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Tascam DR–60DmkII audio recorder: enticing for US$199

Allan Tépper
Tascam DR–60DmkII audio recorder: enticing for US$199 3

dr 60dmk2 p 640

Many readers are familiar with the original Tascam DR–60D recorder, which was less capable with a higher price tag than the new DR–60DmkII. Woody Woodhall of ProVideo Coalition first announced the improved DR–60DmkII in October 2014, which fortunately offers up to 64dB of gain on its microphone preamps. I have already made several recordings with it, from both dynamic and condenser mics, and have plenty to report. Ahead you’ll see what I like, and what I would improve.

In this article

Why I did this evaluation on the DR–60DmkII, and how I acquired it

Actually, at first I wrote to two of my Tascam contacts to request the more compact Tascam DR–44WL recorder (shown above) for review. However, those two contacts have momentarily gone dark (i.e. no response), and in the meantime I heard from podcaster Ray Ortega about a unique and compelling feature of the original DR–60D (more about that ahead in this article) that I hoped would also exist in the new DR–60DmkII. I liked the most immediately noticeable improvement in the DR–60DmkII (up to 64dB of gain on its microphone preamps), and the fact that the DR–60DmkII is only US$199 (as opposed to the DR–44WL, which is US$299). The DR–44WL has built-in microphones (which didn’t really interest me, since I use external mics), WiFi connectivity (nice, but not compelling), and it’s more compact. Also, I couldn’t confirm anywhere whether the DR–44WL had the same 64dB of gain on its preamps, since it’s not mentioned on the website or in its manual. Finally, I realized that only the DR–60DmkII offered both balanced XLR inputs with switchable phantom power and unbalanced input with switchable bias voltage (“plug-in” power) on the same device.

If you have read my prior articles, you know that I use some balanced mics with XLR, and others that are unbalanced and require bias voltage (aka “plug-in” power). So between all of those details, I decided to purchase a DR–60DmkII with my own US$199, knowing that I could return it if I disliked it. But I liked it enough to keep it…

Like a convertible car, a convertible recorder

With a convertible car, you can either remove or fold back the vehicle’s roof. The DR–60DmkII recorder has built-in hardware to mount it on a tripod, and to mount a camera above it. However, if you are going to use it for audio only (or if you are going to have a separate audio operator from your camera operator), you can remove the upper mounting hardware to make the DR–60DmkII more compact, as shown above.

Physical feel of the DR–60DmkII

The DR–60DmkII recorder feels light, sturdy and solid in my hands with a mix of metal and plastic, but certainly not military grade like a product from Sound Devices,

where a four track recorder like the 744T costs US$4313 or over 21x the US$199 street price of the Tascam DR–60DmkII. The potentiometers of the DR–60DmkII feel sturdy,

although they are not recessed or large like the one in the iRig Pro preamp from IK Multimedia which I reviewed in June 2014. (More details about the DR–60DmkII’s potentiometers ahead in this article.) The DR–60DmkII has handles which protect the controls somewhat, and allow connecting it to a neck strap (not included), although my tests so far have all been done while it sat on my desk.

Specs

Dimensions 133(W)×93.2(H)×78(D)mm (with top adapter attached)
Weight 510g not including batteries (about 1.12 pound)
Operating temperature 0˚to 40˚C (32˚ to 104˚ Fahrenheit)
Compatible memory cards SD card (64MB to 2GB), SDHC card (4GB to 32GB) (See my comments about this in the conclusions of this article.)
Remote control port 2.5mm TRS jack
Recording formats Our choice of either WAV (Wave) or BWF (Broadcast Wave File) 44.1/48/96kHz, 16/24bit (Please remember that 48kHz is the absolute standard for digital audio for digital video. The 44.1 sampling rate is for other media targets, not for video use.)
Published frequency response 20–20kHz +0.5/–2dB(LINE IN or MIC IN to LINE OUT, Fs44.1k/48kHz, JEITA) 20–40kHz +0.5/–3dB (LINE IN or MIC IN to LINE OUT, Fs96kHz, JEITA)
Published distortion 0.02% or less (LINE IN or MIC IN to LINE OUT Fs44.1k/48k/96kHz, JEITA)
Published S/N (signal-to-noise) ratio 92dB or more (LINE IN or MIC IN to LINE OUT Fs44.1k/48k/96kHz, JEITA)
Published EIN (equivalent input noise) –120dBu or more
Connectors used for inputs 1/2 combo: 3-pin XLR female balanced—1/4“ TRS (tip/ring/sleeve). All of these can be selected among MIC, MIC+PHANTOM or LINE.
Connector used for inputs 3/4 both combined into a single 3.5mm TRS jack for ”stereo“ unbalanced. Bias voltage (”plug-in power”) is available via menu setting. Default is off.

Improved mic preamps and their use with the potentiometers

The DR–60DmkII mic preamps have been upgraded for up to 64dB of gain. This caught my attention, especially since I often use dynamic microphones. I know that in order to get enough gain from dynamic mics with certain other recorders with weaker built-in preamps, some producers have had to resort to adding a pre-preamp (aka booster) like the Triton Audio Fethead

or the Cloudlifter CL–1 (shown above), both of which are ironically powered by 48-volt phantom power, but do not send such phantom power to the dynamic mic, since it doesn’t require it. Fortunately, neither of those devices is required any longer with the DR–60DmkII, thanks to its up to 64dB of internal gain.

