DP008Ex sound limitations ??

[maxman65]

Wondered what the limitations are here . I suspect that getting an external mic can improve what is captured? ( against the small inbuilt mini condenser stereo mics). However will it ultimately be limited to the circuitry itself . Analogue to digital converters?? If that's what you'd call them . If that's the case I'm wondering how much better an external mic would be anyway .

 

[Mickster]

What are you trying to do overall? Give us some detail. Depending on the mic you buy you may not benefit as much as you think.......and not likely because of the circuitry of the Tascam. I'm not saying not to expand upon the Tascam if you need to..............but tell us why you might think you want a DP008ex to begin with and what you want to do with it.

 

[maxman65]

Basically I don't want to spiral out on equipment . I think 8 track is plenty . Acoustic guitar vocal maybe string piano type overdubs . I'm much more interested In high quality reproduction on a relatively "economical " arrangement .I'm pretty much totally computer illiterate and there's no way I'd go down that road. A single internal mic does sound very thin and you can't use both .It's like mud (or hard panned left right isn't true to a central vocal either ) . The problem is I didn't really want to have to record guitar then overdub vox (I may have to ) .my current think was large diaphragm mic favoring vox and picking up some guitar and one other internal mic on the front right of machine picking up guitar at neck/body point

 

[maxman65]

The environment is decent and I've tried every conceivable mic placement / gain level / compression level. The bottom line is you simply will not get a full sounding vocal out of one of those mics . And a single mic really is what you need for what should be a mono source (vocal ) . A large diaphragm external with the on board phantom power ( and or pre amp too) should be better . My only doubt is in the limitations of the circuitry / gain / converters of the dp008ex itself

 

[Mickster]

First let me ask you this........what are you playing the recording back through.......monitors....headphones? And yes.....the dual built in mics are likely going to be a compromise for what you want to do with your guitar and vocal. Keep in mind that even though you think your environment is "decent"......(what do you mean by that?)......it will absolutely affect your results...........either in a small or big way. So.....no matter what direction you go in........even the best mics of any kind will not fix a bad room and you'll be chasing your tail........both money wise and time wise.

Having said that........it sounds like you're going to need an LDC and maybe a dynamic if you're mostly going to just record an acoustic and a vocal......either together or on separate tracks. Once you get one mic and try to use it along with a built in mic on the Tascam.....you're going to see why I say that........and two mics can be helpful in tracking a string piano. I advise that you track all parts separately but some people feel more comfortable playing guitar and singing all at the same time. Just remember that you can't fix any problems with either if you do it that way.......unless you do it all over again....and even then......what effects you apply to a track before or after.....affect everything.

There are MANY LDC's and dynamics that could work for you without breaking the bank at all. So.....tell us more.

 

[Mickster]

Just noticed that you're in another thread and getting very similar advice. At some point maybe you can post a sample of what your tracks sound like so we can get a better feel.......or did I miss that post???

 

[maxman65]

Yes I'm crossing over thread aiming at same issues.i may have missed what I meant on string / piano . That's not an issue and will end up coming out of a kawai es8 and direct input . No mic issues there. My real thrust was to establish that a decent external mic used properly will or will not significantly improve a recording with particular emphasis on it being used in conjuction with a digital portastudio.

 

[maxman65]

Basically I don't want to bother buying a decent mic if my portastudio doesn't care either way if that makes sense

 

[arcaxis]

They don't mention what mics were used on this video with the DP-008EX (says you can contact them for the info). There are a few other vids using the DP-008EX. You'll want a decent mic regardless of what you use to record. If you have the DP-008EX might as well start there.

YouTube

another....
YouTube

 

[maxman65]

Thanks for those
My phone dies every time I plug headphones in. Presentation seems fairly rough and ready . I suspect they might be using internal mics. Second might have been a bit more interesting but without headphones is hopeless

 

[DebErney]

Trying out the recording positions like others have suggested will make a very big difference. do a little experimenting with the distance from voice to mic. Try recording in different rooms/areas. Makes a huge difference and is worth a few hours to explore. I have recorded vocals/guitars/mixer outputs successfully with a Zoom H5 and have posted a video showing the different vocal recordings using the onboard mics on a Zoom H5 which can be seen at YouTube
The onboard mics for the Zoom H5, H6 are very high quality Amazon.com: Zoom H5 Four-Track Portable Recorder: Musical Instruments

I can understand not wanting to go with the DAW route.