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Introducing the TASCAM DR-60D


Tom Duffy

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Thanks, Tom, for posting that video. B&H did a pretty good job of presenting this new machine. Tascam has put a lot of really neat features in the recorder that specifically will help out all those DSLR shooters (with the only downside being that it enables them even further to NOT have a sound person with them while shooting their next big epic).

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it enables them even further to NOT have a sound person with them while shooting their next big epic).

No matter what product gets on the market there s still a million ways for them to mess up sound. There still gonna want to have a dedicated specialist.

I don t mind helping my camera friends doing sound and image alone when it s necessary. I know they re always gonna be pushing to get a sound guy and they re gonna pick me when the time comes.

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Thanks, Tom, for posting that video. B&H did a pretty good job of presenting this new machine. Tascam has put a lot of really neat features in the recorder that specifically will help out all those DSLR shooters (with the only downside being that it enables them even further to NOT have a sound person with them while shooting their next big epic).

 

In my mind, I see the sound person booming (wirelessly or not), and coordinating start/stop of the DR-60D with one of the wired remote options we have; and not forgetting that wireless lavs will almost certainly be in use. Plenty of room there for specialist knowledge to shine.

 

Tom.

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Me like.

Wonder if there will be simultaneous release of portabrace/pPetrol etc bag for this. I mean..unless the limiters in this thing are supernatural, gonna need some soundie hands on in a lot of situations.

Compensation for phasing i.e. delay seems unusual for this level of gear.

Imagine Q&D capture of board mix (1,2) and ambient stereo mic (3,4) for low budget liveband capture.

 

Alas..much yet to glean from actual production units...

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This is the best effort I've seen yet for this kind of thing.  It's too big for my DSLR-DP handheld shooter clients, but for the zillions of one-man-band shooter/soundie/director/editors out there this will be a very good thing.  The one thing they neglected was a locking mini connector for the mini/camera output.  If, as they suggest, a sound person were to wear the unit like a regular bag-rig, or even in hand-held use attached directly to the camera, the little mini-plug connection to the camera is pretty fragile and easily disconnected.

 

philp

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Like a camera without glass it is just a recording device. This looks like a nice unit, but mics and someone making decisions are the key to a good recording.

 

Well said.

 

I don't understand this one man band business. Is it ignorance, or on a super low-budget shoot lack of friends who know about sound, or at least friends who can be press ganged into helping, or is it a belief that the presence of more than one person will obstruct the "karma" or, to borrow a phrase from Cartier-Bresson, interfere with the "decisive moment"?

 

I honestly don't get it.

 

I just watched a Doc House interview on Vimeo with a sound recordist who showed clips from a documentary aired on UK Channel 4, made by a friend who has evidently had some success, and who apparently tends to play one man band. If you're interested, here's the video:

 

 

Go to the 4:20 mark.

 

The sound, as the recordist points out in her presentation, is atrocious. Why? Because the filmmaker was not only shooting the footage, but was recording the sound, and, as the sound recordist pointed out, unable to watch levels, let alone use the right microphone with the right wind protection.

 

How does this happen?

 

My sense is that sound on documentaries over the last few decades despite (maybe in part because of?) technological developments, has not only not gotten better, it has gotten worse.

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How does this happen?

Budgets.

 

There are many, many people out there in the news business that have no choice but to be a one man band as that's all their station/newspaper will pay for so they do what they can. Since a lot tend to come from the photo world (as I do) their knowledge of audio is rudimentary to say the least.

 

I helped out a friend that usually works as a one-man-band by working on an extended feature piece with him. He did the video and I handled the audio. It was all simple, a boom mic and a couple of G3s into an SD302/DR-40 combo, synced with MagicSlate on an IPod Touch.

 

It was a bit of a test to see if there was any chance of my getting some work when they had a "special" story that would be helped by better audio. His Editor was floored by the quality of the piece (by comparison to what his shooters normally produce) and asked how he'd done it. He explained how it had been done and pitched my services. The Editor (a nice guy) said, "F**k. I wish we had the freelance budget. It would add a lot."

 

Nope, no budget.

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During my working life I have seen good quality audio move from being considered a necessity to being considered a luxury.  Many people involved in day-to-day bread-and-butter video still like good quality sound, but like the editor/client above will only consider it if they get it for free or not a lot.  They are totally ok with living with the crappy sound a shooter can do on their own if the pix are ok.  I've had a large number of tongue-biting conversations with people going one-man-band about how they've been able to improve their sound with the addition of a few prosumer accessories, and with the implicit attitude that anything beyond what they can do with their kit is kind of showboating anyhow.  Then they ask me for advice on what they should buy and how they should set up their rig.

 

philp

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Me like.

Wonder if there will be simultaneous release of portabrace/pPetrol etc bag for this. I

The vertical bars at the rear allow you to attach a camera strap, then the DR-60D will hang at your chest or side. I don't think I have a picture of this arrangement yet,  The Bag manufacturers weren't told about product this in advance, so it's up to them...

 

Tom.

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 The one thing they neglected was a locking mini connector for the mini/camera output. 

 

I think that might frighten off some of the target market though; DSLR users who've never seen a locking 1/8" before, and think that it needs a dedicated cable to work.  Some off-the-shelf nonlocking 1/8" cables don't sit will in a locking 1/8" socket, so it creates more confusion rather than solving a real problem.

 

Tom.

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I think that might frighten off some of the target market though; DSLR users who've never seen a locking 1/8" before, and think that it needs a dedicated cable to work.  Some off-the-shelf nonlocking 1/8" cables don't sit will in a locking 1/8" socket, so it creates more confusion rather than solving a real problem.

 

Tom.

I think they HAVE seen it before, since it seems like ALL of them have Senny G2 or G3 wirelesses (which have locking minis).  Canon should put them on the cameras too--I've had those connectors pulled out in the heat of battle.   I think that pro audio connectors should have some sort of lock or catch to prevent or at least slow down that kind of inadvertent disconnection.

 

philp

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hey.. I see this as a super light weight option for mixing sound for dslr.. just like tascam does.. Even if you are a dedicated sound person, this looks very useful for what had previously been bag to camera mix only gigs...

now the low gear rental they want to pay will get something that actually has some features you'd want to provide as a 2 track bag mixer..

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I was just going to post here for ETA. Though prudent to wait for end user findings...

 

Manual is online:

http://tascam.com/content/downloads/products/799/e_dr-60d_om_va.pdf

 

Pretty cool that you can record dual stereo with lower level dual stereo backups..i.e. 8ch.

Imagine if they had allowed the hardware inputs to make this a true 8ch/trk recorder.

I mean even if they were 1/8" ins.

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