However, not all of the 64dB potential gain is divided up along the available rotation of the pots (potentiometers) of the DR–60DmkII. Instead the operator of the DR–60DmkII first sets the rough gain with the menu in the following steps:

…and then uses the pots for fine adjustments. For the recordings I made from the Audio Technica AT2005USB hybrid dynamic mic connected via balanced XLR, I had the rough gain for input 1 in HIGH (HIGH+PLUS was fortunately not necessary) and the pot at about 2:00 in clock nomenclature, not even close to maximum.

With the 3.5mm unbalanced inputs, the gain adjustments via the menu are:

With the original DR–60D, Rob Rozak of JuicedLink was one of the first to point out that adjusting the pots on the fly reveals that there are digital steps rather than a linear adjustment. Here is the video where he pointed that out. The situation is the same with the improved DR–60DmkII model. However, this issue is only noticeable if you are adjusting the level on the fly, and most apparent with a continuous tone (as opposed to spoken voice). Rob is completely correct, and I am mentioning it here in case this is a dealbreaker for you. This is not a dealbreaker for me for the types of recordings I do. The original DR–60D and the DR–60DmkII both have an optional limiter which is very well regarded, in addition to 2-tracks with audio bracketing if you don’t need more than two actual tracks. Details in the next section.

Recording track versatility up to 4 tracks (in essence)

The DR–60DmkII is quite flexible, since it actually offers all of the following track arrangements which the user selects via the menu system before recording. Some of the modes have an immediately obvious meaning. However, we must understand Tascam’s unique jargon for some of the others:

Note: For true stereo recording (either with a commercially available stereo microphone or a makeshift one you might create with two standard mics), the DR–60DmkII recorder has a built-in Mid-Side Decoder, and can be added either during monitoring or before recording.

An unfair yet justifiable mic comparison: AT2005USB versus Plantronics .Audio 326. As I explained in that article, I really only needed to record onto two tracks simultaneously, not four. However, it is the only way to record both from an XLR balanced input and the unbalanced 3.5mm input with bias voltage (“plugin power”) with the DR–60DmkII, so I simply removed the two disposable tracks in editing. Details are in that article.

I am fine with these options after understanding Tascam’s jargon, which is a bit different from mine or the industry terminology. I realize that the industry terminology would be too long to fit in so few characters in the menu. I also know that Tascam could have made the 4-track recording in a single audio file containing all four. However, Tascam was undoubtedly concerned about fewer audio/video editing programs that could read that type of a file directly, and given the logical way that the files are automatically labeled, I really didn’t waste any substantial amount of time handling the pair of “stereo” files.

On Page 2

 

Other official features of the DR–60DmkII

A multitude of power options

The DR–60DmkII offers many official way of powering it, including:

So far, for all of the recordings I have made, I have used USB power by plugging it into a spare USB port on my MacBook Air. The DR–60DmkII then gives the option to work with USB power or as mass storage, i.e. as a reader for the computer to read the files inside the DR–60DmkII, so you can use the DR–60DmkII as a card reader if you don’t already have one.

The published battery duration is as follows (with continuous operation):

We should expect a little less time with 48 kHz/24-bit… and a lot less time with phantom power on. Love those dynamic mics when appropriate (since they don’t need phantom power)!

Output to send to your camcorder, if desired

Like the original version, the new DR–60DmkII has an unbalanced 3.5mm stereo output to feed your camcorder (or video recorder) if desired. However, with the new DR–60DmkII we have two possible outputs: one at consumer line level, and the other at an ideal mic level. Use line level if your camcorder accepts it for maximum signal-to-noise ratio. If not, send it the ideal mic level.

For those camcorders which are lucky enough to have a headphone output, you can feed it back into a camera return input (also unbalanced 3.5mm) and then have all of your monitoring controlled from the DR–60DmkII, including playback from the camcorder, by plugging your headphones into the DR–60DmkII . If your camcorder does not have any headphone output, you can still monitor from the DR–60DmkII as you record, but with a bit less confidence as to what’s being recorded in the camera.

Optional remote controls

Tascam offers the following optional remote controls for the DR–60DmkII:

RC–3F footswitch remote control

RC–10 wired remote control

I don’t have —nor have I used— any of these remote controls to date.

True mix-minus phone recording without any standalone audio mixer or computer

Thanks to podcaster Ray Ortega, I became aware of this capability in the DR–60D, which fortunately continues with the DR–60DmkII since it has the same built-in audio mixer as its predecessor. This mix-minus feature is not specifically named by Tascam, but is clear if you understand how mix-minus works. Stand by for my upcoming article called: Three generations of studio<>telephone calls in TV & radio This article will cover:

Conclusions

I am impressed with the quality and flexibility of the DR–60DmkII recorder. I love the available gain up to +64dB for a lower price than many standalone preamps, especially those which include a built-in limiter. I hope that Tascam will add SDXC and exFAT capabilities to the DR–60DmkII via a firmware update. Currently, it works with SD and SDHC with FAT32, and in the REC SET menu, the maximum file size we can select is 2GB. Beyond that, the DR–60DmkII unfortunately creates sequential files. However, I am the first to admit that this is much less of an issue with audio recordings than with video recordings (where I have been much more vocal about this issue), and I realize that 2GB of 48kHz/24bit will give us about 4:08 (4 hours 8 minutes) of mono, 2:04 of two tracks, or 1:02 of four tracks, and in most productions we rarely record so much in a single clip or take. (To be clear, this is not a maximum recording length, but just a maximum recording length in a single file.) So in this case, I admit this request is on the border of being nitpicking. It wasn’t enough of an issue for me to want to return the DR–60DmkII. Great job Tascam!

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