Oade Brothers Audio, Inc.



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Edirol R4
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General FAQ


Recorders that work well for the applications listed below



   Minimum Microphone Input Level :



PMD 660 Basic

PMD 660 ENG

PMD 660 Ambient

PMD 660 Songcatcher

PMD 671 Basic

PMD 671 Advanced

FR2LE Basic

FR2LE Super

FR2LE HD

FR2LE WMOD

FR2LE TMOD

HDP2 Super

HDP2 Super+6dB

HDP2 WMOD

HDP2 TMOD

Edirol R4 Concert

Edirol R4 Ambient

Edirol R4Pro Concert

Edirol R4Pro Ambient

FR2 Super

Minimum Signal Level - 54dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 55dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 57dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 50dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 55dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 55dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 54dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 54dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 48dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 50dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 48dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 50dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 56dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 46dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 46dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 50dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 56dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 50dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 50dBV

Minimum Signal Level - 60dBV


Which recorder is easiest to use ?


    Without a doubt, it is the PMD660. The layout and menu are very easy to use. It has superior ergonomics. With microphones cables that exit the rear of the machine, not the side, it fits over the shoulder with a minimum chance of getting in the way. It offers 3 ways to set levels, ALC allows the machine to worry about setting record levels for you while ALC + manual allows you to do worry free recording while having some control over the action of the ALC circuit and for the more advanced user, a pure manual setting is available. Three presets makes it easy to set up ahead of time for different recording situations. These features allow for quick, reliable and repeatable setups that will give you the confidence you need to concentrate on the subject and not the technology. Plus the Marantz PMD 660 has proven itself to the be most reliable machine Oade Brothers Audio has sold in nearly 30 years of business !


What software do I need to edit my audio ?

    Any audio editor will do, many on a budget use Audacity as it is open source and therefore free to use. Audacity is a full featured audio editor that many high end manufacturers, like DigiDesign, ship with their less costly products.


Do I need 16 or 24 bits ?

    Odds are if you are not sure, 16 bits are fine. If you want to make recordings for use as CDs or for MP3s, 16 bits is preferred. Keep in mind moving from 16 bits at 44.1 KHz, the CD sampling rate, to 24bit 48KHz, the DVD sampling rate, requires 50% more storage space, 24/96 doubles that storage requirement. This means you get less record time for a given CF card and increases the space used on your hard drive or archive medium. If you are recording as a professional that is charged with archiving audio for the future and have a significant budget, use 24/48 or even 24/96. If you are recording music or sound that will undergo post production the additional resolution that 24 bits provides is helpful. If you are recording music for DVD, 24 bits is an improvement that is easy to hear. As a general rule of thumb the microphone is much more important than the use of 24bits so if your budget is tight, spend more on the mic and less on the deck and storage. Simply stated the recording cannot possibly achieve better quality than the microphone is capable of delivering. The other significant consideration is the mic preamp. Many preamps for popular 24 bit machines use chips and capacitors that have artifacts that are down only 85 to 95 dB. A 16 bit A/D chip has a dynamic range of 96dB, more than enough for these preamps. You want as much of a difference between the desirable signal and the residual noise and distortion of the preamp to be as great as possible. With an input signal down at -40 to -60 dB you need microphone preamp artifacts to be as low as possible as the preamp amplifies both the desirable signal and the undesirable artifacts. The result of low grade parts in a mic preamp is performance that is not even 16 bits, this makes 24 bits with a poor preamp of questionable value. A typical 24 bit machine's preamps Spurious Free Dynamic Range is no where near the 144dB dynamic range of 24bits and most do not even archive 16 bit quality. Even some of the best op amps, the chips used in digital recorders, have no more than 120dB SFDR and most stock machines typically use chips that have a SFDR of less than a 100dB.

 
 
 

 

  
 

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