Monitoring on myTascam DP 008 EX

[SomewhatSublime]

I just got in a Tascam DP 008 Ex and as far as monitoring goes I was wondering what the benefits of monitoring with headphones vs. monitoring with a monitoring speaker are. Also I have used the Dp006 for recording in the pass and had pretty good results using the onboard condenser mics but I have never tried to use them with drums, would I be better off getting something like A Shure SM57 or would I be better of just re positioning the multi tracker. Thanks in advance!

 

[Mack Caster]

I just got in a Tascam DP 008 Ex and as far as monitoring goes I was wondering what the benefits of monitoring with headphones vs. monitoring with a monitoring speaker are.

Most of the time it will depend on your listening environment. If the room is UN-treated where you are listening, you may be better off using headphones to get a more realistic example of what is being played.

Also I have used the Dp006 for recording in the pass and had pretty good results using the onboard condenser mics but I have never tried to use them with drums, would I be better off getting something like A Shure SM57 or would I be better of just re positioning the multi tracker. Thanks in advance!

External mics are always better than the built ins. As far as recording the drums, that will depend on what type of sound you are trying to get. The 57 is a great mic for this but it may not do what you want it to to capture the over all drum sound. Your 008 has two inputs I think. You may be better off getting a set of matched stereo condensers and use those to record with. You can get the C2s for around $60.00.

 

[ecc83]

+1 to Small Diaphragm Capacitors but AFAICT the 008 does not have phantom power?

The SM57 IS a good general choice on drums perhaps but they need a fair bit of clean gain for other uses, acoustic guitars, less than Meat Loaf vocals and again the multi-tracker might not be up to it?

This is another one of those threads where a noob has really bought slightly the wrong thing. If the Tascam does other things that are useful it might be worth looking at a small mixer to drive it. I strongly recommend Allen & Heath or Soundcraft. Yamaha are also good. Try to find a mixer with 'High Z' instrument inputs, always handy!

Dave.

 

[Mack Caster]

+1 to Small Diaphragm Capacitors but AFAICT the 008 does not have phantom power? Dave.

Hey Dave, according to their website the EX model does, about 60% down the page on left. [MENTION=197351]SomewhatSublime[/MENTION], Dave's suggestion is truly a better way to do what you want to do. It has always been my opinion that your recorder or ones like it is for when you want to jam out and get a better than average recording on the fly. Don't get me wrong, it is an awesome piece of hardware and it should give you good results.

 

[arcaxis]

I just got in a Tascam DP 008 Ex and as far as monitoring goes I was wondering what the benefits of monitoring with headphones vs. monitoring with a monitoring speaker are.

If you are referring to 'monitoring' while actually recording/tracking with microphones, for sure you would want to use headphones and preferably ones with a 'closed back'. Closed back headphones eliminate or minimize any sound from from getting back to your microphone(s), which is sometimes referred to as 'bleed'.
Differences Between Open-Back and Closed-Back Headphones

Monitors would be good to check how your recording sounds after you have made the recording.

 

[SomewhatSublime]

+1 to Small Diaphragm Capacitors but AFAICT the 008 does not have phantom power?

The SM57 IS a good general choice on drums perhaps but they need a fair bit of clean gain for other uses, acoustic guitars, less than Meat Loaf vocals and again the multi-tracker might not be up to it?

This is another one of those threads where a noob has really bought slightly the wrong thing. If the Tascam does other things that are useful it might be worth looking at a small mixer to drive it. I strongly recommend Allen & Heath or Soundcraft. Yamaha are also good. Try to find a mixer with 'High Z' instrument inputs, always handy!

Dave.

I had the Dp 006 before and had pretty good results with it as far as just straight recording without a lot of post editing. This I got because it had a few more bells and whistles such as the phantom power for Mic's and whatnot. I will look into a couple other mixers. And for a secondary mic I was thinking about getting an Sm58. Forgive my ignorance but what exactly do you mean with 'High Z' inputs? Is that giving the guitar line in more power? And for more info I will be doing a hell of a lot more guitar tracks when I record than drums. I just want the ability to be able to get a decent recording sounds should I try to record them.

 

[SomewhatSublime]

Hey Dave, according to the EX model does, about 60% down the page on left. [MENTION=197351]SomewhatSublime[/MENTION], Dave's suggestion is truly a better way to do what you want to do. It has always been my opinion that your recorder or ones like it is for when you want to jam out and get a better than average recording on the fly. Don't get me wrong, it is an awesome piece of hardware and it should give you good results.

Yeah I had the DP 006 and had decent results with it. I have a couple tracks on soundcloud I used a drum track and then recorded two guitar tracks over them. I can't remember if I ran through my BOSS DS2 and then line straight in or recorded with my amp live.

 

[SomewhatSublime]

If you are referring to 'monitoring' while actually recording/tracking with microphones, for sure you would want to use headphones and preferably ones with a 'closed back'. Closed back headphones eliminate or minimize any sound from from getting back to your microphone(s), which is sometimes referred to as 'bleed'.

Monitors would be good to check how your recording sounds after you have made the recording.

Okay that answered my question. I appreciate your response.

 

[ecc83]

I had the Dp 006 before and had pretty good results with it as far as just straight recording without a lot of post editing. This I got because it had a few more bells and whistles such as the phantom power for Mic's and whatnot. I will look into a couple other mixers. And for a secondary mic I was thinking about getting an Sm58. Forgive my ignorance but what exactly do you mean with 'High Z' inputs? Is that giving the guitar line in more power? And for more info I will be doing a hell of a lot more guitar tracks when I record than drums. I just want the ability to be able to get a decent recording sounds should I try to record them.

Please excuse my laziness. 'High Impedance' is the term and refers to input stages with a much higher impedance (sort of and mostly very close to 'resistance') of usually 1,000,000 Ohms, usually contracted to 'One Meg' . Passive guitars work best at this loading giving their best tone and output voltage. The pots on the guitars are also of high resistance, 100, 200, 500 k Ohms even 1 meg in some cases and therefore need to 'see' a high resistance to give proper operation.

Historically, mixer only had low, 1-2,000 Ohm microphone inputs and medium, 10 k line inputs (20k if balanced) and neither are suitable for guitar* but of late, some mixer mnfctrs have recognised the HR market and included one or two 'High Z' inputs in the chassis.

*N.B. you can use an active or passive 'DI' box to feed guitar to a mic input but tis another thing to buy and cluck about with!

Dave.

 

[SomewhatSublime]

Oh okay. Thanks for clearing that up. Yeah I was listening to my old recordings from 2015 and the line in recording sounds a little weak. I hate the way it sounds haha. So a high impedance input on a mixer would give it a lot more proper sound running into the multi tracker?

 

[SomewhatSublime]

Yeah I just read the specs on my multitracker the input is only 10k ohms. It is so interesting how little things like the impedance of an input can change sound so much.