Tascam DR-40 Recording Comparisons

Concrete Lunch Podcast

I’m planning a couple of new podcasting projects in which I’ll be interviewing people. My older microphones will work well for this, when combined with my newest acquistion…

…the TASCAM DR-40 4-Track Portable Digital Recorder. I was looking for an extremely portable solution for getting good quality interview tracks without lugging my laptop around. This device has ports on bottom with which I can attach my two Audix OM2 mics. Without going into too much detail, the device has several recording settings, some of which use only the external mics (rather than the two built-in mics) to create a stereo recording. One mic for me, one for my guest. The Tascam saves all the files as high-quality WAV files. I’ll probably use Audacity to combine the voice tracks into Mono for the podcast. There’s a built-in preamp, phantom power if you use a condenser microphone, etc, etc, etc. And man, this thing is simple to use. Very very easy to learn.

It can be a little confusing and frustrating just learning as you go, the way I do. Below are some sample sound files, recorded with various pieces of equipment.

Audio Technica AT2020USB Cardioid Studio Condenser Microphone, samples recorded into Audacity, using a pop-filter (only one mic, even with Stereo recording).

1. Recorded in Stereo, 16-bit WAV file.
2. Recorded in Mono, 16-bit WAV file.

Tascam DR-40 Test Samples: I’m extremely impressed by the sound quality from the DR-40. A few notes. I am using Audix OM2 mics for the external microphones. They are not condenser mics. I tend to speak kind of softly, and thus the samples using the external mics sound a bit softer. Really nice sound, but just not as loud. The built-in mics sound fantastic. I’m really surprised that they sound so good. However, when you are using the internal mics, they tend to pick up the sound of your hands moving on the recorder, which is annoying. Not really sure how to get around this…used soft gloves? Are my hands too hard?

So I think that for recording interviews, I’ll probably stick with the idea of using the two external mics, plugged into the DR-40, and just speak a bit louder and bump the input volume up a bit.

1. Mono,external mic, input volume 70
2. Mono, internal mics, input volume 70
3. Stereo, external mics, input volume 70
4. 4 channel mode – file 1 – the external mics
5. 4 channel mode – file 2 – what the internal mics recorded while I was speaking into the external mics. The mics were actually pointed away from me. (in 4 channel mode, the device produces two WAV files).

More internal mic tests…

1. Another internal mic test – gets a nice sound, but as mentioned the noise of my hands on the device is very annoying.
2. Additional Test – input volume 60, about 1.5 feet from my mouth, tight position.
3. Additional Test – same as above, but mics on wide pattern.
4. Additional Test – back to tight pattern, device close to mouth. Very good sound quality, but again the noise from handling the device is apparent.