Marantz PMD661 Recorder

Editors note: Portable recorders are getting better and less expensive all the time. Is the new Marantz PMD661 edging out the Zoom H4N as the number one choice among indie filmmakers? Read Bill Pryor's review and find out and see a real pro DSLR video setup. The Marantz PMD661 Recorder For DSLR Location Recording The Marantz PMD661 recorder is quality compact flash sound recorder that doesn’t seem to get much notice on the video boards. Possibly because, at $599, it costs twice as much as the Zoom H4N. As you can see from the photo of the 661 next to the plastic case that comes with the Zoom H4N, it’s a little bigger. It’s about half an inch (1.25 cm) longer and almost an inch (2.54 cm) wider than the Zoom. Also, it’s a little thicker, and it’s heavier, though not enough to be annoying. The 661 uses four AA batteries, compared to the Zoom’s two. The reason I’m comparing the size of the 661 to the case and not the Zoom itself is because the Zoom is in for repair. The mini jack fell apart inside the unit. When it’s fixed, I’ll sell the Zoom because I like the Marantz better. I had to buy another recorder for ongoing shoots while the Zoom is in the shop, and after I found the 661 I decided to spend the extra money for what seems to me to be a more professional recorder. In terms of sound quality, the Zoom H4N has been quite good. The Marantz PMD661 gets excellent reviews on audio sites such as Wingfield Audio: You can listen to samples on that site. They rate the H4N as very good, the 661 as excellent. For my purposes, both are perfectly good. The above photo illustrates some of my reasons for spending the money for the Marantz over getting another Zoom. The headphone jack is ¼” versus the mini on the Zoom. I’ve always considered any mini jack to be a weak point, which is one reason I always record sound to the recorder as well as the camera. On the 5DII there’s no way to monitor audio while shooting, except from the recorder, so you can’t tell if the camera is getting good sound or if a connection has failed. Another feature is the set of knobs on the right front. The inner knob controls channel one, the outer is for channel 2. You can raise or lower the gain of both by turning the outer knob. To do one at a time, you have to hold one of the knobs to keep it from turning. In other words, you set your channel one gain, set channel two gain, and then you can easily adjust both and they will keep the relationship. Notice also the headphone gain knob. It control only the headphone gain. On the Zoom, if you want to record to the 5DII using the recorder as a pass-through, you have to use a Y-cable with one leg going to the cable that goes to the camera and the other going to the headphone cable. That arrangement introduces a second cable, the Y adapter, plus there’s always the danger of cranking up or down the headphone volume, and that will ruin the audio going to the camera because the line out comes from the same port as the headphone out. Take a look at the photo below. The red and white jacks are RCA plugs, and they are line outputs. The cable, supplied with the Marantz has the RCA male connectors at one end and a stereo mini at the other. I run it to the -50db line to mic cable from DVCreators.net. These cables are now available at B&H and other places as well. When sending audio to the camera with the Marantz, there is no way to change the output level accidentally, since the line outputs simply send out what’s coming in. The headphone jack is not part of the line output. Going back to the second photo, the front of the recorder--which is at the back when you mount it on the camera rig--you’ll notice yet two more very nice features. First, the meters are on a beveled edge. It’s easy to read them looking straight down at the recorder, and it’s also easy to read them when the soundman is wearing the recorder around his neck. Around his neck? Yep, and this is a really big feature for me: the 661 has brackets to attach a shoulder strap. No longer do I have to use a big clamp with a ¼”-20 spud attached to the rear of the boom pole. Now the soundman can wear the recorder, just like any larger professional deck. His meters are right there and so is the gain control. And the headphone jack. When wearing the recorder, the XLR cables run straight down from the bottom of the unit (see photo below). All in all, a very well thought out design. The above photo shows the back of the recorder, or the bottom if it’s hanging around the soundman’s neck. Above and to the left and right of the XLR inputs are the internal mics. I haven’t used them yet but will for grabbing ambient sound during MOS shooting. The fact that in this setup I’m using only one XLR and not my usual XLR Y-adapter cable illustrates yet another nice feature. The Marantz records stereo, true mono or what they call D-mono. In the D-mono mode, the XLR cable goes into the left channel and the same audio signal will record to both channels, with channel two getting a signal dropped down by -20DB. In other words, the 661 is doing automatically what I’ve always done with a Y-cable: record the second channel at a lower level in case somebody laughs or talks too loudly and pegs the meter. I consider it a positive thing any time I can eliminate an extra cable or adapter, so this is a feature I really like. The big bright display is an OLED and doesn’t pull much power at all. The four AA batteries (accessible from the bottom similar to the Zoom) will run the 661 for up to five hours. However, when using phantom power (which I do most of the time), you get 3 hours on a set of new batteries. The Zoom gets 2 hours with display turned off and no phantom power. The Marantz seems to go about 3 times as long under the same conditions as my Zoom. I almost always shoot with the display and phantom power both on. With the Zoom, that setup was giving me about an hour. I haven’t run long enough with the Marantz to know what it will really do, although the Wingfield Audio review gives it three hours with phantom power. So, is the Marantz PMD661 worth the price? I’ve saved what I consider the best feature for last: The Record button. Press it ONE TIME to record. Yep. No pressing it once to go into standby and then again to actually record. One touch recording. I like that a lot. The superior sound quality, the ¼” headphone jack, the separate RCA line outputs, the switchable XLRs (they can switch from mic to line in case you use a mixer or get a feed from a board), the ability to wear the recorder with a neck strap, the bevel mounted meters, real knobs for gain control, and finally the one touch recording--all those made it worth the purchase price for me. The recorder comes with a 2-gig SD card, neckstrap and AC adapter to run it without batteries if you want to. I’ve ordered a Domke quick release neck strap, like the one I have for the camera. In most cases B&H is my first choice and that’s where I bought the recorder. However, I wanted to buy it from Sweetwater Sound. Unfortunately, they were out of stock until mid or late August. B&H had been out of stock as well but got theirs in last week. The people I’ve dealt with at Sweetwater are very knowledgeable and friendly, and on the 661 they give you a 2-year warranty at no cost. Their price is the same as B&H and shipping is free. I like B&H and Adorama but like to give audio business to Sweetwater when possible. If I could have waited on their shipment, I would have done so. Marantz PMD661 at B&H Photo Marantz PMD661 at Adorama