Mirrorless Video: Tascam’s DR-60D 4-Channel Linear PCM Recorder

“ Sound is 50 percent of the moviegoing experience….”—George Luca s

Mark was with a group of photographers when he caught a glimpse of the Tascam DR-60D in a camera case. The back of the DR-60D reminded him of some of his favorite stereos from the 1960’s. Seeing the side inputs and outputs made him have to buy one. It looked like it had to sell for $500 easy. When told it was $200 he knew he had to have one whether it was needed it or not.

The DR-60D is a professional linear PCM recorder that lets you capture up to four channels of audio and stores recordings on SD or SDHC memory cards. It mounts to a tripod or lets you to screw a camera into its top. The DR-60D is capable of recording at 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz sample rates at bit depths of 16- and 24-bit. Channels 1 and 2 are equipped with XLR/TRS combo jacks that accept either mic or line level signals. They are equipped with peak indicator lights for monitoring input, as well as with microphone preamps for independent gain control over microphones connected to the inputs. The DR-60D is equipped with a 3.5mm stereo input that feeds into channels 3 and 4 and one gain control knob controls the input level to both channels 3 and 4.

Mark says that, “We aren’t going to discuss if I need it until I pay the Visa bill. It arrived without a manual and I thought for a minute about sending it back for that reason. Once I put four AA batteries in and turned it on it wasn’t going anywhere. The orange display lit up and the plethora of buttons begged to teach me what they do. I immediately downloaded the PDF manual and ordered the two best-looking red XLR microphones I could find.”

The B&H photo reviews are great so Mark knows he’s going to like it, right?—Joe Farace & Mark Toal