Tascam DR-40

Below is a guide for audio recording on the Tascam DR-40

The aim of this page is to guide you through the set up and use of the Tascam DR-40 Audio Recorder. This piece of kit allows you to record audio on location. It has internal microphones as well as XLR inputs for external mic and line level inputs. The topics we are going to cover are:

Powering the DR-40
Formatting the memory card.
Setting the recorder up and being ready to record.
Recording modes.
Setting Levels
Transferring your recordings to a computer.

For more in depth guidance on how to use the DR-40, please go to the manual.

Powering the DR-40

The DR-40 is powered by 3 x AA Batteries. The staff on the asset store try to send the recorder out with a fresh set of batteries and a spare set every time the DR-40 gets loaned from the store. We do advise users to check the battery level when they loan the recorder out. You can check the level by powering up the DR-40, you do this by holding down the 'Home' button for 3 seconds.

You can check the battery level by looking at the top right of the screen. There's a couple of things to note about using the unit with AA batteries:

• This unit cannot recharge Ni-MH batteries. Use a commercially available recharger.

If you are using 'Alkaline' batteries set the 'BATTERY TYPE' to 'ALKAL' in 'MENU' > 'OTHERS' > 'SYSTEM'.

If you are using Ni-MH which is a type of rechargeable battery you can change this in this menu.

• Before putting the bottom battery in, put the ribbon inside the compartment first. Failure to do so could make removing the batteries difficult.

• A great amount of power is required to provide phantom power to a condenser microphone. If you use a condenser microphone while running the unit on AA batteries (Ni-MH rechargeable or alkaline), the operation time will be greatly shortened because of their low capacities. If you need to operate the unit for a long time, use the USB cable provided with the unit (USB bus power).

How to format the memory card.

Before you begin recording you will need to check that the memory card has been formatted / initialised. In order to wipe / initialise the memory card you follow these steps:

Press the 'MENU' button.
Use the navigation controls to go down the the 'OTHERS' menu, then press 'ENTER' to go into this menu.
Use the navigation controls to go down to the 'SYSTEM' menu and press 'ENTER'.
Use the navigation controls to go down to 'QUICK FORMAT' and press 'ENTER', press 'ENTER' again.
You will be warned that 'All data erased. Are you sure?'. If you are confident that you want to erase all data press 'ENTER'. This will delete all files from the memory card, you are now ready to start recording.

Setting the recorder up and being ready to record.

Before you begin recording there's a few other settings that are worth taking note of:

Because you don't know what the recorder may have been used for before you borrowed it we suggest initialising the recorder back to it's factory default. This will mean that any settings made by the previous user will be deleted. You can do this by pressing 'MENU' > 'OTHERS' > 'SYSTEM' > 'INITIALIZE' then press 'ENTER' to move to the 'Exec' and then press 'ENTER' again. The unit will give a warning 'Restore factory setup. Are you sure?' Press 'ENTER' again to perform the factory reset.
DATE / TIME - It's quite handy to be able to order your recordings by the date and time that they were made. This relies on the fact that the internal clock is set correctly. You can check the internal clock and update it to show the correct time. To change the DATE / TIME settings you go to 'MENU' > 'OTHERS' > 'DATE / TIME' and then use the navigation controls to update.
The unit is capable of recording at different qualities. At one end of the scale is 'MP3 32k' which is a low quality recording which would only be suitable as dictaphone. At the other end of the scale is 'WAV 24bit', this gives the highest audio quality and is the setting that we would suggest you use when using this recorder as part of a film crew. When you perform the factory reset the recording format is set to 'WAV 16bit' so you will need to go into the menu and change this.
In addition to the 'FORMAT' there's also a setting for the sample rate. It's important to set this to match your project. For film audio we would like this set to '48k'. If you were recording the file for music production it would be set to 44.1k. You can change the sample rate by pressing 'MENU' > 'REC SETTING' > 'SAMPLE'.

Recording Modes

Now that we have the recorder set up, formatted the memory card and checked the recording format we have to specify how to the recorder is going to record audio. You can choose to either use the internal microphones or the external XLR inputs. You also have a choice to record a mono, stereo or split stereo.

Mono - records a single channel
Stereo - records a left and right channel, the recording level is linked between the two channel.
Split Stereo - This refers to a recording that has separate recording levels on the left and right channels. An example of this would be having a boom mic plugged into the left channel and a lapel mic in the right.

To adjust this you need to press the 'REC MODE' button which is located below the LCD screen on the right hand side. Once in this menu you can use the navigational controls to change the 'REC MODE' between 'STEREO' or 'MONO'. You can also adjust the 'SOURCE' between 'INT MIC ST', 'EXT IN 1/2' and 'EXT INDEP'.

INT MIC ST - This means you will record using the internal microphones.
EXT IN 1/2 - Use the external inputs with record level linked between them.
EXT INDEP - Use the external inputs with independent record levels on both channels.

In our example we would like to set the recorder up in 'EXT INDEP ST' mode. We will then plug in a boom mic into 'EXT MIC L' and a lapel / radio mic into 'EXT MIC R' socket.

The final setting to check in this section is what source the 'EXT IN' is set to, you can adjust this via a switch on the side of the recorder. We can choose either 'LINE', MIC' or MIC + PHANTOM:

LINE - Set to this level if you are recording a source from a CD Player, computer or other electronic audio device.
MIC - Set to this is you are recording with a microphone that doesn't require phantom power for example a dynamic mic.
MIC + PHANTOM - Set to this if the mic you are using requires phantom power, for example a boom / shotgun / condenser mic.

Setting Levels

You will need to set the level of the recorder so that you do not distort or record at too low a level. In order to adjust the recording level you need to press the 'RECORD' button once. This puts the recorder into record mode but it is paused.

In this mode you can adjust the recording level. You do this by using the '+ INPUT LEVEL -' buttons on the side of the recorder. When you are in 'EXT INDEP ST' you can adjust each channel independently. When you press the '+ INPUT LEVEL -' switch you adjust the left channel and by pressing the '1/2 SOLO' button, located below the LCD screen on the left, it switches over to the right channel and you can now use the '+ INPUT LEVEL -' switch to control the level on the other channel.

Transferring your files to a computer.

When you are ready to copy your files to a computer you can use the USB lead to plug into a computer. Do this with the unit turned off and once plugged in turn it on. You will be asked whether you want to run the unit in 'BUS POWER' or 'STORAGE'. Use the navigation controls to go down and choose 'STORAGE'. The DR-40 will go into storage mode and you will be able to locate the files on the computer just like an external hard drive. Drag and drop the files to your computer and save and make copies as needed.

Things to remember!

Always check your battery levels and if you are using for a long period of time take spares or plug in the USB lead to power the unit.
Before you begin recording initialise the recorder and set the date and time.
Check your recording format and set to WAV 24bit / 48k for location audio recording with a film crew.
Set up the recorder with the correct inputs, you don't want to be recording on the internal mics if you have an external mic plugged in.
Monitor the audio on headphones and set the appropriate recording level, possibly for both channels independently.
The recorders come with a 16GB card, at WAV24bit / 48k this should give a maximum recording time of just over 15 hours. This will be different for different recording formats.
AJA make a greta free app for calculating how much data a specific format takes up, you can access their 'DataCalc' from their website: https://www.aja.com/family/software

Written by RW

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