Who uses DR-100 and/or H4N

florisvaneck said:
Do you have the non-modified Marantz 661? How are the pre-amps compared to the DR100/H4N (noise)? The modified version only ships to the US and I live in Europe.
Click to expand...

The DR100 noise is not too bad, and is not a problem for music in general, evern for classical or quiet chamber music as long as the mics are condensoer type (as opposed to dynamic type). I　have the standard Marantz 661.

Here is a list of the noise floors of most popular recorders. The Sound Devices recorders are the best for sure.

http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm
 
I have the PCM-M10 too, but not the Mix Pre. I agree that the PCM-M10 is great, with very low noise floor and distortion (among the best), excellent sound results. Don't be fooled by its low price!

TomGruber said:
SD MixPre feeding a line-level signal to a Sony PCM-M10 would be a versatile solution. The PCM-M10 gets excellent reviews. This is the setup I'll be using when my GH2 arrives.
Click to expand...
 
paulhouston said:
I have the PCM-M10 too, but not the Mix Pre. I agree that the PCM-M10 is great, with very low noise floor and distortion (among the best), excellent sound results. Don't be fooled by its low price!
Click to expand...

How do you use XLR mics with this particular recorder?
 
The only way to use XLR mics is to use a preamp with XLR connections, like the Sound Devices Mixpre. But that's typically a good idea anyway. A proper preamp will give you a much better S/N ratio. H4N's mic-level inputs are typically a bit too noisey for me.
 
Here's a great resource for listening to and comparing noise levels of the various recorders. Actually this site was the one that convinced me to go with the Sony PCM-M10 + SD Mixpre combination instead of getting the Marantz PMD-661. The flexibility of having a separate preamp is great too. I can feed it directly to my HMC150 if I don't want to record dual system audio.
 
TomGruber said:
Here's a great resource for listening to and comparing noise levels of the various recorders. Actually this site was the one that convinced me to go with the Sony PCM-M10 + SD Mixpre combination instead of getting the Marantz PMD-661. The flexibility of having a separate preamp is great too. I can feed it directly to my HMC150 if I don't want to record dual system audio.
Click to expand...

That's a great page, thanks!

What does your rig look like with all that equipment? Have any pics? I'm new to the game so i'm learning all about rails and all the goodness you can attach to them.
 
I'm still waiting on my GH2, so no HDSLR rig yet. And actually, when I get my GH2 I won't be rigging any audio equipment to it anyway. I try and always get someone to do sound and I'll just give him my audio bag with the Mixpre and M10 in it.
 
TomGruber said:
SD MixPre feeding a line-level signal to a Sony PCM-M10 would be a versatile solution. The PCM-M10 gets excellent reviews. This is the setup I'll be using when my GH2 arrives.
Click to expand...

I'm using Sony M10 with Juicedlink preamp and it's wonderful. I miss my PCM D50 as it had a bit better on board mics for stereo ambience (professional windsielts etc).
I have a feeling that even a small Olympus LS-5 or Tascam DR 03 recorder will do with an external amp from Juicedlink or Sound Devices if you have the money as MixPre isn't better in terms of noise/gain but the overall build and design is a bit better.

T
 
So, I am moving from a video camera to DSLR, and so I need a recorder. I have been toying with the classic Tascam vs. Zoom dilemma, but now I think I'm not sure about either of them.

For me, the Zoom H4N is completely out already, because it has poor level adjustment on the fly with no pots, and having done film sound recording in the past, I know how important that can be.

The Tascam DR-100 is still in contention, but I am told it has not got good enough pre-amps for some people.

The Marantz 661 is the next step up I think, with better pre-amps, perhaps as good as some mixers, and excellent build quality, display and ergonomics, or so I read.

Then we're up to Fostex FR4-LE and Tascam HD-P2, which is real pro stuff I can't justify.

I have used Sound Devices 302 in the past, and it is a pretty good machine, to say the least, but oh so expensive. The mix-pre looks good but is also expensive and needs a recorder.

I'm probably going to go with the Marantz PMD-661 and no mixer.
 
Lucas Adamson said:
The Marantz 661 is the next step up I think, with better pre-amps, perhaps as good as some mixers, and excellent build quality, display and ergonomics, or so I read.

Then we're up to Fostex FR2-LE

I'm probably going to go with the Marantz PMD-661 and no mixer.
Click to expand...

Me too. For your information: Fostex and PMD-661 are priced likewise. But the reviews on bhphotovideo are better on the Marantz pmd-661.
 
Lucas Adamson said:
I'm probably going to go with the Marantz PMD-661 and no mixer.
Click to expand...

That's where my money is going when it does.

Then to be followed by SD USBPre 2 (in standalone) outputting S/PDIF into the PMD-661, and ultimately replace (or keep as backup) with the Tascam DR-680.
 
Tascam DR-100 sync in post

Tascam DR-100 sync in post

RieniO said:
I have both the DR100 and the H4N and I prefer the DR100. Why?
Inputs of DR100 are more sensitive and I have reason to believe that H4N audio drifts on your timeline. When I sync DR100 material on the timeline it is still in sync after 30 minutes but if I do the same with H4N material it's out of sync after 10 minutes already. This can't be co-incidence.
Anyone wants to buy my H4N?
Click to expand...

Hi, how do you sync your audio in the timeline ? Manually ? I have a Tascam DR-100 and EX1R : I would like to take the whole sound of a mucis group with Tascam but I will very often "pause" the camcorder when shooting so much different things. Is there a software-based way to automatically re-sync the cut-clips with the continued audio track ? thanks a lot
 
Anyone have experience with the Oade Brothers Marantz PMD 661 Super MOD?? To me, it seems to be the way to go to preserve the fidelity of the audio coming from a high quality external mic source. Or is the pre-amps on the PMD661 already good enough without the MOD for filmmaking applications??
 
i didn't have a chance to use an external recorder yet,
but is it true you can get sink issues with the video afterwards? (i hope i make myself clear: video can be shorter or longer than the sound recording)
if so, how to avoid it?
 
The only way I could see that happening is if you were recording at a difference rate (44.1KHz vs 48KHz). If you are still worried about it though (especially for long form stuff) just send the signal into the camera.
 
I have used a couple of the original h4s and they drift pretty badly. I thought the H4n was supposed to be better. We just bought a new h4n but I haven't shot with it yet. If that drifts too, well that would just suck.

I don't know that there is a way to correct it since it is a fault of the recorder. We tend to just let the h4's run on longer stage performances and it can be an issue correcting the drift.
 
roei z said:
that's it! drifting... :(
how come no one address this huge problem?
Click to expand...

You can't really address it. Two completely different consumer devices using different clocks. That's why pro studios have a master clock that everything is sync'd to. It's really only going to become a big deal with very long form recording and if you're doing that, then you need to be using more professional tools.
There's a thread around here somewhere with people testing DR-100 etc directly into the GH2, that way you have much better reference track in GH2. Sync afterwards is easy. Just drop the DR-100 file on timeline directly below the in-cam track and zoom way in, then slide it a frame at a time until the waveforms match perfectly. I shot 45 minute concert this way, but true dual system sound, a mixer feed into my camera and one into my laptop (different clocks), the waveforms matched perfectly for the entire 45mintues.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top