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Tascam DR-680 portable audio recorder

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William Graydon

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I previously posted about purchasing a portable audio recorder and then I came across the Tascam Dr-680 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/673541-REG/Tascam_DR_680_DR_680_8_Track_Portable_Field.html for only $630.

I am wondering why mixers are more expensive and if this is a good deal?

I figure in order to get timecode I will need http://www.red.com/store/products/3bnc-to-00-lemo-sync-cable Will I even be able to connect this to the DR-680?

What do you all think? I don't mind recording audio straight to my scarlet via my a-box but clients and projects often require more "professional" audio.

I am by no means a sound engineer but as I live in Miami there aren't many here so a lot of times we have to do audio ourselves.

Looking forward to your responses. Thanks in advance!
 
Expensive audio equipment usually provides superior preamps, and is almost always worth the extra investment. Audio is definitely one of those areas where you absolutely get what you pay for, so if you can part with the cash, invest in good audio gear. Anything from Sound Devices will provide ultra clean audio and is worth the cost. I have used many products from Tascam, and the resulting audio is a bit too noisy for my tastes, but that is only my opinion.

Good luck with your decision!
 
Marie, what you say is very true. At the current moment I cannot justify spending $1800 on an SD 702. I am worried no though, seeing as the Tascam DR-680 cannot record timecode.

Does anyone have effective alternatives for this? perhaps recording in camera and also to the recorder allowing for easier sync in post?
 
I use the Tascam all the time. I also use API pres in the studio. The tascam is a fine field recorder. It gets the job done. As far as timecode goes... Easy solution. Pipe a wireless signal from the tascam to each camera ( I use a Sennheiser unit). Then apply the $150 Pluraleyes plugin in post. Works like a charm everytime and can save you boatload on a timecode recorder. Of coarse...for perfect tone. A Sound Devices unit is premium....but coming in like 4 grand less...Tascam is killer. Quiet clean preamps. Use good mics...and most importantly.... Use them well.
 
Thanks for the advice Michael! Can you elaborate on the wireless signal? Which sennheiser unit? Do you mean a wireless microphone unit?

Thanks in advance!
 
Sure, be happy to. It's actually the Sennheiser G3 Lavalier system for video cameras. There is a small transmitter and receiver. Both battery powered. Gets super great battery life. Take off the Lavalier mic and plug the tascam directly into it. Pipe the receiver(s) directly into the Eric it Scarlet using a standard 1/8 cable. Then the tascam and Red cam both have the same exact audio wav forms. Open up FCP, PP or Avid and use Pluraleyes. 100% accurate everytime. I have great mics and lots of engineering skills. You would never know its not a high end piece of gear .... And I can sync hours of footage is about 10-20 minutes.

Once it's in sync to the master ... That's when the work comes in. Mix...eq...compress...filter...make it sound rock'n then replace the "scratch master audio" with the mixed audio. Painless...easy....and cheap.... and sounds great.
 
Sorry about the verbiage ....I'm on an iPhone...damn spellcheck.

Hey off topic... Do you know if the Zeiss 50mm Ze got set up with the 3.0.0 firmware. I believe it did and I want to pick up that little guy.
 
Haha. No worries Michael! Thanks for that. Makes sense. I actually just asked a buddy of mine about the zeiss. Looking into a set myself. Will let you know in a few.
 
It does indeed Michael. just confirmed.
 
Got the tascam. Preamps too noisy, but maybe its a "monday model". Will try to get it fixed. Otherwise a decent product at a good price.
 
I have the 680 and its been a solid, good sounding unit. I've had no complaints regarding it's sound quality and in several cases have been very happily surprised by what I'm getting from it. I'm feeding it with 2 sony diversity wireless units, soon to be 4, so it's valuable to have 6 inputs (4 xlrs)

Usage wise, there's a made-for-680 portabrace bag which is great and provides easy access to all parts of the recorder whilst in use. I wish the same could be said for some of the control/menu/ergonomic choices on the unit itself. For some obscure reason there are 2 separate menu functions, one of which is accessed via the top of the unit, which would typically be covered. It's a peeve rather than a deal-breaker, for me, as once setup you don't really need to frequent that part of the recorder too much.

I'm currently exploring timecode options, so far I've narrowed it down to an Ambient Lockit box, which I'll jam-sync the Scarlet with. Apparently you can take a feed from the lockit and record it to channel 6 of the tascam. In post you can use WaveToBWF to convert the audio-recorded timecode to a bona fide timecode track.

There's some good information here:

http://jwsoundgroup.net/index.php?/topic/10487-need-help-from-a-dr-680-owner/

and the wave to bwf tool can be downloaded as a demo from here:

http://www.videotoolshed.com/product/64/wavetobwf/3

Good luck!
 
