Tech question on DR-680

M

Marshall Harrington

Member
How much does the Mic Gain switch change the signal? Does it increase the noise floor? Should I use the gain or just increase trim setting?

How does the Limiter work? Is there a metric threshold?

Thanks
 
"How much does the Mic Gain switch change the signal?"
> Low: –20dBu High: –44dBu

"Does it increase the noise floor?"
> Of coarse it does, but if one needs the extra gain, you got no choice.

"Should I use the gain or just increase trim setting?
> Again, depends on the sound source. There's some noise either way, it's budget gear, but may be quiet enough for some folks. .. Are the mic pres better than the Zooms' and other budget recorders? I would say yes on most account. Fortunately most pro wireless receivers can go line-in and bypass the mic pres all together, so one usually only need two external mic pres for a typical film shoot. (one or two booms, four or five radios)

"How does the Limiter work?"
> It's post A/D converters, so it will keep digital 'overs' in check but obviously won't help the analog input stage. Again, external pre amps would be wanted.

"Is there a metric threshold?"
-What's a 'metric threshold'? Never heard of that before.

NOTE: I initially did a 64-day movie shoot with one last summer, so I'm pretty familiar with it's needs, operation and other odd quirks.
 
Thanks Rick. You've helped me a bunch over the last year. Keep thinking I'll be able to afford a SD663 just not quite yet. Starting to push the boundaries of the DR-680 though. The metric threshold would be an amout of sound that you set as a limiter. I'm sure that there is one just like the low and high gain I have not been able to find it.

FYI your various posts on your movie shoot are what convinced me to get this piece as an interim recorder. Much better than a Zoom. So thank you. It's the best part of these places.
 
I also have a 744, but lately the productions don't have the budget for it and got the low cost Tascam, so I can get the work and lower the equipment fees to fit a client's budget. I would like to update to 664 or a Zaxcom Nomad, but selling the 744 would be a huge loss. (currently selling used for around $2000-2700) so I'm kind of stuck.
I throw in the 302, so I have top shelf mic pres for the booms. Wireless are all line level.
 
I was following a 744T in very good condition and it sold for around $1,850,000. Wish I had the funds. Then a 702T sold for around the same price. What gives? These prices are all over the board.
 
"$1,850,000
Let's see, that's "One Million, Eight-Hundred-Fifty-Thousand". Is it gold plated.. or I assume you mean eighteen-hundred ($1,800.00) cheap.

I guess the marketplace considers it an 'outdated' model, with the 664 a little more, and the 663 less than the 744's $4200. price tag. A really great machine though.

PS- I'm gonna be sick if $1800, is the latest going price, which would equal a $2400 loss for me..
How many Zooms can I buy for that?
 
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Rick R said:
I also have a 744, but lately the productions don't have the budget for it and got the low cost Tascam, so I can get the work and lower the equipment fees to fit a client's budget. I would like to update to 664 or a Zaxcom Nomad, but selling the 744 would be a huge loss. (currently selling used for around $2000-2700) so I'm kind of stuck.
I throw in the 302, so I have top shelf mic pres for the booms. Wireless are all line level.
Click to expand...
Been thinking about adding a 302 as a companion to the 680 as well. Then upgrade the 680 to a 663 which should give me 6 channels of easily ride-able recording.
 
The 302 only yields two output channels. But iso tracks are usually not moved much. Also a 680 channel's trim level (or multiple channels can be ganged in a group), are changed in 0.5dB > 1dB steps via the front panel soft knob. The infamous 'zipper effect' is not audible for most dialog.
BTW, The SD 663 line input knobs are not so easy to ride either due to their tiny size, so someone with large appendages would likely have difficulty, especially in a run and gun scenario. Rent one to try out.
 
"Was that painful?"
- Define "painful".
I had the expense battery system in place already, so it was just a matter of making a coax power plug cable . I recommend right-angle power plug, the lower profile and can easily be taped down for reliability. Tracks 5/6 needed 1/4" TRS terminated cables, but was a fast & easy solder job.
The file naming structure is clunky and limited to six characters (a I recall). But I submitted sound reports and had no complaints. I also sent an IFB feed to the camera (RED Epic) for sync verification and set the cam/recorder clocks the same so the TOD TC would at least be 'in the ballpark'. All takes were clap-slated as well.
Quirk: It was annoying to have the recorder default to folder #0000 after switching to a subsequent folder when starting a new roll. If you do not save a file to the 'new' folder and shut down the machine before hand, it defaults to folder 0000 upon re-start. It took me a while to figure that one out.
Another peeve was resetting the file count (System> Initialize), re-sets ALL the parameters to default, so the record, file type, sample rate/bit depth, ect. must be re-set as well. Fortunately I only needed to do that once a day.
It would have been nice to assign inputs to tracks... but you get what you get for the cheap price.
 
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Thanks for your detailed response. By painful, I mostly was thinking of the difficulty of monitoring say 6 tracks on the DR680. How many tracks were you typically recording?
 
Jim Ritscher said:
How many tracks were you typically recording?
Click to expand...
Sometimes one, sometimes all six/eight. On a cart with a console type mixer, direct outs fed the recorder. I sent a dallies mix to camera (hop) and to tracks 7-8. The boom op was directly from his MM1 and/or an aux. send which also had TB. A second (post fader) aux. send, fed the Comtek transmitter.
In a bag config, the boom op monitored directly from his MM1 or could switch to a Comtek (dallies mix) if he so desired. Otherwise, I dialed in my HP mix from the 680's internal mixer, which also fed tracks 7-8 and the Comtek. The rare second boom op got a Comtek. I soloed tracks, or combos of according off the 680 or 302 which had the boom mic(s). The 680 HP out went back to the 302's RTN as it has a much superior HP amp than the anemic recorder's... typical of budget machines.
Any errors where caused by operator negligence. (me)
I was planning on selling it along with my 744 to finance a 664, but since it was so cheap and the 744's resale value is ****, that's on hold.
 
So it sounds like you mostly used the DR-680 as a pure recorder, and controlled the levels from the 744? (That's not quite what you said).
 
I've never used the recorders together. Either/or.. usually depends on the client's budget. Any gain riding is normally on a preamps/mixer. The 744 isn't particularly gain-ride friendly by itself.
 
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