Playing the Field

Oct 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Nick Peck

MARANTZ PMD660

The Marantz PMD660 ($649) solid-state recorder is about the size and weight of a thick paperback novel (see Fig. 2). The PMD660 is optimized for quick, on-the-go news gathering and interviews. Though relatively inexpensive, the PMD660 feels sturdy, well constructed, and is able to withstand some knocks in the field. All the buttons, knobs, and other protrusions have been carefully recessed into the casing for maximum protection.

The PMD660 has two XLR mic inputs with phantom power and a pair of internal microphones. Unbalanced line inputs and outputs are on -inch TRS jacks. A built-in speaker and a headphone jack let you listen to your recordings. Audio resolution maxes out at 16-bit, 48 kHz in WAV format, and files can be recorded in MP3 format. The meter has an 8-segment LED display, which is a welcome surprise considering how many of these units use less-readable LCD bar graphs instead. Although the user interface is simple and streamlined, learning how to configure the unit will probably require a trip to the manual. Once you've decided on your record settings, you can store them to one of three user-configurable presets.

Though the PMD660 is moderately priced, it has a number of useful and welcome features such as a prerecord buffer, built-in limiting, rudimentary track editing, and a dedicated Marker button that drops an edit-decision-list mark into the file during record. It also has automatic pause recording, which stops recording during silence and then records again when the noise level exceeds a user-configurable threshold. Edit functions include setting in and out points after recording, copying segments to new files, deleting files, and creating virtual tracks, which can combine sections from one or more files stored in CompactFlash memory.

Triple Play

Although Marantz intends the PMD660 to be used for recording interviews and other spoken-word applications, I tried using it to record sound effects for a short film entitled Pancho's Pizza. I used a Sennheiser 416 running into a Grace Design Lunatec V2 mic preamp, which then fed the PMD660's line input. Lower-level recordings, such as car bys, lighter flicks, and pizza-box Foley sounded fine. The recordings were crisp, detailed, and neutral in character. Louder sounds, such as door closes, had a tendency to distort, although the clip light didn't alert me.

Mac Smith is a sound editor whose credits include Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, November, and Star Wars Episode III: The Video Game. He worked with the PMD660 and heard the same distortion problems that I did. “The biggest downfall is that if you are recording any moderately loud sounds, the signal will clip. I was recording vocalizations from my one-year-old son, and the audio would distort using both the internal microphones and an external microphone.” He also noted, “The internal microphone, while convenient, does pick up some noise from the unit and is very sensitive to any slight touch of the recorder.” Clearly, recording sound effects is not the PMD660's forte, nor is it intended to be.

For its intended applications, however, the PMD660 shines. John Fletcher is a radio journalist for KVMR-FM in Nevada City, California. “I've been using the PMD660 for in-field interviews for about three months now,” says Fletcher. “It's a vast improvement over the MiniDisc players that we had been using before. Playback and editing are simple, and I love the ability to edit directly on the machine. It's lightweight, and the built-in microphone eliminates problems that I've had with handling noise using external mics.” Back at the studio, his interviews are edited in Pro Tools for broadcast. “We have a CompactFlash card reader hooked up to our Pro Tools system, so at the end of the day, we pull the card from the PMD660, pop it in the reader, add some sound effects and music, and out it goes on the air.”

MARANTZ PMD671

The bigger sibling of the PMD660, the PMD671 ($1,199) is Marantz's flagship portable solid-state recorder (see Fig. 3). It is based on the popular PMD670 model but offers 24-bit, 96 kHz audio and an improved mic preamp design. The unit is designed for traditional over-the-shoulder field recording.

Marantz has been in the business of portable field recording for a long time. I have fond memories of beginning my recording career with its PMD430 cassette field recorder 20 years ago. Not surprisingly, the PMD671 shares many design decisions with Marantz's other portable products; consequently, if you like their design, you'll feel right at home with this one.

Mic and line inputs are separate jacks, with mics on +4 dBU XLRs and lines on -10 dBV RCAs. Phantom power is available, as well as a — 20 dB mic pad, bandpass and highpass input filtering, and a limiter. Monitoring features include source/file monitoring and the ability to play back and listen through an internal speaker or headphones. Other professional features include on-the-fly EDL marking during record or playback, a Record Undo button, a prerecord buffer, a Loop Repeat button, and rudimentary track-playback sequencing.

The PMD671 requires 8 AA batteries, but optional NiCad and NiMH battery packs fit in the same area. The included AC adapter will automatically charge the battery pack when it's plugged into the unit. Coaxial S/PDIF in and out supports all sampling rates as high as 96 kHz. Interestingly, the PMD671 can record in MP2 and MP3 formats at rates as high as 384 Kbps. Linear PCM sampling rates go from 8 kHz to 96 kHz.

In the Field

David Hughes is a sound designer and editor with a long string of top films under his belt, including Fight Club, Minority Report, and Panic Room. He used the PMD671 to record doorknobs and doors opening and closing with a Sennheiser MKH40, narration with the same mic, and a Martin D-35 acoustic guitar with a pair of AKG 414 mics.

The PMD671 had aspects that David really liked: “There are a few nice thoughtful features that I liked. The headphone monitor can be switched to listen to stereo, left routed to both, or right routed to both. While not as useful as an M/S decoder matrix, that can help make dual-level mono or M/S recording a little less confusing in the headphones. There is a prerecord buffer of four seconds, but at higher bit rates and sampling rates, that is cut to two seconds; it's still useful, though. The ergonomics of the machine are easy to run and easy to look at in action, with big meters and a big level knob. The unit mounts on a Mac desktop through USB with no fuss and no drivers to load.”

A self-professed picky recordist, David had problems with the PMD671's preamps. “I wanted to love the unit, but the mic preamps were disappointing. Their high self-noise made any recording that I gathered practically unusable for professional applications without using lowpass filtering to remove the hiss. I was using an MKH 40, which is one of the quietest mics you can buy. It's a great machine for someone who already owns a high-quality portable mic pre. Otherwise, this machine would be stellar if [Marantz] would improve that one problem.” Since then, David has gotten his wish: according to Marantz, recent firmware and hardware updates have addressed such concerns.

FOSTEX FR-2

The Fostex FR-2 field memory recorder ($1,499) is built for the working professional. It is a no-nonsense, somewhat bulky black box that definitely looks like it can take the punishment of working in the field (see Fig. 4). The unit can record mono or stereo Broadcast Wave Format files in 16- or 24 bits at sampling rates from 22.05 kHz to 192 kHz. Line and mic inputs share a single pair of XLR jacks, and the analog output is unbalanced — 10 dBV on RCA jacks. Digital audio I/O is AES/EBU or S/PDIF on XLR jacks, maxing out at 96 kHz.

Unlike all the other units, the FR-2 features input trims in addition to record-level knobs to best maximize gain structure. It also has switchable 100 Hz highpass filters, a limiter, and a prerecord function. The optional SMPTE card ($799) allows the FR-2 to slave to and generate SMPTE. The FR-2 is the only unit in this roundup that's capable of doing that.

Kudos also for the FR-2's Menu knob: rotating it changes menu options, and pressing it in selects the currently focused option. That method of navigation and selection is quick and easy.