Never really had a problem with noise with good mics and ensuring that the noise to volume gain ratio is set during the gain stage of the pre. As a rule of thumb, I always use the best cables, and decent mics. For shotguns and less expensive large diaphragm mics I find that RODE makes some decent stuff. I have had nice success with them. They mimic the classic Sennheiser shotguns but are a lot less and actually slightly more quiet. When I have it dialed in I usually have a completely quite signal...except for the audio of coarse.

I would love to get a timecode machine...but honestly...I am a little worried that timecode itself is a very expensive method that could be made obsolete for some purposes via methods like this. Totally not knocking the need for it and the traditional methods used in the industry...I actually love it...its just a few extra complicated steps in post and new post software make it possible for me to do the same job at a fraction of the price. And....most importantly....your not locked into the type of preamp you use. Yea...Sound Devices are killer....I love them...I will actually trade you my car for one. I would love to have it in the bag....but whats stopping me now from using my API preamps (which they do not make a timecode unit) or my Avalon pres....or Neve Preamp....

These are pro sound preamps that can now spill over to the live video set very easily. In stead of investing into timecode...invest into just the preamp itself. I am sure lots of people will no like that workflow...but it works....and gets a great result, and is easy.....so its worth mentioning.

I am afraid if I buy a $8000 timecode recorder I will not have a need for it 5 years down the road because software has replaced the need for it.

Summary...get a killer pro audio portable studio...track separate....pipe a signal to each cam wirelessly via sennheiser. Take a rough stereo master from the recorder and use pluraleyes to sync all cameras to that rough track (only takes a few minutes). Open up the audio in the DAW of your choice. I use ProTools. Edit...polish...chop...mix...compress...filter....finish. Import the newly mixed audio and replace the master scratch. Now you have solid audio with every camera synced. You don't need timecode...clap board...and did not have to do any manual sync in post and saved thousands of dollars and got the same result.

This is just one way. Of coarse there are many. Just being creative with the workflow.
 
TimeCode Buddy

TimeCode Buddy

Hey,

Just getting back to this thread with an update I thought I'd share. After doing much research into various sync approaches, I took the plunge for a dedicated timecode box.

On previous projects, I have obtained only a 40-50% success rate with Pluraleyes and wanted to avoid the time-suck that manually syncing the remaining files became (for me - ymmv)

Having watched the RCX Pro auto-match, I had my heart set on something as straight-forward and quick as the process demonstrated.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I'd considered Ambient and also Denecke. In the end I went with TimeCode Buddy, a UK-based company. It's a new product, showcased at NAB and my order just arrived today: TC Buddy Wifi Master. I'm UK-based so this was really good for me.

To get pain-free sync using second system audio, I planned to do exactly what Mark Vesterkov proposed in his thread on JWSoundGroup : http://jwsoundgroup.net/index.php?/topic/10487-need-help-from-a-dr-680-owner/

To recap the plan:

1. TC Buddy Jam-Syncs the Scarlet
2. TC Buddy outputs TC as audio to CH6 on the DR680
3. Using WaveToBWF, the Audio channel is converted to bonafide AUX/Timecode.
4. In RCX Pro, the auto-match process syncs video and audio.
5. For BNC to 1/4" TRS Audio, a custom cable was needed ( Big Dirty Cables, UK )
6. For Jam-Sync to the camera I'd use the RED 3-BNC to 4-pin lemo cable

And.. the plan worked!

As I'm always writing/reading TC to/from the same channel, WaveToBWF does the conversion almost instantly - you can tell it which channel it's on and this is much quicker than brute-force scanning the files. So at a days end, it will literally will take seconds to add accurate timecode to the audio and RCX Pro zips through them too.

In normal use, I'd Jam-Sync the Scarlet before the first scene of the day, after lunch and late afternoon, but I'm keen to see what happens on a free-run. I'll be doing a 16-hour test of the Scarlet + DR680 + TC Buddy, with single Jam at the day's start just to see what occurs. As for the audio, there appears to be no contamination from the TC Channel.

I'm extremely pleased with this, as it has added bona-fide timecode to a great sounding sub-£700 multitrack unit for a total of £822 including VAT (TC Buddy + Cable)

I should also add that Timecode Buddy were very helpful in answering my questions about this setup and Ali at Big Dirty Cables stunned me with the delivery, quality and competitive pricing on his audio cable.

Good luck!
 
To follow-up my previous post, I've just completed a 7-hour test of the Scarlet jammed once with the TC Buddy Wifi Master at the start. By day's end, everything is spot-on. If there is a difference or drift between the two, then it's so slight as to be un-noticeable, sub-frame certainly.

As a control, I manually set the sync point on both audio and video in RCX & the timecode for AC & EATC matched.

One thing that did concern me, was a visual discrepancy of 1-3 frames between the Absolute Timecode of the R3D and the read-out on the Buddy - as filmed by the Scarlet. I tested this further, observing that this discrepancy exists whether the camera is continually jamming or if it is momentarily jammed with the buddy. The same is also true when streaming TC via WiFi to an iPad.

EDIT: Figured out the offset on the ipad - there's a setting to adjust this but you need to know your TC Buddy password to change it.
 
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