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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Tascam DR-40 & Scarlet?

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Geoff V

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How are REDuser plugging in their DR-40 recorder from the camera? Looks like I bought the wrong cables. Is their 3.5mm to 1/4" or XLR cable?

Help...

Cheers.
 
Ive been wondering, is the DR-40 good enough or is it best to pick up the DR-60D?

Need for live events and possibly concert recordings.

Wont replace board feed but would like to know if its overkill to get the DR-60D.
 
they sell mini to xlrs. i have the 40, but i don't use it too often. it gave us good levels on the last commercial I did, but truthfully i don't find myself using it often, but when i do its good for my needs
 
Bob Gundu said:
From the recorder? Aren't you going the other way?
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm doing this wrong. I was trying to go from the two mono plugs (in front of the Scarlet camera) to the recorder. So, I can record dual tracks. Channel 1 & 2 on the camera (scratch track) and two track from the recorder. So, 3.5mm (from the camera - two outputs) to the back of the DR-40 input like 1/4" connector. Or is this the wrong way or is this the wrong way to connect camera to recorder or vise a versa.

I was hoping to use the DR-40 dual mics on the recorder to record sound from the input from the camera. Is that correct or not?

Sorry, as you can see I'm not much of an audio guy.
 
yes, you're doing it wrong.
Record to the sound recorder, then use the recorder outputs to put a scratch track or 2 on the camera.
the cameras have less good preamps than the recorders, and even worse headphone output amps.
 
thanks Christopher.

So, the A-box is used for Camera sound and the DR-40 would be secondary recorder, correct?

How do you sync up in post? No TC? Do I use Pluraleyes than?
 
DR40 is your primary recorder. Red cameras are less capable audio recorders than every offboard option, including sub $100 2 track .wav recorders
the A-box lets you simply match pro audio cables to to the non pro camera input plugs.
It is very useful as such, but your camera track is only a scratch track, and may work for news and doc uses, it is not able to reproduce the range and tone characteristics from a dramatic or musical performance for drama, music, and art.

I have worked on corporate pieces with an Epic where feeding an audio signal that had run from mics, through a Sound Devices 442 and then thru A-Box with camera sounded perfectly adequate for our Web and DVD distribution.

Also, an A-box makes it much easier to use a wireless lav mic with the cameras. I usually am sending my reference audio by this method.

If you are cutting in FCP or PP, Pluraleyes should work.
I personally have an issue in that if I had used my TC recorder, I could easily sync and export best quality audio with my 4K R3D images.. It is not simple to sync and export non TC audio in RCX. It's my own fault, and I have learned a lesson there.
 
I would go on to stress generally speaking all cameras regardless of branding are worse then 200 dollar off board recorders. I found this quite perplexing myself as a student. "what do you mean a 100,000 dollar camera system doesn't do sound" lol!

I recently insisted on bringing an off board recorder on a shoot, where before we had been feeding two mics into the red. On this shoot I used the off board recorder with a wireless lav system to the talent, AND the mics from last time remained on for wild/scratch/room tone/whatever reasons one can justify...

post ended up using the dual system lav for a lot of their stuff cuz it sounded so crisp. only problem being our audio had improved so much that it became a serious discussion on whether to dumb it down to match previous deliverables. The tascam kicked butt!
 
Do you guys rate the Tascam DR40 over the Zoom H4N? same price just what do you prefer??

Cheers

Simon
 
So, basically users here are micing their DR-40 to lav or boom microphones directly. Skipping the RED camera completely or using it for a scratch track, right?
 
Right. Or, in some cases, feeding the dr40 and the camera in parallel from a mixer.
 
Simon Knight said:
Do you guys rate the Tascam DR40 over the Zoom H4N? same price just what do you prefer??

Cheers

Simon
Click to expand...

The DR40 was considerably lower priced than the H4N when I bought mine over a year ago. They seemed comparable in features and I doubt seriously anyone could ever tell the difference between sound recorded and played back from either one.
 
Simon Knight said:
Do you guys rate the Tascam DR40 over the Zoom H4N? same price just what do you prefer??

Cheers

Simon
Click to expand...
I own the Tascam products, but have used the Zoom H4 and H4N..
I use the Tascam dr-05 in a bag as a transcription recorder, and it is smaller and lighter than the Zoom, and will do the .bwf files at 48.00 sample rate that I want.
it is half the weight of the Dr40, and less than half of the Zoom
however, its only a 2 track mini plug solution.
The 40 and the zoom H4N have xlr inputs, and 4 tracks
I personally prefer the Tascam's control layout., and think that all of the above give me better sounding files than the original H4.

However, I do most of my primary recording on a Zaxcom Fusion 12., which costs as much as a Scarlet Brain.
 
I used the H4n in school as a student and bought the tascam personally. they essentially are the same thing, though I admit I was more used to the menu of the H4N, then my own product...but that's just cuz I usually shoot off speed and find myself almost never recording sound to begin with...

ps if i were to record sound, i'd use a clapper before trying to deal with running a scratch track into the camera, seems like a pain to rig/do moves with
 
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