connection from the either the headphone or line out jacks of the dr-100 to the monitor input on the mm-1 and using the mm-1 to monitor the return so that you have the easier controls of the mm-1 available, but that would require converting the stereo output of the dr-100 to the balanced 1/4 inch jack on the mm-1 so it is probably not worth it if you don't want to have to deal with the extra cable.
Click to expand...

Thanks

I'll give this a try as well, and see where I come out between all of the suggestions.
 
Can't you a cable tester to generate tone at mic level to calibrate the MM-1 into the tascam?

That's what I was planning on doing with my Mp-1 and Dr-70D, but ended getting a 302 mixer anyway.
 
You can use a tone generator, sort of. It gets tricky to tell where you need to calibrate to so that the SD limiters are set just below clipping. So When my tone from the MixPre is about -18 I'm good, but the meters are marked at -20 so exactly where you hit -18 is a guess. I have the "about right" levels marked on the recorder so I can be very close with out going through a set up and then depending on What I am recording I will check with tone and do the cranked with loud noise to make sure the limiters will keep the recorder from clipping. If I go through the whole set up I use some board tape to lock the recorder levels in place and only adjust level on the MixPre. The DR100 probably has buttons to set input level so the tape wouldn't work.

If I'm recording FX and it's quiet I may well push the recorder levels to get a decent signal and I'm not likely to be surprised by a sudden loud sound.
 
I concur with the above.
FWIW, with mixer/preamp gear that has no calibration tone options, I would recomend confirming the operating levels are matched (-10dB out / 10dB in. or +4dB out / +4dB in). Set the recorders input levels at around 60 to 75% and use the preamp's volume to get optimum levels.
BTW, I recall the 1st generation DR-100 (if that's what you have) only has an unbalanced -10dB line input (via 1/8" stereo mini-jack, so that could be a problem.. as the MM1 only outputs +4dB. (DR-100mkII supports +4dB levels)
 
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