DP 004 hiss using external mic

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pain20040

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Hi,
I've tried using an external mic with a tascam dp004 - an audio technica atm10 condenser mic with an internal battery - by the signal is too low, and to get a decent level the dp 004 adds a load of hiss.

I know this isn't an amazing mic, but i've used it before in other 4 and 8 tracks without any noise/hiss appearing - so i'm assuming the problem might be with the dp 004 rather than the mic.

Could it be a balanced output to unbalanced input issue?

Has anyone been able to get a good strong and clean signal on this 4 track using an external mic - and if so, what type was it?

Thanks!
Joe
 
I've got some bad news about the DP-004. For the most part, the mic pres in any of Tascam's digital portastudios are going to be pretty weak. I don't know why, but I've got the DP-02CF and the DP-004 and neither one can compete with my cassette based 424mkII portastudio. I just know I usually need an external pre amp in front of them to get a decent sound. On the flip side, you might be able to try out different mics and see what works. I've got a Shure SM7b which nothing I own can drive it well enough without the external pre.

That's just been my experience with them.

One thing I just thought of is making sure your firmware is up to date on the DP-004. I forgot which input they added this to, but all of the input types are adjustable (low, med, high) after the update. Check into that and see what comes of it.
 
Thanks! I'm going to experiment with an external pre-amp - i'll post my findings here....

Also firmware update - i hadn't thought of this, i'll give it a try.
 
Well, you already figured out that you have to run the mic's through an external preamp before going into the 004's line in jacks. I just got a DP-004 to use as a portable musical notepad. I found the internal mic's to be not too bad at all. But the machine is pretty amazing when using a decent external pre and mic. I've had no noise problems either way. Do you know how to set the input levels for the internal mic's and line-in jacks?
 
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